Sarah pulled her leg back at incredible speed, fear crept even more in her heart and she clung onto her father, holding his hand with all of her strength. She had seen it as well, her shadow moving on it's own.
Others in the room looked at their own shadows, they were wary of them, if they could, so would have run away and left their shadows behind but they were filled with a gripping desire to see where things would lead that kept them rooted where they were.
"I fear the trouble you have encountered is the doing of your mother." Phoebe said.
As expected, every eye in the room turned to Ashley Miller who had a befuddled look on her face. Phoebe wanted to wrap things up as quickly as she could so she opted to be direct.
"You are a strong woman that has trained her body in martial arts which makes you arrogant."
Ashley frowned, a low growl ca from her mouth, normally this was a sign that she was about to leap into action and puml soone into the floor.
Phoebe was not intimidated, she just kept going, "You use your abilities to settle every minor and major dispute despite the fact that in today's world you do not need to fight physically in order to settle your troubles.
Your fiery uncontrolled temper is what brought disaster to your daughter, soone that you beat up decided to wreck her life as revenge on you. They used a talisman of shadows to steal her shadow temporarily and when it was returned to her, it was under soone else's control.
It is being used to manipulate her emotions, that's why she feels invisible and when she feels that way, she actually becos invisible to others, she is there but they cannot see or hear her."
"Soone can do that!" grandma Mayfair exclaid.
Phoebe nodded.
Andre looked at his shadow, he moved to the left and right and it responded accordingly, allowing him to sigh in relief, he owned his shadow.
Of all the cases Phoebe had worked since he knew her, this was the creepiest to him, far worse than the Eliza Guzman case.
"This makes no sense, how can soone steal a shadow?" Macy Miller, Sarah's cousin of the sa age asked.
"I did not say that it was stolen, I said separated, returned and manipulated." Phoebe explained. "I cannot break down the process but that is what I have found, I noticed it on the day I t her, her shadow was moving around independently."
Murmurs went around in the room, whispers of doubt mixed within. Phoebe was not vested in their belief or lack of, she just wanted to get her job done.
She lit a big black candle and handed it to Sarah Miller.
"Which of your closest friends has fallen ill in an unexplainable way since you started feeling weird?"
Sarah shook her head, she bit her bottom lip as she thought back on the state of all her friends recently but none ca to mind because she had not been spending ti with them since she was struck with the unexplainable condition.
"I don't know." she answered in a soft voice, with tears running down her eyes.
"You, do you know anything?" Grandma Mayfair pointed her walking cane at Macy.
They were the sa age and went to the sa school so odds were that they had the sa friends or crossed paths often.
"Leslie Howard." Macy answered.The young girl shot a look of accusation at Sarah. "At the last parent-teacher conference, Leslie and Sarah got into an argunt over Mike Darling in the bathroom. Leslie shoved Sarah into a locker and sothing cut her on the back."
"Mom was furious when she saw the wound on my back and she beat up Leslie's mom, Mrs. Marissa at school, in full view of the other parents. Mrs. Marisa's skirt was ripped during the fight, it was..... " Sarah finished the rest of the story but left out so bits.
Marissa Howard's undergarnts had been exposed, the small red lace panties she had been wearing had left very little to the imagination. It had not been deliberate on Ashley's part but the damage was done anyway.
It was not a new story to the Miller's they were all familiar with it, Ashley's reckless fights were popular subjects of discussion on the founding lane. It was rare for a full week to go by without Ashley beating up soone.
"Leslie had a hard ti at school after that, everyone was talking about her mother, Sarah apologized to her in the cafeteria but it didn't help the situation.
She and Sarah used to be very close, after that incident they beca enemies to Leslie at least. She quit the cheer squad of Founding Mountain high school.
She stopped eating at the popular kids table, hanging out with them or even talking to them. She cut everyone off and turned into a loner but it didn't help, pictures of her mother were shared by so of the kids. They photo shopped her..." Macy shook her head, she could not reveal the rest it was just too disturbing to reveal.
"Anyway, I saw her two weeks ago in the girls bathroom and she was very pale, she even threw up blood and washed it away quickly. She is the only person from Leslie's circle that I can think of that happens to be sick right now. But, miss shaman, why do you want to know this?" Macy looked at Phoebe curiously.
"If my deductions are correct, Leslie is the one that did this to you although how a sixteen year old girl managed to go to such lengths for revenge is beyond my comprehension." Phoebe shook her head.
Ashley pulled up the sleeves of her shirt, "That little bitch dared to use magic on my daughter, I will teach her mother another lesson today...."
"Mom!!!" Sarah half-scread and sobbed. "Enough with the fights, I am already like this because you beat up and humiliated soone, why do you want to go and start and another fight when I am this way
What happened to Leslie anyway, it was our fault, I knew that Mike was playing both of us but I still foolishly clung on to him. It was what led to the argunt and the fight, I have been riddled with guilt ever since that happened and I have tried to fix the problem but nothing I do can make it right."
Ashley rushed to her daughter but Phoebe stopped her and David pulled her back.
"Do not ruin the protective circle." Phoebe told her. "I have already told you that Sarah's problems are your doing. Mrs. Miller, if you had controlled your temper, you would not have ruined Leslie's life or her mother's and that of Leslie's siblings for that matter."
"I heard that Jack Howard is divorcing Marissa." soone said.
"As he should, she has beco a joke." a man answered.
Even though Macy had not said it, they had all seen a few of those photo shopped pictures of Marissa going around. She might as well have been a nude model at this point.
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