First Frost Excerpt

She unlocked the door of her car, sat on the driver’s seat, and started the engine. Her hand touched the clutch; she was just about to change gears when for some reason she stopped herself. She frowned before putting the car in reverse. A strange feeling spread out from the bottom of her stomach as though something were horribly and terribly wrong. She shook her head and pulled out of the driveway.
Even though she knew Rose would yell at her if she found out she was calling while driving, she pulled out her cell phone and called home. With one hand on the steering wheel and the other gripping the cell phone, she waited as the phone rang.
Something isn’t right. Rose always answered after one ring. It rarely went to voicemail, but that was exactly what happened. After impatiently listening to the automatic female operator, she left her mother a message.
“Mom? Are you okay? I’m on my way home. Call me.”
She pressed the END button and tossed the phone on the passenger seat. She wove in and out of traffic and stopped at all the stop signs and traffic lights, even though what she really wanted to do was push her little Beetle as fast as it could go. The feelings of unease continued until she parked the car in front of her house. The lights were on, but there was no visible movement coming from behind the curtain in the living room. Rose always waited by the window with a cup of green tea when Bianca was due back home.
What if there’s a robber or something inside the house?
She didn’t know whether to go inside or call the police first.
But what if someone was attacking her mother at that moment? What if she could stop something terrible from happening by simply opening the door and spooking the attacker away?
“Screw it,” she muttered.
She got out of her car and ran inside the house. She called for her mother as she searched for her upstairs in all the rooms. Nothing. She quickly ran downstairs and was ready to go down to the basement when a strange turquoise light caught her eye.
What was that?
She walked slowly toward the kitchen window; and what she saw would change her life forever. Her mother was throwing what Bianca could only describe as turquoise fireballs at a woman wearing a black hood. Rose no longer looked like her mom: sweet, kind and with a perpetual smile on her face. Rose looked like a warrior ready for battle. Bianca couldn’t see the woman’s face, but she could see her pale hands and slender fingers.
Bianca tried to make sense of it all. She kept expecting to see a special effects crew to come out from behind the trees and tell her that it was all part of an elaborate prank. But no such thing happened. All she knew was that a strange turquoise flame was coming out of her mother’s hands and that she had a ton of questions she needed to ask Rose when this was over.
She knew that her mother sometimes read old, dusty books on witchcraft, but she didn’t know she had actual powers. She thought about all the little quirks her mother had. Things that Bianca thought were essentially Rose. Her mother talked to plants and trees. She would sometimes stare off into space as though she were looking at something in another world. Something only she could see. She read tarot cards to random people and would tell them things about his or her life as though she were reading an open book. Bianca always thought she just made really lucky guesses. She chose not to believe in this other world and everything it stood for. Magic represented a life out of the norm, and Bianca desperately wanted to be normal. Just like everyone else.
Bianca pulled herself out of her thoughts. As she looked at the blue and green flashes in the backyard, she quickly realized that this was something she couldn’t escape. Normal was no longer a part of her world. Normal was no longer an option for her.


© Liz DeJesus 2015

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If you enjoyed First Frost, be sure to pick up the sequel, Glass Frost.