She saw Chris, hold her tightly and kiss her passionately. Then, She levitated midair and suddenly appeared in the moving car.
The car crashed with a loud bang!
~
She sprang up from the bed with a little gasp. Light coaxed back and forth her room. It was morning. Her head hurt like crazy as she swiped her left hand against her forehead and groaned.
Her hand slipped onto her chest to touch the talisman. She felt her chest, her bare chest.
Then, it dawned on her. The talisman was gone. She let out an ear deafening scream.
Uncle Marcus and Mike burst into the room with speed.
"What happened?" Yelled Mike.
"My necklace! It's gone!" Gwen shouted.
"You sure you didn't drop it?" Asked Uncle Marcus.
"I never let it off my neck." She replied.
"It wasn't on when we found you." Mike informed.
"And that's another thing." Said Uncle Marcus.
"Oh, great." She said, sarcastically.
"Maybe someone stole it?" Added Mike.
Gwen's mind flashed back to the night before.
She remembered the red, blood red eyes belonging to the six foot tall monster that chased her. But if she said that, no one would believe her.
"Yeah, maybe someone did." She mouthed.
"We'll go back to the woods and see what we can find. In the meantime, both of you will go to school and come right back home. No parties, No after school activities and no staying at friend's until we can figure out what happened last night. Am I clear?"
"Sure, Marcus." Mike agreed.
"Yeah." Gwen breathed.
Uncle Marcus went out the room and shut the door behind him.
Gwen buried her face in her palms and began to make a little sound. She was crying.
"Hey, What's wrong?" Mike asked he sat on the bed beside her.
"That necklace was all I had left of my Mom.
And now it's gone." She said in between sniffles.
"We'll find it, Okay?"
"P-Promise?"
"I promise."
She wrapped herself around him and he smiled sneakily.
~
Gwen rushed into the cafeteria and found Raven and Mitch staring into his MacBook.
She sped to the table and slammed her hand on it with fury.
"What the hell, guys? Where did you go last night?" She blared.
"Gwen, Mitch found something about your necklace we didn't talk about much. And you won't believe it." Raven introduced.
"Okay, Gwen. I was scrolling through this website about Paranormal stuff and all that shit and I found this in the witches section."
Mitch and tilted the laptop towards Gwen.
She gasped a little.
"That's my necklace!" She yelped, looking at a black and white image of her talisman.
"It's name is Blackburn." Raven chimed in.
"Blackburn?" Gwen asked as her mind went back to the day of the accident.
"Blackburn. My mom told me that before giving me the necklace."
"The website says that Fifty years ago, a coven of witches made a talisman from a piece of each of their powers. A red diamond." Mitch explained.
Gwen's eyes widened with fear.
"It says that only the descendants of the carver of the diamond and the first donor can yield it's supreme power." Mitch explained further.
"Gwen, where's the necklace?" Raven asked.
"That's what I've been trying to tell you! Some...thing tried to attack me last night and I ran into a tree. I bet it stole the necklace when I fainted!" She said.
"Oh, no. This is bad." Mitch said.
"We have to find it." Raven proposed.
"Gwen, do you know what this means?" Mitch asked with a grin on his face.
"You're a witch." Raven finished.
"Whoa, Whoa, Whoa. We don't know if any of that bullshit on that website is real or not.
Witches aren't real." Gwen said.
"We don't know that too." Raven inclined.
That minute, Bryce burst into the cafeteria.
"It's Friday, nerd! Where's my homework?" He bleated and slammed his grimy hands on the table.
"It's Friday already?"
"Listen, if you wanna play games with me nerd, I still have your videos on my phone."
"Hey, asshole!" Yelled Gwen.
"Huh?"
"Why don't you do your own homework?"
"Don't get in my way, newbie."
Bryce said as he slipped his phone out his front pocket and waved it in Mitch's face.
Gwen decided enough was enough. Her eyes glowed bright red and her hair changed into another shade of brown.
Bryce's yellow phone case began to turn red.
It was overheating.
He screamed out of pain and tossed the phone to the floor. It exploded with a loud bang into smithereens.
"Bitch! What did you do to my phone?"
"I was standing right here, you dick."
"This isn't over! You did something and I'm gonna find out!" He said, shoving people out of his way and marching out of the cafeteria in anger.
"Guess we do know one thing." Said Raven.
"What's that?" Gwen asked.
"You, Gwen Farrow, are a witch."
"I guess I am."
Mitch was frozen in shock.
"Happens all the time." Raven said, biting through a club sandwich.
~
Gwen got into her room and shut the door.
She tossed her backpack and fell on the divan.
Then, a knock came at the door.
"Yeah, Who is it?" Gwen snarled.
"It's Mike."
"Come in, it's open."
Mike waltzed in and saw Gwen sitting upright.
"Hey." She said.
"Hi. You doin' anything?"
"No, not really."
"Great, then. I have a surprise for you."
"What?"
"Come on!"
Mike said, dragging Gwen off the bed and into the hallway.
~
"Can I open my eyes now?"
"Yes. Yes, you can."
She opened her eyes and gasped.
She was in the attic but it wasn't the attic anymore. A bed in the middle of the room with a cupboard and a vanity table.
Few festive lights graced the headboard and a bottle-made chandelier lit the room.
"Mike, did you do this?"
"With some help some Marcus, yeah. Do you like it?"
"Like it? I love it!" She said, running and hugging Mike like a teddy bear.
"I like you, Gwen. I really do." He whispered into her ear.
She quickly pulled away from him like she had been stung by a bee.
"Mike, I can't."
"Can't what? We're not related."
"I just can't!"
The room went into silence, you could hear a pin drop and clang on the wooden floors.
"I'm sorry, Mike..."
Mike didn't say a word but opened the attic door and left.
Gwen looked at her lamp.
"If I was a witch, I would know."
She gazed at the lamp and raised her hand to it. Her eyes gleamed bright red and her hair changed color.
The lamp wobbled off the drawers and fell.
Suddenly, it stopped and hung midair.
Gwen carefully set it back on the drawers.
"I'm going to find my talisman."
~
Gwen looked at the wall clock.
The hour hand hit midnight and she knew it was time.
She shoved a flashlight into her back pocket and slid the sash window open.
One leg at a time, she stepped out and slammed the window shut. She leaped into the shrubs and landed with a silent thud.
Gwen looked sideways to make sure she wasn't followed. She scooted off the sidewalks and strolled into the woods.
A figure stood by the dim light of the basement doors. He walked into the light and squinted his eyes.
Mike was stalking her.
~
"You guys don't have to help me if you don't want to. You could just go home." Gwen suggested.
"And miss the greatest thing that has happened in Hollow Hills so far? Not a chance." Raven opposed.
"She's right, Gwen." Mitch said, sitting in the leaves. His eyes were glazing through the binoculars, waiting for someone.
"Gwen, Homecoming is coming soon. Who are you wishing to ask you?" Raven asked, with her eyebrows raised in a lovesick manner.
"Nobody, actually." She replied.
Raven's jaw dropped into shock.
"But it's Homecoming. Everyone wants to go with someone. Why not you?"
"I really don't wanna talk about it." She had a past that was supposed to remain the past.
"Suit yourself." Shrugged Raven.
"Uh, guys? You gotta see this."
Gwen and Raven rushed to where Mitch sat.
They wore black entirely, so they'd be hard to spot in the bushes.
Raven snatched the binoculars and looked through. She gasped immediately and handed them to Gwen.
She looked through and saw two hooded figures, arguing in the moonlight.
"Gwen, now would be a really good time." Mitch proposed.
"To do what?" She asked in confusion.
"Use your powers!"
"I-I can try to eavesdrop." She said.
Gwen closed her eyes shut and inhaled sharply. Then, her eyes cracked open and became ruby red.
Her hair struck like fire as every sound became a high pitched noise.
Their voices echoed into her ears as she listened in on their conversation.
~
"That talisman brings nothing but trouble and death, Chris. You have to give it back to her.
Only she has the power to control it."
"You don't understand, dad," Chris said, "I feel stronger and like I can release my full potential. I will feel poisoned without it."
"Chris, I was once like you. I sought the power of the talisman and lost the love of my life and my daughter, your sister."
"That story gets worse every time you tell it, Dad." Chris muttered.
"I don't want your life to go the same way mine did."
Chris groaned and screamed, "You don't know what you're talking about!" Then, he sped into the night as his father yelled his name from behind.
~
Gwen's eyes returned to normal as she felt weak in the knees. She fell into the leaves and
and her head ached.
"Gwen?" Raven called as she caught her in her arms. Mitch watched as she opened her mouth to speak.
"Chris." She muttered.
"What about him?" Asked Mitch.
"Chris... stole the talisman."