Lilith willfully succumb to her older version’s ghost’s attempts to seize control. Her whole body tingled and felt cold as she felt herself step away from herself. She thought she would simply be a passenger, a passive spectator to whatever happened next but that was not the case.
As OLG powered up, eyes glowing, energy surging throughout her body, Lilith felt it all. She felt it as her hands touched the inside of the Mother of the Forest. She felt soul energy pour from her fingers and light up hidden glyphs and symbols that lined the whole inside of the hollow trunk. She looked on with awe as the yellow glowing symbols began to move on their own.
“I’m sure you can take over from here detective,” said OLG. As she seceded control back to the body’s original owner. Instead of just being in Lilith’s mind though, she said it out loud confusing Eve.
“ I’m not a detective ,” replied Eve without tearing her attention away from the moving glowing symbols. She had slipped in without Lilith knowing.
“Beautiful isn’t it Eve?” asked Lilith once back in control.
“What is it?”
Good question Eve. Let’s watch and find out. I think, I think that’s, it must be, it’s Heinrich Talon. Lilith focused on a primitive glowing yellow drawing of a man. As if animated it moved, walked along the inside of the hollow redwood trunk. He sat down at what looked to be a desk and was writing something.
Okay. Let’s see where this goes. If nothing else it’s pretty darn cool. Lilith watched as the glowing Heinrich drawing held up a piece of paper in what looked like a real eureka moment. He got up from his desk but another figure walked up to him. They argued and then equally simplistic drawings of gargoyles came and dragged the second figure away. Who was that? And why were they trying to, I dunno, stop him?
The glowing yellow figure of Heinrich took the piece of paper it wrote then started to climb an invisible ladder. With each rung, up the inside of the hollow Mother of the Forest, clouds appeared near the top. With the sun glaring down it was getting harder to follow the figure, Lilith’s eyes wanted to turn away but she kept watching.
Heinrich almost reached the top of the inside of the hollow tree trunk. Then he stopped, among the clouds. He put down the piece of paper on one of the clouds then started his climb back down.
He hid the spell in the clouds? What does that mean? How does someone reach then hide things in clouds? Maybe you’re taking this too literal.
Inside the hollow redwood tree trunk got darker. The sun that shined through the top darkened as if a dark filter was moved in front of it. All the glowing animated figures stood out more in the darkness. Lilith and Eve kept watching, transfixed on it.
As Heinrich Talon descended the invisible ladder, glowing yellow snow flakes fell from above. By the time he reached the bottom rung, everything was covered in snow. He returned to his desk and sat down to write something else. Like the first time he held up the paper in a eureka moment. Then he walked over to the other side of the trunk where there was a surprisingly accurate depiction of Talon House. He went inside with the paper, closing the door behind him.
“SO,” SIR KAIN HELD out his hand. Lilith grabbed it and he lifted her up off the steep trail down to Smuggler’s Cove. “What did you find?”
“I’m not sure,” answered Lilith, a little out of breath from the swim away from the Mother of the Forest, through the underwater caves and the climb back up.
“There were cartoons!” Eve excited as always had no problem climbing back up to the road on her own. She wasn’t winded, not in the least bit.
“Cartoons? That so.” Aunt Rose knew that sometimes Eve needed to be humored.
“No there really was, kinda. It’s a little hard to explain but I think I know where Heinrich Talon hid his spell. But I also have no idea at the same time. Does that make sense?” Lilith didn’t give time for an answer. She pushed back her wet hair. “Of course it doesn’t.”
“Where did he hide it, or you think he hid it dear?” asked Aunt Rose.
“In the clouds.”
“The clouds?” Sir Kain didn’t know what to make of Lilith’s answer.
“I know, it sounds crazy. But from what we saw he hid his spell in the clouds, accessible only via an invisible ladder. Then he hid another spell in Talon House.”
“Well I doubt his world ending spell is in Talon House. If it was, it would have been found already. As far as reaching the clouds with an invisible ladder I don-” Sir Kain was interrupted by Aunt Rose.
“I think I know where the spell is. I know where there’s an invisible ladder that leads up to the clouds.” Aunt Rose answered.
“Where?” asked Lilith.
“Oh you’re gonna love this,” laughed OLG.
CHAPTER 4: ALIZIA BLACKWARD
“Lizzy? Lizzy, wake up.” Alizia Blackward heard her mother's voice. “Wake up my little monster. We’re going into town today. We’re going to get you a dress for the-”
Alizia Blackward faded in and out of consciousness. While briefly awake she felt herself floating. Looking down her feet were inches off the ground, the grass. And her legs were shackled together by glowing orange restraints. Why was she covered in blood?
That’s when the pain hit her, hard. The horrible sensation was like burning coals in her gut. She tried to cry out but found herself too weak to even make a sound.
“It’s important Lizzy.” Alizia saw her mother sitting on the grass next to her. Her mother, the most beautiful woman she’d ever seen before giving birth to Lilith, smiled at her, the sun bleeding through her blond hair. She recognized where she was. Right outside their village back in warm Valencia, Spain, the day before the Christmas festivities were to start. It was a memory she cherished.
“What is?” asked a much younger Alizia.
“Look at them.” Alizia and her mother were sitting on the top of a hill, surrounded by olive trees. Down below were mundane Valencians, preparing for the parade coming the next day, Christmas Eve. Her mother pointed at them. “They’re not like us. It’s important to remember that.”
“What do you mean?” asked young Alizia.
“They may look like us, talk like us,” Alizia’s mother tickled her making the future stoic matriarch of the Blackward family giggle and try to wiggle away. “They laugh like us. But we are not like them. They have no magic, they’re not blessed enough to be touched by the uncanny my dear.”
“So we are better than them?”
“No!” Alizia’s mother demeanor suddenly got stern. “Never think that Lizzy. We aren’t better than them, in fact we need them.”
“But they don’t know magic mommy. Can’t we just cast a spell for whatever we want, why do we need them?” Young Alizia didn’t get it.
Alizia regained consciousness. Drowsy, still not quite awake she looked around with a heavy head. In front of her, calmly walking was the inquisitor she faced on her way to trying to save Lilith. Orange glowing rings on his fingers, same as the shackles that bound her, represented his catch. For it quickly became apparent that she was not a lone prisoner.
“No,” still weak, Alizia could only whisper when she turned and saw her daughter Lilith, unconscious, also bound by magical restraints, floating along not far behind her. Along with her friends, the inquisitor got all of them. She tried to reach out to her but her wrists were bound together. And as soon as she tried to lift them a sharp searing pain in her stomach was too much to take. Quickly she found herself passing out again.
“All of this Lizzy.” Alizia was with her mother in the center of Valencia. She had young Alizia on her shoulders and spun around in a circle.
From her vantage point, young Alizia saw the stone and wood buildings of downtown medieval Valencia. She saw people of all cultures adding color to the bustling port city. The smells, so vivid in her memory, filled her little nostrils. Shops and stalls selling everything from spices to freshly caught fish, each interesting in their own right, made her young child brain spin. It was all so much to take in, ye
t it felt normal to her.
“All of this was made by them, by people. They didn’t use spells to conjure it. They built it with their hands...” Alizia’s mother held out one of her hands. Young Alizia pressed one of her own against it. It was so much smaller. Then her mother pointed at and poked her daughter’s chest. “They built it with their hearts...” Lastly she gently poked her daughter’s head. “They built it with their minds. They built the world. That is why it’s so important to live among them, not above or think that we are better. Because we’re not. The only difference between us and them is that our reality is not limited to what we can see, touch and taste. We know and can tap into other worlds beyond what they can perceive. And that’s not their fault.”
“But they don’t like us,” pointed out young Alizia.
“They don’t understand us. There’s a difference honey.”
When she wandered back into the waking world, Alizia floated, still shackled, next to Lilith. Next to Lilith she recognized Rose and Sir Kain. They were in the middle of the woods and it was raining.
Alizia saw Inquisitor Torrance. He was talking to none other than the crazed Essex, Amadeus. The sadistic puppeteer looked ecstatic. She couldn’t make out what was being said but he was standing with Deacon Thorne holding an umbrella over his head.
With Amadeus Essex and Deacon Thorne were maybe ten or so coven police officers. In her hazy state it was hard for Alizia to tell. A large panel van was parked nearby on a lone muddy dirt road that cut through the woods around them.
Inquisitor Torrance moved to the side then turned and pointed at Alizia. Amadeus frowned for a split second then forced one of his creepy smiles. He walked over to her and gently put his gloved hand on her cheek. She could see him open his mouth to talk but couldn’t hear the words over the sound of the rain and her own weakened state.
“I thought I lost you.” Alizia’s mother knelt down in the doorway of her family’s modest home among the hills and olive trees outside Valencia. It was pouring outside and young Alizia stood there soaked to the bone and shivering.
“Don’t ever do that again! You understand! Never!” Alizia’s mother let the raw emotion and fear out before calming down. She looked her daughter in the eyes, both a brilliant green. “You scared me half to death Lizzy. I thought you were...” Even as a child, Alizia noticed the bruise on her mother’s beautiful face.
“I’m sorry momma,” apologized young Alizia.
“I know. And I also know you must be cold. Get in here, let’s get you out of those wet clothes and in front of the fire.”
Alizia’s mother took off her daughter’s clothes and laid them out on the floor in front of the fire. She wrapped her in a blanket and they both sat in the fires warmth.
“Come here you little monster,” said Alizia’s mother as she wrapped her arm around young Alizia. “You can’t do that to me. Okay? You can’t just wander around.”
“Explore momma. I was exploring.”
“Is that so?” Alizia’s mother smiled at her. “My little explorer. I need you to tell me before you head out on your next adventure. Especially these days. They’re looking for people like us, for witches.”
“Why? We didn’t do anything to them.”
“Like I said before. It’s because we’re different. And that scares them. But they aren’t bad people, not really. Just scared.”
“Where’s father?” asked young Alizia.
“He...he’s out hunting.” Alizia’s mother didn’t know she was doing it but touched the bruise on her face.
“In the rain?”
“Well, he has a little monster with a voracious appetite to feed.” It was a pleasant lie.
Someone knocked on their door. Actually it was more like pounding than knocking.
“Who’s there?” asked Alizia’s mother as she stood up and walked over to the door.
“The church! By order of the Pope we demand you open this door!” yelled a man from the other side of the door.
“Honey did someone follow you home?” asked Alizia’s mother, now nervous and a little panicked. This stood out in her memories because she never saw her as anything but the picture of calm, cool and composed.
“I don’t...”
“It’s okay,” Alizia’s mother picked her up. “We’re going to play a game okay?” She quickly looked around for anywhere to hide her daughter. Their home was small and lacked hiding places. All she could find were baskets in one corner that held uncooked rice and grain. She stashed Alizia there and covered her with the blanket she used earlier to try and keep her warm.
“Open up in the name of the church!” yelled the man outside. He kept pounding on the door.
Alizia opened her eyes. She was in a bed, her bed, back at Blackward Manor. What happened? How did she get there? And how long was she out? Where’s-
“Lilith!” The words hurt when Alizia yelled out for her daughter. Her mouth was so dry and her stomach still ached.
Alizia tried to sit up in bed. Again she was met with searing pain in her gut. This time though, she powered through it and managed to lean back against her headboard. Soon as she did she saw that she was not alone.
Two gargoyles stood guard at the entrance to the bedroom she once shared with her husband. They stared at her with their vacant monster eyes. One of them whispered in the other’s ear. The one that was whispered to left the room.
Alizia noticed she was no longer in restraints. Though it was clear she was still a prisoner. What she couldn’t understand was why she wasn’t in a cell in the coven prison.
“You’re awake!” Alizia cringed as she heard the obnoxious voice of Amadeus Essex. He came skipping into the room with a glass of orange juice that spilled all over his hands and her rug. “You really gave me a scare there Lizzy.”
Amadeus Essex sat down on Alizia’s bed, next to her. He put his hand on her leg, thankfully over the sheets. Still, his touch made her nauseous. Well that and the pain meds being fed directly into her veins via IV.
“I though I lost you. Funny, for all our powers, witches and warlocks I mean, we can’t do anything about a speeding bullet. You know, you’re lucky to be alive dude. Really. If ole Basil hadn’t acted fast, well, you’d be in a coffin not a comfy bed. Sorry about that by the way. Inquisitor Torrance should’ve saved you from those dastardly witch hunting folk. But he couldn’t be everywhere at once I suppose.” Amadeus Essex was excited and therefore talked really fast.
“Where’s my daughter?” Alizia asked through a raspy quiet voice.
“Your daughter? Don’t worry she’s fine. Here drink some OJ. Ya look parched.” Amadeus offered the glass of orange juice. Alizia knew she had no choice but to drink it. So she did. It was warm and awful. The terrible aftertaste lingered in her mouth.
“Where is she?” Alizia asked again.
“Well, she’s where most criminals go when they get caught. Prison! The coven prison to be exact.” Amadeus smiled. Alizia tried to get up, he gently but forcefully pushed her back down against the headboard. “Relax dude. She’s gonna get a fair trial and all the boring nonsense. She’ll have her day in court.”
If Alizia was just a little stronger, she would’ve ended Amadeus Essex right there. She knew he was lying. There was no way Lilith and her friends would get a fair trial by a judge and jury that both most likely were under his control.
“But you need not worry your pretty little head about that. No, you’re best bet right now would probably be to worry about yourself dude. You see, you betrayed me. That’s something I can’t just forget. Forgive? Maybe. With time. But forget, no m’am.” Amadeus reached out and placed his hand against Alizia’s cheek.
Alizia was so angry her whole body shook. But in the moment, there was nothing she could do. She could feel Amadeus’ filthy fingers starting to probe her mind, trying to find a chink in the armor, a hole in the fence. Her defenses though, were strong and didn’t give an inch. All she gave were a couple rage born tears that rolled down her cheek
s.
“One day, when this is all over and the world is remade in our peoples’ image, you will warm up to me. We will be together Alizia Blackward. Now I know that that seems unlikely right now but you’ll see. You and me,” Amadeus moved his hand from the furious Alizia’s face to her hand. “We’re meant to be. It’s destiny babe.” Amadeus got up off Alizia’s bed.
“Destiny? Our destiny is that I kill you Amadeus.” Alizia couldn’t fully hold in her anger. A little bit boiled over and spilled out.
“We’ll see.” Amadeus forced a smile and went to leave the bedroom. He stopped about halfway to the door and turned to Alizia who wiped the tears from her cheeks. “On a lighter note, I got some great news! My man, or in this case woman, should have Heinrich Talon’s spell in her possession as early as this afternoon. So mine, you, our plans, they’re close to coming to fruition. Why am I telling you this?”
Deacon Thorne, Lisabeth Essex and Tabitha Talon all entered Alizia’s bedroom. They surrounded her bed, staring at her. It was clear they weren’t there just to chit-chat.
“I’m telling you this because I love you and I’m confident these guys can save you from yourself. So get some rest dude. I’ll see ya later when the big chill starts. Toodles.” Amadeus Essex left Alizia’s bedroom.
Alizia’s last image of her mother was horrific and a memory she tried her best to avoid re-living. But there, surrounded by some of the most powerful witches in Devil’s End, confined to her bedroom, the memories came flooding back.
Young Alizia hid under the still under construction housing for the influx of church officials sent by the Vatican to Spain. But from what she saw, them dragging her mother out their house in the middle of the night, calling her all manner of names, none holy or polite, they were not holy men. Truly holy men wouldn't do this. They were predators.
Alizia watched as they tied her mother to a wooden stake, hastily stuck into the mud in the square outside the church. It wasn’t until she saw them start to pile the wood around her mother’s feet that she knew what was about to happen. Frozen with fear she watched as they dropped a torch onto the wood.
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