Journey of the Witch by Kytin
The house was beautiful. The Victorian grace was still in every piece of
wood. Jen had gotten the house at auction for much less than it was worth.
No one wanted it. It was in the woods behind the University. Being a student
at that University and a lover of historic architecture Jen loved this
house. She was going to restore it. She couldn’t do it alone though.
Her savings were dwindling. She was going to need roommates. She didn’t
want to share her house with anyone but Danny, her betrothed, but she knew
that they couldn’t restore this house by themselves on their tight budget.
She knew some of her old friends were going to be students at the University
this year but it would be hard for her to live with them again.
She had changed since she last saw them. She had come into her abilities
more than they could know. They all knew that she had been born a natural
witch, but none of them knew that she had progressed from only being able
to call on the powers of water and the spirits, to being able to call forth
a complete circle by herself, or holding open channels to other realms,
or at other times allowing the two other spirits that lived within her
surface and see the world through her eyes. Her whole world had changed
one day, a day she would never forget, and not because that was when Tourniquet
and Kymi came to reside within her.
Rev of course knew more about her abilities than Ali and Ali knew more
than Drake but Rhea hardly knew about them at all. She could really use
their friendship again though. Danny had his abilities to think about too.
He was her dark knight, her hunter, her protector. He had unnatural strength,
speed, and grace. She knew that Ali had been becoming a medium for the
spirits when they graduated from High School but that had been three years
ago. They had gone separate paths after that. Drake had some sort of telekinesis.
Certain things just seemed to be drawn to him at times. Jen had been one
of those things. Jen also hadn’t seen him since High School. Rev was
a different story though. Jen met him during midterms her senior year of
High School. They dated for about a year. He was fascinated with the dark
arts, death, vampirism, all things nocturnal. He became a vampiric apprentice
just after Jen left him. Rhea was a friend to both Jen and Rev. She never
seemed to look the same, but Jen could never figure out why. These were
the only four people Jen could imagine herself sharing her new house with.
They had each contacted her saying that they were coming to her University
and so they had hoped that they could rekindle the friendships they had
each had with her. But could she handle them in her house?
Chapter One
Jen had sent the letters with directions out a month ago, the day she bought
the house. Since then she had forgotten about roommates. She simply had
to restore rooms in the house. The master bedroom was finished in two weeks
as Jen didn’t have to go to the office to work, she did everything over
the internet. And since she was so close to the University she didn’t
have to pay for internet. She simply used her laptop. Danny worked on the
other side of town so Jen spent most of her days repairing the house. After
she had finished the master bedroom, its adjoining bath, her office, and
was nearly finished with both bedrooms on the second floor, Jen decided
that the living room just needed some touch ups and was for the most part
perfect when she bought the house. She was putting on the first coat of
pale blue paint when she heard a car coming down the lane.
No one really ever came by before Danny got home and wasn’t due back
for another couple of hours. Setting down the paint roller she looked outside
to see a black car she didn’t recognize. Stepping out onto the porch
she was amazed to see Drake emerge from the simple Chevy Cavalier. She
was awestruck at how much he had changed. His hair was still the same and
the face was familiar but that was where the same old Drake ended. He was
no longer the big oaf that she used to tease while they were an item. He
was now a tall and well built man. Jen was proud of her five foot six inch
height but next to Drake she felt small again.
“The house is larger than you said.” Drake called mirthfully from
next to his car.
“I make it sound smaller because I think of it as home. You know that
I always lived in small houses growing up.” Jen smiled because Drake’s
voice may have matured but his sense of teasing her had not.
Drake made his way to the porch to give Jen a hug, her preferred greeting
from a friend, and was surprised when she backed away a step and simply
wrapped her arms around herself. When he started to follow she looked him
straight in the eye and he stopped midstep.
“What’s wrong do I scare you now? I haven’t seen you for three years
and now you offer me a place to live and I don’t even get a hug?” Drake
asked, confused.
“Sorry Drake. I just don’t like most people touching me anymore. I
went through some bad times after High School. It is good to see you though.”
Jen remembered the date that things had changed for her. She still had
nightmares about that day.
“How is your family? I haven’t seen them since graduation.” Drake
was curious about what happened to Jen but he had seen this side of her
before, it was what had split them up in high school, but somehow he knew
that this went deeper, was part of her soul now. Something bad would happen
to her family and she would retreat into herself. When they split up she
had been grieving for her grandmother and he had tried to comfort her but
she wouldn’t be touched and wouldn’t tell him why.
“Mom is fine, she moved down to Texas to be closer to her little brother.
My sister is a major engineer for NASA now and lives in Florida. My brother
opened a restaurant chain he designed himself and now lives in Nevada.”
Jen loved her family more than anything in the world. Nothing had changed
that. The thing that had changed was her definition of family. Drake didn’t
know that though so she braced herself for the question she knew was coming.
“What about your dad? Where is he? I remember that you were always close
to him.” Drake was still confused about Jen’s reactions because her
face had lit up like it always did when she talked about her family. While
they were talking he sat down on the front steps of the porch because she
had yet to invite him into the house that they would be sharing. Jen had
taught him one thing while they were together, never enter her domain without
permission, spoken or not. The first time he hadn’t believed her and
tried had left a scar at his left temple, the small, jagged line was the
result of a large psyonic blast that Jen had fired in self defense because
she could not sense his approach mid-summon.
“I don’t know where my father is.” Jen’s face had darkened and
Drake could sense the malice and anger inside her. “I haven’t seen
him since a month after graduation. I don’t really care how he is or
what he is doing. I don’t even care if he is dead.” Jen had braced
for that question but it always caught her off guard to have people remember
the time before, before her innocence of spirit was stolen from her.
Drake didn’t know what to make of this as he had spoken the truth. Jen
had always been close to her dad. The Jen he remembered had always be very
loving and happy. During her times of depression she usually could still
smile if you asked about her and her parents. The Jen that sat next to
him now was different. She had darkness in her. She was trying hard to
fight this darkness as well, to keep it hidden. She was slowly winning
her fight.
“Would you like to come in and see how much work we have ahead of us
before school starts up again in two months?” Jen was trying hard not
to let the darkness that lived inside of her to show too much. Drake wasn’t
ready to see how much she had progressed since high school.
“As long as I can help out I will but I have to find a job soon. I don’t
have much saved up. Ali doesn’t either.” Ali had told Drake that she
had kept in contact with Jen for a little while after graduation and that
Jen knew that they were living together but at the look on Jen’s face
when he mentioned Ali, Drake knew he had not been told the whole truth.
“I didn’t know that you and Ali were still together. She stopped mentioning
you after about two months I thought that you two had split up.” Jen
had kept in contact with Ali because they had always been friends but she
hadn’t really paid that much attention to the letters. She hadn’t realized
that Ali had eventually just sent a letter that said she wasn’t sending
anymore letters because she rarely got a response from Jen and when she
did it was very vague and they had drifted apart. That was about six months
ago. Then Jen got another letter from Ali saying that she was transferring
to the University and that she would like to get together to house hunt.
That is when Jen responded with an invitation to share her home with Ali.
Drake simply still had her email and sent notice that way. Jen had returned
the favor.
“We have our ups and downs but yeah in essence we are still together.
She won’t arrive until tomorrow or the next day because she went to visit
family. My family moved up there near Kansas City so I have already visited
them.” Drake was beginning to see that Jen was a very different woman
than the girl that he had known. He knew that he was the oldest of the
roommates she invited. He knew that there were four people from her past
that she had invited to share her new home with. He didn’t know much
about her live in boyfriend, Danny.
Moving into the living room that she was about to start painting when Drake
arrived, Jen gave him a tour of the house. The master bedroom and her office
were on the third floor and she had finished them first. She explained
all this to Drake as they went up the stairs.
“If you need me for anything in the daytime and I am not working on
the house I will be working in my office. Above that is the attic which
is rather sturdy and we will use it for storage.” Jen loved this house
even more each day.
Next was the second floor, it had two bedrooms and a bathroom. The bathroom
was almost restored, that was Danny’s area, and Jen had finished painting
one of the bedrooms a smoky grey that morning.
“Since I figured that you and Ali would need separate rooms I restored
both of them on this floor. There aren’t any bedrooms on the first floor
but I am converting the basement into a bedroom, a bathroom, and an office
for Rev. He likes dark places especially if they are underground. Rhea
and Rev were together last time I checked but if you and Ali are sharing
a room that gives us a spare room. My office is a bedroom that I converted.
It is large so if you need to, you can set up things in there I also figured
that we could study up there.” Jen was good at planning things usually.
Drake remembered that about her most of all.
Join