Red Spell

Chapter One

Hey, guys!  Here's my new book!  Ta-da!  *Excited dance* Let me know what you think in the comments or give me a vote!  I'd love to hear your thoughts!  

I slowly turned the page and glanced over the pictures. I had made myself as small as possible in the corner near the hearth, but I wasn't small enough. Da's gaze jabbed me every few minutes willing me to leave the cottage. I glared harder at the picture, trying not to hear Marta as she giggled and simpered over my father. I wasn't sure when it happened, but somehow she had stolen my home from me and, in Da's eyes at least, had more right to be there than I did.

"What would you like for dinner tonight, Hannon?" Marta asked as she got up to investigate our cupboards, her fancy big-town skirts swishing.

"I'm making dinner," I said quickly.

"Nonsense, Selene, I'm happy to do it. It'll give you a night off," Marta chirped. I didn't understand what Da saw in her. She was nothing like my mother.

I opened my mouth to protest, but Da glared at me and all but nodded at the door. I closed my book and grabbed my cloak and satchel on the way out. I could hear them laughing together happily as I closed the door behind me.

I took a deep breath as I crunched through the thin snow. Soon it would be full winter. The village had just finished the annual preparations; re-mudding the chinks in cottage walls and stowing the unsold wool from the sheep in lofts to be cleaned and turned into yarn during the snowbound months. I used to help my mam card and spin the wool, but now I'd probably be expected to teach Marta. She didn't know anything. Why she had come to the village of Thorn at all was a mystery to me. She said it was because she preferred country living, but you wouldn't know it to watch her. She couldn't chop wood or shear a sheep or even light a fire. She'd probably had someone to do all that for her in the big town. Now she had me to do it.

I walked through the village and avoided the glances of the villagers. They already thought I was 'an odd one' or they pitied me or worried about me for their own sakes. After all, I was supposed to become the next shepherd of the village after my Da and lead them. I'd grown tired of their opinions about me long ago and found it easier to distance myself than try and prove them wrong.

I made my way towards the old well at the edge of the forest. I even snatched up the old bucket from our woodpile to look convincing. No one but me ever used that old well anymore and I didn't even use it to get water. I would leave the bucket in the bushes and slip away into the forest for a few hours at a time. It was rumored to be filled with wolves and inhabited by the barbaric clan we usually blamed for anything that went wrong in or around the village. There were terrible stories about them, but I had never seen any of them or any wolves while I was there.

I passed out of sight of the village as I walked around the tree line and smiled to myself as I thought about the first time I went into the woods. I was only about eleven at the time and scared silly. I was trying to hide from one of the nastier little boys who threw muddy snowballs at everyone, especially me. The forest was my only option under circumstances. Nothing happened to me as I trembled behind a tree for those three terrible minutes. I wasn't kidnapped and cooked up for a wild feast by the forest clan and the fiercest animal I saw was a squirrel. After that, it gradually became easier until today, years later, I went there because I liked it better than Thorn itself. I was still careful though. I never went at night because that's when things came out to hunt. I didn't know what I would do if I ever did actually meet a wolf and I persuaded myself never to think about it because I loved going into the forest so much.

I dropped my bucket by the old well and pulled a short dagger from a dry place between the stones where the mud and mortar was worn away. I never went past the well without it, just in case. I stepped in spots where there wasn't snow so I wouldn't leave a track leading into the forest. If my Da ever found out, I would never get the chance to go again. I hopped on a large boulder and walked a few paces and then stepped down on the other side where my tracks would be out of sight and headed off into the cave-like shadows. I pulled out a little bag of crumbs from my satchel and tossed them over the ground. The birds were already waiting for me in the bare branches and fluttered down without fear.