Chapter Six "Research"

     Isabella got home and went to her laptop and began to do some research on witches in North Carolina. She was surprised that there was an article about one that showed up right away. She wanted to share it with Amber, but she knew she was gone for the afternoon until at least after dinner. She dug in deeper trying to get more details, but they were not there. She got frustrated at the lack of information and realized that the article was a lot of words, but it was not a lot of information. She sat back and thought about Joseph.

     “What are you doing?” She waited for a reply.

     “Just got home,” Joseph answered. “What are you doing?”

     “Research...work.” She thought. “You want to come over here for dinner?”

     “I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

     She put her phone down and smiled thinking about him. Her body quivered at the thought of him touching her once again. She bit her lip and went to her mirror to fix her hair and face a bit. She thought about changing, but she just straightened her dress out so that it hugged her again. She had hardly finished when the doorbell rang.

     Joseph was still in his khaki pants and dress shirt. He leaned down and kissed her and hugged her before they went inside. “How was work?” Isabella asked.

     “Boring. I need something to do.”

     Isabella smiled. “I have something I need help with, and you need something to do. That is a match made in heaven.” She gave him another quick kiss. “Now come along to the kitchen.”

     Julecia was in there already and was sitting at the table finishing a glass of tea. “Hey, Joseph.”

     “Hey, girl.” He went over and kissed her on the cheek. “How’s my favorite…” He stopped.

     “Sister-in-law?” She giggled.

     Joseph laughed. “She’s funny.” He pointed with his thumb back at her as he went to see what Isabella was cooking.

     “I’m just telling the truth.” Julecia sipped more tea. “I’ll leave you two lovers alone and go to my room.”

     Isabella looked at her. “Be good.”

     “What?”

     She looked at Julecia. “You know what I mean.”

     Julecia rolled her eyes. “Fine….I’ll read.”

     Joseph looked at her. “What was that about?”

     Isabella thought about what to say. “Um…she…well…you know…she still is a guy down there.” She pointed. “And she still likes to…well…you know…a lot.”

     Joseph laughed. “I don’t blame her with that spear she tries to hide. I mean, she’s done a lot better at hiding it in her clothes, but sometimes…” He pointed to himself. “That thing has a mind of its own.”

     “She can’t help it.” Isabella frowned.

     “I’m not insulting her. It’s the truth. Look, if I had that too, I’d want to look at it just out of curiosity if nothing else.”

     Isabella laughed. She leaned up and kissed him. “Okay…now cut those onions.” She pointed to two onions on the counter next to a cutting board and a sharp knife.

     “Moons or chunks?”

     “Chunks.” She smiled. “And I’m glad you remembered to ask.”

     All of them sat down to dinner together and had a great time enjoying Isabella’s cooking. They had no idea she could cook so well, and she just laughed it off. During her near-death experience, one of the things she was given as a gift was the ability to prepare food that was both delicious and nutritious. She thought, at the time, that it was an odd thing, but now she was beginning to appreciate it for what it was…a gift.

     When they finished eating, her mother turned to her and smiled. “So, have you told Joseph about our trip to Atlanta?”

     Isabella looked nervous as soon as she finished the question. “No.”

     “Why not? It plays into your relationship, and it is very important that he knows.”

     Isabella looked at her and knew she was right.

     “What is it?” Joseph asked. He was looking nervous as well wondering what it could possibly be.

     She turned and looked at him and then at Linda. “I know you have been waiting for mom and me to talk about this. I appreciate your patience as I digest what I learned about dad, and what I learned about his brother, Harry.”

     Linda just looked at her. For her not to make a comment or ask a question was rare, but she remained tight-lipped and quiet.

     Isabella put her napkin down and looked at Julecia. “You can stay or go. I’ll leave that up to you.”

     Julecia looked at her. “I want to stay. I’m a part of this family now.”

     Isabella choked back a tear when she said that. “Yes you are…sister.” She looked around again. “Joseph, my mother, and I went and heard the reading of my father’s Will. I was shocked, to say the least by it. Let me begin with my estranged uncle, Harry, my dad’s older brother. He was arrested in the lawyer’s office by the FBI for conspiring and murdering my father. Apparently, Harry was involved in a large crime syndicate, and he was part of if not in charge of a very large lucrative human trafficking ring. He was also charged with money laundering as well as bribery, blackmail, and conspiracy to overturn elections.” She paused. “Mom, you don’t even know about some of this because the FBI talked to me about it later when I spoke with them. They are outside now protecting me as well as all of us from retaliation from Harry and his goons. They will be protecting me in the near future, and I have to live with it even though I don’t think anyone will ever harm me. Harry was upset about what I did here in Asheville, and I didn’t know that he was a part of that until recently. I was just in the right place…well…I was supposed to be.” She made a nervous little laugh. “There are no accidents in the world.” She muttered more to herself to remind herself about what she learned during her NDE. “As a part of the Will, dad left me all of his property and gifts…” She looked at her mother who nodded. “And part of that was nearly eight million dollars in investments and cash.” She waited to see their reactions.

     Joseph drew in a deep breath. “Isabella, I love you because of who you are not what you are worth. You are worth more to me than mere money.”

     She got up and kissed him which got a reaction from Julecia who giggled and tried to hide her face. Linda’s jaw dropped, and her mother sat there quietly waiting for Isabella to sit once again.

     She continued to stand next to Joseph and hold his shoulder. “I’m still going to school in the fall, and I’m still going to work at Winona’s shop, and I’m still going to be myself.”

     “Good.” Linda finally said something. “How in the hell…”

     “We don’t know.” Her sister interrupted her. “We honestly don’t know, and no one seems to know how he got that rich.”

     “My god…” Linda waved her hands. “What else? Remember, I know about the money, but I didn’t know about all of the other stuff dealing with that family.” She shuttered.

     “Kevin worked for the FBI, and he was a very, very undercover agent.” Her sister said. “I had no clue in all the time I knew him that he worked for them. I guess they really needed someone on the inside who looked like a normal person. No one except the FBI knew he worked for them. I can only guess that they compensated him well for it, and he knew how to invest what he earned so we didn’t know how much he had.” She started to cry a bit. “And he sacrificed his life to save Isabella and me.” Then she finally lost it and began to weep so fiercely that Linda had to take her to another room. It finally hit her that he was gone and that she did love him.

     Isabella began to cry as well. She had never seen her mother cry like this before, and it hit her how much this news had changed her. Joseph got up and took Isabella in his arms and let her weep. Julecia felt lost and simply went and put her hands on Isabella to comfort her.

     Amber and Philip were nearly done with their hike when she slipped on a wet rock and nearly fell. He grabbed her up and pulled her off of her feet so that they were facing each other very closely. She smiled. “Thank you.” Then she leaned into him and began to kiss him

     He was shocked at first, but the shock wore out very quickly. He began to kiss her back in a passionate embrace that lasted for a long time. His hands rubbed all over her, and it was in that embrace that he could not help but notice that she was not wearing a bra. He was far too invested in kissing her to stop and ask a silly question about it and just continued to kiss her. When they finally came up for air, Amber looked at him. “Well, it’s about time.” She laughed.

     He just smiled at her and then looked serious.

     “What?” She looked at him.

     “Um, why aren’t you wearing a bra?”

     She smiled and pretended to hit him on the arm. “What? That’s all you have to ask?”

     He turned red.

     “Stop it. It’s okay. I can show you, or I can explain.”

     “What?”

     “Come here closer.” She made the decision for him. She pulled her shirt aside so that he could see the sheer material that was just above her breast.

     He turned red again.

     “Look, it’s okay. I want you to see it. I want you to know.”

     He looked sheepish. “I…I was wondering about this. The other day when I hugged you and touched your butt, I wondered why I didn’t feel any…well…panty lines.” He almost died of embarrassment right there talking about it.

     Amber giggled. She looked at him and smiled. “Listen, they are called pantyhose for a reason, and my friends and I wear them like this all the time. Since a bra is part of the underwear world, we just wear something that takes care of both things. Besides, it’s way more comfortable than a damn bra and panties, and it’s sexier.” She smiled up at him.

     He looked at her. “All the time?”

     “Come here.”

     He leaned closer, and she planted another big kiss on his lips. “I want you to know, and I want you to see.”

     He stood back up and smiled. “You do?”

     “Yes, you silly man.”

     He reached down and picked her up and kissed her again. Then he really kissed her with every bit of love that he could. She almost melted in his arms and felt a shock come over her that she had never experienced before. She felt parts of her body get ready for something else even though she was not quite ready for that. She felt so good that she continued to kiss him back until they heard some other hikers coming.

     They stopped and smiled. One of them looked at them and scoffed. “Get a hotel room.”

     Amber laughed. “You already have one…” She grabbed his hand. “We’re sweaty, but you and I can clean up and go get some dinner and see what happens.”

     He looked at her. “I don’t have nice clothes.”

     “That’s okay. We don’t have to go anywhere fancy, but that won’t stop me from wearing something that will turn you inside out.”

     He just looked at her. They finished their hike, and he took her home so he could go and clean up. When he picked her back up, his eyes nearly fell out of his head looking at her in the dress she picked out. It was a rich green that hugged her like a second skin leaving no doubt that she had nothing on under her black hosiery. He almost lost it opening the door for her, and she looked down at his crotch and smiled. She knew it worked.

     They went out and had a nice dinner, but Philip could not keep his eyes off her. His shy nature was slowly eroding away the more Amber messed with him. She took Kelly’s advice and played with his legs under the table, but she could not stretch enough to reach his crotch. The disadvantages of being a short girl made her upset, but that did not last very long. They went back to his hotel, and she was shocked that it was not a little one but one of the nicer ones in Asheville. She wondered how he could afford such a nice place, but he soon made her forget as they kissed more and he led her into his room.

     “I’m kind of nervous.” She said sheepishly.

     He looked at her. “I am too. What do you want to do?”

     She looked at him and kicked off her shoes. He looked at her feet and smiled. “You have cute feet.”

     She blushed. “Um…and you?”

     He slid off his shoes and sat on the edge of his bed. She joined him and sat across his lap and began to kiss him. He kissed her and just hugged her before she looked at him. “Are you too nervous to touch my legs, or are you too much of a gentleman?”

     He smiled. “Both.”

     “I want you to touch me. I don’t want you to be afraid of me. I’ll let you know if it’s too much.”

     He slid his hand down to her thigh and smiled. “Those feel really good.”

     “My muscles or my pantyhose?”

     He laughed. “Both.”

     She led his hand up his thigh until he made her stop. “I’m…”

     “Sh…it’s okay. I’m an adult after all.” She kissed him and touched his neck and rubbed his ear. “I want this.”

     He felt something take over his hand as it crept farther up into her dress and found the end of her leg. She opened her legs and helped him adjust his hand. She just kissed him harder as she felt incredible sensations take over her body. Her eyes were so laser-focused on him that she almost bit him she kissed him so hard. “That was amazing.” She said in a low voice that made him smile. “Now it’s your turn.”

     He looked at her. “What do you mean?”

     She just smiled and remembered everything that Kelly had told her to do. She was a good listener. She opened his belt as he laid back on his bed. He fell back into his pillow and swallowed. He felt so good he never wanted it to stop. Then she looked up at him with her eyes, and he lost it. She finally let go and slid up to look at him. She put a cover over him and laid down next to him and curled up.

     It was a shock when she opened her eyes and saw the sun coming through the curtain. She panicked a bit realizing that she had just spent the night in a hotel room with Philip. Then she just resigned herself to the situation and looked at him. He was still asleep in his clothes, but he was very aroused in his sleep. She was still in her dress, but she fixed that in a hurry tossing it off and leaving on her black undergarment. She slid back up next to him. He opened his eyes and smiled.

     “Did we just do what I think we did?”

     She smiled. “Yeah, we passed out, and it's morning.”

     He sat up. “Are you in trouble?”

     “No.”

     “Are you sure? I don’t want to…”

     She grabbed his hand. “It’s okay.”

     He saw her dress on the other bed and looked at her. “You’re naked?”

     “Not entirely.”

     He looked down and saw his situation and smiled. “I guess I should just take these off.”

     “Yes.”

     He got up and went to the bathroom and came back a moment later without anything on. She smiled at him, and she saw what a muscular man he really was from all the work he did. He slid in beside her and began to kiss her. They kissed for a long time before she looked at him. “I want you to.”

     “Now?”

     She nodded. “It’s okay.”

     “What about…”

     “Sh…I’m on the pill.”

     “Oh…” He kissed her and slid on top of her.

     “Just stay still a moment.” She whispered. “I want this to last.”

     He nodded and kissed her. They remained still for a long time before she could not help herself and began to move. She let out a louder moan as she felt something so intense take over her body that she could not talk anymore. He did not crush her but seemed to envelop her in himself. They managed to roll over so she could sleep on him.

     They woke up later smiling and kissing again. “Do you need to shower?” He whispered.

     “Yeah…” She giggled.

     “What about these?” He touched her legs.

     “I’m good. I have another pair in my purse.”

     “Smart.”

     “I’m always prepared for accidents.”

     “You want to shower now?”

     “No…I like this.” She squeezed her legs together around him.

     “So do I.”

     “I wish we could stay like this all day, but…”

     “Yeah…I know.”

     She slid off of him and looked at him. She leaned down and cleaned him up. He just about flew across the bed while she did it with feelings so intense that he almost could not take it. She made sure he was good and clean before she got up. “You want to finish?”

     He nodded.

     “Good. I want you to.” She leaned back down and slid the covers over her as she ravaged him once again until he was done.

     Isabella and Amber were sitting in Amber’s dining room with their laptops and digging into their research on witches in North Carolina when Amber’s mother walked in. She smiled, but she also looked at Amber. “Isabella?”

     “Yes, ma’am?”

     “I need to speak with Amber alone. You can go out on the back deck and work a moment.”

     Isabella looked at Amber and shrugged. Amber just smiled and waved at her to go.

     Her mother sat down next to her. “So, about last night.”

     Amber sighed. “I know…I know.”

     “Well, not entirely…” She sat back and smiled. “Part of me wants to be mad, but then I don’t want to be a hypocrite either.”

     “What do you mean?”

     She sighed and thought. “I know you and Philip were together all night. I don’t want details…trust me. My imagination is enough, but at the same time, I don’t want to be a busybody.” She looked around. “Your dad and I weren’t exactly…well…prim and proper ourselves when we were your age. I sort of remember being that young and having a sex drive like a rabbit.” She giggled. “But the reality of it has to be addressed. What are his plans?”

     Amber smiled. “I’m glad you understand. He and I have talked, and he wants to move here permanently. He wants to buy a farm and work it as a commercial farm.”

     “Like for grocery stores and such?”

     “Something like that, but he wants to have his own store and orchard. He’s been looking around, but nothing has jumped out at him. We plan on going out later for a drive just to get a look around.”

     “Have you contacted a realtor?”

     “He did, but he was not impressed with what they had to offer him. He thought they didn’t take him seriously.”

     “Well, I think I can understand that. He’s young, and they think a farmer should be older.”

     Amber thought a moment. “That makes sense.”

     “How much does he have to invest?”

     “I don’t know. I am afraid to ask. I think it would be too nosey to ask.”

     “Try…just see what he says. He’s got to trust you now.”

     Amber smiled and her mind drifted to the previous night and the morning. She stopped herself before it went too far.

     “Well, from the look on your face, I get the feeling that you two are getting pretty close and serious now”

     Amber just blushed. “Mom…”

     “I’ll let you and Isabella work. Do you like doing this?”

     “Yes, I do. It’s a lot of fun, and I like doing this sort of research.”

     She smiled and left and got Isabella for her. Isabella came back in. “So, what was that all about?”

     Amber just smiled. “She was asking about Philip again.”

     “Well, how’s that going?”

     Amber just smiled.

     “Oh, my god…you did it didn’t you?”

     She just nodded really fast and smiled. “We have to get back to work on this, or I’ll have to change my pantyhose again.”

     Isabella just laughed at her. “Okay, okay…”

     They read more articles until Isabella pointed one out. “What about this one? It seems there was a witch trial near the coast sometime around 1706. The witch was named Mary Rookes, and they accused her of witchcraft.”

     “I looked at that one too, but she got off. Did you see something I didn’t see?”

     “Yes, the second accusation. Did you see who else accused her?”

     “Who?”

     “A guy named Thomas Collins. Wouldn’t it be a hoot if you were related to him?” Isabella snickered and showed Amber the article.

     Amber looked at it. “I’ve been doing some genealogy, but I got stuck with my dad’s family. They say that is called ‘hitting a wall’ in genealogy research.”

     “Makes sense. What are you going to do about it?”

     “We could go and do some footwork. I know my family moved here from farther east. I saw in some census records that my great-great-grandfather was from Raleigh. I was having a hard time finding his father in the records for now. I’m still digging, but I’ve been distracted.”

     “I bet you have.” Isabella laughed. “You and I can go and visit the historical society there and see what we can find.”

     “I’ll call first to make sure that is the place to go.”

     Isabella thought a moment. “I can drive if you want. I’ll let Winona know I can’t work for a couple of days, and we can make a girls’ trip out of it.”

     Amber thought a moment. “That sounds far too practical, but it will work. Let me tell Philip what we’re planning. I’m sure he could use a break from me.”

     “Ha…he’s probably already recharged and ready for round two.”

     “You mean three.” Amber smiled.

     “What?”

     She looked at Isabella. “I took Kelly’s advice and, well, I made sure he knew I really liked him…a lot.”

     “Oh…the old lollypop trick…yeah…Joseph loves that too. I like it too if you want to know the truth of it.”

     “Let me talk to him, and I’ll get back to you in a moment.”

     Amber left and Isabella jotted down some notes before looking at more sites. She found a bit more information, and then she found a link to the Lost Colony of Roanoke. Something in her gut told her to investigate that a bit more. She read several articles before Amber came back.

     “We’re good. He’s going to hike a bit more rough trails and then investigate some property. I’m not interested in killing myself on some of those trails. They get to be a bit much for me. I have dance classes starting up soon too, so we’ll have to go pretty quickly.”

     “What dance?”

     “Ms. Claire has me working with the summer institute. It’s a week-long intensive for dancers of all ages. The older ones study with guests she brings in, but I will work with the kiddos along with Kelly and Cindy. Jessica will probably be there too to work with the other girls…you know.”

     “Yeah, that’s a good idea.”

     “Yeah, Leticia still doesn’t like to wear a skirt all the time with her leotard, and I always have to tell her to put it on. She doesn’t quite get it that the leotard and tights just outline that thing. Even though it’s hidden, it really isn’t hidden.” She smiled. “And that thing is hard to hide.”

     Isabella laughed. “Did you mean for the pun?”

     “Yeah…I did.” She laughed. “And Elizabetha is not that much better. She, however, always wears her skirt.”

     Isabella looked out the window and began to think really hard about their case again. She looked at Amber. “You know what?”

     “What?” Amber was still thinking about her stepsisters wearing their dance outfits and smiling to herself about it.

     “We don’t really know that much about the entire witch phenomena and why they were suddenly the target of such zealous people, especially men. I mean, what and who were they? Why kill them? Is it really that much different than how we judge or treat people today?” She looked at Amber.

     She came out of her daydream and looked at Isabella. “I guess we don’t really know anything.”

     “No, but we need to. If what Winona thinks is true, then this witch is pissed off even now in death. Why? What or who pissed her off so badly?”

     “Well, let’s get back to work.” Amber went back to her laptop and started searching about witches and the colonies and witches in Europe.

     “Look here.” Isabella almost shouted. “The term witch is actually wrong.” She sat back.

     “Huh?” Amber looked at her. “Then what are we talking about?”

     “Well, from what I can tell, it derives from the verb wiccian from Low German or even witan, which means ‘to know’. This is so confusing. But also my gut is telling me that the church used this opportunity to rid the population of women and men that they deemed dangerous based on opinion. They twisted their definitions around so as to be able to kill people plain and simple. This is just history repeating itself, Amber. They could claim a woman had supernatural powers…like what? She could think? Or someone who practiced what they deemed as an old religion because they healed people or were ugly. Or worse, if you were a pretty girl that the men found attractive and couldn’t keep their cocks in their britches, they deemed them witches and hung them or burned them.” She shut her laptop in disgust.

     Amber looked at her. “So, what you are saying is that you would be deemed a witch by those very same standards.”

     “Yeah, and so would Katie and half the girls in this town. This is just sickening. I’m just so sick of people like Mr. Stenson and his cronies getting away with…”

     “Um…you’re getting worked up a bit now aren’t you?”

     Isabella looked at her. “Yes, I am.”

     Amber turned to face her. “What does your…you know…thing inside you say?”

     Isabella smiled and laughed. “My ‘thing’ inside me?”

     “Yeah…you know…your guide…light.” She waved her hands.

     Isabella slowed her breathing down and sat there a moment thinking. “I guess I’ve ignored it for the last few weeks and just floated along. I’m such a dolt.”

     “No, you are not a dolt. Just relax and see what happens.”

Isabella sat there. “It isn’t like that. Sometimes I don’t know when I’ll get a d******d of information. Sometimes it comes to me in the least expected way.”

     “What about if you just stop and listen?”

     “Damn, that is far too practical.” She laughed. Then it hit her. A moment of absolute clarity hit her like a flash of information a million miles long of visions all at once. She looked lost for a moment.

     “Isabella?” Amber got up and looked at her. “Isabella?”

“Whoa…that was intense.” She looked exhausted all of a sudden. “I just got a massive d******d, and it’s going to take me a moment to get it all down.” She sat there. “I saw the same souls over and over again accusing the same souls…as people that are…throughout history…accusing them of witchcraft…heresy…political enemies…basically any excuse they could come up with to kill them. They are so attracted to murdering people through false allegations that they do it over and over again and never learn from their mistakes. It always backfires on them too because they go too far, and then the same souls put them on trial and kill them.” She looked at Amber. “It’s truly amazing how stupid people really are. They never learn a damn thing, do they? I mean, look at Lucy for example.”

     “Do we have to?”

     “Yes, because she’s a great example of this. She was able to control her girls because of fear. That was until I intervened and got Sarah to open her mind again. While Lucy was mad at me, she was really mad at herself. What Sarah did was drive a wedge into her mind that she could not deal with. It sent her over the edge.”

     “Interesting. So, this Mary Rookes person may not have been a bad person?”

     “I don’t know. She is right now, but why is that?” Isabella looked at Amber. “When you get back there, you or someone…maybe Katie, can figure that out. I’m not connected to her, so I’m not getting anything about her at all. All I can do is look at the broader patterns, and those patterns show me that people accuse other people of things because they can’t help it.” She thought a moment. She hit her head a bit. “I can’t put my finger on it…this is so stupid…it’s right there.” She got up and paced the floor. “Oh yeah…remember when we read parts of The Republic by Plato, and he spoke of tyrannical man?”

     Amber looked at her. “I think so.”

     “Go with me here…just listen. Tyrannical man is basically human nature where people just go through the motions of life and go along to get along. They are…dead…that’s it.” She laughed. “I’m so damn stupid sometimes.” She looked at Amber. “Okay, follow my logic here a moment.”

     “Okay.”

     “When Jesus said to let the dead bury the dead in the Gospel, how could a dead person bury a dead person? That’s ridiculous to even think that could happen, but what if he was talking about the same thing? What if…yes…” She turned around really fast. “Paul talked about his too in his letter to the Corinthians…about natural man. What if that is simply the same thing? What if Lucy is just a tyrannical man, the dead, and a natural man all at once? What if most people in the world are that as well?” She sat down and looked at Amber.

     “That’s deep.” Amber looked at her. “So, what you are saying is that history repeats because these people are simply going through the motions and never really living. They are asleep in their bodies with their eyes open, but they aren’t really living at all.”

     “Yes, Amber, that’s it. And what we’re battling most of the time that matters is ourselves, and these people all around us have no idea about that. They would rather blame us or anyone else for what happens to them than admit that they created their own…hell within themselves.” She laughed. “Damn I’m good.” She smiled.

     “So, what now? What do we do with that information?” Amber looked at her.

     “One problem at a time.” She smiled. “Right now, I’m hungry. Are you hungry?”

     Amber laughed. “Yes, I am.”

     “You want to go see Amy and eat at the Bluebird?”

     “I wonder what she’s wearing today?”

     “Black with a touch of black and highlighted with black tights.”

     Amber smiled and nodded. “You nailed that one.”