©Kira Morris
Publisher: Kira Morris
Publication Date: June 26, 2017
Witch Awakening
Sister Witches Series
By Kira Morris
“Most people are good and occasionally do something they know is bad. Some people are bad and struggle every day to keep it under control. Others are corrupt to the core and don’t give a damn, as long as they don’t get caught. But evil is a completely different creature. Evil is bad that believes it’s good.” Karen Marie Moning
Prologue:
Colonial Massachusetts
Salem Village 1692
Elizabeth hesitantly watched from the dark shadows of the woods as her sisters, Rebecca and Bridget, were being wrenched up the steps of the gallows. Colonist from the village chanted “Witch” “Kill the Witch.” Elizabeth felt as if her heart had stopped and her blood had frozen. Time had stopped moving, and she was trapped in this nightmare. Would she be imprisoned by this pain for all of eternity?
Sir William, the village appointed Governor of Massachusetts, was standing in front as her sisters’ accuser and cowardly leader of the mob applauding the death and murder of two innocent women. Beside him Edward stood with shame. To Elizabeth today he would not only hang her sisters, but he would kill any trust she had in humanity for he had plunged the knife in her back and all the way through to her heart. Walls erected around her heart and no man would ever be given the key to unlock the door.
If only she could go back to before the knife sank and she was betrayed. No! This yearlong nightmare had to end as most nightmares ended. Innocent blood would once again be shed.
Elizabeth could not control the tornado of emotions making their way to the surface. Fear, anger, confusion, but mostly guilt was written across her face. Yes, this was her fault. Never again would she be so trusting. Ironically, as the ominous grey storm clouds slithered across the sky bringing rain and wind that washes away the dirt, Elizabeth recalled the day this had blown up in her face.
“Elizabeth, there is nothing I can do. Mary is sick with the virus that is killing most of the village people. If I help her the villagers will investigate and the people will mistake my gift as evil magic. People never accept what they do not understand, instead they seek to destroy it.” Rebecca expressed. “We will be marked as evil. I cannot do it. This puts us all a risk,” Rebecca added.
“But she is my only friend. She is like a sister to me. I will parish of loneliness without her. The village already treats us as if we have the plague. We are avoided on the street and in the market. We are forced into isolation and have to live outside of the village. Mary is the only one who has always treated me with respect. You were given the healing gift for a reason sister. Please do not let her die,” Elizabeth begged. She loved her friend very much and couldn’t stand to lose her, but she worried too that her brother wouldn’t be able to handle the loss. Her feelings for him were as strong as the ones for his sister.
“It does seem to be your destiny, sister,” Bridget chimed in. “Maybe this time will be different. Possibly the village people will be grateful and be open to our gifts,” Bridget expounded recalling the history of their family that had them living in seclusion.
“After all, it couldn’t get any worse,” Elizabeth added glad for her sister’s support. Rebecca could never hold out when there was two against one.
Rebecca frowned. As the oldest, she felt responsible for her sisters after the death of their parents to a freak fire that cost them their parents and home.
The responsibility had made her over protective of her sisters. The three were known in their coven as the charmed ones. Rebecca was a healer both in channeling and herbal healing. Bridget was a spirit talker of the dead and animals. While Elizabeth would not get her gift until her twenty-first year, she would be able to control the weather. It was predicted that the three together would be very powerful. What good would that power be if they couldn’t use it to benefit their people? Together they would use their gifts for good of humanity and never for evil. Many in the coven feared that there were those that would try to use the girls for personal gain.
“Elizabeth, you must understand that we have to use our gifts wisely and cautiously. If our capabilities were to be discovered by evil humans, we could be used for malicious and hateful affairs. Once you come into your abilities, we will be better able to shield ourselves from their vile control. Until then we are all vulnerable,” Rebecca voiced her concerns.
Elizabeth replied, “We are not defenseless, sister. Besides, Mary’s family would never betray our secret. We can trust them with our very own lives. Please, do this for me.”
Rebecca sighed, “As you wish, sister. It shall be done.”
Elizabeth wasted no time getting her sister over to the Johnson estate. Mary was near death’s door and there was little time left. Mary’s parents reeked of desperation and hopelessness. Death was tangible. Waiting patiently in the shadows for its prey. The sisters were carted into Mary’s room were the smell of death was strongest.
The girls wasted no time starting the ritual. Elizabeth helped arrange the purple candles around Mary’s bed while Bridget filled the vase with fresh violets and water. The girls ignited the candles one at a time until the room was illuminated with flickering light.
Rebecca began the chant, placed her hands over Mary’s ailment, and focused on the sickness. As if physically pulling it from her body, Rebecca began the fight against death. Once Elizabeth came into her own powers, Rebecca’s powers would be strengthen so that the ritual wouldn’t be necessary, but for now they would use spells to bust her powers.
Continuing the next step in the ritual, Elizabeth cut a heart out of purple paper and wrote Mary’s name on one side and the spell on the other side. She poked a hole in the top of the heart and threaded the white string through it, tied it, and then attached it to the vase of flowers.
By the bed Rebecca’s hands began to glow a deep mystical purple then it lightened to a healthy summer blue. Like smoke the sickness vapors materialized from her pores and floated to the ceiling. Bridget lit an herb and incense to eradicate the fumes.
Just as Rebecca collapsed to the wood floors, Mary’s body seemed to relax for the first time. The color returned to her face and she seemed at peace. Elizabeth breathed for the first time since entering her friend’s room.
Bridget helped her sister to her feet and over to a chair. Usually using her power drained her for days, and she would need lots of rest. Elizabeth had a moment of guilt for leaving her sister vulnerable. But once she saw that the rosy color return to Mary’s cheeks and the peaceful look on her face, the guilt faded. She only hoped it would be worth it in the end.
Elizabeth went to her friend’s bed side and placed her hand on Mary’s head. Running her fingers through the hair that was mated from days of thrashing and sweat.
“Her temperature is already returning to normal. This is a good sign. She will be saved. Thank the stars,” she told her sisters as Bridget helped Rebecca out the door.
Elizabeth looked back at Mary and kneeled beside her bed. “Mary can you hear me.” Mary gave a soft moan and slowly opened her beautiful blue eyes. Elizabeth greeted her with a smile and a kiss to the forehead.
Mary’s family rushed in and Elizabeth stepped away from her friend. As she stepped into the hall outside of the room, Edward, Mary’s older brother, approached her. Confusion and anger played for dominance on his face. He seemed conflicted about how to handle the situation. Elizabeth thought that maybe he was happy for his sister but worried about how the village would take the news.
“You have messed with fate. And fate will seek her revenge,” he warned as he charged out of the house slamming the door behind him.
Elizabeth had expected him to understand. For weeks she had been sharing information about her family with him. He had always seemed interested and never treated her like a freak. For the first time, he treated her like the people of the village and piece of her heart broke off.
Elizabeth wanted to go after him, to explain, and to make him understand, but it was too late. Fate was already playing her hand.
The scream that zapped Elizabeth back from the past came from Bridget as the floor fell out from under her. Elizabeth forced herself to watch as the life leaked from her sister’s body. The girls struggled to hold themselves up, but soon gravity would win the battle.
Rebecca seemed to be soundlessly chanting a spell that would be rumored as a curse, but Elizabeth knew it was a message to her. Her eyes met with Rebecca’s and a vision of what she had to do grew in her mind. But she had to hurry because the spell her sister was casting would only last so long.
Elizabeth rushed into the musty, dark cave that had been her home for the last year. She had moved her family stuff into the cave on the Johnson estate at Mary’s request to hide from the authorities that had taken her sisters. She liked the irony of planning her sisters’ escape on Edward’s own property. For days she combed through spell books looking for something to save them, but nothing worked without her powers.
Panic spilled off of her as she looked for the elements needed to cast the spell of reincarnation. There was little time. Her sister’s spell holding their spirits here would fade soon and all would be lost. If she could send them to Summerland they could wait to be reunited. Unfinished business would force a rebirth and her sisters would wake her.
Franticly, she looked for the spell book she needed. Everything they owned was here to this chamber, but never had she given up hope that she would be back at home with her sisters after the trials. That hope was now dead. Greed had taken it like a thief in the night who comes into your home disguised as a friend taking not just your valuables but your trust as well.
Now, she stood in what would become her cell looking at all the piles of books, herbs, concoctions, and the remains of her old life. How was she going to find the book in time in all this mess? Reservations filtrated her thoughts like a demon on her shoulder.
Just as she was ready surrender to doubt, a light breeze moved over her cheek then became stronger like a small tornado. It moved around the room lighting on objects then moving on to the next. Like a spirit rummaging through her stuff as if it knew what it was looking for.
Finally, the wind hovered over a set of ancient books her family brought over from the old world. Nudging them over onto the dirty floor as saying look here then the gyrating wind vanished after taking a moment for congratulate itself.
Elizabeth rushed over to the books and praised the goddess. There sprawling on the grimy floor was the book she had been searching for conveniently open to the incantation required to do the spell.
“Thank you, sisters. Pray that this works.”
As she was preparing the room for the spell, Mary yelled her name from the cave entrance; her voice echoed through the cave alerting Elizabeth that she had ran out of time.
Mary would only have come looking for her after the hanging had concluded and her sisters’ bodies were being prepared for burial. She had to complete her task before the witching hour of their death. Sun light was fading and so was her chances of saving her sisters.
“I am back here, Mary. Please hurry in.” Elizabeth yelled back panic in her voice.
When Mary came into view her pale and blotchy face from crying told Elizabeth that her sisters’ execution was not easy for her friend to watch and that guilt would forever be her companion. Elizabeth moved faster for she was truly out of time and by saving her sisters Mary could be relieved of the burden her brother had caused them all.
“I am so sorry. Beth. My dad did all he could to save them. His lawyer said that the town was a mob after blood and wouldn’t listen to reason. This is all my fault,” Mary exclaimed and her tears started to flow once again.
“No, saving you was the right thing to do. If anyone is culpable, it is Edward. His fear of the unknown and unexplained will be the cause of his curse,” Elizabeth replied.
“He will never trust or be trusted. He will live like the criminal he has become, and because of his poor choices, he will not see old age. So be this curse on him and the first born child in every generation to come.”
Elizabeth looked at Mary with sympathy and knew she would not beg for forgiveness for the brother she loved. Elizabeth took pity on her friend and added, “If any generation were to pick love and honor over power and greed, the curse will be broken.”
Unable to dwell on the pain that Edward had caused, Elizabeth changed the subject. “I will save my sisters, Mary.” Elizabeth held the spell book for Mary to examine.
“There is a reincarnation spell that will send them to a place called Summerland where they will wait for a new life and rebirth.” She began lighting candles. “All witches reach Summerland eventually, but this spell should fast track them. Plus, it allows them to remember their past lives that they would otherwise forget.”
“During the hanging, Rebecca cast a holding spell that will allow them to remain here as spirits until midnight. I have until then to complete the spell.” The spell could only work while their spirits were still in this realm or their spirits would be lost forever.
“Once the spell is cast, the cave will encase me in a tomb that will only be opened once the new sisters have reached their twenty-first birthday and have received their powers. Their past memories should emerge with their powers drawing them to this cave from anywhere in the world. At that time, the cave will open and I will be vulnerable. My only hope is to leave behind a guarding to protect the cave.”
“The spell will put me in a deep trance that will stop aging. I will not need food or water. A doom will surround me like a casket, and I will sleep until all three sister join as one.”
Elizabeth prepared an area in the center of the cave and laid a blanket over the floor. Unlit candles for placed around the blanket. She moved to the middle of the blanket and put the spell book at her feet.
“I do not know how long this will take. Could be twenty-one years or it could be two-hundred years. Will you watch over the cave and protect me until the day of my return?” Elizabeth asked. Mary was the only person she would trust with her and her sister’s lives. Because Mary would inherit the property, Mary’s children would carry the legacy on until her return.
Once again the pain from Edward’s betrayal stabbed at her chest. Without her sisters, she now had nothing to live for. Edward had taken it all away.
“I swear an oath in this very cave to be your guardian, my children, and their children will watch and protect you until you wake. It is the least my family can do. It will be their heritage.” Mary determined.
The girls embraced and said their good byes one last time. Elizabeth watched as her best friend plodded from the cave. With a heavy heart, she whispered the spell that would trap her for many centuries.
Mary watched as the cave mouth sealed like top on a pot of stew then the earth rocked as substantial boulders rose up out of the ground around the cave marking the tomb for all time. Cryptic marking begin to appear on stones over the entrance as if some invisible person was writing them. The ground rumbled like an old man in winter, and plants sprang up over the hill like a blanket putting a baby to sleep.
Mary swore an oath to the heavens that her friend would someday get the life that Edward and the village had stolen. “I will not let you down my friend. I owe you my life and the life of my offspring.” Mary fell to ground and sobbed for her loss until night forced her to find her way home.
Back To Showcase Page
Buy The Book
Sir William, the village appointed Governor of Massachusetts, was standing in front as her sisters’ accuser and cowardly leader of the mob applauding the death and murder of two innocent women. Beside him Edward stood with shame. To Elizabeth today he would not only hang her sisters, but he would kill any trust she had in humanity for he had plunged the knife in her back and all the way through to her heart. Walls erected around her heart and no man would ever be given the key to unlock the door.
If only she could go back to before the knife sank and she was betrayed. No! This yearlong nightmare had to end as most nightmares ended. Innocent blood would once again be shed.
Elizabeth could not control the tornado of emotions making their way to the surface. Fear, anger, confusion, but mostly guilt was written across her face. Yes, this was her fault. Never again would she be so trusting. Ironically, as the ominous grey storm clouds slithered across the sky bringing rain and wind that washes away the dirt, Elizabeth recalled the day this had blown up in her face.
“Elizabeth, there is nothing I can do. Mary is sick with the virus that is killing most of the village people. If I help her the villagers will investigate and the people will mistake my gift as evil magic. People never accept what they do not understand, instead they seek to destroy it.” Rebecca expressed. “We will be marked as evil. I cannot do it. This puts us all a risk,” Rebecca added.
“But she is my only friend. She is like a sister to me. I will parish of loneliness without her. The village already treats us as if we have the plague. We are avoided on the street and in the market. We are forced into isolation and have to live outside of the village. Mary is the only one who has always treated me with respect. You were given the healing gift for a reason sister. Please do not let her die,” Elizabeth begged. She loved her friend very much and couldn’t stand to lose her, but she worried too that her brother wouldn’t be able to handle the loss. Her feelings for him were as strong as the ones for his sister.
“It does seem to be your destiny, sister,” Bridget chimed in. “Maybe this time will be different. Possibly the village people will be grateful and be open to our gifts,” Bridget expounded recalling the history of their family that had them living in seclusion.
“After all, it couldn’t get any worse,” Elizabeth added glad for her sister’s support. Rebecca could never hold out when there was two against one.
Rebecca frowned. As the oldest, she felt responsible for her sisters after the death of their parents to a freak fire that cost them their parents and home.
The responsibility had made her over protective of her sisters. The three were known in their coven as the charmed ones. Rebecca was a healer both in channeling and herbal healing. Bridget was a spirit talker of the dead and animals. While Elizabeth would not get her gift until her twenty-first year, she would be able to control the weather. It was predicted that the three together would be very powerful. What good would that power be if they couldn’t use it to benefit their people? Together they would use their gifts for good of humanity and never for evil. Many in the coven feared that there were those that would try to use the girls for personal gain.
“Elizabeth, you must understand that we have to use our gifts wisely and cautiously. If our capabilities were to be discovered by evil humans, we could be used for malicious and hateful affairs. Once you come into your abilities, we will be better able to shield ourselves from their vile control. Until then we are all vulnerable,” Rebecca voiced her concerns.
Elizabeth replied, “We are not defenseless, sister. Besides, Mary’s family would never betray our secret. We can trust them with our very own lives. Please, do this for me.”
Rebecca sighed, “As you wish, sister. It shall be done.”
Elizabeth wasted no time getting her sister over to the Johnson estate. Mary was near death’s door and there was little time left. Mary’s parents reeked of desperation and hopelessness. Death was tangible. Waiting patiently in the shadows for its prey. The sisters were carted into Mary’s room were the smell of death was strongest.
The girls wasted no time starting the ritual. Elizabeth helped arrange the purple candles around Mary’s bed while Bridget filled the vase with fresh violets and water. The girls ignited the candles one at a time until the room was illuminated with flickering light.
Rebecca began the chant, placed her hands over Mary’s ailment, and focused on the sickness. As if physically pulling it from her body, Rebecca began the fight against death. Once Elizabeth came into her own powers, Rebecca’s powers would be strengthen so that the ritual wouldn’t be necessary, but for now they would use spells to bust her powers.
Continuing the next step in the ritual, Elizabeth cut a heart out of purple paper and wrote Mary’s name on one side and the spell on the other side. She poked a hole in the top of the heart and threaded the white string through it, tied it, and then attached it to the vase of flowers.
By the bed Rebecca’s hands began to glow a deep mystical purple then it lightened to a healthy summer blue. Like smoke the sickness vapors materialized from her pores and floated to the ceiling. Bridget lit an herb and incense to eradicate the fumes.
Just as Rebecca collapsed to the wood floors, Mary’s body seemed to relax for the first time. The color returned to her face and she seemed at peace. Elizabeth breathed for the first time since entering her friend’s room.
Bridget helped her sister to her feet and over to a chair. Usually using her power drained her for days, and she would need lots of rest. Elizabeth had a moment of guilt for leaving her sister vulnerable. But once she saw that the rosy color return to Mary’s cheeks and the peaceful look on her face, the guilt faded. She only hoped it would be worth it in the end.
Elizabeth went to her friend’s bed side and placed her hand on Mary’s head. Running her fingers through the hair that was mated from days of thrashing and sweat.
“Her temperature is already returning to normal. This is a good sign. She will be saved. Thank the stars,” she told her sisters as Bridget helped Rebecca out the door.
Elizabeth looked back at Mary and kneeled beside her bed. “Mary can you hear me.” Mary gave a soft moan and slowly opened her beautiful blue eyes. Elizabeth greeted her with a smile and a kiss to the forehead.
Mary’s family rushed in and Elizabeth stepped away from her friend. As she stepped into the hall outside of the room, Edward, Mary’s older brother, approached her. Confusion and anger played for dominance on his face. He seemed conflicted about how to handle the situation. Elizabeth thought that maybe he was happy for his sister but worried about how the village would take the news.
“You have messed with fate. And fate will seek her revenge,” he warned as he charged out of the house slamming the door behind him.
Elizabeth had expected him to understand. For weeks she had been sharing information about her family with him. He had always seemed interested and never treated her like a freak. For the first time, he treated her like the people of the village and piece of her heart broke off.
Elizabeth wanted to go after him, to explain, and to make him understand, but it was too late. Fate was already playing her hand.
The scream that zapped Elizabeth back from the past came from Bridget as the floor fell out from under her. Elizabeth forced herself to watch as the life leaked from her sister’s body. The girls struggled to hold themselves up, but soon gravity would win the battle.
Rebecca seemed to be soundlessly chanting a spell that would be rumored as a curse, but Elizabeth knew it was a message to her. Her eyes met with Rebecca’s and a vision of what she had to do grew in her mind. But she had to hurry because the spell her sister was casting would only last so long.
Elizabeth rushed into the musty, dark cave that had been her home for the last year. She had moved her family stuff into the cave on the Johnson estate at Mary’s request to hide from the authorities that had taken her sisters. She liked the irony of planning her sisters’ escape on Edward’s own property. For days she combed through spell books looking for something to save them, but nothing worked without her powers.
Panic spilled off of her as she looked for the elements needed to cast the spell of reincarnation. There was little time. Her sister’s spell holding their spirits here would fade soon and all would be lost. If she could send them to Summerland they could wait to be reunited. Unfinished business would force a rebirth and her sisters would wake her.
Franticly, she looked for the spell book she needed. Everything they owned was here to this chamber, but never had she given up hope that she would be back at home with her sisters after the trials. That hope was now dead. Greed had taken it like a thief in the night who comes into your home disguised as a friend taking not just your valuables but your trust as well.
Now, she stood in what would become her cell looking at all the piles of books, herbs, concoctions, and the remains of her old life. How was she going to find the book in time in all this mess? Reservations filtrated her thoughts like a demon on her shoulder.
Just as she was ready surrender to doubt, a light breeze moved over her cheek then became stronger like a small tornado. It moved around the room lighting on objects then moving on to the next. Like a spirit rummaging through her stuff as if it knew what it was looking for.
Finally, the wind hovered over a set of ancient books her family brought over from the old world. Nudging them over onto the dirty floor as saying look here then the gyrating wind vanished after taking a moment for congratulate itself.
Elizabeth rushed over to the books and praised the goddess. There sprawling on the grimy floor was the book she had been searching for conveniently open to the incantation required to do the spell.
“Thank you, sisters. Pray that this works.”
As she was preparing the room for the spell, Mary yelled her name from the cave entrance; her voice echoed through the cave alerting Elizabeth that she had ran out of time.
Mary would only have come looking for her after the hanging had concluded and her sisters’ bodies were being prepared for burial. She had to complete her task before the witching hour of their death. Sun light was fading and so was her chances of saving her sisters.
“I am back here, Mary. Please hurry in.” Elizabeth yelled back panic in her voice.
When Mary came into view her pale and blotchy face from crying told Elizabeth that her sisters’ execution was not easy for her friend to watch and that guilt would forever be her companion. Elizabeth moved faster for she was truly out of time and by saving her sisters Mary could be relieved of the burden her brother had caused them all.
“I am so sorry. Beth. My dad did all he could to save them. His lawyer said that the town was a mob after blood and wouldn’t listen to reason. This is all my fault,” Mary exclaimed and her tears started to flow once again.
“No, saving you was the right thing to do. If anyone is culpable, it is Edward. His fear of the unknown and unexplained will be the cause of his curse,” Elizabeth replied.
“He will never trust or be trusted. He will live like the criminal he has become, and because of his poor choices, he will not see old age. So be this curse on him and the first born child in every generation to come.”
Elizabeth looked at Mary with sympathy and knew she would not beg for forgiveness for the brother she loved. Elizabeth took pity on her friend and added, “If any generation were to pick love and honor over power and greed, the curse will be broken.”
Unable to dwell on the pain that Edward had caused, Elizabeth changed the subject. “I will save my sisters, Mary.” Elizabeth held the spell book for Mary to examine.
“There is a reincarnation spell that will send them to a place called Summerland where they will wait for a new life and rebirth.” She began lighting candles. “All witches reach Summerland eventually, but this spell should fast track them. Plus, it allows them to remember their past lives that they would otherwise forget.”
“During the hanging, Rebecca cast a holding spell that will allow them to remain here as spirits until midnight. I have until then to complete the spell.” The spell could only work while their spirits were still in this realm or their spirits would be lost forever.
“Once the spell is cast, the cave will encase me in a tomb that will only be opened once the new sisters have reached their twenty-first birthday and have received their powers. Their past memories should emerge with their powers drawing them to this cave from anywhere in the world. At that time, the cave will open and I will be vulnerable. My only hope is to leave behind a guarding to protect the cave.”
“The spell will put me in a deep trance that will stop aging. I will not need food or water. A doom will surround me like a casket, and I will sleep until all three sister join as one.”
Elizabeth prepared an area in the center of the cave and laid a blanket over the floor. Unlit candles for placed around the blanket. She moved to the middle of the blanket and put the spell book at her feet.
“I do not know how long this will take. Could be twenty-one years or it could be two-hundred years. Will you watch over the cave and protect me until the day of my return?” Elizabeth asked. Mary was the only person she would trust with her and her sister’s lives. Because Mary would inherit the property, Mary’s children would carry the legacy on until her return.
Once again the pain from Edward’s betrayal stabbed at her chest. Without her sisters, she now had nothing to live for. Edward had taken it all away.
“I swear an oath in this very cave to be your guardian, my children, and their children will watch and protect you until you wake. It is the least my family can do. It will be their heritage.” Mary determined.
The girls embraced and said their good byes one last time. Elizabeth watched as her best friend plodded from the cave. With a heavy heart, she whispered the spell that would trap her for many centuries.
Mary watched as the cave mouth sealed like top on a pot of stew then the earth rocked as substantial boulders rose up out of the ground around the cave marking the tomb for all time. Cryptic marking begin to appear on stones over the entrance as if some invisible person was writing them. The ground rumbled like an old man in winter, and plants sprang up over the hill like a blanket putting a baby to sleep.
Mary swore an oath to the heavens that her friend would someday get the life that Edward and the village had stolen. “I will not let you down my friend. I owe you my life and the life of my offspring.” Mary fell to ground and sobbed for her loss until night forced her to find her way home.
Back To Showcase Page
Buy The Book