Seeing Witchy Things

by Leigh Raventhorne

  Zara fell out of her chair, choking and sneezing.

  Stella sighed theatrically, looking down at the cat rolling around on the floor. “Do I even want to know?”

  “Probably not. This bread is great! Did Paulette bake it?” Trying to distract her before the cat overshared, I took a bite, tearing a small piece off for Toby, who plucked it gently from my fingers. I guess I could never scold Sam for feeding Toby at the table again.

  “Yes, everything served here, well, except for the obvious, of course, is made from scratch or grown here. Though the butter was probably purchased from the store, it’s been years since we’ve had any cows here.”

  “Do you, or did you, have horses? I noticed the stables and pasture out back but they looked empty.” I saw Zara jump back up on her chair, still wheezing a little, but under control again for the most part.

  “Many years ago. The horses were your mother’s thing. She loved them. We had a couple of equine shifters that used to traverse the area, too. They would often stay for a few days before continuing their journeys. For some reason, they preferred their animal form to their human one, and liked to stay out with the other horses. But I haven’t seen one of those in a couple of decades. Something happened between several of the Turned and the shifters that caused a rift, of sorts. But that’s a story for another time.” She had finished her meal and sat back. “Would you mind finishing what we were discussing back in the parlor?”

  Still stuck on the idea of my mom and horses—she had never told me any of this, not that she had once had horses or liked horses, even when I had begged for riding lessons as a teen—I tried to remember where we had left off.

  “Oh. Rosemary and Grandmam, yes.” Wiping my hands on the cloth napkin—no disposable paper stuff here—I pulled the Rose Quartz Ring out of the box and held it up. “This ring used alone, can be used to call someone from Elmer’s family back from the Other side. I discovered that by accident when I fell asleep with it on a few weeks ago.” I held up my left hand. “When paired with this ring, I can call back more than one person at a time. Which isn’t supposed to be possible, according to Grandmam.”

  She held out her hand again and I set the ring in it. She turned it and held it up to the light.

  “It has the same signature magick as the other one, so it had the same Maker. Would you mind showing me the rest?”

  I set the open box in front of her after she pushed her plate away. Taking the cloth napkin from her lap, she placed it on the table, then started laying out the jewelry on opposite sides of the napkin. As I watched, I noticed she was grouping Elmer’s family’s Items on one side, and my mother’s jewelry on the other. When she was done, she inspected the box.

  “There’s also this that goes with it,” I said, producing the journal.

  Her eyes lit up. “I haven’t seen one of those in a good many years. A system like this always takes two Makers working in tandem and there just aren’t that many of us left in the world. Take very good care of these, Roxanne.” She held out her hand for the journal so I handed it to her. She started flipping through the first few pages, nodding to herself.

  Nodding, I picked up a piece of my mother’s jewelry. “I think these are Items, too, but they don’t seem to work. I cleansed them using instructions I found online, but it didn’t do anything for them. They show up on the inventory, too, but without any details. The Power Ring is the only one that has any, well, power.”

  “Yes, when your mother gave up her magick, we needed to drain them; it was the only way. Except for the one you’re wearing—neither of us could bear to touch that one. I’m afraid that these are now mostly useless as anything more than just fashion. There used to be a way to imbue them again, but that knowledge has been lost. There is just enough residual magick left in them to be recognized by your catalogue, but that’s it.”

  So very many questions. My list wasn’t getting shorter, just the opposite.

  She stopped on one of the first few pages, reading. “I was right. The Maker for these Items was from long before my time. I have a small library in the basement that has a few histories—many of those books have been lost over the years, unfortunately. I’ll have to look her up and see if one of them mentions her or what her specialty might have been.”

  She gently placed all of the original Items back in the box, with the exception of the Rose Quartz Ring. Pausing, she picked up my mother’s things gently running her thumb over the intricate designs.

  “If you’d like to keep any of them, please do. I don’t know if I would ever wear them.” It seemed like the right thing to do.

  “No, dear, you keep these. Even though they don’t have much magick left, never discard any of them. If you ever . . .” Her voice trailed off and she looked at Zara, frowning. The cat gave her head a small shake.

  “Is everything okay?”

  “Yes, yes. Where were we?” She seemed distracted now. “Oh, this.” She handed me the Rose Quartz Ring. “Do you think you would be able to call them back now?”

  “I guess I could. They wanted me to call them over while I was down here anyway, so . . . Wait. What about your wards? Can they even pass through to get here? And speaking of wards, is there any way you can adjust the ward to let Rand and Jake through? Just in case they need to get to me for some reason or I can’t be there to walk them through.”

  Steepling her fingers, she looked over at Zara again. The cat gave a very humanesque shrug. “I can try. The ward wasn’t Made by me, but since it was Made by family, I should be able to make minor changes. Give me a couple of days to work on it. Between Zara and I, we should be able to figure something out. In fact, maybe you could assist us.”

  “Me? What could I possibly do? I don’t know anything about all of this.” My sweeping arm gesture was a big mistake, because I’d forgotten Rand was sitting next to me. I sucked in a sharp breath. “Crap! That was not pleasant.”

  His chuckle was not funny to me.

  “It won’t hurt to try, isn’t that what they say? I’ve read accounts of offspring from illegally paired witches that have surprised the community with their abilities. That’s why it became illegal in some places—because the magick was unpredictable and often too different. It’s possible that you were just a late bloomer with the Sight. It’s also possible that you are just the right age for your magick to manifest. Now would you like to call them in here or in the parlor?”

  “What about the wards?”

  “You have direct access with the ring, so they won’t be a problem.”

  “Then I guess here is fine. But I still have about a dozen questions to ask you before we’re done today.” I switched out the rings on my right hand, tucking the Protection Ring back in my pocket, and thought about the two women.

  They appeared next to the table. Rosemary looked around, pausing to waggle her fingers at Rand. “Hey, handsome. You taking good care of our Roxie?”

  Rand rolled his eyes at me and crossed his arms, but his cheeks still colored slightly. I arched a brow and smirked. He was a grown man, he could take care of himself.

  Grandmam focused like a laser, right on Aunt Stella. Zara twisted in her seat, trying to see everything that was going on, then sat up on her hind legs, reaching for Stella.

  “Welcome to my home, ladies.” Stella stood, picking Zara up and cradling her in her arms. It took a minute before I realized she would need the familiar to be able to See the women. “It’s been far too long since any of the Sighted have visited.”

  “Visited? Don’t you mean been shackled? Enslaved? Since when have the Sighted been visitors?” Grandmam’s voice shook with anger. “Roxanne, you brought us into the lair of a witch? What’s the meaning of this?”

  As she said that, I suddenly realized that I hadn’t gotten any witch vibes from Aunt Stella, not like what I’d felt, or sensed, from the witch in the cemetery. Was it because we were related, I wondered?

  It’s because the other witch you saw was one of the Turned, wearing a
glamour. And possibly other reasons which we’ll address at a better time.

  That was vague. I needed to remember to ask more about the Turned.

  Yes, you will need much more knowledge, regardless.

  That answer wasn’t helpful, either.

  Rosemary was more calm than her grandmother, barely stopping to inspect Stella before going back to her perusal of the room and the back of the house.

  “Grandmam, please. Just listen for a moment.”

  “Why do you call her that?” Stella’s voice was curious. She didn’t seem in the least bit perturbed by any of the accusations.

  All eyes were suddenly on me and I hated the attention. “I, well . . . that’s what she told me to call her, so I did. Elmer and Rosemary referred to her that way, which just made it easier, I guess?” I didn’t mean to make it sound like a question. Straightening my back, I added, “I don’t think I’ve ever heard her actual name, but if she prefers Grandmam, I’m good with that.”

  “I see,” Stella murmured. Turning back to Grandmam, who was watching my aunt as if she were a snake ready to strike, Stella shifted Zara a bit and put her hand out politely. “I’m very pleased to meet you both. I’m Stella Devraux, Roxanne’s aunt, but I believe you already knew that.”

  Grandmam just glared, refusing to shake hands. “Gertrude Jenkins. I can’t say I’m all that pleased to meet you.”

  Rosemary stepped forward, grasping Stella’s hand firmly. “Don’t mind the old fussbudget there. Just give her a few minutes to warm up to you. I’m Rosemary Jenkins and I’m pleased to meet you, ma’am.”

  That was far better than I’d gotten during my first meeting with Rosemary. I debated on whether or not I should be offended.

  Do you want to waste energy on being offended? This is one of those pick your battle types of situations. Zara was apparently the voice of reason in the room. Of course, I am! Now, not to change the subject, but I can’t really read either of these two women. Their voices are . . . muffled.

  I suppose that could be due to any number of reasons, the foremost being that they don’t really belong to our world anymore.

  Perhaps . . .

  Grandmam had tensed as soon as Rosemary took Stella’s hand. What she’d expected to happen, I had no idea. Stella simply laughed, gave Rosemary’s hand a light shake, and then released it. The two women immediately started talking animatedly, Rosemary asking question after question.

  Deciding I needed to get involved to see if I could diffuse the tension that was rolling off of Grandmam, I gave Rand a ‘wish me luck’ look, stood, and walked over to her. “Well, this was quite the surprise for me, too. I didn’t realize it would upset you so much. Are you okay?”

  “Of course I’m not okay! She’s a witch! And that means you’re a witch, too!” She took a couple of steps away from me, which hurt. “How you managed to fool us all, I don’t know, but I will figure it out!”

  This was ridiculous. “Grandmam! How could I have fooled you! I have the Sight! I’m still the same person I was when we first met. Look at Rand and Jake. And your own grandson, Elmer! None of them have had any problems with me. If anything, I’ve done nothing but try to help.”

  “You’ve got abilities you shouldn’t have and witches have fooled us before! This could be some kind of trick or a spell.” The old woman had her stubborn face on, and was determined to keep it on.

  “Aunt Stella says my dad had the Sight and my mom was a witch who . . . had her magick taken away, somehow. We haven’t gotten that far with answers yet, because she wanted to meet you. If you don’t want to be a part of any of this and learn what’s going on, I’ll send one or both of you back. Just say the word.”

  “I’m staying for answers.” Rosemary had her hands on her hips, looking every inch as stubborn as her grandmother. She and Stella had walked over and overheard everything. “You told Roxie to call us when she got here, so she did. Now you’re upset about it because it wasn’t what you expected? Let her send you home, then. I’m staying.” She didn’t miss the chance to throw a wink at Rand, sitting behind us. He looked up at the ceiling as if asking for strength, but he still turned bright red. Toby and Jake sat a few feet behind him, watching the whole thing like it was a ping pong tournament.

  Well, it’s not like it takes much to amuse them. They’re dogs. Zara’s haughty expression turned into a glare when both Toby and Jake woofed at her.

  Ignoring her comment, I decided it was time to put my foot down. “Grandmam, do you want to go home? Yes or no? If you stay, you have to be civil and listen.”

  She appeared unsure, looking over at Rosemary as if for reassurance. Coming to a decision, she conceded, “I’ll stay for now. No guarantees on the rest.” She pulled out a chair and sat down heavily.

  “Why don’t we all sit. I apologize but I don’t know what the proper etiquette is for this. Can you eat or drink when you're on this side? I can have refreshments brought in.”

  “We’re good, thanks. Tonight’s a smorgasbord and movie night. I think they’re showing DoLittle—the new one with Robert Downey Jr.” Rosemary slapped her hands on her thighs, throwing a side glance at Rand. “You know, I used to think you reminded me a little of him, but now I’m thinking you might be more of a Captain America type of guy.”

  Rosemary took a seat on the other side of her grandmother, directly across from Rand, giving him a coy smile. I was beginning to feel sorry for Rand, plus I just couldn’t take it anymore. How the heck did they have movies that weren’t even released here yet? For that matter, how did they have movies, period?

  “Rand, Rosemary has a husband and a daughter on the Other side. You do know that she’s just playing with you, right?”

  “Oh, thank God!” Rand slumped in relief, face in his hand.

  Rosemary chuckled. “Did you really have to ruin my fun? I had him going, Roxanne! I could have gone on for another few weeks, for sure.”

  “I don’t think he would have lasted that long, Rosemary. I know I wasn’t going to.”

  Even Zara shook her head, looking quite amused.

  “Perhaps we should get a few things out of the way before the staff comes back to clean up. I’ll answer what I can.” Stella’s gaze encompassed us all. “What would you like to know?”

  I waited for Rosemary and Grandmam to speak up, since many of their questions would probably be the same as mine.

  Grandmam threw out the first question, still glowering at all of us. “How is it Roxanne both has the Sight and can use my family’s Items of Power, if she’s a witch? That’s not supposed to be possible.”

  That was one of my questions, too, so I looked at my aunt. The weight of all of our eyes on her didn’t seem to phase her at all.

  “I can only guess, based on histories that I’ve read, but there’s a good chance that our Roxanne, here, is a half witch. As you know, the Sight is dominant in the women especially, but can be passed down through the men, as well. For witches, our offspring are only female, and witch magick is always dominant when we reproduce. This is not the first time this particular combination has occurred, but records of such are scarce. As I told Roxanne earlier, the results can be . . . unpredictable. From what I’ve researched, in some, the two magicks can sometimes cancel each other out. I think just the opposite has happened in Roxanne’s case.”

  Grandmam interrupted, spluttering at this. “Our Sight isn’t magick!”

  “Isn’t it? Do you even know your Origin story?”

  Zara sat up on Stella’s lap, putting her paw against Stella’s arm. They may not be ready for that one, dear.

  From the two women’s expressions, I guessed Zara had shared with the whole room.

  “It’s okay. It freaked me out at first, too. This is Zara, Stella’s familiar. She’s telepathic.”

  “Witches don’t have familiars! That’s an old wives’ tale!” Grandmam exclaimed, pointing angrily at Stella.

  And yet here I sit, on my witch’s lap. Zara licked her paw and then looked straig
ht at Grandmam. Even old wives tales have to come from somewhere.

  “It’s a trick, some spell you’re using!”

  Rosemary put a hand on her grandmother’s shoulder. “How about we just listen to what she has to say. We can decide what’s what after.”

  “Aunt Stella wasn’t even around when Zara first spoke to Rand and I. She’s been really helpful.” I didn’t think adding anything about her snarky attitude would be beneficial. She leveled a look at me and winked.

  “I would kind of like to hear the rest.” We all turned to Rand. He was the last person I had expected to speak up. He shrugged. “Just saying.”

  “What’d I tell ya? Captain America!” Rosemary’s comment made me laugh and the whole room seemed to relax.

  “Very well. The progeny of such unions had very unpredictable results when it came to magick. Some were quite powerful in Sight or magick—or both. Others not so much. Many had no magick at all. There didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. Even those that exhibited no magick could still produce powerful children. It created so much chaos that many communities petitioned the Council to ban these unions, which created many rifts. In the end, the Council left it up to each community to decide.”

  “What Council is this? I’ve not heard of any Council for witches!” Grandmam’s voice was triumphant.

  “That’s because it no longer exists. It dissolved when it was infiltrated by one of the Turned. However, that will take much longer to explain. I suggest we retire to the parlor so the staff can clean up here and prepare for dinner.”

  She stood, still holding Zara. The rest of us followed her to the parlor. As we left the dining room, I looked back to see Paulette peering around the kitchen’s service door, looking puzzled by all of the extra chairs pulled out from the table.

  “Hey guys, I’ll be right back. I’m just going to take Toby out for a quick break. Don’t start without me.” Not waiting for an answer I called Toby to me and headed back to the dining room doors, walking past just as Paulette started clearing the table.