by P. K. Brent
Quantrill did not notice the approving tinkle of the glass crystal drops on the chandelier as he entered the ladies' sitting room and perched on a chair gazing openly at Blue. She matched the stately setting from which she came, classic features in a heart-shaped face, solid frame well padded but not overstuffed. Blue was wearing an oxford style blouse of soft peach, which complemented her faint peach colored freckles and coppery hair. With Stella's help, she had managed to apply the makeup they had bought together the previous week, even trying some eye makeup this time. Her jeans were light blue washed denim. Seafoam green earrings dangled from her ears, made from gold and jade. She smelled faintly of sweetwood, which pleased Quantrill immensely. He could not pinpoint exactly why he found Blue so attractive. It was beyond him to realize that her scent had taken hold of him from the first and her scent was the scent of the furnishings and house and all they implied. Most boys her age were put off by Blue, she was too quiet and aloof for them, and there were all the odd stories about her and her family. Yet Quantrill was older and more confident. She is very powerful, that he could tell, and it made him uneasy. Could he control her? Probably he could, for she was so much younger. There was an opportunity here he could exploit, and the familiarity that comes with being a husband makes a couple equals. There's something about her bearing and refinement he thought, and the understated tasteful clothing, that makes her very attractive. Blue's modest, tailored blouse was especially alluring. The coppery hair was striking, but that of course came from the Escarpment Witch side. All the Escarpment witches had hair one shade of red or another. He decided that he could tolerate the freckles but the coppery hair had to go. Quantrill frowned slightly then brightened at the thought that he could convince her to dye it blonde. He preferred blondes.
Stella carried a platter of tea sandwiches and cookies around, and poured glasses of ice tea for Zerelda and Quantrill. Blue mouthed a silent "thank you," to Stella, who smiled back. She did not like Stella serving people in her house, but if Blue were to serve them it could possibly weaken the power of the threshold and no way was Blue going to do that. Stella understood and didn't mind. Zerelda and Quantrill did not even say "thank you" as they took the refreshments from Stella. Blue noticed and tried not to bristle in annoyance. It was going to be a long afternoon.
The sentinels conspired, trying to reach a decision. Only the cloisonne vase was hesitant. "He's not the one for her heart," it insisted. No one was listening to the silly vase. The sentinels grew silent as the burled walnut chest stirred.
"The McChesney line needs new blood as well as wealth, and this young Quantrill Reynard will bring both wealth and status to the name in time. The current head of the family, Cormac McChesney has been a fool. First, he marries into the most disreputable line imaginable by taking Rose Stone as his bride, daughter of the Escarpment Witch Lily Stone and the werewolf Louis Stone. She proves to be unstable and leaves him, though at least she provided an heir first. As if that were not enough tarnish to the McChesney name, he spends his time and the McChesney fortune on a hopeless and dangerous endeavor, chasing evil magicians all over Ireland and Scotland. The only hope I see for the future is if the only McChesney heir, Belladonna Louisa McChesney, (I refuse to call her by that ridiculous nickname 'Blue' that she favors) marries well, to someone who has goals and abilities that will preserve the wealth and power of the McChesneys."
"Here! Here!" the mahogany lamp table with rose marble top applauded.
"Quantrill would never make Blue happy. He only is interested in her for her family name, power, and fortune," pleaded the cloisonne vase. "Blue favors the young werewolf Rafe Mantooth even more than she realizes. I know for I am a true romantic and I can tell. "
"No!" boomed the burled walnut chest. "Mixing with werewolves is the cause of our current problems."
"Agreed. No more werewolves!" tinkled the girandole, the crystal clusters on its candelabra shimmering. "The McChesney line is going to the dogs, literally, thanks to those werewolves and disreputable Escarpment Witches. This Quantrill Reynard has the focus, and skills most needed. Besides, he is tall, and that is also a good thing."
"Yes," agreed the burled walnut chest. "The line also needs more height. Blue is too short. That's from the Escarpment Witch side too.
"She's also far too freckled, and buxom, and that red hair tsk! tsk!," clucked the rose marble topped lamp table.
"What does height have to do with anything?" asked the limoge pieces, confused.
"I would describe Blue as curvy. Certainly not buxom," interrupted the vase.
"Belladonna Louisa! Not Blue! If you don't mind," insisted the burled walnut chest.
"Quantrill is the answer!" reiterated the girandole.
After that exchange there was no more need for discussion. Discussion always ended on the few occasions when the girandole and the burled walnut chest agreed. There was no need to say anything else and no other sentinels dared to cross them, except...
"It won't be so easy as you think!" growled the cast iron turtle bearing sword-plant stand. He was the oldest and most curious of all the antiques. "Quantrill Reynard smells rotten to the marrow. Blue will discover that soon enough." The burled walnut chest creaked uneasily, for the turtle rarely spoke but was always right, and the iron turtle didn't care who he crossed.
By the time he left the McChesney mansion, Quantrill had decided that Blue, or rather Belladonna Louisa, was the girl he would marry. He could well imagine himself prosiding over the McChesney mansion, waking there in the morning, eating in the grand dining room, walking through all the secret rooms upstairs as though they were his own, especially the rumoured library full of rare books and powerful grimoires.
Seeing Blue in her own setting had so charmed Quantrill that he was thankful he had driven his great Aunt to her Council meeting at the McChesney mansion, even though he had been reluctant to do it and had previously used every excuse to try and escape. She is young, only 15, buy 16 in a few months. In a few short years she will be old enough to marry, he thought to himself. No need to rush, yet never to early to make my intentions clear and take control. In 4-5 years I will marry her and then my future will be secure, and Blue will be grateful for the respectability and good management I bring to the McChesney name and fortune. Plus I will move my great Aunt Zerelda in, to help me oversee things.
Since this meeting of young paranormals was for girls only, Quantrill said his good-byes and arranged to stop back for his great Aunt in a few hours. At the door, as Blue let him out, he took her hand. Blue tried to pull it way, not caring if she was rude or not. He would not let go, and put her hand to his lips.
"It was a pleasure to meet you," crooned Quantrill. Then he nodded and walked out. Blue stood there speechless and flushed with anger at his liberties. No one had ever kissed her hand before. I'm certain this doesn't count as a first kiss, she reassured herself, since I was not willing, and was surprised. In fact, it was a guerrilla tactic at best. Blue turned the upsetting incident over in her mind, since she knew that paranormals rarely left things to accident and rarely touched each other. No one wanted an inadvertent energy exchange or link to occur. Something was up.
Quantrill walked toward the car, whispering lines from a three hundred year old poem, Matthew Prior's "An English Padlock.
"Be to her virtues very kind,
Be to her faults, a little blind,
Let all her ways be unconfin’d,
And clap your padlock- on her mind!"
Chapter 4
As they arrived in ones and twos, the young witches hovered around the diningroom table enjoying an afternoon tea of assorted finger sandwiches, fruit salad, and cookies. Three different tea pots were kept full of black tea, orange tea, and mint tea, plus there was cold ice tea and cold lemonade. By the time the Council meeting started, fourteen paranormal girls had arrived, including Stella -- who technically was a necromancer not a witch, but only Blue, Aunt Violet and Grandma Lily knew that. The young witches ranged in age from
seven to sixteen. Once they turned sixteen and had completed a special task, they attended the special grownup only Council meetings also, and could vote. After the social hour was done all the girls helped to put away perishables and then sat on the antique furniture in the ladies' parlor.
First, the President, Carly Simmons, age 16, called the meeting to order and asked for old business. Officers gave their reports. Then Zerelda asked the girls in turn to report on their assigned task from the previous meeting. Most were routine. Blue's was the most interesting.
"I was assigned to check out a haunting at the Turner farm. Luckily, the Turners thought all the racket might be from racoons or squirrels in their walls so they made a call to my Grandpa's Buggyman Pest Exterminator business. This made it easy for me to gain access. I just went with Grandpa Lou as usual to do an extermination job. The haunting was from a goblin that had decided to move into their attic. It was bad tempered and nasty. I just did a banishing and that was it."
The event did not really occur as Blue had described. In truth, the family cat hd told her about the goblin and its whereabouts. Blue did not wish to tell the Council about her ability to commune with animals so she left that part out. Plus the goblin had attacked her and she had used a shadow bolt to subdue it. The Council did not approve of destructive magic, and Blue did not want them to know how skilled she was as a battle mage, so best to leave that part out too. Everyone nodded when Blue finished talking and there was light applause.
Zerelda said nothing at first, balancing a teacup and saucer on her knee, and frowning in Blue's direction as though she were a strange and unwelcome species of insect.
"You do seem to have a knack for paranormal tracking and extermination. Also, you have good cover working for your Grandfather's exterminating business, though I don't know how you can stand dealing with ants and cockroaches. I suppose werewolves are good at that sort of thing." Zerelda looked over at Grandma Lily, who smiled back. If she took offense, there was no sign of it.
"It has come to the Paranormal Council's attention that there is an infestation of young water dragons in the area. They need to be exterminated as soon as possible, before they are seen my mundane folk. I nearly killed one the other day but it flew toward Smokey Hollow and I lost it with all the wards of protection around the land out there." Zerelda looked at Grandma Lily again, who nodded. Those were her wards of protection and they were there to keep snoops like Zerelda Reynard away.
"I'm sure I wounded it," Zerelda continued. "Yet dragons are magical creatures so have some immunity to spells. These dragons are out of control. They could call attention to us and other paranormals in the area. The Council Protection Committee had an emergency meeting last night and we decided to exterminate the rogue dragons before mundane people see them. We need to find them first. I think they are in Northern Niagara County, along the Lake Ontario shore, since they most likely prefer to stay near water. Anyway, I charge you, Belladonna Louisa McChesney, with the task of tracking down these flying vermin and getting rid of them. This is your Initiation Task, the task you must complete so that you are eligible to join the adult arm of the Paranormal Council as a voting member. Based on the work you did with the goblin, I see that you are adept at using tracking spells. Once you find the dragons, get rid of them. You can get rid of them with the method of your choice, by magical or mundane means. Just don't let any mundane folk see you doing it. You are the perfect person for this task since you likely will hear reports made to your Grandfather's pest exterminating business. This is urgent. I want them gone within ten days. Hold out your hand."
"My hand?"
"Yes, your hand. I'm binding you to this task, since it is your initiation task."
Blue held out her hand as Zerelda attached a leather thong around her wrist, with a clay amulet attached.
"When the task is successfully completed, the amulet will break in half and the leather thong will fall off your wrist. Then and only then will you be initiated into the adult branch of the Paranormal Council."
"OK," replied Blue.
"The Council cannot have magical beasts running loose. Nothing out of the ordinary can be tolerated."
Blue nodded. She hated to lie and figured that a nod could mean either "I hear you" or "I will do as you ask," however Zerelda decided to interpret it. Dash it all, Blue mentally swore. She had hoped to find the dragons and banish them before the Council even knew they were here. Now she had to get rid of them? Zerelda Reynard must have wounded Took. What was she doing snooping around Smokey Hollow where the Wolven and her Grandparents lived anyway? If Zerelda hadn't been in Smokey Hollow, and she didn't belong there, she never would have seen Took at all.
"One more thing, bring one of the newly hatched dragons to me, so that I may study it."
Blue nodded again, careful to nod only and not agree. But she noticed out of the corner of her eye that Grandma Lily unobtrusively made the uncrossing sign, a sign used to ward away bad luck.
Zerelda turned her attention next to Stella with a look of disdain on her face. Zerelda considered Stella to be just so much wasted space. Stella hid her necromancer talents, so had only feeble spellcasting to recommend her. "So what have you been working on this month, Stella?"
"I have been practicing the spell for how to light a candle and with some effort I can do it now," replied Stella, keeping her voice light. "So that is an improvement for me." Stella was not used to being the last where talents were concerned. She had the highest average in her school grade, was an accomplished celloist, a good singer, excellent dancer, and partially trained necromancer with great potential.
"Well, that is something," replied Zerelda. "And something is always better than nothing even when it's not much."
Stella held her tongue and Zerelda went around the room getting reports from all the girls on their progress.
Blue wondered if Zerelda was prejudiced against Stella because of her race. She was always on the verge of being mean to Stella but not quite enough that you could point to something. Stella's father had inherited his family's funeral home and business. He was white. Stella's mother was predominantly black, with some asian mixed in. In fact, Stella's mother Naomi was strikingly beautiful. She worked doing makeup for the 'beloved guests' in the basement. Stella was a lovely cafe au lait color. She wore her curly hair in an unusual and modern assymetrical cut that looked terrific. It was very short all around, longer on top, and parted on the right side. The bangs and hair on the left side, in front of her ear hung down chin length and framed her face very nicely in a soft wave along her chin. Sometimes Stella put beads in it. Other times she let it curl into soft tendrils. The short hair in back was fluffed up into little spikes and waves.
Reports from all the girls finally ended and Blue came to attention. Carly Simmons gave a terrific lecture on what clothes are best for different body types, complete with posters and photos. Blue learned that with her short, curvy frame she should stick to conservative, slightly tailored classic styles. Ivy, of course, could wear anything. Stella could wear almost anything, but needed to draw attention to her legs, since she was slightly short-waisted.
Then Madison Montgomery gave a lecture on invoking the element of air and discussed how traditionally a feather is used, waved in a sideways figure eight, an eternity sign. A modern technique is to use an ornate perfume bottle filled with a scent appropriate for the type of working. The stopper, dipped in scent, was then swirled into the air, making a figure eight. Zerelda Reynard frowned deeply at mention of this modern touch.
Finally, Aunt Violet gave her report on female parts, complete with poster size illustrations of red uterus and purple ovaries. She talked about female moon cycles and ovulation. There were many giggles from younger girls. It was rare for witch girls to engage in sex during their teenage years but they were well informed. They had from a young age learned about themselves and their bodies. They knew all about the sex drive and nature's marketing techniques, and were loathe to be sidetracked by tr
ansient pleasures. Witches were trained from their earliest days to be aware of their energies, including their physical energies and appetites, and to keep them balanced. For only with balance of energies could they gain conscious control of their wills and then make good choices. Witch girls usually focused on developing their special talents and finding work that they enjoyed. At the same time, most of them married by their late twenties and much enjoyed their families and offspring.
Grandma Lily discussed the stages girls and boys went through. "Some of you are still 'running with the bears', as the Greeks called it, in regard to their bear goddess Artemis," she said. "At ages 7-11 girls often are bigger and stronger than boys, and bond together into all female groups, and boys into their separate group. Enjoy this time. You will always have a special friendship with your sisters, but be aware that the boys will soon catch up and exceed you in strength and speed. For that is part of their purpose to protect their mates and families. When they become bigger and stronger, then you will seek out their company again."
Blue recalled that time, though she had never been bigger, stronger, or faster than Rafe, since he was wolven. There was a time they had been distant. Then they slowly began to rediscover each other. Now many things were unsaid.
The meeting finally was wrapping up. Stella and Blue cleared the dishes and filled up the dishwasher. Blue took the trash out. As she did so Quantrill pulled up in a shiny new car.