Fated Truth (The True Witch Saga) Read online

  “No shit,” Jessa replied while she tried to shimmy under her car.

  Sabrina and her group of clones saunters by and laughed. “Don’t worry Jessa. I wouldn’t touch that death trap with your severed arm.” They cackled as they stroll away.

  By the time Jessa started to head toward my house, I knew I was going to be in for a fight as soon as I walked through the front door. If I was not promptly home from school by three thirty PM my mother flipped her shit. So I asked her if she wanted to go to Candies, which was local ice cream parlor in our town. The longer I put off that confrontation the better.

  We arrived at Candies at the speed of light. Jessa really needed to enroll in Driver’s Ed stat. The place was pretty deserted, but it was still a good way to kill time before I had to be subjected to the parentals.

  Jessa and I had been going there for years. We pushed through the door and the bell attached to the top jingled, marking our arrival. The girl at the counter looked up and smiled at us, thinking, correctly, that we were potential customers. The smile quickly fell from her face when she saw who we were.

  Devon had gotten us kicked out a couple of weeks earlier when he pulled a drunk and dragged us in there, after we had left a party one of the priss squad had been throwing. He puked all over a booth after consuming massive amounts of chocolate crunch ice cream. It looked like the girl still held a grudge. Hell, I would to, I thought.

  We saunter to the counter and ordered our usual fare. Vanilla and chocolate swirl in a waffle cone for me and a plain one scoop of strawberry in a cup for Jessa. The girl continued to glare while she fixed our order.

  “Damn, she could freeze hell with the look she’s shooting us,” Jessa whispered to me.

  “Yeah, well, you would scowl too if you had to clean up some stranger’s puke right before closing,” I laughed.

  “I would so do more than scowl. I would ban our asses. She’s obviously a lot nicer than me.”

  We sat at our usual booth, which was thankfully clean. Jessa regaled me with all the gossip she had heard throughout the day. By the time we had finished with our treats, the sun had begun to set and I knew way too much about other people’s business. We decided to leave before it got too much later. There was no way I wanted to piss my mother off any more than she was already going to be. Her wrath was legendary within our group. Jessa and Devon had been on the wrong end of her evil eye more than once.

  When Jessa and I pulled up in my drive, she offered to come in with me to face my parents or even to let me stay at her house for the night. I knew that I had to get it over with sooner rather than later though. I told Jessa goodnight and opened the door to get out.

  “Ella, you have my number. If you need anything at all, call me. I mean that, girly. I can be here in ten minutes tops.”

  “Thanks, sweets, but I’m sure it will be fine. You never know maybe they’ll finally kick me out and I can be free of them. Here’s hoping,” I said sarcastically. They will never let me go. With a wave, I headed for the front door.

  When I opened the door, the first thing I noticed was my mother was sitting in the front room, in the dark with all the lights off.

  “Where’s dad?” I asked her as I hung up my messenger bag on the hook by the door. She just continued to stare off into space like I wasn’t even there. “Mom? Is everything okay?”

  Then she snapped. “Okay?! Okay?! You call fornicating with that new boy in the cafeteria where everyone can see, okay?”

  “Mother what are you talking about? I didn’t do anything with anyone at lunch today!”

  “Mrs. Gardener’s daughter called this afternoon-”

  That’s how much she got out before I spaced. Her voice was drowned out by the thoughts screaming in my head. What had Sabrina told my mom? Why was she out to get me? What did I do to draw her wrath?

  SLAP! I felt the sting of my mother’s hand on my cheek. “Are you high as well as a harlot now? Didn’t you hear anything that I have said?”

  “Momma I don’t know what’s going on, but I didn’t do anything. Sabrina has it in for me. She has singled me out, but I swear on everything that I didn’t do anything wrong!”

  She kept ranting like I hadn’t even spoken. “I don’t know why I let your father talk me into taking you in. I told him you were the spawn of Satan. The glowing eyes and making things move when you’re upset! You were just a baby and you were already damned!”

  “What are you saying? You’re my parents! What do you mean you had to take me in? That dad made you?” I exclaimed.

  “You are no child of mine! You never have been and I want you gone! I can’t stand to even look at you! You are an ugly soul, a terrible, terrible mistake! Leave! Now!” she screamed the last two words at me. She grabbed my messenger bag off of the coat rack opened the front door and tossed it to the front walk.

  I left the only mother I had ever known with tears streaming down my red cheeks. The tears sting the visible hand mark on my right cheek. When I got out the front door, I grabbed my bag, slung it over my shoulder, and started to walk. It was much worse than the normal walk of shame. This was something else altogether. I fished my phone out of my bag and dialed Jessa, but she didn’t pick up so I left a message. She was probably in the shower or something. I tried Devon, but no luck on that front either. His mom must have taken his phone, since it was turned off. Devon had a really strict family life since he outted himself. I wasn’t close to anyone else and I barely had any family, since my parents alienated everyone.

  I decided to try my Uncle Dan. He was my mother’s brother and the total opposite of everything my family was. He was what most people would call a hippy, or as I like to call him, a free spirit. I rang him and he picked up on the third ring.

  “Hey Ella girl. Why are you calling so late? How are your parents?”

  Just the sound of his voice made me want to bawl like a toddler. I was not a big weepy person. Outward emotions weren’t popular in my home growing up. “Uncle Dan, I don’t want to bother you, but can you please come and pick me up?” I cried. “Mom, I mean Barbra kicked me out. She said she wasn’t my mom and that she hasn’t ever wanted me.” I started to sob over the line.

  “Wait, wait! What? Don’t cry, sweetie. I’ll be right there, I promise! Just sit tight! Don’t move and keep your phone on you at all times. Find somewhere on your street that’s lit up.” With that he hung up the phone.

  I strolled about a half a mile down my road and found a spot to sit on in the grass under a street lamp. If only my mother could see me now, she would probably accuse me of hooking it. Little did she know, I respected her wishes when it came to sex before marriage. I had never even been out on a real date! So it was no surprise that I still had my V card. The boys at school had taken to calling me the Ice Princess, as frigid as they come, because I didn’t get passed around like half the girls at my school. I basically wore a chastity belt and my mother still called me a whore! Go figure.

  I idly started pulling my fingers through the overly long grass to keep busy, trying to keep my mind off of this night, trying to forget, just for a blessed second. My hand caught on something cool to the touch. I pulled it out of the grass and it appeared to be some sort of necklace. I dusted it off and held it up to the light. It was brilliant. Large pieces of jade stones were woven together with silver in a chandelier pattern. In between the over-large, jade stones there were moonstones woven in. I turned it in the light and touched one of the pieces of jade. A green light illuminated from my hand to the necklace. It seemed to sparkle all on its own.

  I glanced up and noticed a sleek black car coming quickly down the road. It seemed to be slowing to a stop right in front of me. I stowed the necklace in my bag and braced for whatever the stranger wanted. The tinted black driver’s side window rolled down slowly. They probably think I’m sitting here waiting for a John. Wouldn’t mommy be proud now? I thought with a silent laugh.

  “Hello, little raven,” Jaxx called out as he stepped out of the car. �
��What are you doing out all alone this late at night?”

  I’m sure he could tell I had been crying. I flushed even more than I probably already was out of embarrassment. “Nothing, Thor. I mean, Jaxx.” Could this get anymore mortifying? I thought.

  “Thor?” he asked quirking a brow.

  “It’s nothing. Just something the girls at school were calling you before they knew your name. With you looking like a Nordic god and all, it seemed to fit.” SHIT! Did I just spew that?

  Jaxx chuckled. “You still haven’t answered my question. Why are you out here so late?”

  “It’s really none of your concern. So you can get back in your car and drive on.”

  I thought I heard him mutter. “It’s more my business than you know.” Jaxx cleared his throat, trying to hide that he had just been muttering to himself. “Do you mind if I sit with you for a while then? Or at least until you decide to go home? This really isn’t safe.”

  “Sure. You can do what you want, but my uncle is on his way to get me, so I won’t be here long. You really don’t have to wait.”

  Jaxx sat beside me and we were silent for a while, not really doing anything, just enjoying the company. I was just starting to relax when he had to go and ask something that I would rather have ignored.

  “Who drew that vile shit on your locker this afternoon?”

  “I’ll give you two guesses. Besides it doesn’t really matter. We can’t do anything about it anyhow. She has the whole school wrapped around her little finger.”

  “Sabrina?”

  “You are one for one. Good job.” I smiled at him to lessen my sarcasm.

  “I still don’t understand why she was targeting you. I mean yeah, you’re beautiful-”

  “Wait! Hold up. You think I’m beautiful?” I was really blushing now. Ugh.

  “You own a mirror, pretty eyes. You have to know that you are exquisite, but that still doesn’t explain why you.”

  I was thinking to myself that it was all about him. That if he hadn’t sat my table I wouldn’t even be on Sabrina’s radar, but I kept mute. It wasn’t his fault and I didn’t want him thinking that I blamed him or worse him blaming himself.

  Jaxx reached for my hand and we linked our fingers at the same moment Uncle Dan pulled alongside Jaxx’s car. I jumped like I had been shocked by a live wire.

  “Ells, honey, is that you?” he asked, getting out of his car.

  “Yeah, Dan it’s me. My friend Jaxx was driving by and was worried about me, so he stopped to keep me company.”

  Jaxx rose to his full height and towered over my uncle. My uncle was on the short side with a shaved head and a face full of facial hair. He definitely got the looks out of my mother’s family. He might not be much taller than me, but he was striking all the same. He was still in shape, even though he was in his late thirties.

  Jaxx extended his hand and introduced himself to my uncle. “Nice to meet you, I’m Jaxx.”

  Dan frowned, but was polite and shook his hand. “Only a friend?” he asked looking at me.

  I could see him smiling to himself even in the gloom. Ugh! Was everyone one a mission to make me blush today? Myself included it seemed.

  “Well kiddo, let’s get you loaded up. We have a lot of things to discuss it seems.” Understatement of the year.

  I turned to Jaxx to thank him for keeping me company, but he was already striding quickly to his car. Tires squealed as he hauled ass down the road. I wondered what crawled up his ass. I stood and stretched the kinks out of my joints. I was stiff from sitting on the cool ground for so long. I walked with Dan to his old, cherry red BMW and got into the passenger seat.

  “Buckle the belt, Ells.”

  We turned around and started heading toward my parents’ house. “Uncle Dan what are we doing?” I was starting to freak out. I couldn’t go back there, to that woman. She hated me. I couldn’t stand to look at her face again while she was spewing vile things at me. I curled into the corner of my uncle’s car and started to cry.

  “Relax, Ells. I’m just going to run in and get some of your things for school tomorrow. I would just take you shopping or give you money so you can go on your own, but it’s kind of late for that. You have to have something more than what you’ve got with you for school tomorrow, yes?”

  I started to relax in my seat, even though we were pulling into my parent’s drive. I was stunned at what I saw. There was a huge plume of smoke coming from the back yard.

  Uncle Dan turned to me with a puzzled expression. “I wonder what they’re burning at this time of night.”

  I didn’t have the heart to tell him, but I had a pretty good idea. My things. Everything that made that hell hole of a house my home. All gone. Nothing but tar and ash to remember me by. Talk about knowing your place within your family.

  Okay, I had to snap myself out of it. I was not the whiney little bitch that I was currently playing at. I’m strong. I’d survived that long. I could cope with this also.

  Uncle Dan slowly exited his car as if he dreaded going to the door. I think on some level he knew what had happened out back. I could see the front door perfectly from my perch in the front seat. My mother answered the door and I saw her start to scream at Dan. Then Dan shook his head, yelled something at my mother, and stomped back down the walk toward me and his car. Dan opened his door, trying to keep a pleasant face. As if I didn’t know what she’d said or what she and my father had done.

  “Welp, kid. Looks like shopping it is, after all. Might as well play hookie from school tomorrow while you are at it, it being so late and all. We can make a day out of it. I’ll even make you your favorite strawberry waffles in the morning.”

  I smiled. “That sounds great, Uncle Dan, a perfect day, just like we used to do when I was younger.”

  Until I was about thirteen, Dan used to pick me up and spend the day with me, every Saturday. He never liked my father much, but he had always loved me. I could always count on him to be there. So I kept a pleasant façade on my face, all the way to his home. He really was trying.

  When we pulled off the main road in town, onto a dirt track that led to Dan’s cabin in the woods, I started to perk up. It had been forever since I’d been there. It was a happy place for me. Just what I needed after a night like tonight.

  Dan’s home was a two story log and rock cabin. It truly was gorgeous. As we strolled through the front door we were bombarded by his mutt, Chewy. Chewy was short for Chewbacca. He really was an ugly thing, but I had always loved his hairy ass.

  “I have the guest room all made up for you. That’s what took me so long to get to you earlier. I was trying to find the clean sheets. Why don’t you go on up there and turn in, Ella girl. You look plum tuckered.”

  I couldn’t agree more. I was more than ready to get off this rollercoaster of a night. I hugged my Uncle goodnight. “Night, Uncle Dan. Thanks for everything. I really mean that,” I said. “Love you!” I called over my shoulder as I trudged up the steps.

  “Don’t worry your pretty little head, Ells. You are still my little blackbird. Everything looks better in the light of day.”

  When I reached my room I felt like I had been hit by an emotional freight train. All I wanted to do was take a shower to rinse the funk off of me. I walked through the bedroom I often used during my visits when I was younger. Everything still looked the same, out dated posters hanging on the walls, the same wrought iron white bed that Uncle Dan must have made up with new sheets, there was even a case of old make-up sitting on the dresser that he bought me in secret for my thirteenth birthday.

  I saw all of the familiar things and smiled as I dragged my feet across the thick carpeting. When I reached the small in suite bathroom I turned straight for the shower and turned on the water as hot as it would allow. The pipes clanked and squalled as the water began to rush through them. When the water reached its steaming point, I quickly shucked my clothes and climbed in. I stood under the hard spray of the water just reliving the day in my mind. The
re were some definite high points. But most of the day had been pure shit.

  I grab the newly unpackaged bar of soap that Dan must have laid out for me, and started to run it over my body. My thoughts drifted back to how sweet and protective Jaxx had acted toward me earlier that night. How his eyes had been trained upon me as if he could see right through my tough girl act. His eyes were what got to me. So warm, yet they were the color of melting ice. It would be so hot if he had those eyes trained on me then, roaming leisurely over my wet, nude body. I turned so that my back was to the spray so that I could wet my hair. I ran the sudsy bar over my over sensitive breasts and thought of how succulent his mouth would feel on my hard nipples. Would he nibble, or simply suckle them? Just the thought of his mouth on me had me pressing, rubbing my thighs together in frustration. I dropped the bar of soap and used my soap covered hand to run it up my stomach slowly, using my nails to scratch lightly against my skin. I continued the journey upward shivering at the sensation of having my nails against my wet overly sensitive skin. I reached my left breast and cupped it with my right hand. I decided to experiment and tug at my nipples a little harder than usual. It hit me like a live wire connected directly to my clit. The friction of rubbing my legs together wasn’t stimulation enough. So I slid my right hand down until I reached the apex of my thighs. I lightly ran my fingertips through the sculpted nest of tight curls, barely touching my distended clit with every pass, and gathered my already flowing juices with my fingertips.

  I turned and backed up until my back hit the cold tile. The difference in the temperature of the tile wall and the steaming water was delicious against my skin. I closed my eyes and pictured what I thought Jaxx would look like in the buff. All tight ridges of muscle. I wanted to explore every single ounce of him with my tongue. I wondered what his dick would feel like plunging repeatedly into me. I hiked my left leg up and sat it upon the shower seat so I could stroke my clit faster and faster while I thought about what Jaxx would feel like buried deeply inside my tight channel.

  I pushed my lips tightly together to keep from calling out his name in the midst of my self-induced passion. I could feel myself about to reach my peak, so I stopped pulling at my nipples and moved my left hand down to join my right. I inserted one finger as deeply inside me as it would go, riding it for all I am worth. Jutting and swirling my hips, trying to find my release, I added a second finger and shoved them both in harder and harder, faster and faster. I was so tight that they barely fit inside me. But the stretching burn felt so damn good.