‘Next time I want to come!’ says Fin.
‘It was so much fun. Well, I mean not fun to see Lucy that way. But it was good to be out and see Boston.’ Fin gently puts his hand on Maeve’s arm.
‘I know what you mean.’ Again, Maeve averts her eyes.
‘I’m going to the restroom.’ All eyes follow Maeve out. Immediately, Bridget turns to Fin.
‘What is going on? Why doesn’t she go anywhere?’
Fin shrugs ‘I’m not sure. She’s not happy.’
‘I’m worried about her. It’s not healthy. Why doesn’t she have a boyfriend or a girlfriend…’
‘Now you’re worried.’
‘What does that mean?’
Fin doesn’t budge ‘You left. You left all of us. Not one word, text or e-mail. She’s your twin for Christ sake.’
Now it’s Bridget’s turn to look away.
‘I don’t feel sorry for you. You were selfish. Now you come back and expect everybody to be the same. Well, we’re not. Shit happened, and you weren’t there to support any of us.’
Bridget is hurt, but what did he say that she didn’t deserve? She wants to hide behind her rage, she was wronged. However, not by him or her sister. She swallows her anger.
‘I’m sorry. I know that’s not enough. But I have no valid reason. I was probably selfish. The only thing I can say is, I was young and stupid. Yes, I made a mistake. There’s nothing I can do about the choices I made, only be different from now on.’ Fin gives a small nod in acknowledgment just as Maeve breezes back into the kitchen. Quickly, she scans all the serious faces. ‘What’s going on?’
Bridget doesn’t miss a beat. It’s one thing to apologize to her brother, somehow, she’s not ready to face the hurt of her twin. ‘We’re worried about Gran. She’s always been secretive…now we know what’s at stake…’
‘I know. I’ve been worried about her before this all started. Her health is not great you know.’
‘What will happen when she passes?’ Fin asks a question that is no doubt on others’ minds as well. ‘I can see the fights starting between Freya and Mom.’
‘It will be a disaster!’ agrees Maeve.
Wes had grown quiet. Eager to learn something from this exchange, he ended up in a strange family. The discussion has shifted to the possible disaster scenarios and how they could try to get Tara to share the necessary information. Bridget doesn’t share Tara’s thoughts with them on Bridget’s role in all this. She can’t be serious. Fin confirmed that she’s tolerated, but nobody is going to follow her lead. If Tara was to die, they’re basically fucked.
UTAH
Cal, Lucy’s grandson, looks puzzled when only his half-sister Mara shows up at the airport.
‘Where’s Grandma?’
‘Let’s go,’ says Mara and gets into the car without another word. Cal has no other option than to slide into the driver’s seat and head home. For the first ten minutes, they drive in silence. Soon, they leave the airport behind and are making their way North on the 15. It’s quite a way around to Lucy’s home. Not that far as the crow would fly, but quite a distance by road. Cal knows better than to try to get any of the women in the family to talk. So, he lets the silence stretch.
‘I don’t know where Lucy is!’ blurts Mara after ten minutes. It’s not like her to confide in her brother, but she really had searched everywhere, using all her witchy tricks, and Lucy was not there.
‘What do you mean? She disappeared?’
‘We split up, I went after her Spellbook, and she distracted the others.’ Cal waits; there must be more coming. ‘I got the book. When I went looking for Grandma, she wasn’t there. I could trace her to the memorial of the Boston Massacre and then nothing. I waited, she never showed, so I decided to come home.’ Absentmindedly, she caresses the Spellbook in her pocket.
‘What do we do now?’ Cal is worried. His Grandma is a controlling ruthless woman, but that doesn’t mean he wishes her harm.
‘I don’t know,’ replies Mara in a rare moment of vulnerability. ‘We need to find her. I’m going to look for more advanced tracking spells in Gran’s books.’
‘Do you think the others might know something?’
‘They must. What do you suggest?’
Cal feels a sense of pride to be finally included. His sister never gave him the time of day before. ‘I could go there and try to find something out. Lucy sent me there before.’
Mara is surprised. ‘Good thinking. You go there, and I’ll work from here.’
They both feel better now they have a plan.
NEW ORLEANS
It’s way past ten o’clock, and the sun is shining brightly into Tara’s bedroom when she finally opens her eyes. A smile forms on her face; it has been forever since she slept in and had such a restful sleep. The smell of Lemon Balm, Mountain Rose, and Lavender are still faint on her skin from her midnight bath. Carefully, she stretches, her body still stiff from her adventures yesterday. Her mind wanders to the rooftop and Lucy’s smug face when she stepped through the portal. Who is laughing now?! Not a good quality to gloat, she scolds herself. Don’t lower yourself to someone else’s standard, her Granny had taught her. Ah well, Lucy had really resurfaced with a vengeance. When she turns around to say ‘Good morning’ to Seamus, his portrait is empty. A pang of disappointment flows through her. It had happened before, but not very often. Time for breakfast. She wants to swing her legs out of bed but is quickly reminded of her age. Right, she dressed herself at a gentle pace, and when she’s ready to head downstairs, Seamus is walking toward her. He waves enthusiastically. She blows him a kiss and heads downstairs. The house is quiet. The girls must have already gone to work. Fresh rolls are on the kitchen table. Moon raises his head when Tara enters the kitchen. ‘Hi, sweetie, you’ve been left behind to keep an eye on me?’ As an answer, he shows her his doggy grin. ‘Maybe I do have a little bit of Bridget’s gift too.’
She butters a roll, pours a cup of tea, and stands in front of the French doors overlooking her garden. While she nibbles on the roll, she muses on all her duties. The Madigan’s Book of Shadows keeps coming by; it must be her subconscious telling her it’s time to work on that. Tara had never added her story to the book; her pages are still empty. Because of what happened when her mother passed on the Wand, and the disaster that resulted in banning Lucy, she felt it necessary to keep all these things secret. None of her daughters seemed the right one to take on the burden of the Wand of Wisdom. Another reason not to stir up trouble. But now she’s not so sure if she did the right thing, and the rabbit is out of the hat anyway, she might as well write it all down. Time now to fulfill her family duty and chronicle her family’s life for future generations. She had added the occasional new spells, but not what actually matters. As she made up her mind, she puts her empty cup in the sink. Moon gets up, ready to follow her, when the door opens, and Freya, her eldest, steps in. She looks around, ‘Good, you’re alone.’
Tara sighs, this is going to take a while. Freya’s natural state is always touchy, but she’d been very upset to be left behind. After her ordeal in Fairy, it didn’t seem like a good idea to have her along in Boston.
‘I want to know what happened.’ demands Freya.
Tara’s still in a good mood, and the frank statement doesn’t bother her like it normally would. Moon plops back down on the ground.
‘Did you find the Dagger?’
What will she tell her? After all, she had urged the others to keep quiet. Freya generally ends up with the short end of the stick. Come down to it, she does trust her daughter. Under the gruff exterior is a good heart, time to cut her eldest a little slack. In a rare moment of honesty, Tara starts to tell her what really happened in Boston.
SOMEWHERE BETWEEN SPACE AND TIME
An endless space filled with what look like vines, seemingly going crisscross from one end to the other, an organized chaos. Some are growing new leaves, some are flowering, and some bear fruit. Not grapes but something resembling a b
ean. Or is it a little fetus? No end or beginning is visible. There seems to be no light source, but the whole spectrum of light appears to float through space. A middle-aged woman, known as Mother, moves in between the vines, snapping a leaf or rubbing something on the fruit. Her feet touch light on the vines, while she makes her way to the center where a complex clock full of radars and moving parts dominates the space. An old woman, Crone, is knitting. A strange earthly thing to do in such an alien place. In between her quick-moving needles, she manages to turn and twist some levers on the complicated clock. Mother reaches the center and looks up. Maiden, a woman in her early twenties, is draped on a hammock, made out of some of the vines, busy scrolling on her cell phone.
‘You could help me, you know. You both are too enthralled in your earthly pleasures.’
‘Hey, I’m working the clock.’ replies Crone without looking up from her knitting.
‘I talked to Seamus, that slippery witch.’ says Maiden.
‘Well, I did everything else.’ Mother can’t hide her displeasure.
Maiden drops down in the center, gracefully landing on her feet while her eyes are still glued to the screen. Mother eyes her disapprovingly. ‘Did he finally cross over?’
‘No. He wants to wait for his wife.’
‘That is not up to him!’
‘Let it be.’ soothes Crone. ‘We’ll make them pay in some other way. You girls need to learn to enjoy the work. There’s always a way to restore the balance. If he thinks he can defy Fate. Fine.’ Crone reaches out with one of her hands and turns a wheel. ‘Let’s see how they cope with this.’
FAIRY
Both Ceri and Lucy shudder. A tingling down the spine, a warning of what’s about to happen. Ceri’s feeling of trouble has been growing ever since she picked up her aunt. Her brooding presence didn’t improve that feeling. What does Mab want with her aunt? Why do they have to walk through Fairy? What does she gain by letting them get to know each other? It makes no sense. You would think she wants to take Lucy and punish her for whatever she had done all those years ago. Fairies can be very cruel, and they definitely hold a grudge. If she could only talk to her aunt to gather some more information. Right then, she reaches the first doorway. Two trees flank a road. The road seems endless, but the vibrations coming from the trees indicate that if you step through, you won’t be stepping on that road. Always a surprise where you may end up. Maybe one day she will have visited all the different parts of Fairy. The number of different levels seems to be infinite. Lucy must have felt the vibrations too, her eyes narrow. ‘Come on, Auntie, let’s see what’s on the other side.’ Lucy raises a skeptical brow. ‘I know. It makes no sense.’ Ceri grabs her aunt’s arm, and they step through.
From the quiet to the crazy. They’re in the middle of a busy market and need a minute to get their bearings. It looks like they have landed on a market square in the middle of a honeycomb. Little stalls, like hexagonal prism-like cells, are in the side of the walls all the way up to the top. It’s nothing like a human market. This is three dimensional on all levels. Fairies walk and fly, if they have their own wings. Or they’re on some sort of organic scooter made of wood with some air device that makes them able to hover. The humming noise is overwhelming, and the smells are delicious. Ceri and even Lucy take in the beauty and grace of this place. As at so many times in her life, it’s hard for Ceri to ignore the part in her that wants to have fun and explore. She should move on and take Lucy to Mab. But what if this is the only time she ever comes to this place? Her only chance to get a little taste of it? Don’t over think it! That’s been her motto, why change that now? Without further delay, she grabs a surprised Lucy and moves her toward one of the flying scooters. A bulky fairy guards the scooters. ‘Are you in charge?’ asks Ceri.
‘What do you want?’ his grumpy face doesn’t bode well.
‘I want to borrow one for a little bit.’
‘I bet you do. They’re not for rent. Move along.’
‘I’m on a mission for Mab.’ This visibly changes the fairy’s hostile stance; his body language shows a little more care.
‘It’s important I use one for a little bit. I’ll bring it back…’ Ceri shows him her sweetest smile.
He looks around him. ‘You’ll bring it back?’
Ceri makes the scout’s honor sign, which obviously doesn’t mean anything to the fairy. He just looks puzzled. So instead, she says, ‘I promise.’
Lucy has followed this exchange with interest; this woman has more to her than meets the eye.
‘Ten minutes.’
‘Deal!’ Ceri jumps on and waves at Lucy to get on the back. Lucy looks down at her skirt. With her hand bound, she awkwardly hikes up the skirt and sits on the back of the machine. Ceri feels the controls. She closes her eyes, reaches inside her, and tries not to over think it. It must be something like flying a broom, mixed with riding a motorcycle. When she opens her eyes, she finds her hands flying over the watery panel in front of her. The scooter takes flight. A victorious yelp escapes her. With a broad grin on her face, she takes it up; it’s like she was born to fly this thing. For a moment, she takes it for a spin, up and down, left and right. Lucy frantically pounds her on her arm to make her stop. She has to cling to Ceri to stay on. Ceri laughs.
Slowing down, she takes the scooter past the stalls along the wall. It’s a fantastic array of different things. Food-like stands with anything imaginable for sale here with too many alien things to take it all in. Ceri moves closer to stalls that have her interest. Some even sell magical items. This is like a beacon, hard to resist. Ceri lets the scooter hover in front of one of these interesting stalls. Basic things like wands are for sale, but a lot of items are things Ceri has never seen. Lucy is also focused on this feast of magical objects. How she would love to try some of them! Their witch blood is singing, reacting to so much magic around them. The owner of the stall is a fairy with tendrils like an octopus. His eight arms rummage through his things. When he focuses on Ceri, she feels as if he can look into her soul. For a long minute, they stare into each other’s eyes, and Ceri feels a click in her head. As if a door has been opened and a rush of natural magic runs through her body. Taken aback, she wants to steer the vehicle away. But one of the tendrils snaps out and holds her scooter in place.
‘I’m so sorry, that was very rude of me.’ comes a deep voice from the octopus fairy. ‘It’s been a long time since I encountered someone like you; please accept my sincerest apologies.’
‘What did you do? What do you mean someone like me?’
‘You are exceptional. A mixed race. Your powers are…exquisite.’ He smiles.
‘My parents are human.’
The octopus fairy tips his head. ‘As a form of apology, I would like to offer you something.’
Ceri is still unsure about this fairy; he did something to her. Her powers are even more on the surface. Again, her curiosity gets the better of her, and she nods.
‘I see you have bound this witch. Did you ever hear of the magical collar?’
Ceri shakes her head.
‘You put it around her neck, and it will prevent the witch from casting a spell. She will just be like a human person.’
Ceri looks around and sizes up Lucy. It would be nice to be able to talk to her and not worry about her escaping or casting a spell. She turns back to the octopus.
‘How does it work?’
‘You put it on and use your magic to close it. You will also be the only one who can take it off.’
‘That sounds easy.’
One of the tentacles hands it to Ceri. Carefully, she picks it up. She turns it around. It even looks pretty, like an old jewel. She feels the magic flowing through it and connecting to her. Hmmm, very interesting! Lucy is bending backward trying to get out of reach. But she can’t go far, or she will fall off. Ceri snaps her finger and pulls Lucy toward her; the fear is mounting in Lucy’s eyes. No witch wants to have her powers restrained. But she let herself be distracted, and this is th
e price. A collar, cold as ice, snaps around her neck. Ceri mumbles something, but Lucy’s senses are overwhelmed. Ceri takes the rest of the magical restraints off with an encouraging nod from the octopus fairy. Lucy feels strange. She can still feel her magic, so this must be hogwash. Time to teach this girl a lesson. She mumbles a spell, but the words come out scrambled and make no sense. It’s like the magic is flowing away. Frustrated, she tries again and again, turning bright red from anger.
‘See. Perfect.’ smiles the octopus. Ceri rewards him with a big smile. ‘Thank you.’
‘Anything for a daughter of Felaern, the Keeper of the Land.’ Ceri’s confused but decides not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Whatever the fairy wants to believe is fine. This is an unexpected turn. Time to return the scooter and move on. Now she can at least try to get to know her mother’s twin. With a last grateful nod, she swings the vehicle around and expertly lands it back in the lot. Lucy still cursing at her the whole way. This doesn’t stop Ceri from smiling. Gosh, this was just what she needed, a little something to lift her spirits. The grumpy fairy is happy to have his scooter back, and Ceri helps Lucy off it, she’s not so young and agile anymore.
‘I’m going to get you for this.’
‘With what, Auntie? Your magic is scrambled.’ winks Ceri. ‘Come on, time to move on.’ Ceri motions Lucy to follow her. Lucy looks around, what choice does she have? No chance to escape Fairy without her magic.
NEW ORLEANS
As Tara leaves the tomb, Bridget comes through the trees and falls in step next to her. Tara glances down at Moon, who’d stayed by her side all morning. ‘Traitor.’ He gives her a friendly nudge.
‘Got some work done?’ inquires Bridget, never good at casual conversation.
Tara gives her one of her secretive smiles. She actually didn’t do a lot. It’s still hard to choose what to write down and what not. Somethings are just nobody’s business. ‘Anything on your mind?’
‘I think you need to show the family how Seamus’s Tarot Deck works.’
‘Are you crazy! No! Out of the question!’ Tara tries to pick up the pace, which is obviously useless in trying to get rid of Bridget.
The Magical Tarot Deck Page 2