Chapter Sixteen – The Prophecy’s Inception
“That’s… no.”
I wish I could say a million things were running through my mind but the truth is I’m blank. Nothing in my head is working. It’s not possible. I didn't burn alive and I seriously can’t be part of a prophecy to end the humanity. I grab at the back of my neck which feels like it’s on fire. Why is this happening to me?
“Abigail,” the Emerald tries to comfort me. “This is why I have not said anything. I could not bear the sight of this.”
“We were going to train you first,” Trevor adds. “Teach you the good and noble way.”
“After everything you have gone through,” The Emerald trails her words off. She’s finally close enough to me to touch my shoulder. “I can show you everything if you wish. But please believe when I say it will be an arduous and distressing lifetime, one that Jeremy had suppressed for you all those years ago.”
That caught my attention. Jeremy was my father’s name. How was he a part of this? Fiona tenderly rubs my shoulder and kneels down to look intently at me. Her pale green eyes trail with her hand as she brushes a dreadlock for my face. It is only now where I can see the slight resemblance of Tammy. They have the same eyes, the same strength in them.
“If you want to know your truth, you need only ask,” she tells me.
Weighing all the options, the decision is quickly made up. My stare dances around the room from one person to the next, each of them wearing a wary expression. The spotlight never did well on me and now makes no exception. I let go my hand from Xander’s and collect both of the Emerald’s in mine.
“Show me.”
The four of us leave the second library and all the dark emotions behind. Fiona goes to retrieve the amber tiara from her room down the opposite end of the hallway; the same tiara she lent to me at the party. Our footsteps follow hers but we are told to wait outside since she’d only be a moment. We nod but even as she’s out of sight I can’t help my head from bouncing, not knowing what else I can do. I force back the spilling emotions from my eyes and remind myself of my personal rule. Never let anyone see me cry. Emotions are a weakness.
Right now that rule isn't holding up so well.
“I take it that she has told you?”
Xander, Trevor and I turn around suddenly to find Carter standing there in the doorway I guess is to his room. His pale eyes look past me, the same eyes of his sister and mother. Even though he’s at least six years older than me and his towering height makes him seem more intimidating, Carter smiles caringly. I wish I could simply nod or wave to him hello but I know he wouldn't see it. My heart breaks at another thing I am unable to control. Damn emotions!
“We’re going to see her past,” Trevor explains to him. Carter nods again. He takes the door to his bedroom and closes it.
“That is my cue to join the ranks.” He holds his hand out for what I think is a high-five but when our hands touch, he interlaces our fingers. His freckled cheeks make room for his smile. I’m feeling a little better but nothing is taking the fear of knowing my past truly away.
Fiona returns from her bedroom with the tiara in hand and sighs. They both know the time to tell me whatever it is has come. To be honest, I’m not ready. But I let them lead me away and numbly follow the sound of Carter’s fingers tracing the walls.
“A past-life reading,” the Emerald tells me. We make our way to her office as she prepares me for what’s ahead. “It will be painful, do you understand? This is reaching past a barrier that has shielded your memories for more than half of your life. It will unlock a very dark and troubled past far worse than that which you have suffered earlier on the shore. Regaining fresh memories is a pinprick compared to these. They will feel very real. This will be you dying all over again.”
“I already burned once and lived,” I tell her but my joke feels dry even to me. I swallow with a dry mouth and watch as Fiona reaches for two large chunks of crystal sitting on her shelf. “I've had tattoos and needles pushed into my skin several times already. This can’t be worse than the back tattoo piece I’m going to get next year.”
For reassurance, I glance to my best friend. Xander looks as though he is about to pass out, sweating and breathing a little heavier than normal. I’m still wondering what that Pulemp stuff really did to him. He’s more emotional than Katie on her period. The Emerald orders me to lie on the floor as Trevor is to mix a drink to help me as I awaken. The ordeal is making me shiver from anticipation. I want this pain over with already. Carter takes my hand and squeezes.
“You’re going to be fine,” he comforts me.
Oh boy, I hope so.
“The tiara,” the Emerald begins as she places it on her head. “Not only does it calm your own and block others’ powers, it intensifies them when properly controlled.”
“I don’t need another witchy lesson,” I snap in nervousness. “Just do it.”
Carter and his mother sit on opposite sides of me. After placing the two crystals beside my head on the floor, they interlace their fingers above my stomach, close their eyes and start to hum. I give one last fleeting look to Xander who grabs my hand.
‘It will be alright,’ he mouths to me. I whisper a thank you to him as a fierce sensation warms my skin. The more it spreads, the less I feel. But I feel Xan’s hand and that’s all I need. Trevor walks back into the room with his potion and glances at my anxious face. But instead of consoling me with a warm expression in return, his eyes go wide as he sees our hands intertwined.
“Xander, no!”
The worried look on his face is the last thing I see before I fall into my past and the fire of my mind takes over.
If bloodcurdling screams were a physical sense, that’s how I’d describe what I’m feeling right now. Burning pain, searing unbelievably strong tightening pain! My arms, my legs. Every muscle feels constricted and yet they’re pulled out in every direction. Fiona was right; this is nothing compared to the flashes at the shore today. I pant with the lack of control over my flailing body. This is far worse than anything I’ve ever imagined. Make it stop! My back arches up and I let out another shriek. I can’t tell the difference of the throbbing and where the floor meets my body. Make it stop!
I barely lift my eyelids open to find I am in the tunnel of swirling reds and oranges Trevor had trapped me in before. But this time it’s different. The memories don’t simmer like heat over a fire, they swirl in ghost-like patterns, diving close to me and threatening to swoop overhead to hurt me. I swat them away but they keep coming after.
“Do not fight the clouds,” Fiona’s ghost-like voice calls to me. “Let your mind think as you are there. Remember the ‘you’ of your past. Remember Emily!”
Who is Emily? My panting breath quickens as does my pulse. I have to let them consume me. My hands clamp into fists to steady my shivering limbs. Though everything in my body tells me not to, I obey the Emerald and let them in. My mind melts into the boiling sensation as I become one with my memories. All at once a lifetime blends into my skull. I am new and yet this has always been me. Everything leading into my life is infusing with my personality. I glimpse at memories but I know everything about them. I start remembering who I am, who I was.
I remember my three sisters Ivette, the eldest; Lisa, the second born; and Stephanie, the only sister younger than me. I remember my real mother. I remember my wretched father.
In my first life I was born 1975 as Emily Katherine Murphy to Mr. Maxwell Murphy and his wife Patricia. He was treasurer to the church he devoted his entire being to. She was a witch and he never knew until the day she died. Until the day he killed her.
My face turns to the right as a large memory collides with my body.
We had a family dinner with our favorite Auntie Carol. I’m 13 there. My eldest sister had just entered her Tempest after turning 17 months ago. At that point we didn't know we had powers. Our mother kept our heritage from us and she was still trying to do the same with Ivette.
“Wear this necklace,” she told my sister holding an amber charm in her hand. “It will help ease your mind.”
But my sister refused. She said it belonged in the trash with all the other weird junk my mom had. Ivette always was a stubborn soul.
I gasp as I’m ripped from that glimpse of my family. I had a family! A bubbling power bursts through my chest in another painful fit and I’m taken to another memory.
I cowered with Stephanie wrapped in my arms. We watched from the doorway as Ivette was being taken away by men in white uniforms. Her Tempest visions got to her, hearing things and seeing things. She slit her wrists but we found her in time to stop her from her suicide. Lisa and mom pleaded with my dad to not send her away. But he, being the strong believer in the Bible, refused to listen.
Tears spill from my eyes as I take my past in. It was so painful the first time and now I have to feel it all at once. My head bangs into the floor again as I get thrown into other flashes. So much hurt!
There were days when we visited the ward. My sister looked so pale, so disturbed. She screamed with the other inmates and at the orderlies about the things she saw. Judging by the marks on her skin, I’d say they didn't like when she told them the truth they never wanted to hear. But she was violent right back. That’s the reason we were hardly ever allowed to see her and that’s the reason mother couldn't tell her the truth. We prayed every weekend in church for Jesus to heal her. When that wasn't enough, my father turned to his drink. We grew distant from others but as sisters we made a strong bond with each other. Family was all we had.
My present body shivers at the pace my life is flashing before my eyes. Xan’s hand is the only thing keeping me steady through this. One second I am eight years old, the next I've turned 19. But I never see anything past that point in my life. I never turned 21. I died too early.
1990: Lisa started experiencing her Tempest. She ran to her mother, crying how she was going mad like her older sister. I watched their conversation from the stairs and bit my lip. She was a witch. That was the first time I heard the absolute truth fall from her lips. My mother gave her an amber necklace and a book of a witch’s heritage. It was titled The Shadowed Past and Lisa couldn't read enough.
Ivette left the hospital and mother was finally able to tell her the truth. Using Lisa as proof, she accepted the abnormality that she was quickly. Ivette too became engrossed in reading The Shadowed Past. I found it so hurtful that they could throw their faith away that easily. But I did not tell father. His life at the Church would have compelled him to scorn his family. He’d burn them at the stake if he needed to.
1992: I fall prey to my inevitable Tempest. At first, the visions were minimal. Glimpses flashed and voices whispered. But my mother was ready this time and I had known before my elder sisters. I was taken to the family’s coven leader: the Peridot. Stephanie (only sixteen) was left in the car as we entered that Regal Haven. The Peridot was a severe and judgmental woman yet she possessed the purest of souls; the gentlest of spirits as long as you did not cross her. And her servant was a kind man who looked very familiar to me.
Allowing me to become accustomed to the Haven, the Peridot took my mother aside. She explained to her the prophecy she dreamt last night. My mother rebuffed her words.
“That can’t be my daughters,” she whispered harshly. “You know them.”
The Peridot nodded slowly. “As do you.”
Another flash to another chunk of my past life. The pain was intensifying. My arms felt as though they would fall at any second. Carter and the Emerald continued humming and I had to watch.
1993: My drunken father slapped my cheek for not going to my Bible study. He took another swig of his alcohol and burst into Ivette’s room. I screamed for him to come back but it was too late. They were practicing their witchcraft in there and now my father saw.
Zener and tarot cards flew through the air with The Shadowed Past as father flipped the table over. His hand struck both my older sisters one at a time, ringing out in the quiet as they blubbered pleas of mercy.
“Why?!” His shouts were sure to wake Stephanie in the other room. “What would force you to turn your back to God? You are His child!”
“I’m not His,” Ivette sneered back. Her expression belonged to that of the manic girl we used to visit in the ward. The challenge in her eyes frightened me. “I am my own master and mother has shown us our true destinies!”
Father struck her hard again. I called for our mom to help but instead of waiting, father went to her. I made sure Lisa and Ivette were able to stand before I ran to my screaming parents.
“How dare you teach them this blasphemy?!”
“It’s their birthright,” she screamed back. “I’m a witch too yet you love me. Why are they any different?”
That didn't take too well with him. Stephanie clambered down the stairs behind me, wanting to know what was going on. She had no idea of the powers we were learning of. I felt so guilty that she had to find out that way. But I had no time to think on it since I had to save my mother.
Father landed blow after blow to our mom shouting at about how she dared to practice witchcraft in the Murphy household. I ran behind him to grab at his fists but I only got in the way. Stephanie met the same treatment and was thrown to the side too. I rubbed my head gingerly and watched my limp mother bleed out onto our carpet.
“Exodus 22:18,” my father mumbles. Not having the Bible memorized like he had, I had no idea what he meant. I screamed loudly as he pulled one of the kitchen knives from a drawer. It became clear at once what he was about to do. “Thou shall not suffer a witch to live.”
And that was the moment my mother died.
The feelings of pain and anguish and all the suffering I went through, it burned in my skull now. My life as Emily was a torturous one. Why did I agree to this? I should have let myself be and never remembered these things. I, as Abigail, am a stupid and naïve child.
I screamed in real life as I saw the blood soaked knife. Lisa, who I had not known came into the room, held me back. I wanted to hurt him. I wanted him to bleed. And I got my wish. My father suddenly dropped the bible, crumpling over in agony and holding onto his head. Ivette descended the stairs behind me. Lisa and I crawled over to our terribly confused younger sister. She whimpered in my arms and watched the scene unfold. My eldest sister stared our father down using some sort of witch power I had yet to learn.
“Leave this house,” she commanded my father. He did not agree.
“This is my house! You leave. You are the devil’s children now!”
My older sisters banded together and squinted at him. The backlash of their abilities tightened the air in my lungs as well as Stephanie’s. We huddled together as I watched them. In a matter of seconds my father was unconscious from their powers; his body bled from his eyes, nose and ears. Ivette grabbed the knife from his hands and drove it into his heart. Stephanie cried out but Lisa and I held her back. We had to tell her it was for us. We had to tell her the truth, the truth she should have learned a long time ago.
Ivette returned to us with blood-stained fingers. We all embrace each other, knowing as long as we’re together, we can be strong. My eldest sister turned to me and wiped away my tear.
“Never let anyone see you cry,” she told me. “Emotions are a weakness we can’t afford.”
My eyes flash again. Another stab of scalding pain shoots through my back and recoils my entire body. It’s electricity made of lava. My mind is so worn from everything it’s going through I can’t think straight. I want out! But there were still things to see. I needed to watch… to experience my death.
September 1st 1996: Finally we made it to the beloved shore. Gone were the joys of being children. Even with the youngest of us being nineteen, we should have retained some form of innocence. But it was driven out of us by the cruelty of the world. Our parents were dead, the Peridot shunned us and the world gave no mercy to the four angry sisters. We were left with only ourselves to depend on.
Our hands joined in a circle at the cliff known as The Ledge. We had grown in strength and now the time had come to start the prophecy. We had to become the four elements, one for each passing. We would avenge our mother’s unjust death and take out those who threw us to the streets.
“You will live,” I tried comforting us. The second eldest looked at each sister in turn with a single tear running down her cheek beneath her glasses. We all embrace as we remind ourselves of the mother we do this for. “We will be the daughters of the elements. Believe in our strength! I love you all.”
“We love you too, Emily,” they replied. Our hands interlinked again as the wind blew our matching reddish brown hair into our faces.
“Water, Earth, Fire and Soul,” we recited together. “There will be four daughters of the angry elements. A coven of unimaginable strength.”
“If bound by water,” Stephanie mumbled. “They bring their healing.”
“If bound by earth, their peace,” Lisa continued. Their eyes turned to me as I uttered my part.
“If bound by fire, their protection.”
Ivette smiled a deadly smile as it was her turn. “But if they be bound by hate, they will bring their end.”
We give each other one last hug before Lisa guided me to the post. This is to be done simultaneously and I must be the one to burn. I stood tall as my wrists were bound behind me around the post we built. Twigs were caught on the hem of my dress but nothing would turn my thoughts. I would not back down. This was for my mother and for my sisters.
“I will make your mind think there is no pain for as long as I can,” Lisa told me. There were tears streaming her cheeks profusely now. It wasn't fair for her but she knew she had to be the one to watch us die first. Ivette would take over after she turned and bury her later. “And this message is for you in the next life. Emily, I’m doing this for you. For all of us.”
In the life I live now I cry out to my sister. I call to the remembrance of Lisa, my best friend and the closest person I ever had. But the memory can’t hear me and I am forced to keep watching.
I received a last kiss goodbye on my forehead. It would be 17 years before we could take the next step in our plan. I had to grow again but next time knowing all along whom I really was. Lisa returned to our eldest sister by the tall pine tree and helped her stand on the ladder. The rope which had been tied to the sturdiest branch was looped around Ivette’s neck as Stephanie stepped to the edge of the cliff. Lisa kissed her big sister’s forehead like she did with mine before rushing to do the same with the baby of our family.
“Never let anger overcome you,” Lisa yelled to us all. She knew our second lives would intensify our emotions. This was our final departure and our last goodbye to life. The match was lit and thrown on the gasoline drenched sticks that held my skirts. “You are survivors so fight for it.”
“For mother,” we cried in harmony. And we all went to our second life.
As the flames engulfed my legs and made their way to my chest. I watched my youngest sister dive into the depths of the ocean with weights around her waist. I watched as Ivette kicked the ladder from beneath her feet. A brief fall, a sudden stop. I leaned my head back and let the Phoenix take me. We will be invincible.