A New Witch in Town (the Other Side of the Moon) (A Modern Tale about the Witches of Springsville Book 3) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title and Copyright

  Dedication and Acknowledgements

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  A New Witch in Town (the Other Side of the Moon)

  (A Modern Tale about the Witches of Springsville)

  Book 3

  Dani Corlee

  ♥♥♥

  Copyright © 2015 Dani Corlee

  http://www.danicorlee.com

  [email protected]

  All rights reserved

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  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without the prior written permission from the author and publisher, except in the case of a reviewer, who may quote brief passages embodied in critical articles or in a review.

  This book is a work of fiction. All the characters, names, places and situations are products of the writers imagination or have been used fictitiously.

  Any resemblance to persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  DEDICATION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  To all my readers who encouraged me with their emails and comments.

  CHAPTER 1

  Kim walked next to Lucille, in silence, each one looking ahead on the foreign streets. She looked at her friend furtively. Lucille was concealing her appearance, wearing a dark blonde bob. She had been instructed not to chew, but Kim suspected that the small bump on her cheek hid a piece of gum.

  They had been walking for about 10 minutes now, knowing the directions they had studied by heart on a map. From the main square turn to the right, walk few yards then turn to the left. Go ahead and then enter the blue front door. Exit from the front door facing the opposite road.

  She smelled freshly baked bread and castile soap and breathed deeply. Still pretending she was only looking at her steps, she tried to take a look around. The small lane was partially lit by the morning sun. Potted plants were placed all over the lane, especially near the doors, and Kim wondered how some of those people could ever get into their houses. Although the lane was messy, with all those vases of every size and color, and the houses were old and their facades ruined, the overall impression was of a well-maintained place, as if any detail, even the peeling paint, was created on purpose. A muffled sound of plates and a low television burst caught Kim by surprise, reminding her the place was inhabited. They turned again and reached the old grocery at the end of the lane. The Chinese owner looked puzzled at their intrusion, but then turned his head and went on serving the only client while they entered in the back of the store and exited from there. Once again, they had to enter a front door and went down on the basement, which looked like an ancient cellar. From there they passed through a maze of narrow corridors till they reached what looked and smelled like a sewer.

  A far-off squeak made Kim startle. She looked at Lucille, who whispered a careless don't worry and hurried toward a light in the distance.

  The torch was beside a rusty metal door that opened with an annoying creak. Kim shivered, her hair standing on end.

  Lucille carefully closed the door behind them, blocking it with a hook.

  They were now facing a bigger door made of moth-eaten wood, with a metal knocker shaped like a dragon head with a ruby in one eye, the stone in the other eye missing. Although dirty and ruined, it looked precious and contrasted with the modest door. Lucille knocked twice and the door opened.

  The room was tiny, and a smell of humidity greeted them as they entered. Kim felt the hair rising on her neck. She looked around, getting used to the dim, greenish light, even lower than in the corridors they had just passed. Lucille gestured to her to follow her, and they headed to the arched passage on the other side.

  My first time in Paris and the only things I see are some little side streets and the sewers, Kim thought, shaking her head, thinking about how strange the situation was.

  The light at the end of the corridor was brighter, even though half blocked by Lucille, who was quickly walking before her.

  Finally they reached their destination, or at least Kim hoped their journey had ended.

  This was a large room with a relatively low ceiling. The light was coming from a huge crystal ball placed in the center, set on a big wood stand covered with intricate carvings.

  The crystal ball must have been at least 10 feet in diameter, but Kim was too tired and too scared to be surprised.

  Around the ball, in a perfect circle, there were 13 chairs which looked as if they were made of tree branches. Looking at the one nearest her, Kim suspected those branches could be human bones and felt her knees trembling.

  She looked again at the ball, which looked alive. Inside there were lights and colorful waves dancing like a fire on a fireplace. Hypnotized, she followed their swirls till a tongue of fire went toward her and she jumped backwards with fear.

  “Don't look at it,” Lucille whispered.

  “Why?” she replied in the grip of terror. “Will the magic hurt me?”

  Lucille laughed, though still in a low voice. “No, staring at lights can be dangerous for your eyes! Didn't your parents teach you?” she teased.

  Kim looked away, flashes and silver spirals still dancing in front of her. Blinded by the lights, she closed her eyes, only to see those spirals still dancing in her mind.

  She opened her eyes and two dark silhouettes appeared in front of her, on the other side of the room. She held her breath and her hand gripped Lucille's arm in search of help. Other dark figures seemed to stand behind them, and once again Kim felt all her body hair stand from fear.

  Lucille chewed loudly.

  “Lucille!” a familiar voice scolded her friend.

  Kim narrowed her eyes to get a better view from where the voice had come from, and finally she could recognize one of the two people. Isidora! In the dim light, which was lighting them only on one side, the other woman seemed to be her exact copy. The same body structure, the same fiery eyes, the same jaw line partially lit by the crystal ball.

  “My dear,” Isidora greeted her.

  “Queen,” the other woman said in a low voice and lowered her head in a respectful gesture.

  Not knowing what to say or what to do, Kim waited in silence. Isidora approached her followed by the other woman, still lit only on her left side.

  “This is Odessa, my sister.”

  Kim's smile turned to a surprised gaze as soon as she could see Odessa closely.

  She looked like Isidora's twin, not just like a sister. Only her hair, the color and the style, and her dress made her different, and so... exotic. She had long, strawberry-blonde hair, kept up in a loose bun held in place by a big hairpin engraved with small fake diamonds.

  Her long, gypsy-style light blue skirt was accompanied by a loose white shirt made of linen with lace appliques. The overall look was
quite eccentric for Kim's taste, and she guessed it was probably a normal look for a French woman.

  “Nice to meet you,” Kim muttered as soon as she realized she was staring at her. She felt she had to say something to make conversation, but as soon as she opened her mouth she realized the situation was too absurd for her to try to follow normal social conventions. Still, she continued:

  “I'm sure you are very happy to finally see each other. I know Isidora missed you. Honestly, I don't understand why you cannot just teleport and meet any time you feel like it.”

  Odessa nodded and turned to Isidora, who intervened.

  “My dear, it isn't that easy. Long-distance teleportings require a lot of energy and concentration. Moreover, there are rules we all are required to follow. We cannot move around as we please. Just as humanity has countries, boundaries, and papers to show to enter a country, we have some requirements to follow. We need to protect our territories and communities, and long ago we set rules to accomplish such protection. We need to ask for permission before moving to another community so that we are allowed entrance.

  “It's like having a burglar alarm. If a witch tries to pass without permission, the alarm goes off. It's a powerful spell, different for each country, which each master passes to her successor.”

  “Oh, therefore Dolly passed it to you... wait a minute! Protection from what? I understood witches are peaceful and there aren't battles or wars!”

  Dark shadows were still dancing on the darker side of the room, and Kim didn't felt totally calm. She shivered.

  “Are you cold?” Odessa asked, offering Kim her black shawl. The movement cast a big shadow on the wall, and the long fringes seemed like bony fingers trying to reach her. If Odessa wanted her to feel more comfortable, Kim ended up even more scared than before.

  Kim gestured a no with her head. She realized she should ask questions, because nobody seemed willing to start giving her any explanations.

  “What is this place? Why did you want me to come here?”

  “Take a seat, my dear.” Isidora pointed one of the chairs and Kim looked at it, quite worried.

  “It looks, er, quite old. Won't it break?” She didn't dare ask what it was made of.

  “Oh no!” Odessa smiled. “The oak wood they are made of has survived for many thousands of years and it will survive still many others,” she explained. After a life spent in Paris, her pronunciation had a slight French sound.

  Kim sighed. Reassured about the fact the chairs weren't made of human bones, she sat down, finding herself extremely comfortable, as if she had just sat in a modern, ergonomic armchair.

  The other three witches took a seat too, Lucille on one side and the two sisters on the other. They were facing the giant crystal ball, and to look at each other they had to turn their heads because the chairs were fixed, but Kim found the ball really hypnotizing and it took great self control not to lose her mind on it, or better, in it. The ball seemed to call her with a silent singsong, and Kim felt like surrendering to it but had a sudden thought of mermaids. She resisted and concentrated on the two sisters and their tale.

  “This is an ancient shelter, built under the Seine to hide against the Inquisition.”

  Kim looked at the roof, hoping it wouldn't decide to collapse under the big river just when she was there.

  If Odessa noticed her glance and her worried expression, she didn't show it and kept on talking.

  “Everything you see here is very ancient and was brought here to rescue it from the people who wanted to execute the witches. We did our best to save the highest number of poor women who were condemned, mostly only out of revenge, sometimes by men whose courtship they didn't accept, or by women who envied them, or only because they were ill, or many a time because they were too clever in a world where women were often only considered barely more intelligent than animals. Only very few real witches were imprisoned, and most of them were able to escape. But all the others were non-witches.”

  Kim listened and nodded, still unsure why she was there and what this had to do with her.

  “We were talking about the need to be protected against... I still don't know what.” Kim didn't want them to forget about what they were explaining. Isidora had the tendency to give her only hints of information, which instead seemed to be essential.

  “Yes, you are right. You should know everything,” Isidora began.

  Finally! Kim thought. Better late than never.

  CHAPTER 2

  “Thousands of years ago, slavery was the norm. Witches and non-witches didn't really go together, each group living not even totally aware of the other and not caring about finding out about each other. Also, the other creatures, known as the nature genre—fairies, nymphs, sprites, white demons, and light spirits—were all living separate from each other.

  Witches had made slaves of their criminals and in some cases of weak, ill witches. Those who they thought not otherwise useful to the community.

  At the same time, non-witches had made slaves of their own enemies and those who couldn't fight for their freedom.

  As time passed, witches found fewer and fewer slaves available, when no witches dared to commit a crime anymore and luckily illnesses were not weakening anybody.

  With such a lack of slaves, regardless of the fact that witches in most cases had enough power to do things by themselves, the idea that non-witches, too, could be slaves started to circulate. After all, they couldn't rebel against the witches' power and therefore they were perfect candidates for the vacant role.

  But not all the witches were in agreement. Some objected that non-witches were intelligent and they didn't deserve such treatment. Others replied that non-witches were nothing more than animals and therefore they could be used for whatever they liked.

  The dispute grew heated and culminated in a cruel battle known as the 13th month's night.

  The witches who didn't want to turn the non-witches into slaves, who were in the majority, won and banished the others, imprisoning them on the other side of the moon with a strong spell they couldn't break.

  Thousands of years have passed. Slavery has nearly totally disappeared from the earth. The witches who were the victors haven’t had any slaves since then, and we never hear from the exiled group anymore.”

  Fascinated and scared by the story, Kim had been sitting motionless, just like Lucille and Odessa, both of whom had only nodded from time to time. She held her breath at the sudden, distant sound of footsteps approaching. The echo made the slow, rhythmic sound sinister and she couldn't help looking at the others in a dismayed gaze.

  A long shadow came out of the arch on the other side of the room while the steps became louder and louder.

  A tall man entered the room. Kim couldn't see his features in the dim light. The man approached them with an elegant gait, then he bowed to her. He looked pale, with dark hair and a funny, out-of-fashion mustache.

  “Queen,” he said with a smile. His mustache fluttered.

  “May I introduce you to Mr. Stevenson?” Isidora told her.

  “Nice to meet you... Mr. Stevenson.” Kim turned to Isidora with a half smile. “What a funny coincidence. The same name as Aurora's cat.” Then she halted, thinking it hadn't probably been a polite thing to say.

  “Yes, Kim,” Isidora added. “He's him.”

  “Is he?” Kim promptly replied, still with a hint of a smile in the corner of her mouth, without understanding. “He’s who?” she added, turning again toward the man who was still near her.

  “He's the cat,” Isidora replied calmly.

  Kim tensed and pulled away from the man, as much as the stiff seat-back of the chair allowed her.

  “He's the person who tried to rescue you.”

  “Rescue?” Kim said directly to the man, who sat down near Lucille, “You made me fall down the stairs!”

  While talking to him, Kim couldn't look at his eyes, her gaze captured by that big mustache that was shaking with his every breath.

  �
��Kim, you didn't fall.”

  That's gross! How many a time have I had him on my lap? Kim shivered and turned to Isidora.

  “Yes, I did, and I hit my head. Didn't you hear what the doctor said? Luckily the TAC didn't reveal anything at all...”

  “My dear, we took you to the hospital only because our check didn't reveal any injury and we wanted to be sure about your health. But we knew you didn't hit your head. At least when you were kidnapped.” Isidora seemed the only one in charge of the explanation; the other witches silently listened to her.

  Mr. Stevenson leaned on the ball, turning into a dark silhouette surrounded by a flash of light and casting a shadow on her. Kim turned to him, seeing a movement, and caught him scratching fiercely at one of his ears. Their gaze met. His eyes were as glassy and glowing as cat's eyes in the dark and she shivered once again.