The Witch of Willow Lake

Chapter 7

1930, Faircliff, New Hampshire, USA

    "Hallie, dinner's up, get the i***t for me." Alicia smiled at me from across our small kitchen, all decorated in white and black marble with a small island in the middle which acted as a dining table.

    "Sure." I nodded, putting down the knife I'd been using to chop the tomatoes down and running up the stairs.

    "Dinners ready, Emmett."

    Emmett looked up from his small desk where he'd been working and grinned. "Good, because I'm starving."

    Three years the three of us had spent moving around, never staying in the same place for over six months.

    While we were there, we'd get a small home, much like the cabin and all three of us would pick up jobs to cover the costs and put money aside for our next destination.

    We stuck to small towns, with vast forest or desert areas, as this provided us cover if we ever needed it. It also meant Emmett and Alicia could hunt. Hunting for them was wired into their DNA and if they didn't hunt, then they found it harder to control the urges.

    We always kept ourselves on the outer parts of small towns, away from the central area where most of the humans were. We worked smaller jobs that didn't involve too much human interaction, and we kept to ourselves, anything to make it easier for Alicia and Emmett to rejoin the daily society.

    We'd changed our surnames also, and Emmett, being the resourceful person he was, had commandeered us fake papers.

    As far as papers and records were concerned, we were Alicia, Emmett, and Hallie Paxton. Their human ages were thirty-nine for Emmett, Thirty-Six for Alicia, and mine was currently kept at seventeen.

    Although in reality, I'd turned twenty-one two months back. However, because I so rarely used my powers, I still quickly passed for a girl of seventeen. I only used them to replenish the spell on their rings or if I had too.

    Their rings had a shelf life which averaged around two months, but I recast the spell every six weeks for useful measures. The last thing we needed was one of them being outside in the sun when it wore off.

    We'd planned on trying to stay somewhere a little longer now we were becoming more comfortable living among humans. We figured realistically; we could stay somewhere for a good three, maybe four years before people started questioning why we weren't aging. We just hadn't decided where to settle first.

    "Maybe we could stay here? I like it here." Alicia hummed in thought as we cleaned up after dinner. "We have good jobs, and the house is beautiful, albeit small. As far as Emmett and I have scouted out, there are no Vampire clans nearby and only two Wolf packs, neither close enough to cause alarm and don't think I haven't noticed you taking a shine to that cute boy two streets over."

    My cheeks pinkened as I shuffled in the black barstool around the island. Alicia was referring to Jacob, a twenty-year-old boy who worked with me in the small food store in town. "Yeah, but not like anything can happen."

    "Jesus Hallie, live up a little." Emmett chuckled as he rolled her eyes, "No one's saying you have to sleep with him or marry him, just go on a date, have a little fun. You're a blossoming young woman, and you deserve to be courted and treated as such."

    "Yeah but what if I-"

    "Rule number one, Hallie, don't fear your powers. How many times have I got to drum that into your beautiful mind, huh?" Emmett smiled at me as he reached his hand out to ruffle my hair, causing me to giggle.

    "I know almost everything about you goes against the history of your coven," He continued, "but it doesn't mean you need to be afraid. You're just a little different, and that's the supernatural for you, nothing makes sense. That's the beauty, and sometimes ugliness of it."

    "Just because Elizabeth turned rogue, doesn't mean you will." Alicia smiled, endearingly, "You haven't got a bad bone in you. Plus, you have us to keep you on the straight and narrow."

    "I suppose if we stick around towns longer, it can't hurt to make friends, right? Like a normal person." I questioned, more to myself than the other two as I felt uncertain.

    Emmett gave a sharp nod, "Exactly."

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    "Hey, Hallie." Jacob smiled as he walked into the small clothing store I worked in.

    "Hey, Jake." He was cute, tall, tanned skin, subtly defined muscles, and deep brown eyes that reminded me of melted chocolate. His hair was styled slick and neat, parted to one side with the slightest wave at the front.

    "So, when are you and your family moving? You were only planning on staying here a few months, right?"

    "Oh, well, we decided we're going to stay a little while. Not sure how long for, but we like it here, so we figured we'd give the traveling a rest, just for a little while."

    "So, you're staying?" A grin that reached from ear to ear spread across his full lips.

    "Yeah, we just not sure how long for though." I shrugged, "It could be a year, maybe longer. It all depends."

    "Hey, I'll take it. So...if you're staying, would it be possible for a guy to take you out sometime? There's a dance that my family is hosting, and well, I'd love it if you came with me."

    My cheeks flared red as I began chewing on the end of the braid Alicia had put my hair in. "I-I can't dance."

    "Then I must teach you, please say you'll come with me. I don't want to be a loser without a date, and you're the only girl I want to ask."

    I bit down on my lip, the hair still in my mouth. Even if we were staying, I couldn't get too close to him. He was human, and I wasn't, even if I appeared to be. Something told me he would not be like my mother or the women of our coven and so accepting of who I was.

    Jacob was a good Christian boy, from a Christian family, if he got too close, he'd discover who I was. It was too dangerous, and it wasn't worth the risk., it wasn't just myself I had to think of; I didn't want to lose Emmett or Alicia, either.

    However, Alicia's and Emmett's words rang in my mind too. If we were staying here, then I had to learn to make friends, I had to learn to trust myself and my powers around them. I needed to fit in with the ordinary folk and as much as I still harbored guilt over what happened to Mary, I couldn't let it stop me from living.

    "Okay." I nodded and gave him a shy smile and finally released the hair from my mouth.

    "It's this Saturday, at the social club hall, I'll pick you up at seven? There isn't a strict dress code, just something a little smart."

    "Sure, sounds good. I better get working." I brushed a stray strand of hair from my face as I gave Jacob a slight smile.

    "Have fun, and I'll see you on Saturday." Jacob nodded curtly before turning on his heel and leaving me to continue with my work.