It all started in the summer, June 23rd to be exact, two days after he graduated from Davis County High School. Hunter had just finished work at the bike shop and the day seemed filled with languor. Hunter was an urbane boy, but also quite mysterious; he was the one boy in Davis County that nobody knew a lot about, which was rare in such a small town like Davis County. Normally, Hunter would’ve driven his Jeep back to his large, Victorian-style house, but today was noticeably different. He decided to walk home, despite it being three miles from the main town. He made his way along the concrete sidewalk, which slowly turned into a dirt walkway the farther away he got away from the shop.

Hunter took his time getting home; after all, there was no rush to get back to his drunken father and his vapid twin sisters. Halfway home, he stopped in front of the old Independence Inn. Something was different. Instead of being its usual, haggard self, it was in the midst of being transformed into a beautiful, vintage residence. He walked up the cobblestone driveway where he came across a girl, most likely his age, with long, wavy, florid hair. She turned and as she did her silky locks brushed his face ever so slightly, but enough for him to catch a whiff of strawberry.

“Oh hi,” the girl said startled. “Can I help you?”

“I’m Hunter. Are you moving in?” Hunter said as he pointed to the half-done house he currently faced.

“Nice to meet you, Hunter. I’m Stella. And yes, my mom is redoing this inn so that she can reopen it again this fall.” Stella spoke slowly, allowing Hunter to take in every single word she said.

“Nice!” Hunter said a little too effusively as he walked around the property, which was once pallid, but now bright with freshly planted daffodils and hydrangeas.

Stella followed him, desperately trying to keep up with his fast pace, but failing. He then turned and looked into her galvanic green eyes, causing her to stop suddenly and stare back with confusion.

“Where are you from?” Hunter asked.

“Massachusetts,” she replied making almost a plangent sound.

“What made you come to North Carolina?” Hunter asked again, deeply intrigued with this girl’s past.

“My father died two months ago,” Stella said stoically, “After that, my mom had to get away, so we packed up and moved down here.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Hunter said awkwardly. He wasn’t very good with emotions and was embarrassed by his solecism.

Stella suddenly became aloof.  She laughed uncomfortably, as she turned to walk back into the house.

“Maybe I’ll see you around,” Hunter called after her. He cringed. What a fatuous comment, he thought to himself.

Stella turned back, looking deep into his eyes for a moment that was almost too long, then walked back into the house where the door was slightly ajar, as if waiting for her.
 

                                             ***

Hunter awoke precisely at 6 a.m. like he always did to take his morning run. He threw on sweats, a t-shirt, and his old New Balance sneakers that happened to be a size too small. He jogged out of his house onto the dirt road, purposely turning right instead of left like he usually does.

As he ran past Stella’s house, he demurred, contemplating on whether he should keep straight or turn into her driveway. He then decided to check out the house again. It still seemed strange to him that someone would move back into that house.

Hunter crept up to the front window trying not to be conspicuous and furtively peeked inside. He caught a glimpse of the myriad candles lit in a room that also held a large pentacle that looked permanently drawn on to the wood floor. Eerily, the room reminded Hunter of a sepulchral. Curious, he leaned into the window trying to get a better look but then heard a crunch, which sounded like pebbles being crushed under someone’s shoe. He jumped around, hitting his head on the window pane. Inside, a glass potion bottle fell to the wood floor and shattered. He looked up to see Stella’s green eyes glaring at him.  They looked as if they were glowing, just like the sun that had just started to rise.

“What do you think you are doing?” Stella said derisively.

“What is all that in your house?” Hunter asked, clearly ignoring the question she just asked him. He stepped closer to her, trying to cajole an answer.

“I asked you a question,” Stella stated with reproach. “Why were you looking into my house? In most places, that is considered an invasion of privacy.” Hunter disregarded her comment.

“It’s really interesting. Do you think I could take a look at that room?” Hunter said, desperately trying to change the subject. He knew he had done something wrong, but his curiosity was indefatigable.

“You need to leave me alone,” Stella snapped. She turned away and walked back into her house, slamming the door shut.

Hunter wanted to resist the urge to investigate the house some more; he really did. But the tableaux of objects intrigued him. Hunter snuck around the back of her house and noticed another window that was open. He looked inside and saw a black cat sitting on a table, which contained more candles and containers filled with nebulous liquids. The cat made direct eye contact with him and gave a sonorous hiss, sending the message to Hunter that it was time to go. Hunter made his way off of the property. He had work soon and couldn’t be late.

                                          ***

Later that night, Hunter decided to research the objects he saw in that mysterious room. Candles, a pentacle, potion bottles and a black cat all in one room were almost too obvious. He came across a website called awakethewitch.com; the more he read, the more it all seemed implausible. “It’s a joke,” Hunter thought, suddenly overcome with lassitude.  He closed his laptop and put his head on his desk. The thoughts in his brain were hard to ignore and Hunter decided that he had to confront Stella. He climbed out his bedroom window and cut through the woods, trying to make it back to Stella’s as quickly as he could.

The idea that maybe Stella was asleep at this time passed through his mind several times, but for some strange reason he had a feeling that she wasn’t. He spotted her house from the woods and squinted as he tried to make out a figure that was standing in her driveway. As he crept closer he discovered that it was Stella. She was staring into the distance, as if hypnotized by the full moon that radiated in the night. She reached up to it and the light from the moon gravitated towards her, almost as if she was usurping its strength. He ran towards her, and her gaze broke away from the moon and landed right on him.

“Hunter!” Stella proclaimed, “What are you doing?”

“I know what you are,” Hunter proffered.

“And what might that be?” Stella replied back to him boldly.

Hunter looked right at her and said, “You’re a witch.”

Stella looked at her feet with an expression of ignominy on her face. She then looked back up at him and asked, “Why would you say that?”

“You’re different Stella,” Hunter stepped towards her, trying to comfort her. “That’s ok, but why would you hide that?”

“Do you know what they do in my hometown when they find out you are ‘different?’” Stella asked, mimicking his slight drawl on the word "different." “They run you out of the town. We’re notorious there… and everywhere else.”

“I can help you,” he said to her, but that was a lie. He could barely help himself, how could he protect her too?

“No you can’t, nobody can. The only people that can help me are my mom, aunt, and cousins. They are the only ones that are supposed to know. But word spreads like wildfire.”

Stella turned to go inside the house, but Hunter grabbed her arm.

“What really happened to your dad?” Hunter’s inquisitiveness was uncontrollable.

Stella paused for a moment, and then sat down. Tears started to stream down her face.

“A couple of months ago he discovered that my mother and I were witches. He couldn’t accept that, even though we were family.” She paused, took a deep breath and continued, “He told all of our neighbors and formed a group to try to kill us. One night, they came after us. My mom tried to hold him off; she didn’t mean to hurt him. But her power was too much for him to handle. She killed him.”

Hunter embraced her, trying to persuade himself that what she was saying was a lie, but he knew it wasn’t. Suddenly he turned and saw two women running towards them, they looked like Stella but older.

“Mom! Aunt Sadie! What’s wrong?” Stella jumped up and gave Hunter a concerned look.

“They are coming for us. They found us,” Stella’s mom said.

“Who?” Hunter asked, but they all seemed to ignore him.

“We have to leave at once. It isn’t safe here,” Sadie stated.

“Where would we go?” Stella asked. “Nowhere is safe anymore.”

“Who are they?” Hunter shouted.

“You have to leave Hunter. If you don’t, you will get hurt,” Stella tried to convince him.

“I’m not leaving until you tell me what is going on. I can protect you,” Hunter demanded.

“The people of Salem are coming for us. They are armed and if we don’t leave now, they will kill us,” Stella’s mom, Leah, said.

“How could they kill you? You guys are witches!” Hunter proclaimed.

“After what happened three months ago, the Kovertols suspended our powers. Over a hundred years ago, our kind was accused of being murderers and over two hundred of us were killed. The Kovertols are a group of witches that watch over the rest of us now. They are in charge of making sure that we can coexist in peace with the mortals. If we hurt anyone, our powers are taken away for as long as they want. They are in control,” Stella blurted out.

Hunter looked out in the distance and was able to make out a group of people coming towards them fast.

“Here they are! They are really coming after us. Hunter you have to leave!” Stella pushed him away, trying to coax him into leaving.

“I’m not leaving you,” Hunter stated confidently. “I can help you guys escape.”

“We need to leave now!” Sadie shouted.

“Follow me!” Hunter started to run. He gestured for Stella, Sadie, and Leah to follow toward the woods behind the house.

The whole group sprinted, but the unwanted guests from Salem were close behind them and they could hear shouting. A shot rang out in the distance.  They were armed and were not about to back down. Stella cringed as she heard more people shooting at them. Hunter could feel bullets whiz by.  He just had to get them to the river.
                                                    ***

They arrived breathless and Hunter ran onto the dock to turn on his boat.
“Where are we going?” Stella yelled.

“You guys can take my boat. Once you are out on the river, you will be safe,” Hunter shouted back.

“What are we supposed to do after that?” Leah asked. “We can’t stay on the river!”

Hunter hadn’t thought that far ahead. His main priority was to get them to safety now.”

“I can summon Bonnie Kovertol. Once they know that we are in trouble, they will have to come to help us!” Sadie answered.

“We can get on the boat and figure out a place to meet them. They can take us back to their sanctuary,” Stella suggested.

Suddenly, they all heard the villagers running towards them, armed and ready to fight.

“Get on the boat now!” Hunter screamed.

Leah and Sadie jumped on to the boat.

“Stella get on!” Leah called after her.

Stella ignored them and stared at the crowd. She looked like she was in a trance. Instead of climbing on to the boat, she walked ever so slowly towards the angry mob. She held out her hand and squeezed her eyes shut. She could hear Hunter calling after her but couldn’t make out his words.

“Come on. Come on,” Stella whispered to herself. She desperately tried to force her powers to come back. She needed to protect her family. The screams and gunshots were deafening. Right when the crowd was almost on top of her, she saw Bonnie Kovertol standing in front of her.

“You will be ok,” Bonnie said.

Stella tried to understand what Bonnie was trying to tell her, but the obliquity of Bonnie’s statement puzzled Stella. All of a sudden Stella felt a warm feeling overcome her whole body and her mind became cloudy. An electric force shot out of Stella’s hand.  When Stella opened her eyes the mob was gone. She turned to face the river and saw a look of astonishment on Hunter’s face. Stella’s mom ran towards her and hugged her, allowing Stella to dissolve into her snug embrace. Stella did it.  She saved them.

When Leah released Stella, Stella spotted Bonnie in the distance. She took off running towards her, with Hunter, Leah, and Sadie following close behind her.

“Bonnie!” Stella shouted as she approached Bonnie. “You saved us!”

“No, that was all you,” Bonnie said as she gave Stella a knowing smile.

“What do we do now?” Sadie asked.
“You have to leave immediately. It won’t be long ‘til all of Salem returns trying to find you,” Bonnie suggested.
Stella turned towards Hunter who stared at her shyly.
“I guess it’s time,” Hunter said to her quietly.
“I guess so,” Stella responded gently.

Hunter hugged her deeply and whispered into her ear “I love you.” But when he released her, she was gone. They had all disappeared and he remained completely alone. All he saw were four ravens flying, their silhouettes framed by the luminous moon.