The Hidden: The Haunted Series, #1

By L. N. White

The night my sister died, a man came to me, he wanted to make a deal with me. 

Little did I know he had another thing planned.

Cleo Martin, a 17-year-old girl, finds out about a hidden world of paranormal beings after an ancestral curse was passed down to her after her eldest sister, Natalia, died. To understand the new world around her and her curse, Cleo gets set to Cypress Institute, a special school on an island just off the coast of Scotland. 

She and her other sister, Katie attend the school. While trying to figure out why the curse skipped Cleo's older sister, Katie. Katie, the brilliant witch that she is, helps Cleo to understand this new world and what really happened on the night their older sister died. All while they are trying to stop Mortimer from breaking the family curse.

Follow Cleo's and Katie's journey into a new while trying to stop an ancient evil that has plagued their family for generations.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: L. N. White
• Release date: Jan 24, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215515334

L. N. White

Author of The Haunted Series Trilogy, L. N. White has been creating stories since she hold a writing utensil. In high school, she started working on poems but moved back to books. The combined stories helped Lyn come up with The Haunted Series. She lives in Oklahoma City with her boyfriend. She has two furbabies who lives with them. A Shih Tzu mix, Tessa, and a domestic short hair, Lyra. Now working part-time as an author and freelance writer to continue her dream of being a published author. She currently has two books out, The Hidden (Book 1 of the Haunted Series) and The Fall: Collection of Poems Vol 1.

Book preview

0. Visceral

We sat in a circle around the board in Ronnie’s informal living room. It will be fine, Ronnie said.

I looked at her, When has it ever been fine when we mess with this thing?

Ronnie shrugged, Well it’s three against one. We agreed that’s what we are going to do next. I looked at the other two, Mel and Nikki. They both shrugged, Nikki was the one who answered my look. It’s always exciting when we play with you, Cleo. Something always happens.

I scrunch my face, Yeah because I always move the piece.

Ronnie rolled her eyes, No you don’t. You’re always as shocked as us.

I flipped my hair, Maybe, I’m an amazing actress.

The other girls laughed, Yeah right. I’ve seen you in plays. Mel said.

Really? How come I always play girl 1? It takes bomb acting skills to be girl 1. I said, dramatically.

Mel shook her head and chuckled, You’re such a dork.

Nikki started to get up, I want to get a drink before we start. Does anyone else want anything? We all said no, so Nikki went to go to the kitchen.

Ronnie was staring at me, Cleo.

I turned my attention to Ronnie, I noticed how scared she was. Her hazel eyes were wide. What’s wrong, Ron?

Ronnie seemed to have difficulty speaking, her voice was shaky. Behind. You.

I turned around, and it was Nikki standing behind me. She gave me a heart attack when she said Boo! Nikki had her blue eyes wide.

Oh my god, Nik you scared the shit out of me. The others started laughing. I noticed Nikki had her blonde hair up in a bun now and her face was bright red. Something that I guess happens when some people drink?

Ronnie smirked and flipped her chestnut brown hair, And that’s how you get the lead.

I rolled my eyes, Whatever. Can we just start so we can go to the next game? I took a sip from my glass, there was so much whisky. I hated the taste and the burn that went through my body which made it even harder to drink. I didn’t want to seem like a loser by telling my friends this was my first time drinking. Maybe, they could tell that I’m a new drinker. The other three had been drinking their whiskey like this was the only time they had any form of liquid touch their lips. I looked back up at Ronnie and noticed a flash of something wicked in her eyes, mischievous as always. Since you don’t want to play this game so badly, would you be down for truth and dare?

I nodded, Yeah, I’m down.

Ronnie smirked, Then truth or dare?

Nikki grabbed Ronnie’s shoulder, Wait, I thought we were going to play with the Ouija board.

Ronnie nodded and said, But I have an idea to loosen Cleo up a little. Her eyes looked between me and my barely touched drink. Sometimes I feel like she can read my mind. She always brings up whatever I’m thinking about. I nodded; I already knew what she would say.

Okay fine. I brought the glass to my lips and tilted my head back. The drink engulfed my body in flames, my heart started to beat faster in response, and a feeling to burp. Which I ended up doing. There. Now, can we play this game, so we can get to the next one?

Ronnie smiled, I’m proud of you. You took that like a champ.

Thanks. I smiled back.

Ronnie nodded, Okay, let’s play.

After an hour of playing the Ouija board. Nothing happened. Ronnie got bored waiting for something to happen. So, we went to the next game we decided to play, which was King’s Cup, for an hour. Hey, Nikki, will you go grab another beer so we can play another round? Mel asked. Mel was the friend who hardly ever spoke, especially when we were in public unless she was drinking. Then, she didn’t have a care left for the world, and would actually do whatever it is that would make her happy.

I smiled, Actually, I was going to get up. I’ll go check. I got up and walked toward the kitchen. I was messing with the ashy blue ribbon choker that I had since I was little. It had a gold metal piece, which was in the shape of a crow with blue gems for eyes. I’ve always had this necklace for as long as I can remember. I passed by the mirror, and I noticed it wasn’t me who passed by, but some reddish-brown-haired woman. But when I went for a double-check. It was just regular old me; long black wavy hair that went down to the middle of my back, and bright green eyes. My mum always warned me about boys. She said I would break a lot of hearts. Instead, I’m focused on being the best in my cheer squad.

I opened the fridge, and there were no more cans left in there, but there were bottles. Sadly, we can’t play Kings Cup with those. I pOkayed my head out of the kitchen, We only have bottles left. Should we call it a night? I said, walking back to the group.

The others nodded.

I think we should rewatch Vampire Diaries before they take it off Netflix again. Nikki suggested. But it looked like Ronnie was about to suggest something too. Nikki and Ronnie were very similar in personalities, both trying to be the ‘leader’ of the group. They always clash with things, fighting like sisters would.

We all agreed. So, we headed to the couch after getting our pillows and blankets. We all curled up on the massive sofa that Ronnie had in her informal living room.

In Vampire Diaries, we had our characters and sometimes cited their lines. Ronnie, who is the leader of our group, is Elena. Mel, being the witchy person she was, is Bonnie. Nikki, who looks almost like Caroline, with the same blonde hair and blue eyes, is Caroline. Stefan is her favourite, and Caroline and Stefan are her favourite ship. Then there’s only one other main teen character left: Katherine. Who is completely different from me, I was more of an Elena, well the tv show Elena. Or so I thought. But Ronnie saw potential in me to be a bad bitch like Kathrine.

We watched a few episodes and we fell asleep.

1. The Night We Met

Iwoke up not feeling good. It was still dark out; I didn’t even want to know what time it was. But something didn’t feel right, everything was still blurry from the whiskey. I was about to wake up the girls to ask if this was normal, but I didn’t want them to know that this was my first time drinking. I knew my sister, Natalia, was up this late, she’s always studying either for school or our family’s old journals.

ME: Natalia, I have a question

NAT: Why are you up this late? You and your friends are normally asleep by now

ME: Huh, yeah, we were but I had a question about alcohol. Do you continue to feel it even after you sleep?

Sometimes our relationship is a hit or miss, thankfully it’s been good the last couple of weeks. But I was still crossing my fingers that she wouldn’t tell on me for drinking.

NAT: I’m coming to get you

ME: No, why

NAT: Do you want me to tell mum

ME: No

NAT: Then I’m coming to get you

ME: Okay, I’ll pack my stuff up.

Even though I didn’t want to go, I got my stuff together. About ten minutes later, I saw my sister’s red sports car pull up into the driveway. I started to mess with the gold crow on my necklace. I texted the friend chat group, ‘The Musketeers’ which was the first play we did together. Nikki and Mel working behind the scenes. Nikki did make-up and hair, and Mel did light and sound, before that she used to act. But can’t anymore since she would have to wear a wing or dye her hair a natural colour. Mel would rather not, she likes being able to dye her hair different colours every week. While Ronnie and I acted. Ronnie would always get the roles, it’s her life’s dream to be an actor. The other three do love theatre.

ME: My sister wanted to pick me up

I put my phone in the side pocket of my cheer duffle bag. The acting wasn’t my thing, but the cheering was. It was how we all met each other, cheering in elementary school. We all still cheer and do theatre.

I made sure to lock the bottom lock and headed toward Natalia’s car. It started raining while I was waiting for my sister. Ominous, I know. Natalia rolled down the window, Put your stuff in the boot. She unlocked the back. I placed my bag, blanket, and pillow in the back and went to get into the car. She would make me sit in the backseat, even if it was us, but she stopped me. No, it’s Okay to sit up front. She said as she turned back to the steering wheel. It almost seemed like she wasn’t sure. But I did, and slowly put my seat belt on. We pulled out of the driveway and started back to our home.

Except we weren’t going home. Natalia must have been able to tell I was questioning, There’s construction the other way. So it will be easier to go this way. Something told me not to believe her. But why would my sister lie to me?

Are you sure? I didn’t see any construction after school.

Natalia nodded, You do pay more attention to your phone than to your surroundings.

I took a deep breath in and out to try and calm my nerves. This didn’t feel right at all. Something told me that something was wrong with Natalia. Or something is wrong with the path we are taking. Maybe it was the alcohol? I looked out the window and watched the stars. They always brought me peace when I tried to find the different constellations. I started to mess with my necklace.

I noticed the stars started to spin in a circle and slowly moved towards the centre of my vision. Then a ray of colour replaced my vision. I felt sicker than I had before, I felt the same burn sensation of the whiskey a few hours ago. Then there was nothing.

Till I felt something cold and wet on my face. I managed to finally blink my vision back and looked around. I was on the ground, my body ached like I was tackled by a 90-kg football player. Or how I imagined it would feel if you got tackled without protection. It was dark but whatever was behind me was the only source of light. I slowly turned to see my sister’s car. The front was crushed. We had crashed into a tree. But I was the only one out of the car. Natalia was resting her head on the steering wheel. Natalia? I inched my way to her, even if the pain was raging in my body. I lifted her head, and laid it against the back of her seat, just to have her head flop forward. I started shaking her, Natalia?! I kept shaking her and yelling her name.

You know, it’s too late for that? A deep voice said, You’re five minutes too late. I felt my heart quicken, as I whipped around and saw a tall man in a dark suit. I couldn’t see his face because of the top hat he was wearing. His suit was so out of time, and he gave off a creepy vibe.

2. And Then There Was Us

What do you mean? Why didn’t you help her? I yelled.

He put his hands up like he was being arrested, I saw blood on his white gloves. As you can see, I tried. But like you, I was also too late.

I shook my head, No. It’s not. Stop saying that. I paused, looking for her phone, Did you call 999 yet?

He chuckled, No. I didn’t. What’s the point? It doesn’t involve them anyways.

I wiped my tears and looked at him, What do you mean?

He shrugged, It doesn’t concern you either.

I-

He held up his finger to silence me, Not unless you make a deal with me.

Why would I make a deal with you when my sister needs help? I started to reach for her phone.

I felt him grab my arm and throw me away from the car. My breath was knocked from my lungs. I held onto the side I fell on; it was starting to get hard to breathe. I told you. He said, sternly. It doesn’t involve the mortals. But I can give you a choice, and you must give me your answer quickly.

How-

He cuts me off again, I want to make a deal with-

Will you stop cutting me off? I yelled.

He smiles, So, she does have a backbone. In the blink of an eye, he was right in front of me. He was leaning toward me; I could finally see his face. He wasn’t that old, maybe mid-twenties. He had a dark beard, and other than that he almost looked like he could be my dad’s brother. They had the same blue colour eyes that run in the family. Natalia has them, and my other sister does not. The dark blue looks bright though, almost like ice. I would like to join forces and find out what happened to your sister.

What’s the catch?

This is going to sound crazy, especially to one that has been raised as a mortal. But I need you just as much as you need me. He walked closer to me; he was about to touch me; I tried to stop him. But my hand went through him.

He pulled away and smiled. I’m not here. I can touch you, but you can’t touch me. He paused, At least for now.

Why?

I’m your ancestor, Mortimer Marcellus, you probably won’t know of me. I’m nobody in the mortal world but in the supernatural world, I was so powerful they couldn’t even kill me, just barely were able to entrap me in my daughter’s mind. His face went sour, I was passed down like an antique. Though your father was close to figuring out how to release me. And I hope we can continue to work on that as well as figure out what happened to your sister.

But why do you need me if you’re so powerful?

He shrugged, Technically I don’t have any power on my own. It must be connected to something living for me to have anything and even then, I don’t have that power. The host does.

Why?

Mortimer was annoyed, "Listen, do you want the deal or not?

I don’t see a reason for it.

Something about Mortimer’s posture changed, he seemed stiffer than before. He stood up straight and nodded. He grabbed me by my bloody shirt. Mortimer dragged me back to the car where my lifeless sister was. He forced my face to my sister’s. Normally the air around her was warm, either as a comforting blanket or hell surrounding you. Nowhere in between. But now it was cold, causing me to shiver. Do you want to end up like her? I had no words while looking at my sister, all I could do was shake my head. Then take my deal. It only lasts for the next minute or so before a hell portal opens and takes this whole area with it. My mouth was going dry, I couldn’t bring myself to talk. Or move. I was frozen in my hell.

3. Deal With A Devil

My sister…

We had our difficulties, sure. What sibling doesn’t? But I wouldn’t have guessed this is where this road would have taken us. We were doing so much better in the last couple of weeks than we had in a long time. She used to blame me for our father’s insanity. But mom told us it sometimes runs in the family. Why would someone cause this? Did someone do this?

But I don’t understand. Why do you call me mortal?

He nodded, almost annoyed, Yes, you’re a mortal. There are beings that most mortals think are just stories. But that’s wrong. He gestured to my sister, Like your sister over there is a hunter. Like her father and his father before him. Though your mom is mortal but grew up around these supernatural beings. Mortimer let me go.

I don’t understand. Why would they hide this from me?

Mortimer shrugged, I’m not sure. Maybe it’s because they thought you had no supernatural abilities. They thought you were just mortal. I heard that your mom grew up with supernaturals. So, she knows most mortals don’t make it out alive in this world and maybe thought she didn’t want that for you.

I showed no abilities? I asked, and my knees started to buckle. So, I used the tree to keep me standing.

Mortimer shrugged, I’m not sure, that’s just what your father said, though with our family we normally don’t have any abilities. That’s part of the curse.

I couldn’t hold myself up any longer. I slid down the tree, Now you’re saying there’s a curse. I sighed, I wanted to run but I just couldn’t leave my sister here by herself. Even if she didn’t like me, I feel like she wouldn’t leave me behind either.

Mortimer nodded, Yeah, that’s why I am here today. Otherwise, I would have died decades ago.

So, you are the curse? And how am I able to see you?

Only ones in my bloodline can see me right now. I need to be transferred to the next one in my bloodline and you are the closest.

Yeah, I don’t want any part of that. I would rather keep the life I have.

He bent down and raised my head by putting his finger under my chin. I gasped as I was somewhere else and saw three people about to be hung. Two men and a woman, all around my age. I blinked back, and Mortimer’s face