The Forest Has Ears... Part 2

The sky cleared almost as quickly as it had darkened. Karen turned and went back in to check on Ellie. She was sitting up, leaned against the wall of the kitchen. The only sign that she had been hurt was the blood stain on her blouse.
"Stupid, stupid me! If my head had been on right I would have seen that coming, Ellie. I am very sorry."
"Stop it, Karen. There is nothing we can do about it now. Thank goodness I have a little bit of mom in me or I would have been dead for sure. Thank you for the touch healing. That helps."
"What are we going to do, Ellie?"
"Right now, we are going to get out of here before that witch with a B sends more of her flunkies to mess with us. We can't go where we were headed, that's a given. Melody has eyes every-where. We need to find a safe place where she can't feel us for a while."
"Derek was a fool... A wonderfully, brilliant, handsome fool."
"O.k., where are we going with this, Sis?"
"He knew. He knew all along that one day being with a wiccan would cost him his life. He knew and still he stayed."
"He loved you. He always did, Karen."
"And it cost him his life! What kind of exchange was that!? Seventeen years of ducking and diving and hoping the next lightening bolt wasn't meant for you. When we walked the right of passage into Marriage, he knew then. No one has their broomstick break in half just from stepping over it. He said it was because our Love was so strong. I knew better and so did he. It foretold of his death even then. And still, he stayed."
"You have to remember that a lot of things were different with you, Karen. You were confirmed before you were ten years old. Unheard of. You were born with five stars on your shoulder, for cripes sake! At the initiation, we suddenly had a lunar eclipse. Your second Saturn return came to you before you were thirty. Anyone else is 58 to 60 years old, Sis. That's fact! No one really knew what it all meant. Mom and Dad maybe, but if they did, they didn't pass the knowledge on. All we can do is survive as long as we can. You didn't step out of the coven, remember? That was Melody and her followers. You tried to fix the tear in the fabric and..."
"And it cost me my husband and my children! What a price to pay for something I should have walked away from years ago!"
The lights began flickering again. Both ladies looked at the front door.
"Karen, we need to get out of here. We can not stay any longer. Take us to a safe place now."
Knowing the lights were not because the house was old, Karen knew Ellie was right. They finished loading the van and Ellie drove away from the house. As she turned the first bend, an explosion happened behind them. In the rear view mirror she watched as the house turned quickly to ashes. Quicker, she knew than was normal.
"Is it gone?"
"Yes Karen, completely. Where are we going? Point the way."
"There is only one place that Melody can't feel us. Head North to the forest. We can find refuge there while we figure out what we are going to do."
As they drove, a car suddenly appeared behind them. Ellie watched it in the mirror as it got closer to them. The car moved into the passing lane as it approached.
"I think we have company, Sis."
Karen looked at Ellie and then through the back window. The car was like any other car to the naked eye. To Karen, it shimmered and turned from silver to copper color and back to silver over and over again.
"It's more of Melody's girls. I can feel six of them. Keep driving and do not look back, Ellie. Do not even look into your mirror."
The car hit the back of the van. The van lunged forward as Ellie gripped the wheel tighter. "Just hold it as best as you can, Ellie. Keep your eyes glued to the road!"
Karen climbed from the front seat to the back of the van. She glanced up front and saw Ellie watching her. "Damn it, Ellie! I said keep your eyes on the road. Do you want to die!?"
"I am sorry... I am scared!"
"Me too, but I need to concentrate, please!" Ellie turned her eyes back to the road. She kept them focused on the highway in front of her, though she wanted so to watch what Karen was doing. Karen kicked the back door of the Van open just as the car struck it again. She grabbed the side of the door to keep from falling out. A bright light came through the back door and struck the floor. With a wink, the flames were extinguished. Karen stretched out her wand. It was long, longer than the traditional wand. It was a foot long and covered in every color that existed in a witches "tool kit." It was covered in Gold instead of brass and the shine from it could blind a person. The driver saw the wand first. Karen saw her eyes widen as she tried to back the car away from the van. Karen smiled.
Should have done that before you tried to kill us! Now it's my turn." Flashes were coming from every window of the car. They were striking the van on all sides and Ellie struggled to keep the Van on the road. Karen suddenly left the van and in an instant was seated next to the driver. The girls in the car began trying to hide on the floor of the car. Wands were being dropped and the driver could barely keep the car on the road.
"Don't you hate it when your leader forgets to tell you how nasty I am? You girls should have stayed in bed this morning. Now, I have to get mean. How shall we do this, ladies? Do you pull over and try to run or do we do it right here? Trap you like you did my Love and my children."
"It wasn't us, Karen, I swear it wasn't!!!!"
"Then I guess you should have just said "No", Tara. Too late for that though."
As the car came to a screeching halt, all the ladies reached for the door handles. As their fingers gripped the handles, they all heard the door-locks snap down. "Now that wouldn't be nice of you if you left just when I was about to start class, would it?"
With a wave of her hand, the car began to heat up. The windows fogged over quickly. Suddenly, Tara disappeared from the front seat. Karen turned towards the back seat.
"Tara is on her way back to Melody. She is going to tell her what happened here today. Unfortunately, you 5 will not be joining her."
"Please, please, don't hurt us!"
"It will only hurt for a minute, Selena. Much nicer than you were to my loved ones. And please don't deny it. I can still smell their presence on all of you. Bye ladies."
In a bright flash, Karen was back in the van. She watched as the car and all inside, turned to ashes. She crawled back into the front seat.
"Is it done, Sis?"
"For now. Let's get to the Forest. We can listen from there."