Free Web NovelChapter 164: Special (3)
"You have to tell me everything about this family rather than making me wait to find out on my own. Why would the witch need to eat your heart? Why couldn’t your father have used someone else instead of killing his own daughter? Please tell me everything," Regina begged the woman. She had been planning to find out secrets about Minnie but didn’t expect there were other family members with these kinds of secrets.
Regina was starting to feel a little unsure of whether she should attempt to own this house rather than run away. These people who call each other family have no problem killing one another for their own gain.
"I..." Esmeralda paused, deciding Regina was right. She hoped that her great-granddaughter would be able to free her soul from this house. She no longer wanted to be in a home that caused so much misery. "I have someplace to take you."
Regina watched Esmeralda stand up and walk through the door. For a moment, she forgot she was talking to a ghost. Regina sat up from the floor and opened the door to follow after Esmeralda. She had to be careful because if any of the maids spot her, they’ll report it either to Minnie or Rachel.
She quietly followed Esmeralda to the stairs leading down to the main floor and out through the front door. Regina had to occasionally hide as guards and a few servants still up were walking around. Esmeralda helped with warning her when someone was coming. "Question, why is it that only I can see you? Samuel didn’t see you that day in the garden? Am I dead? Did Minnie get to me?" freeweɓnovēl.coɱ
Esmeralda chuckled, finding Regina’s words to be thankful. She wondered how the young girl managed to have this kind of personality considering the people she grew up around. "You are not dead dear, just special. Minnie won’t do anything to you yet because she is not sure."
"Special? Special like how? I mean, I know I am special. Not everyone can be blessed with the looks I have and the personality," Regina jokingly flipped her hair.
"You are funny. I wish I had the chance to hold you as a baby and watch you grow up even if I would only be able to witness a tiny bit of it. Do you remember I told you that we stole this home from the original Hamiltons?" When Regina nodded Esmeralda continued to explain, "Our relatives were looking for a way to blend in the town instead of continuing to hide. They wanted a family with influence and wealth so they could do as they please."
"For some reason, I feel like you are trying to say we are special like how Aurora is special. You know, with her not being human."
"Some members of our family are human because our relatives married humans and had children with them. However, our family lineage has always been witches," Esmeralda said. It was a dark secret kept from humans for many years. They had no idea that the family they spoke so highly of consisted of witches.
"Witches?!" Regina exclaimed, stopping dead in her tracks. How on earth could her family be witches? She never suspected anything out of the ordinary but then again, they had hidden Aurora for a long time.
" As the years passed by, the witch side decreased because they partnered with humans and their children ended up being more human than a witch. To keep the witch’s blood strong, occasionally they would marry a witch. That is why my father married me off to my husband. I had surprisingly been born with more witch traits than humans and that was why my father thought the Hamilton genes would be saved if I married a witcher."
As they walked to their destination Esmeralda continued to say, "It didn’t turn out how he wanted because Minnie was more human than a witch. And..." she choked up as she remembered the daunting memory. "My other daughter was more of a witch than Minnie but not like what my father wanted."
"Daughter?" Regina’s eyes widened at the news. She never heard anyone speak of Minnie having a sister. "What happened to your daughter? I never heard of her."
"My daughters were twins. My husband took them from me the moment they were born and only returned with Minnie. I begged him to tell me where my other child was but he never told me. I don’t know if it was mother’s intuition but I felt like she was there, in this house but I never knew where. It was only when I died and I roamed the house that I found a tiny place where they had her locked away like a prisoner."
"I don’t understand. Why would they do that if they wanted the family to have more witches?" It didn’t make any sense to Regina. They were doing the opposite of what they wanted.
"Around the time I gave birth to my children is when I met Aurora. The first person in my life I felt didn’t want to use me. Little did I know my father and husband had started plotting. Aurora belonged to the goddess Artemis and it would require a strong witch plus sacrifices to place a spell on her. The witch they used must not have been strong enough so like what they did with me, they took my daughter’s heart and fed it to the witch."
"They kept her locked away as a backup in case they needed the heart of a witch? Our family is seriously messed up. I can’t wrap my mind around the things you are telling me. Was killing their own flesh and blood worth it in the end?" Regina became more furious than she was before.
"No offense but I am so glad I never got to meet your husband. Just dealing with Minnie alone is hard enough. Minnie and I aren’t seeing eye to eye but I could imagine how she would feel finding out her grandfather killed her sister she never knew."
"Actually, my father was dead when it came time for them to take my daughter’s heart. My heart was used the first time they placed the spell on Aurora but they had planned on using my baby as the sacrifice. I was meant to be alive making more witch children for them. Since I wanted to help Aurora so much, they killed me. They were warned the spell on Aurora wouldn’t last and so when she started to wake up, they killed my daughter they had been raising like an animal," said Esmeralda.
She wished her soul had gone to the other world so she wouldn’t have been able to hear all of these things and watch her daughter suffer. "My husband was the one to kill our child and right next to him was Minnie showing no remorse for her sister. It must be my fault Minnie turned out that way. I shouldn’t have died leaving her there with my family when I knew the kind of people they were."
"I’m so sorry for the things you went through Esmeralda. No wonder you are still trapped here. When you say that Minnie doesn’t know if I am special yet, does that mean there is a possibility I might be more of a witch than human?" Regina asked the burning question stuck in her mind. She was hoping she wasn’t what Minnie wanted and would share the same fate as Esmeralda and her daughter.
"I’m afraid so. It is why you are the only one who can see me. Do not be afraid chil-"
"Don’t be afraid?" Regina repeated the words looking at the woman like she was crazy. "You just told me they took your daughter’s heart because she was a witch and they needed it. Now I am told I am a witch. Of course, I am afraid that I will share the same fate as you and your daughter. I do not want to die young. Especially at the hands of my family. I should have left with Aurora. Who was I kidding to try and become the head of this house."
"I said do not be afraid because Minnie wants to train whoever is a witch between you and Samuel to become stronger. Your witch side has been dominant for all your life which is why the witch they have brought to check you did not recognize you as one. A witch can always tell its fellow sisters apart from other creatures but you are special. I am certain you can take over this house and make it better. If you don’t, this will keep happening," Esmeralda pointed out in a distance where men were bringing children onto the property.
"What is happening? Where are those children going?" Regina looked to Esmeralda for an answer. People she had never seen before were taking children onto the property through the back gate of their home. She wasn’t surprised to see Duncan there seemingly inspecting everything. She watched as the men led the children in the direction of the mountain behind their home after being seen by Duncan.
"Those are the sacrifices."
