Chapter Eight
"Do not give in to despair. That is what you would tell me. We are not Puritans. Not anymore. We do not believe in this idiotic predestination. We make our own destiny." ~ Anne Hale
I could only gasp in horror when I heard Mary's horrifying words. "Kill? Your son?"
"Yes," she said, her eyes downcast as she looked incredibly sad. "I gave birth to a baby; a little boy. That is why John and I left Salem. I was with child."
"You had John's child?"
She shook her head. "If only..." she said with tears shining in her eyes. "No, Anne. It wasn't ... John's child. It wasn't even the child of Mr. Sibley, my late husband. It was..."
She was shaking as she tried to explain, but I was completely lost. "Whose baby did you give birth to, Mary?"
"Anne, you and I... we are both witches. You are a cradle witch, but I- I chose this fate. When John went to war, I had no other choice but to marry Mr. Sibley, Tituba took me into the woods. That night- that dark, awful night... something happened..."
"What was it?" I asked breathlessly.
"A horrible monster; a Beast..."
"Stop!" I cried out as no longer wanted to hear the rest. The details were far too traumatic. I never wanted to recall what that demon-like creature had done to me in the woods on the dark, cold ground.
"Anne, when the Beast filled me with his dark seed, everything changed. I came into my powers, but there was a price. A terrible,awful price," she said as she spat out the words.
"What was it?"
"I conceived," she said flatly. "But it wasn't a baby I carried and I birthed. It was a thing. A creature with glowing eyes and sharp, tiny horns."
"No," I said in a sob.
I clutched my abdomen in horror and disbelief. Surely nothing that sinister could happen to me? I was supposed to be celebrating my wedding night! I couldn't bear to hear the details of the abomination that Mary Sibley had been forced to birthe.
"John wanted to raise the baby with me. At first we thought it was his- ours. We were wrong."
I just kept shaking my head as hot tears rushed from my eyes. "Anne, you know what the Beast did to you. You know," Mary said as she grabbed me in her arms and tried to make me realize exactly how complicated my life had now become. "If you're pregnant..."
"No, no..." I cried out. "If I have a baby, it will be Cotton's!"
"I hope for your sake... for Cotton's, you are right. Does he know... have you told him, that you are a witch?"
"No, he doesn't... and you can't tell him! Promise me, Mary!"
"I won't tell him, but if you birthe a monstrous creature as I did, he's going to know. I had to tell John the truth. He knows only Cotton can help him as he has no other choice but to end the life of the thing I was forced to carry in my womb."
"Must you kill it?" I asked sadly, my heart aching as I continued to clutch at my flat stomach.
"Anne, it isn't human. It's the spawn of the Beast. You know it cannot live."
"I am sorry, Mary. I have to go home."
I was sobbing uncontrollably as I rushed back to my house. I shut myself in my bedroom and cried on my bed. A baby! A monster-creature that had been spawned from a Beast! I could not carry such a demonic thing inside me! I would not.
Was there a spell I could chant to stop it? Or was it already too late? Had the Beast's dark seed already quickened within my womb?
"Cotton, come home!" I cried out into my pillow. If he'd only come back home and make sweet love to me, then I knew everything would be alright. It had to be!
We had to consummate our marriage as soon as he stepped through the door. I had myself convinced that with one night of passion, I could set everything right. There would be a baby, but it would not belong to the Beast.
