The Unenchanted

chapter two

I was startled out of my dream by my alarm clock. Woo hoo today was the start of Christmas break!! I had to pack all of my things and drive back home. I wasn't looking forward to meeting with my family. If I could just stay locked up in my dorm room forever I totally would. “Leeah are you awake?” Ry's voice came from the kitchen. “I have coffee, bacon and cinnamon rolls from the bakery down the street.” I leaped out of bed and threw on my sweater. “thats great Ry, thanks so much!” I loved living with her. Not just because she did nice gestures like this one, but because she knew how to make a nasty dream fade. “Well I figured we would need all our strength to get us all packed up to head home to Foreston.” I smiled she was so optimistic. She probably couldn't wait to see her parents. “yeah we definitely will.” I said sarcastically I smiled finished my coffee and headed in to pack. Ryan actually lived two blocks down from me. That’s how we met, one day I was out jumping rope down the street and she was playing hop scotch. We bumped into each other and well it was love ever since. I stood up finished with all my packing feeling very accomplished. “There I think thats everything.” I said to absolutely no one. A quiet knock came at the door. “Come in!” Ryan rushed in and paused looking me up and down. “Are you ok? Did you have another nasty nightmare?” I had waking nightmares ever since I was a kid and Ryan stayed over at my house a lot so she knew about them. One night when we were little I woke up screaming that a ghost of my dead grandmother was trying to overtake my body. Luckily Ryann didn’t think any less of me after that. “I'm fine nothing to scary.” I smiled my most convincing smile “OK you ready? Lets get all this stuff into the car before it gets too dark, its supposed to snow tonight.” Ryan grabbed my small bag. My face crinkled up “ugh snow I hate snow.” Ry laughed “its not all that bad I mean we do want a white Christmas now don't we?” I smiled “yeah I guess so.. my little optimist.”

The drive home wasn't long at all. In fact I could have stood three or four more hours but sadly here we are. “ Aliah! You made it oh thank god I was so worried about you both! Its snowing so bad out there.” my mom came and grabbed me and Ryann and gave us big hugs. “oh Ryann this is for you Merry Christmas.” she handed Ryann a small box. “oh thank you Mrs. S this is awesome!” It was one of those photo key chains. Except this one wasn't lame like the other ones. This one the picture changed and was full of photos of me and Ryan. “thank you, thank you! This is such a great present!” she gave my mom and me one last hug and headed out to her house. “well go on ahead up to your room dear your stuff is still all up there waiting for you. Go get settled and unpack.” I headed up to my room silent wishing I was somewhere else .. anywhere else.

I was awake bright and early Sunday morning. The family would be arriving for the holidays today. I yawned sleepily. “Aliah dear grab a spoon and stir those eggs please. Our whole family will be here and hungry too.” just then the doorbell rang. I could hear my evil boring Step father greet my family in the foyer. My cousins started to run around like wild little maniacs.. Irritating little maniacs. I just wanted to pick them up and..Wow! I was grumpy today, “Aliah dear let me take over that you look tired still, why don't you get some coffee and go sit on the couch.” it was my aunt Clare. She was so sweet and funny. “Thanks” Relieved, I gave her a big hug and a warm smile. After I grabbed my coffee I went to the family room. The fire place was roaring. Candles that smelled like Christmas were burning. I sat down next to Aunt Selene. She was beautiful. I was always jealous of her beautiful long dark hair and fine olive skin. There was this air about her though...it was kind of weird but not. I wasn't sure how to put my finger on it. Maybe she was a hippie. Or maybe she had a secret, A deep dark secret. Wow, I really needed to write again soon and get my imagination under control. “Hello, how are you?” she smiled at me pleasantly and serene. “I'm good I snuggled deeper under the blanket. She studied me for a bit looking me over almost as if she could see something I couldn’t. “How are your classes going?” I took a sip of hot coffee. “Good actually I love my history class and passed with an A’.” we sat in silence both of us still very tired from how early it was. I noticed she had on a beautiful pendant... it looked really familiar... I just couldn't place it. Her pendant was a circle deep blue with purple flecks in it. It was absolutely stunning. “Aunt Selene, where did you get that necklace? It’s beautiful!” she looked down and smiled “It was a family heirloom, and thank you. You know your mom has one just like it.” I must have had a face that looked totally shocked.. “You know your mother dear she never wears any jewelry. Her skin is too fair. Anyhow, I'm Sure She had it hidden safe away somewhere. If you ask her she might give it to you. Actually our pendants have a great story; you might really enjoy it since you like history so much... see we didn't originally live here. We started out in Ireland our family moved here in the 1750s.” I blinked “really? Wow mom never told me any of this that is so cool.” She smiled a warm smile “yes we came from the small town of Wylam. It is very beautiful there. I’ve traveled back recently to visit our relatives and get in touch with our roots. Did you know that your great,great,great,great grandmother was a witch? She was one of the most feared in that area of Ireland. It’s said that she was alive during the witch burning days. But the people doing the burning were too afraid to mess with her.” by this time I was wide awake and aunt had my attention in full. “No I didn't know that, mom never told me. That is so crazy.” there was a bunch of clatter coming from the kitchen “Breakfast!”

 Later the kids dove head first into baking Christmas cookies. After the baking was done, and decorating the tree was done, we had a big Italian dinner. Then aunt Clare read the girls a bedtime story and everything seemed to quiet down a notch. I decided now was my chance to investigate and get info out of my mom. “Mom I was going to ask you something.” my mom put the dish down that she had just got done washing. “What’s that dear?” I paused not sure if I should continue “Well Aunt Selene was telling me that we have a rich Irish heritage. I was wondering if you still had the pendant that your mom handed down. If so can I see it?” all of a sudden her body went tense. She started washing faster and faster. “Why would you want to see it? It’s just some old piece of junk and since when did you care so much about your heritage?” this was typical I expected something like this from her so I was all ready to rebuttal. “I'm just curious, I think it’s fascinating that we have such a rich heritage that I didn't know about. And I know you can’t wear jewelry so I know I've never seen it... I was just curious.” I tried to look as innocent as possible. “Very well” she set down the sponge she was using and I followed her. We went up to her bedroom she kept a really old looking box in her jewelry chest. She pulled out a photo of my grandmother. She kindly handed it to me. My grandmother was beautiful not tall or a very big build. Typical little Irish woman I was told I had her looks. I looked over to see that mom had out a book, a journal of some kind. “This used to be your grandmothers journal. I've never read it. Didn't have the strength to, I miss her too much.” she handed to book to me. It was old leather bound and had a thin string to keep it closed. It was very worn and I was afraid it would break. Then she pulled out a really old but beautiful case. It was a light reddish brown mahogany wood, carved with beautiful intricate roses all in spirals around. “This was your grandmas also, it’s so sad she died before you could ever get to know her.” I had known that grandma had been dead for years now but something in mom’s voice said there was more then was being told. She opened the box inside lay this beautiful pendant, a familiar pendant... It was a silver circular pendant and inside the circle was a stone... It was a bright crimson red.