We jumped into Tim’s car and went back to my house. We had just opened the doors to get out when Debbie came running down our street. She collapsed into me, crying almost hysterically. She was bruised and bloody, and her clothes were ripped and torn to shreds. I saw that she was in severe distress, so I carefully knocked her out with my telepathy.
Without saying anything, Tim picked her up and carried her into the house. Mom and Grandma went to work on her immediately, and I helped Mom. We started by closing any open wounds, and then went to work on the swelling and bruising. Grandma went into Deb’s mind, calming and reassuring her.
Tim watched in amazement as Debbie was healed before his eyes. While Mom finished healing her, I started fixing her clothing. I ran my finger along the rips and the fabric rewove itself, until it looked as good as new. It only took a few minutes, and by the time I was done, Deb was starting to wake. I knew she might be a little violent when she woke, so I stepped back and Tim put his hands on my shoulders in support.
As I expected, Debbie woke with a start, then looked down. “Was it all a dream? I thought...”
“No Debbie, it wasn’t. Can you tell me what happened? Emily said something about your mother being...possessed?”
“Oh God,” She said as she put her face in her hands and wept. “I was out very late last night, and when I woke today I got busy with my usual weekend routine. I took my shower, then picked up my laundry and took it down to the laundry. When I came back up I made some breakfast, then straightened the house and watched a couple of DVDs.
I was starting some Dinner when Mom came in looking furious. I have no idea what had set her off, but she went right into attacking me like a stranger in the house, screaming for me to get out, over and over. I was finally able to get out and I kept thinking I had to get to Emily. I called her and said I was on my way to your house, and I remember seeing her and she reached out for me, and then I woke up here.
“Tim, I hate to do this,” Grandma said. “I have to borrow your fiancé for a little while.”
I turned to him and he kissed me. “I’ll be here, waiting for you. Do what you can, bit be careful, please.” He said.
I knew he understood how important this was. Debbie, Grandma and I squeezed into my truck, and then we headed over to her house.
I think Grandma and I felt it at the same time, a feeling that made us want to turn back, almost like a physical force. I looked over and saw that Debbie and Grandma looked like they were in pain. I got angry and threw up a shield, and suddenly the feeling was gone. Both Grandma and Debbie looked like they were quickly recovering as I pulled into Debbie’s driveway. I could feel something trying to hold me back, but my shield held without difficulty. We got out of the truck and I was impressed at the way my shield was made. It surrounded us like a bubble. It had no reaction to material things at this time, but no magical force could get in. Grandma looked at me and smiled.
“Nice work,” She said, and I blushed.
Debbie opened the door, but Grandma went in first. “Gwen? Gwen, it’s Liz, honey.”
I had changed the shield to make us as invulnerable as I could, fortunately. Gwen came out with a pistol, and though Debbie tried to say something, she started shooting.
Now, you have to understand how my head works. I had built my shield to absorb the momentum and inertia of anything it came in contact with, so the bullets hit it and immediately slowed. Gradually they slowed enough to just drop to the ground.
I felt Grandma go on the offensive, and she attacked Gwen from inside her mind. Gwen dropped to her knees, but she started to get back up, and her face was contorted by rage. I don’t think she was able to think, let alone speak, because she made a feral growl and attacked, running right at us.
“Emily, stop her.” Grandma said. I focused on her and grabbed her with my telekinesis. I lifted her a bit so she couldn’t get any traction against the ground, and then created a bubble of force around her. She floated inside, raging at us as if anything she could do could hurt us. Debbie was on her knees screaming at seeing her Mom like this.
“Grandma was focused on Gwen, sweat pouring off her as she fought with whatever was in Gwen’s mind. I watched for a few seconds, and I was worried about Grandma putting too much energy into the fight. I reached out to her and took her hand in mine, and everything changed.
Grandma’s flagging powers suddenly flared with my additional energy. She pounced on whatever she was fighting with and easily forced it out. She absorbed the energy of our enemies attacks and threw it back at them. I had a short vision of several figures in a circle, screaming in pain as they collapsed.
Grandma stood, triumphant, and caught her breath. I was still holding her hand and I used that to check her out and send her healing to anywhere she needed it. She smiled at me and then took me into a hug.
“Oh, my! I’m so proud of you! You handled that beautifully, Honey. Are you all right?”
“Yeah, why?”
She stared at me. “I think we need to do a little more testing, my darling Granddaughter. It may be we’ve
under-estimated you.”
I heard Debbie weeping for her Mama. Gwen was totally limp inside my field, just floating there. I went to them as fast as I could, and while Grandma held and calmed Debbie, I dropped the field and telekinetically moved Gwen to her sofa. I held her hand and poured energy and healing into her.
She began to stir and Debbie rushed to her side and took her into a hug.
“You had me so worried, Mama! I thought you were dead!”
“What happened?” She said, looking around and acting very confused. She looked at me, and stared. “I’m sorry, do I know you?”
Grandma came up and took her hand gently.
“Lizzie? What’s going on?”
Grandma ran her hand along Gwen’s brow. “Oh, dear.”
“What!?” Debbie asked. “Is she all right?”
“Physically she’s fine, although that may be to Emily’s credit. Gwen, what’s the date?”
“April twelfth, 2011. Lizzie, what’s going on?” She demanded.
“Gwen, I’m not sure, but you seem to have been possessed. It’s almost March, 2012.”
She stared in shock, and then she got very angry. “Who would have had the temerity? I want their fucking necks!”
“Mom!” Debbie said, then smiled. “Yep you’re okay.” She hugged her mother, who held her lovingly.
“I don’t know who-yet. I know it was a circle, but how many there were or who they may have been, I have no idea, and I’m not sure what their reasons may have been.”
She seemed to relax and looked at Debbie, and smiled. “Thank you for saving me, both of you. Do I know you young lady? You seem very familiar, but...”
“Mom, this is going to blow your mind, but believe me, it’s the truth. This is the best friend I’ve ever had, and my sister in every way but biology. Her name is Emily Elizabeth Randall, and she used to be Gabe Randall.”
“The boy you had such a crush on?” Debbie blushed, but I just smiled and nodded. Gwen got up and gave me a hug. “I can never thank you or your Grandmother enough, Emily. What ever happened to change you, it certainly left you beautiful!”
I blushed. “Thank you” I said quietly. “I’m glad we could help you, Mrs. Holloway.”
“None of that!” She said. “If you’re going to be my daughter’s sister, then you’re a part of my family now. You can call me Mama, or Gwen if that’s too much.”
We hugged and I whispered in her ear. “Thanks...Mama Gwen.”
“Good girl.” She smiled. “Let’s sit down, and someone bring me up to date, please? Deb, would you bring me a Coke, please?”
“We don’t have any, Mom. You said that you were gaining too much weight, so all you’ve been drinking is bottled water.”
“Oh My Gawd!” Mama Gwen said. “I can’t believe it! Debbie, you know how I feel about Coke!”
Debbie smiled. “It’s the elixir of life, I know.”
I had an unopened Coke in the truck, so I telepathically told Debbie. She smiled and snuck out to get it. I got a bottle of water and a couple of glasses of ice, and took it out to Grandma and Mama Gwen.
“Emily, if that ice is for me, I’m sorry but I don’t drink bottled water, hon.”
“Oh?” I asked innocently.
She smiled. “That stuff’ll kill ya. I mean, fish poop in it, for goodness sakes!”
Debbie came in with the bottle of Coke, and I opened it from where I was and then winked, which made her laugh.
“Is that the bottle of Life I hear? I thought we didn’t have any?”
“We don’t, but Emily did.”
“She’s only a daughter for a few minutes and already impressive! Thank you, dear.”
Debbie brought her the soda and poured it into the large glass of ice.
“Ahhh. That hits the spot. So who’s gonna tell me what’s been going on?”
Debbie told her what had been happening, and when she got to the part about finding the spell book, Mama Gwen interrupted.
“Spell book? I never had a spell book! My teacher would have roasted me!”
“Who was your teacher?” I asked.
“Your Great Grandmother, Viola. She was tough, she made us work, and I loved her very much.” Both Mama Gwen and Grandma had tears in their eyes. “I was one of her last students before Liz took over. She was a very powerful fire-witch, Emily. What magic do you use?”
Grandma smiled. “All of them, Gwen. It seems that Emily is the most powerful witch that has ever been recorded in the books.”
“Yeah, and it’s generally a pain, if you ask me.” I said. “Well, until today. That was awesome!”
Grandma took over the story, up to the part about our battle with the circle, and Gwen looked at me. “So for some reason, this “Circle” is trying to influence and manipulate your emotions? But what could their goal be?”
“We don’t know yet.” Grandma said. “It may have to do with the fact that Emily will inherit the leadership of the coven when I step down.”
“But it seems like they started this even before Debbie cast her spells. How would they know about her power back then? Unless they have a very powerful and accurate Diviner, which could be true, I suppose.
“There has never really been a Diviner with that kind of accuracy, Gwen.”
“And there has never been a witch with power like Emily’s, either. Maybe they have some way to produce special people? Looking at the long game, say Emily was supposed to have been a girl, all along? What if they’ve been using some influence to ‘push’ certain people together in some kind of breeding program?”
“That sounds like the plot from Dune, Gwen. In reality, there are far too many variables to do anything like that. I think it’s far more likely that it has something to do with the Wild Magic, and may even have been influenced by the Lord, for his purposes. I will admit, though, that things are moving in a pattern that is far too smooth to be random. Who ever the master Chess player may be, it looks like the game might be coming to a critical point.”
Debbie and I were just sitting in our chairs, watching the discussion go back and forth like a ping-pong game. I suddenly thought of Tim, and I told Grandma we needed to go, as my parents would be worrying,
She smiled, slyly. “To say nothing about how your fiancé will feel.”
“What? You mean...”
I held up my ring, and Debbie squealed and hugged me. Even Grandma wanted to see it.
“Oh. now I know this is much more than we thought, showing Mama Gwen my hand with the ring on it.
She inhaled sharply. “The Moonstone?”
“Yes, and Emily’s birth date is in mid July.” Grandma said. There was something going on here, but Mama Gwen and Grandma would say no more.
I hugged Debbie, and after Grandma and Mama Gwen took advantage of my energy to set up some powerful household wards, we headed home. I was eager to get back to Tim, so Grandma had to tell me to back off on the speed every so often. I just had this feeling of wanting to get home to where we were safe.
At least for now.
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Comments
Wow!
Sounds like that circle may be in for a world of hurt.
Jorey
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Jorey
.
Thank you, thank you
Thank you for making this story so exciting!
Great chapter, so it seems a
Great chapter, so it seems a group either from within Lizzie's coven (which I doubt or a coven/group from elsewhere have been in control of Gwen for over a year, that's worrying bigtime, especially as it's taken till now before it's come to light.
I wonder what the moonstone has to do with all this, is Tim's mother/grandmother involved, so many questions still unanswered. At least we know why Gwen wasn't training Deb, I wonder if they can discover what "coven business" kept Gwen busy.
Looking forward to more, thanks for sharing.
Lizzie :)
Bailey's Angel
The Godmother :p
Goin' Round in Circles...
Well, that was edifying. (g) And exciting, and intriguing. Fun chapter.
So was that experience Part of the Plan, or something that got out of hand? I'd tend to believe the former: it doesn't really take precognition to figure out that if Gwen goes berserk when Debbie's home, she'll call on Emily for help.
And it seems unlikely that they'd have thought they could take Emily down -- unless the theory was that she'd be weakened in the battle to the point where they could possess her. But if anyone really knows how strong Emily's powers are, it ought to be the Circle, since they, in effect, apparently created her in the first place. And if they did know, they'd have realized that the conflict would end with them in no position to possess anyone.
It's looking more and more to me as though this plot may simply be an effort to strengthen Emily's abilities in the face of something particularly awful coming down the road soon.
(A pity we didn't get more information on what the Circle members looked like: were they all coven members? All women? All humans? I'd have figured even a nearly subliminal glance could answer some of that.)
Makes me wonder if the Circle themselves are just somebody's tool. Someone in Tim's family, perhaps, looking to take advantage of the moonstone? Or could Grandma still be in the background here? Might Gwen have volunteered to be possessed in order to make all of this happen, with that memory lost along with all her others?
I guess we'll see in time whether this is where we're headed, or whether my tendency to overcomplicate things is acting up again.
Eric
You're right. Why would they
You're right. Why would they use Gwen in a way that meant she'd use her usefulness for sure? They either lost control, which I kind of doubt considering she attacked her daughter with a gun, or somekind of plot to further Emilies powers or to distract from their main plot.
I can't reall see the demon/alien invasion plot somewhere in the future. I mean there would have been checkovs guns already to indicate something like that if it had been planned.
I think this is a classical world domination plot. The normal witches aren't capable of controlling enough normals to take over the world, but with someone like Emily one might easily take over the government.
About Tims family... that might be true, but only if they really have magical heritage. Emily checked him and he wasn't manipulated.
Well... this just became more interesting.
Wren, thank you for writing this captivating story, I can't wait for the next chapter.
Beyogi
Some Good Points...
But if the point of their plot is to use Emily to take over the world, it seems to me that they have to do at least one of the following:
- convince Emily to go along. But how likely is that?
- possess her. Even less likely, even (I think) if she walks into a trap, since that seems to be more or less what just happened at Gwen's.
- coerce her, presumably by kidnapping family members or Tim. But they've just seen that she's more likely to destroy the Circle (or their bosses) than go along. I guess they could put the victim(s) on some sort of "dead man" switch and hope Emily doesn't want to take the chance that she's fast enough to prevent it from going off.
- use her lack of experience against her, after putting her in charge of the coven. Depends, I suppose, on whether they can give her bad advice from people she trusts, via possession or coercion (or conspiracy), or disguise their plot well enough to fool everyone.
- or play with her emotions again. It'd seem that's where she's vulnerable, provided they can get Grandma's ring off her, or if Grandma is part of the conspiracy and can turn it off at will. (Or if they can get to Emily's subconscious level while she's asleep -- which would probably require a confederate in the house.)
None of that is out of the question, but it doesn't sound to me like the basis of a sound plan, and we're dealing, as someone else pointed out, with something long-term enough to require them to subvert Gwen months before Emily even existed.
Our cast has pointed out that if Wild Magic can enable Emily, it can probably create a precog good enough to predict her. But if this is a plot for power, it still strikes me as more likely the product of desperation than greed.
Eric
I'm glad Deb's mom i s okay
Now, how do they find whoever is behind this? I'm polishing a gun for me, and a sword for a friend ......
Oooh,
is it a great big two-handed evil-slaying sword? = )
how did you guess?
grins evilly
What can I say?
I am purr-ceptive. ;)
Don't grin evilly though, or you'll have to use the sword on yourself. = ( Just grin maniacally, it works for me. :D
sounds good, extravagence
I've got my gun loaded, my sword polished, we're ready to go.
did I read this correctly
A simple line was overlooked by the commenters so far:
>>She stared at me. “I think we need to do a little more testing, my darling Granddaughter. It may be we’ve under-estimated you.â€<<
Grandma already knew Emily was way more powerful than they could really measure. Now she is concerned even more about Emily's power.
So what concerned Grandma, the ability of Emily to fend off the attack, shield 3 people at the same time, and assist Grandma in healing Mama Gwen. Or was it doing all of that plus reaching out and attacking the group of witches controling Mama Gwen, and doing all of that without draining her at all, like she was just having a conversation with someone and batting away a fly.
So if Mama Gwen has been under the control of others for just over a year now, what does that mean?
How long has Emily been Emily?
The plot thickens everyone - - the wild magic floating round is getting pretty thick, making it hard to see things clearly. Thankfully Emily is a beam of light shining down on all around her and guiding us through the fog (at least if Grandma would stop keeping things from her).
You know, even though they set up protections before leaving, I think they left Mama Gwen way too soon. I think if Emily insisted on getting back home, they would take Debbie and Mama Gwen with them.
Keep Smiling, Keep Writing
Teek
Emily has been Emily since late May, 2011
As it's now February something (in the story) 2012, She's been around about 9 months, Went by pretty fast, huh?
Grandma was shocked at Emily's level of power, handling everything she did with almost no effort. Now I've tried to show that this story is very mutable. I have an idea about how this is going to work out (I've actually "seen" the finale (in a dream), but how it's going to get there is still subject to what the characters are telling me. Oh, I do get some cool ideas from the comments, and I've used a few of 'em. This is still a very strange way to write a story, if you ask me. I go the way inspiration takes me, and she's thrown me a few curves, but I like it so far.
I know it sounds pretty dumb, but it's fun!
Thanks, everyone for reading! I appreciate it so much!
Wren
I'm only reading it...
'Cuz there's nothing else to read... ;P
No, seriously, you're doing a great job here, and I'm eager to see the way this story continues!
Abigail Drew.
Too Many Times! I Have to Comment...
Look:
Elizabeth Jean - a coven/group from elsewhere have been in control of Gwen for over a year,
Teekabell - So if Mama Gwen has been under the control of others for just over a year now, what does that mean?
“April twelfth, 2011. Lizzie..... It’s almost March, 2012.â€
So: Almost 11 months; Not over a year!
Sorry, sorta can't help it.
Hugs and Bright Blessings,
Renee
Poor Em, Raine sends hugs.
She certainly gets that I inherited what...? Life out of control feelings.
*Big Hugz*
Bailey.
Bailey Summers