Mistfall(Book One of the Mistfall Series)

Mistfall(Book One of the Mistfall Series) By Olivia Martinez



book one of the Mistfall series

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.


For Merle and Grace. I love you!



Prologue



When I was five years old, my parents had me exorcised. On occasion I had told my parents that I could do things. They always put it off as the imagination of a young child. One day, I showed them. I made three bouncy blue balls rise up in the air and travel around the living room. My parents freaked out and went to the psychologist for Valium and sent me to a priest for an exorcism.

At five years old, most things that went bump in the night scared the bejeebees out of me. Being the object of an exorcism at such a young age was the single most terrifying thing I had ever been through. Father O’Rourke looked like he was possessed himself. He began the demon expulsion by flinging water at me and screaming incoherent Latin.

The worst was when he pushed me to the ground. I started kicking and screaming because I thought he was going to kill me. He, on the other hand, thought some demon was fighting him back and held me to the ground, still yelling Latin at me.

After a terrifying twenty minutes it was over. I was pronounced demon free. My parents were ecstatic and I had learned a very valuable lesson. I was never going to tell anyone my secret again.

I never mentioned a word of what I could do for three long years. It was only when I met my neighbor Willa, that I spoke once again of my powers.

Willa had moved next door to us a few weeks after my eighth birthday. My mother was a bit wary of our new neighbor, though her apprehensions never seemed to matter when Willa offered her services to babysit.

My parents never treated me quite the same after my little display and distanced themselves from me. As good Christians, they wouldn’t turn me away though. I did, however, spend a lot of time at Willa’s.

I didn’t mind the arrangement either. Willa was an eight year old’s dream. Cookies and milk always flowed, the stories were over the top, and she never told me to be quiet. Willa didn’t just let you color or play dress-up, she joined in too. It was great having a playmate that acted young enough to be my friend, but old enough to turn on the oven and make cookies.

In a few short months, Willa became my trusted confidante. I would tell her my secrets and she told me hers. One day, I felt that I could tell her about my magic. I had her watch as I spilled my milk on the floor and magically made it pick itself up and return to the glass.

She didn’t react the way my parents did, though I wasn’t expecting the reaction she did have. Willa whisked me to her basement. There were no windows. It was floor to ceiling stone. Even the door was made out of stone. It was a little weird.

“The stones keep our secrets,” she responded, as if she knew what I was thinking. “You can never tell anyone your secret Mags, you have to promise me that.” I looked down at my toes. I was ashamed to tell Willa that I had told someone…my parents. I found the courage though and told her the story of my exorcism.

“Bah,” Willa said, shaking her head. “Stupid priests, they don’t know the difference from a demon possession and a hole in the ground. Well, from here on out no one else needs to know. What the priest did was negligible to what others would do if they knew your secret. Promise me Mags; promise me you will never tell anyone else.”

“I won’t Willa. How come you aren’t scared like everyone else?” I asked.

“I am just like you,” she replied.

“What do you mean, just like me?” I must have looked as confused as I sounded because Willa softly laughed at my question before she answered. “Child, we are jinn, born from a smokeless flame of the great scorching fire.”

“What’s a jinn?”I asked.

“Ever see ‘Aladdin?’”

“Oh I love that movie Willa! It has a genie that grants magical wishes.”

Willa smiled at me. “Child, a genie is a jinn.”

I thought I felt my jaw hit the floor. “Willa, I don’t want to be a big blue blob without any feet, stuck in a lamp for thousands of years.”

“Well then, don’t worry; none of those things are true, except the name. You, my love, are jinn.”