Chapter 1
First Life:Initiation.
Second Life: Reincarnation.
Third Life:Back to the Coven
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The Witches World In the Ocean
First life
Initiation
There are secret things that can never be disclosed or understood totally and were meant to remain secrets forever.
– Elijah Edwin
CHAPTER ONE
First Life
“Mum! Mum!” Matea screamed, but her laboured squeal came out like a hushed whisper in her room. Sprawling on a spacious three-foot-high bed, she shook and wriggled her whole body as though she were in a heavy labour. The room was inky black, her spangled pyjamas that gleamed like diamonds was the only thing she could discern in her room. Her father bought her the pyjamas while on his way back from Germany three months before the dreadful night. Of all the gifts her father bought, it was the only gift she cherished most. Maybe, it was because of its alluring design.
“Mum! Mum! Dad! Mum!” She continued in a shrill voice. “Mum!” This time, she yelled.
Matea’s mother, Katarina, jostled from sleep with certainty that she overheard her daughter’s voice. She nudged Duje, Matea’s dad as he snores fiercely. She knew that waking him up would take long, so she decided to find out why Matea was screaming. She dashed into Matea’s room and tried switching on the light. Raising her hands towards the power switch fitted on the wall, she remembered that the two light bulbs in the room had blown up in one night. Katarina had wondered why it happened. She and her husband had come back late from work the following day else she would have replaced the bulbs. She had to do so the next day. With the help of Matea’s glittering pyjamas, she peeped in the dark room and saw her sitting on the bed. Katarina dashed forward and held her.
“Baby, what happened?” She asked as Matea clung strongly to her. She switched on a desk lamp near the bed that Matea had been using since the lights went off.
“I saw it again.”
“What?” Katarina asked. “You mean you saw it again?”
“Yes.” Matea moaned like a baby.
“Any evil spirit showing itself to my daughter I rebuke you in Jesus name!”
Matea closed her eyes and answered, “Amen,” with a teary tone, clinging tight on her mother’s body, praying. Minutes later, a hush of silence descended on the room as Matea fell asleep again. And half an hour later, the piercing shrill of Matea’s scream startled Katarina out of her bed. “What? What? What again?” Katarina asked with a voice laced with fear.
“I saw somebody standing right here.” Matea pointed at the door. “Right now!”
“I thought you were sleeping. How did you…”
“It was as soon as I opened my eyes that I saw it.”
Katarina was too scared to pray for the second time that early morning. How can someone appear to her after she just finished praying? Katarina wondered. Does it mean that my prayer was not effective? Maybe if I pray again the person may still appear to her. “Don’t worry. Tomorrow, we will definitely meet our pastor. This is too much. I will sleep right here with you,” Katarina said as she lay down beside Matea.
Terrified, Katarina quickly searched the room with her eyes, casting covert glances at every corner of the room in fear. She was more scared than her daughter. This is Croatian country, and a lot had happened in the past weeks. One week ago, their neighbours living opposite their house died in their sleep. The horror of an entire family, two kids and their parents, wiped out in one night filled her with awe. Detectives have been milling around the neighbourhood trying to unravel the cause of death. Maybe what killed them has come to kill me and my family, Katarina shivered at her own thought. She glanced at the two light bulbs in the room and knew she must fix them the next day. “Life first,” she muttered. “And family first.” She clung to Matea’s body tightly.
Stiff with fear, Matea was baffled at how tightly her mother clung to her. Maybe she’s afraid too, she thought before falling asleep again.
At seven in the morning, Matea woke from sleep. Shafts of blinding morning rays caressed her eyes as she rolled out of bed. She quickly slid the brown curtain close and dragged herself out of the room.
Katarina was coming out of the kitchen when she saw her. “Are you awake?”
“Yeah, how about Dad?”
“He has gone to work.”
“So early?”
“Yeah, the mayor is visiting their company today, so Dad has to arrange some things in the company before the mayor arrives.” She went back into the kitchen, picked up a cup, poured some hot water from the kettle to make coffee. “Here, take, drink. Get ready for school. You’re almost late.”
“I thought we will see the pastor today?”
“I will see the pastor, not you.” She gently fondled Matea’s hair. “Listen, I don’t want you to miss school during this exam period, okay?” She left Matea to her coffee.
Matea walked to the dining room and sat, sipping her coffee. Two minutes later, she scurried to prepare for school. Dressed in her crisp school uniform—white shirt, dark-pink skirt and a black tie, she returned to the dining room, where her mother had set out her breakfast. As she ate, her mum entered. “Will you drive me to school today?” Matea asked.
“Baby, your school is not far from here, just five houses away. I don’t want to be late to see the pastor. Wait, let me get you money for lunch.” She went to her room to fetch her small handbag. She looked on the bed, in the wardrobe and on the small table full of books. She finally found the bag on the ground, picked it up and took out some bank notes. But when Katarina came out of her bedroom, she was a bit startled that Matea was nowhere to be seen. She searched for her around the house, calling her name, but got no reply. She checked for her school bag. Not finding it, she figured out that Matea had left for school in fury, without saying goodbye or taking her lunch money. On the table was her unfinished breakfast. She didn’t worry much about her. She carried her leftover breakfast to the kitchen and made a hurried dart for the bathroom to shower. After she had dressed, she called White, their snow white cat, kneeled and petted her. “Stay indoors. Don’t try leaving the house, okay? You know where to get your food,” she instructed White as if she understands her language. After all, White knew she couldn’t go outside once everyone had left the house. She already knew where her food were always kept.
White was well trained by Matea’s grandfather. Katarina bought it for her father for his seventy-ninth birthday. When he was about to die, he gave White to Matea. “Do you remember what your mum bought me for my seventy-ninth birthday?” He had asked Matea in the hospital.
“A cat.”
“When I’m dead, it’s yours. Always remember me with it.”
“No, Grandpa, you don’t have to say that. You ain’t gonna die.”
“Everyone is going to die one day. Even Jesus Christ died, so why won’t I?” He laughed. Matea joined him but was not happy. White was big, agile, strong and quiet. Her fur was pure white, which informed the choice of her name. Matea loved White because she got her from her grandpa. The sight of the cat filled her with sweet memories of her late grandfather. Katarina shut every open door and window in the house, slid the curtains closed and left.
Jborbil High School was the first high school in Jborbil town. Founded at the dawn of the 20th century, it had graduated a lot of prominent people in Croatia.
Matea’s classroom was quiet. Most students were busy but silently reading their books because exam is barely few days away. There was a little drone of subdued whispering from some students. Matea wasn’t reading. She was pondering over the strange things she saw at night. Her pen fell off her hand as she got lost in thoughts. She bent down and picked it up. As she arose, she saw a girl in front of her. She shivered because she hadn’t noticed when the girl came that close. The girl was a new student in their school. Matea remembered it was the day the girl started school that she started seeing strange things at night.
“Can you help me with your pen?” The girl asked.
“No, I’m not giving out my pen to a stranger. Ask someone else,” she said discordantly. Matea turned to the other direction to encourage the girl to leave. When she turned back to the front, she couldn’t see the girl anymore. She was stunned. She hadn’t seen the girl come nor did she see her leave. Wide-eyed, she scanned the classroom to check if the girl sat somewhere else in the classroom, but she didn’t find her. Puzzled, Matea stood up and continued sweeping the classroom with her eyes to sight the mysterious girl.
“Is that how you read?”A student who sat beside her asked.
Matea did not reply him; she kept searching for the girl. Five minutes later, the bell rang for lunch and everyone hurried out of the classroom. Matea left in search of her best friend, Jadranka. Jadranka had been her friend from childhood, always going to same school with her. Jadranka’s family was like family to Matea too.
Katarina sat in a chair, reading the Bible. Five men and a woman were sitting in front of her. Three women were sitting behind her. They were all waiting their turns to see the pastor. More people were still coming in. A huge, fair man in brown suit was directing them to their chairs. An hour later, it was Katarina’s turn.
“How is your pretty daughter?” Pastor Ivan asked.
“She’s not fine.”
“Why? What happened? Remind me of her name.”
“Matea. I came here because of her.”
“Yeah, Matea. What happened?”
“She has been seeing strange things at night.”
“Things like what?”
“I don’t know if it’s a ghost, but I would say ghost. She said she sees ghosts every night.”
“Every night? Since when?”
“Three days now.”
“And it was the same ghost she saw in all?”
“No.”
“What did she see the first night?”
“A man.”
“The second night?”
“The same man. And the third night she saw the same man.”
“And what about the last time?”
“She told me she saw something but she didn’t tell me whether it was a man or a woman.”
“That means she didn’t see it so well.”
“Yeah.”
“How can you conclude she has been seeing ghosts? Does she see them in the physical or spiritual realm?”
“I don’t really get you. Could you repeat your words?”
“I mean does she see them in dreams? Or she sees them in the physical realm?”
“She sees them in the physical realm.”
“What!” A dead long paused. “This is serious! How could she see such beings in the physical realm?” He paused again, relaxed back in his chair and gawked in blank space. “Physical! What kind of evil spirit would ever come physically to torment her? Are you sure it was in the physical realm she sees those ghosts? Because I doubt it. Did she tell you she saw them in the physical? You didn’t see them, right? She just told you she saw something but you don’t know whether it is in the physical or spiritual realm, right?”
“Yes. But the person she saw last night left me speechless. She was pointing at the front of the door. I was there in the room when she saw it. I was quite scared. So, it wasn’t in a dream.”
“Wow!” He exclaimed. “Did you know whether she met a dead person when she was coming back from school or something else?”
“I don’t think so. Besides, how would I know if she did? She never mentioned such to me.”
“I asked because even if it’s the devil’s incarnate, she would be seeing it in dreams. Even if it’s a witch or a wizard, it can’t be seen physically. No evil spirit will manifest itself physically to its victim. Tormenting victims clandestinely is their mode of operation. But even if it’s any of these forces I mentioned right now, it means she has offended one of them.” He paused and looked away. “Evil...” He huffed resentfully. “Maybe, she offended a ghost, I guess. Maybe, she met a dead man while returning from school or maybe something strange happened in school. You should ask her what happened; whether she met someone strange while coming back from school or whether any strange thing happened to her at her school. She also needs to come here so that we will interview her on what she saw. I will like to know how the man she saw looks like.”
“I don’t really know. The first day she saw him I asked her to describe how he looks like but she couldn’t describe the man. She would always say the man has the same height with her dad.”
“This is so strange. Listen, you have to interview her seriously on how the man looks like. She has to tell you everything; from the first day she began to see all these things, Ok?”
“Ok, I will ask her.”
Matea had told Jadranka she wanted to tell her something very important as she led her close to the entrance door of the school toilet.
“Hold on first,” Jadranka said. “I want to tell you something too. Maybe, yours should wait. Listen, I’ve been seeing strange things lately.”
“What!” Matea yelled out in shock. This is the same thing I was about telling her. “What? You saw strange things like what?”
“Ghost, I would say, because to me, it’s quite complicated.”
The last word she said seemed to trigger a speedy wind that blustered as though someone just walked passed them. Terrified, they stared around in horror. Matea realized the wind was coming from her back. She turned and saw the new girl as she walked passed them. They exchanged glances.
“Did you remember her?” Matea pointed. “The new girl?”
Jadranka looked. “Yes.”
“She came three days ago. Did you remember what happened the first day she came?”
“Nope.”
“Think, think, think. Think of the first day we saw her in school. I guess that was her first day in school.”
Jadranka remembered that they stood near the school board at the lunch period, eating pizza, when the new girl passed them, holding a bottle of water. She had tripped, falling in a pratfall and in the process splashing water on them.
“What have you done?” Matea had asked.
“I’m really sorry,” replied the new girl.
“We ain’t gonna take sorry,” Jadranka retorted. “I want my uniform dry, right now! If you know what to do to have it dried, do it quick! And don’t forget to clean my shoes too.”
“I’m sorry mate.”
“Shut up!” Matea snapped. “Bitch, you ain’t going free with this.Just make our uniform dry! Now! I don’t know how, but do it or… or….”
The new girl left angrily.
“Where did that idiot think she’s going?” Jadranka tried to chase her but stopped.“If I see her after now, I will screw her to her early death! Look at my school uniform.” She touched it and realized that it had dried up. She turned to Matea and saw that her uniform had also dried up, including the little brown stain she got from the toilet. “The stain had gone completely too!”
Matea felt her uniform. “How come it dried up in a second? Even the brown stain I got from the toilet is gone too. Do you remember the stain I got from the toilet? I can’t see it anymore. Wow!”
“I know. That’s what I’m looking at. This is serious. There is something about that girl.”
“We need to find her.”
“Did you remember her now?”
“Yeah. Why? Do you remember we didn’t find her that day she splashed water on us?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“Because I saw the same thing in the night.”
“Matea, you mean you see things at night like me?”
“Yes,” she answered with a hushed voice.
Fear and lines of worry spread over Jadranka’s face. “What do you use to see in the nights?”
She glanced and lowered her voice. “I see a man. And you, what do you always see?”
“A woman; I’ve been seeing a woman for three nights.”
“And this morning?”
“I barely saw the person’s face.”
“Me too, I barely saw the person’s face this morning. I’ve been seeing a man for the last three nights. She is the one doing this.”
“Who?”
“That new girl.”
“How did you know she is the one doing all this? I doubt if it’s her. You said you have been seeing a man. And on my part, I have been seeing a woman. Then how can she be doing all this?”
“You know it all started the day the incident happened. Have you forgotten what happened to our uniform that day? I twigged it’s her. She can do anything. Something is not normal about her.”
“Our clothes just dried up in a second. She might be the one doing these strange things to us.”
“Not that she might be the one. She is the one.”
“How’re you sure?” There was a deep silence for a moment. “Gosh!”
“What?”
“You are right. She is the one. She came to my class today and asked me to give her my pen. I didn’t see her come, neither did I see her leave!”
“We’re screwed! She came to me and asked for a pen too. The same thing happened. She vanished!”
“You saw her too? Do you know why she’s doing all this? I think it’s because we insulted her the day she splashed water on us. Or what do you think?”
“I think you’re right, Jadranka, but who is she that she is doing all this? What kind of power does she have? Is she some kind of a ghost or an alien?” She paused. “What should we do now?”
“This time we will watch her.”
“Watch her? How can we be watching an alien who has magical powers? I remembered the two light bulbs in my room blew up three days before I started seeing these strange things. Now, I’m pretty sure she was the one that blew them too.”
“What? My bulbs blew too. It is becoming so clear that this new girl is an agent of darkness.”
“What? I’m losing my mind! What do we do? Everything that happened to you happened to me too. This is a clear evidence she is responsible for all these.”
“I’m scared too. What baffles me most is that the two bulbs in my room blew off at the same time. I couldn’t see anything anymore. You know my room very well. Not just one bulb but the two bulbs blew off.”
“Have you fixed it?”
“My mum promised to fix it today, and yours?”
“My dad fixed...”
“Is anybody here?” A female senior student shouted, interrupting their discussion.
“One of the senior students is here. We better get out,” Jadranka said and ran out with Matea.
School dismissed at 2:25 p.m. Matea and Jadranka set out for home. Soon Jadranka got to her house, which is not far from the school. She waved Matea goodbye and entered. Matea walked home introspectively. She had resolved to tell her mother everything that happened; how she met the new girl and had since then been seeing things.
An eighteen-year-old boy of Matea’s age was riding on a skate board along the street ecstatically. “I’m not sorry,” he told a boy he hit as he rode. “Out of my way, loser,” he shouted at a woman, then sprang up a small chair that obstructed him, from there he sighted Matea from a distance and increased his speed in order to catch up with her.
“Hi, Matea,” he touched her, stepped down from the skate and walked with her.
“Erinka!”
“You left school without saying goodbye to me.”
“Oh, I searched for you but couldn’t find you.”
“We both know that you lied. Since we started dating you have never left school without saying goodbye. Is there any problem I may know, Matea?”
“I think you’re right. But there is nothing wrong with me. I’m good.”
“Are you sure? If you’re passing through some hard stuff you can always tell me. I’m here for you always. Oh! I think I know why. Is it because Professor Ivor embarrassed you in front of everyone today?”
“No!”
“Then what?”
A group of boys rode passed them on their skate boards.
“Erinka you’re still here!” One of the boys shouted.
“I got to go since you don’t want to tell me what bothers you. Listen, we have a race right now in Vrhosol Mountain.”
“Won’t you go home?”
“Is a bet?” He rode off.
“Be careful!” She called after him.
“I am, always.” Just then he hit a car in front of him. He turned and looked at Matea.
“I told you,” she said to him with a smug expression very visible on her face.
Ingloriously, he rode off swiftly.
At her family’s well-appointed sitting room, Matea sat in a plush cushion reading her book. She was waiting for her mother to come back so that she would explain everything about the new student that joined them in Jborbil. Eventually, she slept off. Twenty minutes later, Katarina came back and found her sleeping. She didn’t care to wake her but Matea noticed her presence and woke up.
“Welcome Mum!”
Katrina walked closer to her, “How was school today?”
“Fine. Did you see the pastor?”
“Yeah, that reminds me; he said that I should ask you something.”
“And what is that?”
“The day you started seeing things, did anything strange happened to you at school?”
“No, Mum.”
“Think well. Did you meet anybody strange when you were coming back from school? Did you fight anyone?”
“No, Mum.”
“You mean nothing strange happened to you at school? And…”
“No, why?”
“Just to know where all these things you have been seeing are coming from.”
Matea trembled like a dried leaf for no known reason and came back to her senses. She wouldn’t believe her mum had already asked her questions. She wanted to reply ‘yes’ in all the questions but she didn’t know how and why she had been answering ‘no’. In the inside of her mind, she really wanted to tell her mother everything that happened between her and the new girl in school. Both women heard a siren wailing in front of their compound and they scurried out to the front door. Matea was surprised to see her dad with the police escort car. Maybe, he was arrested, she thought. But looking around the cars that were in the entourage, they were quite uncountable.
“Come on, baby,” Duje, Matea’s dad called at her. “Come and hug me.”
Matea still did not understand what was going on.
“Your father has been appointed as the Minister of Works,” he quipped and giggled with a self-satisfied smirk.
“What! I can’t believe this!” Katarina quickly rushed and hugged him including Matea.
“And guess what baby?” He enthused, looking happily at Matea.
“What Dad?”
He opened the car boot and brought a bag out. “I bought you a gift. Guys, let’s go inside.”
“Matea, guess what is in this bag?” She tried to touch it but her dad swung the bag away from her reach. “Touching is forbidden, but guessing is allowed.” Matea tried to guess. “I can’t twig it Dad. Tell me Dad,” she demanded.
“I got you a skate board.” He brought it out. “This is so special. It was made with diamonds and gold. All your friends will envy you when you ride on it.”
“I don’t need it.”
Her parents looked astounded.
“I don’t understand,” said Katarina.
“But baby, you have been disturbing me to buy you a skate board and here it is. Why don’t you need it anymore?”
Matea was silent.
“Matea, your dad bought you a skateboard you have been obsessed about for so long now.” Katarina’s tone was more of a question than a statement.
“Yes, I know he bought me a skateboard, but I don’t need it,” she whined and left for her room.
Mouth agape, Duje stared at Katarina. “I thought she asked me to get her one?”
“Just keep it safe. She will still come for it one day. I guess she’s passing through things right now,” Katarina said.
“Did you visit the pastor today? And what did he say?”
“He said that it’s really a serious matter. He also advised I ask her questions about what happened to her at school the day she started seeing things. But she wouldn’t tell me. She kept answering ‘No’ to every question I asked her.”
“Who could be doing all this to her?”
“I don’t really know, sweetheart.”
Matea was bewildered as she stood in her room. She couldn’t fathom what was happening to her. She needed the skateboard and why did she reject it? No, this can’t be left like this, she thought. I need to go and accept the skate board and also tell my mum everything that happened about the new girl in school, Jadranka and I. She stood up and left her room. When she got in the living room she saw her parents at the time they were about to kiss themselves and quickly turned to go. But they had already noticed her.
“Matea!” Katarina called. “Come over.”
“Mum, I want to tell you something!”
Katarina was filled with joy because she guessed that Matea was going to tell them everything that had happened to her. “What baby? Come on and sit here. Tell me something.”
Matea sat down as was asked.
“And what is it you want to tell me?”
“I’m hungry.”
Her parents were dismayed. “This is what you want to tell us?” Katarina asked.
“Yes.”
“Baby, I thought you have eaten your lunch?”
“Yes, but...”
Katarina was perplexed. “But what?”
“I’m still hungry.”
“Let me go get you some food.”
“Get me what?”
“Food.”
“I don’t need it.”
Katarina drew closer to her. “Baby, what is the matter with you? You are behaving strange. Is there anything bothering you? Tell us. We’re your parents. If you couldn’t tell us who else would you tell?”
Those words struck her ears like a church bell, and she felt remorseful for her actions. But she couldn’t say anything. This girl has started again, she thought and ran to her room. Duje drew closer to Katarina and touched her.
“She will be all right. First of all, I am going to meet the pastor myself tomorrow,” Duje said.
“You don’t have to. You were just appointed the Minister of Works. You have to focus on your new office from tomorrow. Don’t worry, I will sort it out myself.”
“You don’t have to worry, my love. She’s my daughter. My daughter first before any other thing.”
The telephone rang. It interrupted their conversation. Katarina hurriedly picked it. “Hello, who is this?”
“It’s Pastor Ivan,” said the voice over the telephone.
“Oh, Pastor Ivan.”
“Tell him I am coming tomorrow,” Duje whispered.
Katarina didn’t bother to say that. She wanted to hear what the pastor was about to say.
“Have you talked with her?” Pastor Ivan asked.
“Yes, I just finished talking with her but she wouldn’t tell me anything.”
“I had a vision. It’s the reason why I called. I guess her ordeals are from school. They are definitely from school. Advise her to be careful for now. I will call you later,” he said and ended the call.
Katarina kept the phone back and turned to Duje.
“What did he say? You didn’t tell him I would be coming tomorrow?”
“That’s not so important yet, Sweetheart,” she paused. “He just said her strange behaviours are coming from something that happened to her at school.”
“Of course, that’s where it’s likely to come from,” Duje quipped and stood up. “Let me take a shower.”
Matea laid supine in her bed sobbing silently. She wasn’t doing all this on purpose. She didn’t know how and why it was happening. She wanted to talk about what happened in school but something kept stopping her. It’s definitely that new girl. She is the one doing all this. Why is she even doing all this to me? She asked herself and just then she heard something like the rustle of the wind around her. She quivered, stood up and looked curiously around her bedroom with her wide-open eyes. Maybe, the girl is here with me, she thought and hurried off the room.
