“Turn the key. That’s the first thing you do.” She barely recognized her voice, as hoarse as it was. She grasped the cold metal and turned it forward. After a few tries, the engine fired to life.
The song they’d listened to when Bryon drove her to meet his dad was playing on the radio. Heart of Gold it had been called. She retrieved the small silver square that Bryon had used to control his music and randomly pushed buttons until it switched off.
Now to illuminate the road before her so she wouldn’t have to drive in darkness. She twisted a little knob next to the steering wheel with the light bulb symbol above it, and the area before the car lit up in twin yellowish-white beams.
“Now what?” She closed her eyes and tried to remember what she had seen Ivy and Bryon do. “They moved some sort of lever…” She looked around until she saw something behind the steering wheel that might do the trick. The only thing was, she wasn’t sure where or how far to move it. “Might as well try one click.”
She moved the lever until the a little needle hovered over the “R” and placed a foot over each of the pedals on the floor. Pressing on the right one, the car lurched backward so fast that she flew forward and hit her face on the wheel.
Immediately, she pressed the left pedal with her left foot, and the car stopped, but her body whipped back against the seat, like an invisible hand had pushed her in the chest. Distantly she felt pain where she’d hit her head, but it was like a jagged shard of shell on a beach being swallowed up by waves of anger, grief, and frustration.
She let the left pedal go and the car continued to roll back until she stopped it again. Returning the lever to its original position, she put her face in her hands and began to weep fresh tears she didn’t think she had.
How was she supposed to drive all the way to the Tree of Doors in this demon carriage when she couldn’t even move it a few feet without injuring herself? Then, as if the challenge wasn’t great enough, the skies opened up and fat raindrops suddenly obliterated her view of the outside. She thought of Bryon’s eyes filling with water, his blood washing away down the stone steps.
In spite of her best efforts, her tears sprang back up and she began to sob. Shudders rocked her battered body, which made her hurt even more. “I can’t do this. Does anybody hear me? I can’t do this!” Some Great Mother she turned out to be. She was more like a Great Coward.
She looked up and saw something dart into the path of the vehicle’s lights. “Move away little rabbit, if you don’t want me to squash you with this thing.”
After a few seconds of the animal not moving, Aster peered closer through the sheeting rain. That was no rabbit. It was Larkspur! His fur was matted from the rain, but he sat on his haunches patiently, waiting for her. She got out of the car and was instantly soaked.
“Oh you big dumb cat!” She ran to him and picked him up, squeezing big body close. “How did you know I was here?”
“Aster?”
The voice was barely audible over the din of the storm, but Aster knew it was Ruby. She placed Larkspur into the car and walked toward the shadowed figure standing beneath a nearby tree. The girl shivered as the rain pelted her bare arms, and her pale face was streaked black with running eye makeup.
Aster wanted to both strangle her and hug her. Instead, she held her ground, feet submerged in a forming mud puddle as rivulets of water spilled down her face. “Bryon’s dead. You poisoned him, didn’t you?”
“I…I didn’t know it would kill him!” Ruby cried, falling against the tree and sagging down to the ground. She plopped right into a pool of muddy water, but didn’t seem to notice or care.
“It didn’t kill him, Ruby. I did. When he tried to rape me. It turned him into a monster. What did you think would happen?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. I just… Ivy, or whoever she is, said she could help bring us together, and when we fought… I went to her because she told me she could help. Because I wanted us to be together so badly that I wasn’t thinking of anything else.”
“I loved him!” Aster screamed. Her throat felt like shredded ribbons. The admission made her feel a rage that made her tremble to her bones. She wanted to break something, to transfer all of the hurt and soul-ripping grief to whatever poor object or person was standing by with her fist. She advanced on Ruby, arms raised. “I loved him and you couldn’t handle that! Did you think I would just run to be with you after I killed the man I loved? You’re crazy and desperate and a horrible person! You make me sick! I hate you!” Her first were swinging wildly and she didn’t realize until she heard Ruby’s screams that she was landing punch after punch on the girl’s hunched over back, making wet thumps with every blow.
“I’m sorry! I’m so so sorry. Please… Please st-stop…” Ruby’s body shuddered with her sobs and wails, but she didn’t once raise her arms to defend herself. Aster noticed the bony knobs of the girl’s spine poking through her shirt, her many scars, and she stopped her assault, her rage smothered in pity.
She fell to her knees next to the broken girl.
Oleander had probably been counting on something like this happening. That she would drive Ruby away, perhaps even kill her in a rage when she learned of what Ruby did. And then what?
Even though she didn’t think she could ever completely forgive Ruby, Aster mostly felt sorry for her. And tired. So very tired.
“It’s not all your fault. She’s my aunt. She’s always hated me, and she’s used you to get to me. I just never realized how far she would go until now. I involved you in all of this. If you want, you can hit me back.”
Ruby blinked at her. “Ivy’s your aunt?”
“Yes and no. Ivy isn’t Ivy anymore. I’m pretty sure my aunt killed her and stole her form.”
Ruby closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the tree. “Fuck.” She sniffled and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. “Who are you people?”
“I can’t go into that right now. I need to get back to where I came across so I can get to my mother. And I need your help reaching Sheriff Kennedy to tell him about Bryon.”
Ruby’s eyes widened. “Are you crazy? If you call the cops, they might throw you in jail! Both of us!”
“If that’s the case, so be it. But the he’s the best friend we could have in that situation, don’t you think? He’s a friend of Oasis. I’m sure if we explained everything to him…”
“You haven’t dealt with cops much, have you? Even the good ones can turn on you.”
“I’m not worried about that. We can’t just leave him up there!” She threw her hand toward the burial mound. “He didn’t deserve this, and we have to do right by him.”
Ruby sighed. “Okay. All right. Let’s check his car for a phone.”
They ducked inside the Oldsmobile and Ruby searched through the little storage area in the middle of the seat for a few seconds before she pulled out a small black rectangle. “Found it. Are you sure you want to do this?”
Aster, who couldn’t see any other way that wasn’t filled with cowardice, nodded.
“Just tell him that there was an accident and where he is. Don’t go into too many details. Cops will use anything they can to nail your ass to the wall.”
Aster’s stomach felt like it was trying to turn itself inside out, but she took the phone after Ruby dialed a number for her. It rang only once before someone picked up.
“Miller’s Glenn police department, how can we assist you?”
It was a man’s voice, but it sounded younger than Sheriff Kennedy’s. “Hi. Um, may I speak with Sheriff Kennedy?”
“Can I tell him who’s calling?”
“I’m the one he drove to Iris’s house this morning.”
“Hold please.” The line went silent for a minute before someone else picked up.
“Aster? Is everything all right?”
Despite her intention to hold it all together, she immediately dissolved into tears upon hearing his big but friendly voice in her ear. The words fell out of h
er mouth in a panicky glut.
“Something happened at Indian Hills Park. My boyfriend tried to attack me, but he didn’t mean to because he was poisoned but he tried to hurt me and I used the pepper spray, only when he was stumbling around he accidentally fell down the stairs and now he’s… he’s…dead.”
“Aster, you need to calm down right now and stay there. I’ll be right over.”
“But I can’t stay. I have to go get my aunt because she’s the one who poisoned him, and she’s too dangerous. If I don’t die, I’ll be at Oasis house later in the morning and you can come by then. But please tell Bryon’s dad how sorry I am. It was an accident and I loved Bryon so much. And he never would have hurt me on purpose. This is all my fault and I’ll even go to jail if I have to. But I have to go now, or my aunt will do terrible things to more people. Bye.”
She handed the phone back to Ruby, who disconnected the call for her and then looked over at her with wide eyes. “So much for not telling him too much over the phone.”
Aster wiped her eyes. “I couldn’t help it. I’m upset.”
“It’s okay. He probably only got about one word in five. I know I did. We’d better go before he gets here. Where to?”
“The Tree of Doors. It’s in the woods at a place with trails and such to the north of here. Ivy said thirty miles.”
Ruby frowned. “That sounds like Trotwood Preserve, but I don’t ever remember hearing about a Tree of Doors or whatever that is.”
“That’s because you wouldn’t know about it from this side. Now go.”
She didn’t start the car right away. “I’m sorry, Aster. I’m so damn sorry.”
Aster felt too cold and hollow inside to feel any of it right now. She turned to Ruby and fixed her in a firm gaze. “If you say you’re sorry to me one more time, I’m going to snap. Sorry won’t bring him back to me or his poor father. Believe me, I tried. You might not have killed him, but your weakness and your selfishness and your jealousy made you the perfect pawn for the person who did, and it’s too late to be sorry. He’s dead. Do you get that?”
Ruby swallowed hard, and tears spilled down her face, but she didn’t look away. “Yes. I do.”
“Now can you drive this thing or not?”
She nodded and wiped her eyes. “Yeah. I don’t have a license, but I boosted my first car when I was twelve, and Onyx used to let me drive his car around sometimes.”
“Good enough for me. Let’s go.”
Ruby didn’t say another word as she guided Bryon’s big car out of the park and then sped off toward the place where one world opened up into another.
-27-
The numbness in Oleander’s legs began to fade a few minutes after Iris dragged her into the red vehicle’s cargo area. If the ignorant bitch had known anything about plants, she would have known that sickle venom was one of the more quickly metabolized plant poisons, at least once the vines were detached from the host.
Iris was at least smart enough to bind her wrists and ankles with a little rope first, but Oleander thought she might be able to undo them with a few minutes’ work. The only good thing that had come with the ruination of her body was the growth of long, thick fingernails, which she used to pick at the knots as the Iris sped up the road.
“Y’know, I was thinkin’ of what they do to traitors in Ellemire,” Iris said from the front seat. “They cut out their tongues so they can never speak their lies or perform spells again. I think that’d be about perfect, don’t you?”
The car came to a sudden and jarring halt, and Oleander crashed into the back of the seats and then rolled into the door, banging her knee. She cried out in pain and was relieved to find her vocal cords were working again.
“Sorry. I thought I saw a skunk in the road.”
Oleander sawed harder at the ropes around her wrist. They would be there soon, and she could feel her feet tingling.
“I spoke to Lily a lot over the years. We didn’t have much in common, but we still loved each other. It’s how most sisterly relationships work, but you probably wouldn’t understand any of that. She used to tell me you were the most talented witch she’d ever known. But you scared her because she knew from the time you were a baby that you didn’t have a real soul.”
The car veered right and the ride suddenly became bumpy as the truck bounced uphill. They must have been in the woods now.
The last of the rope around her wrist finally gave way. Oleander loosened the knot around her ankles just as the truck came to a halt, and then she tore the tape off her mouth, suppressing a scream as the strong glue took some hairs and skin with it.
Oleander could feel the power in the area. It was something she wouldn’t have noticed coming through, she definitely did after being away from it for a short spell. Iris turned off the truck and go out. Oleander could hear the crunch of footsteps coming around the side and back, and she remained in her fetal position as if still bound.
Wait for it. Too soon, and she’ll get the drop on you. You’ve underestimated someone for the last time.
When the door opened, she leapt out and grabbed Iris around the neck, sinking her teeth into the thin flesh as they fell to the ground. Oleander drank in the other woman’s blood and screams as she chewed away at skin that smelled of dusty old roses and some sort of mentholated ointment. She pulled back and spit out a piece of the woman’s flesh.
“I bashed Ivy’s head in with a rock before I ripped out her heart and ate it. I don’t think I’m going to do you the same mercy.”
Iris balled up a wad of saliva and mucous and spit it in Oleander’s face. “Go suck on a diseased cock, you pathetic hag.”
The two rolled around like fighting dogs. Then Oleander felt something hard hit the side of her head and she flew into a thorny bramble. The dry barbs ripped into her skin, but she was too infuriated to feel it.
“That’ll leave a mark!” Iris yelled, and the woods filled with her harsh cackles. She was leaning against a tree, one hand pressed against the bleeding wound in her neck.
She looks a little pale, but there’s plenty of life left in her. What the hell are you waiting for?
Oleander growled and ripped free of the bramble. She was clumsier by far, but she decided to use her lower center of gravity to her advantage, like a charging rhino. Hunkering down, she ran at the rotted old crone, intent to stop her laughter in her throat.
But then Iris did something completely unexpected. She raised her hand, palm out, fingers slightly hooked. A chrysanthemum of blue light bloomed before and thrust outward toward Oleander.
The impact was like a thousand fists hitting her at once, and she flew over the thorny brambles, colliding with a tree and splashing in a puddle of rainwater at the base. The ground shook beneath her, and the skies crackled with thunder over her as the force of whatever Iris had hit her with rippled away.
For a moment, she was too stunned to think, but then it became clear.
Old Magic. The old bitch still had it.
“So you want to play that way, do you?”
Iris looked even weaker than before, but her smile was triumphant. “I’ve been holdin’ onto that my whole life. I was probably waiting for you, but didn’t know it at the time. I bet you don’t even have your anymore, do you? And not a damn thing to show for it. Just look at you. You’re spent.”
“I don’t need it for the likes of you, bitch.” Oleander’s hands searched for a rock, and then she struggled to her feet again as another blue flower opened on Iris’s palm.
“A rock, huh? That the best you got? There’s plenty of this left. Maybe I’ll just cut off your arms and legs. Make you an easy stump of flesh for Aster to carry back to Ellemire.”
Another car approached from their left. Headlights cut through the rain and illuminated them both. Aster was in the passenger seat, and her little girlfriend was behind the wheel. Oleander gritted her teeth. Nothing had gone as she’d planned it. No matter. Her moment would come. It always did.
Oleander caugh
t the barest flicker in the ball of blue light in Iris’s hand. It was the minutest diversion of attention, all thanks to dear Aster. Oh niece, how you’ve helped me without even trying!
She threw the rock, hitting Iris just above the ear.
Blood squirted out from the impact, and the meddlesome crone dropped like a sash weight, her light extinguished forever.
Aster’s hysterical screams filled the woods. It was a beautiful sound.
-28-
Aster noticed the blue light before she saw the two women silhouetted against it in the pouring rain.
“What the hell is that? Am I losing my goddamn mind?” Ruby’s voice was bordering on shrill.
Aster didn’t know how she knew it, but she’d never been more certain of anything in her life. “It’s Old Magic. Oh god, hurry!” Ruby stopped not far from Ivy’s red truck. Aster climbed out just as the stone had collided with Iris’s head. She screamed in fury as Mama Iris went down. “No!”
The person who threw the rock staggered and turned to face her. Aster didn’t know the old and decrepit woman at first. Most of the hair was gone from her head and the remaining clumps and strands hung in her face like Spanish moss. Tumors bulged from her forehead and cheeks, and her eyes were like slivers of jade engulfed almost completely by flesh.
It was the hate that Aster recognized more than the flesh.
Oleander.
She bent down to Larkspur and pressed her forehead against his. “Go to Ellemire and get the others. Hurry.” The cat dashed off in a gray blur toward the Tree of Doors, which at first looked like a normal tree, but changed form as Larkspur neared it. Its gnarled roots spread out like living tentacles digging into the earth. The Door of All Doors yawned open like a great wooden mouth, and colored light from the clearing on the other side filled the woods here, mimicking daylight. Larkspur jumped through the Door without slowing and passage snapped closed, draping them all with just the light from the motor carriages to see by.
Ruby ran to Mama Iris.
“What have you done?” Aster cried at the hunching ogre. “Why?”
The Stargazers Page 20