Life Passed

A Transgender Paranormal Fantasy

From the Paranormal Visitor Universe

Chapter Thirteen: Crane's Harassment Campaign

By Sasha Zarya Nexus

Can the circles bond to defend against Elias and his followers?
What effect will Crane's harassment campaign do to stir up their expanding congregation against all the wiccan circles?

Copyright 2008, 2025 by Sasha Zarya Nexus.
All Rights Reserved.

The congregation's formal vote to drive all practitioners from Cedar Hollow and the transformation of individual prejudice into organized persecution became terrifyingly real within hours of that Sunday service. As Laura and I raced home from the church, our Celtic Triquetra necklaces burning hot against our skin, we could already see the first signs of Crane's systematic campaign beginning to unfold across our mountain community.

"Minuet, look," Laura gasped, pointing toward the Moonrise Circle's meeting place as we crested the hill near our house. Even from a distance, we could see a crowd gathering outside the small building where Sarah's circle had practiced for years, their voices carrying clearly across the evening air.

Through our telepathic connection, I felt Laura's horror as she recognized some of the faces in the crowd—neighbors who had smiled and waved just days before, now carrying signs with biblical verses condemning witchcraft. Crane's organizational skills were already transforming the congregation's vote into concrete action, and the systematic harassment of every Wiccan family in Cedar Hollow had begun.

"They're not wasting any time," I said, my twelve-year-old voice tight with fear as we watched more people joining the crowd. "Crane must have had this planned before the vote even happened."

The ancient magic of the Celtic bloodlines might be our only hope against such organized hatred, but first we had to survive what was coming. The real battle for our community's soul was about to begin, and the storm that Elias and Crane had unleashed was already gathering strength with each passing hour.

The Harassment Campaign Begins
Over the following days, Crane's strategy unfolded with military precision. It began with seemingly innocent incidents—Wiccan families finding their car tires slashed, their gardens vandalized, their children excluded from school activities. But the pattern was unmistakable: every practitioner in Cedar Hollow was being systematically targeted.

"They're documenting everything," Tabitha reported when she visited us, her face grim with worry. "Crane's people are taking photographs of our homes, our license plates, even our children. They're building dossiers on every family that practices the old ways."

Michelle's expression darkened as she absorbed the implications. "They're treating us like enemy combatants."

"Because that's exactly what we are to them," Helen's spiritual form materialized beside us, her energy more agitated than I'd ever seen it. "Elias has convinced them that we're not just different—we're actively dangerous to their children and their community."

The harassment escalated quickly. Wiccan-owned businesses found themselves boycotted, their windows painted with biblical verses condemning witchcraft. Families received anonymous letters warning them to "repent or relocate." Children were followed home from school by groups of adults who claimed to be "concerned citizens."

Community Pressure Mounts
But perhaps the most insidious aspect of Crane's campaign was how it divided the broader community. Cedar Hollow had always been a place where different spiritual traditions coexisted peacefully, but now neighbors were turning against neighbors, friends were questioning friends, and the very fabric of the community was being torn apart.

"The PTA voted to ban any books that mention alternative spirituality," Sarah from the Moonrise Circle reported during an emergency gathering at our house. "They're calling it 'protecting our children from harmful influences.'"

"The town council is considering an ordinance against 'public displays of non-Christian religious symbols,'" Marcus from the Oakwood Coven added. "They claim it's about maintaining community standards, but we all know what they really mean."

Laura squeezed my hand as we listened to the reports, our necklaces pulsing with shared anxiety. Through our connection, I could feel her fear—not just for ourselves, but for the younger children in the various circles who didn't understand why adults were suddenly treating them like threats.

"They're using our own neighbors against us," Gladys said, her voice heavy with sadness. "People we've known for years are suddenly afraid to be seen talking to us."

The psychological pressure was immense. Several families had already begun making plans to leave Cedar Hollow, unable to withstand the constant harassment and social isolation. The community that had once embraced diversity was rapidly becoming a place where conformity was enforced through fear.

First Serious Injuries
The harassment campaign reached a turning point when Crane's followers moved beyond intimidation to actual violence. It started with Marcus from the Oakwood Coven being "accidentally" shoved down the post office steps by a group of men who claimed they didn't see him. When Sarah from the Moonrise Circle tried to help him, she was surrounded by a crowd that accused her of "cursing" his injuries.

"They're not even trying to hide it anymore," Michelle said as we tended to Marcus's sprained ankle and Sarah's bruised ribs. "They want us to know that we're not safe anywhere."

But the real escalation came when magical combat erupted for the first time. Tabitha's circle had been meeting in the community center when Crane's followers surrounded the building, demanding they "cease their demonic activities." When the practitioners tried to leave, they were blocked by a crowd wielding iron crosses and chanting biblical verses.

"They came prepared," Tabitha reported, her voice shaking with exhaustion and pain. "Iron weapons, blessed salt, even some kind of protective amulets. Someone's been teaching them how to fight magical practitioners."

The confrontation had turned violent when one of Crane's followers threw a handful of iron filings at Tabitha, causing burns on her hands and arms that normal medical treatment couldn't heal. In response, one of the younger circle members had instinctively cast a protective barrier that sent several attackers stumbling backward.

"That's when they really lost control," Tabitha continued, showing us the bandages covering her injuries. "They started screaming about demonic powers and supernatural attacks. If the police hadn't arrived when they did..."

She didn't need to finish. We all understood that the conflict had crossed a line from harassment into open warfare.

The Magical Response
The attack on Tabitha's circle galvanized the other practitioners in ways that peaceful coexistence never could. For the first time since the crisis began, all the circles started working together, sharing protective spells and coordinating their defenses.

"We can't keep responding to their attacks individually," Helen observed as she watched us practice defensive magic in our backyard. "They're counting on us being isolated and vulnerable."

Laura and I had been developing our abilities rapidly since entering our magical puberty, and now those skills were being put to practical use. We could sense Crane's followers approaching from blocks away, their hostile intentions creating disturbances in the spiritual atmosphere that our enhanced perception could detect.

"There's a group heading toward the Riverside Gathering," Laura announced during one of our practice sessions, her hand pressed to her necklace as visions flowed through our connection. "Six men with iron weapons and some kind of binding spell."

"Can you warn them?" Michelle asked.

"Already done," I replied, my own telepathic abilities reaching out to contact Gladys and the other circle leaders. "But this is getting worse every day. We're spending all our time defending instead of living."

Helen's spiritual form flickered with distress. "Crane is escalating because he knows time is running out. Elias is growing stronger, and soon he won't need human followers to carry out his campaign."

The Breaking Point
The harassment campaign reached its climax when Crane organized what he called a "Community Purification Rally" in the town square. Hundreds of people gathered to hear speakers denounce the "demonic influences" in their community and call for "decisive action" to protect their families.

Laura and I watched from a distance, our necklaces burning hot against our skin as we witnessed the crowd's transformation from concerned citizens into an angry mob. Crane stood at the center of it all, his cold voice carrying clearly across the square as he called for the complete expulsion of all Wiccan families.

"They have shown their true nature," he declared, gesturing toward photographs of the magical confrontation at the community center. "They attack our people with supernatural forces, they corrupt our children with false teachings, and they desecrate our sacred spaces with their unholy rituals."

The crowd's response was immediate and terrifying. Voices rose in agreement, fists were raised in anger, and the very air seemed to crackle with barely contained violence.

"Tonight," Crane continued, his voice rising to a crescendo, "we take back our community. We drive out the corruption that threatens our families. We show these demons that Cedar Hollow belongs to God-fearing people!"

The Awakening
As the rally reached its fever pitch and the crowd began to disperse with obvious violent intent, Laura and I felt something profound happening to our bodies. The magical puberty we'd been experiencing suddenly accelerated, our powers awakening with an intensity that left us both gasping.

"Minuet," Laura whispered, her voice carrying new depth and authority, "I can feel everything changing. Not just our magic—us."

I looked down at myself and realized she was right. My twelve-year-old body was beginning the subtle changes of early adolescence, but more than that, I could sense magical abilities awakening within me that I'd never imagined possible.

The Celtic Triquetra necklace around my neck pulsed with brilliant light, and suddenly I could see the spiritual threads connecting every person in Cedar Hollow—the bonds of love and hate, fear and hope, that wove through the community like an invisible web.

"Laura," I breathed, my voice trembling with the magnitude of what I was experiencing, "I think we're becoming something new. Something that's never existed before."

Through our enhanced connection, I felt her powers awakening in harmony with mine. Where I seemed to be developing abilities related to healing and transformation, she was manifesting skills in protection and binding—complementary forces that together created something greater than the sum of their parts.

"The power of three," Helen's voice whispered in our minds, though her spiritual form was nowhere to be seen. "But not the same three that bound us together. This is the next generation—the guardians who will face what's coming."

As Crane's followers began moving through the streets toward their targets, Laura and I stood together in my backyard, our necklaces blazing with ancient light, our bodies and minds transforming into something that could stand against the hatred that threatened to consume our community.

The harassment campaign had pushed us to our breaking point, but instead of breaking, we had awakened. The real battle for Cedar Hollow's soul was about to begin, and we would meet it not as children, but as the guardians we were always meant to become.

The magical combat that had begun with Tabitha's injuries was about to escalate beyond anything our community had ever seen. But this time, Crane and his followers would face not scattered, isolated practitioners, but a united force guided by love and protected by the ancient magic of the Celtic sisterhood.

The war between love and hate, acceptance and fear, authenticity and conformity was entering its final phase. And Laura and I, transformed by our awakening powers and bound by unbreakable friendship, stood ready to defend everything we held dear.

The power of three was awakening, and with it, the hope that even the deepest wounds could be healed by love's transformative fire.