Sarah's Inheritance

by Katherine Kim

  “Hey, I’m sorry I got so mad. You’re not a horrible person, and a couple of words said when you’re on overload and don’t really know the right language to talk about stuff is a really, really long way from throwing rocks.” He hesitated, then said slowly, “We’re not going to hurt you. I hope you know that.”

  “Of course I know that.” She raised her head enough to look at him, genuinely surprised. Some of the tension left Sebastian’s shoulders and she realized that he had been honestly worried that she was afraid of them. She looked over at Kai who had a similar expression of relief. She sat up and ignored the loud voice in her head about proper behavior and etiquette, and went with her instincts instead, reaching out to squeeze Sebastian in the biggest hug she could.

  “I’m more afraid you guys will fall off a ladder pulling down Gran’s Christmas lights.” She said. “I only met you a few days ago, but you’re already my two closest friends. I’m really sorry I’m such an idiot. You’re right, I just don’t know the right language.”

  “And we’ll be fair,” Kai said. “Accidentally saying something dumb once, when you’ve had everything you thought you know about the world turned inside out actually means you’re handling it really well. And we should apologize too. We keep forgetting that you’re basically an outsider in all of this.”

  “Please don’t move back to the east coast. At least not yet, you just got here!” Sebastian agreed as he stood to move back to his chair. Sarah shook her head.

  “All the rest of it was pretty true. I mean Gran was a witch! And she thinks I could be one too! And there’s freaking monsters in the dark out there! I feel like I’m trapped in here now!” She said. Kai and Sebastian nodded. They all stared at their now cold coffee, wondering what to do about the wights. If this kept up, they all knew in their bones, that someone was going to die.

  Eleven

  Sarah looked around the shop curiously, feeling immediately comfortable when she stepped in. The room was large and airy, with wide, honey-colored plank floors and a huge window facing the street that let the sun come pouring in over the comfy looking upholstered chairs and wooden farm-style tables. Several of the seats were taken by people with laptops open and a cup at their elbow or chatting over a cup of tea in the sunshine.

  She turned to the counter which was painted a pretty sage green and had a polished wood slab top. The shelves behind the counter were the same dark honey colored wood as the countertop with the sage green painted on the wall behind them and were lined with tall ceramic tea canisters. Off to the side, the canisters gave way to simpler jars and boxes, all neatly labeled by hand on what looked like the stickers sold for homemade jam jars.

  Smiling hugely behind the counter was Doc, her hair pulled back with little clips to the sides of her head to show off her sparkly earrings.

  “Sarah! Oh, how lovely to see you here!” She bustled out from behind the counter and wrapped a huge hug around Sarah’s shoulders. Sarah could only gasp in surprise. “Oh, your grandmother would be ecstatic that you came in to see us here.”

  After coffee, the brothers had left her to settle her thoughts, after making her promise not to decide anything based only on fear. She nodded and agreed that she’d think about it, and honestly, it made her feel better just knowing that they were nearby and thought of her as a friend to look out for.

  A few hours later she was fed up with her own company and tired of making once decision just to immediately question it and decide the other way. Instead, in an effort to break the cycle, she decided to go down to the Apothecary and ask Doc questions about Gran. She packed the spell book lesson plan and as many journals as she could cram into the hiking pack as she could, and had brought them with her. She carried the pack slung over one shoulder now, and Doc eyed it with clear curiosity.

  “That looks awfully heavy for a trip in for tea. Find something?” She said, cutting Sarah off when she started to answer. “Come on to the back room. Hey Eunice, watch the counter for me!” She linked her arm through Sarah’s and led the way behind the counter and into the back of the store.

  Sarah gasped. She’d thought the front was full of jars! Shelf after shelf of jars full of all colors of herbs lined the room, and several stretched into it like library stacks. There was one wall full of what looked like oils and, well, potions. Along one wall was a worktable with a small stove at one end and a sink at the other. The shop smelled like herbal tea and lemon polish, but back here it smelled somehow older, Sarah thought to herself. The same smells from the public areas were here, but there was also a dustier, more secret odor that she couldn’t place. Beeswax and herbs and roots and something distinct but at the same time indefinite. Whatever it was it brushed along her senses and settled deep in her soul, whispering to her on the way.

  “What…?” Sarah asked, turning around herself reverently, almost like she was in church. Doc chuckled quietly.

  “It’s magic, my dear girl. What did you expect back here, a copy machine? I keep that in the office with the rest of the boring business parts of the job.” She smiled and swept her own gaze around the room. “But here is just for the good stuff. The real work in this place happens here, not in the office. Yes, we mix the teas here, but we also mix the potions and the poultices. The spells and the salves. In this room we let our witchy natures guide us to make balm for the body and for the spirit. And for the Spirits, if you follow my meaning.” She grinned again, and ushered Sarah to a stool by the work table.

  Sarah raised an eyebrow at her

  “That was terrible.” She said. Doc smiled back, unrepentant.

  “What? I’m allowed to wax a little poetic sometimes. I get excited. Now then. What’s up? What have you got in that bag you’re lugging around like that? It looks too heavy for hiking.” Doc started to poke around in jars and scooping dry herbs into a pretty rose-colored ceramic bowl, the herbs inside looking like a meadow of wildflowers picked and dried, grass and all. Sarah watched her, wide-eyed, as she set the bowl down and waved a hand over it for a moment before scooping the blend into a teapot and filling the pot from a hot water dispenser.

  “What’s that?” She asked.

  “It’s tea, dear, what did you think?” Doc answered, winking. Then she laughed and set out cups in front of them. “I know what you meant. It’s just tea. You look like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders though, so I put in chamomile for the stress and anxiety, lavender for the same and for strength, rose for love, of course, but also for protection and happiness. The nettle I put in because you look like you could use some extra nutrition, but it will also help with protection. And I put the mint in because it’s just plain tasty.”

  “But you held your hands over the bowl and muttered something?” Sara pressed. She had felt something when Doc did that, like the hint of a breeze. Doc laughed again.

  “I do that for every tea I blend and barely even notice anymore! It’s a spell, my dear. I wish happiness and health for everyone who drinks my teas.” She took a strainer and poured the steaming cup of tea into Sarah’s cup. “Now then, you didn’t come here to ask about tea, I’m fairly sure.” Sarah took a sip and felt the heat spread into her stomach and warm herald through. Tea is like that, she thought. And a good soup. And hot chocolate after you come in from the snow, magic spells or not.

  “Well, you were right,” Sarah started. “Gran left me something, though she tucked it away so I had to look. Actually, I wrangled Kai and Sebastian to look, too, and had to have Sebastian haul the box off the top shelf where I would never have looked because I’d have given up moving it.” Sarah grinned and touched the book filled hiking pack with her toe. “This is maybe half the books that were in there.”

  “Oh, my,” Doc breathed. “Books? Of what sort?”

  “Journals, mostly. I guess Gran started writing down all the things she wanted to tell me about but had promised Mom that she wouldn’t mention. I have something like eighteen years of what are effectively letters from Gran to read through.”
Sarah said slowly. Doc’s eyes had gone wide.

  “Oh Sarah, what a gift! I know it’s not how Rosie wanted to connect to you, I know she wanted so badly to talk to you without restraint while she was alive, but this is still such a connection for you!”

  “I know. I miss her so much, even though we just talked on the phone and email, I always felt like I could talk to her about anything and she wouldn’t prod at me about how it wasn’t proper, or rational, or respectable or whatever.” Sarah took another sip of her tea to steady herself. “She also left me a sort of spell book.”

  Doc gasped and stared at Sarah. Sarah nodded and continued on, nerves creeping up her spine again. It felt like a huge act of courage to talk about this with anyone.

  “It’s not like a recipe book or anything. I guess she started writing down the lessons she wanted to teach me, and it turned into a whole book about learning how to be a witch.” Sarah said. Doc just kept staring, her mouth open and her eyes wide. The silence stretched out for several minutes, leaving Sarah squirming on her stool. Finally, Doc shook herself and refilled the teacups.

  “That is a very precious gift, Sarah. As near as I can tell, we don’t write these things down. It’s very rare for any true witch teaching to be passed down this way, it’s mostly verbal for safety’s sake. It’s not so much that it could fall into the wrong hands, really, since if someone doesn’t have the potential already then it won’t do them any good to learn techniques, and the potential is genetic. You got yours from Rosie, through your father.” Doc said.

  “So my dad was a witch?” Sarah asked, frowning. “Why didn’t he tell me about it?”

  “Well no, dear. Men seem only able to be carriers, though your father was likely sensitive to any magic that was used around him. That’s why witches always hope to have girls when they have children. Rosie had two boys that she loved with all her heart, but I know she was a little sad that she didn’t have a daughter to pass her knowledge to. She had you, though, and she hoped that one day you could come and learn from her. Well, it’s not how either of you would have liked, but now you can.”

  Sarah stared back down at the teacup, tracing its delicate handle and looking at the pink floral pattern disappear into the amber colored tea. The tea’s color reminded her of fox eyes, a little, now that she’d seen some up close, which led her naturally to think of Sebastian. She sighed, and suddenly felt like the whole thing was too big a decision for her to make. She wished she could call her mother and ask what she should do, but Sarah knew that any mention of something that strayed even slightly from the rigid path of a job deemed respectable, then a husband— also deemed respectable— would be stared down with a ruthlessly cold glare. Her mother may not be a witch, but Elaine certainly had a power of her own.

  Doc seemed to understand the trouble and leaned over to rub Sarah’s shoulder. Sarah looked up at the older woman, noticing the way her eyes crinkled when she smiled sadly and thinking that it must be nice to have smiled so much in her life as to earn such wonderful laugh lines.

  “Listen, my dear. You don’t have to make any decisions right now, and whatever you choose to do I will support you the best that I can. You think about what you want to do with your life, and if that doesn’t include becoming a witch, then that’s just fine. You do what is right for you, it’s your life after all, not Rosie’s. She understood that too, and her love for you wouldn’t waver no matter what path you choose.” Doc smiled fully at her now. “She loved you so much, no matter what you did she was proud of you. That last man you dated? While you were dating she sang his praises because you sounded so happy. When you broke up she went around cussing a blue streak at him, saying how she never thought he was good enough for you, and how you deserved so much better than him. She just wanted you happy. Still does, I daresay, whatever happens after death.”

  “Do you think so?” Sarah sniffled. Doc nodded.

  “I know so. It’s a plain fact, like gravity.” She said, then after holding the moment, Doc changed the subject. They sat there, sipping tea and talking about the best restaurants close by. Apparently there was a place in San Jose that might scratch Sarah’s itch for real pizza— called appropriately enough A Slice of New York— and it wasn’t too far. And the Winchester Mystery House was nearby as well. Sarah had heard about the loony Sarah Winchester and the mansion that she spent her life adding to from fear of ghosts.

  “And there are some amazing hikes nearby, dear, if you want to get out of town some. They’re a bit of a drive, some of them, but not too far, and very much worth it. And of course, there’s the beach not too far, when it’s a bit warmer.” Doc added. “Of course, that would require a pack full of first aid kits and snacks and such, not books.” She teased. Sarah laughed.

  “That’s true! I should sit down and read these, anyway. I don’t know if I want to be a witch like Gran, but I definitely want to know more about her life. I missed out on so much, apparently.” Sarah’s smile wavered slightly.

  “If you’d like you can just settle in here and read as long as you want. Drinks are on the house.” Doc beamed at her, before turning serious for a moment. “I would make sure that spell book is safe though. Hidden away somewhere, or locked up securely. Like I said earlier the techniques aren’t often written down, and your grandmother was quite powerful. She knew methods that many don’t, and that would be information worth stealing for someone with great ambition and little sense.”

  Sarah thought about that. It made sense, after all. If someone had the potential and didn’t have a teacher or a guide or what have you, they could probably get into a lot of trouble with a book like this.

  “Doc?” Sarah interrupted the woman’s tidying up. “Could I keep it here? I mean, if I decide to learn all that stuff, I’d feel better to have someone around that knows how to fix my mistakes anyway. And I bet nobody would think to look for a spell book in a file drawer of business expenses or something.”

  Doc turned to her with a surprised expression.

  “You would want me to help teach you?” She asked. Sarah just nodded shyly.

  “If I decide to learn it. Would that be okay?”

  “Oh my dear, I am so flattered! I will absolutely help you study if you wish. There’s no question. Oh, my dear.” Doc bustled back to Sarah and wrapped her in another bone crushing hug. Sarah let herself relax, putting her head on Doc’s shoulder and simply enjoyed the moment.

  Soon, she was snuggled into one of the comfortable upholstered armchairs in the front, with the sun pouring over her. A fresh pot of tea and some tea cakes on a plate at her elbow provided some sustenance as she dove headfirst into her grandmother’s most recent journal.

  Twelve

  “That must be a really good book,” said a voice from somewhere in front of Sarah. She blinked and tried to return her mind to the present, from where it had been deep in conversation with Gran about whether to tell the family about the doctor’s reports. She looked up and realized it was Jennifer Anderson speaking to her, an amused smile on her face.

  “I totally understand. Get me into a good book and it takes wild horses to drag me back out, not that I have a ton of time for pleasure reading lately.” She said. Mind if I join you? I’m supposed to meet my boys here, but heaven only knows if they heard me as they rushed off to their friends. Children are such a challenge.” Sarah laughed and nodded.

  “Please, by all means, have a seat. I should probably come up for air anyway.” She looked around, noticing that the tea on the little side table by her elbow had gone totally cold and the plate that had held half of the last tea cake was gone. “Oh wow, it’s dark out! What time is it, anyway? “

  Now it was Jennifer’s turn to laugh.

  “It’s a little after seven o’clock. What are you reading that’s so engrossing?” She asked.

  “It’s Gran’s journal, actually. She left me a whole box of them. Almost twenty years, I think. I’m going to go back and read them in order, but I wanted to start with the most recent.
I wanted to know why she didn’t tell us she was sick.” Jennifer stopped smiling and Sarah could see the sympathy in her eyes.

  “I think part of it was that she wanted to have some positive news to add in when she told you, so it wasn’t all so grim. She really didn’t like to talk about it much to us, either. And we watched her get sicker and sicker.” The sadness on Jennifer’s face told the rest of the story.

  “I guess I can understand that. It sounds like it was really sudden.” Sarah tapped the journal. Jennifer nodded.

  “And it went so fast, none of us expected her to be gone like that.” Doc came and put a fresh pot of tea down for Sarah. She leaned over for a quick hug over the back of the chair and then bustled off again.

  “It’s true. She found out in, what, August?” Doc looked to Jennifer for confirmation, and the other woman nodded.

  “I think she knew it was serious, really. She came to me to make sure that her will was solid just at the end of summer. I remember because she wanted to make sure the boys were at school, so she wouldn’t upset them.” Jennifer confirmed. Just then the bell over the door rang and two teenage boys came strolling in. “Speaking of my sons, here they are now! They did listen to their mother, will wonders never cease!” She waved and the pair headed over to greet them.