• Chapter One

    I don’t know who chose to build a highway eight feet away from a lake but it was a stupid idea. We have to drive around this lake to get to my grandmothers house. There is probably about eight feet of sand dividing the ocean from the high way. I thought about how absolutely boring it would be here. My mom and dad are practically forcing me to spend Christmas Vacation with my grandmother. My brother gets to stay home. Apparently, they think it would be good for me.
    “Are we almost there?” My brother Josh asked them for the millionth time today. I wouldn’t mind so much, except that he’s sixteen.
    “Shut up. You don’t have to spend the whole vacation here.” I whined.
    “Yeah, but I did when I was fourteen, just like your going to and just like the baby is going too.” He said, going back to his video game. My mom is pregnant with God knows what.
    “Mom.” I whined. “Why do I have to do this?” I asked, for the millionth time since I got in the car.
    “Josh came back so different, it was wonderful. We are hoping for the same thing will happen to you.” She said, glancing at me through the mirror. I glanced out the window and saw some kids playing on the lake, one girl was wearing a bicycle helmet and had a big scratch on her cheek. I looked away and then looked back and they were gone. I blinked a couple of times, telling myself my eyes had just been playing a trick on me.

    A few hours later we pulled in to Grandma’s driveway. Her house was old and huge. Mom lived in it when she was kid, and Grandma lived in that when she was a kid, and her mother lived in when she was kid. I got out of the car and slammed the door. My father was getting my suitcase out of the trunk. I took my backpack from him and my suitcase.
    “You guys are horrible.” I said. I heard them get back into the car. They where just dropping me off.
    “Bye, Morgan.” My mother said out the window. “I love you.” And, despite my anger I said,
    “Love you guys to.” I turned around, waving as they drove off. Then I turned around and rang the doorbell. The door opened and Grandma was standing there with a big smile on her face.
    “Just like with your brother!” She exclaimed. She pulled me into a tight hug and then dragged me into her warm house. Everything about her house was clutter, but it was a beautiful clutter. Everything seemed to radiate with Grandmotherlyness. I’ve always loved the ever going scent of candles even when there was none lit and the way you had to walk on your tip toes to get around. “Let me take you to your room!” She said, leading me up the stairs. My room was probably the only room in her huge house that wasn’t cluttered. “It was your mothers when she lived here.” She looked around the room fondly. It had white walls, a dresser, a desk, a bed and a big chest. With a big lock.
    “Hey, what’s in the chest?” I asked her. She just waved it away.
    “Your mother lost the key long ago.” She said. “Now you get settled and I’ll go fix us some lunch.” She left the door open when she left. That’s what I loved about her. Everything was our choice. She left the door open so I could close it if I wanted.
    I set my bag down on the bed and opened the doors to the dresser. They where all empty. That’s good. Then I went to the desk. Except for some initials that had been scratched in the wood, such as J.W.+ G.L. = 4EVA, which I think meant Jane Woddowrth (my mom) and Gordon Lewis (my dad).
    “How sweet.” I muttered, going back to my bags. I unzipped my backpack and dug my hand in, searching for my cell phone. My hand touched the cool plastic and I withdrew it. I flipped it open. 1 NEW MESSAGE the screen flashed. I clicked the blue read button.

    Your parents must be HORRIBLE doing this to you.
    I’ll MISS you do MUCH!
    I’ll be thinking of you in Vermont!
    WISHING you where HERE not THERE.
    ~Sandra

    Way to not rub it in, I thought. My friends Sandra had asked me if I wanted to spend winter vacation with her family in Vermont, but of course anything fun is out.
    “Morgan!” Grandma sang from the kitchen. “Lunch!” I dropped my phone on the bed and ran down to the kitchen. She was already sitting at the kitchen table with a big bowl of soup sitting in front of her. I sat down opposite and picked up my spoon. Chicken noodle soup, it was amazing. Once I had finished I sat back in my chair and my Grandma smiled.
    “I want you to take a walk around the lake.” She said. My eyebrows creased together. Why? “Just to get yourself familiar with the area.”
    “Okay…um…well I’ll see you later then.” I said, getting up. I walked from the table and left through the front door.
    The lake was frozen. The kids were gone except for the little girl with the helmet. She was skating on the ice in her sneakers. Suddenly, she got a very horrified look on her face as the ice broke and she fell through.
    My first instinct was to run out on the ice. So I did. I ran out to her. She was flailing her arms and screaming. I got down on my hands and knees and reached for her.
    “I’ll get you.” I said, I reached of her and she reached for me, but her hand went right through mine.
    “Help me!” She screamed. I tried again, it went through. Again and again. Tears streamed down her face and she kept screaming.
    “What’s happening?” I said, reaching for her hand again. Then, just like that she disappeared. She was gone. There was no hole in the ice, not even a crack. “Holy…” I whispered, taking a step back. Did I imagine that. I turned to walk back to land, shaking. There was some one on shore watching me. Great, that’s just what I need a reputation for being crazy. I met him on the shore.
    “Hello.” I said, trying to sound normal. His brown hair flopped into his blue eyes, he was wearing a red hat and jeans with a sweatshirt. He looked at me wildly. “Hello.” I repeated.
    “Uh…I heard you the first time. What was that?” He asked.
    “What?” I figure the best way to deal with this was to act like nothing happened. I started walking back to Grandma’s house but he fallowed, walking beside me.
    “That. Out there. You where screaming and reaching for…nothing.” He said.
    “No, I wasn’t. I was…trying my shoe.” I lied. I want him to go away.
    “No…you where acting weird.”
    “I don’t even know you.” I said, walking faster, but he kept up.
    “Okay, well I’m Seth. Your Mary’s granddaughter, Morgan, right?” He asked.
    “Uh…yeah How do you know that?” I asked.
    “I work for Mary. Only on weekends though. How long are you here for?” He asked me.
    “Winter vacation is over in three weeks, so three weeks.” I said. “What do you do for my Grandmother?”
    “I…just do whatever she wants. Get stuff from high shelves, help her cook. Do her bills some times. I’m really good with numbers.”
    “She trusts you with her bills?” I asked, starting to worry Grandma was giving her money away.
    “She’s known me since I was born. I wouldn’t do that to her. Anyway she pays me so what do I need to steal from her for?” He asked me, I just looked at him. Who was this boy and why did he feel the need to talk to me?
    “I have to go…” I said.
    “Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow then.” He turned and walked off. I turned to look back at the lake and there was the girl with the bicycle helmet, standing staring at me.





    Chapter Two

    “How was your walk?” Grandma asked me. I just shrugged, not wanting to mention the girl and the ice.
    “Uh…I met this kid that works for you.” I said. She nodded and went into the kitchen. I fallowed her. “You let some kid do your bills?”
    “Well, Seth is very good with numbers. Are you sure your walk was…uneventful?” She asked me.
    “Yeah…” She turned and looked at me. “Okay…well…” She smiled at me and beckoned for me to keep going. “There was a little girl on the frozen lake and she fell in so I went to help her and then her hand passed right through mine and then…she disappeared.” I waited for her to say something like, I’m taking you home now.
    “Now is the time to talk to you about something. Something that your brother didn’t have, or your mother. But I prayed that some one would have it. I have it.” She said. “Its seeing spirits, Morgan.”
    “What?” I asked.
    “You saw them for yourself. You’ve been seeing them all your life.” She said. “We just had to wait until your fourteen because that’s when your powers really start to kick in.”
    “Ha ha ha very funny.” I said. “It was just a trick of the mind…maybe the soup.” I said. She shook her head.
    “You saw them.” She said. “I know you did. I can see it in your eyes. You’ll get more powers. They’ll turn up.”
    “Why?” I asked.
    “Because, our family…well, our family goes generations back .We are…witches.” She smiled. “And only a few witches have this power. Of course you.”
    “How am I supposed to know I’m a witch?” I asked skeptically.
    “I’ll show you.” She said. She glanced at the coffee cup on the table, and it exploded into to tiny shard of glass.
    “Wow.” I whispered. “What else can you do?” She smirked. This was so weird. She grabbed my hands and led me to my room.
    “The chest.” She said, bending down in front of it. She took a key out of her apron pocket and she shoved it in the lock. There was loud clicking sound and the chest flew open. I stood behind her and peered in.
    “Wow.” I whispered. There where books and little bottles of stuff and blankets and necklaces. “Wow.” I repeated.
    “Its yours. You need to complete your training.” She said.
    “This is awesome.” I said. She smiled at me.
    “Get organized. Your lessons will begin tomorrow.” She left my room with a brisk wave, shutting the door behind her. I reached my hand in the chest and pulled out a book. It was an old book, I Opened it and there was writing. It was diary.

    Dear Diary,
    Mother had told me that I am a witch. At first I thought that she was joking, but she was serious. My training behinds tomorrow. I guess this explains the déjà vu I’ve been having. And, basically everything else weird that’s been happening to me. She says that she wants to me to have this power, but I don’t. it’s the power to see spirits. She says that it makes you a very powerful witch and it also means that you don’t grow out of your powers, which I will eventually. Then I will forget that I ever had them. She says that if I do grow out of them, I cannot keep this journal because I’m writing about everything in here. That I must lock it away along with everything she is going to give me. I don’t want to.
    Always,
    Jane

    I closed the book. It was my mothers, and I felt like I was trespassing some how. Just looking at the diary made me feel sick to my stomach. I put it back in the chest and pulled out another book. SPELLS FOR THE BEGINNER. It said. I opened it.

    Spells to cure the sick…

    Light a candle,
    Say these words.

    Cure the sick,
    Feed the hungry,
    Want it done.
    And so it will be.

    Then, pour the hot wax,
    Onto the sicks hand,
    In a star pattern.

    I shivered and closed the book, putting it back in the chest. I took out a necklace. It was green in the shape of a star with a small diamond in the middle. I put it on. I could feel something rushing through my veins. Power. I breathed in deeply, feeling powerful.