Prologue

Salem, October 31, 1690

Serena Evans panted as she ran through the forest. She could still hear the shouts from the men chasing her, and every second they sounded a step louder.

Finally, deep into the forest, she came upon her destination. It was a very tiny, one room wooden hut that was hidden behind the tall evergreen trees that surrounded it.

Serena ran up to the door and rapidly knocked on it.

"Leonora! Leonora! Open up, please! It's Serena; please open Leonora PLEASE!" Serena begged, tears running down her dirty cheeks.

The wooden door slowly opened, but no one was right behind it. "Come in, quickly," Serena heard a weak voice say. She obeyed, and shut the door behind her. She slowly walked over to an elder lady sitting in a chair and kneeled down to her.

Lenora was very old, with chalk white skin that was very wrinkled from age. She had hair dark as the night's sky that was wrapped around in a tight bun. She normally had huge red eyes, but they were barely open now. Lenora was dying, and it wasn't good for Serena.

"Serena," she breathed, slowly stroking the young woman's face.

"Lenora, please. They're after me! They want to kill me! Please, you must help me!" Selena pleaded, her big brown eyes screaming fear.

Lenora placed her cold hand onto Serena's. "Serena, I can do nothing. I won't be here much longer."

"No! You can't die! I can't be the last survivor!" Serena said.

"You shall neither be the last survivor." Lenora said. "None of us will. Not for many moons."

"Lenora, I don't quite understand."

"They will take all of us, Serena, whether we like it or not. But in the end, nothing will stop us."

"Lenora, you aren't making sense. If we all die, how will we survive later on?" Serena asked.

"The little one's spirit will come again." Lenora whispered. "But in order for that to happen, you must let it."

"Lenora, why are they killing us off? What have we done to them? All the evil they speak is myth!"

"Mortals are frightened of what they understand not. And that is us. But you can change that, Serena. You are our last hope." Lenora said barely above a whisper, before everything stopped. Her eyes shut completely, her skin colder than ever. Her body was still.

"Lenora," Serena said hoarsely, her eyes swelling with tears. "Lenora come back! I can't do it alone, please! I need you! Lenora!" she cried, gripping onto the non-living woman's hand.

"Come out, Serena!" "You're time has come to an end!" Men shouted into the small wooden hut. They banged on the door loudly, and you could see the flames of torches through the glass window in the middle of the dark night

Serena cringed. She held on tightly to the little bundle of rags in her arms. What was wrapped up inside of them squirmed. Serena looked down to her baby girl's face. She was so innocent; so helpless. She was born only a few short hours ago. But Serena knew she would have a terrible future. That is, if she lived to have a future. She knew she wouldn't be around much longer, and was afraid neither would her kind. The words of Lenora swam in her head.

"You are our last hope." "In the end, nothing will stop us." "The little one's spirit will come again."

Wait, the little one's spirit – her daughter's spirit. Serena gently placed the bundle of blankets in Lenora's lap and jumped up to get Leonora's grand book.

The yells and shouts from outside made her move quickly. The large old book with an old and ragged leather cover was already on the table. All Serena had to do was find the spell in time.

She flipped through the tattered parchment pages until she found what she needed: a very special resurrecting spell.

"Ok," she breathed out, reading the instructions. She went back and picked up her daughter and placed her onto the top of the table, right next to the book. Her daughter giggled as Serena placed her hand just centimeters away from her daughter's heart.

"Doth let the spirit of this child be born again. Let ith be that the first child born on the stroke of midnight on all Hallows Eve in Salem shall have the powers of their ancestors and be the one to bring witches back forth the deathly grave." Serena said in her spell voice. The room shook for a slight moment, but no mortal would have noticed.

Serena took one last look at her daughter. She was smiling a cute new-born smile and was waving her tiny little arms around. Serena began to cry again, knowing even if her spell worked, she wouldn't be able to really see her daughter.

"I love you, Sharpay," she said, kissing her daughter's forehead.

There was a loud slam as the door to the hut was barricaded down. Men with torches and pitchforks scrambled into the room, shouting and yelling. All the noise bothered the baby, so she began to wail.

"That beith the witch's child! It be a witch too!" One man yelled, pointing to the baby wrapped up in blankets.

Men were trying to grab Serena, but managed to get out of their grasp. "NO!" she screamed, running to protect her child. But one man took a wooden spike he had and stabbed it into the baby, which made her holler out in pain before becoming still.

"NO! You BASTARD!" Serena shouted, punching the man square in the face.

"Grab the witch!" someone said. And many men grabbed Serena by her arms and legs so she could not escape. They didn't even bother with Lenora; they knew she was long gone.

All the attackers were walking out of the hut, bringing Serena with them. She took one last look in the hut.

Lenora was still in her chair. It only looked as if she was sleeping. Lenora had been so close to Serena. Serena had no where to go, especially when she learned she was pregnant. So Lenora was with her every step of the way.

But during her pregnancy, a plague was going around. People were learning that so many everyday women were witches, and because humans are scared of difference, they wanted all witches eliminated in Salem. So they went off killing every witch they could. And witches were only in Salem, no where else.

It just so happened that tonight, on the night of Serena's child's birth, Lenora couldn't be there. She had come down with smallpox, and that's why she died. All the other witches had died before today. So Serena and her baby were the only ones left.

Her baby. Serena looked at her child. The steak was in her stomach, and blood was oozing out. Her face looked pained, naturally. But it also looked scared and terrified and longing for her mother. And it would forever stay that way. Tears feel down Serena's face.

"Burn it down," she heard one man say to the other.

"NO! Please, no!" Serena begged.

"Shut up you bitch," the man who was gripping her hands so tight she could no longer feel them spat at her. Serena struggled a bit, but was punished by another man with a hard slap on the face.

The man who had slapped her walked over to the hut and placed some of the flames from his torch onto the wooden floor.

The whole house quickly caught on fire. Serena sobbed and coughed at the sight. She felt so weak; she wanted to just drop to her knees and cry. But the man behind her kicked her in the back of the knee to make her keep going.

"Where are you taking me?" Serena whispered.

"To a place where you will end once and for all, witch." The man behind her, Kenneth she believed his name was, said.

"You don't even understand us," Serena muttered. She received a punch in the back by Kenneth.

Serena didn't utter a word for the rest of the time. Finally, everybody stopped.

"We're here," Kenneth whispered in a sing-song voice in Serena's ear, an evil grin on her face. Serena looked scared out of her wits. They were at the gallows. Kenneth shoved her forward, where another man grabbed her and walked her onto the platform.

He tied itchy, scratchy rope around Serena's wrists so tight that Serena saw blood coming out of her fingernails, he hands whiter than Lenora's skin. Then he got the rope that was dangling next to him and put it around Serena's neck. Then he walked off of the platform to where the lever was.

"You shall all regret this," Serena called, tears still falling. "Witches will come again. You can't kill a witch. We have no reason to die."

"Say goodbye, bitch." One man called to her, causing all the others to snicker.

"That's witch," Serena said. The man pulled the lever, and the platform dropped.

And with that, the last witch in Salem died.

Salem, October 30, 1990

Amelia Evans was tossing and turning in her sleep. She woke up with a jolt and beads of sweat covering her face. She looked over at the body of her sleeping husband next to her, and began to violently shake him.

"What is it?" he asked sleepily, turning over and rubbing his tired eyes.

"Honey, I think it's time." Amelia said.

Mr. Evans eyes shot right open. "Time? It's time?"

Amelia shook her head quickly. Mr. Evans jumped out of bed and ran into there closet, only to come out a couple of seconds later with a suitcase. He then rushed over to his wife's side and pulled her out of bed, revealing her swollen tummy.

"Oh my GOD!" Amelia panted as her husband walking to their car. She never knew having a kid would be THIS painful.

A couple minutes and a lot of painful shouts later the Evans couple made it to the Salem Community Hospital. Amelia was immediately brought to the delivery room; the doctors all knew she was ready and that this baby was on its way any minute now.

It didn't take long for Amelia to give birth to her first child; a baby girl.

"I'm so proud of you honey," Mr. Evans said. Just as he said that a nurse with a clipboard came in.

"Have you thought of a name yet?" she asked Amelia. Amelia and her husband had discussed many times what they would name their baby. If it was going to be a boy, they'd name him Ryan. If it was going to be a girl, they would name her Rebecca.

"Sharpay," Amelia said suddenly. "Sharpay Serena Evans."

Her husband looked at her. "Hon, I thought if we were going to have a girl we'd name her Rebecca. He looked into his wife's eyes. They seemed different. Normally you could see kindness and love in her large blue eyes. But tonight, nothing was in her eyes; they seemed empty. And he could swear he saw hints of brown in them somewhere.

Amelia looked up at him. "But I like Sharpay," she said in a daydream-like voice. Mr. Evans didn't think she seemed normal. But then he thought it could just be a side effect of having just given birth, and brushed it away.

"Ok," the nurse said, writing it all down. "Sharpay Serena Evans; six pounds, eleven ounces, twenty-one inches, born at 12:00 AM on October 31, 1990."

Little Sharpay opened her eyes for the first time. Her parents immediately noticed her beautiful big brown eyes. They were just like her mother's; her real mothers.

Heyy! So here is the prolog (yes I still know that isn't how you really spell prolog, but the English language is seriously starting to bug me) of the story "Witch Trial". And now I've got a couple little notes for you all.

A/N 1: My story takes place in Salem, MA. Every character, even the wildcats will have been born in Salem, and that is where East High will be also. It just had to be for the story, to make sense and all. Plus Salem MA is like the witch capital of America. And even though the last time I was there I was 3 and too terrified to got to any witch-related thing, I still know a lot about them.

A/N 2: Ryan will not be Sharpay's brother. He will be in the story though. Like he'll be friends with them and be part of the gang or course, but he won't be in any blood relation to Sharpay. So if someone wants to suggest a last name for Ryan that would be wonderful. AND, the person whose name they suggest and I pick will get their own role in the story. So I hope you all send in suggestions!!

A/N 3: if there is anything that you don't quite understand about the prolog, or later on any other part of the story, send me a PM or leave it in a review, which ever you prefer. I know sometimes I don't always make sense with the stuff I write (like my spelling and grammar mistakes – sorry about those!) especially with a fantasy story like this with all the magic and what not, I will totally like to explain it to you. The more you understand of the story, more you'll like it and the better it will get.

A/N 4: please leave TONS of reviews! Not just for this story, but for all my others. Lack of reviews makes me think you guys don't want to keep reading my stories, and brings me down a little. So leave tons of reviews, even if it's constructive criticism. But please KEEP it constructive, and not mean and nasty.

Kay, well, that's it! Hope you liked the prolog of "Witch Trial"!!

LOVE, J