The Witches of Merribay (The Seaforth Chronicles)

by B. J. Smash

  My great-grandpa shook his head from side to side. Apparently he too thought it would be unwise.

  “My wish is for Aunt Cora…to find true love, and to be happy.”

  Aggie smiled broadly. “I believe that is a good wish.” She held her head up to the sky, swung her arms out to the side, circled her hands through the air once, and brought them above her head.

  “It will be done.” Reaching in her pocket, she pulled out a piece of thin, red braided rope. She tied the rope into a knot and handed it to me. “Give this to her. Her true love will find her. Whoever it may be, he will find her.”

  “Well done, Ivy.” Great-Grandpa grinned.

  I had one more question about all of this. “How did you break the spell to release Aggie?”

  “Easy. I knew once you mentioned that Izaill had put a spell on Aggie and that she was buried up in unconsecrated ground, that he had used her old book of spells. I used to study mother's old book of spells as a boy. Anyhow, I remembered the grave curse. Mother knew that I would know. It's rather simple. When he set this spell, he had to use a pure white stone marker, to keep Mother bound in the ground, and he had to find a Hawthorne tree. He engraved a symbol on the bottom of the stone as a key to the spell. To break the spell, one must dig up the grave, hand the victim a bag of special herbs, and bury them until the next full moon—which just happened to be tonight. The next step would be to turn the white stone over, look for the mark he used. In this case, there was a circle. He had broken a Hawthorne branch from the tree and circled her grave three times, sealing the spell. All I had to do was break a Hawthorne branch, carry it in my power hand, which is the right hand for me, burn the branch”—he stopped midsentence to rub his elbows and then held his hands out, igniting fire—“which I have no problem doing ,as you can see. Then I had to walk counterclockwise around the grave, and it's done. I didn't even have to dig her up. The dirt shifted and was sucked up until she was out. Then it dropped back into place.”

  “A job well done, my boy. He always did have a good memory. The best, in fact.” Aggie shined with pride.

  “Such a mama's boy.” I looked up to see Izadora leaning against the railing.

  “He's your favorite, too,” Aggie said.

  “Yes, he's my favorite too.”

  “But I thank you for digging me up and handing me the herbs. He couldn't have done it without you,” Aggie said.

  “How did you know where she was buried, Izadora?” GG Edmund asked.

  “Izaill. He told me what he'd done. Right before he cast the mother-maiden-crone spell. He always has to gloat about his genius,” Izadora answered and then yawned.

  The fire in Great-Grandpa Edmund's hands still burned, and I stood back amazed at the blistering heat that radiated forth—and yet his hands were never harmed.

  He noticed that I'd veered away and said, “Oh, I apologize.” He extinguished the fire from his hands in an instant.

  Aggie, eager to be on her way, said, “Ivy, I will also leave you with this.” She walked to the edge of the wood line, clapping her hands. “Solstice! Solstice, come forth.” The wood line was lit up by the light of the full moon.

  I couldn’t imagine what she was doing. Was she calling forth the summer solstice? The winter solstice? Was she about to change the weather? We watched as she clapped her hands louder this time. “Solstice! Come forth!”

  Thud, thud, thud, thud, could be heard off in the distance. Moments later it stopped. Through the forest edge, the most beautiful horse walked into the grassland where we stood. My heart beamed with joy. I jumped up and down like a five-year-old, clasping my hands to my chest.

  “No way!” I said. “Really?”

  He was white with big black spots; one was on his hind quarter, left-hand side, and some were on his legs. Starting from the head, his mane was black; at the halfway point, it turned pure white. White, thick hair draped over his lower legs, like that of a Clydesdale horse.

  My chest tingled; I felt as though I had won the lottery.

  “He is a beauty!” Izadora bellowed down.

  “Magnificent!” GG Edmund added.

  Aggie patted him on the back as he walked over to stand next to me and Drumm.

  “Beautiful.” Drumm gave him a thorough inspection.

  “He's mine?” I asked.

  “Yes. He is a free horse, you see, no one owns him. But he will be your best friend, loyal to the end. He will live with you here.”

  Drumm laughed at my excitement. “He is an elven horse.”

  He had to be at least eighteen hands. Drumm stood a few inches taller than his back.

  “He'll take good care of you on your upcoming trip,” Aggie informed me.

  The trip she spoke of, I knew, would be to the elven land. With Drumm, I would travel there for the cure to my father's madness. I would meet the woman I had been born to, the woman that had to give me up as a baby. I wouldn't know what to say to her, but it had to be done. I felt apprehensive, yet I was excited to meet her.

  “I must get going now. I've a battle zone to repair, and then I shall be on my way. Izadora, do you have a broom that I may have?”

  “Let me check.” Izadora disappeared into the tree house, her shoulders hunched over.

  “We can take him for a ride tonight, if you'd like.” Drumm patted the horse on the neck, his face lit up with pride.

  “I have one, Mother. It's a spare, and you’re welcome to it.” Izadora tossed it down, and Aggie caught it in midair.

  “I'm gone then. Keep an eye on Izaill.” She gave Great-Grandpa a kiss on the cheek and a slight hug. Looking up to Izadora, she waved.

  “Good-bye, Mother,” Izadora said.

  “I'll see you when I see you.” She mounted the small broomstick, and before our very eyes she was off, flying high above the trees. Once she jerked back as though the broomstick would throw her off, but then it was smooth sailing. Up she flew, over the trees and into the night.

  She hadn't been gone for more than a minute before Izadora reached into her pocket and pulled out a can of something.

  “What's that?” GG Edmund asked.

  She didn't answer at first, not until after Drumm asked a second time. “What is that?”

  Taking a pinch of the contents, laying it in her hand, she mumbled some words. She proceeded to blow on it, the contents spiraling down in a cloud, landing at the base of the tree. “It's cayenne pepper.”

  “What the…?” GG Edmund scrunched his face up, baffled.

  When it landed, hundreds of ants instantly appeared, crawling up the tree and into any open crevice. Some stayed on the ground to form an anthill.

  “Fire ants,” Izadora spat. “That'll teach him.”

  “Oh, you are relentless. Good thing you and I get along, or I wouldn't be able to sleep at night,” GG Edmund said.

  Drumm shook his head. “I agree with you, Edmund. Neither would I be able to sleep.”

  “Sleep? I haven't done that in quite some time. Tonight, I shall.” She rubbed her eyes, yawned, and turned to walk inside. “It's been a long time coming. Good night.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “Holy cow! Sounds like you've had quite the evening.” We had just recapped to Ian what had transpired. Drumm sat with me at the sunroom table at the McCallister house. This was the first time Drumm had left the forest since he'd been watching over Izadora in the evenings.

  Drumm took a bite of spinach salad, with no dressing. I hadn't come that far yet; I poured Caesar dressing on mine.

  “And Izaill is bound to a tree, with Izadora's special contribution of the fire ants. Splendid.” Ian poured himself some tea then added more milk than tea. “You can leave the horse here, and he can live in the gardens. My sister will see no harm comes to him. God, that woman loves horses.”

  He spoke of her as though she were still alive, and in a way, I suppose she really was.

  “Thank you, Ian! He'd be happy here. I can come ride him every day.”

  “No proble
m.” He scowled. “What of your sister?”

  “I intend to find her. Bring her home.”

  “I only inquire about her, considering…what if she doesn't want to come home?”

  “Why wouldn't she? She has nothing to fear anymore. Izaill is bound. Magella is homeless—for now, anyway.”

  “I just have a feeling, that's all. Something isn't right. Maybe you should leave her be, until she contacts you.”

  “Nah, I can't do that. We have to ride to the land of the elven people soon. My father can't continue on in this deep state of depression. I must talk to her soon.”

  “You do that then, Miss Seaforth. Just be…just be careful. And you, Drumm, stay with her, won't you?”

  “For as long as she wants me, I will be there. And even if she doesn't want me, I will still be there.” He chewed thoughtfully.

  “Just remember. Sometimes when we get something we want, we also lose something. It's kind of like a balance of sorts.”

  He reminded me of what Izadora had said when we first met. She told me I may get my father back, but I also might lose something else. But nah, it wasn't going to be Zinnia.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  It had been almost a week since I'd seen Zinnia. Every evening, Drumm and I would ride out on Solstice to the white bridge. He waited in the field with the horse while I stood on the clunky boards, waiting for any sign of the Fae.

  On the seventh night, a white mist could be seen forming in the trees just beyond. It spread out toward the end of the bridge where I stood.

  “Zinnia? Is that you?”

  Walking forward, I passed through thick air that left me feeling dizzy and sucked me in, dumping me on the ground of the other side of the bridge. The forest was dead silent tonight, almost as if time had ceased to exist.

  “I'm here, Ivy.”

  There she stood, looking ever so beautiful in a rose-colored, sleeveless dress. The silky dress hit right above her knee, and she looked as though she were headed out for cocktails. Her eyes, a vibrant blue, twinkled like stars. She appeared to have tattoos of vines on her arms, but upon looking closer, they were raised as though they were real.

  “Zinnia. I've come to ask you to return to us.”

  “No can do, Ivy. I'm here to stay.”

  “But, Zinnia, you can't just leave us like this.”

  “Ivy, I only have a few minutes. I'm not really supposed to be talking to you. Rodinand has let me come to say good-bye.”

  “Good-bye? No, this can't be. What has happened to you?”

  “Ivy, don't look so upset. It was my choice. Let me explain a few things to you.” She sighed. “We should have never visited Magella. I take the blame for it. It was my fault for bringing you into this. But do you remember how she told us that Father would go missing?”

  “I do. I think of it daily.”

  “You remember how you told her she was a liar, and you got up and left the houseboat?”

  “I remember, of course. I told you to come with me, but you wouldn't listen.”

  “Well, I should have. Or you should have stayed with me—however you want to look at it. Perhaps we're both at fault, but I will take the blame.”

  “No. I never should have left you there.” It was true. I believe if I stayed, she wouldn't have had time to be misled by Magella.

  “What's done is done. But when you left, she explained everything to me in detail. Things have happened as they should—as they have been predicted for years.”

  “Zinnia? I don't understand.”

  “Oh, Ivy. You always were a bit slow on the catch. Let me set you straight.” Her tone had changed from that of a sweet girl to something a bit more…sinister. She stood with her hands clasped behind her back next to a birch tree. A source of muted light emitted from the white fog, putting forth an eerie glow.

  “Go ahead.” I remained calm. I wouldn’t let anything she said faze me.

  “Dear sister.” She stopped briefly to snicker and roll her eyes. “You may have heard mention of a spell book. Many call it Aggie's book of spells. But it did not originate with Aggie. Oh no, it did not. You see, it belonged to Aggie's great-great-grandmother. And in this book are not only spells but a memoir of predictions forecasting future events. Not all things can be seen, but enough for me to decide which side I'm on.” She stopped to see my reaction, but I could almost bet that my face was blank. I'd learned that expression from Izadora; perhaps I was becoming her apprentice after all.

  “Among other things, the Seaforth family is mentioned throughout this book. We are doomed; we are cursed. It is predicted that down this line, there will always be feuding amongst the generations, with each set of siblings only gaining malice as time goes on. The book holds information of two sisters at war, far worse than the generation of Izaill, Izadora, Magella, and Montague. One sister good, and the other has a heart of stone.”

  “I don't know of this book, but predictions are not set in stone. They are only that, just predictions. We shape our fate.”

  “Ha! Do you really believe that, sister? And you always thought that you were the smart one.”

  It was at this moment that I knew this was no longer my Zinnia, but a deeper, darker version. “I do believe that.”

  “Well you are wrong. The book I speak of, I believe you have seen it. It was on Magella's houseboat, in the room with the snake and rolling pin. It registered as being touched by an Ivy Seaforth. That's you, is it not?” she asked patronizingly.

  “The book on Magella's houseboat? I briefly touched it, yes.”

  “That's all it takes…and the book remembers you.” She took one step closer to me. I forced myself not to step backward.

  “Let me share something here…something that you should know. That day that we went to Magella’s was not the first day that I had been there.”

  Now this piece of information struck me hard. I felt the corners of my mouth turn down, and my left eye began to twitch. Hadn't she just tried to make me feel bad about leaving her alone with Magella? “What did you say?”

  “I heard Grandfather and Father speaking to GG Edmund in his bedroom. They spoke of Aunt Cora and her fiancé, Roddy. How he was stolen by the Fae. It had been the first time I'd ever heard of such a race of beings. I was…I was enraptured by the thought of a different lifestyle.” She snorted. “I mean, you know I didn't want to go to college this fall. How boring.”

  “Seriously? That's all you ever used to talk about. College is a privilege. Acquiring knowledge is a privilege. How can it be boring?” I seriously couldn't understand her point of view; this was not the sister I had known a few years ago. Her dream was to become a nurse.

  “It's a privilege for people like you. But I am not smart. At least not in that way, but I am a master at manipulation,” she said.

  “Continue.” She reminded me of Izaill, with his ranting about how great he is, and his masterful plans to have the forest for himself.

  “After I heard them talking, and about how Father and Grandfather would be searching for Aunt Cora's fiancé, I got to thinking. I would try to find the Fae myself. Well, I had heard of the old witch in town, Magella. Becky had spoken of her. Well, Magella just happened to be there one day while I was supposed to be at Becky's—”

  I interrupted her to ask, “How did you get Becky to lie for you that night that I saw you on the houseboat?”

  “Easy. I've become a master enchantress. I can hypnotize quite easily. She probably really believed I was there, in the bathtub. Ha!”

  “Wonderful.” I gave her a wry grin. “You think you’re something, don't ya?”

  “Just let me tell you what happened so I can get out of here. So, I went to Magella's. She knew who I was, instantly, and who I would become. She read to me from the book of spells, informing me of my upcoming future. She told me all that I needed to know about the Fae, and that she was part Fae herself—I was her great-niece, after all. She offered me a deal of long life, parties, and power. I took it. She branded me w
ith the tattoo, but guess what? Rodinand removed it. Yes, he does have the power to do that. And now Magella and Izaill hold no power over me.”

  “My oh my,” I said brusquely, dismissing her words as tedious. I really was becoming like Izadora.

  “So, I knew Father would be captured in the woods. I knew he'd be returned. I knew you were for the good side, but I didn't know how it would all turn out. I knew we were half sisters, but, hey, I didn't know you were part elf. Check out your pointy ears. Funny stuff.”

  Ignoring the comment about my ears, I said, “But the rolling pin—you tossed me the rolling pin in the ocean.”

  “I wanted to prove to Magella that I would be the one making the decisions from now on. After all, what can a rolling pin do?”

  Evidently she had no idea what the rolling pin could do—in the right hands.

  Her eyebrows furrowed. “Although, Magella did get quite upset about that.”

  I could see everything that had happened, built up to this point. Magella had been using my sister, filling her with lies about how powerful she would become. But this power had indeed infested itself in Zinnia. If the tides really did turn, then Magella held no power over Zinnia. In fact, I believe Zinnia had turned the tables.

  “But guess what? Just listen to this. Roddy, Aunt Cora's fiancé—he was never a human. He is of the Unseelie Fae. And that is why he returned to fairyland. Not for a dog. The dog was just an excuse to escape. He still has the dog. But one thing you might not know is Aunt Cora always yearned for Roddy's return. One day he did return to try and convince her to come with him, but she refused to go. And guess what? Oh, this part is too good to keep to myself.”

  “Just spit it out then,” I said.