The Witching Hour by Katie Brethorst (websites to read books for free .txt) 📕

Chapter One

"Come on Tara, you're a great singer and you know it. You have to march right on in to that record company, go up to a talent agent and sing your little heart out. You'll come out with your bags already packed for Hollywood." Sabine said. I rolled my eyes at her. She has been nagging me for the past two years to go see some talent agent at her dads company.
Me, I like to sing and all, but I get stage fright. Or so I tell her. When really, I'm scared of getting caught. No, I'm not a psychotic killer, but people who heard what I am might get the wrong idea.
I tossed my Pre-Calc book in my locker, and grabbed my science book. I heard the warning bell ring. I grabbed my notebook, slammed the locker door shut, and ran. I heard Sabine yelling at me. I smiled to myself.
I got to science just in time. There were a bunch of mirrors on the tables. Thank God, I don't have to listen to the boring teacher lecture. Mrs. English ( I know, right?) told us to pick up the mirrors in front of us, and look at our eyes.
I knew what I would see. Me with my ivory colored skin, my long, waist lenght,red hair, and my green eyes. Mrs. English turned off the light and I saw blue lightning in the far back of my pupils.
Oh, didn't I mention? I'm a witch.


Chapter Two

I heard the yelling across the hallway. Oh Jesus. Here comes the whirlwind of my best friend.
"Tara,Tara,Tara! I have the best news for you! I gave my dad that promo you did for me last Christmas, and he loved it! He has an agent all set up for you and everything! All you have to do is tell him yes! Please do it. Please,please,please?" Sabine said. She gave me her best puppy dog eyes. Despite the numb feeling in my whole body, I was kind of excited. I can't believe someone actually liked my singing! No one likes my singing. Not even my evil step dad. Figures. I could use her begging to my advantage though.
"Fine, but you're buying me lunch." I said evilly.
"Aww." Sabine complained while I dragged her to the lunch line. I grabbed a brownie too, just for good measure. Hey, I'm not paying.


Chapter Three


"Sabine, I dont think this is such a good idea. I might freeze up or something. This is such a bad idea. Take me home, please?" I was begging. That is definitely not good. I only beg when I am seriously nervous.
"Too late. I already bought you lunch. Now move." Sabine shoved me through the big doors of the twenty story skyscraper. I gulped and looked up. You could see every floor from down here. You could see all the workers walking to their, probably over furnished offices. On the ceiling there was a giant stain glassed window depicting the scene where Hades takes Persephone to the Underworld.
"Doesn't that scene make you cherish everything you have?" I asked Sabine. "I mean compared to her, our life is in perfect order. She was just picked by that man and stolen from the life she knew." I felt so bad for poor Persephone. She was special, and people knew it. She was popular and liked it. But then that stupid man had to take it all from her. Stupid. Man. Back to the present, Sabine pushed me into an elevator and hit twenty. Oh my God, I hate heights. I took a deep breath, and just looked at my reflection in the elevator door. The doors opened and we stepped onto the twentieth floor. There was a large oak door and there was a bench in front of it. We sat on the bench, and of course, it had to be up against the glass seperating me from the floor two-hundred feet below me. I was really close to hyperventilating. I kept my calm though, and waited. And waited. And waited some more. Eventually a man came out and introduced himself.
"Hello, are you Tara Peerson?" he asked me. I nodded. "Good, come on in. I'm Robert Gain." He really gave me the creeps. He also talked kind of weird. Plus he was kind of chubby. " Well come on then, molasses, I don't have all day." Man, I really don't like this guy.
"Yeah Robert, Gain any more weight and you'll fall through the floor." I muttered.


Chapter Four


"So, Tara, if you were an actress what would your name be?" Robert asked me, with a slight sneer in his voice. Man, I am seriously,starting to not like this guy. If I wasn't such a stickler on magic, I probably would of put a zipper on his mouth.
"Actress? I thought I was here for a singing audition. If someone signed me up for an actressing audition too, I'm out of here." I pushed my chair back just to prove my point, when Robert started to clap. What the hay.
"My dear Tara, you just passed the first of many tests. You tested me, and spoke up for yourself, not like those celebrities who just put their head down and run. I like you feistiness. If you can sing, you're off to Hollywood." Sabine squealed. I kind of rolled my eyes, but I was super excited. We went into a recording studio and I sang. Sabine had tears in her eyes, and Robert had dollar signs. I smiled, pleased with myself.
"Okay Tara, one more order of business. What would you want your stage name be?" Robert asked me. I thought about it a minute and I had a good idea.
"How about Persephone?" I asked. Robert looked thoughtful and Sabine was nodding her head.
"Well, okay your name will be purr-se-phoney." Robert said.
"No, that's how it is pronounced. It's Persephone. Like, oh well, I'll explain it on the plane ride." I told Robert. He nodded. I walked out of his office with a smile on my face.


Chapter Five


"Sabine, I already told you, I am not getting Justin Bieber's autograph for you. No he is a total weirdo. It's fake I'm telling you. No one has hair that perfect. No Bieber Fever for you my friend." I told the phone on my shoulder. I had my keys and my soda in my hands, so improv time. I put the keys in the lock and opened the door. I was utterly shocked when I saw my house full of familiar people. At the front of the group, was Sabine with her phone still out. She was grinning like a fool. I'm afraid I was doing the same. I walked over to her and gave her a bear hug. She squeezed me back.
"I just wanted you to know how much you mean to me." Sabine whispered. "I hope you aren't mad." She looked a little worried, and smiled sheepishly. I gave her a grin.
"I don't know, you may have to do a very back breaking favor in the future." I grinned devilishly with a wicked gleam in my eye. Then I heard the scariest sentence that will forever give me nightmares.
"Present time Tara." my mom yelled at me. Every time my mom gets me something, it is lame. I hate to fake liking the presents. I'm all 'Oh Mom, I love that scarf some homeless person made,' or 'I love the Beatles CD that you got me, even though I only like Eleanor Rigby and that song isn't even on there.' Stuff like that. Oh well, hopefully someone else in the room got me something half way decent. One could only hope. I walked into the kitchen and saw this huge mountain of stuff sitting on the table. Thank God for friends, or I'd probably get some awful handkerchief or something. This could take a while.


Chapter Six


"Thanks for coming, have a good night, see you soon, no I will not get you a Justin Bieber autograph. Go home Sabine." I was talking to everyone leaving my house. I was seriously having the greatest day of my life. I had gotten to spend some quality time with my friends, and gotten some actually pretty good presents. I got a few dozen books. Pride and Prejudice, The Hollow trilogy, Twilight, and the Marked series. I got an iPod from my mom (its a shocker, yes I know) so I could listen to my favorite artists like Selena Gomez, Christina Perri, Lady Gaga, and Jessica Sutta. I got some CD's, and a card saying how nobody would forget me and how they would buy my newest CD every time one came out. That is the present that hit the home the most. I almost cried when I read it. Later when I was eating cake by myself, Sabine slipped a little box in my hand and walked away. It was a ring with a purple butterfly on it. But what made it special was that where the tip of the wings meet, it has BFF's on it. On one wing was my name written in cursive. On the other it had Sabine on it. I had started to get moist eyes, when I saw it. I slipped it on my ring finger, and it looked like it was meant to be there.
While I was telling people bye, I saw that my mailbox flag was up. When the last person got in their car I walked over to it. I opened it up and saw a box. I grabbed it and ran inside. I practically flew up the stairs to my room. I opened the box and a note fluttered out. I picked it up and read 'See you soon' in fancy letters. There was no name or anything just those three simple words. It was pretty weird. I looked at the smaller box and opened it. Inside was a three pearl strand necklace. It was beautiful. One strand was blue pearls, one was pink, and one was a soft green. Man, I couldn't wait until I got to Hollywood.


Chapter Seven


I was sitting on the plane when I got the message from Sabine. It said 'I am so happy for you. send me an autographed picture of Justin Bieber.' I rolled my eyes and smiled. I put back 'I will absolutely not get you a picture of that dork. I'll get you one of Selena Gomez though.' I knew she absolutely hated Selena for stealing her man. The reply came in 'grrrrrrrr.' I laughed and then the captain came over the loud speaker.
" This is your captain speaking. We need you to turn off your cellular devices and electronics until we get up in the air. Thank you and I hope you have a pleasant flight. I typed in a quick bye to Sabine, then turned my phone off. I hate heights, so this would be a total nightmare. I put my head phones in and was listening to 'Please Don't Stop the Music', when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked over and guess who's sitting there with me in first class. Justin Bieber.