The Empty Cradle

by Jill Nojack

  The officers were coming out with Zelda as he returned to the shed. William let them pass before stepping in again. Denton had lowered his weapon now that all the unchained threats were removed.

  William met Butch Holgerson’s eyes as he knelt to examine the metal cuff around one wrist that kept him confined close to the cot, without even enough slack to stand up straight. He’d need a key. Or a witch.

  At least he could get rid of the zip-tie that held the man’s ankles. He nearly grabbed a knife—an athame, he realized, when he saw the inscribed pattern on the hilt—off of the worktable before he remembered it could be evidence. He took a plastic bag from his kit to grasp it, then freed Holgerson’s ankles, pulling the knife away quickly when it was done. It might be evidence, it might not, but he sure didn’t want Holgerson getting a hold of it in these close quarters.

  “Karl, is there a key anywhere? Gosh darn it, this is solid. And so’s the bolt in the floor it’s connected to. The concrete around it looks new, but that doesn’t mean it’s soft. Failing a key, I’ll need a sledge hammer.”

  Denton, who was inspecting the shelf full of potions, herbs, and candles with a distasteful expression on his face looked around, “Yeah, there’s a key on a hook by the door. Here’s hoping that’s a match.” He lobbed it across the shed. “I wonder where the daughter is. Rogers said there was no sign of her in the house. I should probably post those two here until she comes home. We’ll need a statement from her even if we can’t find a reason to suspect she’s a part of this.”

  Butch Holgerson started laughing then, a brittle, hysterical laugh. “Oh, oh, no, you won’t find her. Not in the house. Check the sty. I told you about the witches.” His eyes glimmered madly. “I told you, but you wouldn’t listen.”

  “Get him out of here,” Denton said.

  Fortunately, the key was a match. William helped the still-laughing captive stand up. But there was no humor in his laugh.

  Butch stumbled on something as they crossed the lawn, and William took advantage of that moment of weakness to say, “All talk of witches ends now. Golly, Butch, I’m usually a nice guy, but I mean it. You just knock it off.”

  William wasn’t surprised by his reaction. In fact, he kind of wished he could have taken a snapshot when the bully’s face contorted in fear. Even a better man than Butch might be intimidated by a six foot tall talking cobra readying to strike.

  ***

  Natalie had answered Denton’s questions truthfully. At least, she’d told him the truth, if she could convince herself that truth was fluid to meet the circumstances. Which obviously she could not; it went against her grain. Still, Denton had to be convinced.

  So she lied.

  That there had been no child on the scene was a difficult one, but she had agreed to Zelda’s plan. Deborah took it from her mother when she heard what she’d done. She’d taken it home to Jenny.

  Fortunately, a call from Jenny to Denton came just in time to confirm the child was home and safe. Good. She owed a thank you to whoever had dropped the dime to Jenny for the cover story. It was probably William—he’d managed a number of things well tonight. She hoped that Jenny wouldn’t have to wait much longer for her daughter to come home for real. Hopefully, William was with her.

  She certainly wouldn’t have wanted Marcus to hear her fabrications, because he seemed, against all odds, to view her positively. But there were times as high priestess and protector of her coven when she had no choice but to be a politician and say the things that kept all of them safe.

  After her interview, she went to the sty and leaned on the top rung of the fence next to Gillian. The rough wood was worn smooth on top. Deborah took good care of her pets, that was clear. She’d probably spent a lot of time leaning across the rail to give them a rub. In fact, she was having a grand time huddling close with them now. The three swine were obviously content with each other.

  She sighed. She’d have to extend her promise to all of them; they were clearly a family. But her own house was on a city lot. A large city lot, but a city lot nonetheless. She wasn’t even allowed to keep chickens.

  She turned to Gillian and said, “I made a promise, and now I need a favor.”

  25

  William would be busy with his police duties, so Natalie headed home until he could free himself up and take her to wherever it was he’d stashed the child.

  But when Natalie opened her front door, she heard laughter coming from the living room and was surprised to find Marcus and Twink on the couch, making faces at the baby sphinx. Hmph, there was the answer to what William considered a “safe place.” And apparently no one paid attention to her instructions about the cage, which was shoved into a corner of the room.

  She set her purse on the end table, taking in the scene, then looking at the clock. The children were up far too late for a school night.

  The sphinx looked contented with Marcus’s long arms cradling her and Twink cooing at her from his side.

  “I’ll take her,” she said.

  “You sure?” Twink asked. “We can watch her for a little while longer. She’s cute.”

  “Yes, she certainly is,” Natalie said. “Kind of like a baby and a lion cub wrapped up in one. With some feathers slapped on for an additional decorative effect. But since her mother expects her to be pink, fleshy, and human, I’ll take it from here.”

  Marcus held the sphinx out to her, but it had grown so big. It was at least the size of a two year old despite being only two months in human years. She wondered if Maureen had been inhibiting its growth with her swaddling.

  “Put her down on the table,” she instructed. “I have to examine her, and I’ll need both hands to do it.”

  Marcus did as she asked. He never gave her trouble. She couldn’t think of a thing she’d done to deserve him.

  “Why don’t you and Twink run along? Grab a twenty from my bag and get a burger from the take-out counter at the tavern on your way home as a thank you for taking care of her. The wallet’s right on top.”

  Twink made a beeline for the bag, her eyes huge with anticipation, then looked disappointed as she opened it, peered inside, and said, “It’s just a purse.”

  “What did you think it would be, dear?” Natalie smirked, enjoying the girl’s dismay more than she probably should. “Of course it’s a purse. Twenty in the wallet on top…”

  Twink rolled her eyes, but she extracted the twenty.

  “Thanks, Gram,” Marcus said. He patted one of the sphinx’s paws and said, “Bye, Dahlia,” and the sphinx made a happy mewling sound in return.

  “Go on,” she said. Then she continued, “She’ll be fine,” as she turned back to Dahlia. But she wasn’t sure she believed it.

  She stood looking at the creature where it stretched out on it’s side like a cat, and it looked back, intelligence lighting its golden eyes, its mouth drooping at the corners in response to Natalie’s frown. She was upsetting the poor thing.

  Well, there’s nothing for it but to try, she thought.

  ***

  There was a pop behind her as her hands traced the outline of the child’s body one more time, satisfying herself that no loose threads of magic she was capable of untangling remained.

  “You did it!” William exclaimed, as he moved up beside her, placing a hand on her back. “Gosh, what a cutie!”

  She shrugged away from him. “Don’t think you’re forgiven just because I need your help. You could have put Marcus in danger.”

  “You saw her. Did she look like trouble?”

  “No, I have to admit she didn’t. But I haven’t a car seat, a diaper, or even a shred of clothing for the child. And I can hardly drive her across town and risk your good friend Denton or one of his goons pulling me over.”

  “Gosh darnit, Nat! I can’t spit venom at my boss every time he pricks your pride. And as a a member of the goon squad myself, maybe I should just pop back out of here and let you risk being locked up again when you’re caught driving through town with a p
urloined child and no child safety seat. How does that sound?”

  She turned to him and his eyebrows raised in surprise when she put her hands gently on his shoulders. “I’m not angry with you.” She sighed deeply. “It’s…I did my best, but I’m not sure I’ve made much of a difference. The magic that created the sphinx is deeply entwined with the child’s own. I’ve managed to suppress it so it can’t manifest for now, but I haven’t stopped the accelerated growth.”

  He put a hand on top of one of hers. “Tell me how I can help.”

  “You can’t. No one can. The other children seem normal according to Gillian—she and Cassie are with Jenny now. They most likely experienced a growth spurt in the womb due to being in such close proximity to their sister, but if I’m right, that growth stopped as soon as they were born because neither one of them are witches. But Dahlia here…”

  She moved close to him, laying her head on his shoulder, wishing she could draw out some of his positive energy through his skin, “…she’s still growing because she is a witch, and the spell Anat worked through the coven has a hold on her. By the end of the summer, Jenny will be dealing with a teenager, not with a baby.”

  “It’ll be okay. I know it will.” He picked Dahlia up, holding the girl out to her, and she took her reluctantly as he continued, “There’s a mother out there who’s frantic for her little girl to come home. And she won’t blame you for any of this.”

  Dahlia’s golden eyes flashed open for a moment and met Natalie’s, then she smiled and snuggled deeper into her arms.

  “Ready for your magical taxi, m’ladies?” William asked.

  “As ready as I’ll ever be,” she said as he wrapped his arms around both of them and blinked.

  ***

  When they arrived outside the door to Jenny’s apartment, Natalie straightened, standing as tall as she could, readying herself for the conversation she had to have before she could leave the girl to her mother’s care.

  The trouble the last of Anat’s magic had caused wasn’t quite through with this family, that was certain. But the coven would be there to provide support if they needed it. Getting them to agree on anything else could be like herding cats, but they never failed to rally around a witch in need.

  “Go on,” she said to William. “Ring the bell.”

  When Jenny opened the door and her eyes lit on the bundle in Natalie’s arms, it was like watching the sun burst through storm clouds. Jenny took her daughter from Natalie’s arms, her eyes never leaving the girl’s face as she moved into the living room and collapsed onto the couch.

  “We’ll have to have a discussion soon, dear,” Natalie said. “She’s…she’s…well, you can see that she’s bigger and looks older than the others. I’ve suppressed the foreign magic that feeds the sphinx. It won’t activate again until the girl’s magic stops being dormant at adolescence. She’ll need to learn to suppress its characteristics herself when that happens.”

  “There’s plenty of time, then…” Jenny said, examining her daughter’s limbs, fingers, toes. “You’ve made her normal, she’s…

  “No.” Natalie cut her off. “She’s growing too fast. Her body will enter adolescence before the end of the year, if I’ve calculated correctly. You’ll be raising a teenager by the winter holidays.”

  “Me raising a teenager?”

  “I’m afraid so. I’m hoping she’ll be able to halt the accelerated growth once her magic activates so that you’re not raising a middle-aged woman by midwinter. I’ll work with you, of course, so that you’re prepared—for the unleashing of her magic, I mean—not for her being a teenager. No one can prepare for that. But for now…the worst is over. She’s in no danger, and she presents no danger to others. But she’ll always be…different.”

  Jenny met her eyes. “I know it probably seems like I can’t handle much after the mess I’ve been, but I’ve learned a lot about what I can and can’t deal with over the past few days. And different? Different I can handle. If I’d dealt with my own differentness instead of letting Butch tell me that what I am is wrong, things would never have happened like they did for my family….” She paused, swallowed hard, then continued, “…and for my mother. Dahlia will have my support just like I had hers.”

  “She was a good woman, your mother. A good witch. She was very proud of you.”

  Natalie turned to William. “We should go.”

  Jenny had stopped listening before Natalie finished her sentence; her attention was only for Dahlia, holding the child’s small hands and smiling down at her.

  Natalie led the way out with William following. “Let’s take a walk by the lake. It’s close, and it’s a beautiful evening.”

  He crooked an arm for her to take hold of, and she obliged him as they entered the midnight moonlight to stroll across the mansion’s big back yard to the lake beyond.

  26

  “I know it sounds weird, but I think she’d like it if I scatter her ashes in the back yard. I like the idea that she could be keeping an eye on us still,” Jenny said, as she set the urn with her mother’s ashes carefully on the floor of Robert’s SUV, then stepped up to seat herself in the back.

  Gillian’s hands made a quiet clapping sound as she clasped them together and said, “She’d love that! It’s a wonderful idea.” She placed a hand on the door, saying “Seat belt on? Let’s keep you safe for those beautiful girls.”

  They were silent as Robert drove, then Jenny said, “Thank you both for being here for me at the funeral today. It wasn’t easy…”

  Her voice trailed off and Gillian turned around to face her. “You aren’t alone, dear. Maureen was one of us, and that makes you and the girls a part of us, too. We won’t abandon you. You still have family.”

  Jenny returned a weak smile. “Yeah,” she sighed. “And we’re really going to need one.”

  And as much as she wished she could reassure Jenny that it wasn’t true, Gillian couldn’t disagree.

  Triplets. A sphinx. Magic to learn to control. No, Jenny’s course from here wasn’t going to be easy.

  She reached out a chubby hand to pat the young woman’s knee. “We’ll be here.”

  ***

  Junior Rangel, standing straight up and dressed in clean jeans and a nice button-down shirt, rang the doorbell and waited patiently with a firm hand on the leash of the small dog that played behind him.

  He wasn’t about to lose the fiesty little thing at this point, even if it did have a way of outfoxing its owner’s efforts to keep it safe at home.

  The door opened a crack as Lavinia Green peered out, assessing her visitor, then threw the door wide when the ball of fur at Junior’s feet started yapping happily in greeting.

  He handed the leash to the beaming woman and said, “Safe and sound, Mrs. Green. ‘Pears the daughter of the new folks in town found her and took a shine to her. Mrs. Li brought her straight to the pound when she discovered her daughter Mandy was keeping a secret pet in their outbuilding. Seems healthy enough. The girl must have been taking care of her.”

  Lavinia Green wasn’t listening. She held the little dog snug against her chest, accepting a round of sloppy dog kisses as she squealed with joy.

  He turned to go.

  “Junior, would you like to come in for sherry? Or, I think I have a beer or two left over from when my granddaughter and her husband were visiting.” She set the dog down gently as she waited for an answer.

  He turned back to her, one hand slipping unconsciously into the pocket that contained the packet of hand-filled capsules. Two a day, she’d said, and he’d done as directed. It was a small price to pay for keeping his workshop.

  “No thank you. I’ve lost interest in the stuff.”

  “A coffee and a brownie then?”

  He smiled. “That would be awful nice, Ms. Green.” He followed her toward the kitchen with Fluffy nipping at his heels. “You know, I’ve been talking to the mayor about turning the pound into a no-kill shelter, not that I wouldn’t recognize Fluffy here and
always get her home….”

  ***

  Robert closed the gate on the way out of the pen after dumping the slop into the low metal trough he’d bought at the feed store that morning. There was no danger of any of the pigs darting out; they were grunting contentedly with their noses deep in the food, shoving and squealing as they did, but it seemed like a good natured thing, a “belly up to the bar” moment for the porcine crowd.

  “She seems content enough, doesn’t she?” Gillian asked him as he joined her to lean on the fence and watch their new charges. “I wish I knew what we could do to help her. There has to be something.”

  “Natalie discussed it at length with Zelda before she was transferred to county jail—Denton wasn’t happy about my request for that conversation to take place. I almost thought he was going to refuse to allow them to talk.”

  “And?” Gillian prompted. He’d begun to lose his train of thought more and more lately; the stress of the office, she was sure. Even so, she’d be using more rosemary in her cooking from now on, just to be on the safe side. Maybe even pick up some vodka for a tincture and get it set up and leeching. A little memory boost for both of them. He didn’t need to know. “What did Zelda tell her?” she asked.

  “Oh, yes. Sorry, distracted. Too much going on lately; the planning for the Midsummer Festival is coming down to the wire. The council made a decision on the new town publicist, so at least that’s sorted out.” He went silent, his eyes far away.

  She reached for his hand and squeezed it gently. “And what Zelda told Nat?”