Palindrome

Bishop

I watched as they got inside a shiny black Shelby Mustang, of the new kind. To my surprise it was William who got behind the wheel, I would have guessed the older brother to be the driver. His eyes were hidden behind dark sunglasses, but he nodded at me when he saw me looking.

Luckily, my shift was ending soon, this whole incident had thrown me off the horse, even though nothing really had happened. Evans got up to leave and he patted me on the shoulder.

"Who was that?"

I followed the car until it was out of sight.

"Apparently, they've just moved into the Pevensy-house," I said absentminded.
Evans gave a guttural noise. "Really? Hmm, must be a wealthy family then."

I didn't respond and Evans grabbed his hat and said goodbye with promises of stopping by soon to see to the hedge. As I took one last look out the window, I was sure of one thing. They weren't completely human.

🔆🔆🔆

It took five rings before someone answered the phone on the other end.

"Bishop."

"Hi, it's Hannah Reeveer calling."

A moment of silence before the voice changed completely.

"Hannah! How are you? My, I haven't seen you since...well, in three years' time it has to be."

Since my parents were killed, that meant. My parents died in a freak carcrash, and my brother had been missing since. I knew there were talk that he had something to do with it, why would he else run away? Now I was the last one left of the Reeveer-witches to protect the town.

"Yeah, sorry, it's been busy. The days glide into each other."

The voice laughed a bit to cheerily.

"I know, I know. Same here. How are things in your town?"

I hesitated; I didn't want it to seem like I didn't have control.

"Fine, fine. How are the rest of the family?"

Samuel chatted away about his big family, which I once knew very well. I realised I had withdrawn myself more than I thought from the community since mom and dad died.

"You must come visit, Hannah dear. Bridget asked after you earlier today actually, a bit eerie that you called, but there's Bridget for you."

I took a deep breath and blurted out the real reason I was calling.

"There is someone new in town. I don't know what they are, but I know they aren't entirely human. I need advice."

Samuel waited a moment before he answered, and now the tone had changed again. More business-like.

"Did you get a reading from them?"

"Very little."

I described the incident, and the way it seemed they recited or chanted something when I got close. They'd picked up about the protection-spell and they knew how my name was spelled. Samuel also made me describe them in person, and I told him the name I'd gotten from the card.

"I don't know, Hannah. I agree with you that there is something going on, but I'll have to look into it some more. I'll call you back. Do you need me to come up there?"

The thought was tempting, but I couldn't see what difference that would make.

"No, there's no use in that yet. Thanks for offering though. I'll call you if anything more happens."

We said our goodbyes and I was a bit deflated when I hung up the phone. I wanted to do something, but I didn't know what I could do.

Tired, I decided to sweep the floors, I didn't want any bad energies in the house now. After that I went out in the garden and picked some herbs and flowers. Some would have to wait a few days, they needed to be picked under the dark of the moon.
         As I wandered around the garden, I thought about William and his brother. I got the strangest feeling, thinking about William. I knew I should be afraid, but I felt excitement instead.

For the first time, I had to start over again when I bound the bundle of herbs together. I saw visions of his tattooed fingers reaching for my hands, dragging me towards him. We were in the sunlight, and I felt his warm breath against my neck as he laughed. My hair fell forward as he spun me around. A thorn on a rose woke me, I was standing in the middle of the kitchen. Embarrassed even though no one had seen me, I let the drop of blood mix with the flowers. Was this visions or just my mind being filled with hormones after Beltane? No way in knowing, not yet. I hang the bundle on the door, to protect the house even more from evil spirits.

After dinner I sat down in dads study with a glass of Whisky. In here I felt safe and loved, no harm would find me her. I spun the chair around and studied the books before me. Where to start? Lilith's children maybe? I could be wrong about them not being witches, so I needed to look up on the different kinds.

My family, along with the Bishop's, were what you would call the original "Village witch", we lived in one place our whole life, kept the family traditions close and protected our village. In some instances that went really bad, which is why the Bishop family lived in another village now than they did in the late 1600s. We use spells, alongside things that the nature provided us. I drew my powers from my family-line, but also from this town itself. It was in my personal interest that the town thrived.

Then you got the hedge witch, they were prone to walk amongst the dimensions. I didn't have the nerves for that, what if you got caught in a dimension you didn't want to be in? A hedge witch liked to work alone. If you've had your palm read, or someone looked into the crystal ball, you have met a hedge witch. If you've had the card laid out before you, that was most likely a cosmic witch. They read the stars and the positions of the planets. Green witches are one with nature, they often live in the forest-they draw powers from Mother Nature more than anyone. Like a Sea witch, who collects hers or his powers from water. Of course, you had someone who drew powers from darker sides of life, but we liked balance. Like the Goddess had reminded me last night, nothing is only good or only bad.

People with an affinity for witchcraft derived from the great Lilith. She was the first woman, and unlike Eve, Lilith was made from the earth. The story tells that she got cast out of Eden because she didn't want to stay under Adam. Her name has many meanings; female demon, night mistress, In Jewish myths she is known to be the Queen of the demons. Funny how male point of view can twist things, isn't it?

For us, Lilith was our Mother. She looked after us and protected us.

They didn't match any of our kind. I had to look elsewhere. But first I needed to know more.