A Salem Awakening

Chapter 30

At that exact moment, the house shook. Then it shook again. Joseph experienced earthquakes before, and this was not one. During an earthquake, the house would shake and shimmy constantly for a period of time. This felt more like the house was being hit by some type of large projectile. Something was hitting the house, sort of. Joseph motioned for Abigail to get on the floor and hide behind a chair as he quickly extinguished all the lit candles, drawing the house into pure darkness. He quietly stepped to a window and ever so carefully peered through the curtain. It was hard to see anything in the darkness. Every few seconds, out of the pure black, he would see what looked like the form of a man lighting up brightly, as if he were being zapped briefly by fire. Everything would then go black again for twenty or thirty seconds, and then he'd see the zapped figure again.

"Rennik's protection is working. But who is that man?" Joseph squinted to get a better look, but he still couldn't see anything. In reality, it wasn't one man, but two. Tobias' two men, in fact. He sent them to the Sampson house to capture and return Abigail, but they did not expect the protection field Rennik left for them. Eventually, they figured out what was happening, and instead of torturing their own bodies, they started throwing rocks toward the house to weaken the field. The field of electricity surrounding the house repelled each one. And with the number of rocks being thrown and rejected, Joseph could identify there were two men. He immediately realized who they were.

"We're safe as long as your father's protection holds up," he assured Abigail. As if planned, right after that assurance, a rock made it through the protective field and hit the roof with a loud and unexpected thud. Both Abigail and Joseph ducked down in fear at the sudden sound.

"I think we should get out of here," Abigail said.

"Yes, I agree with you. But how can we get out without being seen?" Immediately, there were two more thuds. Joseph thought through a plan, but his ideas all depended on Tobias' men being idiots. "It might work just for that reason," he thought.

Thud!

As Joseph shared his plan with Abigail, another thought entered his mind. It was unlikely, but worth a try, considering who her father was.

"Does your father have any cloaks? I'm thinking of one that would be quite old, with a tall collar? It would be black."

The thuds were happening more frequently now. It was only a matter of time before the electricity field was completely down and their protection was gone. Joseph knew the only way they could break the field this easily was if Rennik were seriously hurt and could no longer sustain the field. Or worse. He knew there was not much time before the two men would be in the house. In fact, their slow progress pleasantly surprised him.

"Do you mean Belle? That old thing is in my parent's bedroom, in the closet."

"Belle? Can you show me now? And fetch anything important you need in case we have to leave quickly."

"Father said he wanted to discuss his special candle and his old book with me. I suppose I should take them."

"All right. Gather them as fast as you can and then take me to... Belle."

The two of them stayed as low to the ground as they could. Their eyes were adjusting to the dark, and they could see a little better now. Abigail grabbed the candle and then scurried to the bookshelf and grabbed the old, dusty book. They hurried into the bedroom, and Abigail led Joseph to the coatrack and pointed up. More thuds, now louder and even more frequent.

"What do you want with this old thing?" she asked.

Though there was no time, Joseph paused in awe. "Could it be? I can't believe I'm actually holding it. Abigail, if this is what I think it is, what I hope it is, it's going to save us tonight."