The Coven

Chapter 7

His information on how to avoid bears really sucked, she thought as she continued walking straight. Keeping her head up she could see the dark rain clouds beginning to form overtop of her. They were unnaturally dark, almost as black as night.

Then she saw why Hailey told her to keep her head up. Lilly stopped as gasped at the site in front of her. In the trees there was a two story home, a porch wrapping around both floors, many windows letting in the sun. Flowers on the windowsills and winding stairs built around the trees climbing to the porch.

The whole house was situated next to another quarry, this one with a waterfall.

This woman had to have some sort of supernatural power because no human could ever build a home like this. It had to be the most beautiful thing Lilly had ever seen. From the outside the house looked as though it should be in a Home magazine, it was perfect made completely out of a light brown wood.

Taking the railing of the winding stairs she began to climb, wondering how old they were and how much weight they could support. Slowly she made her way up, not sure whether she should make noise or start calling for Cleo before knocking on her front door.

Reached the porch she stepped slowly onto the polished wood, looking around for a glimpse of the woman. One step at a time she came to the front door, made out of glass. Lilly closed her eyes and knocked four times on the wood panelling surrounding it. No way would she knock on the delicate glass, she didn’t want to smudge it.

She waited for several minutes, nothing happened, no one came. She looked around as though something would be waiting there to tell her what to do. She rummaged through her satchel for her phone, finding it under her bottle of aloe and checked for a signal. Nothing, not surprising.

She knocked again, this time louder and longer. Still she waited and nothing. Frustrated now, she knocked again and did not stop.

“I heard you the first time.” The voice wafted down from above. Lilly took a step back and looked up to the porch surrounding the upstairs floor. A woman was leaning over the railing. “If I didn’t know any better I would think you’re Norah Essex.” She tilted her oversized sunglasses down and looked over the top, “But in your case I do know better, welcome, Lilly Neace, what do you want?”

So this was Cleopatra and she already knew who Lilly was, though it made sense she knew her mother and Lilly’s dad had always told her they looked very similar.

“I really don’t have all day.” The word was dragged out like a taunt, “The sun is about to go away honey bunny and I need to catch some of those rays.”

“To make a hex bag?” Was that really the first question to come out of her mouth? Lilly thought she truly had gone crazy if she thought catching rays literally meant trying to catch rays of sunlight to put into a hex bag.

“What? No are you dumb? I am tanning, summer time is tanning- you know what, just come inside meet me out the back, okay?” Cleo huffed and Lilly swore she heard the woman call her an idiot.

Slowly she took the handle of the door and pushed. The inside of the house was just as lovely as the outside. The same light brown wood was on the floor and walls, natural sunlight pouring in. The furniture was modern, as were the electronics, a huge plasma was mounted on the wall. The two couches around it were a bright red, the coffee table covered in magazines.

In the corner was a kitchen with stainless steel appliances, the fridge had a clear glass door. All around the room plants hung and indoor sculptures with water were placed around the room. Looking up Lilly could see the second floor was more of a loft, another set of winding staircases leading to it.