“It’s kind of empty,” Noah observed.

“Well kids, this isn’t the cities we usually visited,” Patricia explained. It was definately empty. Only three people besides the Rollins could be seen, two of which were in shops.

“Mommy! I want to go in a shop. Please,” Danny whined. He tugged at Patricia’s hand while she tried to hold a squirming Zoe. Sam took Zoe while Patricia walked over to get a closer look at the nearest shop.

“I don’t want to. It’s getting late and I’m tired. Besides, this town is spooky,” Gracie whined.

Zac circled around her, “That’s because of the witches.”

Colin agreed with Gracie, “It is kinda late.”

The Rollins walked down the street with Colin and Zac carrying all the luggage. The whole time Danny whined about wanting a magic broom and Zac made weird noises, that were meant to be scary. The motel was very small, but large compared to the other buildings, if you could even call them that. By the time they were all settled Patricia was fed up with Danny’s whining.

She turned to the four oldest, “Will you go buy Danny a magic broom?”

“Are you nuts?! Out there?! When it’s dark?! No way!” Gracie shrieked.

“Woo hoo! We are outta here!” Zac yelled, grabbed his jacket and was out the door. Noah and Sam followed.

Outside was dark (originally said “pitch black” but I crossed it out) with no starts, only a half (originally said full) moon. The moon was dark than back home though. They used the dim light to see their way to a shop down the street. The only light inside was from a few lanterns. An old man was arranging jars on a shelf.

Sam went to the man, “Hi. Do you have any witch brooms for my little brother?”

The man smiled, “My name’s Theodore. Over there on that wall.” Noah was looking at some jars of black and red goo. Zac was in the back looking at jewelry (originally said necklaces). Sam took care of the broom and got one for Kelsey too. If you know Zac he usually isn’t into jewelry. There was only one necklace and it really caught his eye.

“Petty (pretty) isn’t it?” the old man asked coming up behind him.

Zac touched it, “Yeah.” The man looked at Zac.

“You have very long hair,” the man said.

“Yeah,” Zac replied a little confused.

“This is an odd question but could you move you(r) ponytail to the side?” the man asked. (Agh! Pedofile! Run, Zac!) Zac moved the ponytail and started getting worried. “How old are you?”

“I’m 14,” Zac answered.

The man noticed how worried Zac was, “The necklace is $5.00.”

Zac(‘s) eyes nearly popped out of his head, “But the pricetag says 6,000 dollars.”

The man snapped, “I said it’s 5 dollars.”

Zac shrugged, “Okey, I’ll buy it.” Zac dug a wadded up five dollar bill (out of his pocket, I’m assuming).

“Thank you for doing business,” Theodore said and stormed off. Sam walked up with two brooms, a case of witch make-up and a tiny stuffed cat.

“What was that about?” Noah asked as he joined them leaving the store.

“I’m not exactly sure,” Zac gave the guy another weird look but Theodore didn’t see.

On the way back to the motel they passed a graveyard they hadn’t seen before. It was very green and full of plants. Just then a girl screamed and fell onto the street a few yards in front of the guys. A man who seemed to float was right behind her. She picked herself up. She was wearing a green velvet, long dress. She had light brown hair going to the bottom of her neck. She had a diamond and pearl headwrap across her forehead and some rings. She wore two necklaces. (The boys couldn’t see much of this, only large features). One was a marble w/ a silver serpent wrapped around. The other’s was identical to Zac’s, a silver knot with a gem except her’s was turqoise & his gem midnight blue.

She ran towards them. While still running she put one hand on Zac’s chest and one on his back (wow, that’s pretty talented). She pushed them together. Zac felt the pressure and a prick but before he could say anything she & the strange man, who Sam had tried to trip and mysteriously went through his foot, wer down the street.

“That was odd,” said Noah.

“That was weird,” said Sam.

“That hurt,” complained Zac.

“Man, what did she do to you?” Noah asked as they kept walking.

“Nothing. It hurt but there’s nothing on my,” Zac checked his shirt.

“Maybe she was losing balance,” Sam guessed.

“No, I felt a sting or prick. When she touched me she said ‘Blood be bright,” Zac turned down Sam’s idea.

“Let’s not tell mom and dad or anyone else. They might not let us go out tomorrow,” Noah hushed them when they got to the door. Sam and Zac nodded.

As soon as they walked in Danny ran to them yelling, “They’re back! They’re back!”

“Danny hush. You’ll wake the dead,” Patricia scolded.

“How true,” Gracie whimpered from somewhere under a heap of blankets on the couch.

“We have broom for Danny, broom for Kelsey, cat for Zoe and make-up kit for Grace,” Sam pulled the things out of his jacket. (That must be a pretty big jacket.)

“Just put it on the table please. I’m not coming out,” Gracie instructed, still hideen. Danny and Kelsey straddled the brooms and “flew” around the room. eping Zoe’s crib. Zac walked up to Gracie, ready to pounce.

“Don’t you dare Zachary,” Patricia scolded.

“I think we should all get to sleep now,” Colin suggested.

“Can’t I take a quick shower?” Zac asked, giving up on scaring Gracie. Patricia nodded and told him quick. Colin picked up Danny under one arm and Kelsey under the other arm. He carried Kelsey to the bunkbeds in the hall and Danny to their room.

“We call this room!” Sam planted his foot on the ground. Zac was in the bathroom where we will give him privacy.

“I’m not moving!” Gracie called.

“Come on Gracie! You can have top bunk!” Kelsey said sweetly (from the other room?)

“Great, now I won’t be able to get away from the witches,” Gracie mumbled. She left the room and joined Kelsey.

“Yes! TV,” Noah cheered.

Colin grabbed the remote and put it on top of the tv, “Sorry boys. No–“ then he was cut off from a scream coming from the bathroom.

“Zac are you okey?” Patricia asked through the door.

“I’m fine. The water was hot,” he assured everyone. Everyone layed down and Patricia and Colin kissed everyone good-night.

“Oh & get good sleep. Tomorrow we are going to see a mock Salem witch trial,” Colin added. All lights turned out except a flashlight Sam and Noah ahd. Zac finished his hsower and joined them on the floor.

“The water wasn’t hot,” were the first things Zac said. Then, “Look.” He lifted his shirt up to his shoulders.

“Oh my god,” Sam said.

From the bedroom they heard, “Samuel watch your mouth!”

Wanna know what they saw? Is the suspense “killing” you? Are you “dying” to know? (Could this “be” any cheesier?) Well, ok. Written on Zac’s chest in blood that couldn’t be washed off was, “Help Me Kakali. My life is in your hands. Fern.” It was as if the blood were under a transparent layer of skin. It wouldn’t smudge, not even with soap. He turned around and on his back was the necklace symbol.

“This is too weird,” Sam said.

“Hey Sam. Get your laptop,” Noah instructed. Sam plugged his comp in. Zac draped a blanket over theirheads.

Sam went to ‘search’ and asked, “What was the word?”

“Kakali,” Zac answered. Sam typed kakali in and pushed search. They all waited in suspense, only hearing Gracie’s worried mumbling. Another suspense. Count to 15 Rollins before you continue. This is what the screen said:

Kakali is Hawaiian for Zac. (Except it’s not.)

Now is that a scary coincidinc or what? This is very scary. Very, very scary. Isn’t it?

Well after this scary info the guys decided they had better get to sleep so the put Sam’s laptop away, turned the flashlight off and fell asleep while the strange girls words kept working. (Because, you know, if something like that happened to me, sleep would be the first thing on my mind too...)

(Twilight Zone Music Plays) (Oh my goodness...)

CHAPTER TWO

Everyone woke up early the next morning. All the sleepy Rollins got dressed and dragged themself to the bakery up the road. But not before Zac discovered the message changed to:

I Have a Fear
That My End Is Near
There is only 1 person who something can do
And that person Kakali Kane is you.
Fern

Zac showed it to his bros and at breakfast they asked their parents what Kane meant.

“It can be a name and in Hawaiian I think it means man. Why do you ask,” said Colin as they ate donuts. (Because, you know, everyone speaks Hawaiian, right?)

“No reason,” Noah quickly butted in.

The baker walked up to them, “If you are going to the trial you need to go now.” The Rollins threw their trash away and made bathrooms stops. The message had changed again to:

I fear my lilo friend
That my life must come to an end.
Unless at my trial
You help prove my denial (doesn’t make sense...) The little ones, they hold the key
To let my freedom be
Love, Fern

Zac thought long and hard after he told Noah and Sam what the new message said. Sam had teased about Love, Fern.

That’s when Noah figured out, “Fern must be that girl. And she is really a witch. This is HER trial.” This worried Zac, a girl’s life was in his hands.

As soon as they got to the court house they saw that a good 75 people lived in the town. Zac excused himself to the bathroom where he saw that the message had changed and this was the most confusing one yet:

Think with your mind
Follow your heart
If you do so
Then with my life I shan’t part Thinkith of three
Your heart knoweth the way
To saveth the day

Sam and Noah went with him to the bathroom and the back said

The other ones
You call them your family
They love you tons
I hope someday
I know the love you have
And maybe someday
Might I may have
I’ll have my own
Dear family
Thank you, Lilo Mahi Akamai Kakali Kane
Love Fern Serenity Kai Meka Larkin
Daughter of Giles and Mary Larkin-Cory
Little sister of Willow Patience Moana Loke Cory

“Well now we know who she is,” Sam concluded as they headed back to the courtroom.

“But Giles and Mary died 300 years ago,” Noah pointed out.

“Maybe it’s a different Mary and Giles.” They hushed as soon as they entered the courtroom. The filed into the seats beside the rest of the family. Neither Zac, Sam or Noah had gotten a very good glimpse of Fern. Fern wasn’t in the room yet.

An elderly man sat down beside Zac and was reckognized as Timothy (I think I meant Theodore). They whispered quick hellos, even if they hadn’t gotten along at first. A man who didn’t look much older than Colin took a seat behind a judge’s podium though it wasn’t as fancy as most are nowadays.

The man began to talk: Welcome Town of Salem to the trial of Fern Serenity Kai Meka Larkin. Daughter of witches Giles and Mary Cory-Larkin. Younger sister of Willow Cory, also a witch. All were put to death for their witchery (someone in the court yelled “Just like she will”). As you know, for hundreds of years we have gotten rid of the witch problem. How many curses have been done since we started this tradition? Rarely any. We know that many people have been put to death who were innocent. So by vote of the people we will need suffenciant evidence before we hang her. (Someone yelled “Too bad we aren’t in Europe and can burn her.”) So far she had denied all charges. Now for court to begin. We have never done a trial like this (someone yelled “Too sympathetic”) Let court begin.”

Zac noticed that there was no jury. Rule of the people. In front of the judge was a cage looking, well, a cage. There was a single stool inside of the cage. A door beside the man, judge, opened and out walked 1 large man, Followed by Fern and then another large man. The first man was holding a chain wrapped around Fern’s waist. The other guy’s chain held her hands. They led her into the cage where they took the chain off her waist and wrapped it around her ankles. They exited the cage and locked it. Fern was not wearing her velvet green dress but a ugly brown cotton one. She still wore all her jewelry. She had scratches and bruises all over.

Zac looked around and for the first time he noticed the Rollins were the only one wearing normal clothes. Everyone else was wearing dresses (girls) & cotton breaches (boys) (You know, had to make sure the reader understood which went with which; and I misspelled breeches). He just at first thought Figured they were in costume but then remembered this was real. The Rollins were sitting right up towards the Front.

“Wow, she has beautiful eyes,” he thought. While the judge rambled on about witches & the past, Zac found him staring deep into Fern’s eyes. They were light blue and the outer rim was dark blue. She had perfectly shaped eyes with the longest lashes Zac had seen (this does not get mushy, I don’t think.)(Rofl, reassuring the readers that there wasn’t going to be any sappy romance. lol!) He suddenly realized she was staring right into his eyes.

*Can you hear me?* Zac was startled and jumped. Ferm made a slight nod as he heard *It’s me Fern.* He mouthed the word what. *I am speaking to you through yoru mind. Think thoughts toward me*

#Like this?#

*Meka means eyes*

#Oh. What does thinketh of three mean?#

*You’ll figure out in time* (Yeah, I wrote those signs like that, lol.)

***********************

I believe I was end of 5th grade when I wrote this. I had a strange fascination with the Salem Witch Trials.

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