Part One: Chapter Eleven

Part One: The Spider

Charlotte swallowed. Her breathing was barely under control. Her eyes darted up to the DiRagno’s, her murderers. Her hand shook as she tried to lift a glass of water to her lips off the dinner table. It fell to the dining room floor and shattered.

Mrs. DiRagno reprimanded her immediately, “Charlotte! What did you do? Do you think it’s proper to break other people’s glasses?”

“It was an accident,” her voice came out hoarsely.

The man at the head of the table cringed. “Really, Annette, it’s nothing. We’ve a hundred more in the attic. The girl is probably just ill. She looks like death. Perhaps you should take her home.”

“I won’t have my evening spoiled,” She stated defiantly.

The word ‘death’ reverberated in Charlotte’s head over and over again. Why not just kill her? Why spend thousands of dollars on a private school? Why give her a nice bedroom? Why feed her? Questions tormented her mind as she stared down at her meal. Horror etched itself in every worried crevice of the young face.

Her mother’s efforts were futile. Her best attempts to change the future were spoiled again as she merely delayed the event by six months at best.

Such worries burdened not only her mind as Chuck bent over and heaved.

Mr. DiRagno gave her a look of such scorn that words were not needed; Mrs. DiRagno verbally expressed how repulsed she was with her.

Chuck slipped between Mrs. DiRagno’s garrulous state and a different state of unconsciousness even as she climbed the stairs to her bedroom. When Charlotte finally tucked herself into bed, she sobbed hysterically.

Ellen shushed her in a calm tone like that of a mother. “It’s okay, Charlotte. You’re all right. It’s okay.” She sat at the end of her bed and laid a hand on her shoulder.

The gesture reminded her painfully of Ms. Watson who had no experience with children and yet fostered Chuck anyway; she cried harder.

“What’s got you so worked up, Charlotte?” Ellen furrowed her brow concerned.

The girl shook violently. As she struggled to control herself, she panted between bawls. “They’re…they…they’re going…going…to kill…me.”

“I know. I was trying to prevent this. I wanted you to be at least somewhat happy before it happened.”

“Will you at least tell me what they are now? Please, Ellen. What difference does it make?” Chuck pleaded, tears streaming from her crimson-rimmed eyes.

“No, if you don’t know how you’re going to die, then you will not expect it. If you anticipate it, it will be worse.”

Words left Chuck’s mouth that she didn’t understand and then Ellen’s body hit the wall.  “I’m sorry! I don’t know how that happened. I’m so sorry.” She rushed over to her to inspect the wound. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Your powers are getting stronger, too strong. They should still be blocked.” Ellen peered up at Chuck standing over her. “Your eyes,” She breathed.

As she looked in the mirror in her bathroom, she gasped at how unusually bright her eyes were. “What’s happening to me?”

Ellen stood up and rushed into Charlotte’s closet. She dumped the contents of Charlotte’s backpack. In her closet, Ellen busied herself stuffing it with clothing. “Get away from here.”

“Why?” Chuck said clutching the bag. “You said that I-”

Ellen interrupted her, “Forget what I said. I’ve watched seers and witches die repeatedly for far too long to allow it again. Run away, Charlotte. Don’t come back.”

“Of course, I’m coming back,” she snapped. “I’m going to kill them before they kill me. I’ll show them the most powerful witch they’ve ever seen. They want a witch; they got one.”

“Go, quietly. Good luck, Charlotte,” Ellen sighed.

The halls outside of her bedroom were dark. The moonlight shone through the tall ominous windows and exposed Charlotte in a veil of silver.

Every creaking board beneath Chuck’s feet resounded for an eternity. She feared bumping something and causing a ruckus. She bit back a scream as a small spider crawled up her hand. After flicking it off, she whispered, “Go away, you little b*****d.”

The door stood so close to her. She opened it, disbelieving of her success, exited, and closed it silently. The December air assaulted her exposed skin as she only wore her long-sleeved warm up shirt for track, a pair of sweatpants, and her sneakers. Her destination was clear. She sped as quickly as possible. Snow sprinkled down on her.

Soon enough, she knocked at the green door. “Please, someone answer. Please.” She begged into the night air. Clouds of breath danced before her.

A very disheveled Lizzie opened the door. “Merry Christmas to you too, Chuck.” She grumbled with a yawn. “Why are you here so late?”

“The DiRagno’s are going to kill me.”

Lizzie awakened at this. “What happened?”

Chuck explained hurriedly, “That’s why they adopted me. They want to kill me because I’m a witch.”

“Just kill you? They don’t want anything else?”

Chuck pulled at her hair. “I don’t know. They might’ve needed my trust at some point, which is the only reason they’ve kept me alive so long.”

“They could be Nibocajs, a radical group from the other world, very anti-magic, anti-witch.”

Chuck shook her head. “I think they have magic themselves, so they couldn’t be whatever those are.”

“Did you learn anything new about them other than their plan to kill you?”

 “Mr. DiRagno used to work in a lab.”

Lizzie slapped herself. “Of course! How could I be so stupid? The divinitive experiments with Edgar Algernon! Idiot!”

“What are you talking about?” Charlotte queried, staring at her curiously.

Lizzie explained hurriedly, “Late in the middle ages, a noble set out to combine several different types of magic, along with science to genetically enhance humans.”

“And he failed and created something awful in the process, right?”

Lizzie wagged a finger. “Wrong. He succeeded; however, several other men tried to duplicate his methods, only with shifters. Instead of creating a powerful Wiccan shifter, which is what they ultimately aimed to do, they created a human animal mix called a hybrid. Every so often, it needs to feed on magic to stay alive. Think, Chuck, what kind of animal, could you see the DiRagno’s as?”

“I don’t know.” She scratched her hand and studied the small bite mark. “Damn thing bit me.” She rubbed it to make it stop itching.

“What bit you?”

Charlotte stared up at Lizzie, horror in her expression. “Spiders.”

 

 

Author's Note

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Reviews

[Ardeth Lane]

Confused-were they at home while they were eating or were they still at that persons house? I was thinking they were at home because of her having her bedroom but it wasn't specified so...yeah. I think it would be a good idea to mention a spider encounter in a previous chapter as to not seem too rushed on the idea but other than that I loved it and am happy that it's starting to get exciting. :)