Unintentionally Involved

Chaper One: The Things you Find on the East Side

Today really wasn't Katherine's day.

She'd spent all night designing and studying runes. Kat actually liked magical language; it was one of the only things about magic that she seemed to have any sort of affinity for. It sometimes bored her to death though; she'd spent most of the time translating and rearranging words so she didn't accidentally blow something up, rather than using the runes to do something cool.

This wasn't the ideal way to spend a Thursday night because it meant that her brain was useless on Friday. And Friday was the day that teachers saved tests for. Katherine hated failing anything, so taking multiple tests where she spent a lot of time repeating the word 'what?' in her head was a huge mood dampener. The only good thing about the entire situation was that her only homework was to visit her assigned historical site and write a brief summary of it's significance.

At least that was her only normal-school homework. The jury was still out on the witch-homework front.

She was getting the historical site thing out of the way anyway. Her partner was a girl named Iro, whom Katherine didn't have much interaction with. Kat wasn't sure exactly how much of the work Iro would do, or if Kat would be stuck with it all. On one hand, Iro seemed very proactive, always involved in class discussions, school clubs, sports, and she seemed pretty popular. On the other hand, she was pretty much the most conceited person Kat had ever met. Kat barely knew her and she knew that.

Currently, she was looking in the side view mirror. Kat wasn't sure if she was checking her make-up or just admiring herself. Both options seemed equally plausible.

Still, Kat felt obligated to say something. There wasn't anyone to impress where they were headed. "We're going to a cemetery," she said as she gave Iro her best 'are you serious' look.

"I thought we were going to some sort of witch memorial thing?" Iro asked, looking away from her reflection and turning toward Katherine.

"A witch memorial next to the cemetery," Katherine pointed out, "Ya know, where the innocent women who were murdered are buried."

The Josephine Harleton Monument was a tribute funded by the Harleton family in honor of the women who were prosecuted for 'witch craft'. The Harletons were actually witches, so the village hadn't been wrong about that, but it wasn't like Josephine brought the plague to Stakesville or was controlled by Satan or whatever. They still murdered her.

"Right, right, right." Iro sighed, sounded disinterested. Katherine tried not to take it to heart, even though it was a subject that hit pretty close to home.

She only glared at the road in front of her a little.

Katherine pulled into St. Mary's Church parking lot; they'd have a ways to walk, but Kat had recently earned this car, and the roads in east Stakesville were hell on her tires.

Getting out of the car, Katherine glanced at Iro, hoping she wouldn't have to listen to complaining the entire way, "You didn't wear heels, did you?"

Okay, maybe that had been a little presumptuous and rude of her, but Kat was still a little irked. That didn't mean that she didn't earn the glare Iro shot her way.