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Axel drives into the Driftwood center parking lot and tries to find a spot. The Driftwood center is on North Pender Island, as there are two islands that form Pender Island; North Pender and South Pender are joined by a one lane bridge. The Driftwood center has the grocery store, liquor store, bakery, post office, yoga loft, book store, clothing store and a restaurant. It's usually pretty busy in the early afternoon as the islanders want to get their errands done so they can enjoy the afternoon sun; today is no different. Another hot, sunny day on Pender Island and Axel is at the Driftwood center to pick up some groceries for Agatha, who has another house viewing this afternoon. Axel doesn't mind doing the errands for his mother; it gets him out of the house and allows him the chance to interact with people. His mother has often been very strict about who he gets to spend time with and who they are not allowed to spend time with because she is paranoid that someone will learn that they are witches. Axel knows that he's only half witch, but still the thought worries his mother. He still thinks that she is over reacting but he will follow her wishes and not do anything that could harm the family. At the same time, he longs for more out of life. As he steps out of his truck, he takes a deep breath of the fresh air. One of things that he loves most about living on the island is that it is a very clean, crisp air that he can breathe. He has only been to Vancouver a handful of times, and he found it so noisy and busy; It's definitely not the same way on the island. As he walks towards the True Foods, he can't help but notice a young woman that emerges from the bakery. She's tall, dark skinned and absolutely beautiful. Axel quickly doubles checks his photographic memory and realizes that the young woman is new to the island, or at least visiting; he would have remembered seeing her before. He watches her for a moment longer, her dress blows in the wind. She is the most beautiful woman he has ever seen, he thinks to himself. He slowly approaches her and soon, he has caught her attention as well. "Hi there," he says as he comes up to her. "Beautiful day, huh?" "Absolutely," Reagan replies to him as she studies the young man in front of her. Normally, she probably wouldn't give the stranger the time of day but since she has been on the island, she realizes that everyone is rather friendly because it is such a small community. And, she's alone on the island; having some friends could be a great way to spend some of her time. "I am Reagan Blackmore, you are?" "Axel Watkins," he says back to her. "You must be new to Pender Island, or at least visiting? What brings you here?" "I'm here working on my thesis paper. I study journalism at UBC," she explains to him as she notes that he is starring at her. "Is something the matter?" He realizes that he is starring at her and quickly looks away feeling embarrassed. "No, nothing is wrong, sorry. That sounds very cool that you're studying here. What exactly are you studying here?" Before she can reply, her cell phone begins to ring. "Excuse me for a moment, will you Axel?" she says before she pulls her out phone and answers it. He watches her, unable to deny that he is attracted to the woman in front of him. He feels his heart racing quickly inside his chest. "Suddenly this day just got a lot better,' he says to himself, grinning that he has seen someone like Reagan. "Sorry about that," she smiles as she approaches him. "My father feels like he need to check up on me about a million times a day." Axel chuckles a little. "I know this may seem forward, but would you like to grab lunch with me? There's a great sushi place at the golf course and it's just up the street from here." Reagan looks back at Axel and nods her head, thinking about wanting some friends on the island. "I'd like that very much." --- "How long will you be gone this time?" Agatha asks her daughter as they stand in Ambrose's bedroom and Ambrose has a small bag that she is filling with some articles of clothing. Ambrose often travels to Manye Island to visit her father Maverick and her step mother Belinda. She doesn't like talking to Agatha about going to visit her father because she knows that it is a sore subject for her mother. "Just a few days," she tells Agatha, who is standing there nibbling on a baked rat tails. "I can call you when I arrive if you'd like." Agatha swallows the rat tail down and turns her back to her daughter, closing her eyes in the process. While she and Maverick have been divorced for many years, she still can't get over the hurt that he caused her by having an affair with Belinda while they were married. She should be grateful because had he not cheated, she may not have had her son. But the betrayal of a man you love, is a betrayal that some can never get over no matter how hard she has tried. "That won't be necessary," Agatha finally replies to Ambrose. "I just hope you have a lovely time on Mayne Island. It is lovely over there this time of the year." "Mom," Ambrose comes up behind her mother and puts her hands around her waist, giving her a backwards hug. "I know that you don't like that I visit my father…" "I never said that," Agatha sharply replies to her. "I would never keep you from seeing your father. I would never interfere in your relationship with Maverick." "I know that," Ambrose says to her. "But I also know that it is still difficult for you, even after all of these years." Agatha smiles and turns around to face her daughter. "You've a very wise witch, you know that?" she says to her daughter. "It probably shouldn't bug me, obviously Belinda is a good match for your father. After all, they are still married after all of these years." "She's going to teach me some new spells this week," Ambrose informs her mother. "She seems to think that she can teach me some easy spells to do." Agatha arches her eyebrow, knowing very well that she has tried and tried to each her daughter to be a spell master but has failed at every turn. "Well, I can say one good thing about Belinda," Agatha quickly says back to her daughter. "She's a very brave witch if she has the patience to teach you a spell or two." "Hey!" Ambrose laughs at her mother. "Hopefully it works this time." "I can't wait for you to fill me when you get back from your visit," Agatha says back to her daughter. --- "I've set the trap!" Belinda squeals in delight as she opens the front door of her modest home as her large bracelets clacking together as she moves into the living room, seeing her husband, Maverick, sitting on an arm chair reading. She looks at him for a moment and feels herself smile at the sight of the man that she loves. While their relationship started a little rocky because of their affair, things have certainly turned around for them over the years. Now, she can't imagine her life without him. She's done a lot to ensure that they are together, like moving and living on Mayne Island. Maverick sets the book that he is reading down and looks at his wife. "Forgive me, Belinda, but I can't remember what trap you're talking about." "The rat trap!" she says, still very excited as she pushes some of her red hair out of her face. "The rats always go down near the fishermen's stand in hopes of getting some scraps. I'll go down tomorrow with Ambrose and see what we caught. I'm dying to make more homemade rat tail pretzels. And, we can use the rat tongues for some spells I'm going to teach Ambrose. It is a win-win situation!" Maverick grins back his wife. Seeing her get excited over the prospects of his daughter visiting them makes him love her even more than he already does. He knows that it wasn't always easy creating the blended family that they now have because Agatha was absolutely devastated by their affair. The reason that Maverick and Belinda live on Mayne Island, instead of Pender Island, is because Agatha refused to live on the same island as the new couple, after the affair was exposed. Maverick couldn't be away from his daughter, so the compromise was for them to move to Mayne. He isn't too upset by this, however, as Mayne has its perks that Pender does not. He does miss Agatha living in her old house because from the attic of his house to Agatha's old house, they could see one another if Agatha was on her lookout point. Of course, regular human beings could not see each other; the supervision is a quality of being a witch. Now, however, Agatha has to climb to the top of Mount Norman in order for the families to see each other from the lookout points. "I'm glad that you're excited by Ambrose coming over today," Maverick says back to his wife. "But you must do me a favor." "What's that?" Belinda asks him. "Be careful when you're going to get the rat trap," he says back to her. "You know that if anyone ever saw you…" "I will be careful," she interrupts him. "Trust me, no one will know that we are here, darling. The hunters that were spotted on the island must have left by now. But I appreciate that you're so worried about me and Ambrose." "I'm worried because I love you," he says to her as he stands up and moves closer to his wife. He hates when he hears the rumours of their being witch hunters on the Islands. It makes him realize they have to be extra careful; the last thing he wants is for his family to be in danger. "What time is Ambrose expected to arrive?" Belinda turns and looks at the clock before she returns her eyes to her husband's. "Not for a couple of hours yet…" He leans in and kisses her passionately. "Perfect, we have time then…" "Oh, we have time," Belinda winks back at him before she scurries off up the stairs with Maverick following her. --- "How is your sushi?" Axel asks Reagan as they sit across from each other in the small Pender Sushi restaurant that overlooks the 9-hole golf course. The small course is difficult in its own right and is extremely popular in the summer time. Axel has been enjoying getting to know the UBC student over the course of a meal and is still completely taken with her. "I can't believe it's so tasty," Reagan says as she places some ginger on one of her California roles and takes a bite. "This stuff is better than the sushi in Vancouver, which is saying something." Axel nods back in agreement. "I hope this place lasts," he says back to her. "Often places come and go quickly on the island because it's hard to really make a good profit. The off season can be very slow." "I take it you've lived here a long time," Reagan says back to him, noting that he has mentioned some good island living pointers to her. "I have, yea," he replies to her. "You probably met my Mother, Agatha. She's a real estate agent on the island." Reagan's eyes open wider in surprise. "She was a very nice woman," Reagan tells him. "The house she sold us is really quite nice." "So, tell me," Axel begins to say to her. "You're studying journalism at UBC; how does that bring you to Pender Island?" Reagan takes a sip of her water before she looks back at her new found friend. "Actually, you may be just the person to help me because you seem to know a lot about the island." "If I can help you, I would." "For my thesis paper, I'm looking into some of the unsolved murders that have taken place on the island," Reagan informs him as Axel feels the blood drain from his face as he knows exactly the story behind the murders on the islands. This is something his mother has often warned him about. "Are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost." Axel nods back to her. "I'm fine, sorry, I guess it just got really warm in here suddenly." "We can go," she tells him as she collects her purse and stands up. "Some fresh air would be nice." He follows her to the door and once they are outside, he feels like his heart rate is returning to normal. Still, he realizes that Reagan investigating the murders on the islands leaves him feeling troubled especially because Reagan is living in the house where Agatha killed the Jake and Penny Matthews. --- Agatha enters her spell room and closes the door behind her. She looks around and takes a deep breath. She moves to her caldron and looks inside. Her mind has been racing most of the day with how things are going at the Blackmore house. Ever since she sold the house to Thomas and Cassandra so their daughter could stay there while she is working on her thesis as she investigates the murders on the island. She has been worried that the truth will come out. The problem for Agatha is that she can't let anyone learn the truth about the murders because she is the one who killed the people because they learned that she is a witch. And she is so very determined to keep her secret. "Reagan Blackmore can never learn the truth," Agatha whispers to herself. "But, mark my words, I will go to great lengths to stop her if I have too." She turns around and opens a cabinet that is a part of her book shelf. Inside there are many jars with ingredients in them for Agatha to cast her spell. She pulls out some lizard tongues and three goose eggs and throws them into her caldron. She moves to the podium and flips through her book until she sees the spell that she needs in front of her. She waves her hands over the caldron and it slowly starts to smoke. "Come to me and tell me what I need to know … be my eyes, be my ears…tell me what I need to know…" Agatha starts to chant, shutting her eyes as she gets more heavily involved into casting her spell. "Come to me…show me …" Suddenly, Agatha grabs the sides of the caldron and she looks inside. As the smoke clears, she can see a face … the face of Jake Matthews, the man whom Agatha killed a few years earlier. He looks like the same way as the last time Agatha saw him in her old house; bloody and like death became him. "Tell me how it's going in the house," Agatha says to the figure in the caldron. Agatha recalls how she conjured him up so he can spy on Reagan and then report back to her. A ghost version of Jake is the perfect way to do this. She needs to know everything that Reagan is up to with her investigation so she knows when she has to stop the girl. "Nothing to report," the figure that looks like Jake says back to Agatha. "The girl has barely been here today." Agatha looks forward and arches her eyebrow. In her mind, that makes sense; Reagan would need to get familiar with the island and buy groceries and other supplies. She looks back down at the Jake figure. "Don't disappointment me, I need to know anything and everything that happens in that house. I will be checking in often, Jake." --- Reagan opens the door to the house and moves inside. She leans up against the door and feels some butterflies in her stomach after spending the day with Axel. There's something about the young man that really intrigues Reagan; she only hopes that she can continue to get to know him. She hasn't felt this way about someone she just met ever before in her life. She picks up some of her grocery bags and moves into the kitchen. As she puts the food away, she realizes that she should start her investigation, for her paper. While she can enjoy time with Axel, she still does have a school deadline hanging over her head. She looks outside and sees the bright sun shining and sparkling on the ocean. "I will change and get my laptop and sit on the patio. There's no reason why I shouldn't enjoy the beauty of this island while I'm working on my thesis," she says to herself. She quickly finishes putting the stuff away and then moves upstairs to change her clothing. As she takes her dress off, her naked body gets a little shiver. She doesn't notice the eyes from the door watching her every move. Jake loves the view of the young, naked woman in front of him and finds himself getting erect in his jeans. She puts a white tank top on with jean shorts. She grabs her sunglasses and her laptop and moves back down the stairs, not seeing any trace of the ghostly figure that was watching her. Just as she opens the patio door, she hears a knock on the door. She sets the laptop down and slowly moves to the door. "I wonder who this could be," she says as she walks closer to the door. "No one knows I'm here." She opens the door and looks at the man on the other side. "May I help you?" she asks him. A smile breaks across his face. "I'm Jake Matthews, your neighbour. Just thought I'd come by and say hi. Introducing, myself, I suppose," he says to her, as the vision of him is no longer bloody. He looks like the man that was confronting Agatha the night he died, not the bloody version he ended up being. Reagan looks back at the man, getting an off feeling about him for some reason. "Nice to meet you Mr. Matthews, I'm Reagan Blackmore." "Call me Jake, please," he replies to her. "And Reagan, the pleasure is all mine." |
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