Death's Shroud

by Robbie Cox

  “I don’t do…” Regina glanced down at her arms, and it was almost as if she noticed the track marks for the first time. “…do drugs anymore,” she finished, her tone one of puzzlement. She turned back to Tansy, giving the woman a slight shrug. “That is one of the reasons I wanted to learn magic, actually. I hope that by learning witchcraft, I can better my life, turning things over in a positive light to give me the support my life has sorely lacked.”

  “Oh, you poor thing,” Wanda said, reaching out and placing her hand on Regina’s wrist.

  Tansy, however, still was not convinced. “I understand that; truly, I do.” She took another deep breath. “However, you need to understand that if you approach this the wrong way, you could very well be substituting one addiction for another. Magic is a great power for healing, but if twisted, it can be just as dangerous as the drugs you put into your body. Do you think you can handle that type of temptation?”

  Regina gave a slow nod. “I’m not here to travel some dark path,” she said. “I’m here to learn how to control what I feel deep inside of me. I can control it. As I said, I’m past those days of narcotics. I want to move into a more positive way of life.”

  “That’s what we like to hear,” Wanda said, taking her teacup back into her hands and lifting it to her face. “Don’t we, Tansy?”

  Tansy forced herself to smile as she nodded. “We do,” she agreed, but something inside of her tugged at her. Something about Regina Hawthorn just didn’t add up. She seemed too good to be true, but Tansy could not put her finger on what nagged at her. “We usually meet on Wednesday nights. However, considering that’s five days away, if you’d like to come by between now and then, we can give you some books to read that will get you started. Have you had any sense of the power within you? Any sort of...intuition...as to what may dwell inside?” She sipped the tea Wanda poured her, holding the cup with both hands as she gave Regina time to think of her answer. Tansy never trusted those who seemed to have an answer always ready at the tip of their tongue.

  Regina stared down into her cup, her face blank as she sat there, but Tansy couldn’t make out if the younger woman thought about her answer or tried to figure out what she actually felt inside, whether or not she felt magic within her.

  Tansy took the time to study Regina, to search out her aura, but it surprised her she couldn’t make out one, not even faintly. She felt her lips press into a thin line as she studied the other woman a little more. Everyone had an aura. However, not seeing one didn’t mean Regina didn’t have one. Tansy would be the first to admit, she didn’t have the touch when it came to auras. Laci had that gift, and sadly, she wasn’t here. Tansy dropped her gaze as she sighed. She needed to reach out to the oldest Valentine sister and see how she was doing. Too much had happened to the young woman that could leave scars, and she had already suffered enough as it was.

  “I’m not sure whether or not I’ve felt anything magical,” Regina said. “There are times, though, that I feel as if I’ve lived before.”

  “Like reincarnation?” Wanda asked, leaning closer to the girl in eagerness. “Oh, my, now that does sound exciting. Do you remember from when?”

  Tansy watched as Regina shook her head. “No, not really,” the younger woman said. “Just that, somehow, I feel as if I didn’t exactly die in my sleep. I get night terrors sometimes.” She shuddered, straightening in her seat so she sat up straighter. “I wake up in a cold sweat.” She glanced up at the others, her brows furrowed. “However, when I try to remember what I dreamed, I can’t seem to focus on anything.”

  “And what makes you think your dream is connected to a memory from a past life?” Tansy asked, forcing her voice and expression to remain passive, neutral. She didn’t want to discount the girl’s tale out of hand just because something seemed a little odd to her. For all Tansy knew, her feelings were leftover emotions from everything that transpired over the past few weeks.

  Regina shrugged. “Just a feeling,” she said. “I can’t really explain it. It’s like there are snippets right there on the edge of my conscience, but just out of reach. Colors more than anything substantial.” She cocked her head at Tansy, narrowing her eyes. “Do you never feel things like that? Like you experienced things you know you hadn’t in this lifetime?”

  Tansy shook her head. “No, I haven’t. I believe in it, but I’ve never had the experiences others say they’ve had. To be honest, I have done little research into it.”

  “I’ve always felt like I was an Egyptian goddess,” Wanda said, pursing her lips together, nodding. “I see myself being fanned by bronze men with giant palm fronds in their strong, powerful…”

  “Okay, Wanda, we get it,” Tansy said, chuckling. She glanced back at Regina, still smiling. “Maybe it’ll be something we can look into, though. It would be fun to explore, and maybe we can find out what time you lived through.”

  Regina nodded. “It would be interesting. Thanks.”

  “We need to get you grounded first,” Tansy said. “After that, the only limitation to what you can do is you. We’ll get you there. One step at a time.”

  Regina thanked her again as she lifted her teacup to her lips.

  Tansy watched the younger woman, studying her. Wanda seemed to accept Regina at face value, but then again, Wanda never dug too deeply below the surface of people, taking everyone as they were. Tansy couldn’t allow herself that luxury. She had trusted too many times before, and that trust had cost her the lives of the witches in her care. She wouldn’t risk it again.

  Lifting her teacup to her lips, she wondered what hid underneath Regina Hawthorn’s layers.

  Eleven

  Laci stared at Nazareth as he sat across from her at the table. She didn’t trust him, nor did she like him all that much. Why would she? He just appeared out of thin air, stalking her around the library, and then dropping some bombshell about a goddess of the Underworld putting a call on Laci, basically initiating her into Hekate’s service. Laci didn’t want to be in anyone’s service, nevertheless some far out goddess of dead people.

  “I hope you plan on cleaning up after those mutts before you leave,” Jayden said as she slid back into her own seat. “I don’t need to be stepping in dog shit when I walk through my yard.”

  Maria Valentine poured Nazareth a cup of coffee and fixed him a plate of waffles. She remained quiet once she permitted the man into their house, which still surprised Laci considering everything they had endured lately. Still, from what she remembered of her mother growing up, the Valentine matriarch was always given to hospitality.

  Nazareth thanked Laci’s mother for the coffee, taking it in one hand as he faced the others. He shrugged at Jayden, his gaze fixed on the dark liquid. “As I said earlier, they’re not my dogs. The hounds belong to Hekate. She sent them to your sister, I’m sure.”

  “Well then, they can simply return to her,” Laci said. “I don’t want or need giant dogs following me around.”

  “I’m afraid it doesn’t quite work that way,” the older man said as he lifted his cup to his lips and took a sip. He nodded his head as he swallowed. “Good and strong.” He glanced over at the girls’ mother. “Thank you. Belly needed warming up.”

  Laci bristled as she shifted in her chair, annoyed at the way the man only gave clipped, confusing answers in rebuttal to her questions or statements. “I don’t care how it works,” she snapped. “I told you; I’m not interested in whoever this Hekate is or what she thinks I’m going to do for her. You’re wasting your time and mine.”

  Laci glanced over as her mother slid into her chair, finally finished playing hostess, and wrapped both hands around her own coffee cup. “Who is Hekate, and why did she send those gigantic dogs to my daughter?”

  “Mom!” both Valentine sisters yelled at once. Laci just stared at her mother, eyes narrowed in disbelief. Why would her mother want to know more after Laci already said she wanted nothing to do with it?

  Maria glanced at both of her daughters, and by the lo
ok on her face, Laci knew there was no arguing with her mother. “I think it prudent to know all the facts before we just throw him out, don’t you? Haven’t we been caught by enough surprises? I want to know what my daughters may be facing whether or not either of you do.” She then turned back to Nazareth, his face holding an impressed smile. “Now, tell me about this goddess and those dogs trampling my grass.”

  Nazareth took another sip of his coffee, licking his lips when he finished as he set the cup back on the table. “Your daughter has developed certain powers; some she doesn’t even know about yet, I’m assuming. She’s traveled to the Summerlands, spoken to the dead, and from what I can tell has seen ghosts.” He cocked his head to Laci, eyes narrowed a little. “I’m surprised the high priestess of your coven hasn’t mentioned Hekate, since she’s the goddess of magic and witchcraft.”

  “We’ve been kind of busy trying to stay alive fighting demons and dark elves,” Laci said, not at all happy about his criticism. “It’s not like we’ve had a lot of opportunity to dig into things since I joined.” She shrugged. “I quit, so now there won’t be time. Not that it matters. As I said, I quit.”

  He cocked a grin at her. “Yes, you have said that. Repeatedly, I might add.” He shrugged. “Walking away just isn’t an option for you, however. I’m sorry.”

  Laci cocked an eyebrow at him. “I really think that’s up to me, don’t you?”

  “Has anything really been up to you so far?” Nazareth asked, and then he waved the question off before she could answer. “Tell me about your first trip to the Summerlands. Do you remember how you got there?”

  Laci stared at the man. It was not a time she really wanted to remember as they were trying to find Kayla, who had just been possessed by one of the five original demons. No, she didn’t want to remember that moment of time. However, she could not forget it.

  Laci watched as Alex handed Jayden some hair of Kayla’s from the brush he confiscated from the young witch’s dresser. Kayla’s parents never questioned why he came to their house without their daughter, or why he needed a hairbrush, Alex being Kayla’s best friend. They bought his explanation of Kayla sending him to fetch her brush without blinking. Her father only said for Alex not to permit Kayla to turn him into some lackey who did all her fetching for her. Alex had laughed and promised not to give in to her all the time.

  Now Alex and the Valentine sisters sat in Jayden’s bedroom, where they quickly began to set up a magic circle on the floor with three tall, thick white candles Jayden kept in a chest at the foot of her bed. Their mother was still at work, so the house was empty, but even that made Laci nervous. “Should we be doing this in our home?” she asked, fidgeting on the floor where she sat. “Couldn’t this draw unwanted eyes in our direction?”

  Jayden laid a map of Harbor City she brought with her in the middle of the circle. “Where else would you like us to do it? This is the quietest place and the most secure.” She glanced up at Laci. “It’ll be fine.”

  Laci didn’t believe her sister, but kept her mouth shut.

  On top of the map, Jayden placed a small wooden bowl with the strands of Kayla’s reddish hair mixed with olive oil and sage. With the circle complete, the three witches each took a spot on the floor sitting cross-legged between two of the candles and called their magic forth, each lighting the candle to their right. Laci took a deep breath as she placed her palms on her thighs and watched her sister perform the spell.

  Alex and Jayden closed their eyes, and Laci knew they focused their energy on different things. Jayden focused on the hair, trying to picture Kayla’s location, while Alex focused his energy and sent it to Jayden to help her in the spell. With a deep breath, Laci closed her eyes and followed Alex’s example. She pulled from the surrounding elements, calling their power into herself, and then sending that energy toward Jayden, adding her strength and magic to her sister’s as Jayden reached out for Kayla. Laci pictured the lines of magic in the earth, pulling from them to give herself strength, the white sparkles of power splintering and fizzing as she pulled the magic into herself, making sure to keep her breathing even, inhaling through her nose for a count of four, and then exhaling through her mouth for a count of six. In her mind’s eye, she saw the magic, saw it as it left the earth, the air, the flames of the candles, and the water from the house, saw it twist into lines of white power entering her and then leaving her to enter Jayden. Breathing in. Breathing out. Silently, she chanted, praying to the White Goddess to give her strength, to aid them in their quest to find and save Kayla. Laci followed the lines of power, watching as it entered Jayden, and then she saw the other cords of power around her sister. Not Alex’s. His would be as white as Laci’s. No. These were a dark red, wrapping around Jayden, twisting Laci’s power, subverting it as it entered Jayden.

  Laci felt her brows bunch as she noticed the cords of power coming from Alex were also wrapped in red lines of energy just as she saw wrapped around Rose in the Summerlands, only these came from Alex himself and not just Jayden. Laci tried to follow the magic lines, but they drifted into the earth, like anchors to something she couldn’t see.

  She forgot about Kayla, remembering what the others said about the demons traveling the connections the witches made with Rose from the Summerlands to reach the Land Above. She knew without a doubt what these lines were. The bridges. She bit her lower lip as she worked the implications out. If the demons could travel from there to here, then she assumed she could travel in the opposite direction. After all, that was the function of a bridge, right? But how did they do it? How does one travel a magical bridge?

  She didn’t think about the consequences or what she would do if she could actually travel the bridge. Those dangers didn’t enter her mind as she studied the puzzle before her. The lines were supposed to be bridges, so she pictured a bridge in her mind, solid wooden planks with sturdy rails to keep one from falling off the side and into whatever lay between realms. She turned her magic away from her sister and placed her vision of a bridge on top of the red magical lines, replacing one with the other until her vision disappeared into the earth. If she could somehow get to the Summerlands, maybe she could see how to sever the lines from the others, separating them from the Summerlands and keeping the demons locked inside. What that would mean to the line between lives, she had no idea, but she couldn’t worry about that now. Her sister would not wind up like Kayla, a tool of a demon to bring harm to those she loved. Laci wouldn’t allow it. She needed to sever those lines to protect her sister and to move on with her life.

  Once the bridge solidified in her mind, she envisioned her hand reaching out to grip the rail, pictured her foot stepping onto the wooden planks, and to her surprise, she actually felt the rough grains of the wood, the grooves in the unfinished cut. She glanced back to where she thought her body would be, but she was gone. Only Alex and Jayden remained in the witches’ circle, eyes closed as they continued chanting, searching for Kayla. With a deep breath, Laci turned back around and started to cross the bridge into the Summerlands, trusting that she placed the bridge on the red cords of magic that would take her to Baltabek. One foot in front of the other, she continued walking, putting her fear aside and focusing on what she might be able to do to save her sister.

  Laci couldn’t see past the railings on either side; only the path before her became illuminated. She was tempted to stretch her hand out over the rail, just to see what would happen, but fear kept her from following through with the idea. The air around her felt warm, but the closer to the rails she walked, the colder the air became, which added to her fear of testing her boundaries. Better to remain focused on her plan. However, she realized, she didn’t have a plan. Panic gripped her as she spun on the bridge, looking back the way she came, only to see that a great distance had already been crossed, and Alex and her sister were just pinpricks of an image in the far distance. Turning back to face ahead, she noticed Rose standing at the water’s edge, the red cords of magic sizzling around her body, holding he
r in place. With a deep breath, Laci continued forward, determination in each step.

  Nazareth cocked an eyebrow at her when she finished telling her story. “But that wasn’t the first time you were in the Summerlands, was it? It was just the first time you went there yourself. I would imagine the first time was when you were almost at the brink of death. Am I right?”

  He was, of course.

  The pain was intense, even with the medications Laci knew were being pumped into her. She gripped the sheets, consciousness brushing her senses, only to drag her away again. She heard screaming, and at first thought it was hers, but she was lucid enough to realize her mistake. Then who?

  Light surrounded her, bright and warm, almost fuzzy in the way it appeared, giving everything a shimmering cast to it. The air, which had reeked of antiseptics just a moment ago, now held a fragrant aroma of hibiscus and jasmine wafting around her as she strolled… She panicked. How could she be walking? She tried to open her eyes, but the weight of the drugs kept her eyelids pinned shut. Yet, that didn’t make sense either, because she could see the surrounding fields, the weeping willows drooping in the distance as the sun bathed the grassy field with a warmth that chased away the icicles of the hospital air-conditioning. Where am I?

  She gazed around the field, cattails dancing out by a shimmering lake, the warm breeze tugging branches of magnolias and crepe myrtles. This doesn’t make sense. I’m in the hospital. I remember being rushed into an operating room, remember hearing my mom beside me, crying, remember… Panic seized her. Oh my god! I’m dead. I know I’m dead. She jerked around to see what was behind her and felt the stabbing pain in her side again as well as a small prick in her arm near her elbow.