17-year-old Cassie Finch moves to Needmore, Florida to live with her father, expecting that her new life will be everything she imagined.Although she is fiercely independent and self-sufficient, Hayden finds himself drawn to the new fair-haired classmate. Hayden's parents, who are members of the Prior family, prefer their own company and haven't kept in touch with their brothers and sisters since their teenage years in Niceville.
In spite of Cassie's conviction that the world hates her, she remains deeply connected to it. Until she discovers the true nature of her bloodline, its hostility makes her feel unwell.
It won't take Cassie long to discover that the world has treated her coldly for a valid reason. Hayden's family history runs deep, and most people who cross paths with him are at risk. Detectives Fred Bass and Savannah Handorf investigate the Vermilion River murders and the Prior family.
PROLOGUE
Tragic events had been known to the city's lands; the stains were washed by the tides of nature. Dark worlds were drawn into the water. Death and misery grew; new beginnings thrived. As the damned entered the quarters of New Orleans, they did bind strength of proper distaste. Unnatural entitlement loomed and fantasy grew as a result of the unwarranted freedom. On the outskirts of the city, music did ring, fainter than the bosom, drawing in lost souls. As the city expanded with ease, so did the spirits of the souls beyond it. French, Spanish, Congolese, Haitian, Native American, Creole, Latino, Sicilian, Anglo-Americans. Half a dozen more nations gathered, to form a new world identity that stood alone from the rest.
This was its charm.
In the face of extinction, the Cajun Flamingo continued to roar. Outlandish, feathered hats were all the rage during the Victorian Era of the late 1800s. Hunters profited from the market, drawing birds to near extinction. Compared to gold, an ounce of feathers was worth more. Gentlemen would take the whole wing and make it into a mistress's fan. They had to hunt at the height of the breeding season in order to capture the mystical creature. As the young birds of the aerie were left unattended, a man would shoot them all. With an affirmation of sacrifice, a tradition was set forth. Crimson feathers became the unnatural desire of the people.
Remnants 4000 BC (Before Cassius) to 33 AC (After Cassius)
The Strain supported the Earth’s growth, vitality, and longevity.
To nurture Earth’s surroundings: the trees, the rivers, the sky.
Keeping balance between The Two.
The Opposed and The Strain.
There is no balance without Mother Nature, because she is the source of everything and the purpose of all things. Mother Nature is a serial killer of all things pertaining to life; it is a natural order unknown to those ignorant of immortality. Mother fashioned one Strain to lead the void and the Opposing Force to participate, like strangers at a wedding, somehow connected, without knowing who the other party truly was.
Mother’s words contained creative powers and in doing so, she created Belt One, Babylon
Day One: Mother called the Day life, and the darkness she called Death
Day Two; Mother called for the sky and the sea: let there be a heaven amid the waters
Day Three: Mother said, let there be a divide, let them see the signs and the seasons
Day Four: Mother said, let the earth bring forth spices that yield power
Day Five: Mother said, let the sky bring forth abundantly, creature hath life, and fowl that may fly
Day Six: Mother said, let there be The Strain and The Opposed
Day Seven: Mother created one law that was not to be broken:
“The Strain leader may never mother, I am Mother!”
Cassius, a strong leader, watched the opposition from a distance, intervened when necessary and encouraged enlightenment. It was an arduous task, especially for a lifetime, but it was a gift Mother gave to the Earth. In his connection with the Earth, Cassius gained a reservoir of incantation to care for his new world, an equation that enabled both parties to unknowingly trust each other without knowing each other. Three symbiotic relationships: Mother, Strain, and Opposition, each dedicated to achieving a more virtuous and peaceful era than the one before.
Cassius lived within the Clan, surrounded by a boundary spell that kept them hidden and safe on a 400-acre lot. The Clan’s land consisted primarily of open marshes, deep ponds, shallow pools and canals, with oaks, willows and pines along the eastern and southern boundaries. Three segments made up The Fields: The North Cells received water from a canal and had the deepest ponds. The water then channelled into the Central Cells, the areas you would see when looking west from the hill. As the water flowed under the South Cells; it entered the Creek.
This was the primary collection zone for water in the area. It served both as a safety measure and a recreational activity for The Strain Clan. It was their forever home.
Cassius reigned with one task in mind: ensuring the safety and growth of The Strain. It was forbidden for The Strain leader to have a family, and all focus was on restoring the Earth's soul.
After hundreds of years protecting that bedfellow Earth, Cassius grew vain and empty. After falling in love with a clan sister named Aby, he developed a darkness within him that led him to believe the natural order was to procreate. Cassius and Aby's lust for life was destroyed after Aby miscarried seven months into the growth of their first child. Dark worlds grew from Aby’s misery and the natural charm of their love roared into a tide of broken creatures.
Aby was furious. “You know why this has happened, Cassius, it’s that fucking bitch Mother. She doesn’t want us to be happy or grateful. All she wants is loyal diligence.”
Cassius laid a calming hand on her shoulder. “I cannot believe that is true. These things happen my love; it is nature.”
Aby brushed his hand aside. “And who rules that nature, Cassius?”
There was no adequate response, so he said nothing.
After Mother's treachery, their dislike of her grew. Cassius and Aby had learned that what Mother gave, she could easily take back.
Aby turned her anger towards the Earth, reflecting her misery on it. As the skies above The Strain's bivouac grew dark, the grass withered and died, the forest wilted, and a storm raged. Cassius and Aby's rule was under threat as The Strain gathered the sisters together to plot.
Within a month after the death of her firstborn, Aby fell pregnant again. Rather than be the hunted, Aby decided to be the hunter. She found a deserted spot in the woods to sacrifice 3 goats in a ritual that was unspoken of within The Strain. After securing the birth of her child with the unsanctioned spell, she considered names for the child she would soon meet. Each strain member was named after a combination of their parents' last names, so the child would be called Aida Eco Swum.
Throughout Aby's pregnancy, she remained distant from Cassius and performed the unsanctioned spell each month. Now it was too late to do anything about the unspeakable that had been committed; his heart filled with dread for his new child, who was most likely devoid of empathy.
In exactly 9 months, the clan stood and witnessed Aida’s birth. Upon a large square stone structure at the top of the hill Aby lay, hand in hand with Cassius who stood next to her. Aby’s contractions brought strikes of lightening to the fields below and bright scorched feathers fell from the sky. With a horrifying unworldly screech, Aby haemorrhaged the blood of the goats she had sacrificed for the past 9 months of her pregnancy.
As the blood was released onto the ground the minds of the clan members in attendance were filled with images of horrific times to come, and the pain gnawed at their veins. The few unable to cope with the images soon started bleeding from every orifice. Body structures of jaws melted away from their faces as the boiling began from their insides. Within moments, these members of The Strain became uncorked and swept away with the wave of Aby's blood that continued to haemorrhage from her cunt.
Aida exited her mother covered in the unnatural blood and as Cassius held the baby in this time and in this world, he knew she would be hunted. Despite knowing that his only child was born with darkness, Cassius refused to kill her.
He stood suspended in a moment of time, pondering the gold the earth had just gifted him.
“It is nothing to be, but everything to be safe. Embrace deeply my royalty, the way I tried to rule, and that which I did not dread. Let wisdom guide your valour despite that dauntless mind. I was given the name of king when a forest crown was placed upon my head, as if I were a prophet. In my grip a barren sceptre; no daughter of mine succeeds. My vessel of peace must contain rancour, and this eternal jewel of mine must never belong to the common enemy of humankind. Let the creatures charm her and protect her. Allow the lands, tides and music show her roars of might. Let her be the huntress and not the hunted.”
As Cassius ran, he used the magic he had inherited from mother to misdirect the remaining sisters of The Strain from his scent. Aida’s only hope was to be erased.
Magic is a holistic process, a method of manipulating the natural world by using natural law and truth. The use of magic in witchcraft is like the use of prayer in other religions: through song and spin, prayers and war cries.
While Cassius still had power from the horror he had just witnessed, he knelt and placed Aida on the ground in front of him. He dug his hands into the dirt, exposing the roots of the trees, knowing there would be nothing more. He asked the roots to sacrifice themselves for his love, his one and only child. Cassius had taken care of the trees for centuries, so they returned the favour without hesitation. He drew life from the trees he harvested, and a wooden cocoon encased little Aida. Aida sank into the earth, frozen in time, unscathed. Cassius placed a sensibly sized book, which contained everything he had seen and heard since the dawn of time, next to Aida in the rooted cocoon. No longer would the queen roam, never again would she be wild. If all time was internally present, then all time moving forward would be unforgivable. Despite what might have been and what has been, there is one end that is always present. Enlightenment in a reflection of a journey most would never undertake, a door that most would never open, into the crimson void, Prime Ono Sicrrms.
The sensibly sized book
The sensibly sized book was composed of pages made from the bark of the bivouac’s surrounding trees. The ink used for writing on those pages was made from the resin that lived inside them: it was one with the Earth, self-aware. In addition to earth, magic, and neutrality, the sensibly sized book was the encyclopedia of everything. Such a sensible book, it forgot to be sensible to those looking for personal gain from using it. A beautiful naive nourishment of creativity. Gain and greed created serendipity; structures allowed the smart to twist the simple. Belief became benevolence and betrayal bred. Cassius was responsible for the Earth and for everything rooted in its system and he had the responsibility of maintaining that.
So he wrote, journaled experiments, developments he had made, and everything in between. Recording all in a book that was so small and of such a sensible size. The sensibly sized book was a gift for his daughter.
Over time, the sensibly sized book grew in information and so did the spells within it. It was mystical after all, learning what worked and what didn't work. A prefilling trait now existed within the book's pages, another of many wonders that the sensibly sized book could create. There was a part of the book where it stored unfinished spells in the hope they would be finished one day. This was called The Vault. With stained glass and an undertone of hatred, the Vault seemed like a secure place to store important rhymes where no one would dare to look.
The Vault was arched in form, of stone and brick, and supported by large wooden buttresses. Water flowed under the palace even though the ground above appeared dry. A dark world that slowly expanded in size and sucked in lost souls, devouring them with its charm and gold. A room within a room, a great place to hide, and a great place to seek.
As the sensibly sized book waited for Aida to reawaken, The Opposed scalded the endless abundance of life and prosperity Mother had given them, tearing through the Forest, which had not grown lush from the year before.
Rita:
Rita ruled from 33 A.C, after Cassius’s death. She witnessed firsthand the cruelty of humans during the witch trials, but never lost hope for the prosperity of the land. She saved everyone that she could, despite the unforeseen loss of several witches during those trials. Rita was able to foresee time on occasion, allowing The Strain to escape the efforts of The Opposed and the hysteria engulfing the provinces. Both sides lost many during the witch trials: more than Rita wanted to imagine. Then, when both clans and humans needed her the most, the unthinkable occurred.
At exactly 3.26 pm on a Monday, Rita became pregnant with her first child, Jadis. Two premonitions occurred to her at that exact moment. It was the first time in her thousand years of rule that Rita saw two separate future paths. A life had been given to Rita by Mother, and Rita made her choice accordingly. To sacrifice something that hadn't yet been given a chance, whether it was from evil or grace, wasn't anyone's choice.
Rita’s premonitions became clearer as Jadis grew. The birth of Jadis was somehow a response to the split reality that had been caused by the previous clan leader, Cassius. Only when Rita and Jadis ventured into the woods looking for a fallen soul did the split reality reveal its true purpose.
Eighteen years later
Arcadia acted as if it was an old western town, where the men were highly competitive about who had the biggest Glock. Women were strong and had a knack for running bars. In contrast to old western movies, this was a farming town. The highest in the pecking order, in fact, it became prosperous by selling meat to nearby towns. Some residents wanted to live a quieter life, which led them to move farther out of town as the city expanded. They visited only to obtain the necessities.
There was an uneasy feeling in the air as the Earth beneath Arcadia told a story of distaste. The Strain’s camp not far from the town of Arcadia had begun to block natural elements from entering the 400-acre lot. The water that flowed into their lands started to detour around the boundary spell, as the bivouac cells started to slowly dry up.
An undisguised power emanated from the site where Rita and Jadis went to investigate what was redirecting the natural flow of water. Rita stood on top of the dwelling from which the energy was emanating. As Jadis stepped onto the ground behind Rita, she felt hatred burning within her. As if someone had lassoed her from behind, Jadis was thrown violently backwards past the forest boundary with one foot centred on the ground. Rita heard a faint and unforgiving whistle from the woods. Silence blanketed the forest. Despite its erratic movements, the whistle drew closer with one goal in mind. The arrowhead sliced Rita’s carotid artery instantly as it flew through her. Falling to her knees in some sick parody of servitude, Rita drowned in her own blood within six seconds, collapsing to be forever still.
The Arrow was tethered to the roots of the forbidden forest, where it originated. As the sky darkened, it gathered harm. Though it was perfectly balanced, its shape would lead you to believe otherwise. The metallic tip was made in the shape of a crescent moon. This tip would gore anything it encountered. It did not add structure or stability to the arrow to have three pink feathers at the end, but it had them.
The Forever Forest was exactly what it meant; it was forever. Animals and humans alike who entered the Forever Forest usually got lost and overwhelmed by its huge canopy of trees, forever growing and forever consuming. The town of Arcadia knew that the Forever Forest led to the channel of water that extended miles south to reach the Mexican coast. Animals who entered surely became lost within, and with their eventual deaths, they would fall upon the earth to be absorbed. Those taken to sustain life became an eerie decay of dust within the wind of the Forever Forest, confined by the spaces of the forest, never allowed to leave the borders. Over the centuries the decay of those lost became so thick, it was barely visible to anything or anyone. Those who dared to enter in the mist of decay without a tether quickly became lost.
Humans were sometimes more capable and less susceptible to the Forever Forest’s lingering engagement. The Forest was rich in flavour, hunting that which hunted it. It had a monthly rainfall of 200 cm and a mean temperature of 15 to 30 degrees Celsius. Due to the lack of droughts and frosts, the trees were evergreen and so densely packed with vegetation that a drop of rain falling from the forest's emergent layer took 10 minutes to reach the forest floor, where the soil was poor in nutrients.
The Forever Forest wasn’t seen as an unnatural evil force, more a spiritual place that should not be ventured into unless you had nothing else to lose. This forest only took what it needed to sustain the cocoon of its ancestors. Sacrifices had to be made, and a debt was owed to the Forever Forest until it had recovered what had been taken from it. Animals and humans who got lost and died of starvation soon decayed and left all their nutrients behind to source a fuel for the roots of the system below. An interconnected root system so unique and in touch with each part, it sent what was needed most to the forefront of the forest where the cocoon lay in silence forever, or what seemed like forever.