Date: Mon, 13 Apr 2015 21:23:05 +0000 (UTC)
From: Nathan Bradshaw <nbradfshaw@yahoo.com>
Subject: The Angel's Shadow Part 11

All the usual disclaimer's apply: don't read this if it is illegal for you
to do so, don't steal or copy anything here without my permission.

This story is inspired by the brilliant series American Horror Story:
Coven.  If you enjoy it or wish to read more, send me an email at
nbradFshaw@yahoo.com.

Like this website? Find a way to give back to it! Whether it be money, your
own writing talents, or sharing it with a friend, give back to Nifty!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So, this is like, a school for witches?" Noland sat beside me as I drove
the three and a half hours from L.A. to Fresno. There was something off
about him; of course I knew what it was, but I had to pretend like I
didn't, at least for his sake. I didn't need to read his mind to know. That
was the fifth time he'd asked.

"Not really. It's more like a home, a safe haven. We aren't teaching them
how to be witches, just molding them," I didn't make the drive often
because I didn't have to. I'd given this place to Glenda to run as she saw
fit, and she excelled at running it. It made me look good, and I looked
even better when I showed up every once in a while to remind them all who
was in charge.

"Did you...go here?" whether or not he cared, he was talking to fill the
silence because it made him uncomfortable. Keeping secrets did that to
people who weren't used to them. "I mean like when you were a kid witch."

"I lived in a foster home, but it wasn't this one. I wasn't so fortunate to
know who I was back then. I bought this place about twenty years ago, and
bought most of the property around it to give us some space," I told
him. "This used to be the Meek Mansion, but now it's called Glenda's House
for the Fortunate."

"Really? Fortunate?" he smiled, and so did I.

"The name is not as fortunate as the witches who live there. Glenda wanted
something that didn't seem obvious but wasn't depressing. I didn't really
care what she called it, so I didn't fight her on it."

"So you lived it a foster home?" I knew that he, like most people, didn't
have a lot of experience with foster homes, and didn't know that they knew
people who came from them. It wasn't something that a lot of people talk
about, myself included.

"I did. Up until I went off to college," I said, looking out of the window
at the cars wizzing past.

"Did you like it?" he sounded the way people did when they talked to cancer
patients, like they didn't want to say the wrong thing in case it would
send you straight to the emergency.

"Do you really want to talk about that? I'm sure there are other ways we
could spend the next thirty minutes."

"Julian we could have sex after that. But I barely know anything about
you. I'm...curious," I knew why he was curious, trying to figure out what
he really felt about me now that he'd met someone else. And this wouldn't
be the first time someone'd asked about my past, nor would it be the first
time I'd answered. Most of the time it was all lies to fit the situation,
and it'd be nice if the lies would blurr together so that I couldn't tell
the difference between them and the truth, but they didn't.

"M.B."

"What does that stand for?"

"My initials. My uncle, he renamed me B.M. He put it on all of my notebooks
and wrote it on all my underwear. B.M."

"I thought you said-"

"I wasn't always a foster kid. I had parents and I had family. My uncle, he
was the last of that family, but he wasn't much. Infact he hated me so much
that he refused to call me Julian. Instead he thought it'd be funny to call
me B.M., bastard mutt. My mom was white and my dad was black, so I guess
technically he was right. I lived with him for about a year before he
dropped me off at a foster home. Literally dropped me off; told me to get
out and never come back. Said I was looking too much like "one of them" for
him to be able to pass me."

"Julian, you don't have to tell me this if you don't want to," I looked at
Noland. So handsome, but not as innocent as he used to be. He'd grown,
grown enough to try and manipulate me. He had his hand on my arm and was
looking into my eyes, and they seemed sympathetic, but they also said how
much he wanted me to continue.

"You asked, Noland. Don't go punking out because my story isn't the male
version of Annie," I joked. He didn't laugh. "I went to live with him when
I was nine, and he got rid of me when I was ten. Before that, I lived with
my parents in Georgia. They were great. They loved me. I never did figure
out which one of them was a witch; maybe they planned to tell me when I got
older. Maybe they didn't. We didn't have any family in Georgia. They moved
out their to run from their families, but my mothers brother, he came out
there once a year to visit his baby sister. I guess it was luck that they
burned our house to the ground when he was visiting. He got me out, and
took me with him. My parents died in that fire. Even then I knew I was
different, I knew I had to hide it too. I knew my uncle didn't like me, and
I didn't want to give him a reason to toss me out. When he did, I wasn't
surprised; I could see all the looks he gave me, they way he talked about
my mother. He would tell his friends that his sister had lost her mind, and
he should of checked her into a crazy house when he had the chance. One
time his wife told me that she'd offered to take her to get rid of me, and
should have insisted when my mother refused to go. But somehow even living
with them was better than living in a foster home.  At least then I lived
with someone who knew me, even if they didn't love me. They loved my
mother, and that would have been enough for me." He didn't say anything
else; no doubt he had no idea what to say. I could tell that he was busy
thinking about his own family, and how stupid he felt for arguing with them
and hating them at times. It's what went through everyone's mind when they
talked to someone who grew up without a family.

"I'm so sorry, Julian. I can't imagine what that must have felt like," he
finally broke his own silence, but I could tell that there was more to
come. He was ready to confess his soul to me.

"It sucked, but it made me stronger. And I made friends in the foster home,
so it wasn't all bad," I told him, resting my hand on his thigh. "Anyways
that was a long time ago. I've made peace with it all, one way or the
other."

"It just...I don't know if I could have survived all of that, and come out
so...perfect," he struggled to say the last word, struggled because even
though he knew it didn't fit, there was nothing else that did either.

"I'm not perfect, Noland. I'd have to be pretty heartless to not have
carried any scars along with me. And I did, for a long time. I didn't
always know it, but I did," he seemed satisfied with the answer, and didn't
push it anymore. "Have you ever had a psychic reading?"

"No. I don't- I mean I never really believed in all that stuff," we were
close enough to the school that I figured I'd prepare him for what lay
ahead.

"That's why we're here. There's a young witch who believes herself to be
talented, more than most- and I'm going to find out what she's made of."

"So what she's going to read my palm or something?" he asked, joking.

"Not yours, mine. And palm reading is silly. She, like others, relies on
the cards. Personally I think it's because it's more dramatic, but it still
works."

"So why can't she do me?"

"Because I'm doing you. Isn't that enough?" He tensed and then tried to
hide it. I hadn't realized the duality in the joke he would see when I made
it, but there was no taking it back now.

"I-yeah. I meant why can't she read my cards," Noland tried to be smooth,
but it wasn't working; some people aren't built for lies.

"I'm sure she'll try to. Reading a human's fortune is easy. Reading a
Supreme's...now that takes some real witching. If I just wanted to get my
fortune told, I have a friend for that. Remind me to introduce her to you
someday."



Being in a house full of witches was terrifying. I trusted Julian, but I
felt like the outcast here- they all looked at me like I was the black
sheep, or the guy in Burger King with a McDonald's uniform on. And it
wasn't really a house, it was a mansion. There were all these hallways and
rooms and hidden stuff. I could just feel it, all the secrets in this
place. And they were doing that thing people do in movies, where they stop
talking when they see you coming. Almost all of them were younger than me
but they looked at me like they hated me, and for all I know they did. I
was a regular person in their little magical kingdom, and I was with their
Supreme.

"You've definitely got the whole deer in head lights look down," Julian was
of course laughing at me, because he knew I wouldn't feel comfortable
here. That's probably the only reason he brought me, to shove it in my face
that he was a witch and had all these powers.

"I'm fine," I tried to sound like it to, and if I had been talking to
anyone else they would have believed me; at least that's what I'd like to
think. But this was Julian.

"You can go wait in the car if you want. You don't have to go in with me,"
he grabbed my hand, firm and gentle, and looked me in my eyes. There was no
way I was going to sit in the car. What would he think if I was afraid to
meet some psychic?

"I want to do this. It'll be fun," he didn't say anything else, and I
wondered again if he had ever stopped reading my mind. It's not like I
would know.

"Her name is Annalise," he opened the door and the room was empty, save a
girl sitting in the middle of a ring of bowls filled with leaves. She was
wearing white. She looked about fourteen. There was no innocence in her
eyes.

"Is that your boyfriend?" she didn't get up, but her dress flowed around
her like it was alive.

"Yes. This is Noland," Julian said, looking at me.

"He's cute. I didn't know you'd be bringing someone though," she didn't
seem to be rattled at all. I don't know where she found her confidence,
sitting in front of Julian as if he were just another leaf in one of her
bowls.

"Is that a problem?" he asked, taking off his coat.

"Not at all. I just ask that he stay out of the circle. I'm not going to
read him, and his emotions are rolling off of him like waves crashing
against a cliff side." I suddenly didn't like this girl at all. Didn't like
her blue hair or that she talked about me as if I wasn't there or that she
said everything like she didn't care about anything.

"Relax, Noland. This won't take long," he kissed me before he went to join
her, sitting down across from her. "Sage and lavender."

"Glenda told me about them. She said that they could help me get clearer
readings of people, because they remove all the negative lingering
energy. But let's get started," she flicked her wrist and the bowls caught
on fire. They were small, fragrant flames, pretty to look at, but they
didn't relax me. "There is a lot of darkness and fog surrounding you,
Julian. There's a disconnect in the deepest parts of you...like all the
light had gone away a long time ago..." she started moving her hands over
her cards, and for a second I thought that it was all a joke. But then she
picked one- or it jumped into her hand. I wasn't sure which.

"The fool. I've never been one to play that card," he leaned back on his
hands, confident.

"The fool represents innocence; pure power. Something that isn't good or
evil, and has the potential for both. It isn't for you, Julian; it's for
him. It's clear that your future and his are intertwined. Be careful how
you love the fool, Julian; with him lies the freedom of the world." I
definitely didn't feel powerful. If anything I felt small and
insignificant. "Death. Don't be afraid; it tells me you've died before, in
a way. The death card isn't one to be feared; it speaks of a great change
coming your way, one that will transform who you are. However the change
may be too much for you to handle, and like so many you may try to fight
it. Don't. Welcome death; it's going to come either way."

"What do you mean I've died before?" he seemed curious instead of worried;
how right was she? I'd have to ask him about it later.

"That darkness, that disconnect; years ago, it happened. You welcomed death
and the person you were ceased to exist. But death has chosen to ride back
past you, Julian. Not even you can escape death."

"I've done a pretty good job so far."

"Of course. As good of a job as a person can do, trying to stop an
unstoppable- The moon," she gasped when she spoke and the card flew in
front of her. "The card of those being deceived, willfully so. The moons
light, much like death, shines on the smart and the stupid. But remember
the moon doesn't actually make its own light; it reflects the suns. We all
are shown the same thing. It's you who chooses whether or not you see
things for what they truly are. The pair of you are living under the moons
light; maybe it's time you found your way to the sun."

"Is that-"

"Judgement is coming, Julian." she held up one final card. "In your death
your past will return, and judgement will take root in whatever still
remains of your soul. There is light returning to you, Julian. And when it
comes you won't be prepared for how it will change you. You have clung to
the darkness for so long that you've tried to call it home. Who will you be
when the light comes? That is when you will truly be judged, Julian."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dun Dun dun!!!!!!! Lots and lots of foreshadowing! Stay tuned for the next
installment! you can reach me at nbradFshaw@yahoo.com if you have
questions, comments, concerns, or just want to chat!