It started with three: A New Coven (5)

Submitted into Contest #103 in response to: Write a story about someone who starts noticing the same object or phrase wherever they go.... view prompt

13 comments

Adventure Drama Suspense

With the title of Coven's head came the transfer to a new town. With permission to recruit any witch Samuel found himself shoved into a new life. One that required him to focus and be involved with the world around him. The coven heads expected a lot from him. Especially Natalia you had all that taken him under her wing. She often told him that he reminded her of herself. It was flattering considering what a well-respected woman was, Samuel only hoped to be half the person she was. 

      Nervously Samuel pace back-and-forth inside a crowded air terminal. It had been six months since first being selected as the next head of the coven. It had been madness every step of the way confrontation and hard work had been Samuel's drive. Unlike most, he seems to strive when pushed further. Despite all that here he was picking up new members in the town of his choosing. Without really thinking about he picked a town just outside of Las Vegas Nevada. All he could think about was the hate he would receive upon Heather‘s arrival. However that that quickly vanished as a short skinny red-haired girl jumped on him, taking the air right out of his lungs as he fell to the ground with a thud.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry, I'm Vera by the way,” she said grimacing as she profusely apologized.

“ it’s just I’ve always wanted to belong, and you said yes thank you for that,” she said pulling him to his feet and into a tight, I like that you wouldn’t think it was possible for such a small stature. Embarrassed he mumbled, “no problem” he wasn’t used to public displays of affection his family had been cold and abusive. Thankfully a familiar voice yelled.

“Vera,” The owner of the voice thought over this it’s like a madman. It turned out to be Maxwell and his full glory. Happily, he squeezed her tight delighted to see his friend again.

“Oh, my stars, what are you doing here?” she asks pulling him into the same killer bear hug. “New home,” he said noticing the watchful eyes of the other airport passengers. Vera seems to notice and continue playfully with the term home. 

“No way same, I think my heart gonna explode” she gushed fangirling before she looked back at Samuel.

“ oh yeah before I forget this is our new leader,” she said in a chipper voice that was quickly deflated as Max said.

“We’ve met,” max said still offering his hand to Samuel.

“ no hard feelings?”

“No hard feeling, just don’t punch me in the face again” 

“No problem” 

The three were having a pleasant conversation and Juliet and Heather appeared both looking quite sad and put out. 

“ what’s wrong?” Vera asked running up them. “They lost our bags,” Juliet said sounding dejected well Heather looked more annoyed saying. “We’re just cursed”

“ We are not cursed said Juliet firmly giving her friend a nasty look. Heather ground giving her a ride and look back before a piece of her old personality begin to push through.

“ then why the hell is our bags missing!” Heather threw her hands up in frustration as she continued her rant.

“If we’re not cursed then why”

“Babe there missing we’re not cursed it would be a whole lot worse than a few missing bags” Juliet rebutted in annoyance. Greeting the others with tender hugs. It was a vera who took the liberty to summon the bags.

    Instantly both girls gushed amazed by Vera’s skill.

“You rock”. Juliet has been picking up a bag Heather grinned without thinking said.

“ damn now I know why Max is so fond of you“ both teams white red and Samuels took it upon himself to save them from the embarrassment of the prying. 

“ Should we get going?”

“ Why are you turn into a pumpkin or something?” Heather asked unsure how to respond to him. Facing the same problem Samuels turned to walk away. SighingHeather ran after him.

“Wait up!” She calls leaving the others in her dust. That you had a private conversation. “Look I’m sorry I still think you can be an arse but maybe I should have given you a chance,” Heather said making her best attempt at an apology. Despite it being a weak attempt at apology Samuels felt relieved.

“You have no idea how much that means to me,” he said 

The ride home was built with a long discussion on what kind of coven they wanted to become. When it seems to go in a silly direction. Samuel added.

“We can always wing it” This idea seemed to delight the young witches who had been forced to conform for all their life. “So which coven are you from?” Vera said leaning over the seat to peck at Samuel who was driving the vehicle. “It’s complicated”

“He’s from our coven,” Max said from behind the cold glow of his phone screen. Samuel smiled at the words.

“Oh, then you all grow up together?”

“No,” Samuel said shortly as something darted out into traffic in front of them. Causing them to spin out. Thankfully Samuel was able to recover with a full spin back into his lane.

“What the hell was that?”

“No freaking idea,” Samuel said opening his door to puke. “Everyone alright”

“Just peachy” Heather groaned looking at the others. Juliet was in a trance her eyes seemed to glaze over as if she were blind. A fir a moment no one could reach her. Her own personal glimpse into the future playing out before her eyes. A large creature stood over her unconscious body, a scene of bloodshed lined her mind. When Juliet came to she was hysterical stay something bad was gonna happen. This put everyone on edge. Juliet had yet to have a prophecy not come true. Samuel did his best to keep things light and happy. Even going out of his way to buy everyone a special lunch. They hadn’t been able to do much magically since moving to the new town, they were still waiting on supplies and word from the main branch on their objective. Currently, they were getting to know each other by eating out at a local pizzeria. They were having a good old time. Even when Max noticed a strange symbol carved into the table. The strange symbol appeared to have a snake running through it and its pattern seemed more intricate than anything they had seen before. surprised by seeing a sigil he asked Vera what she thought it could be. She was even stumped. Heather suggested that they take a picture. Right after they snapped the picture a waiter walked up to the table and started talking to them.

“Refills?” He asked awkwardly staring at Juliet. 

“No thank you,” Vera said cheerfully searching the web for any results.

“Ugh okay, would it be too rude to ask for your number?” He said codifying with his notepad. “No I think I’d be sweet,” she said taking the pad from his hand.

“Cool, I’ll call you”

“I look forward to it,” she said smiling politely as he disappeared into the kitchen area. Her friends teased her for a moment before they finished eating it was only as they were walking out that vera found a symbol online. From there they realized it was all over Nevada. Which left them with a whole slew of other questions. Taking detailed pictures they made their way back to the house where they did some modern-day sleuthing. Account after account. Death after death showed the symbol making its way into the news. Vera tracked the origins back as far as she could. The testimonies about it were horrifying. It was a gateway door. That had been corrupted into a seal for hell. It was rumored the evil beings could use it to slip between realms. Feeling an obligation to the order Samuel wrote up the information attaching the printed documents. At about ten, Samuel sent the letter by flame to the order. Yawning he locked up the house and cheeked on the others before falling fast asleep in his bed. For the first time in his life, he was safe. Bliss was a fickle thing as chaos loomed just around the corner.

July 20, 2021 05:05

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13 comments

Havilah Bail
21:15 Jul 21, 2021

In all honesty, there are a lot of punctuation errors that make this frustrating to read. Also, the words "said" and "asked" felt a bit unnecessary, especially when accompanied with an adverb. How about, instead of: “They lost our bags,” Juliet said sounding dejected; you could: A. Use a more descriptive verb ["They lost our bags," Juliet sulked] B. Use action to show emotion instead of telling ["They lost our bags," Juliet kicked the sidewalk]

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Havilah Bail
21:16 Jul 21, 2021

That's just my opinion though. If you like your story as it is, you don't have to change anything

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J D Hernandez
00:46 Jul 23, 2021

If you had any advice on punctuation that be great too, I have a hard time with grammar.

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Havilah Bail
08:10 Jul 23, 2021

I'm no English teacher, but if it helps, you can think of punctuations as a way of pausing the story to let your readers process the information. A comma , is 1-second. A full stop . is 2-seconds. A paragraph is like a break; your readers can continue reading, or pause and come back later.

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Havilah Bail
08:11 Jul 23, 2021

A semicolon ; joins two similar phrases or sentences. Like this: "They had human bodies; four limbs, two eyes, the whole shebang"

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Havilah Bail
08:13 Jul 23, 2021

A hyphen - can be used to insert additional info that could make a sentence too long and difficult to read. Instead of: "Even if I believe your story which I don't why will I help you?" Try: "Even if I believe your story- which I don't- why will I help you?" Commas are ok too, but hyphens make the sentence feel shorter

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J D Hernandez
22:46 Jul 23, 2021

Thank you so much your a real life saver. To be honest I can’t recall ever actually learning this. :) I appreciate you taking the time you made my day

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Havilah Bail
13:02 Jul 25, 2021

You're welcome

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J D Hernandez
22:47 Jul 23, 2021

Thank you so much your a real life saver. To be honest I can’t recall ever actually learning this. :) I appreciate you taking the time you made my day

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J D Hernandez
00:11 Jul 23, 2021

Thanks that's a good idea I have a hard time coming up with other ways to express the mood :)

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Havilah Bail
08:15 Jul 23, 2021

I'm glad you found this helpful. I was worried you might think I was being rude.

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J D Hernandez
22:48 Jul 23, 2021

No I welcome everything. A critic should be a little invasive, if not it can’t really help. Again than you for commenting

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