Free Tales of Aradia The Last Witch Volume by L.A. Jones Page A

such visions of Aradia, and I will
not accept that my fate must be hers.
    It has taken me months, but I have found the right
spell.
    It will send Aradia to a place where she will be
needed, loved, and where she will find her destiny. I know neither
where nor when she will appear again, or even if she will survive
the spell casting. It is a risk I do not take lightly, but which I
must take, for to do nothing is to sentence my darling daughter to
gruesome and horrible murder. Aradia may not have been born of my
blood, but I do not care. She is my daughter, I am her mother, and
I will protect her at any cost.
    This spell will take much of my energy, and by my
age, I doubt I will survive. I am a strong and proud hidden witch,
with a life span rivaling a vampire’s, but I am no longer as
resilient as I once was. Using this much energy… it will end me. I
cannot survive the casting of this spell, but my life is already
forfeit, and it might save my daughter.
    I write these words in hopes that one day she will
find them and know how much I love her. It may seem a cruel fate,
to be sent alone somewhere unknown, but it is the only way. I
cannot join you, Aradia. When you find and read this, if ever you
do, you will know that you are indeed the very last of your kind. I
have foreseen that none of us will survive this genocide, not our
coven, nor any others. You, Aradia, are the only one whose fate
eludes me, and for this I am grateful. You might outlive this
slaughter to become the last witch.
    You will wield the entire power of our people. That
which is distributed will, in you, be drawn together, like so many
sticks into a powerful bundle.
    History has shown that only two pureblooded witches
can produce hidden witch offspring, suggesting you would truly be
the last. Even if you have children, they will not be true hidden
witches, so goes conventional wisdom. But my vision is blurred
around you. So much power in one being defies the laws and rules
set in place prior to your existence. I cannot say what you will
be, for I, I who has seen anything, I cannot see your future.
    I consider that I might be sending you to an even
worse fate. Might it be more merciful to simply snuff you out right
now, as you lay sleeping beside me? But I refuse to let my child
die! Call me selfish, oh great Aradia, patron goddess of my coven
and namesake to my only daughter, but I will protect her at any
cost. I hope that wherever you go, my dear Aradia, that you will
find happiness, and most of all that you may one day know and
understand how much I love you.
     
    Aradia burst into tears upon reading the last line.
It was horrible enough to find out what had really happened to her
people, to confirm Mr. Dayton’s claim, but this book and this place
made it real. Was Cassandra Fauna’s body one of the ones in the
next chamber? Was it hanged from a rafter, or buried underneath a
pile of her loved ones?
    Aradia felt like she had been stabbed a thousand
times with thick, burning knives.
    Overcome with grief and sobbing, Aradia raced out of
the sacred building turned morgue. In spite of the worry in her
parents' voices as she raced past them, Aradia did not stop. She
kept running and running until finally she found a clearing
overlooking the scenery of Salem Woods. Now exhausted both
physically and mentally, Aradia collapsed into a heap and buried
her face in her arms.
    She realized she’d left behind the book. Quickly, she
made a motion to get up and retrieve it, but her strength left her.
“What is the point?” she asked the forest. “The book just repeated
everything everyone has already told me. Why should I go back for
it?”
    She sighed to herself in response.
    "It really is true," she muttered tearfully. "I
really am the last. I really am all alone."
     

Chapter Three
     
    Next time you feel like getting all emotional and
running off , Aradia chastised herself, don’t .
    Her parents had tried to chase her, but for a human,
following Aradia through