Cast a Spell Part 3

We were transported in a second and Jordan had disappeared from side. Oh please still be at school, I prayed. I looked around. Everything was dark and misty, hard to see. There was a creepy silence and the cold wind whipped around my bare arms. There were a few old houses and a dirt road. 1

“ Where are we, Cassandra?” I asked, looking around me.2

She shrugged. “ I don’t know,” she answered. “ Let’s follow this road and find out.”3

“ Okay.” We walked a little bit in the mist. It was so hard to see but we managed to see a few houses, all of them old. Too old, actually.4

I stopped and looked around. I’d come to a sudden realization. “ Wait a minute…” I started. “ Cassie…” 5

Cassie’s hand flew to her mouth as she finally came to realization. She looked around. “ Oh…oh my god. I know where we are, Cadence,” she whispered. “Salem…we’re in Salem.” 6

I nodded in agreement. “ Eric’s old home…”7

“ Yes,” she answered,” and look…”8

I looked and my heart sank to the ground. There it was, the platform and the noose…where they hung witches and warlocks. My hand flew up to my neck. “ Oh my god.” 9

“ We need Jessica,” Cassie said. She snapped and Jessica appeared next to us, looking exasperated. 10

“ Come on, guys what was honestly that important that you had to interrupt Star Wars?” 11

“ Um, Jessica…?” I started.12

She continued, looking around. Her eyebrows rose in wonder. “ Wait, where are me? Why are we here? And where is Mason…and Jordan?”13

“ Jessica…”14

“ Oh my god!” Jessica cried, covering her mouth in surprise. “ Cassie, Cadence! Eric! Eric is the reason we’re here huh?” She paused. “ Wherever here is…”15

“ Thanks for finally noticing,” I muttered. I sighed. “ We’re in Salem, Massachusetts…about four hundred years ago.” 16

“ Um, that explains where we are,” Jessica said, looking around. She shivered slightly. “ Now why are we here?” 17

I took a deep breath. “ Eric cornered me and Jordan at the dance. Then Cassie appeared and we were transported here. Eric and Jordan disappeared,” I explained. 18

“ Oh,” was all Jessica could say in response. Her eyes grew wide. “ What’s Jordan think about it?”19

I looked away, burying my head in my hands and letting a moan escape from my lips. “ He knows now, Jess. He knows I’m a witch!”20

“ Oh…oh man, Cadence,” Jessica said.21

“ I hate to break this emotional moment here, but it looks as if we’re going to have to save the world again.” 22

“ All right,” I answered. I looked at my winter formal outfit. “ Let me just change.” Snap…jeans and t-shirt. We were just about to walk into another direction when a voice echoed through the silence. “ Going somewhere girls?” 23

We turned around and gasped. My whole body went cold and my mind went blank. Eric was on the platform. Standing next to him, a terrified look on his face, was Jordan, the noose hung around his neck and ropes tied tightly around his wrists. 24

“ Jessica, go get Trevor!” I hissed. 25

“ Cadence…” Jessica trailed off nervously.26

“ Jess, now!” Cassie said.27

Jessica disappeared and Cassie and I faced Eric.28

“ Come on Eric, stop!” Cassie said. “ Let Jordan go and let’s stop this before it begins.”29

“ Eric, what is the point of this whole thing?” I asked. “ You are going to get nothing out of this except for a few dead witches.” Oh Jordan, I thought, still unable to meet his gaze. 30

“ The point is that mortals don’t like us immortals and that they should be all controlled. But I have one little thing standing in my way…you. You are so difficult but I had to come up with a strategy, a way to weaken you. It took me awhile but I finally figured it out. You won’t hurt me if I have what you need most,” Eric said glancing at Jordan. 31

“ The note,” Cassie and I whispered.32

How could I have been so stupid? I needed Jordan more than anything. I couldn’t fight Eric if he had a hold of Jake. And he knew it, oh man, he knew it.33

“ Eric,” I began, closing my eyes and trying to remain calm, “ mortals don’t hate us. Most don’t even know about us. We don’t have to live here. We have the immortal world.” 34

“ That’s my point, Cadence. We should be accepted in the mortal world and everywhere else, not hanged! That’s why we should hang a worthless mortal. Let them see what it feels like.35

A look of fear flashed across Jordan’s face. He opened his mouth to say something but Eric snapped and duct tape was suddenly covering his mouth.36

I was on the verge of tears. How could I have gotten Jordan mixed up in this? “Eric, no, please, don’t do it.” Eric glanced at me for a split second then shook his head. He went over to Jordan. I started to mutter an incantation but Eric interrupted me. He shouted a spell and then threw a ball of fire in my direction. I caught it but the pressure of it sent my flying backwards. I slammed right into a wall of a nearby house.37

“ Oh my god! Cadence, are you okay?” Cassie shrieked.38

“ Yeah,” I answered. “ No problem.” I glanced at my shoulder. Except for the fact that I’m bleeding, I thought. I threw the fire back at Eric and caught him off guard. It hit him hard in the chest causing him to fall backward off the platform. 39

“ Cassie! Get Jordan!” I shouted.40

The bounds and noose disappeared and the duct tape was cast off his face. Cassie took his hand and pulled him over next to me. 41

“ What’s going on?” Jordan asked, his face pale and scared.42

“ Not now, Jordan. It’s too hard to explain,” Cassie said, glancing at me. 43

Jordan ignored her. He ran over to me and took my hand. “ Cadence…”44

“ Go back with Cassie.” He opened his mouth to protest. “ Go Jordan!” I insisted.45

“ You did not just do that, Cadence. You did not just freakin’ do that,” Eric cried.46

Only he didn’t say freakin’.47

I looked up at Eric. He had slowly gotten up. He had a bloody lip, a huge gash, gushing out blood, on his forehead and his shirt was all torn up, revealing hard abs. “Yeah, I hit you,” I replied, struggling to get up.48

“ Cadence, come on. Let’s go,” Cassie said quietly. “ Just let it go.”49

“ No. I can’t just let it go,” I replied. “ He’s already gotten away plenty of times. This is just one too many.”50

“ I’m going to kill you, Cadence. You know that? I’m going to kill you. I will kill you,” Eric said angrily. 51

Cassie and I shook our heads, but at the same time I knew we were scared out of our minds. Cassie’s hands were placed firmly on her hips but her whole body was trembling. There was a sharp intake of breath behind me and I felt Jordan’s hand reach out to my shoulder.52

My legs had turned to jelly and I curled my fingers into tight fights. “ You’re outnumbered, Eric,” I pointed out, lamely.53

Eric laughed, a laugh that echoed in the openness. “ Yeah, right. Like two witches and a mortal can defeat me. I am so scared,” he replied sarcastically.54

I turned and looked at Jordan, staring at him before he could catch me. I turned back to Eric, my heart beating a hundred miles a minute. If Jessica and Trevor didn’t show up soon, Jordan …and possibly Cassie and I, would die. 55

“ Besides,” he continued, casually, a devilish grin spread across his handsome face, “ I don’t want to fight Cassie or this worthless mortal.” He threw a disgusted look at Jordan. He pointed at me. “ I want to fight you, Cadence. Show me you’re a true witch.”56

I looked around, my mind swirling; anger, frustration and confusion pent up inside of me, ready to burst at any moment. Cassie shook her head, fear in her eyes. “No, Cadence, don’t,” she whispered. “ He’ll kill you.”57

“ Fine, Eric, have it your way,” I answered. I looked at Cassie. “ Cassie, I have it. Trust me, when have I ever failed you?” I joked weakly. 58

She looked at me. “ Cadence, it’s not funny.”59

I looked back exasperated. “ Cassie, go!” She shook her head in response. “ I mean it, Cassie! Take Jordan and get out of here!” 60

Once again, she shook her head. She was so stubborn. Most times I admired this. This was not one of those times. “ No! Cadence, we’re a team…I’ll fight with you.”61

“ God damn! You’re wasting my time!” Eric said, snapping his finger, a look of disgust spread across his face. Cassandra was flung at a wall, invisible bounds around her wrists and ankles. She struggled and then snapped, but her powers were bound too. “ Ah, that’s better. But we’re missing one key factor.” He snapped and Jordan appeared next to him, a gun pointed at his forehead.62

All my confidence was lost in this one move. “ No, Eric, leave him out of it. God dammit, Eric, keep him out of it please! He has nothing to do with this!” I protested. Hang in there, Jordan. I’ll get you out of this, I thought. 63

“ He’s what you need most, Cadence. He has everything to do with it because he’s your weakness because you love him,” he said. 64

My heart skipped a beat. I avoided looking at Jordan. This was not at all how I wanted him to find out. I’d pictured it so many times in my head but never did I picture Eric and a gun. 65

“ Wait…you what?” Jordan asked. The gun clicked and he flinched. “Sorry,” he muttered. 66

“ Come on Eric. That is not the point!” I cried.67

Eric looked at me, an amused look on his face. “ Ah, I’ve struck a nerve. Is it true then?”68

Frustration boiled up in my system and just as I was about to cast a spell, Jessica and Trevor appeared at my side.69

“ Are we too late?” Trevor said.70

“ Oh my god, Cadence. What happened?” Jess whispered, in shock.71

“ No, you’re just in time, Trevor,” Eric said, throwing a spell at him and Jess. Jess was thrown violently against the wall next to Cassandra. Trevor ducked and rolled under it. The spell missed him and crashed into a nearby house.72

“ God dammit! You stupid little brat!” Eric yelled. “ You always ruin everything!”73

Trevor stood up, brushing himself off. “ You know, I think that is the point…to ruin your plans, to ruin you.”74

Eric snapped and a knife appeared in his hand. He threw it and it soared right into Trevor’s leg. Trevor cried in pain and keeled over.75

“ Trevor!” I cried, kneeling next to him. He was still, but his chest was moving. “ Eric, he’s only twelve! How could you?”76

Eric shrugged. “ He was an annoying kid.” He threw a bunch of boulders at me. I tried to dodge them but they hit me hard. I could already feel the gashes on my back. Oh that definitely is going to leave a mark, I thought. He continued to make the boulders beat me up.77

“ Cadence!” Cassie shouted. “ Eric, stop!”78

Eric paused for a moment. I was on my hands and knees, coughing up a lot of blood. I could feel the deep gashes in my back and cuts, slowly oozing out blood, were all over my face. I could already feel tender bruises forming all over my body. I struggled but managed to chant a spell and snapped. A bolt of lightning came down and struck Eric. He struggled to sit up. 79

“ Levitate!” he shouted. I flew up and backwards right over a cliff. I just floated there, weak from the fight. I slowly looked down and immediately flinched at the sight. I was so far up and a bunch of jagged rocks lay at the bottom. I chanted a spell and snapped, but nothing happened. My powers were bound.80

“ Let her go!” Jordan shouted.81

Eric faced him, a look of curiosity and amusement on his face. “ And why would I do that, Jordan?” he asked, almost casually. 82

“ Don’t kill her…I need her,” Jordan said. My heart jumped. He needs me? As what? A friend? “ Why would you kill an immortal when you can kill a mortal? Kill me…just don’t kill Cadence!”83

“ Jordan, no!” I cried. I looked at Eric. “ Don’t listen to him, Eric! Your problem is with me, not him! Leave Jordan OUT OF IT!”84

“ It doesn’t matter who my problem is with. Do you think I bother myself with such details?” Eric said. “ The only way of fixing this mess is killing the both of you.”85

“ No!” Jessica and Cassandra protested. Trevor lay on the ground, still and silent. Oh god, please don’t die, please, I thought. Eric turned towards them. 86

“ Now Jordan!” I yelled.87

Jordan grabbed the gun and turned it on Eric. He fired and the bullet hit Eric in the shoulder. He staggered and his powers became weak. I started to fall. 88

I fell into the water. It was so cold, like a thousand stabbing knives all over my body. I kicked wildly and tried to keep afloat, my lungs filling up with water. I was weak and in immense pain as the salt in the water got into my wounds. The waves tossed me around like a limp rag doll. Everything went black as my body gave up and I began to sink.89

“ Cadence! Cadence, wake up!”90

I opened my eyes and saw Cassandra, Jessica, and Jordan peering at me. I started to sit up and Jessica reached down to help me. I didn’t think about it then, but later I wondered how weird this must have looked to Jordan, who could not see Jessica.91

Jordan looked at me, straight in my eyes, worry, concern and fear in his eyes. He lifted his hand to my cheek. “ Cadence, are you okay?”92

“ Yeah, I’m okay,” I replied softly, not being able to tear myself from his gaze.93

He pulled me close at him. “ I almost lost you. I couldn’t lose you. Not after Jessica.” I winced from the pain. “ Sorry.”94

I looked up at Jessica, who was struggling to keep the tears forming in her eyes form slipping down her cheeks. “ Please, Cadence,” she whispered. I knew what she meant.95

Eric stood up, blood flowing quickly from his gun shot wound. He staggered a bit and I wondered how this would end, with Eric and I full of injuries. 96

“ Give up, Eric. It’s not worth it. You don’t want to do it,” I said struggling to stand up. Jordan put his hand out to stop me and stood up. 97

“98

You don’t get it,” he gasped. “ They killed my parents! They despise us, Cadence!” He was slowly deteriorating in front of us.99

“ Come on, Eric. We know you have no body. We can be your friends…your family. We’ll be there for you. We understand,” Cassie said, biting her nails nervously.  “All you have to do is just stop trying to kill us and stop trying to control mortals.”100

“ No,” he answered. “ I don’t need you.” He snapped and a gun appeared in his hand. “I hate mortals.” He raised the gun and pointed it at Jordan.101

“ Noooo!” I screamed. I gathered all the energy I had left and shouted an incantation, the same spell I’d forgotten the last time I’d faced Eric. I collapsed from the work. Red and yellow sparks flew around him, lifting him and jerking him around. We all watched, speechless, as the sparks flew into his mouth and threw him against a house. We waited cautiously for some movement but there was none. He remained motionless.102

“ Is he dead?” I asked. I didn’t know what I wanted to hear.103

“ Um, I’ll check,” Cassie said. She walked over to Eric, who was propped aimlessly against the wall, his body limp. There was blood everywhere and Eric’s chest was still. Cassie bent over and felt for a pulse. “ Yeah, he’s dead. A couple of hours and we’ll know whether he’ll be a ghost or not.” She turned to me. “ Good work, Cadence.”104

“ I…I killed someone. I should be damned to hell,” I said, getting goosebumps all over my body.105

“ He chose it, Cadence. You had no choice,” Cassandra whispered, rubbing her own arms. “ It was the only way to defeat him.”106

I looked at Eric sadly. “ I know.”107

There was a murmur of moaning. I turned toward the sound. “ Oh, Trevor!” I crawled over to him. “ Trevor, are you okay?”108

Blood was gushing form his wound and his whole body was pale and cold but he managed a smile. He was the bravest twelve-year-old I knew. “ I’ll be okay…” he answered. “ Where’s Eric?” 109

“ He’s dead, Trevor. He deserved it after what he did to you and Cadence and what he tried to do to Jordan,” Jessica said, completely unaware that Jordan couldn’t heart a word she was saying.110

Trevor shook his head and then winced from the pain. “ May his cold-hearted spirit rest in peace.”111

“ I’m going to go take him to the immortal world and fix him up. I’ll be by your house later okay?” Cassie said. I nodded and she and Trevor disappeared.112

“ I’m going to go with them,” Jessica said, casting a glance at Jordan. “ I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” She faded away.113

Jordan helped me up and I leaned against him for support. He looked at Eric. “Um Cadence…I need some explanations.” 114

“ I know,” I sighed. All my energy was gone. “ But…” Where was I to start? How could I possibly explain to him that I was a witch and the reason I nearly died was because I was doing my duty? How could I tell them Jessica was…is a ghost? How could I explain all this and not slip the L word in there?”115

“ But you just nearly died, Cadence. You need to go home and go to sleep. We can talk tomorrow,” he said, taking my hand and kissing it softly. Oh don’t do that, I thought, my heart fluttering at the touch. “ Let’s get out of here and I’ll take you home.”116

“ Good idea,” I said. “ This place is creeping me out.” I snapped us back to his car. I looked at myself. My t-shirt and jeans were all torn up, my hair was a tangled mess and my face was caked with dirt and blood. Blood was everywhere.117

“ Are those going to stay?” Jordan asked, indicating to my battle wounds.118

I looked at them. They were a lot deeper and a lot more severe than the last time. “ Cassie will come over and help. She’s a healer. She’ll make them fade, but yeah, they’ll stay.”119

He nodded and started the car. He drove me home. On the way, he was silent, until he finally spoke. “ Your cousin…is he going to be okay?”120

I glanced at him confused. “ My cousin?” I asked. “ Oh Trevor. Yeah, he should be.” 121

“ Well, here we are,” Jordan said, pulling the car to a stop. He helped me out and up to the front door.122

I looked up at my house. “ I’ll come over to your house at ten tomorrow,” I said. “Thank you so much, Jordan.”123

“ No problem,” he said. I turned to go inside. “ Cadence, wait…”124

I turned back, hopeful and curious. “ Yeah?”125

He bit his lip. “ I…I…never mind.”126

“ Um okay,” I said slowly, soaking this in. “ I’ll see you tomorrow. Bye Jordan.”127

“ Bye Cadence.”128

I walked into the house and crept up to my room. I opened the door and saw Cassie sitting on my bed. I sighed. This was getting old. “ Hi Cassie.” 129

“ Hi.”130

“ How’s Trevor…and Jess?”131

“ Trevor should come out just fine. Jess is shaken up but fine,” she said. “Here, let me heal you.” I stripped down to my bare nude. She held her palms above my wounds. A warm orange glow emitted from her fingertips.132

I winced. Being healed was not fun. “ Oh, ow, Cassie!” I said.133

“ I’m sorry but I have to, Cadence,” she said sympathetically, concentrating on her healing.134

“ I know. I’d like them to fade. I don’t want my parents to get suspicious.”135

She nodded and continued working on the cut right above my left eye. “ So what happened with Jordan?”136

“ Nothing. We’re going to talk tomorrow,” I answered.137

“ Are you scared?” Cassie asked, cleaning the blood out of my hair.138

“ Out of my mind.” I looked out my window at the darkened street. “ God, Cassie, what if he hates me? What if he’s a witch hater?”139

“ And what if he doesn’t; what if he isn’t? Maybe you’re just being paranoid,” she said. I gave her a look. “ He’s your best friend, Cadence, and the boy you’re in love with. You have to have faith.”140

“ I have no faith, Cassie. I never had faith at all.”141

“ Not even in Jordan?” she asked seriously.142

I looked up into her knowing eyes and then to the picture of me, Jessica and Jordan on my mirror. “ Well, maybe…”143

“ Ahhh…” Cassie murmured. “ Now, take care of yourself and these wounds. I’ll talk to you later. And good luck.” 144

“ Yeah, I’ll need it,” I said as Cassie materialized out of my room.145