“Om, shanti, shanti, shanti,” they chanted.
When they dropped their hands, each one blinked as they came back to the illusion of separateness. Some sported wet cheeks. Katie openly bawled as Rachel hugged her close. The coven gathered around, clinging to Katie and each other, weeping.
* * *
The meeting was postponed until the next day and Rachel drove Katie all the way back to Lewiston. Katie fell asleep with her head bobbing with the motion of the car. Every now and then she would wake with a start, then drift back off.
“Lena,” she mumbled.
Rachel felt her grandmother’s forehead with the back of her hand. Normal. Who was Lena? Not important. She’s had a shock. Rachel shook her head and focused on the traffic. It was thick, forcing an extra hour into their commute.
When they got home, Katie wobbled from the car to the house without saying a word, and Rachel followed suit. In the dark, stuffy house, Rachel flipped light switches and adjusted the thermostat. While Katie wandered off to get ready for bed, Rachel boiled water for tea and wondered if life would ever be the steady, reassuring hum of normal it had once been.
Of course, she had taken it for granted before these last few months and thought her life a bit boring, at times. She glanced up as Katie shuffled across the kitchen in her robe and slippers.
“Chamomile, Nanny?” Rachel reverted to the childish version of her name when the world seemed big and scary.
Katie nodded and her lips trembled as if she were trying to smile. “Yes, dear,” her words were wispy.
How many times had they sat at this table and sipped tea together? Talking about the day’s events; how Rachel’s schooling was going; what Nan’s summer plans were? The topics changed as Rachel grew up, but the feeling remained the same. Comfort. Safety. Softness. Acceptance. Peace.
The tea kettle whistled in a reassuring way, as if to say tea kettles would always whistle just that way. Rachel spooned chamomile flowers into the paper sleeve and settled it into the teapot. She had already filled it with warm water and emptied it. Pouring the hot water over the tea sleeve, she tucked the top to the side as she snugged the lid on the pot.
It was the old Rose Chintz teapot that Rachel had given Nan many years ago, when she was twelve. Nan owned several lovely antique teapots, but she preferred the Rose Chintz. Katie set two saucers and two matching tea cups on the kitchen table and rooted around in the cabinet for some almond thins, her favorite tea biscuits.
They sipped their tea and held hands for long moments. A few times, Katie’s breath hitched and a tear ran down her cheek. Rachel stifled her own tears with nibbles of almond thins, while the central air whirred somewhere in the background and the placid clinks of china marked time. When the teapot was empty, they washed the few dishes.
Katie wiped down the spotless counters and Rachel scrubbed the table top before they kissed goodnight and got ready for bed. Later, Rachel lay in her bed—the one she slept in when she visited her Nan all her life—and stared at the dark ceiling. Sad and self-righteous thoughts bumbled around in her brain keeping her awake. When she couldn’t take it anymore, she threw the covers back and crept on bare feet to her grandmother’s room.
The door swung open without a squeak, but Katie sat halfway up, then patted the empty space beside her. Rachel slipped under the summer coverlet and curled up on her side. Katie rolled to face Rachel, tucking her hands under her cheek. Sometime before the sun came up, they fell asleep just like that.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Wolf paced outside the straw bale hut on his cell phone. “I don’t care what Roger says. We need to go back home for a few days before we can do anything else.”
He listened with a pinched brow as he took a drag off his Camel. He shook his head, smoke shooting out of his nose. “No. We’ll be back when she’s ready and not before.” He stubbed out the cigarette on the heel of his boot, flicked the charred bit and pocketed the rest. “Right. We’ll be in touch.” There was no satisfying way to end such a phone call with a touch screen, but he poked at it with all his frustration.
Loti leaned against the stone wall by the main roundhouse, her back to him. Wolf passed several rose bushes as he made his way to her. Stopping, he frowned at a large bloom, then tore a stem off, ignoring the sting of the thorns. He strode down the hill like he had a purpose, his glossy black hair fluttering in the evening breeze. Peepers shouted at the top of their lungs about the changes they had to endure.
“It’s so beautiful here,” Loti spoke in a marveling tone as he approached her. Her back was still to him, but she didn’t need to see or hear him to know he was near. Wolf inhaled through his nose as he came around in front of her holding out the peach and pink tea rose, smiling like a school boy. Loti grinned back, standing and accepting the flower like a lady of the court receiving a token and held it to her nose, breathing in, eyes closed.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“Aeval is ready to see you.” The young fae male called Klippe held the side door open—at least that’s what Loti thought was the side door.
But how did you have a side door on a round house? She took Wolf’s proffered hand and followed the fae inside. Aeval stood by the huge column of stone that served as the fireplace and apparently a bread oven, based on the aroma. Two other male attendants busied themselves in a large kitchen space, while Asparas lounged in a Papasan, avoiding eye contact with everyone. No one else was in attendance, and Loti glanced up at Wolf who raised an eyebrow.
“Please, have a seat.” Aeval gestured a regal hand at more Papasans. Wolf and Loti settled into a larger one together. It was almost impossible to sit completely upright, so Loti gave up trying and relaxed back into Wolf’s side. “I hope you have found the accommodations satisfactory.”
“Yes, thank you,” Loti said. She kicked off her shoes and pulled her knees up. Might as well get comfortable.
But Loti was annoyed to find herself fidgeting under Aeval’s penetrating gaze. The fae queen’s smile hid secrets and meanings, it seemed to Loti, and that put her on alert. Or was that just the way of the fae? They were an enigma and annoying.
“Why are we here, Aeval?” Wolf slung an arm over Loti’s shoulders in an effort to still the squirming. “And how are we here?”
Aeval gestured to Asparas with a willowy hand. “My granddaughter brought you here for me. Although, she had her own reasons, as it turns out.” Aeval narrowed her eyes at the young fae who continued to ignore the entire room. “Which I am sure she has made you aware of.”
Loti swallowed. “Yes. She’s made me aware.”
Aeval turned dainty palms to the ceiling and shook her head. “I apologize for her meddling, but alas, I cannot control her.” She rolled her eyes to the sky as she sat down. “Although the stars know I have tried to temper her enthusiasm.” Her hands settled in her lap and her eyes rested on Loti.
Loti’s curiosity won out over her nervousness. “She mentioned the spider webs. I remember running into a bunch of them one day at the ashram. Later that day I swear I saw their light on my skin and I thought I burned them off with my own energy. How’d they bring me here?”
“I gave the spiders a spell and asked them to weave it into their webs. The webs clung to you long enough for the magic to take hold, and when you came close enough to a nadi, the spell brought you here.” Everyone turned with a surprise at Asparas’ sudden engagement.
Loti shook her head emphatically. “No, it didn’t.” But she paused, staring up at the ceiling as she chewed a hangnail. “Well, okay. At first, it forced me into a tube.” She shifted in her seat. “You know what’s weird? I didn’t know the—what did you call it?”
Asparas bunched her eyebrows. “Nadi?”
Loti licked her lips. “I like that. Nadi. It makes sense. Anyway, I didn’t realize the nadi was there. I wonder why?”
“Probably because of the wards on the Anderson House,” Wolf ventured. “They protect the house from intrusions and spells. They ma
y have blocked it to keep anyone from using them to enter.”
“But I thought Light Walkers were the only ones who could do that?” Loti glanced around at Wolf and Aeval for confirmation.
“At one time, my dear, the nadis were open to many species.” Aeval rested fingertips on her heart center. “The fae, for one.” She paused. “But no longer and not for a very long time.”
Wolf went preternaturally still and Loti stiffened. “Umm, ah, once I was in the tube—excuse me—the nadi. I—” she looked at the frozen Wolf out of the corner of her eye. “I spent some time with a couple of old friends, first. Then I came here.”
“And I was drawn here by her energy.” It was obvious from his tone Wolf wanted her to say as little as possible. He was on high alert, again.
They don’t need to know the details of our bond.
Aeval tilted her head as if listening and Loti had a moment of panic when she thought the fae had heard Wolf’s thought, but her face smoothed in relaxed concentration and she nodded.
“I think you are beginning to understand your abilities.” She pressed the tips of her fingers together forming an A-frame and touched her index fingers to her chin. “Good. Then you are ready.”
She rose from her seat and gestured to the male attendants who busied themselves draping her in a diaphanous fabric. It wasn’t really fabric, though. It was more like spun light and color that didn’t hide her naked body, but instead highlighted the subtle curves and swells. Loti wondered why she bothered and Wolf huffed quietly, understanding her thought.
Because they like to impress. It’s all about the show.
Loti fought back a grin, stretching her mouth down and curling her lips under.
“Come. We have a journey to make.” Aeval strode toward the front foyer. Loti looked at Wolf who narrowed his eyes and shook his head “no”. Loti widened her eyes and gestured with her hands as if to say, “so what do we do?”.
Aeval stopped in the archway and turned around. “I promise you, Wolf Arrighi, no harm will befall your Light Walker. She is in charge in this. Not me.”
Wolf rolled his eyes and Aeval grinned spectacularly. “You don’t trust the fae.”
Wolf stood with Loti. “Who does?”
“How unkind of you,” Aeval pouted. Then she burst out in a tinkling laugh and Loti gasped in recognition: it was the same laugh she heard in the sitting room where she disappeared.
“You were there.” She pointed a finger at the queen of the New England fae. “I heard you.”
Aeval shook her head with a playful shake. “No, I wasn’t, but I was watching. Waiting.” The red-haired fae opened the door to the outside and Aeval stepped out into the perfect late spring evening. “I’ve been waiting a long time, my dear.”
Wolf and Loti followed her out into the night, Wolf clenching his jaw. Loti knew from his thoughts he was not happy with the proceedings, but she wanted to find out what the fae needed from her. The stars twinkled in excited expectation. Aeval and her entourage walked through a night garden full of moonflowers and angel’s trumpets.
Wolf and Loti followed them through evening stock that flooded the air with a sweet aroma and something white that smelled like honey and vanilla. They passed through a vegetable garden and skirted a koi pond. They walked for a long time into the deep forest, Aeval and Asparas leading the way, their male attendants flanking them. The tallest trees towered above them, their canopy so thick, it blocked the starlight. Thick moss blanketed a jumble of car-sized boulders, hushing their footfalls.
“What do you want from me?” Loti had a sudden need to break the consecrated spell over them.
Aeval gazed up at the cathedral of branches and leaves. “I want to go home.”
Wolf and Loti looked at each other with bunched brows. “Aren’t you already home?”
“This has been a temporary home. I came here to start the colony, but I never intended to live here permanently.” She fingered the feathery fabric draped around her toga style, her words cosseted in the sanctified entwinement of thick tree roots and rocks. “My way home was cut off a long time ago.” She looked over her shoulder at Loti with sparkling green eyes. “I’ve been waiting for you to return.”
It took Loti a moment to comprehend what she was saying and opened her mouth, but Wolf squeezed her hand. When they passed out of the mossy expanse, Loti breathed a sigh of relief. A few minutes later, they stopped in the same upland meadow that Wolf and Loti had met Asparas in the night before. This time, Loti could feel the thrum of the tube—or nadi, as Asparas had called it.
Loti understood from her yoga studies that nadis were the channels of energy in the body. The Chinese referred to them as meridians. When she thought about it, it made sense that the lines of energy existed in the larger universe. It made perfect sense to her, having been inside the tubes. Loti stepped up to the nadi, sensing it with her other awareness. She closed her eyes and could see it, pulsing as if blood did indeed flow like a river through it. She opened her eyes and studied Aeval.
“Where’s home?”
Aeval offered Loti her hand. Loti paused at an unexpected thrill mixed with a surge of trepidation. Aeval watched her with a mix of wonder and speculation in her eyes. Loti hesitantly took the fae’s hand and closed her eyes. Immediately, a vivid world of rich color and texture, golden light and silvery water filled her head. She opened her eyes and felt it throb in her as if she absorbed the energy of the place.
“The fae aren’t from our world,” Loti said, her voice full of wonder as she dropped the fae’s hand with haste.
Aeval shook her head. “No. We came here to offer our assistance.” She paused, the corners of her mouth tightening. “Well, some of us did. Some of us had other ideas.” She sighed and lifted her hands in defeat. “But we have sought to balance that, for the better I think.”
“There are quite a few fae who take advantage of their abilities,” Wolf said with a quiet voice. Loti caught a shapeless bitterness from Wolf, but she filed the knowledge away to be addressed at a later date.
Aeval smiled with a sweet sadness that Loti didn’t trust. “Yes. Some have caused much harm and I am sorry for that.” She turned to Loti. “Will you please take me home, Light Walker?”
Loti glanced at Wolf who scowled a protest. “Why can’t you do it yourself? You said the fae could once use the nadis. What happened?”
“There were once doors between the worlds, but they were closed long ago. You see, anyone can travel through the nadis, but only a Light Walker can open the door. You helped me once before, darling. Do you remember?”
Loti stepped back into Wolf. “No. I don’t.” But something in her did remember and it pulsed with an uneasiness.
Aeval patted Loti’s hand. “It’s okay. You will remember, I’m sure. Just as you have remembered how to walk the light.” Loti gave her a puzzled frown.
“Your abilities. You are a Light Walker. You can walk on light, dear. You are light.” Aeval grasped Loti’s hand and Wolf grabbed onto Loti’s waist.
“I don’t like this. She’s not going without me,” he growled.
Aeval nodded without opening her eyes, a blissful smile spreading. In a flash the three were inside the channel and Aeval’s eyes popped open. She laughed with frenetic joy.
“I am going home.” She beamed at Loti who had the sudden urge to flee. She tugged at her hand, but Aeval squeezed tighter, a small frown marring her visage. “I am sorry I was unable to help you so many times. There was always something that got in my way. I don’t know why and don’t know if it was intentional, but I tried, you understand. I tried so hard to make up for everything.”
“What do you mean?” Loti used her other hand to pry herself free and Wolf locked his arms around her. “When? When did you try to help me?”
“I tried to help you…both.” She gave Wolf a dazzling smile. “All the time, my dear. When that poor man was possessed by the dybbuk and he choked the life from you.” Wolf squeezed Loti so tight her ribs creake
d. “And before that, when you were pushed from the tree. So young, too.”
A frightening image usurped her vision as Aeval talked: Lars with his eyes rolling like a mad bull, his hands around her neck while her lungs ached and the world spun in rainbow spirals. Her hands trembled as the vision faded into an open field, much like the one they had just left. Aeval embraced her, kissed her with a lingering sweetness and then brushed her fingers over her cheek.
The two of them flashed into a nadi and zoomed along. Loti snapped out of the memory and stumbled, gaping at Aeval. Wolf crushed her too him with an uncharacteristic whine in his throat, like a dog afraid of something.
“We were…” she trailed off, unable to find the words as her heart raced through a swirling mix of hot and cold emotions.
Aeval nodded, her face soft with affection. “I wasn’t sure until I saw you…and Wolf. But always, my love. In other times, in other places, before constructs occluded our understanding and karma demanded its due.” She took Loti’s hand and kissed her knuckles with a reverent plea. “Take me home please, my darling.”
Loti stared at their hands with blank eyes, wrestling with the urge to both kiss the woman and smack her across the face. It was too much revelation to comprehend in the moment, and yet, there was more to the story, Loti knew. How she knew, now that was still a mystery.
Wolf whispered in her ear, easing his vice-like grip. She inhaled with a shudder. “If we’re going to do this thing, we need to get it over with.” Loti couldn’t speak, so she wrapped both hands around Aeval’s.
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