Chapter Two
"Oh my gosh," Raven gasped as Nick turned the corner to Crowhaven Road. Bright red fire trucks were lined up and teams were out fighting the blazes at two houses. Nick's jaw hardened at the sight of Number Two going up in flames. All of the other houses were empty, and several ambulances were outside Number Four.
"Take me to my place," Raven said, and Nick drove to the end of the street. Raven hopped out of his car and ran up the front steps. She fumbled with the keys, and after finally managing to unlock the front door, she burst in. She reeled back as the coppery scent of blood stung her nose. Painted on the wall
in dripping letters was the word 'murderer'. Raven got past the nausea and ran into the house. She took the stairs two at a time and got into her room. She grabbed a duffel bag from the closet and ran through the house, getting all the money she could find. She changed out of the dress and into some normal clothes. She grabbed her knife and a gun and ran back outside. The rest of the Circle was there.
Cassie was in Adam's arms, crying. Laurel and Melanie had red, puffy eyes, but they had no tears. Suzan was shaking and sobbing. Doug looked furious, cursing the air and Chris just stared with empty
eyes.
"What do we do next?" Deborah asked.
"I say we leave," Raven said. "If we stay, they'll come after us and kill us." She looked at Cassie. "What do you say? It's your coven.
"You're right," Cassie said, pulling away from Adam. "We have no choice but to leave, or we'll all die."
"Where can we go?" Sean asked, sniffling.
"I'm going down to Orlando where I've been before," Raven said. "You can all come if you want. I can take six more people in my van, but the other five would have to take another car."
"Where would we stay? What about school?" Adam asked.
"We'd have to drop out," Raven said, slinging the duffel bag over her shoulder. "It's harsh but it's all we can do." She turned and unlocked her van.
"I'll come," Chris said.
"So will I," Suzan added.
"Me, too," Deborah spoke up.
Raven looked to Cassie.
She thought for a moment, then nodded.
"All right, we'll go," she said in a whisper.
"I'll take six people," Raven said.
Deborah, Sean, Nick, Suzan and Chris climbed into the van.
"Doug, come on," Chris urged.
Doug had been silent through the whole decision. Then he lifted his head, shook the blond hair out of his face and glared at them, hatred in his eyes.
"No, Chris! I'm staying here to get revenge on them for what they did to mom and dad!"
"Don't be stupid," Deborah snapped. "My parents are dead but I got over it. You have to, or you'll just die."
Doug turned to leave when Raven reached out and grabbed his shoulder.
"Douglas, if you go and get yourself killed, it won't do any good," she said in a low voice that only he could hear. "Come with us and keep the Circle alive."
"Maybe our parents were right to leave the elements alone," he said in a muted voice. He turned, and Raven saw the pain in his eyes. She reached out and drew him close in a hug.
"People die every day. My parents were lynched by people like Portia and her brothers, and I was there to see it," she whispered. She pulled away and saw that everyone was watching her. Deborah was crying now, and her cousin was holding her.
"Let's go," Raven said quietly. She led Doug to the car and climbed into the driver's seat.
"We're going to go home and get all the money we can," Cassie said. "We'll meet you at the bridge in ten minutes. If we're not there by then, leave without us."
Raven nodded and rolled up the window. She revved the engine and pulled out of the driveway. She took the back road to the New Salem Bridge, and they rode in
silence.
"One of you will have to sit up here to keep me awake," she said, and Sean climbed into the passenger seat beside her.
"What do you want me to say?" he asked as Raven turned off the engine at the bridge.
"All the stuff you try to tell me when I'm never listening," Raven answered with a bit of wry humor. Sean laughed softly.
"Well, when I was little I liked to play Batman..."
Raven looked up and saw Adam's jeep pull to a stop in front of her van. Cassie gave her a thumbs-up and Raven pulled onto the bridge. They crossed the bridge. She was nervous the whole way, just waiting for cops to appear and stop them. She was relieved when they made it to the mainland without a hitch and they began to make their way south. Raven had run away to Orlando before and had friends there, but she didn't want anyone to know where she was.
Sean kept up a constant stream of chatter about all sorts of useless things but Raven began to like hearing his whiny voice. Several times Sean had to kick her awake.
A few hours later, she felt someone tap her shoulder. She glanced up in the rearview mirror and saw Nick looking at her.
"Do you want me to drive?" he asked.
Raven nodded gratefully. "Just keep on this highway south," she said. "Wake me up when you think you're lost. Thanks, Armstrong. She yawned and pulled over
so they could exchange seats. Deborah and Suzan were asleep across each other on the middle seat, so Raven settled herself between the Henderson brothers and drifted off to sleep easily.
The easiness faded, and she began to dream...
Dove Cameron awoke to the sound of voices. She looked around her bedroom waiting until her eyes focused in the darkness. Her bedroom, so familiar and safe, rose into view. It was painted blue on all four walls with posters of the planets stuck on them. It was relatively neat for a six-year-old's room. The voices were bothering her. She tossed aside the softness of the mom-made comforter and got out of bed, shivering slightly beneath the little nightshirt. She stole across the bedroom floor stealthily, trying to identify the voices as
they grew louder. She reached the door, paused to listen, kicked a stuffed animal aside, inched the door open. Dimmed lights were on downstairs, and she
could hear mommy crying. Daddy was yelling, and there were two men's voices that she knew but couldn't place a name to. She pushed open the door slowly,
prolonging the wooden creak, and darted to the banister. She crouched down and peered between the banister posts, watching as the scene unfolded below.
Mommy and daddy were tied back to back to a chair from the dining table, and two men stood over them.
"We know what you are and we're here to stop the evil," the bigger man said. He
was holding a rifle and glaring down at Dove's parents through the eyeholes of
his mask.
"Evil destroys and evil must be destroyed," the other man chanted in a strange, eerie voice.
"We're holding you on trial. Confess you're witches!" the first man shouted.
"No, we're not witches, we're not evil," mommy protested, crying.
"Your child is a daughter of Satan and has evil power. Both of you are Satan's
spawn as well!" the first man yelled. The second man was pouring a ring of reddish liquid around her parents. The sharp smell stung her nose, and even though it was familiar, she couldn't give it a name either.
"If you don't tell is the truth, you will be punished," the bigger man warned, reaching into his pocket for something --
"Leave them alone!" Dove yelled, jumping to her feet. Mommy looked up at her in
horror, her eyes wide.
"There she is, Satan's offspring herself," the man said, turning to look up at her. Dove ran into her room for her necklace. On it was a little crystal that she could use. She ran back out of her room and for the stairs when she was caught by the smaller man and dragged down the stairs.
"Let her go," mommy begged.
"I'll be fine," Dove assured her.
"It's the little sorceress herself," the first man hissed, leaning down to leer in Dove's face. She turned away at the stench of his foul breath.
"Now convince mommy and daddy to tell the truth or they'll get hurt," he ordered in a steely voice.
"Let them go!" Dove shouted.
"Sorry, no can do," the man told her, beginning to laugh.
"Dove, don"t tell them anything," her daddy shouted.
The man laughed more. "Sorry, Merlin old man, but you'll have to tell me something. I know you're evil and nothing can convince me otherwise."
There was silence except for the other man's chanting. Dove tightened her grip
on the crystal.
"That's it, I'm tired of waiting," the man said. The second man put another ring
of the nasty-smelling liquid around Dove's parents, dragging her behind him all
the way. She recognized the smell and something was tugging at her to remember it.
"Sorry Dove, it was their last chance," the man said, and struck a match. Dove
stared into the flame, almost hypnotized.
"It is, however, so ironic that they named you, an evil little child, after the dove, a bird so white and pure, when your soul is as black as the raven," he continued, turning the match slowly. Dove said nothing.
"Well, evil is destroyed," he said, and dropped the match. As it fell, in slow
motion towards the wet carpet, Dove remembered the smell. It was kerosene...
Dove was dragged backwards as flames shot up and her parents began to scream in agony and fear.
"Watch them die, little raven, and smell their death," the man whispered, leaning close so only she could hear. "See your own fate before your eyes."
She watched, tears streaming down her face and blurring her vision. She could
hardly see, but she could hear them scream. Her mommy was screaming her name over and over again, and those screams would want her sleep for years to come.
"Time to die, witch!" the man yelled, jerking her out of her trance. The
screaming had stopped and the rancid stench of burnt flesh assaulted her sense
of smell. Vomit rose in her throat but she swallowed it back, trying to keep any last shred of composure before she was stripped of all dignity.
"Meet your doom," he spat, and shoved her forwards. She felt the searing heat
even as she fell forwards, but suddenly her body jerked and she hit the carpet,
rolling. She got to her feet and wiped her eyes clear of soot and tears, facing the oncoming assault.
"See how the witch defies death," the man said. He lifted his rifle to his
shoulder and aimed. Dove's mind was echoing with her mother's cries, and she tightened her grip on her crystal pendant once more. There was the sound of
tearing Velcro, and suddenly a knife flew into her left hand.
The second man looked down and found his knife pouch empty. He stared at Dove in
horror. She brandished the blade, its edge glittering in the flames if he growing fire.
"Evil destroys," he chanted. The other man lunged at Dove, going to
tackle her down, but she just danced out of reach. She swept her leg out and knocked his legs out from under him, sending him headlong into the fire. She
ignored his screams and advanced on the other man.
"Evil must be destroyed," he chanted on. Dove stared at him. Then she tossed the knife. He staggered back as it embedded itself in his shoulder. He stared at the hilt if the knife and the blood soaking his jacket, then at Dove. He stumbled towards her, his hand out to grab her. Dove backed towards the door.
"Be a Dove, little witch, don't kill," he cackled, insane.
Dove heard her mother crying her name again, like the sound of a wailing siren.
"I'm not Dove, I'm Raven," she said. And then her eyes grew brighter. The man burst into flames and began shrieking. Raven backed out the house and ran. She ran and ran. Someone caught her. Brown eyes. Familiar face. Alex...
"Hey, Rave-girl, wake up," a voice cut into her dream.
Chris cried out as Raven's hand shot out and clamped over his wrist, twisting painfully. She opened her eyes and sat up. Then she saw Chris squirming in her grip and let him go, murmuring an apology.
"Hey, Nick said to wake you up," he said, sounding a little hurt. "Adam signaled for us to pull over and get some gas."
Raven squeezed past him, slipped by the two sleeping girls and climbed out of the van. She emerged in the cool night air. She yawned and stretched. Adam's jeep was pulled up next to a pump and Laurel was getting gas. Raven glanced
at her watch and saw that it was about three o'clock in the morning. She headed into the store to pay for gas and then went out to fill up her van. She peered into Adam's jeep and saw that everyone in there was awake.
"Are you all right?" Cassie asked.
Raven nodded. "We've been driving in shifts so everyone got a decent amount of sleep."
"So have we," Cassie said. "What did you say to Doug to change his mind about staying behind? It seemed to work pretty well."
"Just a standard pep talk, you know, you have a good life and a great future,"
Raven lied. She had never told anyone about what had happened, and the one person who knew was out of her life.
"I can't believe Portia would do that," Cassie whispered. "I guess she and her brothers just went off the edge. But to think they would murder." Her eyes began to fill.
"They were pretty easy about killing Faye," Raven pointed out. "Some people are just plain crazy, and they get desperate when they're afraid."
"Why did you want to leave the state? I mean, just the island would have been good enough, wouldn't it?" Cassie asked.
"Knowing Portia and the influence her family has, they could probably convince the authorities that we killed our own parents and then ran or something like that," Raven told her. When the gas tank was full she went into the store to get her change. Standing in line, she watched the television mounted in a corner. Adam joined her with a few crumpled bills in his hand. His eyes had dark circles around them and he looked exhausted.
He watched the TV too. Raven could just hear the words, and she was shocked to hear the story.
"On the island of New Salem, Massachusetts, there has been a rash of killings by a teenage cult known as the Club. They were suspected but never convicted in the killings of Kori Henderson, the younger sister of two of the members, Jeffrey Lovejoy, a classmate who had connections to several of the female members of the group and the parents or guardians of all the members. When confronted at the school dance, one of them got violent and was shot in self-defense. The rest of the group fled and were last seen in Boston City. The state authorities have asked that you keep a close watch for the eleven remaining members of the cult and an accomplice who assisted in several of the murders and keep all children indoors at night. It is also advised that vulnerable people should not go out alone but stay in groups of two or more in
case they are selected for Satanic sacrifices by the cult..."
Raven's gaze darkened.
"What's wrong?" Adam asked.
"See that TV over there? Well they just posted a story on us that's got everything screwed up and now they're out for blood," Raven said bitterly.
"We'll just have to lay low," Adam said. Raven paid for her gas and then headed out to the van.
"What should we do?" Diana asked as Adam came out. She yawned. "I don't even know where we are."
Raven looked at her watch. "It's almost 4 a.m. We've been driving for about five
hours. It's a 22-hour drive all the way down to Orlando non-stop and we have to rest. I say we go one for another two hours, then pull of at a truckers' stop
for sleep. If you don't want to do that, we can keep going in shifts and hit restaurants every four hours for food and gas and such." She looked at Diana
and Cassie. "Whatever you want, you're the leaders."
"But you know more about this," Cassie pointed out.
"All those other times I was only thinking for one person and I had more money." Raven thought for a few minutes.
Adam spoke up. "I say speed is more important and we do the shifts. We head out now."
Diana nodded. "All right, let's go."
They got into their cars and continued their journey into the unknown.
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