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clucking her tongue moving her
across the field to help Jack with the rest of his chores. She
could do this, live life with Jack like this, forever.

3
    5 th June 1610
     
     
    After spending the evening with Jack and his family, she
walked home alone. Jack had offered to walk her, being the
gentleman that he was, but it was barely dusk, so with the little
light, she knew she could walk around the corner. She knew that he
wanted to walk her home for different reasons but knowing her luck
he would do it right outside her cottage and her mother would see
them.
    She smiled thinking of their first kiss. It was rather strange
that the kiss had been so perfect, she’d expected it to be awkward.
The bumping of heads or what to do with their hands. Should they
have remained by her sides or on his face?
    Even though all the questions had entered her head before the
kiss, once his lips had touched hers, she knew what to do; which
way to move her head, how to breathe, how to run her fingers
through his hair as his tongue caressed hers. You couldn’t begin to
describe a kiss like the one they’d just shared, there wasn’t the
right words, enough words to say how perfect it was.
    Cora wanted to feel his lips on hers again, the pounding of
her heart told her the feelings she had for Jack were special. She
wondered how long it would be before they could kiss again. The
thought of his arms around her warmed her body as a cool breeze
travelled through the air. The wind circled her body, on it, sharp
spikes of ice seemed to prick at her skin. She hadn’t realised the
wind had been her one and only warning.
    “ Witch! Witch! Witch!”
    She stopped as fear roughly pushed aside the love she’d felt
floating through her body seconds before.
    Three boys, ones she recognised from a nearby village, stepped
around the hedge. They had been hiding behind it, waiting for her
she realised, as she stepped back already conceding defeat. Why
were they waiting for her? What had she done to them?
    “ I’m not a witch!” she snapped as she felt the wind pulse
around her.
    “ Yes you are, we know, we’ve been told.” The tall boy stepped
closer to her making her heart thump that little bit
faster.
    Taking a deep breath she told her body to relax. Nerves and
fear were fighting for pole position. The wind wouldn’t listen of
course. It had a mind of its own when the moment arose, she
couldn’t stop her element if it snapped. If it did snap, the boy
would know about it.
    “ I’m not a witch, I don’t know where you have heard it from but
that person, whoever they are, is wrong.”
    “ They weren’t wrong about how you dress.” The smaller boy with
bright orange hair that hung in curls around his shoulders sneered,
looking over her dress with disgust.
    Her mother would kill her if the dress brought them this kind
of attention. Why did having her legs on show make her a witch? She
wasn’t wearing a cloak shadowed by a black cat.
    “ You’re a witch that dresses strangely. Ladies do not do such
things with their dresses. Witches are strange!” The tall boy
hissed, his bright apple green eyes glaring distastefully at
her.
    “ I’m not a witch,” she snapped, pushing at her dress trying to
make it appear longer. She’d calmly told them this statement three
times now and knew that they weren’t going to listen to
her.
    She knew what they wanted to do; she just didn’t know how she
was going to defend herself if she couldn’t use her element. She’d
never hit anyone with her fist before. She’d never been forced into
that type of predicament.
    One of the boys stepped close to her and pushed her harshly.
As she stumbled, she felt the sweet sting on her cheek as a hand
slapped it. Gasping and losing her balance, she fell to the floor.
As she did, she felt her dress rip all the more. Holding her hand
out, she told the wind to circle her, told the wind to protect her.
She shouldn’t have but there was no other way. It enveloped her
bringing