an inconvenient flame, n. goode

Chapter Seventeen

A/n: Thank you guys so much for all your kind words about my non existing love life. You make this whole writing experience worth it❤️

Two of my friends were pronounced witches. They were to hang and what was I to do? I couldn't just stand by, but I wasn't prepared to die as well. I was frightened of both helping and not helping. By the time I looked back over to them, they had run off. I didn't want to chase after them and lead an angry swarm of settlers to them. They were on their own now.

I ran to find Abigail and Isaac. They were just leaving the meeting house.

"Isaac! Abigail!"

"What are you doing out here, Hyacinth? Why weren't you with us in the meeting house?" She asked.

"I was with them." I knew I could trust these two. They wouldn't turn me in. They were my friends. It then clicked in their brains what I meant by them. They pulled me over behind one of the houses for more privacy.

"Are they alright?" Isaac asked.

"I don't know. One minute they were beside me and the next they were gone."

"Oh dear god" Abigail sighed.

"Don't go telling anyone else about this. They'll only rope you into being a witch as well." Isaac warned. I nodded by head and our attention was soon grasped by Solomon's brother, Elijah, as he held Hannah before us all in the center of town. We joined the rest of the group to get a closer look at the situation. They only had Hannah by the looks of it, but no Sarah.

Elijah began, "As sure as the sun rises, we will purge Union of this...wretched pollution!" He threw her to the ground, unable to catch herself due to her tight chains. "We will search every house, every inch of wood! We will not rest and we will not have mercy! So help me, God, we will be cleansed of these anathemas! We will have our justice! We will find Sarah Fier!" The crowd cheered on and on.

I then caught a glimpse of Solomon fleeing home. After a moment of weighing my options, I decided to follow him. He cared for Sarah as much as I did. He had to help her. I threw my cloak back on and darted to his house in the woods.

By moving with quick hast, I soon arrived back at Solomon's house. I knocked on the door and he opened up. "Hyacinth?" He pulled me inside, locking the door.

"You said it yourself...Hannah and Sarah didn't do this. They're not witches!"

He cupped my cheeks. "I know that, I do. But a single man's voice can not persuade an entire settlement...I tried."

"I cannot just sit by and watch my friends- my family, hang for something they did not condemn."

"I'm sorry, Hyacinth. I don't know what else to do."

"Please...Solomon. I am begging you."

He looked at me with guilt ridden eyes before he turned at the rapid knocking at the door.

"Go away, Elijah." The knocking continued and he angrily opened the door. "Elijah, I said enough!" But it wasn't Elijah at the door. It was Sarah. She quickly came inside.

"Please, you have to help me!"

"Sarah!" I said in relief as I wrapped my arms around her. "We are innocent."

"We know..."

"Hannah and I, we didn't do this!"

"Sarah, you're bleeding" Solomon noticed.

"It doesn't matter! Listen to me. I went back to the woods, to the widow. She's dead! Someone killed her! And there was this...this book...with a...a kind of instruction, an incantation."