The Makings of Evil

Part Ten

((In the last chapter I mentioned that Angelique was had her 8th birthday on the voyage. That was wrong, I meant her 7th so she is currently 7 but for some reason I can't change it.))

Collinsport Maine, May 1760 ~ The Book of Spells

Over the next few months I found it hard to get the image of Josette out my head. It still hurt me to know that she was going to maybe one day marry my Barnabas. I still had not mentioned it to him and I never planned to. Things at the new house had been very similar as to how things had been back in Liverpool. I worked just as hard and got just as exhausted for it. The warm weather was coming in and sometimes if I finished my chores early enough Mrs Allard would let me go outside to the beach and play in the sand. Sometimes I would look up the house and I could see Barnabas look out the window at me. He would always smile and give me a little wave. This warm weather reminded me of Martinique and Clara. I sometimes wished we were still there but now that I had Barnabas as a friend I never wanted to be away from him.

One warm morning I woke up early before the rest of the house and my eyes caught sight of the book on my shelf I had seen the day we moved in. I slipped out of bed and went to carefully lift it down. It was very heavy and covered with dust. I coughed when the cover fell open and I was hit with the smell of dust and old book. I had expected it to be a pictures or stories. I was still not very god at reading but I could manage most of it. It was a spell book with spells for everything. The last owners of the house must have dealt in witchcraft. Slowly, I turned each page looking at pictures of how to grow simple plants for food to how to torture yours enemies. Just then I came across a spell to turn humans into vampires. I was just about to read it when my bedroom door slowly started to creak open. I gasped and closed the book quickly, sending more dust up into the air but then smiled when Barnabas's face appeared round the corner. He smiled and walked over to me, his feet padding softly across the bare floorboards. He sat opposite me and looked at the book.
"I am so terribly sorry, I could not get back to sleep. I hope you do not mind me here." I gave another gentle smile and shook my head to show that I didn't mind. He looked back at the book again and I was worried he would take it from me to see it..
"It is a book of stories, " I said quickly, just in case he would see the spells. He smiled again and put his elbows on his knees and his chin rested on his hands.
"Will you read me a story? I remember you said you do not read very well, but I would very much like to hear one." Cautiously I opened the book and tried to think of what to say, knowing I would have to make one up. I couldn't help another smile at the look of eagerness on his face so I pretended to read to him from the book.

"This one is about a poor girl who falls in love with a gentleman. Once upon a time was a young girl called...Anna. She was a servant girl and she did not have many things. She had a few possessions but the one she cared for most was her kind heart full of love and compassion. One day, Anna had to go and live in a big house with a new family. She was scared but she knew she would do well and work hard. When she was there she met a young boy called Thomas. Very soon Anna and Thomas became friends and they would play games together and spend all the time they could near each other. One day Anna found out that Thomas had to get married to a girl from a rich family and she was hurt deeply by this. Thomas knew that one day he must marry a well educated girl but as the years passed by he did not want to and he wanted to marry Anna. In the middle of the night, when the moon was hidden behind a cloud, they snuck out the house together and ran away. Soon they were married and had many children. They lived in a beautiful house full of love, peace and happiness until the day it was time for them to leave the world when they were very very old. One night they feel asleep in each others arms and stayed asleep, never waking up, but their souls still fly together hand in hand and will do for eternity as a love as true as theirs does not die, but goes on forever." I looked up from the page I had been pretending to read to see a smile on his face, he was mesmerised by my words and my French accent. There was even a tiny tear in the corner of one of his eyes.

"Do you think that is true?" he replied softly, "that there are people who are so in love they can die together as they cannot stand the thought of being in the world without the other?" I nodded and smiled.

"I have always been told by my mama and papa that true love is real. They told me that when things are wrong it is love that helps you through." He smiled and looked at me.

"Do you think that story is true, that a rich gentleman would run off with a maid and not marry the woman intended for him?" I tilted my head and looked at him.

"Yes, I think it could be a real story. Mama told me when she and papa got married her family did not approve but they married for love. I do not see how it could be different for rich and poor." He smiled again as if that was the answer he hoped for.

"Then one day I think we should get married, like in your story. I do not want to marry someone that has been arranged if there is no love. I want to marry you because we are friends." I smiled and was about to respond when my mother walked in. She was surprised to see Barnabas sitting there. He looked at me again and flashed his usual cheeky smile before standing and walking out the room. My mother looked at me with warmth in her eyes.

"Now Angelique, what did I say about learning your place?" She sat on the floor on the spot Barnabas had been.

"But mama, we couldn't sleep and he came in and asked for a story from this book I found, but it is not a story book so I had to make it up instead." She gave a gentle laugh and kissed my head then took the book out of my hands and began to flick through it just as my father entered the room.

"What is that you have there?" He kneeled next to my mother and took the book to look through it too.

"It is a spell book, a mixture of good and dark magic. Angelique found it." He furrowed his brow as he read.

"There are many spells she would benefit to know from in here. We will have to keep it hidden." As he turned another page there was a picture of a circle that caught my eye.

"Papa, what is that there? What is the circle for?" He moved round to my side so I could see better.

"This, is a circle for protection. You draw it on the floor with a piece of chalk and sit in the middle of it and no one can harm you. If you are ever sad or need your mother or I then once you sit in the middle we will feel it and come to you straight away, no matter where we are." I looked up with tears in my eyes.

"Papa, please never leave me...". He looked down with his eyes full of love as my mother came and sat me on her lap.

"We are never going anywhere, my dear. If we are ever separated from you we will always find our way back, you will never be alone, I promise." I snuggled in close to my mother as a few tears fell. They meant so much to me and I never wanted to be apart from them. My father took out a piece of chalk and put it in my drawer with my clothes and then pushed the book under the bed with promises that he and my mother would teach me from it more often in order to become better at witchcraft. My mother helped me get dressed and sent me downstairs for breakfast. She made me promise never to look at the book without them as some of the magic was very dark. I promised but it did not stop me from being curious.

I went down to help make the breakfast. One of my new chores was to serve it to the Collins family since I was now able to carry more. As I placed each dish on the table, Joshua and Naomi walked in, soon followed by Barnabas who looked rather tires as he was not used to being up so early. He looked at me and smiled and I then returned his smile. Joshua saw this and glared at me so I immediately looked down, gave a small curtsy and left the room. Mrs Allard was outside and also saw it.

"You ought to be careful, child. There have been many stories about things that happen with maids, maybe not now because you are so young but when you are older." I had no idea what she meant. "There are many scandalous stories, some maids losing their jobs when the master decides the maid is his in every way. Many a child born that way..." Just then my father came over and covered my ears.

"Please, she is too young to know this," he said with a slight anger. "And anyway, they are both just children." I looked up confused, still unsure as to how children came into the world. My father tapped my back and sent me on my way to finish my chores. A few hours later when I was cleaning the fireplace, I heard Joshua's heavy footsteps come closer. I closed my eyes tight and held my breath scared of what he might do. Even his presence scared me now. I heard him slow down and felt him brush against me, his breathing a bit harder then he walked on, leaving a smell of alcohol behind. My heart was pounding but I ignored it and went to another part of the house instead to dusk. Soon my mind was pre occupied by the book under my bed and the promises of learning more magic from my parents. I smiled to myself as I thought about spells I could use on Joshua one day and soon forgot all about what had happened earlier.