Lucinda- Prologue

Prologue

In the early morning before the sun rose, its rays highlighted the storm clouds in the distance. By the time the sun rose, clouds completely covered the sky causing the day’s light to become a gray color. Lucinda watched the sky as soon as she got out of bed, wishing for rain to come quickly and for the sun to come out. She heard the thunder and saw the lightning in the clouds. Candy found her starting out of her bedroom window.
She leaned against the bedroom door’s frame. She said, “Since everyone has just met, Alicia thinks that it would be a good idea if we could hold a meeting in the windowless room.” She took out a cigarette and lit it without Lucinda for permission.
“Why there?” Lucinda asked.
Candy took a long puff and let out the smoke slowly before answering the question. She gestured toward the window that Lucinda had turned her back to. Lucinda turned back to notice that a heavy rain had begun to fall on the glass. “A person seeing dreary weather has a tendency to watch the outdoors hoping it will pass. When it does they still stare and long to be outside enjoying the perfect weather. I have feeling that that girl, Alicia, wants everyone’s attention.”
Lucinda chuckled. Candy was the only adult looking among their interesting group of girls.
Candy backed away from the doorframe. She dropped the cigarette on the stone castle floor and put it out with her black boot. “Lucinda, you are the first person that I have told this to. If you meet any of the others on your way there, I would appreciate it if you told them.”
“Okay.” Lucinda thought a while reaching inside herself to look for the other girls’ minds. She found most of them at or near the parlor that had more windows than walls. “Candy, if I were you I would look in the parlor.” Candy raised an eyebrow, considered this, nodded her thanks, said good-bye and walked away.
Lucinda wondered what Alicia would do to the windowless room. The last time she had seen it the room was dull with nothing in it. Alicia had a way of making people comfortable but how could she in that room?
Lucinda walked down the wall filled with tapestries. She looked out of the rare small windows set into the thick stone when there was one. The lightning was getting closer. After walking several hundred feet down corridors Lucinda found the room, but she could hear nothing inside the room and worried about whether something had happened to Alicia. Her mind explored inside the room for Alicia or some other person. She could feel Alicia in there. As lightning struck near by, Lucinda opened the door. Alicia and Lucinda jumped at the loud bang.
Alicia looked at Lucinda and went back to trying to light one of the hundred candles all over the room. “That was one dramatic entrance, Lucinda.” She frowned as the match that she held to the candle burned out without firing the wick. “This humidity. What I wouldn’t give to have my damp proof matches. Lucinda, can you help me light all these candles?”
“Sure.” Lucinda thought of a fire spell for this situation. Lucinda started to say the words to the spell. Alicia, watching Lucinda’s lips begin to move, slipped the matches in her hand without disturbing her. Lucinda struck the match while chanting and lit a candle. At the same time all the other candles were lit mysteriously. Alicia didn’t say anything.
Lucinda looked at the rest of the room. It was wall-to-wall candles. There were even some candles on the long steps that led to the door. In the middle of the room now placed in a circle of light were ten chairs, one for each girl.
Alicia sat in a chair and indicated that Lucinda do the same. Lucinda noticed that the chairs were red, soft and comfortable. She relaxed into one. She closed her eyes and meditated for a while. Alicia was quiet. The door opened and Lucinda could hear the Caitlins walk in talking with each other. She opened her eyes.
“Please have a seat, Elsie and KC,” Alicia said.
KC opened her mouth but looked at her double Elsie and shut it. Elsie smiled at Lucinda and sat next to her. KC sat, no surprise to Lucinda, next to Elsie. Elsie and KC looked like identical twins but it was not hard to tell them apart. Elsie usually worse light colored clothes that went well with her happy face. KC wore dark clothing, a dark expression on her sour face and she had a slit mark that went horizontal on each of her wrists.
“God dammit, I hate this rainy weather. I should blame this on you, Rain,” Tracey said sourly in the hall followed by a light laugh.
The always-beautiful Rain walked in next with Tracey behind her. Rain held three towels and blankets in her arms. Tracey had one towel and blanket slung over her shoulder. “Hi, guys,” said Rain, in a soft voice that was lighter than Lucinda’s. Her perfect body hid muscles as she picked up a chair for Tracey and moved it into the corner for her.
“Thanks,” muttered Tracey, her face looking down, ashamed that Rain knew her so well. Tracey looked like she had walked in the rain. Her wet hair glistened in the light of the candles. She wrapped the towel around her head and blew a strand that came loose away from her eyes.
Rain smiled at Tracey. She looked at Alicia, who was fingering the candles without getting wax on her fingers. “Candy told me to tell you that Jane is not feeling well because of her medication. Also there is some emergency that Sprite had to take care of, but I doubt that she would come, anyways. Candy is outside with Rosie helping to get Hermia on her feet.”
“What happened?” Lucinda asked concerned.
“Hermia does not care that it is raining, and was doing her exercises when she slipped and fell on her foot. Tracey checked it out, and says that she did not break it and this it is not sprained. However, it still hurts when Hermia puts pressure on it. She wanted to attend the meeting; so Candy and Rosie are helping her walk.” Rain took her seat next to Alicia’s seat, across from Lucinda.
After a little while they could hear heavy footsteps. “Do they need help?” Lucinda asked.
“No, they would be insulted if you asked,” Rain answered.
The girls listened to the footsteps growing closer. Alicia got up and straightened the chairs so Rosie and Candy had an easier time easing Hermia into one. Lucinda went to open the door for the girls. She noticed that Rosie, who was the tomboy, and Candy weren’t supporting Hermia that much. Hermia let go of both Rosie and Candy to go into the room. She grabbed Lucinda as she descended the stairs. Lucinda helped Hermia down the stairs and to the chair. “Thanks, Lucinda,” she said, breathily.
“You are welcome,” Lucinda replied.
Rain handed Lucinda the towels and blankets. Lucinda draped a blanket around Hermia’s shoulder and gave her a towel. She handed Rosie a towel and blanket, and Rosie nodded her thanks. Candy took the towel from Lucinda, but not the blanket. “I’m not that cold. You should give it to Hermia.”
Lucinda looked at Hermia. She was starting to involuntarily shiver from the cold. Lucinda wrapped the other towel in the front of Hermia. “Thanks again, Lucinda.”
Lucinda took her seat. Rosie, who had been drying her short hair, now looked at Alicia. “Why did you call a meeting on such a day?” she said,” Couldn’t you call it when it was a beautiful day?” The girls chuckled.
“Soon we will be leaving each others’ presence,” Alicia replied.
“Soon?” the girls asked.
“Yes, soon. I don’t know if any of you guys go to school, but I have to go back to school in a couple of weeks. The rest of you should go back to your regular lives.”
“Why, Alicia, you sound sad.” KC taunted. Alicia shrugged. “What’s the problem? We can always visit each other.”
“I know that, KC. I also wanted someone to tell their life story so we get to know them better.”
“Who?” Candy asked.
“Whoever volunteers,” Alicia replied as she sunk deeper into the chair. She looked exhausted. Lucinda felt sorry for her. None of the girls volunteered, so Lucinda timidly raised her hand.
“I can do it.” Lucinda volunteered. “But I am not going to tell the story of my life. Instead I am going to tell the story of how I became a witch.”
“That’s news to me,” said Rain. “I thought that you were always a witch.”
Lucinda shook her head. She was the only witch in the group, which made it hard for the others to understand her. “I’m going to start with what was one of the worst days of Lucinda’s life,” she started. “A bully at school, who always picked on Lucinda, had seen Lucinda make a mistake in gym class.” For a moment, Lucinda stopped talking and looked at the girls. She had everyone’s undivided attention, even Tracey, in her dark corner, was looking at her expectantly for the story. She started again, remaining in third person.