Witch Hunt
Fantasy Mystery Drama Short Story
By: Andi Brit (Andrea Britanik)
1/30/2025
The rain poured down outside of the window of the saltbox house. It slid down the catslide roof and down like a waterfall off of its eaves and onto the dirt below. Cassandra or “Cassie” Day sat inside of this house and in a red wingback chair. She read a book that was titled The Witches Of The North. Her father walked in at that moment, he was coming in through the back door. Cassie put her book down immediately and shoved it under the cushion of the chair as such books were forbidden not in her family, but in the town of Topsfield itself. That was, Topsfield Massachusetts, but at this time it was the Province of Massachusetts Bay and it was chartered on October 7th of 1691. However, right now, it was October 7th of the year 1692. As Topsfield was near Salem, Massachusetts, this was not a good year to be living in such parts. The Salem Witch Trials happened in these areas, if one is not so familiar.
Cassie, with her layers of white petticoats on, got up from the wingback chair and went over to greet her father. Her father was Radcliffe Day, but most people called him Cliff. He had black hair and he had it in a pony tail. And according to his facial expression, it was stern as it usually was, but not upset and for that Cassie was grateful. This meant that he did not catch her reading one of the forbidden books. If he did, the consequences could be dire. He had never caught her before, but he did catch her brother once, Vincent or Vin, and he beat him with a belt so badly that he was bruised for days on end. She did not want to be caught reading the forbidden books.
It was very rainy and very cold outside today and Cliff had been outside on the porch, underneath the catslide, drinking his coffee with her mother, Abigail Day or Abby Day, a blonde-haired woman who wore the same white petticoats as her daughter, Cassie, and she still sat outside on her wicker outdoor chair.
“What are you doing with yourself, Cassie?” said Cliff.
“I was reading.” said Cassie.
“Which book?” said Cliff.
“The Iliad.” said Cassie.
“That’s with the kidnapped girl, isn’t it?” said Cliff.
“Yes, it is.” said Cassie.
“Tonight, we shall have a feast with your sister and James.” said Cliff.
Cassie wringed her hands.
Cliff noticed and he shook his head in disappointment, as well as disagreement.
“Why can’t you just accept James for who he is?” said Cliff.
“I’ll try, father.” she said.
“Alright. That’s the answer that I wanted to hear.” he said.
“What time?” said Cassie.
“Seven. And I want you to wear something nice.” he said.
“I will, father.” she said.
Seven rolled around quicker than imagined it would and she was feeling nervous. She had despised James and she couldn’t understand what her sister, Bethany, could have seen in her. Beth was her older sister and the eldest of the family. Cassie was the youngest and she was only thirteen years old. Bethany was 17. Cassie had never warmed to James and she felt like he had never warmed to her either. She had protested against him, at least with her doubts, to her family several times, but to no avail. In fact, every time she would say that he wasn’t very nice to her or the other women in her family, they would always turn it around on her and make her out to be the one who was nasty. It would always end up with Cassie feeling powerless and distressed. And there wasn’t even any place to escape to, or at least, no means to.
Cassie felt raw and empty like the dead trees that were outside, and the rain continued to pour down. It was a bit heavier now, but still rather slow and steady.
She had her two long black braids over her shoulders and her torso, and she wore her red satin corset dress and petticoats. She had red ribbon at the ends of her two braids. Her shoes were a red velvet. Her eyes glowed a light amber (when they were usually a light blue) as she walked down the dark hallway and towards the stairs. But Cassie did not notice this however as she could not see herself and there were no other indication to her senses that this was going on. But, it was quite mysterious, indeed, needless to say.
Cassie went down the stairs and the one near the bottom creaked. This part of the house was more illuminated with candles and she walked across the foyer. She could already hear James talking in the parlor and she zoned in on that immediately. Enemy.
He was gushing about how smart his older brother, Emmit, was and how he was just the best person ever. And Cassie was sick of hearing it. She had only heard it hundreds of times already. It seemed to be the only thing he could talk about. Cassie did not want to go into that parlor. But she knew if she wouldn’t, they would just pull her back in. She walked towards the parlor.
She saw James sitting there on one of the red velvet Roman couches, like the Caesar that he was, as he too, would often brag about his own accomplishments, but she never recalled him having much money himself. But his brother did. But it still didn’t give him the right to brag and boast about it constantly as he usually did. Cassie also was convinced that he was someone who liked the opposite sex of who her sister was and was only trying to marry her sister in order to hide behind her (and Cassie would often call him the Hidebehind in her own mind) in marriage so he didn’t have to share with the world that he was so, but at the very expense of her own sister and not in a good way. It would destroy her when she found out. She would survive, but she would be destroyed, and devastated.
Cassie wanted her family back.
She wasn’t going to let this golden boy get away with this, no matter what it took on her part. Because her sister meant the world to her and there was nothing that she wouldn’t do for her.
James sat there, with his dark brown hair in a pony tail. And he had that serious look on his face, the dull look in his eyes, so lifeless, as always. She was also convinced that he was a vampire, because all he did was suck the energy out of everyone around him, including her.
This was her time to run away. She would run so far away and no one would ever be able to catch her. But she couldn’t abandon her family. And the thoughts that she was feeling she did not like, the thought of abandoning her family, it wasn’t right. But she wanted to save herself. However, she couldn’t, she couldn’t save herself and leave her family behind. No, she would take the pain, no matter how bad it was. Maybe she could just escape to the garden? She would sit in the rain and she would still be with her family. She was just about to do so when James whipped his head around and looked directly at Cassie. She froze in her tracks.
“Hello, Cassie. How are you doing?” he said, but briefly, before turning back around and looking at the rest in the room.
“Hello.” said Cassie. She didn’t want to say anything but she felt forced and pressured to.
“Cassie, why don’t you come in here?” said Cliff.
No.
“Alright.” said Cassie.
She entered the parlor and sat on a black velvet wingback chair, the one that was the most far away from James and mercifully, Cliff and the others had arranged this to happen.
Abby was sitting across from James and next to her older sister, Gabby (Gabriella), who had dark brown hair in a curly pony tail and wore a yellow satin dress. Across from Gabby, sat Cliff who was wearing his black satin suit on another red satin roman couch. Next to Cliff sat Chrissy (Christina), who was blonde and she wore a blue satin dress. And next to Christina, sitting in another velvet black wingback chair was Beth. She had black hair in a long braid in the back and she wore a bright green satin dress and petticoats. She had matching slippers on as well. Beth was smiling at James in some sort of fake joy. It was a forced smile. In fact, her entire family was fake now. They just weren’t themselves. They looked different, dull, just like him. Their voices sounded different, too, superior, just like him. And superior in the bad way. Cassie sat in the chair that was at the end by the fireplace. She was glad to be sitting here, it gave her some warm comfort in this cold, cold room where vampires laid.
She felt on edge, her teeth grinded together. It was the same sensation every time, it was amazing. It was like clockwork, but not in a good way. And her family’s reaction was always the same. It was all very predictable to Cassie, and boring. Her eyes were back to blue now and they were cold and menacing as they flashed quickly towards James and then away when he wasn’t looking.
James had his light brown satin suit on and his shoes were buckled.
She thought that he looked like a feminine idiot.
She then glared at his shoes and then away.
She couldn’t even pay any attention to what anyone was saying and she was quiet as she possibly could. Until James asked her about her novel, which she was writing, and it was about Witches, but in the sense that would satisfy everyone in her household, and the town, for that matter. Where the witches were nothing but the bad ones and they would be defeated. But she would always know her secret meaning behind it, and no one, absolutely no one, not even James or his brother Emmit, could take that away from her, ever. And that she was so proud of. She had said well, she had just finished it and she was going to send it off to the publisher’s. He didn’t say good or anything, he just nodded to pretend that it was mildly interesting. It annoyed her viciously.
One of their maids, Ida, came into the parlor after that and told them that dinner was ready.
They had all made their way to the dining room now, and had sat down in their seats. Again, Cassie was mercifully allowed to sit all the way at the front, and James sat all the way down and to the left of Cassie.
During dinner, it was quiet and awkward as usual, and she knew that as soon as he would excuse himself from the room to go to the powder room that her family would immediately go back to their normal selves, or as normal as they could be in a situation like this. And they did. They laughed like hyenas and smiled at each other as someone had just made some sort of joke.
Then James came back and it was all back to silence as usual. Awkwardness. It was bullshit. Cassie wanted to kill him already.
At one point Cassie had said that she had made the potatoes, and she did. Sometimes she would assist in the kitchen, just like nearly all of her family members, and this time she had made the potatoes. But, James was too scared or too angry with her to compliment her on them, but of course, complimented everyone else at the table for what they had made. They had each made at least one dish for this dinner, she supposed it was for such the grand occasion of this golden child coming over, but for her, it was for different reasons, it was for her family. She knew that James did not like her and he could not fool her, he could not hide that from her no matter how hard he tried, no matter how convinced that he was that he was fooling her, Cassie could see right through him, like a ghost. And he was her ghost, and she was his. Because all he did was see right thru her, but not the truth, but to see nothing in her but the lamp that was behind her.
Cassie seethed inside. And it wasn’t one of those moments where someone just doesn’t say something because they didn’t hear someone or they just didn’t feel like saying anything. That wasn’t the case, it was deliberate. And Cassie knew that her family could see it and know way deep down on the inner surface level, but on the external level, they could not see a thing to the truth. In other words, they could all see perfectly fine, but in reality, they were perfectly blind to the situation. Cassie, on the opposite side, and wasn’t fooled, she could see perfect and clearly on all accounts. And she was going to win, it was only a matter of time. Because this was kidnapping and her sister, her family were kidnapped and she was pretty sure that was illegal the last time she checked. Well, technically it was a mental kidnapping, a casual possession, if you will. A theft of the soul. And Cassie never signed up for that, and she was pretty sure that her family hadn’t ordered it either. So, in fact, it was a theft against all of their will and she was going to get them back. No matter what it took.
Cassie had been sending somewhat secret letters to her Great Aunt Matilda who lived in Sleepy Hollow, New York and she would talk to her about it in their secret missive conversations. And that made her feel a whole great deal better, as her Aunt had been very understanding of her current debacle. And this disaster was a problem for Cassie to only be addressed and solved and that was all. There were no other options.
She and her Great Aunt would pray every single night for the magical solution.
Greatfully, Cassie had survived dinner and now she was in her bedroom, laying on her bed. She was now in her sleeping gown which was white and she was staring at the ceiling and thinking. What else could she do to make this situation better? She had tried everything and to no avail. And every time she did confront her family about her concerns, it was, ironically, a witch hunt, and she would get attacked from every angle and every single thing she said they were doing and he was doing, was apparently, what she was doing. And they would get distressed and mad about it and felt powerless, perhaps. And they could sniff everything out, she couldn’t hide a single thing.
This one time, her father had backed her into a corner and forced her to see the family doctor in fear that she had some sort of affliction, all because she was only trying to help her sister and to help her to see the truth by proving to her that she was angry. They saw it only as a negative sense, when Cassie had written that letter with all of the apparent “nasty” things that she had written in it, but in reality, it was only in a positive sense, an attempt to help her sister, Beth, to see the truth about what was really happening. That she could see it and that she felt upset and was upset about it and she wanted to fix the problem and to help her sister and her family and herself and that was it. There was no ill will, there was no affliction, it was only pure emotion, and it was anger, but for the purpose of showing her sister that there was a problem, and there was a problem, and that problem was James. He was new to the family, even though they were engaged to be married and they had known him for about two years, he still felt new and strange to her, and that worried her and concerned her the most, and these “afflictions” had only started then, and before that, she was fine. How mysterious was that? But of course, it wasn’t mysterious at all, and Cassie could see exactly what the problem was, but she wasn’t sure what the exact solution was, that was the only problem now. However, she knew that there was a solution, it was just a matter of finding it. And it was going to happen soon.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Her sister even had the nerve of one time, after Cassie had come home from the doctor, to give her a hug and to ask so “innocently” what it was. What is it? Were here exact words. And Cassie felt an enormous flare of rage. Not at her sister exactly, but the rotten part of Beth, the disgusting deranged and demented part. The Demon Bitch in her. And that was one of the words that Cassie had used in one of her missives, in fact. And she had no shame in using it. But she could see how her father was confused when he read it and was tricked into thinking that she was saying something negative when in fact she was saying something positive, a positive truth, but referring to something negative happening at the same time. And that’s why he had been calling her nasty ever since. Saying that she had some sort of affliction, and telling the doctor, that the family had trusted with all of their hearts (with all of the witch nonsense that was floating around and people being hanged left and right for even breathing in a slightly strange way) that she had said “some really nasty stuff”. And that had greatly annoyed Cassie, for one, the lie that it was, or partial truth, in fact, but still a lie, or a partial lie, but then she was relieved again, because she realized even more clearly in that moment that her father, in fact, was the real one with the infliction, and so was every single one of her family members, and not her. They were being the nasty ones, but it wasn’t their fault. And she knew that for a fact. They were merely puppets of a greater evil force, not greater in better-ness, but greater in the fact that no one could stop it from happening in the first place. Was there anyway to do so? That’s why Cassie was so motivated to write because writing gave her a certain power, a greater understanding of things, and she knew that it was the reason why she was able to articulate and figure this thing out for what it really was. And she wanted to have an understanding of how to prevent such a terrible thing from happening ever again on Earth, or anywhere else in the universe, universes.
Cassie was convinced that there were other universes out there, not only other galaxies and other planets, but actual universes.
The rain had just about ceased by now and was dripping only a little, like tiny teardrops raining down from heaven that a princess down below was suffering.
Cassie’s family was very rich, but she was not a princess in any means, at least not an official princess. But, in some way, she was an official princess. The only official princess.
Cassie heard a tap on her window and it was coming from the outside. She was confused, because she was on the second floor, and she had sensed that it was coming from someone intelligent enough to do so. But, maybe she was mistaken…
She swung her head towards the window and out there, on the catslide roof, ironically, was an adult-sized black cat and it had glowing bright green eyes that shone out like two tiny moons in the darkness and rain. And his, and somehow, she knew it was a he, paw was against the glass of the window, and it was still there.
Cassie got up in bed. There was a lightning strike, which scared her, on top of being so tense from seeing a strange cat sitting outside her window.
She went over to the window, slowly, cautiously, the cat was following her every move. And it was only looking at her, and nothing else in the room, which was even further getting her attention. The cat’s ear twitched as she got closer. She did not want to open the window, she was so scared, but at the same time she felt like she had to, for some good reason. But just as she approached the window to open it, the cat took off and slid down the catslide and then jumped off. Cassie watched him out the window and the cat ran across the back yard and into the garden. For some strange reason, Cassie was convinced that she had to follow him. That this was a good thing. Although, she had no idea what that good thing was.
Cassie went straight to her dresser and pulled out a black velvet cloak. She fastened it around her neck and put on her boots. She carefully exited her room.
She went down the stairs, skipping the one that creaked at the bottom, but still landing quietly on the next step.
She next went to the back door, she again, very quietly opened it, but hurriedly. She stepped outside and closed the door behind her, she slipped a little and it made a louder noise than she wanted to. She paused or a moment and listened for movement or any indication that she had been heard, but there wasn’t a single thing. Cassie was used to that.
She put her hood on over her braids and stepped off the porch and into the sprinkling rain. The drops pitter pattered all over her head and around her as she made her way to the garden, in the mud. She held up her gown and cloak so as to not get them dirty. She didn’t feel like making up excuses. Not this time.
She entered the short hedge maze that made up the garden. She heard the cat meow and peek his head around the corner to the right, so Cassie went that way.
When she turned the corner, the cat was now sitting at the very end, his paws on the ground. She still couldn’t help to think that this cat was human, even though it looked and acted mostly like a cat. The cat went to the left. Cassie followed him that way.
She turned the corner and she saw that the cat was at the willow tree that was planted in the middle of the garden and there was a small square opening. Cassie went over to the tree, where the cat was now again sitting on its paws and its tail went from side to side. She approached the cat slowly, who again, never stopped staring directly at Cassie. But she still knew that she had to get closer. She just had to touch it, that was all. She had to touch it.
She bent over and she reached her hand out to pet the cat. But then, all of the sudden it snapped its head quickly and nipped her with his teeth. She retracted her hand just as fast.
“Are you hurt, kitty?” she said.
The cat ran behind the willow tree. She ran after it. The cat wasn’t there at all. It was as if it had disappeared into thin air. Cassie looked down at her hand and she saw a zig zag pattern, as if it were a lightning bolt. But she was sure that he didn’t nip her that much and so she thought this was strange. It just looked like a light scrape. She went back into the house. She was laying on her bed again. This time, she looked back at the window to see if the cat was there again. He wasn’t. She was dozing off to sleep.
Suddenly, Cassie woke up, she had to go to the powder room. But before she went her gaze went straight for her hand that was nipped. It was her left hand. The zig zag was now glowing a bright a green and right on the pattern, nowhere else. Cassie thought it was exciting. She had no idea what it meant exactly, but she knew somehow that it had to do with her sister Beth and solution to that problem.
When she awoke the next day, it was still raining. It was supposed to be a blood moon tonight and she was excited. She loved strange things like that and strange-looking things too, for that matter. That cat she saw last night was kind of strange to her. She knew it was all a sign that something good was about to happen regarding Beth. And that made her extremely happy. She couldn’t be any happier and excited about it. But she wouldn’t be telling anyone about it, at least not any time in the near future. Eventually, she would tell them.
She looked down at her hand, and the scratch was still there, but it was no longer glowing green. She wondered what that meant. She couldn’t wait to find out.
She was in her black petticoat dress now and she had yellow ribbon tying her braids. She was just putting on her black cloak as she was going to go out into the forest today. It was raining but it was only slight. She would have to bear the mud. She couldn’t stand being inside of the house any longer and needed some fresh air. And there wasn’t any lightning.
Cassie went out the back door and down the stairs of the back porch. She walked to behind the garden and entered the forest. She moved about the branches and twigs of the forest, brushing past things as she went. The rain pitter pattered all around her. She had her hood on, but raindrops still hit her face. It felt nice, refreshing. She finally made it to her favorite place, an opening that had a bunch of stumps and a creek that flowed a long ways through the trees. She sat on one of the stumps that was close to the edge of a cliff that went down to the creek below. The cliff wasn’t very high, but it was high enough to get that thrill of being on a cliff. She stared straight ahead as the rain continued to drip onto her face. They were the tears of God, thought Cassie.
She suddenly had a paranoid idea that the governor of the town would find out about her so-called affliction, and suddenly have the worry that she were a witch, like he had with so many other of the townsfolk. She was very worried about that. If he decided that she even might be a witch, she would have absolutely no chance. She would have to run away. Anywhere but here.
No, she couldn’t think like that. It was all going to work out. It just had to.
A shock of fright suddenly entered her system, causing her to jolt backwards as a cat had jumped right up from the cliff and sprung right in front of her. It was a black cat and it was walking towards her. It had bright green eyes just like the one that she saw earlier. It must have been because she was feeling so paranoid from before that it was such a great shock to see the cat merely just jump up out of nowhere, but also that she wasn’t expecting the cat to be here at all. And she was wondering what it was doing here.
The cat went behind her and she followed its gaze as it followed her gaze. She wasn’t scared, at least not in a bad way, but she definitely was in a good way. The cat suddenly shifted into what looked like to be a little boy at first, and then into a full grown man.
He had light brown hair and a kind look on his face, although he wasn’t smiling. He stood there, looking at Cassie.
Cassie wasn’t afraid, and in fact, she felt very calm. Like this is how life is supposed to be, calm and knowing.
And to Cassie’s shock, the man started to speak.
“I’m Isadore and I’m here to tell you that you’re now a witch.” he said.
“What do you mean?” said Cassie, and again she was shocked that she could even say anything at all in a time like this.
“I nipped you the other day, that mark that you have on your hand. It means that you have become the witch. Now, all you have to do is practice.” said Isadore.
“How can I practice, if I do not know how?” said Cassie.
“You’ll know what to do, I promise.” said Isadore.
He reached behind his back and he pulled out a wand. It was knobby and it was from an oak tree.
“I think you’ll be needing this.” said Isadore and he handed it over to Cassie.
She grabbed it.
“Don’t lose this.” said Isadore.
“Is this a wand?” said Cassie.
“Yes, and you will use it well, trust me.” said Isadore.
“To do something with my sister?” said Cassie.
“I reckon so.” said Isadore, now with a slight smile.
Cassie did so herself, along with the face of disbelief but yet so much hope.
“I have to leave you here, now.” said Isadore.
“Can’t you stay? Who are you?” said Cassie.
“I’m a ghost. But, I was once a wizard.” said Isadore.
“Then you can help me.” said Cassie.
“No, it can only be you.” said Isadore.
Cassie looked down for only a moment at her hands, and by the time she looked up again, Isadore had vanished completely. It was in the most impossible way, and not what a human could do naturally. Even though she knew it was hopeless, Cassie looked about the forest, looking for Isadore anyway.
He was nowhere to be found.
Cassie started to tear up a bit. Not out of sadness, at least mostly, but it was of happiness and relief, mostly. She had no idea how to use this wand. But she knew that she was going to do exactly what Isadore knew that she could do, although she didn’t know exactly how or when. But she was going to do it, that was a fact. It was as if he were psychic, and so was she.
Cassie realized that she had nothing to worry about. Cassie sat there for several minutes, bending over and clasping her arms around herself rocking back and forth in further comfort.
It was raining very lightly now, by the time Cassie had gotten the strength and courage to stand back up. Her hood of her cloak was down and she had her wand out in front of her, and it was pointing to a small boulder that was in the sand. She had gotten down off of the cliff and by the creek now, and she was going to try something out. She wasn’t sure what the boulder was going to do exactly. But she knew that it was going to be destroyed.
All she had to do was swish and point to the rock and say her magic words.
Words that had never been spoken to her before, but they had suddenly popped into her head, like a distant memory. But she didn’t remember ever being told the words by anyone before.
The thing that annoyed her the most was that her sister “knew” that she was right. She was convinced of it completely and that she, Cassie, was the wrong one, she just had to be. And there was no way going around it.
Her eyes began to glow amber again. But again, Cassie was not able to see.
She swished her wand in an angry, violent fashion and pointed it directly at the boulder.
“Exploentia!” she said.
BOOM.
The boulder instantly exploded into millions of pieces very close to the size of sand. It not only broke up the boulder, but it just about obliterated it. This was a very powerful spell to be used. And she couldn’t even believe that she was doing a spell in the first place. If the wrong person saw what she was doing, she would for sure be dead. But she was sure that no one was around and she was hoping it would stay that way. She had much more to practice.
Defense spell, is what came into her mind now. As she had no other opponent with her this instant. The words came to her to just practice the motions and the words, even though there wasn’t an actual spell coming at her at the moment. But she was sure there would be in the future, but she wasn’t exactly sure from who. Were there others like her? Isadore had certainly been one. But was he from around here? Were there more like her here? Was her affliction now permanent? How could she hide it for the rest of her life?
These were all questions that weren’t pertinent right now, she knew that, but they were still bugging her out of pure curiosity’s sake, and she knew that they wouldn’t be answered any time soon. That annoyed her.
She put her arm up in a block over her face, and in a diagonal position, her fist was clenched and she whispered something.
“Protectonia.” she said.
She didn’t say it very loudly, but she knew it was affective just the same. As long as she would say the words clearly, there wouldn’t be a problem. Along with the arm motion, she would be protected by any harmful spell, or at least, ones used against her at that moment. She was suddenly scared, really scared. Who was her opponent? And the realization that they were actually going to use these spells on her were terrifying. What type of monster would she be fighting? Would it be human? Was it James? She was overwhelmed with fear.
She tucked her wand away in her cloak and she ran down the sand. She climbed up the cliff in quite the desperate hurriedness and ran just about all the way home. She didn’t want this to be real anymore. She had wished she was dreaming.
By the time that she had reached the house, luckily, no one was outside and she could go in without a problem. She didn’t want to talk to anyone at all and she just wanted to be alone. But she was hungry and she had to go home.
After she ate, she ran back upstairs into her room and she shut the door. She went under her bed and grabbed her blanket and pulled it out from under the bed. She placed it onto the bed and unwrapped it. Her wand was inside. It would be safe here. And she would be safe. But no one could find it. She wrapped the blanket back up and put it back underneath her bed.
It was night time now, and the rain was still drip dropping. It didn’t seem natural. That’s when she remembered the blood moon. But it was cloudy and rainy. She wouldn’t be able to see it. But maybe she could. Cassie grabbed her cloak and she went outside onto the back porch. She looked up to the sky and sure enough, between the traveling clouds, she could see the big red orb that was the blood moon, and it was hanging in the sky like a certain death omen. She was sure of it. Someone was going to die, and it wasn’t going to be anyone in her family.
Suddenly, something caught her eye and it was coming from the forest. Something was alight in the big reddish light of the blood moon. It was a full grown man and he was running across the forest’s edge. At first, she thought it was Isadore.
But no, it was Emmit.
What was he doing here?
The big, muscular brother of James, with his black hair flowing behind him, he finally entered into the forest.
Without thinking about it, Cassie took off after him.
She didn’t have her wand, she thought as she made her way through the forest, keeping her distance away from Emmit and being stealthy quiet about it, but, she didn’t care. She wasn’t going to need it.
Emmit was running towards someone else, she could see up above. She hid behind a tree as she was worried she would be seen by the person standing there. It was another man. It was James.
Cassie’s stomach churned. Something wrong was going on here. Something disturbing. At least she wasn’t that surprised. But the not knowing part was the worst for her. The two men were talking.
Emmit pointed towards the tree suddenly where Cassie was hiding. A sudden fear struck her nervous system, thinking that he was calling her out for where she was hiding. But then she saw that James was looking beyond the tree, and at something else. She was relieved a bit, but she heard a coughing, and she realized that somebody else was there, a man, in the bushes, and at a diagonal from where she was standing. This person, that’s who they were pointing at. But why? And what was he doing here? She felt uneasy about it. Although, she wasn’t really sure why. But, at the same time, she knew how suspicious James was and all of the weird things that he and his brother did, and so did other members of their family for that matter. And now, there was a man coughing in the bushes and he seemed to be lying down. Why was he lying down? Something wasn’t right.