Something Wicked ｡ Nicholas Scratch

― one

01. | ABBEY & HUNTER
❝ we stay alive.❞

Across the muddy riverbanks of Sweetwater River, sat the small and almost archaic town of Greendale where the residents appeared all too small-town and pleasant. Almost so sweetly sick and delightful, it could cause one a stomach ache. But beneath the cheery smiles and generations of simple minded town folk, lied something more sinister than anybody could imagine.

Among the families who had founded the town many long years ago, there was a little town secret that many had forgotten. If somebody were to dig deep into the town's history, they would discover that Greendale had once been littered with witches and that little problem had been settled with a good old fashioned witch hunt. Many of these founding families had sharpened their pitchforks and marched into the thick woods that surrounded the town to hunt down every single woman and man that was suspected as the ones damned from Hell. More than a dozen innocent lives had been lost and the Greendale folk believed the plague had been wiped out and soon enough, had forgotten all about the tales about witches and burning stakes and hanging bodies from tree trunks. But little did Greendale know nowadays, that their little witch problem was thriving once again. 

The Spellmans, who owned the local mortuary in town, were not the only witches to find a home in Greendale now. Whispers had indeed crept up from the soil below when the Flores family had road through town in an old rickety truck with a trailer packed with belongings following in tow. Many had asked about the sudden disappearance of the old owner of the Abbey & Hunter Inn and the new sale of the only local inn in the surrounding area. Many town folk assumed the quick sale of the business had something to do with the lack of tourists in town and the large sum of money offered from the new family, but in fact it had been a master trick by Rio Flores, who had kindly downed the old inn keeper in Sweetwater River one cloudy night. Nobody assumed a murder had been involved or how it was a fresh start for a family needing a new home and a new coven. 

A long week had passed since the family had arrived in town and for seven days, the three siblings had stayed in the shadows of the Abbey & Hunter Inn, away from peering eyes and the nosey neighbours. The grounds of the inn were smaller than one might guess at a first glimpse, only a small section of rooms in a cabin style and a small Victorian house standing guard on a lonely hill above. The inn was spooky, something Angel Flores had compared to the likes of Bates Motel. It was very quiet and creaking with ghosts that hosted stories soon to be revealed. It was a very big change in scenery for the family from New Mexico, but it was one that had to occur if they wanted to survive.

While the sun dipped behind the thick trees and before the fog that seemed to linger in town at all hours of the night, the three siblings had banded together in one of the dusty rooms of Abbey & Hunter to pull up the wooden floorboards to hide something. 

Sweat clung to Angel Flores as he heaved floorboards over his shoulder, eyes pinned to the limp body his older brother, Rio was dropping below. Carmina Flores watched from the open doorway, concern filling her brown eyes. 

"Are we really about to leave evidence under the floorboards of our motel?" Carmina asked. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that a terrible cliche?" 

Angel grunted loudly, wiping at droplets of sweat from his forehead with his shirt. "It's been almost two weeks, we can't have a dead body lying in our bathtub anymore."

Rio agreed with a stern glare at his siblings. "Angel's right and it's not like we can leave the body in Sweetwater River to float back to the banks when we least expect it. Trust me, nobody is going to come looking for Mr. Holmes. I did my research, he's got no family, only the inn. It's a perfect solution to our little problem." 

"If somebody comes looking for him, if someone even suspects we had anything to do with his disappearance, this is going to be the first place they look. Don't you watch Murder, She Wrote?" Carmina protested. 

Angel rolled his eyes. "Well, you're the reason we're in Greendale in the first place and the reason Rio even had to murder a mortal and buy a crappy inn and the reason we need a new coven. Everything's actually your fault."

Carmina blinked away unshed tears. "That was not my fault, hermano."

"Cut it out, both of you." Rio demanded. "Bickering won't change anything, okay? Angel stop being an idiota and Carmina get down here and help with the cloaking spell." 

Heaving out a sigh, Carmina moved from the threshold of the motel room and stepped inline with her brothers. Without speaking, they took hands and made a triangle around the body of Mr. Holmes that was wrapped in the old smelly rug from the house on the hill. Closing her eyes, Carmina tried to concentrate on the words falling from her lips. 

"Cover his body, remain his disembody."

"Seal the stench, keep away the wench."

"Hide him forever, say no words of our endeavour." 

"Let him rest in peace, allow his foes to crease."

"Forever and ever."

When the words muttered from each sibling circled around the room and then echoed throughout the entire inn, they finally opened their eyes and dropped their linked hands. Angel went back to placing the wooden floorboards back in place and Rio rearranged the furniture again, making it seem like nothing was wrong or out of place. Carmina stayed by the doorway again, watching the lonely gravel road that led up to Abbey & Hunter. Ever since moving into the house above them, she had not seen one human being walk that road, it seemed not even the neighbours wanted to cast their sight on the creepy inn. 

When the siblings were finally done, they piled onto the patio and watched as Rio locked the door to room eleven and hid away the family secret. Gathering on the horizon behind them were storm clouds to mask their transgressions tonight. Timidly, Carmina reached for Angel's hand and thankfully, he didn't shake away her touch. Rio watched the sweet embrace and placed a hand on Angel's shoulder as they stared at the number nailed to the wooden door.

"Eleven for our sins," Rio said. "Eleven for our secrets."

Angel snickered. "Nice touch."

Rio didn't smile. "Not that I have to remind you both, but this stays in the family. We don't share what happens inside these walls, not with mortals and not with witches. Understood?"

Carmina felt herself shudder. "What do we say when Father Blackwood asks about what happened? What if he asks about the Church of Dusk?"

Angel stared across at his little sister as his back flared with pain from the fires from that night. Rio's face was set cold, jawline firm as his muscles flexed with anxiety. He was not familiar with the High Priest of the Church of Night and he did not like Greendale or the witches he knew resided here, but he knew choosing to take up a new coven was the only way to keep his family safe.

"We tell him what happened. That it was a terrible accident and we barely escaped with our lives. We are orphans from our coven now and we need safe harbour within the arms of the Church of Night. We tell everyone the same story. Seguiremos Vivos." Rio said. We stay alive.

Carmina found herself nodding as the fog drifted around their ankles, almost like veins trying to crawl up their legs and ground them to Greendale. "Seguiremos Vivos."

Angel squeezed his sister's hand a little more. "We stay alive."