The Witch Box

by Laura Ellison

  Chapter Fourteen

  Joshua came to see Anna at lunchtime. She was at her desk, a box of tissue in front of her. Joshua sat next to her. He didn’t speak, placing his hand on her shoulder.

  “Josh, who would set an innocent woman on fire?”

  “I don’t know what to think...”

  “Bonnie and Ruth should leave town.”

  “I heard Ruth isn’t at her sister’s house anymore. Colbie said Ruth wouldn’t tell her where she’s staying now.”

  “Colbie spoke to her grandma?”

  “Ruth called the house this morning after finding out about Lois.”

  “Bonnie won’t be here much longer.”

  They heard the front doors open, two male Fruit Ridge County police officers entered. Anna rose from her seat.

  “Is Max here?” one of them asked.

  The officers stayed with Max in his office for almost a half hour.

  Anna sat alone for a while, the phone quiet. She had spoken to her father the night before. He was on a long haul, and wanted her to stay with relatives in Falls River, but she declined. She pulled at the protection around her neck, a yarn necklace boasting a dull rusted nail. She had drawn a thick pentagram on her arm, covered by her sleeve. She couldn’t think of what else to do. She was just an apprentice compared to Ruth or Bonnie. None of them had practiced in many years. Not since the fire, they said. But Anna had her doubts.

  Ruth had been teaching Joshua, she thought. He had talent, he showed me.

  Two nights before he smashed up his Jeep, he came to her house. The weather had been humid, fireflies blinking all over Anna’s back yard. Joshua had brought an old glass jar. He lifted the jar over his head and a little swarm of fireflies flew in. Anna and Joshua had stood there, the bright light turning the jar into a lantern.

  He had said,”I am a magician. I can do anything. I know I’m strange to the world, but the world isn’t strange to me, Anna.”

  “You’re not afraid?”

  “Why should I be? I own my talent, no one else.”

  I envied his confidence, she thought. He could be arrogant, but I saw his good side.

  Anna wasn’t sure when Joshua started dating Colbie. He didn’t seem to find her interesting until this summer. She was always Ruth’s granddaughter, nothing more. But she was so pretty with those green eyes and white-blonde hair. Everyone commented on her looks, she could be a model.

  Too bad she doesn’t have much sense, Anna thought. She just wants some older man with money, so she can sit on her lazy ass. She wants Brenda’s life, but Colbie doubts herself, so she’ll never be happy.

  Anna could have said the same about herself. She had talent, but couldn’t seem to escape. There was no money for college and her father needed her help. She was stuck at Max Packaging, having to use rusted nails and her belief in Hecate, a Dark Mother, to get her through, to feel protected from the evil around her.

  Hecate is dark, but not evil, she thought. There’s different kinds of dark, but evil is evil. Joshua has to learn how to protect himself before that baby is born.

  Colbie sat alone in study hall, thinking about her meeting with Anna.

  Senior year was not shaping up to Colbie’s expectations. She had even less in common with her classmates than before. One of her friends had suggested a baby shower, but she couldn’t have a party in the face of Leo’s disappearance and the other deaths.

  Colbie liked to think that she had more sense than Anna presumed. Josh would be shocked at what she and Anna did, even if all they wanted was to help him.

  We prevented a tragedy, she thought.

  Colbie looked down at her homework. Independent Study. She was trying to start an essay on To Kill A Mockingbird. She liked reading about Scout more than Holden Caulfield in The Catcher In The Rye, although there was something about Caulfield that reminded her of Joshua before he became ill, his imagined invulnerability as the gifted outsider.

  She saw a group of students walk down the hallway, past the glass door of the library. They were laughing, probably making plans for Halloween. She planned on staying home, not in the mood for the spirits outside. A perfect night for Harvester or the killer of Marilyn and Lois.

  Her conversation with her grandmother had been brief. Ruth did not reveal where she was staying, but not at Gloria’s or the trailer. Colbie told her to get out of town, but Ruth wanted to stay until the baby was born.

  Colbie didn’t want interference from any of them. She had made her deal with Brenda and Max.

  My power isn’t in practicing, whether I have talent or not, it is with this baby. My perfect little gift.

  Joshua entered his father’s office, ready to leave for the night.

  Max was at his desk. “Shut the door behind you.”

  Joshua did as he was told. “What is it?”

  “I told you I wasn’t mad about the cassette tapes. But if you found the tapes, you must have been searching in other places as well.”

  “Your desk was locked.”

  “The reason I keep this drawer locked is because it contains some things that belonged to your mother. I don’t like to keep these things at home because of Brenda. There’s always been some jealousy...”

  “Why does she study Mom’s spell books?”

  “I’ve never seen Brenda read a book, let alone a spell book.”

  “She’s not teaching Colbie?”

  “Maybe a few Wiccan spells.” Max reached down, pulling at the desk drawer. “I want you to have this...”

  Joshua stared at the object before taking it from his father’s hand.

  Max smiled. “Looks wicked, doesn’t it? Survived the fire. Too ugly to burn.”

  A small bust made from brown clay. The shape of a head and shoulders. However, the head was wide, eyes slanted, a long nose, full lips, and a strong chin. The neck and shoulders were thick.

  “Your mother made it. She said Harvester had many faces. This was only one.”

  “Was she scared of him?”

  “She was too fascinated to be scared. Harvester made her feel special.”

  “Did she really stop the drought?”

  “The rain came. My business continued to grow. But Liz didn’t really take credit for it. Neither did the others.”

  “What about Davey?”

  “Davey was Alice White’s boy. He had cystic fibrosis. It killed him before Liz died.”

  “Do you ever talk to Alice?”

  “Not in years. I have to admit that Alice didn’t like me. Thought I was a dumb old jock, not good enough for Liz.”

  Joshua turned the statue in his hands. “There were things she didn’t tell you, right?”

  “Your mother had her little secrets. She was one of these women with her own potential, but settled when she married me. She was special, so are you.”

  “I don’t remember being special.”

  “You will.”

  “I had a witch box, Dad. I was practicing witchcraft and Ruth was helping me. Did you know?”

  “I didn’t like it, but I couldn’t stop you. You were getting older and you had your own ideas. Brenda was also interested in the craft, but she didn’t have your natural talent. You were starting to show off a bit. You would disappear from the house late at night, but I didn’t worry, because you had nowhere to go.”

  “What about school? Friends?”

  “You weren’t exactly popular, Josh. You spent more time at home or the plant.”

  “I didn’t like school, then?”

  “No.” Max rose from the chair. “You can keep that ugly thing, but don’t let Brenda see it.”

  “Can I ask why you kept it all these years?”

  “Just something of your mother’s.”

  “That survived the fire?”

  “Right. There was so little to find later.”

  Max put on his jacket. They both left the office, Max locking the door behind him. “How did the day go with Bonnie?”

  “We got the orders done.”


  “And tomorrow you get to do it all over again.”

  “That’s okay. I like staying busy.”

  “You’ve changed, son.”

  “Anna says the same thing.”

  “You were raised sort of wild and free. But it wasn’t your fault. Liz and I didn’t know what we were doing, but we thought that if we could make you feel loved, we would be good parents.”

  “I guess I felt loved. I don’t remember.”

  “I love you, son, no matter what. I didn’t understand your mother’s need for Harvester, but I never tried to stand in her way. I thought she would grow bored, but she didn’t. As you became more and more drawn to witchcraft, I knew you had your mother’s talent. You could control animals and sometimes move objects with your mind. As a little boy, you told me you could hear your mother’s voice, whispering. I never doubted you.”

  “I can’t do any of that now. It’s like I never knew it.”

  “If you start to remember, maybe you’ll be able to get your talent back. If you do, use it to help others. That’s all that talent is really good for.”