Excerpt: The Eight

Prologue

A roar of thunder broke Katherine off mid-sentence. It rattled the windows and more roof tiles hit the ground. The weather was too fierce for the English town, unnatural even. It worried Katherine. Her grandson tugged on her jumper. “Read more nana,” Thomas said. Katherine ruffled his hair. Whatever anxieties she had Katherine did not want her grandchild to know them. “Goldilocks sat in the middle chair and ate the porridge. This one is too cold-”

Lightning struck from the skies. The flash illuminated the bedroom as though it was day for a second and the bang shook through the house and smashed windows. Katherine threw herself over Thomas as glass flew out. She stayed in place until the thunder paused then sat up. She felt blood dribble down her neck and back as Thomas wrapped himself round her. He trembled and whimpered but did not scream. Katherine shared his fear.

The weather was not unnatural but supernatural. Someone, or something, was abusing magic. It was creating the storm, manipulating the weather for a dark cause. In all her past years as High Priestess she had never witnessed such power.

Holding onto Thomas she left the room. She fled down the stairs and found the front door ripped off the hinges. The unnatural weather ravaged the street outside. Katherine clutched her grandson tighter and ran to the basement. She bolted the door behind her and sat Thomas in a corner.

Katherine opened the cupboard that contained her Wiccan supplies. She took out four bowls. The one filled with earth she placed in the north position. The bowl containing the incense she set in the east and the one holding a candle in the south, then lit them both. She sat the fourth water filled bowl in the west. She called Thomas to her and pulled him into her lap. Katherine closed her eyes and prayed, her lips moving in a silent murmur. She ended with, “Goddess, give me strength,” and poured salt in a circle around them and the bowls.

“Why did you make a circle nana?” Thomas asked in a whisper she could barely hear.

Katherine didn’t answer. Instead she kissed his temple as the world rumbled above them.

“Did we do something bad?” Thomas asked.

Katherine looked down at her grandson. “Why would you think that?”

“Because he made the weather to scare us.”

“Who’s ‘he’?” Katherine asked.

“That would be me.” A young man strolled from out the shadows. Blonde hair, blue eyes, model good looks. Katherine remembered him instantly. Jake, gifted with telekinesis and a member of her coven from the age of seven until, at sixteen, he had set fire to a house with a family inside. That had been two years ago.

“I see you remember me,” Jake said. “But do you know why I’m here.” He gestured with his hand and the broken glass on the floor levitated.

Katherine closed her eyes and covered Thomas as much as she could. Light. Katherine fixated on a pure white light that flickered within her mind. But too much time had fallen since her last need of magic and her power did not grow as quick as she desired. Glass fragments scraped across her forehead and cheek and burrowed into her scalp. She ignored the pain and poured herself into her magic. The flicker of light turned to a growing orb. Blood trickled onto her eyelids. The light spread, expanding into the external world. The blood dripped onto her lips. The light enveloped her, stopping at the circle of salt. The blood tasted sour.

She opened her eyes and saw the cupboard shiver. Then it was hovering in the air. Katherine nestled her head on her grandson’s neck as it hurled at them. She felt the circle weaken as the cupboard smashed against it but the shield held and the cupboard burst apart with all its contents falling around them.

Katherine clutched her chest and panted. Usually it took little energy to uphold the circle but under attack it was exhausting. His telekinesis was strong. Even as a child he had shown tremendous power during his initiation. But for Jake it had never been enough. He always wanted more and that poor girl had it.

“Chaya,” Jake said, his voice loud even amidst the thunder. “Where is she?”

Katherine’s chest tightened and she struggled to breathe. It had only been two years but the change in him was uncanny. She knew she could not both fight him and protect Thomas. “I have taken a vow,” she told him, “to protect Chaya at the cost of my life.”

Jake crouched at the edge of the circle. He traced the edge with his fingers, his hand jumping a little at the electric shock it produced. For a second or so a white tint remained on the circle where his fingers had been. “That was a noble vow,” he said. He did not look at her but fixated upon the circle. “But I doubt you made it knowing it would cost this young boy’s life.”

Thomas dug his nails into her. Katherine knew she could not choose Chaya over Thomas but hoped she could keep the circle up until someone from her old coven showed up. They would know by now the weather was magically created and when they could not get in touch they would come to the house.

Pain flushed into Katherine’s skull. Jake’s hand still hovered over the surface of the circle but his will and telekinesis pushed against it. He tore into her shield; it felt like her soul was being ripped apart. With a scream, Katherine relinquished her circle and fell back onto the floor.

Before she could do anything, Jake had Thomas in his arms. “I don’t want to hurt this child,” Jake said, “but I will if that’s what it takes.”

Katherine felt tears roll down her face. “Hand me Thomas and I’ll tell you anything.”

Jake released her grandson and folded his arms. “Then tell me and I’ll leave peacefully.”

She grasped Thomas in her arms once more. Looking up at his towering figure she could not read his expression. More than she believed, she hoped he told the truth.

Katherine swallowed and prayed the Goddess would forgive her. “She’s in Whiteborough, living with her cousin…”