Hocus Pocus: Rising of a Little Witch

Chapter 23: Bartholomew

"Bartholomew Greene was the Reverend's son in the 1670s." Winnie began.
"We knew him as children, before his father was appointed reverend however." She continued.
"And before we ran from the village and into the woods during our adolescence." Mary added.

We were now all seated in the living room. By this time, Mallory had returned back from work and was listening too as the sisters, Winnifred mainly, told us the story of Bartholomew.

"All three of us hath reached adulthood, when Bartholomew ventured out to our cottage to confess to us that he too had discovered his abilities within the realm of witchcraft." Winnie explained, continuing the story.

"So he was a witch?" I clarified, dumbing down the way Winnie had put it.

"Yes, now hush child, and listen." She chided in annoyance. My eyes shot to Sarah who side eyed me and then her sister in amusement. I then looked over at Mallory who was looking at her lap and stifling a giggle. She had said before that she thought it was funny how they called me child.
"He wanted us to help him harness his powers without the knowledge of his father. We of course obliged, having known what it was to be different amongst a society so obsessed with being the same."
Those words hit me like a ton of bricks.

"Deep" Mallory whispered under her breath.

"He would come out to our cottage every night after dark and we would train him, much like we art training you Kytrina." Sarah chimed in.

Winnie nodded.

"Soon he had become very strong. However, his abilities were not the only things that grew in those months."
Mal and I leaned in closer and listened to what Winnie said next.
"He grew very strong feelings for me as we had been spending a great deal of time together. However, I just did not feel the same. One night, he began to leave but before he did, he confessed his love and tried to force himself onto me." Winnie took a stressed breath.
Whoever this Bartholomew asshole was, he sounded like a pig if not anything else.
"What'd you do?!" Mallory gasped.

" I cast him out and told him he was never to return to our home again!"
There was a long pause. I sensed a lot of stress and tension on the sisters.

"Months pass and we do not hear or see anything of Bartholomew. Even on the rare occasion we would venture to the village, we would not see him." Winnie began again.

"That was until Winnie and I awoke well into early morning hours to find Sarah not in her bed." Mary added.
Mallory and I looked over at Sarah who was looking even more uneasy now.
"We hadn't a clue where she would have gone alone at that hour, but our gut told us it was not good. We immediately set out to look for her and soon we heard her screaming".

Winnie took over telling the story again.
"We followed the sound of her screams deep into the woods, further than we had ever gone before. We soon came to a small cave and could see not only Sarah, but Bartholomew as well..."

"My sisters found me pinned to the ground with a knife to my throat." Sarah interrupted, distress very apparent in voice.
"He was going to use me as a sacrifice in a ritual he was trying to perform."

"It was his way of getting revenge on me for not reciprocating his feelings. One must remember that he was the reverend's son. Men such as him are accustomed to women obeying their every wish." Winnie added disdainfully.
"But, 'twas also an attempt to increase his power."
The look on Winnie's face had turned dark.

"So what did he do? Come into the cottage and kidnap you in the middle of night?" I asked, though I had no idea how one would do that without waking Winnie.

Sarah shook her head and Winnie spoke again.

"Bartholomew's special ability is much like Sarah's, in that he is able to put people in a trance and lure them away. However, he dost not use his voice."

"He sends a glowing blue orb. If one looks at it long enough, one will fall into a trance and follow it back to him." Sarah interjected. "It appeared in one of the windows upstairs when I awoke. I hadn't known what I was looking at until it was too late."

Winnie shook her head, anger written in her features.
"Mary and I were able to fight him off and whisk Sarah back to safety. But I was not going to end it there. No. I was not going to let that go unpunished." Winnie's tone was like ice.
Mallory and I watched her intently and waited for her to tell us what she did next.

"So I confided in the village gossip that Bartholomew Greene, the reverend's own son, was practicing witchcraft."

Mary shook her head. "Rebecca Marshall. Such a pitiful woman."

"It didn't take but a few hours for the news to spread through all of Salem." Winnie recalled with a malicious chuckle.
"And no more than two days later, Bartholomew was tried and hanged for crimes against the church."
The anger on her face turned to pride.

"Because of course..." she began, a wicked smile forming on her face.

"The reverend could never have a heretic for a son". The sisters mocked in unison.

"Oh what a horrid day for the church." Winnie reminisced happily, relaxing back against the armchair she sat in.
"Nothing but shame was brought on that family".
Mary and Sarah giggled.

"So if it was him I brought back" I began "Then he wants revenge?"

The tone in the room once again turned dark. Winnie's features twisted back to anger. She nodded.
"Yes and I fear he might go after who he sees as the weakest. You must be very careful Kaytrina. Very very careful."
A shiver went down my spine and I looked at Mallory who was looking back at me worriedly.

"That is also why we must continue your training. We must get thou strong enough to defend thyself in the event he attacks." Winnie declared.

"And whatever thou do..." Sarah spoke up "Do not look at the floating blue light."