“Last time,” I heard him say.
All the other men nodded. They all closed their eyes and lowered their heads, becoming silent. Then the man who had the book opened his eyes and looked around at the others grinning. All of them were oblivious to this. His eyes were now black as coal. He started chanting something in a language I couldn’t understand. I walked closer to them; one of the other men lifted his head, so the man with the black eyes closed them quickly. When the other man opened his eyes they were normal; he looked around at the others and closed them again.
I saw a light coming towards them and the guy with the black eyes looked up once more; again he was smirking. It was the mist I had read about in the book I found at the house. It swirled around them for a moment before it started seeping into their skin and mouths, ears and noses. They screamed out in pain, all except for the guy with the black eyes.
Once the mist had completely seeped into them, all but the black-eyed man collapsed on the floor – they were out cold. He laughed for a moment then lowered himself to the ground, lay down and closed his eyes. Then in a split second he sat up and stared at me, eyes still black. He did it so fast he made me jump. He smiled for a moment then whispered my name before lying down again.
“Keira, hey, Keira, you’re scaring me,” Lucian was saying. He had his hand on my shoulders, shaking me slightly, “Hey, talk to me!”
It was daytime again, the sun was shining and the men had disappeared. My legs gave way and he lowered me to the ground, sitting down next to me.
“Keira, say something, please!” he begged.
“I saw something,” I said looking around me. “I was walking behind you one minute and the next it was as though I had stepped through a portal.”
“How?”
“It was night-time…” I told him everything I had seen and heard. “How far are we from the meeting point?” I asked, looking around.
“I was about to turn around and tell you we were here. But you were staring into space. I called your name a few times but it was as though you couldn’t hear me. You were so still at first, then you took a few steps. You went still again and when I touched your arm you were freezing. I waved my hand in front of your eyes but you were away with the fairies.”
“How long was I like that?”
“About five minutes.”
“It felt longer…It felt so real.”
“I need you to come to my house. We have old paintings of some of the families’ ancestors; maybe you will recognize one of them,” he said, standing us both up. “Can you walk?”
“Yes, yes I’m fine. I’m sorry I scared you,” I said, wrapping my arm around his waist.
“As long as you’re OK, that’s all that matters. Now let’s get out of here.”
He drove us to his house. That was the first time someone had driven my car other than me. He took me straight up to his room and left me for a moment. I sat down on the bed and rubbed my eyes. A moment later he came in with loads of rolls of paper. He threw them on the bed then started unrolling them one by one.
“Just tell me if you recognize any of them,” he said softly.
I looked at the first few but none of them were the men from around the fire. I had only actually seen two of the other men’s faces besides the black-eyed guy. The other two men had had their backs to me. I was starting to think it was pointless. Then he partly unrolled a picture of a young man. He had long dark hair, big blue eyes and a moustache.
“Stop!” I said, running my hand over the top of the picture. “That was the guy who had black eyes. He already had something inside him before they started summoning whatever it was. The others were all normal.”
He looked at me for a moment; I couldn’t work out the look he was giving me. Then he unrolled the rest of the picture. At the bottom was the man’s name…
John Putnam.
Chapter 15
Granddad’s Notes
When we walked into my house we found Lily and Jake there unpacking all the food. Lucian sat me down in the living room and went to make us both a drink. Five minutes later Danny and Tyler came in. Lucian had called them on the way here. When he came in the room he was followed by Lily and Jake. He shut the door and they all sat down.
“Jesus, where to start?” Lucian said, running his hands through his hair. “We found a map to a meeting place…” He told them the whole story. None of them spoke, but every now and again one of them would turn and stare at me for a minute. I sat there in silence running my fingers around the rim of my cup. “…So after she pointed out John I showed her a few more paintings. She also recognized Edward Tudor and Arthur Richards,” Lucian concluded.
“So you’re saying John already had a form of power inside him?” Jake asked me.
“Well, his eyes were black, same as yours, but none of the others’ were,” I told them. “It was like he was waiting for whatever was in the mist to come to them. Like he knew it was on its way.”
“What was in him, Keira?” Tyler asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Well, now we know why you’re more powerful than us,” Danny said. “But I wonder why he didn’t tell the others.”
“I wonder where it came from,” Lily said.
“Maybe it was passed to him,” Lucian suggested.
“Keira, do you think if you were to go around town you could pick up on more things?” Lily asked.
“I don’t know, but it’s not something I want to do.”
“But we could get answers,” Jake said
“I’ve already been around the old town remember and nothing happened.”
“Yeah, good point.”
“OK, so we know John already had power and we know that he gained more power from the mist,” Tyler said.
“We also know that was the night the rest of them got the power,” Danny added.
“John obviously never told anyone he had power in him already. If he had, we would have known,” Tyler said.
“We need to find out if John’s father had it or if it was something he did on his own,” Lucian said.
“And how do you intend to do that without using Keira?” Lily asked seriously.
“I have no idea.”
I started feeling guilty now; the only way we would find anything out would be to use me. But where would we go? Salem was a small town but where would we even start?
“I don’t even know what to suggest. How the hell do you look for something when you don’t know where and what to look for?” Jake said.
“When he sat up and looked at me…John I mean,” I began, “He said my name.”
That was the one thing I hadn’t told Lucian.
“What!” Lily gasped.
“He smiled and said my name.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Lucian asked.
“Keira, are you saying he saw you?” Tyler asked.
“Yes!”
Nobody knew what to say – how can you explain something like that?
“These visions come when they want to,” I told them. “Or when something triggers them, so I think the only thing we can do is wait.”
“I agree,” Lucian said.
The rest of them nodded resignedly.
Lily headed into the kitchen and I followed her.
“Are you OK?” she asked.
“Yeah, just a little confused.”
“Well, try not to think about it now. Turn your attention to something else. If something else happens we’ll deal with it then.”
“OK.”
“Right, well, can I have the empty room down here for an office,” she asked.
“Yeah, course you can.”
“We saw a unit while we were out before. It’s only big enough for a shop so I said I’d ask you if I could have the office part here.”
“No problem.”
“Great, I’ll start decorating it tomorrow.”
“I’ll give you a hand if you want,” I offered.
“Thanks, oh b
y the way, I forgot to tell you, I bumped into your mom while I was in West Chester. I gave her this address in case she needed to contact you.”
“Did she say anything?” I asked.
“No, sorry. Oh and this arrived just as we got back from shopping,” she said, passing me a parcel wrapped in brown paper. “I’m going to start dinner, so why don’t you go and chill out?”
I walked into the living room with the parcel. When I opened it the first thing I saw was a note from my mom. It read:
Keira, I found this in your Granddad’s house and thought you would want it; it was meant for you anyway. Do what you like with it – you don’t need to send it back to me. I hope it works out for you in Salem.
Mom. X
Inside was a book.
“What is it?” Tyler asked.
“I don’t know yet.”
When I opened it I recognized my granddad’s writing. The opening paragraph said:
My darling granddaughter,
You never wanted to know the family history while you were growing up, but one day you will. I fear that when that time comes I will not be able to tell you everything I know in person, so I hope this will be able to answer some of the questions you may have.
“It’s for me from my granddad,” I told them.
“Does it say what it’s about?” Lucian asked. “If you don’t mind me asking.”
I read out the opening part to them all.
“Then it says,” I continued:
“Our family is not like the others in a way. Our family always was and probably still is stronger. Your father never thought you would get the power with you being female. But I knew different. I never got a chance to tell your father what I knew. You see your ancestors had a power inside them before the other families. To make it easier to understand, I have drawn you a little family tree of our early family on the next page. I didn’t want to throw names at you without this so you would know who was who. I have only written the members of the family who have had the powers inside them. As you will notice, there were only two females born into the family before you…”
I turned the page and there was the family tree:
“None of the family after these had a daughter. Not until you were born,” I continued reading out loud:
“James and Elizabeth met when they were seventeen years old. Both were interested in the occult, as we now call it, and both of them had power already. Sadly I cannot tell you where either of them got it, but what I do know is that Elizabeth was extremely powerful. Her power would only be passed to the first-born female. James Putnam’s power was not to be underestimated either. His would be passed to the first-born male or female. It was unisex, shall we say…”
I looked up at the guys for a moment. All of them were intrigued.
“From what I have been told Elizabeth was also involved in necromancy. I don’t know if this is how she came to get her power or not though. I know she spent most of her life in Cambridge, England. James also spent his life there. They had two children together, Maria and David. Both of them had power. Sadly, though, Maria passed away at an early age. I don’t know why. When David’s father passed away he and his mother moved to America. There he met his wife, Mary, and they had many children, all male to Elizabeth’s disappointment, but the power went to John, the eldest. He didn’t want to be the only one at his age with a power. So he stole one of his father’s books and started experimenting with summoning rituals...
“He involved his friends and lo and behold they all received power. This would also be passed on to the eldest male. However, since you already have two powers in you, it may be that you get his too. I can’t say for certain since I don’t know if it has ever been passed on to a female in the other families. Sadly, there is one thing I cannot answer, and that is the question that everyone I have known throughout our family has wanted the answer to. I do not know where any of the powers that run through our veins come from…”
I looked up at the guys again. All of them looked dejected.
“Please carry on,” Lucian said
“OK,” I tried to smile:
“I was told that little Ann Putnam, John’s daughter, was given the power, passed down from her grandfather and her great-grandmother. She couldn’t handle them; she refused to learn how to control it and made herself very ill. The poor girl died when she was in her thirties, unmarried and without children…”
“So that’s why she accused other people of witchcraft,” Tyler said. “She knew she had power and was obviously scared of being killed.”
“It makes sense now – she was protecting herself as well as her family,” Jake added.
“It says,” I continued:
“The other families knew nothing of the power running through the female side of the Putnam family. My grandfather told me when I was young that Edward’s great-grandmother had…demon blood inside her…” My voice trailed off.
When I looked up this time all of them were staring at me, including Lily, who had been listening from outside and now came in.
“That can’t be right, can it?” I asked in a shaky voice.
“No, it can’t,” Lily said quickly. “How the hell would someone get demon blood in them?”
“She’s right, Keira,” Danny agreed. “Besides, you’re not evil.”
“No, but it would explain the church,” I said.
“Rubbish! You’ve said it yourself, someone is messing with us.”
“What the hell does it matter? You’re not evil. You’re warm, caring, loving; you help anyone you can,” Lily said, walking over to me. “It doesn’t change who you are.”
“Keep reading, Keira. See what he says,” Jake said softly.
“My grandfather told me when I was young, that Edward’s great-grandmother had demon blood inside her. I don’t know if that was true or if he just made it up. So please, my little goddess, don’t worry – you have always been a beautiful person, on the outside and on the inside. Do not let my words worry you; I don’t want to scare you. These may be rumors or nasty stories made up by someone who lost his family and needed someone to blame…”
“See, there you have it – it’s all nonsense,” Lily said.
I didn’t answer her. I just kept reading:
“In this book you will find copies of paintings of your ancestors. I have folded them so they fit in here properly, and glued them to the pages. You will also find out what your father was like – you were so young when he was taken. I thought it would be nice to give you a little bit of insight into him. He loved you very much – that is something I want you to know. I also need to ask you to do your old granddad a favor, find the other families. Just remember they may not be expecting a young lady to turn up – as I said before, they only knew about the power they got together and it may have been passed to males only…”
“I bet you wish you had read that bit before you came here, don’t you?” Tyler said, grinning.
“Yeah,” I half smiled. “Can we stop for a bit? I want to look through the rest myself, especially if it’s about my dad.”
“Course we can,” Tyler and Danny said.
I closed the book and put it on the coffee table before slouching into the sofa.
“So, your family’s power goes back further than ours,” Jake said.
“And John knew exactly what he was doing with our ancestors. He knew he would be able to get them power,” Tyler added.
“I feel like I need to apologize for him. It’s my family that started all this,” I said sadly.
“Keira, don’t apologize for anything,” Lucian told me.
“We wouldn’t want to live without this. We love having it – we just wanted to know how it started and what it is,” Tyler explained
“We know how it started properly now. I don’t think we ever will know what it is and I think we need to accept that now,” Danny said.
“I agree,” Jake nodded. “Some things in this world aren’t meant to be answered.” br />
Everyone agreed with him, and we decided there and then, we didn’t care what it was. But we did want to know more about the power inside me. Especially with it being so old and since I definitely had two, Elizabeth’s and James’s, and possibly even John’s second power. But if I didn’t have it, surely their families wouldn’t have been able to sense the Putnam bloodline was still out there. Sadly we agreed that until the time came for one of them to have a daughter, we wouldn’t know.
Lily went back to cooking dinner. Jake could see I was thinking about it too much and changed the subject.
“So, Keira, has Lily asked you about her office yet?” he asked.
“Yes, I don’t know why she feels she has to ask. She should know by now that she can do what she likes. I mean, it’s not like I haven’t got enough space for it, is it?”
“She just likes to check with you I think.”
“She is starting to decorate it tomorrow she said,” I told him.
“Do you need any help?”
“She’ll need someone to pick the furniture up for her; I doubt she will want to bother the guys there. She only needs a desk, a few cabinets, a PC and whatever.”
“I’ll get the truck again.”
“OK, I’m going to see if Lily wants any help with anything. Just entertain yourselves,” I told them as I walked out of the room.
Lily looked busy. She didn’t want help though – she loved doing it herself. I didn’t really want to help either; I just wanted to get away from the guys for a few minutes. My head was all over the place. I sat on the stool resting my elbows on the counter of the kitchen island. I picked up one of the spoons she had left there and stared at my reflection in it. I was staring so hard, that when I tilted my head to the side, the spoon bent with me. I moved my head from side to side, smiling as the spoon bent with my movement.