The Turning: Book 1 (The Bates Sisters) Read online

  “Did you guys feel that?” I asked.

  They looked at me like I was imagining things. Nobody noticed the ground shaking. Maybe it was something outside I thought and got back to seasoning the chicken. A couple minutes later, I felt the ground shake again.

  “OKAY, I know you guys felt that!” I said loudly.

  “Yeah, we felt that. What the hell is that?” Stephanie asked. “I know we don’t get earthquakes in Chicago!”

  I never got the chance to respond. The ground and house started shaking uncontrollably. Dishes started falling out of the cabinets, the refrigerator doors popped open and food spilled out, cracks started to split down the walls and across the ceiling. We’d never been in an earthquake before. For the first couple of seconds, we were frozen to the spot. Unsure of what to do. Suddenly, Miranda moved into action.

  “Everybody move away from the windows!” she yelled as she ran to gather us. “Head toward the basement and hide under something, NOW!”

  We ran towards the basement door. I turned around and yelled for Annie to come with us but she was just frozen in the hallway; midstride. It looked as if she started coming our way and something just stopped her as she was running. Suddenly, I felt my body freeze. The only thing I could move were my eyes. I tried to look around for the rest of my sisters or to hear if they made it to the basement but there was nothing. It was as if something stopped all of us where we were as the house shook and crumbled around us. Then we started crying out in agony as we were lifted up and light shot from our bodies. It felt like all the bones in my body were breaking and mending over and over again. My blood felt like it was boiling beneath my skin. My head was pounding like someone was hitting me with a hammer. It let it lasted forever. Just when I thought I couldn’t take it anymore, we all dropped and darkness took over.

  Every bone in my body feels like I’ve been hit by an eighteen-wheeler. What the hell happened? I can’t move anything without this shooting pain. Breathing even hurts. I reached up to touch my head but I could barely move. I tried to sit up and its pure agony.

  Why?

  I don’t remember being hit by something or falling off of anything. I can’t really remember what happened. My last memory was being in the kitchen with my sisters prepping dinner. Wrenching my eyes open, I take in my surroundings. Okay good, I’m at home, I thought to myself. Then I start to panic. I couldn’t breathe.

  Where are my sisters?

  Are they OKAY?

  Why is the house so quiet?

  I tried to speak, but my mouth is too dry. It takes a couple of swallows but I finally manage to get words out.

  “Miranda?” I called out in a scratchy voice.

  “Ow, what happened” whined Ashley.

  “My fucking body hurts all over” said Miranda.

  “Ugh, what the hell?” Sydney said as she finally came to.

  I looked around making sure everyone is ok.

  “Where’s Annie and Stephanie?” I asked, this time louder.

  “Geesh, quit fucking yelling!” cried Annie as she rolled over on the floor.

  “I feel like shit,” Stephanie finally joined in.

  I breathed a sigh of relief. We were all here and we were all alive. But what the actual fuck? I tried hard to remember something but nothing surfaces. I don’t know how long we lay there but we finally managed to move off the floor. The house is a mess. There’s food everywhere, liquids spilled, cracks in the ceiling and walls, and dirt and debris on the floors. I looked out the window and notice that its morning.

  “You guys, its morning,” I told my sisters.

  They turned to look and a collective gasp rang out in the room. Luckily for us it was the weekend so we didn’t have to worry about being late for work. But how did we go from cooking dinner to waking up in extreme pain the next morning with no memory.

  “Ashley, did you slip something in the water last night?” Sydney asked while Stephanie was giving Ashley a dirty look. She’s always up to something.

  “No, I did not put anything in anything last night. If you’ll notice, I’m feeling like shit on the bottom of a shoe like the rest of you.” Ashley responded.

  “Look guys, I don’t know what the hell is going on or what happened but let’s clean up and shower. Then we’ll come back down and see if anyone can remember anything” I said sluggishly making my way to the bathroom.

  After everything was cleaned and everybody showered, we gathered around the kitchen table. Before anyone could utter a word, someone was banging on the door.

  “Who the hell is that?” I said as I left the kitchen to answer the door.

  To my surprise it was Rebecca. What the hell was she doing here? Its morning so she would have just gotten off work. But why stop here first?

  “Hey Bec, what’s up?” I asked her moving aside to let her in.

  She ignored me as we slowly made our way back to the kitchen. She just… sat down at the table. That was odd because Rebecca doesn’t usually stop by after her shift is over. She usually goes straight home and is comatose as soon as her head hits the pillow. So, what gives?

  “Rebecca, what are you doing here? Didn’t you just get off work?” Annie asked.

  “No worries about that, was there an earthquake last night” Miranda said looking at her.

  Still Rebecca just sat there and stared. It was like she was here but not here. Lost in her own world without noticing her surroundings. Rebecca abruptly turned in the chair and started mummering. I walked closer to hear what she was saying but she was speaking too low. I asked if she was okay, then she began to speak louder. Chanting over and over again,

  “You have gone through the turning

  Now it’s time to heed this warning

  The sisters six will be fearsome

  The fight against evil will be gruesome

  This magical right was given at birth

  To prevent total dominion over Earth

  Now it’s time to answer the call

  To defeat the one called Master to All,” then she blinked.

  “Hey guys, what’s up?” Then she realized where she was.

  “What am I doing here”

  “How did I get here”

  She looked confused. We were all confused over what just happened. Rebecca is now spouting off things about magic. This cannot be a repeat of what happened with mom. I wouldn’t be able to handle it.

  I said, “Rebecca, you were just mumbling the same poem repeatedly. Something about magic and the turning and saving earth or what not. Do you remember any of that?”

  For a second she just looked at each of us. I began to get an uneasy feeling about this whole situation.

  “I started chanting the prophecy didn’t I?” she asked.

  She started pacing the kitchen saying things like “me and my big mouth,” “why did I have to have the gift of insight,” and “I didn’t ask for this shit!”

  “I am so sorry guys. There are some things that you need to be aware of and I’m not sure how you’re going to take it.” She says as she finally stops pacing the kitchen.

  Miranda shouts “What the fuck are you talking about?”

  It was time for me to intervene before things got out of hand.

  “Look, everybody just needs to calm down. Apparently, Rebecca knows something about the freaky shits that’s happening and we need to give her a chance to explain” I say hoping like hell this get everyone’s attention.

  Turning towards Rebecca I tell her to start talking.

  Chapter 3

  ∞∞∞

  Rebecca seems to hesitate for a few minutes. No doubt she trying to figure out how to explain all the bizarre shit that’s going on. What could she possibly know and why hasn’t she said anything until now? I mean she didn’t even know that she came here in the first place.

  “Okay, guys. I don’t know how to explain this without sounding insane.” Rebecca said interrupting my train of thought.

  “First off, there is a whole new wo
rld that exists that I had no knowledge of until recently. I had only come into my powers- if I can call it that, she murmurs -a few months ago.”

  “I mean, I thought I was going crazy, saying things without knowing, ending up in places without knowing how I got there, and then today at your house!” she yelled standing up.

  Rebecca began to pace the room again. Saying she didn’t even know this had anything to do with us. During this time, my sisters and I are looking at each other like she just grew two heads.

  Rebecca spun around and leaned on the table, “Okay so long story short, I am what is called a seer. I have the un-fucking-fortunate gift of insight,” she puffs rolling her eyes. “I can see things. Sometimes the sight is murky or unclear, and other times its straight regurgitation of prophecies…. like today.”

  “What the fuck does that even mean? What are you talking about?” Miranda said as she got up from the table.

  “I’m trying to tell you!” Rebecca yelled back. “You guys are the prophecy. Six sisters with incredible magical powers that will defeat what is called the Master to All.”

  “Uh, I hate to burst your magical bubble, but we don’t have any magical powers. Has everyone gone insane!” I yelled.

  “Listen, I wouldn’t be here if you guys hadn’t gone through what is called the turning.” Rebecca said.

  “The turning?” we all said in unison.

  “Yes, did anything weird happen last night?” she asked. “I only glimpsed what it was a few months ago. Now I know it was you all that I saw.” she deadpanned.

  There was only silence that answered her question. Could this really be the reason why we don’t remember what happened last night or why we woke up in so much pain? Or was she just playing some sick joke on us because that would be really fucked up.

  Finally, I said “Yes, something weird happened last night. We woke up in pain and no memory of what happened. Care to explain that?”

  Rebecca then explained that she only ended up at our house this morning because something had activated the prophecy which in turn triggered the turning. That’s where we went through the change that activated the powers passed on to us at birth.

  “Wait a damn minute,” Sydney said. “Who did these supposed powers come from? It couldn’t have been mom. She was as normal as normal could be.”

  “Yeah, we thought she was crazy but she really wasn’t was she?” asked Stephanie.

  “Look guys, I can only tell you what I see,” replied Rebecca. “I would say that your powers must be passed down from your father.”

  Ashely spun around, “We don’t know our father! We’ve never even met him!”

  It was then that Rebecca just stared at all of us. It was like we were missing an important piece of the puzzle.

  “So, you all have the same father but neither of you actually met him? How is it that your mom managed to have six children by the same man without them having met him?”

  We stood there in stunned silence. How had we not seen it before. Whenever we would ask about him she would just start shouting and curing his name. Could our father really be a magical being? Did mom know and that’s why she went crazy? Why had he never come around? The questions in my head just kept coming and coming with no probable answer.

  “Fine, since you say that we have magical powers passed down to us by the father we’ve never met before, what are our powers? Because besides us feeling like shit, we still feel pretty damn normal.” Annie said.

  Letting out an agitated sigh, Rebecca looked at us and said “We can go speak with my grandmother. She is a seer as well and has been helping me since I thought I lost my mind a couple of months ago. Hell, I thought she was just making up stories to go along with what I told her was happening. But now I see that there is some truth to what’s going on.”

  We put on our shoes and coats and followed each other out of the house. Rebecca, Ashley, Annie, and I road in her car while Miranda, Sydney, and Stephanie road in Miranda’s SUV. We’re slowly making our way down Stony Island when Rebecca turns up the stereo. Ciara was playing on the radio and she started singing loudly. Same old Rebecca I thought to myself while shaking my head. The drive took us less than twenty minutes due to light traffic. By the time we arrived at her grandmother’s house, we were all singing loudly and laughing hysterically.

  “Okay, guys. Let me go in and see if she’s awake.” Rebecca said to us as we walked into the house.

  “No need, I’ve been waiting for you,” her grandmother said as we shut the door. “You’ve come to seek answers to many questions but I can only offer a few. The gift of insight is a very tricky gift to have.”

  I stepped closer and gave her a hug. “It’s nice to see you again. How have you been?”

  “I have been better. No need for pleasantries my darling. I know you are eager to find out what powers you have inherited from your father,” she said turning around and walking towards her room. “And while I can tell you your powers, I do not know who your father is. That has been hidden from my sight. I am sorry”

  We all looked at each other in surprise. This was getting really freaky. We followed her back to her room. She had chairs set up for each of us. She really had been expecting us.

  “Now, Miranda dear, you will be first. Just hold out your hand with your palm facing down. I will put my hand with my palm facing up against yours. It will be the same for each of you so listen closely. When I close my eyes, you may feel a tiny shock. Something closer to what you would feel with static electricity. I will do this with each of you.”

  “Are you ready?” she asked.

  Miranda nodded yes. Rebecca’s grandmother closed her eyes and swayed side to side. We were all so in tuned to what she was doing that we jumped when Miranda yelped as she felt a shock.

  “Next!” Rebecca’s grandmother shouted when she was done.

  I was up next and the same thing happened. This repeated until she was done with all of us. We sat there staring at her as she stared back at us. Finally, she stood up and walked behind the chairs.

  “My darlings, I have seen that you have been bestowed a primary magical gift with sub-magical abilities.” she exclaimed.

  “Miranda, you have the magical gift of conjuration with sub-magical abilities of creation, magiportation, and summoning. You can transport anything, living or not, to any specified location, create anything and everything from nothing, organic or inorganic, teleport, and summon any object or organism.”

  “Mary, you have the magical gift of illusion with sub-magical abilities of illusive appearance and psychosomatic illusions. You have the power to create illusions, change to appear as anything you want, and create illusion so real that it causes physical effects on the intended target.”

  “Annie, you have the magical gift of enchantment with sub-magical abilities to manipulate emotions, mental state, and telepathy. You can manipulate other magic, sense and manipulate emotions of people and animals, control thoughts and minds, and communicate with or read other’s minds”

  “Sydney, you have the magical gift of abjuration with sub-magical abilities of regeneration, healing, power support, and generating force fields. You can provide protection and healing, regenerate from damage caused by magic, heal yourself or others, and enhance the powers of others.”

  “Stephanie, you have the magical gift of nature magic with sub-magic of animal, elemental, plant, and weather manipulation. You can draw upon the forces of nature, influence animal behavior, control earth, water, air, fire and plant life, and influence the weather.”

  “Finally, Ashley. You have the magical gift of necromancy with sub-magical abilities of reanimation, immortality, and manipulation of the undead. You can manipulate death and the dead, you have immortality through your ability to resurrect yourself and can control any undead.”

  Rebecca’s grandmother walked back around and sat in her chair. “Are there any questions?” she asked.

  We were still sitting in our chairs trying to process every
thing we were just told. Suddenly, there was some commotion outside of the house.

  Rebecca ran back in the room, “There are some people outside trying to break into the house!”

  Chapter 4

  ∞∞∞

  We raced out of the room towards the windows. I am shocked at what I see. There were at least ten people surrounding the house trying to get in. Banging on the doors, the windows, and the walls. They hit with so much force that it shook the entire house. I don’t know how much more damage it can take and these people seemed determined to get in. I’m not sure if people is the correct word to describe them though. They looked human but had greyish bumpy skin, horns coming out of their heads, black eyes, and hands with nails long enough to be used as claws. But why are they here? What are they after? Okay, this is not real, I thought to myself. People don’t look like that.

  “Can someone tell me if I’ve gone crazy? Tell me you all are seeing this too?” screamed Stephanie. “What the hell are they?”

  “Those are demons,” Rebecca’s grandmother said from behind us. “The prophecy has been activated. Since you are the fated ones to prevent total dominion over earth, they will try to stop you, kill you if necessary.”

  Oh, this is fucked up! How did we get in this situation? We didn’t ask for this. We don’t know anything about magic and demons and what not. I scrambled through my thoughts trying to remember anything mom said about demons and magic but nothing comes to mind. This is just too much to handle. Just then, two demons broke through the front door. We turned toward the door.

  “Shit!” said Ashley.

  “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!” Stephanie said over and over again.

  Then a loud crash sounded behind us. Two more demons had just broken through the windows.

  “FUUUCKK!” Miranda yelled as she and I turned around to face them.

  This is bad. This is very, very bad. We were surrounded by demons. I looked at my sisters thinking, why is this happening now? We’ve been through enough and were finally back to normal. Seeing the fearful looks in my sisters’ eyes, I said screw this! I changed my terrified look to one of determination and got in my fighting stance. I was letting them know that I wasn’t going down without a fight. They followed my lead, each one getting ready to go down fighting. If they were here to kill us, it would not be easy.