Threadneedle

by Cari Thomas

  ‘By knot of five, so may it thrive. Refa.’

  ‘By knot of six, the spell we fix. Iseder.’

  ‘By knot of seven, silence of heaven. Yoj.’

  And then Aunt:

  ‘By knot of eight, the hand of fate. Velo.’

  All of them together:

  ‘We wind, we bind with thorn and twine.

  By knot of nine, the spell entwined!’

  Their hands were bleeding, the thorned and knotted vines twisting in and around their fingers, growing, extending out to meet the other vines – joining – until the entire circle was holding one, single vine. The scene was horrific.

  ‘We bind! We wind! We bind!

  We bind! We wind! We bind!

  We bind! We wind! We bind!’

  The pressure of the magic was like a screw tightening. Circling her. Petals flying. Unbearable. Anna had never felt pain like it before. She struggled to breathe. Her head hammered with their words. The vines extended into the centre – Anna’s own rose growing out to meet them, the eight knots encircling her – and, finally, wrapping around Effie and Attis, ending over their hearts.

  ‘Anna, it’s time for you to make the sacrifice!’ Aunt called. ‘Tie the rose vine in your hand – the final knot – and they will die! Their blood will bind you. Their death will complete your necklace.’ She looked at Effie and Attis. ‘Remember what they have done to you. What they all did to you. You own them now. They are yours to do as you will. One single knot.’

  Anna looked down at her rose, thick with magic, petals whirling fast around her, the spell tightening. She knew how it ended, she could feel the magic forcing its way into existence, ready to complete the narrative the Binders had begun. It was crushing, urging, relentless as the chanting. Inevitable. If she pulled the vines tight Effie and Attis would die and she would be bound. Free of pain. Uncursed forever.

  Attis was turned away but Effie’s eyes met hers.

  ‘You can feel how much she hates you, can’t you?’ said Aunt. ‘You think she wouldn’t kill you if she had the chance? She’d get rid of you in a moment to keep Attis for herself. She must die! She will destroy your life. But him – you don’t have to give him up. You can keep him forever, like I keep your father.’

  Anna looked at the golem in the dark corner of the room. The thing that was not her father.

  ‘Do it for your mother, who would see you live. Quickly. It must be now! Do it or we will do it for you. I don’t want to have to use the Choke Knot, Anna – but I will.’

  I have no choice then, either way. I never did. Anna could feel the spell striving for its end. Attis turned to her then, one last time. She felt nothing. She looked into his eyes, not knowing who he truly was behind them – perhaps they were all smoke and mirrors, nothing really there at all. Perhaps. She turned to Effie, feeling nothing either, but the meaning in Effie’s eyes was clear – she looked at Anna as if she would kill her. My sister, Anna thought curiously, black hair … just like our mother’s.

  Anna looked at Aunt then, her green eyes … just like mine.

  Beneath the rose in her hands, Anna picked up her Knotted Cord from her lap, the movement so small no one saw her do it. The cord that had controlled her whole life had won in the end – every single feeling bound. She was thankful for it. It had made her decision easy, freed from emotions. It would be the last decision she would ever make that way.

  She would not become her aunt.

  Anna dropped the rose and began to undo the knots of her cord, hands a blur, moving faster than they had ever moved before, stronger than she knew. It took several moments for the women to realize what she was doing but, by then, it was too late. Anna had undone the knots.

  Every single one.

  Anna felt it all at once: every moment of training, every sick, sadistic task, every emotion held back and tied up, suddenly undone, streaming through her blood. She looked at Attis and Effie and felt everything there too. She hated how much she loved them, still. My sister. The word was no longer a curiosity but something real, something unbreakable, a power that surged through her like water bursting a dam. The magic in the room drew towards her, meeting what was within her in a chaos of emotion. It’s mine now.

  The Binders tried to get to her – all of their minds were bent on it, but she could feel their magic growing weaker. The bindweed was taking hold. She’d taken it from the kitchen cupboard and put as much as she could in each of the teapots, easily a month’s worth.

  She cast a circle, strong and hard: You won’t get through. I won’t let you. She twisted the vines around the Binders’ hands and arms, tighter and tighter. They shrieked in pain.

  Aunt fought against it. ‘Anna! No! What are you doing? You must kill them! We must bind the curse! I will forever be cursed if you don’t! You will be cursed! Your children will be cursed! It will go on and on forever …’

  ‘No, Vivienne. I will never do what you say again.’ Anna snapped Aunt’s mouth shut. Vivienne’s eyes went wide with rage – terror? The power of the binding spell was still crackling in the air, thirsting for blood, longing to complete its final knot.

  ‘NO!’ Anna forced her own magic against it. ‘YOU CAN’T HAVE US!’

  She thought of her mother and father and used the love that surged through her to break free from her restraints. She raised a hand to Effie and Attis and made a gesture in the air. Their cords fell to the floor. They stood up, looking at their freed hands.

  Effie ran to Anna and beat her fists against her and then they were hugging, holding on for dear life. Anna felt Effie’s magic join hers, fighting the power of the Binders around them – their magic was weakening but not quickly enough. I can’t hold them off for much longer …

  Anna turned to unbind Selene but then Effie screamed. She spun around and there he was, raising the knife to his heart – his knife of many blades: the sacrifice blade. Long and narrow and terribly sharp. Attis brought it down in one fast swipe.

  He fell to the floor.

  Effie made a strangled sound.

  ‘He’s made the sacrifice,’ Aunt shouted. ‘It’s not too late, we can still seal the spell.’

  They began to chant again.

  ‘We bind! We wind! We bind!

  We bind! We wind! We bind!

  We bind! We wind! We bind …’

  Anna dropped to the floor next to Attis. Why? The blood was pouring out of him too fast for questions. She pushed her hands against his chest, trying to stop the bleeding. She could feel the Binders’ spell tightening in the air around them once more, taking hold.

  Effie came at her with Attis’s knife. For a moment Anna thought she meant to kill her but then she lowered the knife to Anna’s hand. Anna opened her fingers and Effie drew the knife along her palm and then did the same to her own. They clasped bloody hands and lowered them onto Attis’s wound, Effie’s face as wild with panic as her own.

  His blood welled to meet their own, but his heart was not beating beneath their palms.

  Hand in hand with Effie, Anna had never felt so powerful and yet – it was too much. The Binders’ spell was closing like a noose.

  Anna raised a shaky hand to Selene and with a burst of energy, released her from her restraints. Help us!

  ‘Selene! Do not resist us. You know he must die,’ Aunt commanded. ‘For the girls.’

  Anna looked at Selene, pleading.

  Selene looked back and forth between them.

  ‘Please, Selene,’ Anna cried. ‘We need you!’

  Anna felt Selene’s magic join the fight – resisting the Binders, pulling back their magic, giving Anna and Effie a moment …

  They pressed their hands harder onto Attis’s wound, looking at each other. Imperfect mirrors. Anna couldn’t bear to see the hope leaking from Effie’s eyes. ‘Live! Oh please, live! You have to live!’ Effie cried.

  His heart began to beat beneath their palms – barely more than a whisper and then stronger, stronger …

  ‘No,’ he moaned. ‘I mu
st die.’

  ‘No, you live, Attis Lockerby! Do as I say!’ Effie screamed at him.

  He opened his eyes and looked at her and then to Anna.

  ‘LIVE!’

  The wound closed beneath their hands. He reached his own hand up to meet theirs. They clasped it and then – they were joined. The force of their magic united. Together, with the Binders weakening, it was easy to force the binding spell back, to unpick its thorns, undo its knots. Suddenly, the petals began to fall to the floor, strangely silent.

  The spell was gone.

  ‘No! What have you done?’ Anna heard Aunt calling.

  Anna gasped for breath. The Binders were just women once more, sitting in their vests, blood smeared over their faces, vines withering in their hands.

  Aunt fell forwards and grabbed at the knife, eyes blazing with an anger Anna had never seen but had always known was there. The anger that killed her mother. Aunt lunged at Effie, bringing the knife down with intent. Attis stopped her and the knife went flying but then they were on him – the other Binders – wielding the last of their magic, blocking his path. Selene joined him in the fight to push them back, but there were so many of them, too many—

  Anna tried to reach out for Effie but Aunt stood up between them. The power roaring from her could not be held back by the bindweed. She had finally let go. She made knots in the air, pinning Effie to the floor. She reached for the knife. Anna knew Aunt would do it – kill Anna’s sister, just like she’d killed her mother.

  Anna turned to the golem. The thing with the face of her father. With all of Aunt’s focus elsewhere she didn’t feel it as Anna unwound Aunt’s magic surrounding him and took control.

  Aunt had the knife – was moving towards Effie – Effie was struggling on the floor. As Aunt raised the knife, Anna brought the golem up behind her. It grabbed the blade from Aunt’s hands. The blade sliced deep into its hand but the creature did not cry out. It threw the blade away and then picked up Aunt and threw her too.

  Its heart belonged to Anna now.

  Aunt turned to Anna in shock. She swivelled back to the golem and directed all her magic at the creature, battling against Anna’s own – Hira against Hira – Anna struggling against Aunt’s unbreakable breaking will. I will not give in to you again.

  ‘You think you can overpower me?’ Aunt laughed, but the golem was coming towards her. Anna could feel the waves of Aunt’s rage beating against her Hira. Anna cried out against it, feeling Aunt’s power growing stronger, unsure how long she could last against her. She urged the golem on but Aunt was so strong, so relentless – but then Aunt made the mistake of looking into the golem’s face. The face of the man she’d once loved. Anna felt it then, the small crack in Aunt’s armour, a single loose thread. Aunt’s magic faltered just for a moment – and a moment was all Anna needed.

  Your love has never been as strong as your hate, Aunt …

  As Anna’s magic took hold, Aunt’s grew desperate, clawing, scrabbling, fluttering, but Anna did not relent. The pain of fighting her was almost too much to bear – but she did not relent. With terrible clarity she knew what she had to do. The only escape she’d ever truly have.

  The golem’s hands wound around Aunt’s neck.

  Anna cried out with a final, desperate surge of magic, not knowing if it was love or hate that drove her. All she knew was that she was losing the only mother she’d ever had. The golem’s hands tightened – Aunt choking, clawing at his hands.

  I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Aunt …

  ‘Anna,’ Aunt spluttered. ‘I love … you …’

  No! No! Anna cried out, falling to her knees, feeling herself weaken. I can’t … I can’t …

  But the golem’s grip did not weaken. It tightened. Through her tears Anna realized that the golem’s power was no longer her own – another’s had wrapped around it. She looked up from Aunt—

  Mrs Withering stood above them. The Binders behind her had overpowered Selene and Attis, holding them back. They were screaming, yelling, but Anna could not hear them. All she could hear were Mrs Withering’s words.

  ‘I can’t risk her living, you see.’ She smiled as Aunt’s green eyes began to turn red. ‘We should never have listened to Vivienne in the first place. We should never have let any of you live, cursed and rotten as you all are. A war is coming – we certainly can’t let you live now.’ Anna tried to pull the golem back but she had already given everything, all of her magic. Mrs Withering completed the job efficiently.

  Aunt went still. Her mouth twitched, but nothing came out.

  Silent, at last.

  ‘Good.’ Mrs Withering rubbed her hands together, her true smile revealed at last – small and sharp, full of bloodthirsty ferocity. The golem moved towards Anna. ‘Now. Your turn.’

  ‘What’s going on?’ Anna heard a distant voice. Mrs Withering spun around.

  Commotion. Cries. People. Magic in the air. Aunt is dead. Anna tried to hold onto reality but her world was breaking apart, turning black. Aunt is dead. Screaming. Hands on her. Attis? Holding her. Pulling her away.

  Anna clung onto him and cried for love.

  Darkness took over.

  MOTHER

  The fire never dies; beware smoke on the wind.

  Tenet Nine, The Book of the Binders

  ‘We must speak to the Seven at once.’ Bertie Greenfinch had one hand on a plump hip and one on a mug of tea. Not one of the china teacups – they had all been smashed. ‘They can’t get away with this in this day and age! Going around binding magic against young girls’ wills! Making sacrifices! Sacrificial magic is not allowed. It is not within the Balance. The Binders must be stopped.’

  ‘It’s an outrage,’ another witch agreed.

  The house was busy with Wort-Cunning witches. It was strange to see them in Aunt’s pristine kitchen. Rowan and Manda had brought them just in time. They’d gone searching for them after the ball but hadn’t been able to find anyone – Selene’s house had been empty. In the morning they’d tracked down Anna’s house and watched as the Binders arrived one by one, knowing something wasn’t right. Rowan had gone home and spilt everything to Bertie – about Anna’s curse, about her aunt. Bertie had rallied the troops.

  If they hadn’t turned up when they did … Anna didn’t want to think what might have happened. They could not have held the Binders off forever, and yet, if they’d shown up earlier – Aunt would not be dead. Are you really dead? Did I kill you? Anna reached for her Knotted Cord but it wasn’t there.

  She sat with a blanket on her shoulders, sipping on some warming concoction Bertie had given her, listening to their plans. Entirely numb. They had tried to make her lie down again but she wanted to know what was happening. She didn’t want to be left alone with her thoughts.

  The Wort-Cunnings, arriving in numbers, had fought the Binders back and they’d fled. Bertie was planning to cover up Aunt’s death with magic – make it look like a heart attack or suicide or stroke. They hadn’t decided yet. They’d taken her body upstairs and an unconscious Peter back to his dorm room, never to remember. The golem was to be destroyed. Anna never wanted to think of that creature again.

  Manda and Rowan tried to talk to her but Anna was too exhausted to explain anything; she couldn’t explain anyway. Nothing felt real. Effie hadn’t looked at her or spoken either. Anna caught Attis’s eye several times but she looked away. He, like Selene, had fought on their side but she still didn’t understand how he was involved, who or what he was. All she could see was him raising his knife, the blood spilling out of his open wound, his perfect skin broken. Why? She wanted to pound her fists against him. Why would you do that?

  ‘We can’t speak to the Seven,’ said one of the witches. ‘They aren’t back.’

  ‘They are.’ Bertie nodded with slow significance. The room stilled. ‘I have it on good authority they’ve returned. But …’ She went quiet.

  Anna looked up. Attis turned to her. ‘Anna, are you OK?’

  ‘Fine,’ she re
plied, still not meeting his eyes.

  Effie spoke for the first time, directing her words at Bertie. ‘What? What’s happened?’

  ‘Yeah, Mum, we need to know what’s going on,’ said Rowan.

  ‘Nothing. Nothing any of you need to know right now.’

  ‘The Seventh, the one who escaped, has come out of hiding and, though nothing has been said officially, there are rumours she has spoken of hunters – that we are being hunted!’ a Wort-Cunning in a bright knitted waistcoat announced skittishly.

  Gasps around the kitchen.

  ‘Tania!’ Bertie chided. ‘Now was not the time.’

  Tania put up her hands. ‘Sorry. I just think everyone deserves to know.’

  ‘What does that mean? Hunted?’ another Wort-Cunning cried.

  They descended into fraught discussion.

  ‘We knew something was going—’

  ‘Witches have often been under attack—’

  ‘Of course she doesn’t mean the Hunters, they’re not real—’

  ‘What else can she be referring to?’

  ‘We don’t know what her words mean yet,’ Bertie quietened them. ‘She may not be referring to the Hunters in that sense, but that we are under threat from someone, something. There’s no need to panic. The Seventh has raised the others. They have returned. Whatever is happening, they will put a stop to it.’

  Selene scoffed. ‘Some group of fools are probably calling themselves the Hunters. This isn’t the sixteen hundreds! What can they do? Send us to the stake?’

  ‘Still,’ said a woman with grey hair piled up on her head like a bird’s nest. ‘Considering the ongoing anti-magic suspicion in the news, we ought to keep a low profile, for now, until the Seven deal with them.’

  ‘That’s exactly what they want us to do,’ said Selene dismissively.

  ‘Iris is not saying we curtail our magic,’ said Bertie, ‘but that we take extra care right now to ensure it doesn’t become exposed.’

  Anna couldn’t process what they were saying. The Binders were mad. She’d just seen it with her own eyes. We are being hunted. Hunted? What if the Binders were right all along?