The Dark Witch and the Elemental

by Tabitha Scott

  Chapter 55: Catatonic

  Master caught my body before I even hit the ground. He brought me home. He probably knew what was about to happen to me.

  I know that Master, Gil and Susan are here with me. Sometimes I can hear a child calling. Susan’s child. Ardan is here too, I saw him, with Susan. I don’t react though, I don’t move. I know they talk to me sometimes, I can hear murmurs, though I don’t take in the words. All I see is a thousand years of past, with images of more recent atrocities. I can’t move; I can’t speak; I can’t really hear their words. They are more dream than real when they do appear to me. I am reliving memories, my memories, and with all my sins, and my few acts of goodness, one theme continues throughout the centuries. There has only been one constant throughout my entire life: Pulania. Pulania was there throughout, as my mother, as my friend, as my confidant, as my ally, as my right hand, my cane, my staff. It had been us against everything: banishments, flight, bigotry, shunnings, purges, and the time of the burnings. It had always been us, but never could be again.

  A part of me has died with Pulania, and can never be revived. Perhaps it is too large a part of me. Perhaps I am dying as well; perhaps I am already dead. My life is like that of a ghost. Images of people come before me, but I cannot react to them. They affect me, but I cannot move or interact with them. How long I am like this, I don’t know, days, weeks? I cannot focus on any of them, I cannot find my way back to the world, these memories continue to overwhelm me, there are so many, so very many. It is too much to cope with.

  Time passes, and the spirits of my friends continue to visit me each day, never giving up on me, but it’s not until Eppy visits that any of them can reach me. When Eppy appears, she doesn’t talk to me, she doesn’t say a word. I’m sure she had come before, many times, she hadn’t forgotten about me, not at all, but this time is different. This time all she does is take my hand and lay it against her tummy, then she takes my other hand and lays it against my own. From that, something stirs in my mind, there is new life, new life in Eppy and another new life I had all but forgotten about, new life in me. The concept is not something that I need to struggle with, I can be Pulania to another life, it is as it should be. As I was cared for, I will care for another. I have an obligation… no, very much more than that, it’s indescribable to anyone, other than another mother. I have a link with this new life, in the end it is continuation, another link of a chain of love that may go back for many generations before us. Eppy has reminded me that it is time to continue the chain.

  A fog that had settled in my mind begins to dispel as I think of Tadpole, and of the life that Eppy holds. Though I’m sure I had my eyes open, they blink, several times, and I shake my head slightly, sitting up from the couch in the library, where I have a vague memory of Master placing me.

  “Hey there, sleepy head, welcome back to the world,” Eppy says to me.

  I look around, slightly bewildered by my surrounds, but my eyes immediately go to the mantel, where the Angel of the Year cup sits. I feel a yearning to touch it. “Eppy, bring me the cup.”

  Her eyes follow to where my outstretched hand is pointing. She looks back to me, but then goes to retrieve the cup. As she brings it back to me, I grasp her arm with one hand, and then the cup with the other.

  Instantly there are flashes of noiseless light, the vertigo that I have become familiar with returns, and the two of us find ourselves on our backs, in an ancient forest, looking up at a distant canopy.

  “Oh, I hate travelling here, it always makes me feel a little ill.” I push my fingers to the bridge of my nose, squinting against the spinning of my mind.

  “Oh, I know what you mean.” Eppy is doing exactly the same thing beside me. “Where is this place anyway? Where are we?”

  “This is grandma’s place, remember, you’ve been here before. I thought you might like to tell her that you’re going to give her another great grandchild.” I push myself up to a sitting position, and Eppy follows suit. It’s very strange seeing such a refined reflection of myself in Eppy. I think it’s going to take a few years for me to get used to that.

  “Oh yeah, grandma’s place, why is it a forest?”

  “Ah, a good question for you to ask her. I have no idea.”

  Looking around, I can see Grandma in the distance, not the fiery creature who had agreed to provide the Unseelies a small refuge on Earth, but the old lady who looks like she could actually be a grandmother.

  Somewhat unsteadily, as I haven’t used my legs in a while, I try to stand. Eppy lends me a shoulder, helping me to my feet, and then she lets me lean on her as we walk toward Gaea.

  “Welcome granddaughters. We are blessed by the lives you carry.” Well, that’s that surprise spoilt.

  Then, as we approach, I notice that Gaea isn’t alone. There, quite bizarrely, I can clearly see the faint outline of a spirit rocking on a rocking chair. Am I imagining it? I think I see Ruby. And she can see me. To check my equilibrium, my head swings back to Gaea, but behind her, I see another spirit, watching me. Is that Pulania? My Pulania?

  “I am glad that you have come to visit me. I have problems that only you may solve.”

  “Problems?” I reply to Gaea. I’m pretty sure she summoned us, the impulse to come here was incredibly strong.

  “Yes, problems, Amura. Undoubtedly you can see them. I have two problems.”

  Can Eppy see them too? I glance over at her, and her eyes are going back and forth between the same two spectres that I can see.

  “You see, Elspeth and Amura, I have two spirits that I cannot accept into my garden. Samael has brought them here to be judged, but one is not of our world. Though she did die there I cannot accept her here. She is of the Seelie, and was their Queen, but she is of another world. The other problem is your mother. She has done a great deal of evil in her life, but is partly redeemed by the good that she has done.” Gaea looks up from the patch of earth she had been tending and sighs to us. “Pulania cannot remain here either, but in accordance with laws long ago set, shall return to the Earth, unblemished by her past, to live again. She shall have a second chance.”

  Gaea looks at us for a second or two, as we take that in, before she returns to her gardening.

  “Oh,” is the reaction I come up with.

  “Umm, is that usual?” Eppy asks.

  Gaea looks up to answer her. “It is not unusual, Daughter of Light.” Then she looks between us. “Two daughters, each tragically chosen, to you I give presents for what each of you have suffered, and for suffering you must yet endure. Approach me, children.”

  With Eppy helping me, we move forward to Gaea, who rises from her toils to meet us. We stop about a metre from her, but she comes forward and puts her hand on Eppy’s womb. “Your child must be given a soul. To you Elspeth, Daughter of Light, I give back the soul of one of your adopted people.”

  My eyes snap across to the spirit of Ruby, who before my eyes disappears into nothingness.

  “She is not of this world, and must be returned,” Gaea continues. “She will have memories of who she was, and will once again become the Ruby Queen of her people.”

  Gaea turns to me, and her hand moves to my womb. “I have been negligent in not providing Tadpole the Invincible with a soul. Amura, Daughter of Darkness and of Light, as the left hand of the goddess, I curse you, and give to you, the soul of Pulania to nurture as you may.” There’s a smile on Gaea’s face as she says this, which I find to be quite strange.

  I look to where the spirit of Pulania has been sitting on a tree stump, her legs crossed with one casually swinging back and forth as she observes the proceedings. Then she too slowly disappears, and I can feel a tingling inside of me where Tadpole the Invincible resides, but as she went I’m absolutely sure there was a smirk on Pulania’s face. Bitch!

  “Ficketty feck!” I reply. “This is crap.” And yet, there are tears in my eyes, and my voice is barely a croak before I break down into inconsolable tears of happiness.

  Gaea
is patting us both, as she supports me, stopping me from falling on my face, Eppy is virtually aglow with happiness, which doesn’t seem quite fair, since I’ve been reduced to a dribbling mess.

  “You must go now, grandchildren. It is time for you to return to the mortal worlds that you belong to. Until, that is, until I call you again.”

  Chapter 56: Graduation

  I don’t know how they convinced me to do this. I mean, really? Me? I think Susan and Gil thought it would cheer me up a bit. I’ve probably seemed pretty low to everyone else, though really, I’ve just had an awful lot to take in.

  Humph. After over a hundred years, you’d think the last thing I’d want to do is to return to Pershing High School and hang around another day for a graduation ceremony. I’m free of the compulsion to come here. I don’t have to spend another minute in the place, and yet, here I am, at the small, mid-year graduation, mostly… well, completely surrounded by the pregnant girls who finish their courses hidden in the Pershing High basement, apart from Gil, and for all I know she’s pregnant too.

  That’s another thing, why am I with them? I mean, technically I am pregnant, but I’m not really showing yet, I probably won’t be for years, though thinking about it, Ruby had said that I have some control over such things. The time magik I have can do a lot, I remember all the teachings I had from the Seelies. Ha, it occurs to me that I don’t have to have little Pulania for another hundred years if I don’t want to, or, I could just as easily have her tomorrow. I’ll have to think on that, though the temptation to be in a position to tell Pulania what to do is very, very strong, indeed.

  What are they saying now? There’s only a dozen girls here, and maybe fifty people in the audience. Thankfully Susan’s daughter, little Kathleen, is sleeping soundly. She was named after Susan’s aunt, who Susan has become very close to since the birth of the child, apparently Susan is apprenticing with Kathleen after graduation to learn all she can about her magikal heritage. Good for her. I could have got her in with Bríghe, but I don’t think she would have gone for that.

  “We wish these young ladies, who have chosen an early start on life,” the school Principal pauses to a few lame chuckles from the audience, but as a joke it goes down like a brick, seeing that most of us are pregnant. Not being with the coven anymore I’m free of having to fill out a monthly evil doing list, but I’m going to do this guy for gratis.

  “They have worked hard, with some not so small handicaps, and their achievements are all the more because of those. These young ladies have dealt with adversity, and life, and have already shown that they can succeed. By making it here today, so that they can proudly stand on this stage, they have shown the stuff they are made of, and it’s tough stuff.”

  Well, actually, we’re sitting at the moment, but I guess we’ll be standing shortly, and that last bit didn’t sound too bad at all, kind of inspiring, really, maybe I’ll give the guy a break and not send him prematurely bald, like I was planning to.

  Eppy, Arawan and Ardan are down in the crowd watching us. Ardan doesn’t graduate until the spring, he has two more classes to finish. Master is there too, and Susan’s step mum and dad. Her Aunt Kathleen made it from Scotland as well, which was a nice touch. Jimmy is there in the back, though he has a new daughter to look after who he’s trying to settle from a short bout of crying. It’s Ruby’s daughter, who apparently will be an extremely powerful Fae when she comes to age. Behind me another child gurgles in her young mother’s arms. There are some five babies here in total, and I only had to compulse two of them to sleep so that they would shut the heck up, pretty good odds, really.

  “It’s not often that we are able to provide awards for these hardest fought of graduating students, but this year, we have five recipients to honor.” It’s Mrs Turnball speaking now, the Vice-Principal.

  “First, can you applaud Mary-Anne Kimbly, recipient of the Lithuanian Society medal for best performance of a descendant member in all disciplines, with her taking of the highest academic achievement in Societal Studies.”

  Huh, Mary-Anne is Lithuanian? Who knew that? Yeah, I’ll clap with everyone else, most of the time she was studying that Robert kid, until he got her knocked up. His main study interest sort of became hers too, and she did well to best him at it.

  “Next, for her record scoring year on the female basketball team, we award Katie Underfell the school medal for excellence in sport.”

  Yeah, catty Katie, what the hell, I’ll clap that one too, she was off to college that girl, but got carried away at the basketball finals celebration with her boyfriend Stephen. Could have happened to anyone, she’ll still get her scholarship, but she’ll have to postpone it for a semester or two, until after she’s given birth.

  “For highest accumulated results for her three years in History, we give to Gilliney Kit the High School award for scholastic achievement in that subject.”

  Well done, to Gil! All that ancient Egyptian knowledge had a bonus side. Always knew she had smarts.

  “Next we wish to acknowledge Susan Collingsworth, for the school’s most improved scholastic achievement from sophomore to senior year. Susan actually came first in the year for English, second in Maths and second in Biology. Only one other student performed better than Susan this year.”

  Well, that’s a surprise, but being confined to Pulania’s, I guess Susan had nothing better to do than study, and have sex with Ardan, so there you go, well done Susan!

  “Finally, the highest academic achievement for the year was a surprise to many of the academic staff, it seems that most of us have known Amura for ages, but were unaware of her scholastic ability. Amura came first in Calculus, first in general Maths, first in Biology, first in Physics, first in Geography. Well done Amura for receiving the academic medal for Pershing High!”

  What? Ficketty feck, this can’t be real. I rise to go over and receive a handshake and the medal. People are clapping me like I did something, or something, even Master. But of course, I already have three Phd’s in science, so Biology and Physics were a snap, plus I’d been doing Calculus for decades, and Geography? Well, that’s just because I travel around a lot, so I know places. Holy Gaea, this is totally unexpected! I’m pretty sure this medal comes with a scholarship to Penn State too. Hey, I can get a fourth PhD out of this. I think I’m going to do Occult studies.

  The Principal goes to wave me back to my seat, but screw that. I grab his arm, pinching the nerve so that he drops the mike, which I deftly catch before it hits the ground.

  “I just want to say a few words.”

  “Amura, give me back the mike,” the Principal tries to take charge, but I’m a dark witch, buddy.

  “Take a seat, dude. I’ve got stuff to say.” Funny, I don’t even need to compulse the guy, he just cowers down and does as I say, but I guess I can look pretty intimidating when I want.

  “So is this thing on?” I bung the mike a couple of times and people wince at the noise, so I guess it’s on. “Right, we don’t rate a Valedictorian, this being a small get together, but we deserve a few words here, so I’m taking charge of that.”

  Hmm, well no one is objecting, so I guess I’ll go on. “First up, I’ve known all these bitches for at least three years, some of them longer, and yeah we’re all bitches. Just look at Katie Underfell, I hate her guts, and she hates mine. Too bad about linking up with that Stephen kid after the grand finals, Katie. Still, you get a kid out of it. In fact, it’s just not Katie, it’s pretty much all of us, even I’m up the duff. Gil! Gil, can you stand up please.”

  Gil does as she’s asked and stands up for me.

  “Gil, can you give us a profile pose please.” Gil does a little dance, going sideways into a Vogue profile.

  “Gil may be the only one of us who isn’t pregnant. She’s not showing at all. Well done Gil, but she’s getting married in a couple of months, so who knows for sure.”

  “Thanks, Amura!” Gil yells back.

  “No worries, Gil. Hey Jonathon, where’s Jo
nathon?” I can see him sitting there in the stands. “Stand up, Jonathon.”

  Jonathon does as he’s asked.

  “Well done for getting your wick in, mate. Everyone, give Jonathon a clap for doing the right thing by Gil.”

  There’s a bit of a weak clap to that one, and Jonathon quickly sits down again, he looks a bit embarrassed, and I guess the audience don’t know where I’m going with this.

  “Look, the point I want to make is that all the girls up here on this stage are bitches, we’re the ones that do as we will, we’re the ones that wanted the guys, but wanted to finish here too, so we’re determined and though bitches we may be, we’re the ones that will fight back when we need to. We’ll fight for ourselves and we’ll fight for those we care about, because that’s the type of people we are.”

  Oh, there’s the odd ‘yeah’ from the audience, and I can see lots of nods of agreement from that one, I may have said the right things there.

  “And you can count on that from us in the future, we’re not going to be taken advantage of.”

  “Finally, I just want to let the other girls here know that if they ever have any trouble and need to ex a boyfriend, or someone, I’m at a bit of a loose end right now having finished up some recent jobs, so they can just call me and I’ll make sure no one finds the body. And next week Gil and I are planning on a bit of a schoolies slash hen’s week in Hollywood with our friend Shania,” Jimmy practically drops the baby when I mention Shania. Ha, ha, this is my revenge for his spiking my drink, I have enough control of time magiks that I can help Shania leave Dublin without her aging a hundred years, let Jimmy worry about that the whole time she’s away.