Before (11 page)

The Device family.

Tabitha.

The authorities would have told Anne that they would have let
her go if she brought them the most powerful witches.

Anne wouldn’t know that they would take her too. They wouldn’t
let a witch go back to living among the commoners.

Anne would need to incriminate the rest of her family. They
could only assume that Anne hadn’t found the solid evidence she’d
needed. It wasn’t enough to simply state it now, the commoners
needed the proof. That was the only explanation they had, why else
would Anne have been freed and not her mother?

Anne having come home at the time that she had, she hadn’t
known the relationship between the two families had crumbled the
day the angry villagers had dragged them away. She hadn’t known
about Jack and Cora and the split between them. They were no longer
following the path their families believed they would. Marriage, a
long life together. Therefore she hadn’t had the opportunity to
plant evidence.

Anne could have saved her mother but she hadn’t which could
only mean their friendship was over.

She brushed her hands over her dress feeling the quake in
them. It would help if she could concentrate on that anger today
but it was firmly pushed aside by the overwhelming amounts of
grief. Her legs didn’t feel like they were attached to her
body.

“
We have to go,” Tabitha repeated.

She nodded her head, even this movement felt numb to her. She
swallowed but her tongue felt thick in her mouth. Taking a deep
breath, and pushing past the grief that had already affected her
voice, she said, “Will she know we are there? We don’t look the
same.”

Cora referred to the potion Tabitha had made. They didn’t look
like they used to and she worried her mother would look for the old
Cora. This new Cora had long black hair the same coal colour as
Tabitha’s. Her hair hung down to the curve of her hips. Cora’s once
brown eyes were now a striking blue streaked with clouds of white.
If Cora had her way, she’d have liked to keep the eye colour, it
was better than the boring brown she usually had.

Tabitha’s hair was now an auburn colour infused with shades of
honey. The colour looked completely wrong on Tabitha with her pale
complexion and her rather dull brown eyes. It unnerved Cora that
she couldn’t see any of the Tabitha she loved in the face of this
stranger.

“
She will see us, do not worry.”

Tabitha held her hand out to Cora. She looked at it feeling
her mouth go drier. Her stomach was already fighting against the
sick that was building there. Taking a deep breath, she grasped
Tabitha’s hand, she needed Tabitha’s strength to stop her from
crumbling to the floor from the fear and grief.

She feared for her mother. She feared how she was coping with
this day, with the realisation that this would be her last day and
that she would be surrounded by people she didn’t know. Cora didn’t
want her to die this way. She didn’t want her to die at all, but
she would. Today Cora would lose her mother, her best friend and
there was nothing she could do about it.

Would dying hurt? It was a thought that had crossed her mind
several times. Cora truly hoped her mother would feel nothing, she
couldn’t bear to think that her mother would feel any more pain
than she had to.

She’d heard of these hangings, had heard horror stories
surrounding them from the commoners in the village who had spoken
rather gleefully about such a horrible way to die. Cora had
listened as they spoke of the
apparent
witches dropping and their
necks not snapping. This meant they hung facing the crowd that
jeered at them feeling the rope tighten around their necks, feeling
more lonely than they probably had ever felt in their life as their
lungs burned with the need to breathe. She didn’t want her mother
to feel this.

She didn’t want her mother to feel alone.

Cora had glimpsed a small amount of this pain, this loneliness
when she’d been attacked at the stream. She wouldn’t even wish that
on her worst enemy.

They meandered through the waiting crowds, the heat of the day
and the packed in bodies made her feel claustrophobic. She knew
that the hanging of so many witches was big news in their small
village.

Thirteen witches.

Thirteen would be murdered today. The crowds’ excited chatter
made Cora grind her teeth in anger. The wind flew around her
feeding off her nerves, her heartbreak. Tabitha squeezed her hand
trying to calm her. If she let her element snap, there would be two
more joining the thirteen.

Taking a deep breath, she listened to the laughter of the
commoners as though they were going to witness something
entertaining. She wanted to scream at them, to unleash her power
and grab her mother, taking her away to a safe home. Cora had
mentioned this to Tabitha. Why couldn’t they just snatch her mother
and run? Tabitha had warned her that she couldn’t do this,
apparently her safety was more important. Cora had to disagree. Her
safety meant nothing if her mother was going to die for it. She’d
rather be a million times in danger than live another minute
without her mother.

The midday sun beat down on their heads as they stood facing
the stark infrastructure, the simple murder weapon that was going
to make her an orphan. She shifted her footing, feeling the
tightness of her dress affect her breathing. She already felt
faint. The lightness in her head made her wobble on the spot.
Tabitha held her up, making sure she was able to stand.

She breathed deeply and found herself searching the crowds
looking for Jack, she knew he would be here today. He wouldn’t want
to miss it. She knew he would want to say goodbye and this was
their only way of doing so without being imprisoned themselves.
Like herself, he would also be disguised in some way. She realised
at that moment that she didn’t want to see him. If she did, she
wouldn’t be able to control her power.

The crowd stirred and cheered. Her body stiffened as Tabitha
squeezed her hand. She suddenly found that she couldn’t look at the
people being dragged to the tall wooden platform. She refused to
see her mother walk with them. She didn’t want this to be real.
Tears surged into her eyes, the force of them making her choke on
the emotions that flooded her body. She started panting, her lungs
rapidly expelling the air which made her head spin.

Cora blinked back the tears, back handing them so the
commoners wouldn’t see, and watched the nooses swaying in the wind.
A wind she’d conjured due to the turmoil she felt swirling inside
her. Her eyes were locked into place, staring off into the distance
as they blurred with more tears. She couldn’t do this. She
couldn’t.

Tabitha squeezed her hand which brought her focus back to the
here and now. She looked at the line of chained people and
instantly found her mother. She gasped and held her hand over her
mouth to conceal a sob. The commoners would look at her, would see
that she was devastated rather than cheering. What kind of people
cheered over something so inhumane? To murder another human being
for something like this was wrong.

Her mother wore only a thin piece of dirty grey material; it
was so thin she could see her mother’s bones shaking. The day was
warm but the fear, the shock of what was about to happen, had no
doubt affected her mother. She looked so thin, so cold and hungry.
Cora felt the anger bubble alongside her grief.

Her mother’s hair was thick with dirt, the strands of it
plastered to her face. Her shoulders were slumped indicating that
she’d given in. Cora hated to see this, hated that her mother
wouldn’t fight to save her life. Hated that her mother wanted her
to live a life without her. Cora had spent the past seventeen years
watching her mother fight, she was the strongest, bravest women
Cora knew. For her to give in now, it was too much to
handle.

Cora stood on her tiptoes and tried to catch her mother’s jade
green eyes. She wanted to see her eyes, just one more time. To
share a hidden message between the two of them before she was taken
from her.

She tried to contain a sob as she looked at her mother’s arms
that were streaked with blood. Some of it was running fresh as she
moved her hands to try and free herself from the cuffs which had
sharp, metal spikes protruding from them. Cora watched, unable to
do anything, as the cuffs around her hands punctured her flesh, the
rusted spikes cutting deep. She saw the pain cross her mother’s
face and wanted to make sure the commoners around her felt the same
pain.

Why didn’t her mother use her power? If she slowed down the
events the commoners couldn’t do anything to stop her from
escaping. She could be free by now. Cora bit her lip trying to hold
back her scream. She wanted to shout, to tell her to do something.
She couldn’t live her life without her mother, she couldn’t watch
her die. Sensing Cora’s desperation, Tabitha moved to stand behind
her. Her arms wrapped comfortingly around her shoulders as her head
rested on top of her head. They stood like this facing her mother,
watching together.

She observed, feeling disgusted, as the crowds threw stones,
rocks and rotting food at the thirteen witches that stumbled their
way up onto the platform. The crowds’ shouts of anger became a dull
buzz in her ears. She saw Anne, Jack’s sister, and Anne, his
mother, also walk onto the platform. They looked as downtrodden as
her mother. Anne, Jack’s sister, looked incredibly ill. She pushed
aside the small amount of sympathy. Their families had grown up
together; she had loved Jack’s sister, Eli and his mother like they
were her own family. It was hard to shut off her feelings, even now
after everything that had happened.

Her eyes moved back to her mother who was stood in position
with the noose swaying in front of her. Cora watched her mother
search the crowds. She saw the jade green eyes shimmer with tears
as she looked for her. Cora wanted to jump and shout and let her
mother know that they were here. The wind circled around her body
increasing in speed. It would burst from her if she wasn’t
careful.

She felt Tabitha shift behind her and then her mother’s eyes
found hers. Whatever Tabitha had done to catch her mother’s
attention, it had worked. The jade green latched onto hers, Cora
felt her lip wobble, felt the devastating effect that her mother’s
eyes had on her body, on her heart.

She wanted to show her mother she was strong, that she could
handle this, but she couldn’t. She knew it the moment her heart
simply gave up. It shattered as she watched her mother, one she
loved with all her heart, face death. The tears spilled over their
feathery prison, trickling steadily down her cheeks. She didn’t
bother to hide them. Her mother didn’t take her eyes off her as all
thirteen witches were forced to stand on the box and the noose was
tightened around her neck. Cora sobbed, they wracked her body as
she continued to look in her mother’s eyes. The ache in her chest
intensified making it hard to breathe. Tabitha’s arms tightened
around her shoulders forcing Cora to hold still. Cora pushed at
Tabitha’s arms, she needed to run to her mother. She needed to save
her. She couldn’t die.

She couldn’t die.

Tears blinded her. She blinked and then watched as her mother
lifted her cuffed hands to her heart, a gesture they had done since
she was a child. It meant three simple words: I love you. The crowd
stilled, a hushed silence fell over the hundreds of people as they
waited for the climax. Cora held her breath as the executioner
harshly kicked the box from underneath her mother’s feet. She
closed her eyes hearing the hard thud of the rope as it tightened
around her mother’s neck, and then she heard the crowd
cheer.

12

20
^th
August 1612

She stumbled through the door. Her knees buckled beneath her
as she crashed to the floor and vomited. She bent over rasping as
her corset restricted her chest leaving her lungs clawing for
breath.

“
Cora?” Tabitha’s concerned voice filtered through the pounding
in her head.

“
I can’t.... I caaaannn.....” Cora couldn’t speak, her teeth
chattered so hard they threatened to smash.

“
You must breathe, Cora,” Tabitha instructed.

I can’t...” Cora moved her hands in front of her corset;
Tabitha nodded, understanding and then waved her hands over the
material. Heat scorched her flesh but the fire had burned through
the back of her dress forcing the laces to break open. Cora sighed
the moment it ripped, allowing her to breathe. Now that she could
breathe, the sobs were taking control. She couldn’t shake the image
of her mother in her final moments, the look of complete peace on
her face knowing that her daughter would be looked after once she
was gone.

Had her mother thought of how Cora would feel once she was
gone? How she was supposed to control living her life when a major
part of it had been ripped from her?

Tabitha dropped down to the floor with her. Tabitha’s arms
slid around her, forcing Cora’s head to fall on her shoulder. In
Tabitha’s soothing embrace, Cora broke.

*