Wicce (2nd Edition)

51

CHARLOTTE jolted upright in her bed in the middle of the night. At first, she wasn't sure what had awaken her or why. A second later, she knew and became wide awake with excitement. It was unusually noisy outside, the trees were rustling and the wind pounded against the house.

She immediately donned on a jacket and pulled on a pair of rain boots. She was so thrilled that she was almost out of her bedroom door before she realized she had forgotten something. She went to the nightstand, pulled open the top drawer and grabbed the purple amulet. She had been carrying that around her neck twenty-four seven since she had broken into the Lockwood's mansion and only took it off whenever she went to bed. She pulled the chain over her neck and quietly stepped out into the hallway, closing the bedroom door shut behind her with the faintest click.

Perhaps it was because she had gotten used to the dark, the hallway was strangely bright even with all the lights out. Heart pounding, she slipped past Sue's room as quietly as she could, down the stairs and reached the front door without even a floorboard creaking under her boots. She only realized she had been holding her breath when she finally closed the front door behind her and let out a huge sigh.

Now what?

She could see the storm building. The clouds overhead were darkening and the wind whipping so wildly about in all directions that she could barely see with her hair constantly flying into her face. Where should I go? What should I do now? She wasn't sure what Brinkley had meant when he said that force wielders like them would be able to sense dimensional rifts. It's not like she was given an instruction manual. She doubted that even Brinkley himself understood half of the things he told her.

She guessed there's no harm starting from the basics so holding the amulet around her neck in her palm; she closed her eyes and cleared her mind. She focused on thoughts of her mother, the memories they had and she started walking, going in whichever direction that felt right. She played the memories of her mother in her head over and over again even though they pained her. She remembered she used to watch her mother cook in the kitchen, the rustle of her apron as Mrs. Branson moved around, the smell of fresh chicken pies, the sound of her mother humming softly...

The amulet started to grow warmer and warmer in her palm.

She let her legs lead her and her senses to guide her. Before she realized, she had already gone far off the boundary of the estate and had reached the edge of the cliff. She could smell the algae clinging onto the rocks, feel the thinning patches of grass underneath her boot and the sting of salty sprays spattering onto her cheeks. She opened her eyes and looked down. The angry waves were not dark but white, pounding higher and higher up against the cliff, like a monster assaulting its prey. She squinted and peered down closer. She then rubbed her eyes and looked again to make sure it wasn't because she was dreaming or that the sprays had gotten into her eyes. She could see it clearly now. There was a patch in the water down there, almost undetectable. Like an oil spill, it looked darker than everything around it, and it was rippling, rippling gently, even though the waves were violently battering the rocks.

Heart pounding, she knew she had found it. The portal. But she didn't feel exhilarated. This was it. She looked down again. It was a long way down and there was no other way to get there, except one. She took a deep breath to steady herself and closed her eyes. The wind was howling louder and louder, ghastly voices in the air, urging her, pushing her, she could almost hear it calling her name.

Charlotte.

Of course she was afraid. Who would not be? But she did not care. Not anymore. Nothing was going to hold her back now. She had come this far. This was the only chance. The only chance to see her mother again. To say goodbye. She let it loose now, all that she had tried to shut inside. The longing for her mother, to hear her voice again, to see her smile, to feel the touch of her mother's hand cradling her cheek...

And she leaped. She got there sooner than she had thought she would. She did not feel the fall. She did not even feel the unbearable stab of pain as her body slammed into the water and the icy liquid burning immediately through her lungs.