Blood Ties

by Gina Whitney

  Sarine was tickled, and clasped her hands in front of her chest. “This is our elder sister, Gem.”

  Gem sauntered into the den, looking more like RuPaul’s long-lost sister than Sarine and Clea’s. This chick was fa-bulous and she knew it. I was expecting Molly Shannon to follow behind her saying, “Superstar!” Gem came at me, batting her long, fake eyelash. Yes, eyelash—singular. She too had left eye issues. She wore a rhinestone patch over hers. On top of that, Gem had a curly afro that boldly reached for the sky. Her thick, Fashion Fair foundation and rouge must have been put on with a putty knife. If she had tried to kiss me, her overly glossed lips would have slid right off my face.

  “Well, let me have a look at you.” Gem put her hands on her perfectly hour-glassed hips. “You are something else, aren’t you?” She then grabbed my face and gave me a hard, pressing kiss on my forehead. “Let’s have a drink, shall we?”

  I took a seat on a chaise lounge with Gem’s lip print on my head. I watched her pour various liquors into a cocktail shaker.

  Gem said, “I was quite surprised to hear from Evelyn. She sounded so desperate. How could I refuse her request to let you come to my home?” She added some bitters to the mix and shook it some more. “So, young lady, we are supposed to be taking care of you. That’s very curious, don’t you agree?”

  “Uh-huh,” I replied.

  Gem poured the drinks and topped them with fresh orange slices. Sarine and Clea took theirs while Gem handed me mine. I hesitated to drink it. I didn’t want to find myself in some filthy motel tub with my kidneys cut out.

  “Baby, it’s okay. I can only imagine what horrible things you’ve heard about us, but I’m not going to poison you. We are very honest, and very upfront in everything we do. Whether or not you take what we offer… Well, freewill, right?” Gem said.

  She then gave me a broad smile.

  I sipped the drink, and it was delicious.

  “Sweetie, for the life of me, I have no idea what I’m supposed to be giving you. Until we all figure that mystery out, let’s enjoy each other,” Gem said. She sat down next to me with her legs tucked under her. The slit of her dress opened, exposing her thighs. I couldn’t help but notice how her flesh looked like chocolate pudding.

  Gem circled the rim of her glass with her slender finger and spoke in an offhanded way. “I’m sure my sisters have informed you that we typically don’t get involved in witch affairs. We are only concerned with our own agenda. Your plight doesn’t serve us one way or another unless your agenda benefits ours.

  However, if we do become involved, this is a barter system, so to speak. We give to you—you give to us.”

  I put my glass down. “Aunt Evelyn didn’t mention anything about a trade. What exactly do you want?”

  Sarine stifled an alcohol-induced burp and rubbed her round belly. I was about to ask if she really should be drinking in her condition, but then saw Clea’s sour face glaring at me, and decided to mind my own business.

  “Evelyn didn’t mention it,” Sarine said, “because she didn’t know. And the price is different for everyone.”

  “I need to call my aunt. Excuse me.” I went to the corner of the room and tried to make a call on my cell. I just got some loud static.

  Gem said, “The reception in this house is terrible. You can try later. Come back and sit down.”

  I asked, “Do you have a phone?”

  Gem patted the couch insistently. “Come on and sit down,” she said with a sweet, melodious voice.

  Clea was still looking at me like she wanted to rip my head off. I didn’t want to spook her, and decided to cooperate—for now. I sat back down next to Gem, who put both her hands gently on my shoulders.

  “Do we frighten you?” She asked.

  I was quiet.

  Gem went on, “Back-fence talk. That’s the price we pay for keeping to ourselves so much. When others describe you, they fill in gaps with faulty information.”

  “What about those who have been hurt or never come back after seeing you?” I said.

  Gem sighed. “Grace, have you ever met anyone who has experienced us directly? Better yet, can anyone produce proof that dealing with us does harm?”

  Then I remembered what James had said. He’d admitted he had never known or even seen anyone who had dealt with the Three Sisters.

  Gem continued, “I never tell anyone what to think. But now that you’ve met us, I think you’re smart enough to form your own opinion.”

  Yeah, Gem used a dangerous amount of foundation, and her perfume was air pollution. However, at that point, I could not see what the hoopla was all about. But there was one thing that was irking me. “Your father? He must have been a very loving man to have adopted three girls.”

  “Adopted?” Clea interjected. “What do you mean adopted?”

  “Uh, you’re all so…” I had to find the right word. “Different.”

  Gem laughed. “Oh, you are so extraordinary, and yet so handicapped by your limited human understanding. We are full-blooded sisters. Through and through.”

  I had to slurp down the rest of my drink on that one. “Okay, then could you tell me about your father?”

  Gem put her drink down on the coffee table. “Well, he’s serving a ridiculously long prison sentence. He was framed by his boss. Daddy worked for a highly profitable company and thought he could run it better. He rallied a few other employees, and this caused a mutiny. About one third of the staff left with all the company secrets. Daddy gave the information away to lower-level employees, and that created much competition for his old boss. Next thing you know, Daddy is in jail for insider trading.

  “That sucks,” I said.

  “He may be in jail, but he still runs things the best he can,” Sarine said.

  Clea spoke up with passion. “We’re going to break him out.”

  Gem looked around the room. “But he set us up rather nicely, didn’t he? One of his last endeavors before he went to jail was in the music industry. In fact we received a demo from Adrian once upon a time.”

  Ugh…that name. Adrian. Again I couldn’t escape him.

  Gem went on. “We were very, very interested in Adrian. Just the type Daddy scouted for. Too bad he died.”

  I changed the subject. “Do you get to see your father often? What jail is he in?” I thought I had overstepped my boundaries, but Sarine didn’t have any problem answering.

  “We see Daddy all the time,” she said. She looked at her sisters, and they returned her gaze. “And the prison? It’s really close by.”

  I could see from the Three Sisters’ faces that this was some sort of inside joke.

  The sisters set me up in a bedroom that was more like a deluxe suite. A California king bed was its centerpiece, raised on a round platform with a drapey canopy and peachy, satin sheets.

  On an exquisite dresser lay a pure gold comb and brush set that I just had to try out. I took the brush and let the natural bristles run through a portion of my greasy tresses. Somehow, it cleaned that section of my hair, leaving it shiny and bouncy. “I’ll be damned.”

  I fell into the bed and rolled around like a kid. I happened to go over a remote control; however, I didn’t see a television. I pressed “ALL ON” and heard a buzzing sound. At the foot of the bed, a large-screen TV came out of a lift cabinet with one of those Maury Povich “who is the daddy?” shows playing.

  “A girl could get used to this,” I said to myself. Then I looked over to the empty pillow next to me. “James!” I said, remembering that I hadn’t spoken to him all day. I pulled out my cell phone and tried to call again. An automated message said, “All circuits are down. Please try again later.” I searched the room and found two phone jacks, but no phones.

  Later I went downstairs to join the Three Sisters for hors d’oeuvres. I was good for a few hours, actually managing small talk. But speaking to James was foremost in my mind. “I don’t mean to be rude, but do you have a phone I could use? I’m trying to call home and can’t see
m to do it on my cell.”

  Clea and Sarine gave me “don’t look at me” looks and turned their heads to nibble quietly on their brie and rye crackers.

  Gem pleasantly answered for all of them, “The house phone is strictly for business use only. That’s how Evelyn was able to get through… Your being here…well, that’s business.”

  “I don’t mind paying the long-distance fee,” I said.

  “That’s not it. Again, the house phone is for business only,” Gem said with more light in her voice.

  Frustrated, I reached for my wine and ended up knocking the glass over. The liquid flowed to the floor and seeped under a potted plant. “You guys must really have a thing for this. Belladonna isn’t it?” I said as a maid wiped up my mess.

  “Look closely at the tips of its leaves. Notice the pricks?

  This is not quite belladonna, although it strongly resembles it,” Gem said, stroking one of the plant’s branches. “It happens to be one of the few plants daddy managed to bring over from our old home. It is a deadly plant that can strip a witch of all of his powers, leaving him exposed to the possibility of death. We are the only ones on earth who have it.”

  At that moment the pendant around my neck glowed a little and faded out. It dawned on me that the plant was what I’d come for. That was what the Three Sisters had to give me.

  Gem noticed my pendant. “What is going on with your necklace?”

  “Oh, my necklace?” I said, quickly changing my body position.

  “Yes, it lit up.”

  “No, it was the light from the lamp glinting off of it.” I moved to allow the lamp’s light to reflect off my pendant in such a way it looked like it glowed.

  “Hmmm,” said Gem, and went right back to her vivacious self.

  “May I have some of your plant?” I said abruptly.

  “Absolutely…not,” said Clea. “It is for our use only.”

  Gem chimed in. “Besides, you don’t want to deal with that. Witches have to handle it with extreme care. Just one prick of its thorns and your powers are zapped. And enough of that venom and you’re dead.”

  The next morning found me completely bleary-eyed. I did not sleep at all that night. Thoughts of James consumed me.

  Gem and Sarine, meanwhile, breezed down the stairs with sullen Clea following close behind. Sarine ran up and gave me a tight hug. She said, “We’re going out today. To show you the town and go shopping!”

  “Yay! Can’t hardly wait,” I said with fake enthusiasm. The only things on my mind were getting to a phone and snatching up some of that mock belladonna.

  Sarine looked at my attire and shook her head. “No, no. This will never do. Come with me.” She took my hand, and, the next thing I knew, I was sitting in a makeup chair in their in-house beauty salon. Sarine brought over what appeared to be an overnight bag. She opened it, and it was filled with eye shadows, blushes, and lipsticks of all kinds.

  “You have a cool undertone,” she said, holding a magnifying mirror up to my face. Immediately she dumped a shitload of makeup on me in an attempt to make a carbon copy of herself. As I looked in the mirror thinking I looked like Bozo, Sarine was busy in the closet picking out clothes. She found some, and wound up dressing me like a sexy schoolgirl; I even had ribbons in my hair. Because I had a plan, I did not make a fuss, and gave superficial approval.

  Later I stood outside with the Three Sisters, waiting for the driver to bring the car around. Gem, Sarine, and I looked like Pretty Women, while Clea was a total emo. The car arrived and the good-looking driver assisted all of us in. He avoided all the major traffic, and we ended up in an exclusive retail spot. The Three Sisters treated me to a lavish shopping spree at Maxfield and a hoity-toity lunch at Katsuya. I had to admit, I was having a pretty damn good time. However, I still wanted to make that call.

  “I need to make a trip to the ladies’ room. If you will excuse me?” I said, standing up from my plate of sashimi.

  Sarine backed up her chair. “You want me to come with you?”

  “No, no. A girl needs her privacy,” I said while trying to walk away.

  Gem raised her glass of port, “I’ll drink to that.”

  I pretended to go to the restroom, but made a detour to the hostess. “Do you have a phone I could use?”

  Without looking up from her seating chart, she pointed me in the direction of a phone. I hurried to it and dialed James’s number with lightning speed. But I just got a dial tone. I tried again with the same result.

  A fancy-pants woman was going into the restroom. I figured she was my last chance. I ducked behind plants and booths to prevent the Three Sisters from noticing I had not gone to the restroom in the first place.

  I must have terrified the woman—as soon as I got into the bathroom, I was on her. “Please, I don’t have much time, but may I use your phone?”

  She handed it to me like I was about to jack her for it. I dialed not only James, but Addison, Aunt Evelyn, and Julie too. I couldn’t get through to any of them. “Thanks,” I said quickly, handing the phone back over. As soon as I left the bathroom, I could hear her say, “What the fuck was that all about?” I gathered myself and returned to the table as if nothing happened.

  After we left the restaurant, the Three Sisters informed me they had some business to attend to, and allowed me to tag along. We ended up at Rumyel Records, the biggest label in the industry. The sisters had a meeting with a flamboyant music executive who did a lot of reality TV hosting on the side. I couldn’t believe I was really meeting him. He was not impressed by me at all. Go figure.

  The exec was asking Gem for more money to produce his new act, a sixteen-year-old girl who gyrated around like she was working a pole. I vaguely knew who they were talking about until Gem demanded the young act be trotted out. I recognized the singer instantly from her dollar-sign tramp stamp.

  “Hey, y’all,” the singer said.

  Gem had one question: “Has she been schooled on the nuances of our business?”

  The exec replied, “Yes. She will do anything to make it big.”

  “I guess you will have your money then. I’ll have accounting set that up immediately.” Gem put her face extremely close to the singer’s. “I’ll even throw in a nice advance for you. But you do realize what team you’re playing for?”

  The singer nodded.

  Sarine, Clea, and I followed Gem into a small room that contained only a desk.

  “Grace, would you be a dear and come here?” Gem asked me.

  I went over, and she handed me what looked like a black Rubik’s cube. “No one in the world has been able to open this. Can you try?”

  I could never solve one of those things, but figured what the heck. “Sure, why not?” I said.

  After a few twists and turns, one of the middle squares slid out. I put the cube down, thinking I’d broken it. “I’m so sorry. I can buy you another one.”

  The whole room was dead quiet. Inside the square was a key. Gem immediately took it and said, “You really are something special. No one has been able to open that. Not since Daddy went to jail.”

  James paced back and forth. He hadn’t heard from Grace in days, and had been trying desperately to contact her. He looked in the phone book for the Three Sisters’ number, but it had somehow disappeared.

  Aunt Evelyn saw how antsy not only James was, but the others too. “We’re going out for dinner,” she said. The others grumbled at that proposition. Aunt Evelyn said, “I insist. No need to sit around here like old fuddy-duddies. Get your shoes on and let’s go.”

  After much protesting, the witches and Julie were ready. James pulled Aunt Evelyn aside and said, “I’ve been trying to call Grace, but I can’t reach her. What’s going on?”

  “Things must be rigged so we can’t interfere. That’s the only thing I can think of,” Aunt Evelyn said. James blew out his breath hard. Aunt Evelyn said, “We have to have faith that Grace will be fine.”

  James exited to the porch with Addison. Juli
e followed, but stopped in her tracks. She looked around the porch and fixed her gaze on one spot.

  Addison, who was already at the minivan, looked back at her. “James, notice how Julie is just staring out into space? What’s wrong with her?”

  James, who was more concerned about Grace, shrugged his shoulders. “How would I know?”

  Julie stood a few feet away from the screen door, which was taking its sweet time closing. She reached out at the air as if she were grasping at something. When her hand came back empty, she thought her imagination had gotten the best of her, and she headed to the minivan.

  Little did Julie know that as the screen door slowly closed, something invisible had made its way into the house.

  Aunt Evelyn was on her way out and didn’t notice anything. By that time the screen door had closed, and she flung it back open. She took in a deep breath and said, “Smell that fresh air.” She then trotted over to the minivan and got in.

  It was a pleasant day for the witches and Julie. After a few gleeful hours, they returned home with smiles, their spirits feeling much lighter. When everyone got out of the minivan, Aunt Evelyn put her arms around Julie to let her know all was forgiven between them. Julie reciprocated.

  Addison was eating right out of her Styrofoam takeout container filled with leftover steak and potatoes. She handed a sporkful of meat over to James, but he refused. He was still thinking about Grace, and had hardly touched his own dinner.

  “Today was a good day,” Aunt Evelyn said. The others agreed and went off to their rooms for the night—clueless that death was waiting for them.

  The stroke of midnight came fast. Addison was in a relatively deep sleep when she heard a thud in her room. She pulled up her eye mask and scanned the darkness. She didn’t see anything, and closed her eyes. Something in the room thudded again.

  “Julie, is that you?”

  But Julie was asleep on the couch downstairs. Addison heard something shuttle from one side of the room to the other. She fumbled with the lamp. But just coming out of sleep made her clumsy, and the lamp fell to the rug. Addison immediately perked up. She swiped her hand, causing the room to haze over with light. She climbed out of bed and held up her hand, ready to perform defensive magic.