k_a_webb | September Surprise Story Week: 13: Skyler: Inquisition Collection: 1005 words (Reply)

The morning newspaper was in the middle of the table, opened to what looked like page three, and everyone who was awake was gathered around it. Sighing, Skyler went to join them, even though he knew what had happened. It was the same thing that had happened every time they gathered around a newspaper. There had been another arrest of someone, or several someones if it was a family, practicing witchcraft, it probably involved someone at least one of them knew, and he wasn't sure he really wanted to know who it was. He hated the thought of recognising a name because he knew exactly what they were going through.

“Hey Sky,” Louisa said as he got closer to them. “It's another family.”

“Name?” he asked, looking at her rather than the newspaper.

“Brennan. Mum, Dad and three children, one of whom is old enough to be executed should they be found guilty.” She shook her head. “As though they're not going to be found guilty.”

He kept his eyes on her, wanting to look down even less. It had been over ten years since he had last seen the Brennans but he still remembered them. His parents had been in the same coven as them so he'd regularly found himself spending time with Natalie, the Brennan's oldest daughter. Natalie had been his best friend back then and the thought of her being with the Inquisitors, knowing that she was probably going to be executed, was... He shook his head. There were no words to describe it. That feeling of knowledge mixed with hope, and what it was like to cling onto the only thing you could: that they would find no evidence.

Maybe they wouldn't. It happened occasionally. There wouldn't be a huge article on it like there was when someone was found guilty but a smaller one, hidden somewhere, that would give their names, say that the family had been released and given a new identity for their protection. Swallowing, he finally looked down at the paper. For the 'protection' of the family there were no pictures of them which he was grateful for. When... if... the Brennans were found guilty there would be pictures of the parents, who he couldn't quite remember the names of, and Natalie. The two youngest children would be protected, although everyone knew that anyone who came out of a state boarding school was related to someone who had been executed.

As usual there were the profiles of the accused. Philip Brennan was a car saleman that everyone knew, liked, and couldn't quite believe had been arrested. 'He always seemed like such a normal person,' one of the quotes said, which was something someone always said. Sue Brennan was a stay-at-home mum who always helped out the school that her two youngest children went to. She was the woman who went on all the school trips and helped out with the fetes. Her cakes were legendary, apparently. Then there was Natalie, who was old enough to be profilled along with her parents. Well liked at college, smart, worked hard, wanted to go into the legal profession. None of her friends or her teachers believed that she could possibly be a witch. Maybe her parents but not Natalie. She was too level headed to do something just because of her parents' beliefs.

Skyler shook his head. Even when Natalie was young she had truly believed in the same religion as her parents, the same way he had, but it wasn't because of her parents. They were right about her being too level headed to simply follow her parents because they were her parents. She had her own reasons for being a witch. He couldn't help smiling at the memory of her saying, without any doubt in her voice, that she was a witch because it was what felt right for her. The pagan deities called to her the same way they called to everyone who was in that coven.

“Did you know them?” Louisa asked when they were the only two left at the table.

He nodded. “A long time ago. I doubt Natalie even remembers me.”

“Are they guilty?”

“I don't know. Her parents were in my parent's coven when I was a child but they may have turned their back on it since then.” He looked up at her. “Back then I didn't really care what the adults were doing so I have no idea how serious the Brennan's were.”

“What about Natalie?”

“Natalie believed back then and she always wanted to be in the legal profession working on behalf of all accused witches to get them better protection. The first thing she wanted to do was make these sorts of articles illegal because she felt they always made people seem guilty, even if they weren't.” He glanced at the paper. “Back then they even showed pictures, which made it difficult for those who were found not guilty. Once you've been accused there are some people who believe that your guilty no matter what the Inquisitors say.” He sighed. “There was a family that lived near us who were specifically searched out because they had been accused of performing witchcraft and their house was burnt down. It was after a few cases that they stopped putting pictures in the newspapers, but that didn't stop the arson attacks on houses where the family was believed to be practicing witchcraft.”

Skyler had never talked about how he had been a part of one of those attacks. Everyone knew that his parents were dead because they were all living in a safe 'house', which actually a specially created basement, for the same reason. Some would talk about their parents and why they were orphans living in a coven run safe 'house'. Others wouldn't. It all depended on what had happened. Louisa had told them all about her parent's execution for example, while Perry wouldn't say a word about what had happened to his parents. No one pushed for information.