Damaged Waters: The Dark Mark

Chapter One-1

Chapter One

The clouds raged over the lake with a portentous brand of darkness that reached no light. The Weird Sisters raised up their hands to the roaring thunder that blanched the skies with colorless motions. Their eyes gleamed down below seeing Emily, Jaden, and David. The gateway began to open wider as their hands descended to the portal itself. The waters towered in columns of cyclones surrounding the portal in counterclockwise motion. The winds stormed on as the portal continued to stay open. An outburst of kaleidoscope colors flew out from the doorway, rushing through the entire town. The dazzling of paints gripped over the sky, sending signal beams of lights to the residents down below. The air filled with cries of people screaming out in pain. Many people fell to the ground unconscious as the lights plagued their bodies with an unholy demise of transformation.

The Weird Sisters said in unison, “the gateway to Avalon is open. The spoils of this world are no longer its own and the time for gathering is at hand.”

Their words announced through the area. Emily and Jaden looked lost as the magic continued to descend into their world. Their looks connected to one another out of fear and dismay.

Emily looked up at the triplets she once knew. She never knew they had such power and connection to the folklore that were nothing myths and tales to her as a child. Emily glanced over at David who was still unconscious. Jaden’s mouth fell open to see the illuminations cross over the sky as brimstone rainbow with a haunting meaning. The winds constantly fumed over as the night would never end. Jaden thrusted David over his shoulder and started to move swiftly to the car. Emily slowly trailed after him. She looked back at the two banshees that continued to levitate in the air. Mora observed wearily as David left with Jaden and Emily. Molly narrowed her eyes and frowned as Mora’s eyes held hidden meanings to her beloved. The mists over the lake seeped through, and both of them vanished into it.

Jaden put David in the backseat and Emily quickly jumped in. Jaden slammed the door and drove off in a rush. The Weird Sisters continued to stretch their hands out to the portal as it grew. Their eyes continued to radiate as the crackling sounds of magic overextended the doorway to a stable form. Torrents of magic sustained to overflow in a hazy mist, conquering the entire town with an unforgettable aurora borealis of colors claiming the darkness of the sky. Different faces of the citizens look up to the sky, no longer human but Sidhe.

As Jaden drove the car, he peeked at the backseat through his rearview mirror at David. His eyes wavered back and forth, Emily glancing at the forgotten gloom swirling around the array of shades. Silence remained between mother and best friend.

“Where should we go Emily?” Jaden asked her with hesitation in his voice.

His thoughts were going back to the endless magic pouring throughout the town. His thoughts remained hazy trying to piece together the reality of what had occurred and what was real. Fantasy seemed to rain in like a disease that multiplied into a sea of chaos. Jaden asked himself if he was in another world or if he had died. Emily didn’t look at him for she questioned all that happened and what the real truth was.

“Go to the church,” she spoke in a bland tone.

Jaden nodded and shifted gears to maneuver the car to their destination.

****

As the magic gushed into the town and around the pub, fairy folk walked where people once stood. The town seemed encased in a luminosity that reverberated with hidden secrets that overtook the moral sense of people. Different creatures walked and clung to the shadows wanting to hide their guise. New sounds filled the air with creatures calling out from hidden areas seeking prey or playtime.

Kidney held his head as he walked down the greenery path. He stumbled, feeling dizzy and nauseated trying to contain himself. The moon twinkled with a rare glow but seemed fickle against the night that once was clear. Kidney moved to lean against a wall then placed both hands against the bricks. He cried out in pain trying to grip the rocks for salvation. He doubled over, crying out as his change crippled him to the ground. His hair turned from dirty blond to a winter white. His tanned skin turned pale, and his clothes ripped as his figure grew taller. His short hair turned long, cascading down his back. Kidney opened his eyes revealing ginger glowing irises. He slowly got up and dusted off himself. Kidney levitated and smirked wickedly for a new game was about to begin. He disappeared in a puff of smoke.

****

The clouds continued to thunder the area with immense strength. The sisters rested their hands to their sides, then glancing at the gateway which no longer needed their touch as the gatekeepers. They descended to the ground and glimpsed up at the portal once more. Their eyes sparked in unison and they disappeared. Penelope, Bethany, and Rose stand in their room. Their eyes turn back to normal. Bethany held her stomach and stepped away from her sisters. Tears fell down from her face as she tenderly cried. She somewhat gripped her hands and sank to the ground.

“What have we done?” Bethany asked out loud.

Penelope ambled over to Bethany and placed her hand on her shoulder, “what do you mean, Bethany?”

She turned to look up at Penelope, “we awoke as the Weird Sisters, but what does it mean for us now?”

Rose and Penelope look jumbled at Bethany. They shrugged and stepped back away from her. Bethany gradually rose from the floor. Small watercourses of magic gleamed around her as the wind poured in and out of the room through the window.

“We are the gatekeepers for Avalon. We have been here too long, and it is time to return home as we were once before. Our Lord Oberon shall come through the doorway. This is our wish to return. Don’t you desire so?” Penelope and Rose asked Bethany in harmony.

Bethany stepped back from them sensing the challenge in their words. Rose and Penelope outstretched their hands to Bethany begging her to accept their new life. Bethany reached out to them with one hand and another over her stomach. She faltered not wanting to go against her sisters. Her life now appeared tangled in the web that they had unleashed over the sleepy town. A figure with ginger eyes smiled with a Cheshire lustrous smile under the moonlight.

****

Jaden parked the car in an abandoned lot. The asphalt cracked with large dents of dirt swallowing the cement. Emily swiftly got out and reached into the back to get David. She struggled to pull him from the backseat. Jaden got out of his seat and went to Emily’s side to pull him out. He murmured caring his heavy friend. Wracked with guilt and fear engraved on her face, Emily walked quickly in front of Jaden to move to the wooden doors on the side of the almost abandoned church. She pushed the doors opened somewhat and looked inside. Lights of candles glittered in the darkness. Emily motioned for Jaden to enter with David. Emily strolled in slowly, glancing all around her. The winds outside seethed and closed the doors behind them instantly. Jaden and Emily turned around.

“What the hell...” Jaden asked in fear while clutching David closely.

Emily gulped and heard footsteps coming closer to them. Out of the flickering lights of the candles, a figure came closer to them. Jaden gave David to Emily to hold for a moment. He reached for his gun and pointed it to the figure coming closer. Jaden clicked the safety off and strained his eyes to see the fuzzy figure. Emily squinted her eyes to see the clothing of the person coming toward them. She smiled delicately recognizing who it was.

“Jaden, put the gun down. That’s Father Wilson,” Emily said softy.

Jaden put the gun down and strapped it back to his side. He sighed, feeling the strain of the night.

“Emily, what are you doing here?” Father Wilson asked as he approached them.

She handed David back to Jaden and stepped forward to hug Father Wilson. He hugged her back skeptical of how to process her desperate need. Emily pulled back and looked around at the once beautiful old church now— old broken-down place.

“Have you not seen what is going on there?” Emily asked distantly.

“I have seen what has happened out there. I don’t know what has come over the town, but it is supernatural. Father Monroe has told me something of this nature would happen, but I am just as lost as you are,” Father Wilson said helplessly.

“Everyone has turned into something else. There is chaos and no one knows what is real. This is something that would be straight out of a movie. Who could have unlocked all this mayhem?” Father Wilson looked sideways and turned to Emily and Jaden with an unspoken question.

“I walked down those streets and saw how so many turned into a supernatural being. They… lingered to the darkness and watched with dreadful eyes… I was scared.” His voice cracked as he studied them, “I saw people turn into something else. I’m not ready to be your secret keeper…”

He drooped to the floor and beat his hands against it, “those poor people. The horrors of their cries will forever haunt me.”

Emily bent down and embraced the father who seemed to have lost his will. His eyes cast down at the floor with a void of life within them. He appeared misplaced to the world around him. Emily shook him then slapped him across the face. He touched his face feeling the red mark. Father Wilson gave her an inquisitive look and Emily stepped back from him.

“I need you to be strong. As my secret keeper, Father Monroe is no longer. You have to be the one to help me,” she said with a little more reassurance.

He looked up at her with hate in his eyes for this woman was his death. She was in his service and couldn’t get out of it. He was marked as the secret keeper for the Cummings family. To have such an honor and curse now rested with him. Father Wilson turned his attentions to David still passed out. He gradually rose knowing only what small things Father Monroe had told him. He had to keep the Cummings alive at all costs for it was his duty and charge. Father Wilson was at the center of something brought on by a full curse that took over the town that now lay with magic at the core.

Father Wilson strolled to the altar with roses and candles aligned. He took out a golden key encrusted with the family symbol of the Cummings and opened a drawer. He opened a book with a woven italics Cummings labeled on it. His hand touched it moderately. Jaden and Emily walked over to Father Wilson. He pushed the drawer back with the book. Father Wilson locked it and deposited the book into his pocket.

Jaden put David on one of the benches. He looked at David and exhaled deeply. Emily sat down next to David feeling lost in the situation.

“We need to remain here for now. We have to look at the facts. The town is now something more. We won’t be able to understand what is out there,” Emily alleged with a chilling tone.

Father Wilson sauntered over to Emily and held her hand. “My child, what happened out there with you and David?”

Emily glanced up at him with tears in her eyes, “nothing that could be explained or even that if logic made sense.”

“Magic and fantasy doesn’t belong in the real world. What should we do now? We have supernatural beings roaming the town and no one can stop them?” Jaden asked frustrated. “There is a portal opened to another world in the middle of the lake where anything could come out. How do we escape this?”

Father Wilson and Emily turned to look out the window to see the magic lingered to drift out from the direction of the lake in the distance.

****