𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓;
WHICH WITCH IS WHICH
UPDATED 3/10/21
. . . . . . .
— FLYNN O'CONNELL WAS HAVING a field day with Reese's newest dilemma; she arrived exactly twenty minutes after school ended, flinging open Elizabeth's front door announcing her presence in the house. She promptly dropped all of her belongings on the couch and bolted up to Reese's bedroom, her eyes glimmering with intrigue.
"So," Flynn said as soon as she ended the bedroom, flinging herself onto Reese's bed. "What's with this whole witch business?"
Reese glanced up from her laptop that was open to a Wikipedia page titled Am I witch?, and sighed. "I think I remembered something when I was passed out, something my mom said when I was little. It was like it was completely gone before then."
"That happens to me," Flynn told her, plucking a piece of popcorn out of the bowl on Reese's desk. "Like, yesterday my mom swore up and down that she told me to buy red peppers and I vaguely remembered her saying something but I just couldn't remember her actually saying Flynn, pick up some red peppers."
"No, it's different," Reese argued. "Because it's like there's an empty spot where that memory used to be and I never noticed before because I didn't think about it, but now that I know it's gone it's like my brain is trying to find something it lost."
Flynn frowned in contemplation, resting her chin in her hands. "Why did it take you passing out from shock to remember?"
"That's what I'm looking at," Reese clicked another tab and motioned for Flynn to come look at it. "I was reading an article about things like this happening to other people. It says that sometimes when there's a traumatic memory, your brain tries to protect you and blocks it out."
"Makes sense," Flynn agreed, her eyes scanning over the words.
"One would think so," Reese rubbed her face, irritated. "Except, it wasn't traumatic. My aunt came to visit."
"I thought Elizabeth didn't come until after the twins were born?"
Reese nodded. "She didn't. At least, not that I remembered," Reese opened another tab. "This article is about witches. It's said that sometimes witches can block memories from people or take them back. It's how they kept their secret for centuries. Maybe, my mom took the memories."
"Good theory," Flynn mused. "Except that would make her a witch, and therefore you a witch. You don't seem particularly witchy. No offense."
"Flynn, trust me," Reese's firm expression took her by surprise. "These memories were taken. They weren't just forgotten."
The two girls sat in a thoughtful silence, each working over Reese's words on their own. Flynn, ever the realist, was having a hard time processing the fact that witches might — and that's a big might — be real. Reese, on the other hand, was going over the new memories and trying to pull as much information out of them as she could. The hours of research she's done was running through her brain, trying to find any correlation between each other.
"What exactly did you see?" Flynn finally asked, curiosity getting the best of her.
"I was in my house," Reese told her. "My aunt came to visit and they said something about a family curse. Something that I was supposed to stop. My mom told Elizabeth that I would never have to deal with that, but my aunt seemed adamant that my mom tell me. Then, I was in a park, this one I remembered but not correctly. This girl stole the swing I was on and what I remembered was shoving her off, but I didn't touch her! She just flung right off. The last one, well, that wasn't my memory so to speak."
"Whose was it?"
"My mom's," Reese whispered. "She was my age and my grandparents were telling her that she might be the chosen one so that would end our curse—"
"The same curse Elizabeth said you were supposed to stop?"
"Exactly! But my mom was already pregnant with me and was going to marry my dad," Reese paused, letting out a shuddering breath. "My grandparents went ballistic, they started shouting at her and then my grandpa said that she didn't deserve to be a witch. A witch, Flynn. What if I'm actually a witch."
"You would have gotten your Hogwarts letter by now, Hermione," Flynn's tone was light, but when she caught sight of Reese's serious expression she sighed. "Reese, magic isn't real. Witches aren't real. They were just made up by a bunch of scared religious fanatics looking for someone to pin the blame on to explain why things were going badly."
Magic is real the voice in her head told her, and Reese believed it. "But what if I am? How would I know?"
"I don't suppose you've accidentally set a large python on a cousin named Dudley, have you?" Reese shook her head no pairing it with a roll of her green eyes. "Then I don't know. Why are you so bothered about this anyway?"
"Because, there's something inside me practically screaming that I am," she stood up from her bed and paced back and forth. "And this whole curse thing. I feel like I have a timer floating above my head that's counting down."
"What happens at zero?" Flynn asked quietly.
Reese turned to face her, an ominous look on her face. "I don't want to find out."
"Okay then," Flynn sat up, setting her lips into a determined line. "We're going to figure this out. We're to get to the bottom of this whole curse thing and find out if your memories are actually memories or if they're just some weird hallucination your brain created to block out your fear. Grab your stuff."
"Where are we going?" Reese asked, but grabbed her coat regardless and followed Flynn out of her bedroom and out the front door.
"The library," Flynn told her, unlocking her minivan and jumping into the drivers side. "They'll at least have something about witches. If your family is supposed to stop some curse then they're probably important in witch history."
□ □ □ □ □ □ □ □
— PORT ANGELES PUBLIC LIBRARY had a good selection of books, and it was practically empty by the time Flynn and Reese arrived. They told the librarian at the front desk that they were working on a school project, and got directions to the historical section. Together they plucked through the shelves, picking out anything related to witches. By the end of it, they had compiled a pretty large stack along with a few articles the librarian had suggested they check out calling them very informative.
"Okay," Flynn dropped the last book on the table ignoring the stern look she received from one of the older people seated nearby. "This is all of it."
"Now what?"
"Now, we start reading."
Reese and Flynn opened the first book in their designated piles, scanning through the pages in search of anything remotely related to Reese's family. At first, it was just basic information about how the witches were accused and how their trials went, but on her second book, Reese finally stumbled across something useful.
"Hey, check this out," Flynn glanced up from her page and listened intently as Reese read. "During the Witch Trials in Massachusetts during the sixteen hundreds, Anna Smith, Rose Mathis and Morgana Piedmont were three of the fourteen women to be accused of witchcraft and executed in Salem. After learning that her husband was the one who accused her, Morgana laid a curse on the town before being hanged, claiming that any man who married a descendant of hers would die a cruel and early death . . . ."
"Holy shit, Reese," Flynn breathed out. "Do you think that's the curse your aunt was talking about?"
Reese nodded silently. "She said that the curse would kill my parents. She was right."
"She also said you were the one who was going to break it," Flynn reminded her. "Do you have any idea how to do that?"
"No," Reese groaned and dropped her head down on her book. "Neither of them ever spoke about this to me."
"Okay, well, I mean, what if this is all some big coincidence?" Flynn asked, though her eyes were filled with worry.
"My parents dying might have been a coincidence," Reese fired back. "But me recalling a memory about a curse and then finding evidence of said curse, is not."
Together they grabbed the books and checked them out, agreeing to do some more research on the subject. Reese had a few more things she wanted to double check before she confronted her aunt about their family history, including looking into the surname Piedmont. She wanted to see if it was true, if all the men did die. During her memory restore, she remembered her mother bringing up Richard — a name Reese had never heard mentioned before. The name had been printed on the cover of a wedding album in Reese's closet, and she wanted to know if he, whoever he was, had suffered a similar fate to Paul.
It was getting dark by the time they had stepped out of the stone building and made their way to the O'Connell's family minivan. Reese shivered in the cold, wishing she'd brought a coat at the they hadn't parked so far away from the library. They had just about reached the car when Flynn paused, her blue eyes darting towards the dark alley a few feet from them. Reese spun around to see why she had stopped when she felt it too: the unwavering feeling of being watched. A chill ran down her spine, causing her to shudder. Her heart skipped a beat when she made out the shadow of an unfamiliar figure stalking them in the dark.
"You see him too, right?" Flynn asked, moving a step closer to Reese."It's not the caffeine and sleep deprivation making me hallucinate."
"No, I see him too," Reese whispered, doing her best not to alert the stranger that they were onto them. "We need to go, Flynn. Now."
Reese grabbed Flynn's arm and dragged her towards the van, the adrenaline coursing through her veins tried to force her to break into a full sprint but Reese feared that he would chase them. They were almost there, a few steps away maybe, when the figure moved forward, his pale skin illuminated by the surrounding streetlights. Reese skidded to a halt, eyes wide as she realized he'd cut off their path to the car; her muscles were pleading with her to make a break for it, regardless of the danger that would put her in, and her brain was in agreement, but Reese fought the urge, pushing it down into the same darkness where she stuffed her parent's deaths into. The man watched the two with a humored expression, leaning against the building casually.
"You better leave us alone," Flynn called to him, her words were firm but Reese could feel the nervous energy oozing out of her.
"Or what?" The man taunted, laughing like it was a joke. "What will you do?"
"I have a black belt in Krav Maga," Flynn told him. "Don't make me have to kick your ass."
"Do you really?" Reese whispered to her friend, not taking her eyes off of the man.
"No," Flynn admitted, just as quietly. "I took one class and quit, but he doesn't know that."
Apparently he wasn't too impressed by Flynn's bluff, because he pushed himself off of the wall without another word and moved toward them like a predator hunting it's prey. Flynn and Reese backed up, putting as much space between them and him as they could, it was only when Reese glanced behind her that she realized he was corralling them into the alley, where they would be trapped. Her heartbeat pounded in her ears as her back hit a wall and he grew closer, closing the gap between them. Reese felt like she was burning; her skin radiated heat and the panic only made it worse. He stepped towards them, and Flynn reacted first. She dropped the books to the pavement and shoved Reese out of the way of his reaching arm. Reese landed on the ground roughly, her palms aching from the loose pebbles that pressed against her skin, but she couldn't even shout at her friend for the aggressive push, because the man at Flynn pinned against the brick walls that lined the alley. She punched and squirmed and kicked, but the man didn't even budge.
Watching her friend struggle, Reese felt a wave of red hot anger rush over her. Her skin tingled as the heat sizzled through her bones, and Reese hauled herself up from the ground. Flynn shouted something at her — maybe to run — but her ears were throbbing from the echo of her rapid pulse. Without even thinking of her actions, Reese threw herself at their attacker, her hands wrapping around his forearms in an attempt to release Flynn from his grasp. At first, he didn't even seem to notice that she'd grabbed him, but then the heat which burned through her hit him. The man let out a shrill scream, the skin of his arm where Reese held him blistering from the contact — if she hadn't been so afraid for the safety of her friend, Reese might have realized how strange that was.
The man lurched away from Reese, releasing his hold on Flynn. He wailed in pain, his body jerking as the blisters continued to spread despite the fact that Reese was no longer touching him; it was as though he was on fire — like he was burning from the inside out. His skin, which had been milky white before, had turned a bright pink and his eyes, which were bright red, seemed to glow as though flame danced behind his iris'. He growled loudly, the sound reverberating through the alley and he lunged for them, despite the obvious agony he was in.
This time, Flynn was ready for his strike; she hit him with a swift kick to the chest, sending him sprawling to the ground. Shock was evident on his features, but he didn't stay down for long, rushing Flynn again. He was much slower this time, and Flynn easily dodged his second charge. The man growled — a sound scarily alike to a starved animal —and made a move for Reese, but Flynn blocked him. She grabbed his blistered arm and forced him onto the ground where he proceeded to writhe in pain, rocking back and forth as he attempted to put out the invisible flames no longer interested in them.
"Told you I'd kick your ass," Flynn said, kicking him in the stomach for good measure.
Reese stared at him in shock and then glanced down at her hands as if she was seeing them in another light. She half expected them to be on fire too, or, at the very least, red; but they were completely unscathed — except for the scrapes she'd gotten when Flynn had pushed her to the ground. The heat that had flooded through her had burned away, and Reese suddenly felt drained. Her legs shook and she felt as though she was going to crumble any second.
"Come on," Flynn pulled Reese out of her thoughts with a nudge to her side, and tugged her out of the alley. "Let's get the hell out of here."
Reese followed Flynn mindlessly, feeling like she was on autopilot as she tried to process what exactly had just happened. She spared a glance behind her, but the man had vanished. Reese resisted the urge to vomit; maybe she'd just made the whole thing up in her head. Maybe she was dreaming or something, still hovered over a mound of books back in the library, but Flynn's tight grip on her arm disproved that theory. When they reached Flynn's van, Reese's tongue finally remembered how to work and the words tumbled out of her mouth.
"What the fuck just happened?"
"I have no clue," Flynn whispered. "But did you see his skin?"
"It was like he was burning."
They stood there in silence, their brains working tirelessly to come up with an answer for what they had just witnessed. Reese was sure her brain was about to malfunction when a car suddenly tore through the parking lot, and Reese screeched in shock. The lights blinded her for a second, until they were blocked by a figure stepping in front of her. Flynn readied herself for another attack but then Emmett Cullen came into view. He rushed forward, his golden eyes brewing with fury as he checked over Reese for any indication that she was hurt. She hid her scraped palms from him, not wanting to give him any reason to worry.
"Are you alright?" He grabbed the sides of her face and turned her head left and then right. "Reese, did he hurt you?"
"I'm fine," Reese mumbled, but Emmett's frantic movements didn't relax. "Emmett, I'm fine!"
"She did more damage to him than he did to her," Flynn snorted. "And hey, where's my knight on a white horse making sure I'm alright? Like, does no one care that I just beat up a guy twice my size? With my bare hands! Someone call the Sheriff because I'm packing some serious heat."
Emmett blinked at the flexing blonde, his dark eyebrows furrowing together. "Wait, you did what?"
"I totally kicked his ass!" Flynn cheered. "It was pretty badass."
"It was," Reese agreed, bringing Emmett's attention back to her.
Emmett's gaze flickered between Reese and the direction of the alley the man had attacked them in, looking as though he wanted nothing more than to rip his head clean off his shoulders for getting anywhere near Reese Logan, but she squeezed his arm softly bringing him back. Her green eyes were swimming with concern, masking the fear he knew she was feeling.
"Emmett?" She said lowly, so only he could hear. "It's alright, really I'm fine."
"Alright, love birds," Flynn called jokingly. "Let's beat it out of here, yeah? I don't feel like getting attacked by another psycho tonight."
"I'll bring Reese home," Emmett offered, partly because he could see how tired Flynn really was and knew that she lived on the other side of town but also because he needed to make sure that Reese got home safely. "Go to sleep, Flynn."
"Aye aye, Prince Charming," Flynn mock saluted him and then turned to Reese. "Text me if you find anything new about mission which witch is which."
"Is that a Scooby-Doo reference?" Reese asked and Flynn gleamed, happy she understood.
"Hell yeah it is!"
The three of them went their separate ways, Reese and Emmett to the monstrous Jeep and Flynn to her minivan. For the second time in one day, Emmett helped Reese into the passengers side before quickly getting into the driver's seat and pulling out of the parking lot. For a while, they sat in silence; Reese trying not too hard to think the damage her hands had caused and Emmett concentrated not turning around and kill the vampires that tried to touch his girl. When they reached the center of town, Reese's lips betrayed her and she spoke.
"How did you know we were in trouble?"
Emmett glanced over at her before his eyes returned to the road. "I was driving by when I saw Flynn's car and that guy fleeing. Flynn was holding you up, I thought something had happened."
Reese narrowed her eyes in suspicion; not only had she not seen the guy leave the alley (which she certainly would have, considering there was only one exit that she and Flynn were blocking) but it was strange that he just so happened to be driving by a library in Port Angeles at this time of night. But, considering how angry he looked, Reese ultimately decided not to question the authenticity of his answer. "Right," she murmured, slouching into the leather of the Jeep.
"So, what's mission which witch is which?" He asked after a moment.
Reese studied her fingers for a second before replying. "We were looking into the Salem Witch Trials for Flynn's history project. I just found out my ancestors were tried for witchcraft."
"That's pretty neat," Emmett smiled.
"Yeah," Reese agreed quietly, remembering the curse. "Neat."
They continued on in silence, each of them lost in their own thoughts. Emmett pulled into her driveway, letting the engine idle as they both sat there. Once the silence began to suffocate her, Reese collected her books, struggling to hold them all as she contemplated jumping out of the Jeep. Emmett realized she was struggling and easily step out from his side, crossing in front of the Jeep until he reached her side. Taking the books out of her arms so she wouldn't drop them, Emmett held out a hand for her to hold as she attempted to gracefully land on her feet (she only stumbled a little, which she was proud of). Emmett carried the pile books for her as they walked up the path to the front door, Reese had just turned to thank him for the ride when the front door was ripped open revealing a disheveled Elizabeth.
"Where have you been! I tried calling you and—" Elizabeth cut herself short when she spotted Emmett. "Oh. Hello," she brushed a curl out of her eyes. "I'm Reese's aunt Elizabeth."
"Emmett Cullen," he introduced himself, holding out his hand for the older woman to shake. "Sorry, I was just bringing Reese home from the library."
"Library?" Elizabeth echoed, frowning.
"I left a note on the counter," Reese reminded her of the pink sticky she'd strategically placed next to Elizabeth's laptop so she would see it.
"Right! Yes, I remember."
"So, um, I'll see you tomorrow?" Reese turned back to the boy that was holding her books under one arm, and took them back.
"Yeah," Emmett grinned. "I'll pick you up around seven thirty."
"Sounds good," Reese confirmed, and stepped into the house, forcing Elizabeth back. "Good night, Emmett."
"Night, Reese," he nodded at her aunt. "Nice to meet you, Elizabeth."
Reese waited until he reached his Jeep safely before shutting the front door and letting her aunt stare at her expectantly. "What?"
"Why didn't you tell me you were with a boy?" Reese could see the hopeful glint in her eyes, and she was reminded of the curse that loomed over her family. "A cute boy at that?"
"Because it's not a big deal," Reese argued, giving the twins who were seated at the table a kiss on their cheeks as a form of greeting. "It's not like it was a date."
"Please," Elizabeth scoffed. "I've been on enough dates to know that when a boy looks at you like that, it's a date."
"We were just at the library!" Reese was getting frustrated; she was scared that the strange man was going to come back to take revenge on her for burning him, and angry because Elizabeth was reading too deep into her and Emmett's sort-of-friendship. "Stop making a big deal out of nothing."
"So it was a study date," Elizabeth was practically gleaming. "Is this the same boy who brought you home earlier—"
The emotions bubbled over, mixing with the darkness that was steadily rising until she snapped. "God, stop talking about it!" She screeched, startling the twins away from feeding Poppy the peas they didn't want to eat. "You're not my mom, so stop acting like you are!"
Elizabeth froze, and Reese's chest rose up and and down heavily as the anger coursed through her. "I know I'm not you're mom, Reese," her aunt whispered, looking hurt. "I know that I will never be Mallory, and I'm sorry for that, but I'm all you have. I just wanted to know if he was someone special —"
"Just stay out of it!" Reese snapped, the words tumbled out of her mouth before she could stop them. "I'm not in love with him or anything so the stupid curse won't even touch him, I know that's all you're worried about, so just get off my back about it!"
Elizabeth blanched. "No, no, no," she ran her hands through her hair, then turned to the twins. "Annmarie, Taylor go to your room for a second, okay?"
They clambered down from their chairs and sprinted up the steps, happy to leave behind their vegetables, with the puppy following behind them loyally. Elizabeth stared at Reese with watery eyes. "You weren't supposed to find out about that."
"So it is true?" Reese breathed out, her anger depleting with every word. "All of it? The curse and the witches?"
"Your mother made me promise to keep it from you," Elizabeth cried, tears flowing down her cheeks in streams. "Mallory thought that if she blocked your magic the curse couldn't touch you. I told her that wouldn't work, I told her you had a roll to play in the prophecy and that she couldn't protect you from it—"
"Aunt Elizabeth, what happens now that I have my magic?" Reese asked, interrupting her aunt's rambling.
"You have to fulfill the prophecy of the Chosen One."
authors note: can i get a hOLY SHIT !!!!! so in case you were confused reese broke the spell her mother cast and now has access to her powers which allowed her to weaken the vampire (just a nomad passing through) enough for flynn to take him out (bc she's a bad bitch!) but reese now knows that she is truly a witch,,,and it's only a matter of time before she figures out emmett's secret too (yikes). this is also a sort of au so the vampires aren't super cold or glitter or anything bc i kind of hated that about the books (so we changing it ). but BIG THANKS TO KARA FOR LETTING ME SEND SCREEN SHOTS OF THIS TO YOU SO YOU GET TO BE THE FIRST TO EXPERIENCE EMMETT AND REESE BEING ROMANTIC !!!!!! ILY BBY *: