Witch {Book One} [UNEDITED]

XLIV: Baton Rogue

It was my momma. 

It was the ghost of my momma standing in front of me. 

I asked the question again: "Why are you here?" My tone was sharper this time and I wanted to make sure that she knew that I was pissed. 

"I'm here to help," she whispered. 

"BS," I snapped, crossing my arms. "I hate you." 

She actually looked hurt at my words. 

"I don't know why you're mad . . ." she said slowly. I laughed--short and sharply--at that. 

"You left me and Daddy to be a prostitute. You never even said goodbye or why you left. You just got up and fucking left. I have every damn right to be mad!" I was on the verge of tears but I blocked them back. I wouldn't let her know that I still cared. She couldn't know. That was my weakness and if she knew, I was as good as dead. 

She looked genuinely confused. "Pardon . . .? I never did such a thing . . ." I couldn't tell if she was serious or not. It was hard to tell with my momma. Nonetheless, she continued; "I had to leave because . . . because Ada was . . . she found me and I was trying to protect you. She killed me in the end . . ." 

I cursed rather loudly. Once Ada was involved, I had no other choice but to believe my momma. And now that I knew that I was related to Ada from my momma's side, it seemed more realistic. Ada did kill everyone related to her sister and it only made sense that she would come back to kill the rest of her family.  

There was a sound--something like a stick snapping--and my momma perked up, suddenly looking afraid. 

"What is it?" I hissed, my voice barely above a whisper. 

"Don't wake him up." 

And then she was gone. 

>>>

Flynn did not approve of locking Jemma up in her bedroom. She screamed as he tied her wrists together and shoved her into the bedroom, making sure the windows and doors were locked. She screamed as he slammed the door behind him and she screamed as Flynn turned and looked at Simon and Helena. 

"Who the hell thought that this was a good idea?" Flynn asked, exasperated. Simon and Helena exchanged a look but didn't say anything and, more surprisingly, didn't point any fingers. Flynn ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. He was already exhausted and irritated from the whole seals and apocalypse deal, and now that his girlfriend decided to try and kill everyone . . . well . . . 

"I would blame Gabriel, but he--she, it, whatever--ain't here," Helena murmured. She pulled a stick of bright pink bubblegum from her pocket and popped it in her mouth. Why she thought that now was a time to put on her flirt-act, Flynn didn't know. 

"It wasn't Gabriel's idea," Simon muttered. It took Flynn a minute to understand what he said. With his thick Scottish accent and his nasally, hoarse voice, it made it almost impossible to understand Simon. Flynn was anxious for Code APO to go into effect, so Simon could go back to normal. 

"Never mind that. How's Samantha?" Flynn asked, desperate to change the subject. Again, Helena and Simon exchanged a look. Helena blew a bubble with her gum and Flynn gave her an annoyed look until she popped it. 

"She left half an hour ago," Helena said, sucking the gum back into her mouth. "For Baton Rouge." 

Flynn's eyebrows shot up at this. 

"What?! You just let her go to Baton Rogue?!" He exclaimed. "Alone?! While she's clearly unwell?!" 

Helena shrugged and Simon took a tissue from his pocket. He blew his nose rather loudly. 

"We tried ta stop 'er, but that was impossible. Y'can't just stop Death wh'never ya please . . ." Simon said in the clearest voice possible. 

"Of course we can!" Flynn started nervously pacing. Jemma was locked in her room, the demon part of her taking over; Gabriel was gone; Bandit was gone; and now Samantha was in Baton Rogue. While dying. She was probably there to start the apocalypse. 

Ever since Flynn met Samantha after being killed by Uriel and being reborn as Famine, Samantha had been the most parental to him. Flynn was technically the youngest of the Black Lotus--being only eighteen--and Samantha was one of the oldest. She was also the first person Flynn saw when he first woke up. 

Since Samantha was the first person he saw when he woke up and she is the most important to him, what does that make Uriel? 

"We are going to Baton Rogue," Flynn said sternly. 

"We are not." Helena crossed her arms. 

"Yes, we fucking are." Flynn stopped pacing and stood directly in front of Helena and Simon. What was he doing? Pestilence he could fight. But War? Only if he had a death wish. Fighting with War only fueled her. 

Flynn was about to say something else when Jemma stopped screaming behind the door. In the distance, Flynn heard the church bells. 

It was midnight. 

Bandit only had a day left.

>>>

I made it to Baton Rogue by early morning and found Samantha Phillip in a fifties diner by the side of the road. I had gone in to get something to drink and found her sitting at the bar with a bright pink malt and a pile of black napkins by her. I hesitated before sliding onto the barstool next to her. 

"Surprised to see ya here," I murmured, picking at the blackish napkins. She turned to look at me, not surprised at all. 

"I won't stop bleeding," she whispered. "I need to stop bleeding because how the hell can I lead the apocalypse if I'm half dead?" 

I ordered a glass of water from the waitress and drank it all before answering Sammy. 

"That's what matters? The apocalypse? Not your life? Not my life? Not Glitch's or Thomason's or Helena's or Jemma's or Flynn's or Simon's or Alice's or Gabriel's? Just the apocalypse? What the fuck, Samantha?" It came out harsher than I intended, but I hadn't slept at all or eaten and I had walked all the way from New Orleans to Baton Rogue. It took me over a day to walk there and I still had about twenty miles left to walk. 

"Bandit, please," Sammy murmured. 

"Don't 'Bandit, please' me, Samantha. I have less than twenty-four hours until my birthday and now on top of worryin' about me and Thomason dyin' I hafta worry 'bout you and your stupid ass apocalypse." I stood up and the few people in the quiet diner turned to look at me. 

"Fuck you," Sammy whispered. She was pale and her nose was starting to drip again. I looked at the black blood but said nothing. "Ain't nobody ever died from a bloody nose." 

She fell forward, unconscious. 

I heard the waitress who gave me my water call 911. I'm sure every other person in the diner called 911 as well. I stumbled back, unable to being to think of what to do. I shouldn't have cared. She made it clear that I was the least important thing in her life. 

So I ran. 

I ran out of the diner and ran all the way to the next town over. 

I didn't pay attention to how much time I wasted but I'm sure I wasted more than I was anticipating. Instead of going all the way back to New Orleans, I caught a bus and pick pocketed some money to pay the fee. 

It was almost three o'clock when I got back. I had nine hours until I was an open target for Ada Gavel. 

Glitch and Thomason weren't at Safe House. I found a note that said that they were at Common. The Horsemen (minus Sammy) were all in Jemma's room. Alice was, as always, locked in her room. 

I went to my room and fell asleep the moment I hit my bed.