Hell’s Rose - A Short Story

“All the leaves are brown, and the sky is grey,” Helena sung at the top of her lungs with a smile on her face. She loved this time of year with the changing colours and cooler weather. For Helena and her family this was a time to celebrate. Starting with Mabon and moving onto Samhain. She couldn’t wait to get home and see her mother. They had talked in the last couple of months regarding her growing powers and her fears surrounding them. Helena had been an angry child, short-tempered, and quick to judge. Her mother was always finding ways to help her overcome the flaw, as Helena saw it. She hated it, but it had always fueled her powers, making her more powerful than any other in her family. Her grandmother explained that she needed to hone her anger to hone the use of her power.

Each year everyone returned to the family home for the harvest and preparation of the food for storage. The smells that emanated from their home each year would draw the locals, human and animal alike. They decorated the house and dressed the altars. The children would even decorate the small cave on the property.

When Helena pulled into the driveway though she sensed a wrongness. The land was leeched of all its colour, no longer the autumnal colours she was expecting to line the driveway, only light shades of grey. The house, usually warm and inviting, looked cold. Not a single voice could be heard or presence felt. All she could feel was the power running through her, almost bubbling under her skin with the fear that now consumed her.

Someone had stolen the magic from her family. From the land that provided for them to the ancestors buried here and still watched over them. It was all gone, except hers. Her spark was all that was left. She stepped out of the car and screamed, falling to thrash the ground in grief while the sky answered in rage.

She got up and entered the house, searching each room, hoping to find someone, or something of her family. Her feet grew heavy as she entered the attic, unconsciously rubbing the silver ring she wore for comfort. Her fears acknowledged, they were gone, she let the tears flow for a moment as she took it all in.

There had always been darkness to her magic, and she connected with it now. Her family saw it as a gift. A gift of higher magic, in sights unseen and those hidden. It could be used to help and heal, as well as destroy. Like the magic used on her family home. With that power, how did she not see this, had her fear prevented her? She couldn’t think of that now. She had to focus.

Whoever had come here was long gone. She prayed to the goddess her family were still alive. Two paths now appeared in front of her. Revenge for what was done or searching for her family. The rage she felt forced her onto the path of revenge. Her eyes blazed as she walked back through the house, her anger and pain fueling her power now.

She needed to find the family recipe book and see if anything had survived. Helena made her way to the hot house where all the poisonous plants were grown and stored. She had a feeling that the darkness already here could not be removed, and she was right. Everything in this one small building was intact. She breathed in the scents undetectable to most, of oleander and belladonna. She smelt a faint trace of the book, but it wasn’t there.

As she was about to leave, she saw movement at the edge of the woods that surrounded the house. Helena followed as quickly as she could. She sensed no darkness or pain, no fear or guilt.

‘Come out now and face me.’ She heard giggling behind her and swung with her arms out ready to fight, only to see her youngest cousin sitting on the ground.

‘Where has everyone gone, Helena?’ Helena moved to the small child, he shivered and stared at the silver ring that Helena had worn every day as long as she could remember. A family heirloom. Henry seemed fascinated now with the ring as most were. It was intricately formed, with vines that weaved around the ring. It had been created by an ancestor Helena’s power came from, some said she weaved it with her own power. It was why only Helena could wear the ring. She shared that power now. 

‘I don’t know, Henry. I really don’t know.’ She tried to comfort the boy and distract him from her ring, but although she felt relief at finding him, she was confused as to why he was the only one left.

‘Mumma told me to hide with the book. But I sensed you here and came to see.’ Helena grabbed the boys’ shoulders, frowning at his use of mumma. No one ever referred to their mother this way.

‘Where is it, Henry?’ She yelled. The boy seemed slightly afraid of her then and she tried to calm herself. ‘I’m sorry, Henry.’ The boys’ shoulders dropped.

‘Mumma gave it to me and told me to hide in the forest until the bad person went away. Mumma said she would come back for me.’ Helena sighed, thankful the book was safe, and let the boy go. She took off her jumper and put it over his head. He was swimming in it, but at least he seemed warm now.

‘Can you show me where you hid the book?’

‘Of course.’ He put his tiny hand in hers and led her through the forest. She soon knew where they were headed. The small cave hidden deep in the woods where all the children played. Helena marveled at Henry. He was five years old yet had no fear of coming here by himself to protect the book.

Helena took in the sights and smells of the forest and memories of childhood games with her cousins. The bright green moss set against the black of the trees, the constant mist that hung to the ground. Her favourite as a child had been the fairy houses, where families of creatures lived to guard and protect the forest, but even they had gone quiet. When she noticed the cave entrance ahead, she took a deep breath.

Inside the cave was a blanket and pillow along with a small teddy bear that reeked, but she couldn’t place the smell. There was a bottle of water and some empty chip packets, and a small fire. He had done a good job, but still Helena used her power to heat the cave.

‘You still have your magic.’ For a second the boy’s face seemed to change slightly then right itself. Helena wasn’t quite she really saw the brief change.

‘Yes, I think because I wasn’t here when this happened that mine wasn’t taken.’

‘What if the bad person comes back for you? Mumma said she was thankful you weren’t here.’ He turned, unaware of her confusion. Her grandmother had told them to keep most of her power a secret as some of the family didn’t like the use of higher magics, often rejecting the connection to the ancestor it came from. ‘Here is the book.’ He pointed to the makeshift desk at the back of the cave. Helena could see it, feel its power and wondered why it was still there. ‘Granny spelled it before they gave it to me to protect.’ He watched her carefully as she approached it.

‘Thank goodness.’

‘They said you would need it.’

‘They did?’

‘Yep, mumma said you would find the bad person and take back our magic.’

She grabbed the book. ‘We need to go Henry, get your things.’ She wanted to stay, the cave brough her comfort. But she had no time for sentiment. The happy, caring woman who drove here was not the same one who was leaving.

He moved quickly and followed her from the cave. She placed the book in the boot of her car and placed a concealing spell on it. She hoped it would stop anyone tracking it. She already had invisible runes on the outside of her car that would hide her and Henry, she added an extra layer on the book because it was the last part of her family, and she would need it to find them once she had dealt with whoever did this.

Helena drove to the place she knew she could draw on power. It would be a long drive, and she didn’t want to be on the road so long, but it was her only option. Her destination was Salem, where her family’s true power lay. It would take two hours from their house near Hartford, but her ring would guide her for the final part.

Both Henry and Helena were quiet. Helena was grateful for the silence. She didn’t want to ask him about what happened. Knowing she wouldn’t really be able to get the information she wanted. Tonight was the new moon, the dark of tonight would help her. There were too many uncertainties and possibilities for her plan that she needed time and energy to prepare. She used the car ride to work through everything she had been taught and remember what she could from the book. Although Henry looked as though he was sleeping, she could tell he wasn’t, but she didn’t want to push things. He was clinging to the awful smelling teddy bear, which troubled her.  

When she stopped the car, she could feel magic calling her, and her ring had taken on a warm glow. There was a small cemetery concealed centuries ago by others in her family to protect the three women buried here.

Only a few in her family even knew this place existed. Her ancestor had managed to escape during the Salem Witch Trials, and no one knew what happened to her. She had been a powerful witch and Helena only knew of this spot as the family elders believed she held the same powers as that ancestor, who only returned to Salem when she was buried here, both her daughters chose to be buried here too. No one had spoken the woman’s name for generations. She had been a powerful witch and some thought to call on her name was to call on an ancient curse she created during the Salem trials.

‘I need you to stay in the car Henry. You will be able to see me from here, but I can’t have you near me.’

The young boy smiled at her, a strange little smile for a boy, as he clutched the teddy to his chest. Helena watched him closely, truly seeing the boy for the first time and frowned, before moving to the back of the car to retrieve the book.

She walked slowly to the three graves using her ring as a guide, she hoped it would pull her through the wards protecting them. She felt a shiver as she passed through them, but she also sensed a wrongness, like the one she felt at home. She didn’t turn to look at the young boy still in the car who now had his face to the window watching her every move. She needed to concentrate if she was to accomplish her task and reveal the monster.

Helena knelt on the ground in front of the first grave, the largest, marked by a small but well-placed stone. She let her anger grow and felt her power rising before she placed her hand on the cover of the book and felt a release as it opened to the spell she needed, then she placed her hands on the ground to each side of the book. The power was immense. As she repeated the words of the spell, she felt the earth tremble before her and heard the car door open. She watched the three spirits rise and join with her own.

She was running out of time. She needed everything to take her revenge. She had to time it perfectly. As she stood and turned, she came face to face with the man who destroyed her family. He dropped his glamour and stood to his full height with a menacing glare. The wind picked up and the temperature dropped rapidly around them. But she had more power than him. She could see his disappointment when he arrived at the family home to find she wasn’t there. He knew she held her ancestors’ power and wanted it himself to take revenge on the family that had destroyed his. He shook his head slightly, realizing that Helena’s face had changed as she merged with the spirits from the grave. He growled and raised his hands to the sky causing it to darken with storm clouds. He brought down lightning strikes to break the wards and force her out. The wind whipped out and flung branches and dirt through the wards till they slowly dispersed, soon she was covered in cuts from the debris, holding her arm up to protect her face. Then she stomped her foot to the ground, and everything fell. He laughed.

‘You will not defeat me little one. I have been waiting and preparing for years to destroy your family.’

As she read his mind she laughed. It was enough to stop him moving forward and assess her, as though he was trying to decide how he would strike her next. But she could hear it all in her own mind. Using the breathing techniques her mother had taught she was able to quiet her fear and harness her anger.

‘I knew you were the one who destroyed my family. Its why I brought you with me.’

‘How did you know it was me?’ he asked with a snarl.

‘I have always been able to see what was hidden. I could always see the truth behind other people’s words and deeds. I can read minds as my ancestor once did.’

He growled at that and moved forward, raising his hand throwing her backwards. She landed hard on her back and was winded for a moment. Then the ring glowed, and she heard in her mind, ‘use your anger, don’t be afraid of it’. She took a deep breath and raised a circle of earth around her for protection. The book and three graves were inside with her. The man had a momentary look of fear in his eyes.

‘I won’t stop, I will take what is mine, my family deserved the power, and she took it from us.’ He snarled at Helena now, ready to strike again. He eased his way off the ground, hovering so he was slightly higher than Helena, looking down at her.

The spirits voices responded this time, ‘I took nothing boy. The power was always mine, your family wanted what I had and tried to have me killed for it. Your family line should have ended then, but it will end here boy, we will see to it.’

For the first time the man balked, unsure of his plan. As she took the power she needed, she held up her hand to the man and placed an invisible hand around his neck while he tried to run towards her. He scratched at his throat trying to remove the hand, Helena created a deep hole beneath him and threw him to the bottom. As he screamed and attempted to climb his way out, she heaped the dirt back in the hole. The screams were deafening, but no one would hear him here.

Soon the screams stopped, and the hole was full. She smoothed grass over the top so no one would notice what had happened here and fell to the ground herself.

‘You have served your family well, Helena. Go home, you have been restored’ the spirits spoke, before retreating.