HOUSE OF WITCHES

"His name is Edmond Michael," Janeka said, mimicking her mother. "The most powerful warlock. He who destroys and takes life's as though it were his creation."

"We're here," Freya said interrupting the girls who were busy giggling at the impersonation. They had just moved into Weston Hills, a whole new environment and a fresh start. As Hayley pulled her bags out of the trunk she looked over at the house. A middle-class convenient structure with a lush green lawn and daisy bushes that hugged the white picket fence around it which opened up to the stone path leading straight to the front door, it was the limit to Freya's savings from her part-time job, not much but Hayley had a feeling she was going to love it. The five girls hauled their luggage out of the car and into their new home. They cleaned up each of their rooms personally and then house at large together before unloading their stuff which took them quite a while.

Liquid rays of moonlight poured in through the open dining window bathing Hayley in an eerie glow. She looked up at the stars dancing across the darkened sky and let out a long sigh before shutting it. She strolled over to the wooden dining table and took a seat before grabbing an apple from the centerpiece bowl which was decorated in broken rays of light from the chandelier above. Her sisters all took their seats except Freya who stood leaning against the sink, she cleared her throat making sure there was no sidetracked soul in the room. It was time for the family meeting to begin. "You all know the rules," She started the stress clear in her dreary voice. Ever since their mother died a few years back she had taken up the responsibility of running the family as the eldest sister and trying to balance it all. It was taking a toll on her.

"No use of magic outside the house unless greatly unavoidable,"

Yes, it was true, the Michael family was indeed a den of witches.

"We practice our magic inside this house, except for the rituals of course which is tomorrow." Freya continued giving a small smile only to be interrupted by the thud of Hayley's apple against the floor. Everyone turned to look at her now pale face. "Sorry," she managed to brush her hair behind her quickly as she picked the apple and returned although Earnestine's eyes lingered a bit filled with worry for her little sister.

"Right, as I was saying-"

"What if someone was about to die? Can't we just help that person?" Janeka asked.

"That falls under emergencies," Freya sighed. "Just try not to be noticed, okay?"

"Yeah, we have to keep it under covers," Earnestine said.

They all muttered lazy agreement before sauntering up to their rooms, the sound of doors slamming shut reverberating through the house, it had been a long day and they were exhausted.

The morning met Hayley brushing her hair in front of her makeup mirror, which stood at the edge of the room. Today she had on black jeans and a yellow top. Hayley was a full blonde teenager, with blue eyes, dazzling pink lips which usually displayed her alluring smile, and a slender waist. She was almost eighteen and was the youngest daughter of the Michael family. A knock rasped against the door, and she hurriedly put down the brush and raced to the bed grabbing her bag.

"How long does it take you to dress up?" Earnestine asked suddenly from behind her. Hayley's heart skipped a beat, as her breath caught in her chest. "Could you not do that?" Hayley pleaded.

"Whatever, you're running late for school." Earnestine declared as she headed for the door unlocking it and heading down while Hayley followed closing it behind her.

"Morning," Hayley greeted as she rushed into the kitchen/dining hybrid grabbing the cup of warm milk on the counter.

"Took you long enough," Freya replied from the cooker where she turned out a pancake into a plate and slid it over to Hayley who ate as fast as she could. "Hayley!" Earnestine called from the living room.

"Mmm!" She responded, her mouth stuffed as she rushed out of the kitchen to catch Earnestine on the porch. "Sorry,"

"Well it's not my problem if you want to be late on your first day of school," Earnestine huffed as they headed for the waiting car. They quickly got in and Earnestine started the engine.

"Hope you didn't forget anything,"

"I don't think so," Hayley confirmed. "Hey," Earnestine said calling out to Hayley who was fiddling with the strap of her bag.

"It's going to be fine," She hoped so, Weston Hills High had a majority of the kids in town in attendance, it sounded a lot more exposed than her former school. She was in her final year, graduation was next year but she felt like it was much farther than that. Earnestine proceeded to tie her red hair into a bun then fixed her caring silver eyes on Hayley, placing a hand on her arm and squeezing lightly to break her thought cycle as her lips glossed red to match her hair stretched into a small smile. Hayley did the same just as they pulled out into the street. Most of Earnestine's dress codes all had one thing in common, red. She loved the color, she made it a thing to keep most of her belongings in that color code. They had to paint the family car red or else she wouldn't agree to use it on public roads, she could be quite adamant at times but Hayley liked that about her sister. Reaching for the radio set Hayley put it on as music streamed forth cooling her nerves. It took them quite a several turns but not much time before they arrived at Weston Hills High. Earnestine drove into the school parking close to an oak tree that stood in the middle of the school.

They both alighted from the car Hayley mistakenly brushed her hand against the rough bark. Images of various corpses in dark empty vast lands, hanging from nooses, seeping blood and some rotting flashed before her eyes in quick succession.

"Earth to Major Tom," Earnestine called snapping her out of it.

"Huh?" She gasped jolting where she stood beside the car, the door still open and no corpses in sight.

"Let's go,"

"Right," Hayley said shutting the door and following her sister's hands shaking and unsure as they danced up and down her bag strap

"Are you okay?"

"Just nervous,"

"I told you, it's going to be fine," Earnestine told her.

"Now come on, let's get to the principal's office." She completed, leading her towards the administrative block. Hayley took a shaky breath and walked with her. Hayley tried to clear her head by taking in the school environment. It was quite large and yet beautiful, she hoped she got the hang of it.

Arriving at the office Earnestine looked at Hayley. "Ready?" She asked.

"Ready as I'll ever be," She replied and Earnestine's lip twitched into a smile and she proceeded to knock before going for the handle.

"Welcome," The principal said with a smile as they stepped in.

"You must be Hayley Michael, I'm Mr. Hagen. Please, have a seat." They both took a seat across his desk. Hayley smiled back, he seemed like a nice person, she had learned not to judge so quickly though. Earnestine and Mr. Hagen began a conversation way too formal for Hayley's interest and her eyes drifted over to the stone bust, for some reason her gaze was fixed, she could not look away. As she watched the sculpture slowly moved its stony eyes to glare at her and as she watched the face turned to a dried-out skull and its jaw dropped open causing her to jump in the seat.

"Hayley!" Earnestine called "he said you can go to class,"

"R-Right, yeah I'll do that," She stuttered as she got up alongside Earnestine.

"Thank you," Earnestine said to Mr. Hagen.

"What's up with you?"

"I'm fine,"

"No you're not, I called your name three times,"

"I'll be fine, besides I have to get to class," She said making to leave. "Hayley, take care of yourself, okay?" She managed a smile.

"I will," She promised and with that, she headed for class.

During lunch, Hayley sat alone in the cafeteria praying nobody would notice her as the new girl. Looking up she noticed a few eyes glancing in her direction and even made out a guy in a corner winking at her and looked away fixing her gaze on her tray. The ketchup was way too fluid and flowed out from the pile of the chips like blood from a dying man.

"You don't look too hungry," A girl said sliding into the seat across causing Hayley to gasp in shock.

"I think I lost my appetite," She declared after a few seconds and the girl giggled before reaching out.

"May I?" She asked and Hayley slid it over.

"Thanks, I'm Wendy, by the way, Wendy Cooper." She said digging in.

"Hayley, Hayley Michael." She introduced.

"Nice to meet you," She said as she finished off standing and Hayley smiled doing the same still wondering why everything seemed creepy today. Wendy was a bit tall, she was caramel-skinned, with black straight hair with a tattoo on her neck, brown eyes, and brown upper lip with a pink lower lip which was typical to most of the African descent. They walked over to the counter dropped the tray and headed into the hallway. Wendy was adamant about keeping her company. Hayley disliked this at first but Wendy seemed cool and slowly appealed to her.

"You were pretty active in Chemistry class." Wendy complimented.

"Thanks...I can help you if you have problems."

"That's alright. Fortunately, I'm a bookworm too, the guys however are just a bunch of doughnut heads." Wendy said opening her locker and taking her assignment book. Their lockers were not too far off. Hayley took her books as well and they went out to the sports field. They watched the boys play football but Hayley's attention was caught by the oak tree whose top was visible from where they sat. Hayley placed her palms on the oak tree, and her heartbeat slowed down. She felt weak but then strength surged into her. Magic. She could feel every inch of it, the ringing in her ears, the slow pounding in her chest, the cold creeping up from her fingers, the taste of blood in her mouth, and the image of a corpse staring at her with glassy eyes. "Hayley," Wendy interrupted tapping her arm twice before she responded startled.

"The Red Tigers just scored." She said with a smile and Hayley forced a smile of her own trying to fit in with the small group that was cheering. It was a hallucination, she wasn't even close to the tree, and she glanced at it and smirked, Weston Hills might be a lot more interesting than she thought. Janeka was in the backyard practicing her magic when Earnestine got back. She was using an invisibility spell, no one but her sisters could see her. Freya warned them but the fresh air let her concentrate better.

"She's been registered." Earnestine interrupted, as she passed by the back door seconds after Janeka had uttered a spell that made her look tense in shock for a second.

Late in the day, Earnestine drove into the school premises to pick up Hayley. She found her walking around with a girl. She couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face, she was finally talking to someone. Earnestine had been worried that Hayley would find it hard to make friends in this environment but now she was pleasantly surprised.

"Bye Wendy, see you tomorrow," Hayley announced after they embraced and she got into the car.

"I told you it would be fine," Earnestine said as they drove out of the school. "Ice cream, my treat,"

"Sure, but why?" Hayley replied.

"To celebrate you making a friend, I'm so proud," She beamed pulling over to an ice cream bar. Earnestine made her way inside and tapped on the waiting bell twice. "Sorry," A girl around her age said rushing to attend to her

"Welcome to the Ice Box, what can I get you?" She asked Earnestine who stood transfixed and staring.

"Hey," She said snapping her fingers. "Right, sorry," Earnestine apologized. "That's alright, I get my head in the clouds too, so what can I get you?" "Um, two frozen yogurts to go," She answered.

"Coming right up," She said turning to man the fridge before returning with her order.

"Thanks," Earnestine said handing her the money

"I'm Earnestine,"

"Erin," She said tapping the name tag on her green work gown.

"Nice to meet you, er...see you around then,"

"Sure," Erin smiled as Earnestine made to leave and she went to attend to other customers. Hayley raised an eyebrow as the red-faced Earnestine stepped into the car.

"What's got you all flustered?" Hayley quizzed.

"Nothing," Earnestine said handing her the bag.

"Don't tell me, you met a boy?"

"He wishes," Earnestine huffed pulling out of the parking lot.

When they got home an exhausted Hayley trudged upstairs slamming the door behind her.

"Guess what," Earnestine said as she walked into the kitchen where Freya was.

"What?" Freya said still focused on the stew she was making.

"She made a friend," Earnestine announced.

"You're kidding," Freya said pausing to look up.

"Nope,"

"Thank Goodness," Freya exhaled deeply in relief, she hadn't been expecting such a thing to happen, and at least not so soon. Hayley had always been the reserved one, the loner, compassionate but overlooked, finally, she had someone she could relate with outside the family.

"I'll go tell the others," Earnestine said as she left. Freya got back to what she was doing and couldn't help beaming.

Once she told everyone Earnestine went up to her room and lay in bed sighing, looking to the side she saw the now empty ice cream cup sitting on her bedside drawer. Her mind drifted to the girl in the shop. Erin. She was cute, wait what? Earnestine turned to face away from the cup and clear her mind but why was she blushing? She bit her lips, she had a thing with a guy once, but it didn't work out. Perhaps, this was who she was. How was she going to tell the others? She banged her head against the pillows and groaned.

At dinner, they ate slowly and Hayley could feel the tension in the air as her siblings tried not to bring it up so Freya broke the ice.

"So, the rituals are tonight," Freya said and Hayley paled freezing but they pretended not to notice.

"Who was in charge of the offering again?" Janeka quizzed.

"Me," Sabrina said taking a bite of her steak. She was the second to last daughter, three years older than Hayley. She possessed charming brown eyes and brunette hair which reflected the light. She was the most beautiful of all her sisters.

"I'm not going." Hayley declared putting down her cutlery and making for the stairs to avoid any argument.

"Hayley," Freya called. She froze.

"Come back here," she completed and Hayley turned around to face them.

"It's the tradition, we have to kill," Sabrina interfered.

"It's not like we enjoy it, this is your second ritual, you don't have a choice." "I'm sorry, but I'm old enough to make decisions for myself," Hayley said bluntly, as she turned to leave.

"We should leave her out of this. She's new to it." Earnestine said, supporting Hayley, who was already halfway up the stair.

"She's too weak." Sabrina scorned, as she stood going to drop her dishes in the sink. Freya followed suit, along with Janeka. Every witch would be introduced to the ritual once they turned sixteen but it only happened once a year. It was to appease their powers and make them stronger and more stable. They were born into it and raised by their mother to always observe it every year, no matter what. Hayley wouldn't be a reason to stop the ritual, instead, she'd rather not join them like she usually refused to join during the practice of pure black magic. They were dark witches, they used black magic which fueled their strength more than anything else. They would respect Hayley's decision. Earnestine couldn't bring herself to leave without checking on Hayley first. Earnestine knocked on her door, she could hear the sound of crying on the other side. She bit her lip in guilt. Hayley was the last daughter, she should be treated with love and care. Slowly Earnestine opened the door and walked up kneeling beside her.

"Hayley," She reassured. Hayley kept her head buried between her legs. She was standing back in that forest hands shaking as she regarded the woman tied to the chair in the middle of a runic circle her sisters quite younger standing around it. The woman was shaking and writhing in the chair as tears streamed down her face. She fell to the side still struggling as she managed to undo the gag.

"Please, spare me, I'll leave town I promise," She begged and looked at Hayley.

"I have a daughter, around your age, don't do this to her, don't take her mother-,"

"Hayley..." Freya's voice drifted in her head like memory and she found herself slowly raising a trembling hand and then-

"No!" She cried out lifting her head, her face was ravaged with tears as she turned and grabbed Earnestine's arm

"I can't take another life. Please don't make me do it," She wailed.

"It's ok," Earnestine comforted.

Janeka, Freya, and Sabrina were in the backyard where the car had been parked when Earnestine caught up. Sabrina opened the trunk, and they saw the girl who had fallen, victim. They took a second before attempting to close the trunk but Earnestine stopped them shocked to see those familiar brown eyes so soon.

"This ritual is not holding," She declared. Hayley heard the car pull out a minute before the backdoor slammed violently against the wall downstairs. She pulled herself up to go check, she was very sure her siblings had just left. She found after a path of blood splats Earnestine sitting at the dining table taking deep breaths as she clutched a gash in her side.

"Oh my God!" Hayley exclaimed. She ran up casting a spell to stop the bleeding and heal her while she got her a glass of water.

"What happened? Why did they hurt you? "They got your friend." Earnestine gasped.

"I tried to stop them but-," Hayley felt the blood rush out of her face.

"Wendy." She muttered then ground her teeth.

"Those bitches! Can you walk?"

"I wouldn't be your older sister if I couldn't help you out now would I?" She said with a smirk.

"Let's go," Hayley said racing outside and towards the Weston Hill woods. No matter how far her sisters had gotten she'd find them. Hayley had just met Wendy hours ago and now she was on the brink of death because of it. They made out smoke rising some way off and Hayley felt a chill down her spine. The ritual had started.