Something Hidden: Witches Rising

Each morning, after breakfast, the post was given out. Riley, Kota and I received regular letters from our families. Once every so often, Morgan received a letter from her aunt, which she read once and then immediately threw away. She never replied to them.

One dark Monday morning, just after half term, Riley received a letter from her mother. This was not unusual, so we thought nothing of it, until Riley gasped, burst into tears and fled from the room, scattering cutlery and leftover cornflakes all over the floor.

‘What was all that about?’ I said, turning to Kota.

‘Something’s up at home,’ replied Kota, dryly.

‘We’d better go after her,’ I stood up, careful not to spill what was left of my breakfast.
Kota and Morgan got up from the bench they had been sat on and we hurried after Riley. The Entrance Hall was deserted.

‘Where is she? The dorm?’ asked Morgan.

‘No. She’s upset and she wants to be alone. She’s going to be somewhere so blatantly obvious that no one would think of looking there for her. And, of course, it’ll be somewhere she’s not meant to be,’ I replied.

‘Like where? The copse?’

The copse was in the woods at the back of the school grounds. It was a little clearing where all the “cool kids” hung out at night so they could stay up until all hours without getting caught because none of the teachers knew where they were.

‘No,’ I smiled.

‘Then where?’ Kota frowned.

‘The beach. Duh!’

‘Oh. Yeah,’ She slapped the side of her head.

‘Race you!’ I grinned, running off in the direction of the padlocked gate that lead to the beach.

‘Hey!’ Kota yelled after me.

‘That’s so not fair!’ yelled Morgan.

I reached the gate and vaulted over the top, landing on the narrow cliff path. I jogged down it, skipping around protruding rocks and little tufts of grass with ease. I leapt from the path on to the sand and turned around to look for Kota and Morgan. They were high up on the cliff, slowly picking their way down the path.

I could hear sobbing from somewhere to my left. It was obviously Riley, as, other than me, she was the only person on the beach. I followed the sound and soon found her huddled between a rock and a grassy bush, the letter on the sand behind her.

‘Riley? Are you okay?’ I asked.

‘No. Go away,’ she sobbed.

‘You don’t mean that,’ I smiled, putting my arm around her.

‘I do,’ she mumbled.

Kota and Morgan reached us and plonked themselves down on the sand between our feet.
‘Right, Riley Davis – you need to tell your Auntie Laurel what’s wrong,’ I said firmly.

‘I can’t,’ Riley looked up briefly. ‘You’d never understand,’

‘Oh, I don’t know about that,’ Kota smiled.

‘If you don’t tell me right now, I’m going to have to read this letter,’ I waved the letter at her.

‘No, no!’ Riley grabbed the sheet of paper and shoved it down her top.

‘Please don’t make me have to go down there,’ Kota grimaced.

‘Kota.’ I warned. ‘This is no time for that sort of thing,’

‘Grrr,’ replied Kota, using one of my favourite crappy comebacks.

‘Okay! I’ll tell you!’ Riley snapped. ‘Anything to stop you two bickering!’

‘Go right ahead,’ Morgan smiled warmly.

‘Well, I’ve had some news about my ancestry.’ She paused and looked at me nervously.

‘Go on?’ I prompted.

‘Mum’s been tracing our family tree back as far as she can, and searching down every branch, and…’

‘And? Are you related to George Bush or something?’ asked Kota.

‘No. I… My… What I mean to say is, that one of my ancestors, my… grandmother, with ten ‘great’s, had a sister. The sister’s name was Elizabeth Folchart, and she was, apparently, persecuted and eventually murdered because she openly practised w-witchcraft…’

‘Elizabeth Folchart?’ I gasped.

‘That’s right,’ Riley said, ‘why?’

‘My great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother!’ I cried, counting the ‘great’s off on my fingers as I did.

‘Your WHAT?’ said Morgan.

‘Does that mean you and Riley are… related?’ Kota said, as everything clicked into place.

‘This great-whatever grandmother, what was her name?’ I asked Riley.

‘Felicity Barnes,’ she replied.

‘And that was her married name, right?’

‘Yeah, I think so. Mum said her parents were Folchart…’

‘So we’re… distant cousins?’ I said.

‘Yeah, I guess.’ Riley dried her eyes and reached out for a hug. I obliged, and nearly bit through my lip in shock. I felt a sudden surge of power thunder through Riley’s body and connect with the magical orbs tucked away deep inside my soul.

I shuddered. I had never felt so much power within one soul before. Not even Ashleigh’s power surges were that violent.