Anjulina Cornacchia: Attack of the Banshees

Everything was going in slow motion. I just wanted my death to be over with! Before I knew it, I had stopped falling. Was I dead? I didn’t feel any pain. I was afraid of what I’d see if I opened my eyes.

When I did eventually open my eyes I was staring at a guy! I’d never seen him before. His eyes, from what I could see, were medium brown with specks of green. His shirt was tattered as if something ripped it apart. His brown hair was medium length, messy, and almost covering his eyes. He was also very tan. Exactly what I was a sucker for when it came to guys!

“Are you okay?” he asked me. Oh I was more than okay, I thought. His voice was kind of soft. It wasn’t high pitched but it wasn’t deep. It was perfect, just like him! His smooth way of talking just, put me at ease. I nodded yes to his question then he slowly put me down.

“Who are you?” It was all I could think of to say. He was about to answer when he saw my friends running toward us. I turned to wave to them and when I turned back, he was gone. Did I just imagine it all?

“He vanished!” I told my friends.

“Who?” They asked while trying to catch their breath.

“That guy. The one who caught me. I didn’t even catch his name.”

“Anj…” Brooke spoke slowly. “We didn’t see anyone. All we saw was one minute you were falling, then the next you were standing here.” She sounded concerned. “Did you hit your head when you fell?”

I changed the subject. “Did one of you catch that book?”

“Yeah it’s right here.” Marah held it up. “What’s this anyway?” She started flipping through pages. Before I could explain we heard another screech followed by a scream for help. It came from the woods behind the house.

We ran and ran until we saw a green scaly creature knelt over Brittanie’s body. Before it had time to cut out her heart, like it did with Michelle, it saw us and took off down the river. We ran after it until it disappeared in to the Forbidden Forest. We stopped at the edge of the forest and tried looking in. It was pitch black; not even the smallest ray of light could shine through.

“I’ll run to the gas station and get some flashlights!” Taylor offered. Before we had time to think about it or tell her okay, she was off. A few minutes later she returned. We tried shining the flashlights passed the trees but we still couldn’t see a thing!

“Are we sure we want to do this?” Brooke asked. “Couldn’t we pretend we didn’t see anything and just go back to the party?”

“Not a chance.” I told her. “What if we can stop whatever is doing this? Do you know how many lives we’d save?”

“And if we die ourselves?” Bee questioned.

“Well, that’s just a chance we’ll have to take.”

“But…” Bee tried but I interrupted her.

“But nothing. Look, if you’re too scared, if any of you are too scared, then go.”

Bee paused and thought about it. But we didn’t have time to wait. We started in to the forest without her. A few minutes later she came running to catch up.

Even with the flashlights we couldn’t see five feet ahead of us. The fog didn’t help much either!

“Why don’t we get away from the river, that’s where most of the fog is coming from.” Marah suggested.

“No.” I told her, then I spoke to all of them. “The river is our only way to find the village again if we get lost. Plus it’s starting to clear.”

“Whatever that thing was, it’s probably gone by now.” Taylor said.

“No.” Marah thought about it. “Did you notice when we were chasing it, it would slow down to let us catch up every now and then? I think it wanted us to follow it.”

“So basically we are walking in to a trap?” Taylor asked.

“Looks that way.” Marah replied.

“Great!” I groaned.

We paired up and walked a little ways. There was breaking of branches behind us. Across the river, to the right of us, some more branches snapped.

“I think we’re being followed.” Marah whispered.

“Look!” I pointed the flashlight at the ground. In the mud near the bank of the river was a shoe print. “Those foot prints look like a man’s. They disappear in to the river. Who would be out here and why would he want to cross the river?”

“Maybe to get away from whatever made those foot prints!” Marah pointed her flashlight next to a brush of grass. The foot print was almost 2 feet long and nearly 6 inches wide! The nails must’ve been long because they were imprinted in the mud as well.

“I think we should all cross the river here.” I yelled to Taylor and Brooke.

“Go across the river?? How do you suppose I do that without getting my cashmere skirt ruined?” Brooke exclaimed. “There is no bridge! What if I slip?! Or what if I get pushed?”

“None of us are going to push you, right guys?” I looked over at Taylor and Marah. They nodded then I heard Marah whisper, ‘Maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad idea.’ I tried not laughing because she was right!

“There’s a path of rocks that we can walk on.” I told her.

“Wow, as if that’s not convenient.” Marah told Taylor.

One by one we crossed the river. Brooke went last so none of us would push her. But, she didn’t need our help to fall. On the last step to the river bank, her heel slipped on the mud and she wiped out!

“MY SKIRT IS RUINED!” Brooke yelled. “THIS SKIRT COST ME 200 DOLLARS!” We all kind of snickered to ourselves. A two hundred dollar skirt was ridiculous.

We walked around for a minute, looking for that thing. The fog let up but the flashlights could still barely cut through the darkness.

“Look at the flower!” Taylor exclaimed. “It’s so pretty, I’ve never seen anything like it. I’ll be right back I want to get a closer look!” She walked around this big oak tree to see the flower. We barely even heard where she was going. Mean while we were trying to decide which direction to go.

“Should we take a left at the stream or keep following the main river?” Marah asked.

“I don’t know, let’s ask Taylor.” Bee commented while trying to get the dirt out of her nails.

Marah shook her head. “Gee heaven forbid you should make a decision for once!” Brooke shot her a dirty look.

“Hey Taylor, do you think we should take the stream left or keep going straight with the main river?” I asked. But there was no answer. “Taylor?” I called for her again but once more there was silence. We walked around the tree but she wasn’t there.

“Maybe she wondered off?” Marah asked.

“No, she wouldn’t do that. Not alone or without telling us anyways.” I said. Looking in the small pond at the base of the tree I saw the flower Taylor was talking about. To my surprise, I could see Taylor’s reflection in the water. “Guys come here! Look at this!” Both of them looked in and just as I did, saw Taylor’s reflection. We looked around but she was nowhere to be seen.

“Oh she’s just playing a trick on us. For wasting our time, I’m taking her flower!” Brooke went to reach for the flower and slipped! Marah and I tried catching her before she hit the water but we were pulled in with her. Everything was spinning out of control as we tried reaching the surface. That little pond wasn’t as little as we thought. It was at least a good 20 or so feet deep!

We were almost out of oxygen when a branch came jutting in the water. I gave it a couple tugs to see if it were secure. We linked arms as I grabbed a hold of the branch. One by one we were pulled out of the water.

We laid on the ground for a moment catching our breath. When my eyes came to focus I looked up and saw Taylor holding a branch.

“Taylor! You were the one with the branch?!”

“Yeah, I saw that you guys couldn’t find the surface; so I grabbed the branch!”

“You mean to tell me.” Brooke said in between breaths, “You’ve been here the whole time? I told you she was playing a trick on us! She probably pushed us in!”

“No, you guys were the ones playing a trick on me. I kept seeing your reflection in the water.” She was starting to get defensive.

Marah gave a puzzled expression. “How could you see our reflection and not us?”

“We could probably ask ourselves that same question.” I told her. “So, do you guys think we should head back? I mean it’s been a long time and whatever it was is probably gone by now.”

“WELL if you would’ve listened to me in the FIRST place we…” Bee began.

“Hey! It was worth a shot. We can’t say we didn’t try!” I yelled back. We started on our way home in silence. After about 20 minutes of walking, Marah broke the silence.

“Am I the only one noticing that we’ve walked by the same tree 5 times in the past half hour?”

“You do know there can be multiple trees that look the same. This IS a forest.” Brooke’s sarcastic comment must’ve hit a nerve in Marah.

“You know all this time you’ve been complaining and whining. If you didn’t like the idea of coming here then you should’ve went back to the party! I swear if I have to hear you complain one more time I’m going to lose it!” Marah yelled.

Once the arguing quit, we looked around. I think we all did a triple take. There were mushrooms the size of cars, clovers the size of trees, and flowers the size of people!

“I don’t think we’re in Messina anymore.” Marah claimed.

“No, you are not.” A voice came from one of the mushrooms.

“Who’s there?” Taylor asked.

“My name is peaches.”

“Where are you?” I asked.

“I am right here, hold on a second.”

I whispered to Marah, “Is the mushroom talking to us?”

At that moment, stairs came falling down from the mushroom. A little squirrel came running down the stairs and stopped before us.

“Awe it’s so cute!” Marah said.

“Even though we just met, I am flattered thank you.” All of us stopped and stared at the squirrel.

“You….you can talk?!” Marah exclaimed.

“I should be the one sounding surprised, considering you thought MUSHROOMS could talk!” he laughed a bit then looked back at us.

“Maybe you can help us?” I felt a little silly talking to a squirrel but I continued. “We fell in to a pool of water at the base of that tree and now we don’t know how to get home. You see, we were following this creature in to the forest after it murdered one of our friends.”

“Banshees.” He said wide eyed.

“What’s a banshee?” Brooke asked.

“A fairy turned evil. They mainly only come out at night unless they are in their human form.” He said bluntly.

“Fairy?? I thought those were make believe?” Brooke asked.

“Not here.” All of his answers were short.

“Where exactly is here?” I asked.

“Dypim Trefad. We have seven territories here. Each territory has different creatures and qualities to it. This one is Mystic Forest.” He stopped and looked at me. “My goodness you look just like her.”

“Like who?” I asked him.

He hesitated. “I am not the one to tell you. See that little house over there? That is where you need to go. I will be here if you guys need help or have any questions.” He started up the stairs when Taylor called after him.

“Oh Peaches? I meant to ask you.”

“Yes?”

“You are a boy, correct?”

He looked puzzled. “Yes, why do you ask?”

“Why did your mother call you peaches? Isn’t that a girl’s name?” He began to laugh.

“My mother was obsessed with fruit. You should meet my sister. Mother named her cumquat! She isn’t very social.” We all laughed and waved bye to him.

We approached the little house next to the river. We argued as to who should knock on the door.

“Anj, you’re going to do it.” Taylor informed me,

“And why is that?”

“Well besides the fact that you are the oldest, we all voted and you lost!” Her logic was horrible! Although it made sense, I didn’t like it!

Shortly after I knocked on the door, a voice from inside told me to hold on. The door opened to a woman. She was very beautiful with chestnut hair and deep chocolate brown eyes. Her skin lightly glowing with a tan.

“Anjulina?” The woman asked.

“Yes..?” I slowly said.

“It is so good to see you!” She gave me a hug. “My, how you’ve grown!”

“I’m sorry, do I know you?”

“You guys have the same smile Anj!” Marah whispered.

“Oh I am sorry, my name is Sabrina Cornacchia. I am your half sister.” I didn’t know what to do or think. This was such a shock to me! “Please, everyone, come in and I’ll explain everything!”

We followed her in to the little house. It may have looked little from the outside but it was a lot bigger on the inside!

“Please have a seat.” She gestured toward the couch. “We have another sister who lives here, Taya. She is out gathering a few items.”

“Why haven’t I met you before?” I asked.

“We were 13 and 14 when you were born. Everyone knew you were the one. You possessed almost every origin. We were old enough to choose whether to stay with the humans, or come live here.”

“Humans?” She didn’t look anything but human.

“You see, the four of you come from a magical heritage. I will tell the rest of you your origins later but for right now, Anjulina needs to know. Here is the chart.

Great, Great Grandmother:(Witch) Great, Great Grandfather:(Witch)

Great Granny Maria: (witch) Great Grandpa: Fairy

Nanny Terri: (50% witch, 50% fairy) Angel Papa: (Mermaid/man)

Mom: (25% witch, 25% fairy, 50% mermaid) Dad: (animal talker)

Taya and Sabrina: (25% Mermaid, 13% fairy, 62% witch)

Anjulina: (50% animal talker, 26% mermaid, 12% witch, 12% fairy)

Sabrina began to tell me about our family history. “Our Great Granny Maria traveled here from Italy so she could be with her boyfriend, our grandpa. She didn’t know why, but her parents did not approve of him whatsoever. Once she got here, she began exploring. She stumbled upon the tree just as you have. Granny discovered her long lost sister here, in Messina. Our Great, Great Auntie Jean taught Granny Maria of our family heritage. Auntie Jean came over here a few years previous to Granny traveling here. That is when she discovered Dypim Trefad, which was in need of a ruler to help save every mythical species from the destruction of the Banshees.” She took a drink of water and continued.

“With the help of some friends, she too learned of our families past. She learned that our family was a straight blood line of witches. Their greatest rivals were the fairies. Granny learned that the reason her parents disapproved of her boyfriend was because he was of fairy decent. Granny loved the fact that our family was one of few that had a pure blood line. But she couldn’t help her feelings with Grandpa. This is where our mixed generations began.”

“Taya and myself have a different father than you. Therefore, we do not possess the animal talking gene. Our father was a witch, this makes us a little more than half witch.” Sabrina explained.

My family has almost every magical heritage that there is. After all the generations, I find out that I am half animal talker, a fourth mermaid, an eighth witch and an eighth fairy. Besides my Grandmother (who I call Nanny), I was the only other one in our family to be immortal. I would not age or become sick with any illness. This was due to the fairy blood mixing with the witch blood. But that wasn’t the circumstance in all cases. Not every person who has fairy and witch blood is immortal. Only a chosen few.

“But...” Sabrina began. “There are a few things immortality can not stand up against. For example, banshees are able to destroy you easily. Especially if your power is weak. There are a few other dangers to watch out for so be careful!”

“What are the other dangers?” I asked.

“I don’t even know all of the,. So just be careful overall.”

My friends had a family history of magic as well. Brooke was a sixth of a witch, Marah was a half of an animal talker, and Taylor was a fourth of a mermaid. We all could not believe this. After all, it was a lot to take in.

“If there is a specified power to talk to animals, then how could all of us understand Peaches?” Marah questioned.

“This is the only territory where animals can communicate with humans. The animal talker power comes in handy with the other 6 territories. Trust me.” Sabrina laughed.

“How would you know if you don’t possess that power?” I was hoping I didn’t sound rude.

“I wish I would’ve though. It would have made things a lot easier. I had to find someone who could talk to animals to translate for me. It was very time consuming.”

“So, our parents knew about this? Why did they not tell us?” Taylor asked.

“They wanted to protect you.” She replied.

“Protect us from what?” Marah asked.

“That is the reason you all are here.” Sabrina told me. “You and your friends are here to burn down the Tree Village of the Banshees. They are what your families have been protecting you from. Every 20 years or so, the banshees come up with a plan to take over this world. Each time, our families have had to destroy them.”

“Once most of them are destroyed, the few left will do something called ’BDR’. Banshee Destruction Recruitment. First our Great, Great Grandmother defeated the village. Then Great, Great Auntie Jean, our Great Aunt Julie, Nanny, Mom, and now you. Unfortunately there was always one banshee that was missed. That one banshee would build up its village and once again, plan to take over Dypim Trefad. The only reason we do not start destroying the banshees right off is because there is only one family who can defeat them.” She looked at me. “Our family.”

“Why can’t you and Taya defeat them?” I asked.

“We were not chosen to. If we were to try then we would be destroyed.”

“So our families have nothing to do with this? Then why are we here?” Brooke asked.

“Your families helped the Cornacchia family in their mission to defeat the Banshees. The Cornacchia family couldn’t have done it without your families. When every power is combined, you become nearly unstoppable.”

She turned and looked at me. “Our family has a tradition of at least one girl from each generation to have three girls. Our Great Granny had 3 girls, Aunt Stella, Aunt Julie, and Nanny. Then Nanny had 3 girls, Aunt Penny, Aunt Linda, and Mom..”

I interrupted her. “We have an Aunt Linda? I knew I had a God Mother named Linda but I’ve never heard of my Aunt Linda.”

“Linda passed away when she was nearly 20 from an illness.” I just sorta looked down. I didn’t know what to say after that.

“Anyways, now mom had three girls, (Taya), you, and me. For generations, it has been the three women of our family ruling DT. Mom, Aunt Penny and Aunt Linda were in training for becoming the rulers. Although they were young, especially Aunt Penny, their magic allowed them to catch on quickly.”

I interrupted Sabrina again. “Wait a second, what kind of illness did Aunt Linda die from?”

As she began to speak she lowered her head. “The three of them were off exploring the territories. They were adventurous. Nanny warned them of the dangers out there but that just made them want to explore even more. A banshee kidnapped Aunt Linda. It turned her in to one of them. When all of your mothers had to get together to destroy them, Mom couldn’t do it.”

Sabrina sighed. “Aunt Linda is the most fearsome and sly Banshee. Just think; that was about 40 years ago. She is much stronger now than she was then. Every 10 years when we go to destroy them, her and another escape. The comforting thought everyone would get was that at least her army would be destroyed for a few years.”

She looked at my friends. “Your mothers come over here once every 10 years to help control the banshee population from taking us over. About 4 years before you were born, is when they decided that when they had children, they didn’t want this life for them. In the back of their minds though, I think they hoped you would find out about it on your own. Taylor, your parents knew who Megin was when she came to town. They were hoping you four would find your way to Dypim Trefad.”

“But they warned us not to go in to the forest.” Taylor told her.

“They over stressed it though. They knew what would happen. While you were having the party, all of our parents were having a meeting about the situation. Our parents knew the ten year mark was up.”

She looked at the time. I could see fear blazing from her eyes.

“Listen, the village sent their princess Megin to your world to recruit some humans for their army. Their plan is to take over Dypim Trefad and turn everyone in to a Banshee. Within the next couple of days while the full moon lasts, their power will build stronger. They have power when it is not a full moon too but the full moon enhances everything they are. You have two days to burn down the Tree Village before their power level becomes full. The last time this happened, the last time they were completely defeated, was 70 years ago by Granny. You must travel to each territory before you go to the Tree Village. Each territory will help you hone your magic. You must go talk to the ruler in Paradise Seas first thing in the morning. Her name is Karen.”

Marah questioned, “If they were completely defeated, how did they build an army back up?”

“Well...” Sabrina slowly began. “A few years after they were defeated, there were sightings of a couple of banshees. When Granny “defeated” them, the banshees had already recruited a few humans. These humans were in the middle of the transition. The transition can take from minutes, to weeks to be completed. Granny is the only one who was that close to completely destroying them. Everyone missed at least one.”

“But how do we tap in to our magic?” Taylor asked.

“Here.” Sabrina handed us a water bottle filled with green colored liquid. “Drink this and your magic will come to you quickly. It may take up to 5 hours for it to kick in. It is different for everyone. But you have got to practice to master it. Oh and Anjulina? Just because you are only an eighth or fourth of something, does not mean that is your weakest magic. That is just your heritage. It is really up to you as to which magic ability you would like to be dominant. Whichever you choose, just practice it more than the other powers.” She gave me a hug.

“Do you have a cell phone I can call you with if we get in to trouble?” I asked her.

“We are sisters. In our family, when someone is a part of the ‘Threes’, they can communicate through thoughts. Just pretend I am right in front of you when you have a question. Close your eyes then talk to me through your mind. Sometimes it can be tricky but it’s one of many perks to being a Cornacchia.” She gave me a smile. “Now, you four get some rest, you can sleep here.” She pointed toward the floor.

“You want us to sleep on the floor?” Taylor asked.

“Won’t that be a little uncomfortable?” I suggested. Sabrina snapped her fingers and made four beds appear out of nowhere!

“That’s just a sample of the kind of magic you could do.” She gave me a wink. “Goodnight.”