Crimson Moon Hideaway - Julia Mills Page 0,2

DIA came. With every passing day, Ellie was more convinced that the boot print found at her parents' crime scene had been left before the Chimera were given the heave-ho. She even entertained the idea that someone had planted it just to incriminate the Chimera and throw everyone off the trail of the real killer.

Then the dreams started…

The night of her last birthday after the huge party her sister and brother-law had thrown for her, Ellie had finally fallen asleep. After hours of tossing and turning, it felt like her eyes had just closed when the voice of her mother called her name. So clear, so real, so haunting, Gretchen's melodic voice summoned, "Ellie. Ellie Gwendolyn. Wake up. Wake up, honey. I need to talk to you. Please wake up."

Springing out of bed, eyes wide, heart pounding, and covered in sweat, Ellie ran from one corner of her cabin to the other, screaming for her mom with tears streaming down her face. Opening doors, throwing back curtains, walking out on the back porch, then scrambling down the stairs to the cellar, she looked everywhere, but no one was there.

Ellie was all alone. In the darkness. In the silence. All by herself.

Afraid to tell Celia for fear that what the doctors called a psychosis, but what her granny called the Family Curse, had befallen her, Ellie kept that night and all the others that followed a secret.

Days turned into weeks, and the dreams became more persistent, more real, more demanding. Gretchen was calling to her from the Heavens. Trying to tell her something. Leading her out into the desert with the promise of showing her something important.

Finally, after a month of sleepless nights and increasing paranoia, Ellie made the three-hour trip to El Paso and the Paranormal Institute of Psychological Study to visit her Auntie Gwendolyn. Standing outside the enormous double doors waiting to be buzzed in, the young woman nearly turned around and took off running at least ten times.

What would she find inside? Would her aunt even be able to speak? Would Gwen remember what had happened when the Curse took her mind? It was all a longshot, but one Ellie knew she had to endure.

Walking into the ward, it was a pleasant surprise to find all the patients calm, carrying on conversations and acting, well, normal. Her fears of finding something like she'd seen in the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest were well and truly put to rest.

Welcomed with a big hug and warm smile, it hadn't taken long for her Aunt Gwen to ask, "Why are you really here, Ellie, my girl? I'm glad to see you, but this isn't just a friendly catch-up, is it?" Taking a sip of tea from a mug Ellie remembered from her childhood, the one her mother used every morning to have her tea, the older Witch sighed, "I haven't seen you or your sister since the day you came to tell me that your ma and pa were dead. Figured I wouldn't see y'all again until I was looking down from Heaven."

Opening her mouth to make any and every excuse she could think of, her embarrassment at the truth making her cheeks hot and her palms sweat, Ellie was shocked when her aunt leaned forward, placed her hand on her knee, and whispered, "You're not losing your mind, Little One. Your momma really is trying to contact you."

“But…”

“But, nothing,” her auntie kept right on going. “The bond between mother and child is one that not even death itself can break, and for us MacLeish Witches, it is stronger than anything physical ever created. Hell, don’t tell those nurses over there, but I still hear from your granny on a regular basis.”

Shaking her head, sure she'd made a mistake, and Gwen was nuttier than a fruitcake, Ellie's hands were on the table and she was halfway to standing up when her aunt added, “You only hear her voice when you’re sleeping, right? She’s calling you out to the desert. Showing you the exact spot where that bastard left her and your daddy laying in the dirt, isn’t she?”

Butt back in her seat, scared to open her mouth, Ellie could only nod.

"That's not unusual. Not for any Witch and her daughter, but especially ones as strong as your mom and you. She wants you to find the person responsible. Wants justice for what was done to her and Matthew."

"So, why not go to Celia? She's already gotten all her powers.