Sky Mothers (Born of Shadows Book 4)

by J. R. Erickson

  But Liam had already slipped out of his shoes. He walked to the edge of the pond and leaned forward, touching it with his fingertips. Before he could back away, slimy white arms reached from the dark water and grasped his shoulders, pulling him forward.

  He screamed and reached behind him where the fox had raced forward, but he vanished into the water before she could reach him.

  ****

  The vision drained away and Sebastian lay against the cold silk of the coffin. He thrust his hands up and the lid flung open. Sweating and unnerved, he climbed out and lumbered away from the box, sitting roughly on the floor.

  "Did you find him?" Claire asked, watching anxiously.

  He noticed that she no longer wore the same shorts and t-shirt. Now she donned a pair of their mother's painting pants-blue scrubs streaked with yellow and red paint. She wore one of Sebastian's old shirts. A concert t-shirt from Rusted Root that he had bought the summer before his parents died in the crash.

  "How do you change clothes?" Sebastian asked, trying to shake the lingering fear the vision had inspired.

  "I can appear any way that I want."

  "Must save loads on laundry, no pun intended," he joked and then laughed a dry bark that sounded miserable to his own ears.

  "What did you see?" Claire asked.

  "The water witch pulled Liam into the pond," he admitted.

  "Do you believe he is dead, then?"

  Sebastian shook his head.

  "No, there's a part of me that wishes I did. I suddenly want to get out of this place, but I wish I could take you with me."

  "You do, I just don't look as fashionable out there. Think warm breezes and butterflies."

  "You appear as warm breezes and butterflies? I tend to think it's you when a lightning storm is happening."

  "Those too," she promised.

  "He wanted something from the witch."

  Claire looked thoughtful.

  "What could she give him?"

  "I don't know," Sebastian admitted. "And Hannah didn't mention it. What could be so valuable that..."

  "He'd risk everything to get it," Claire finished.

  "Exactly."

  ****

  It took Sebastian hours to find the pond. He walked through doorways and down hallways. Claire could not offer any guidance because the world was as unfamiliar to her as to Sebastian. When at last he found it, he'd nearly given up. They had discovered a floating garden nestled within a group of buildings. As they walked through the garden, Claire pointing out flowers, Sebastian noticed a dark mist emerging from a grove of trees. He had to fight through tight, twisted branches that scratched his face. On the other side of the grove, he discovered the pond. The black water did not reflect the blue sky overhead. It remained dark and motionless.

  "I would like to speak with you," he called across the water, not sure if the witch would hear him, or if he wanted her to.

  A ripple broke across the water and Sebastian watched the top of the woman's dark head break the surface. Her two red eyes fixed on his own.

  "I'm here for Liam," he told the witch.

  Claire took his hand and tugged him away from the water's edge.

  "Don't get too close," she whispered.

  Sebastian took the belt from his waist. As he held it over the pond, the water began to ripple and then churn. For an instant, the water took on the shape of Liam's face, the mouth opening in a scream.

  "Help Me!" The scream burst from the water and echoed around them.

  Sebastian stumbled backwards and nearly fell.

  Claire clutched him uneasily.

  The witch continued to watch them.

  "I have to go into the water," Sebastian said.

  "No, no," Claire shook her head from side to side. "You're not responsible for him. Think about Abby."

  "I am," Sebastian murmured. "And I just know that I have to go in there."

  "I can't go with you," she told him, tugging on his shirt. "I can't follow you into the water."

  "Just wait for me, right here. Okay? I'm coming back out."

  He took out the snorkel, goggles, and the knife. He had no idea what to expect as he stepped to the edge of the pool, but could not shake the vision of the slimy arms reaching out to grasp Liam. No arms reached for him. Gingerly, he stepped to the edge of the pond, intending only to check the depth, but his foot found no ground and he twisted around for a final look at Claire before the water swallowed him whole.

  Chapter 9

  "Any sign of him?" Hannah asked, leaving the trees and ducking beneath the canopy.

  Her long blonde hair was woven into a series of braids that created a crown around her head. She wore a semi-sheer white dress, ankle-length, that showed off her curves. Though her smile looked tentative, her eyes shone with the desperation Abby had seen the day before.

  "Nope," Oliver said curtly, making his opinion of her known.

  She ignored him and took a chair near Abby.

  "I'm sure he's okay, really."

  Abby felt Hannah's need to make amends with her and found it hard to ignore. Sebastian had chosen to go back into the dream wood. Had he never returned the day before, she would have blamed Hannah. She may have even hated her. But he went back knowing the risk. It was no longer on Hannah what happened to him.

  "Tell us about the dream wood, Hannah," Helena asked, passing her a cup of tea. "I've never heard of anything like it, and to be truthful, I'd never even heard of a hybrid before we came here."

  Hannah took the tea gratefully.

  "I've been hearing about hybrids since I became a witch."

  "And when was that?" Abby interrupted, always curious how long other witches had been in the world of magic.

  "Well, I was sixteen when I first started exhibiting powers. Matilda found me just a few months later and I'm thirty-eight now, so twenty-two years."

  Abby eyed Hannah appraisingly. She looked twenty. Abby had assumed she was a young witch due to her impulsiveness, but no, she had been a witch for more than twenty years.

  "Anyway," Hannah continued. "Clyde had disappeared long before I joined the Sky Mothers, but he had become a myth of sorts. Only Binda knew him and Meghan. The other two witches who had been a part of the Sky Mothers during that time had left. One died shortly thereafter. Matilda came to the Sky Mothers twenty years after Meghan and Clyde disappeared. In those days, apparently Binda was still desperately trying to get into the dream wood. It became clear to Matilda that they would never get inside. Matilda once told me that she thought Clyde murdered Meghan in the dream wood. Though she didn't know him, Binda had told her that he had a dark, cruel nature."

  ****

  The instant he disappeared beneath the water, Sebastian emerged in a dark forest. There was no drowning or thrashing for air. He looked up. Far above him, rather than a sky, he saw the murky underside of the black pond. He could not see the world beyond the pond or Claire. He watched a dark shape moving through the water. The shadow slid from the black water into a tree. Sebastian thought he saw the two red eyes of the water witch.

  His feet sunk into the marshy ground and a smell of rotten eggs and seaweed emanated from the earth. He turned in a circle, scanning the gnarled trees and the ferns slumped over and beginning to rot. Looking back toward the sky, he tried not to contemplate how he would get out if he did find Liam. He still had the knife re-sheathed against his leg, but he no longer held the goggles or snorkel, not that he needed them. But the transition unnerved him. He had not fallen from the pond above, but simply appeared on the forest floor. Sebastian rarely questioned the magical world. Since Claire's discovery that she was a witch, he had accepted that the rules of life he'd been shown were wrong, simple as that. Still, he didn't like how seamlessly he moved from what appeared to be one world into another, without actually intending to do it.

  Sebastian walked for a long time. The smell and weak light had started a throbbing behind his eyes. He turned often, seeking a sign of life, but the dead forest seem
ed to stretch into eternity. He squinted into the growing darkness before him. He thought he could see the faint glow of lights, but didn't trust his eyes as the headache grew. He continued walking until he felt sure that lights glowed in the distance. As he grew closer, the earth suddenly vanished. He stood at the edge of the soggy forest where a ramshackle plank bridge suspended across a dark void. He looked down but could see no ground. The bridge did not have a handrail and appeared, much like the bridge into the dream wood, to be in the later stages of decay.

  At the end of the long, tattered bridge stood a dilapidated house. Sebastian felt as if something or someone peered at him from the dark windows. Two torches flanked the stone steps that led to the front door, where a bouquet of black flowers hung.

  "What was I thinking?" he asked out loud.

  He thought back to the night before, standing with Abby outside the yurt. He had felt so confident in his need to return to the dream wood and seek out Liam. Now, standing at the edge of a haunted house, likely stuck in a dead world that he could not escape, he wished to turn back the hands of time and make a different choice.

  He glanced a final time at the dead forest behind him and then turned back to face what lay ahead.

  ****

  As day turned to dusk, Abby grew anxious. Their tent was filled with birds and Helena and Oliver fed them bits of fruit and gave them names like Jack Sparrow and Quackie Chan. Abby tried to join them, but could barely find a smile, let alone a quirky bird name. Hannah had left hours earlier and not returned. Likely Matilda had warned her to stay away from Abby and the witches of Ula.

  "What time is it?" Abby asked.

  Helena glanced at the sky.

  "Just after six, give or take a few minutes."

  "He's been gone for nearly ten hours."

  "Watch out, Polly Pardon's eyeing your sandwich," Oliver told Abby, nodding at the uneaten sandwich on her plate.

  Abby broke a hunk off and threw it to the bird.

  She stood and walked from the tent. At the start of the bridge, she met the invisible wall and fought the desire to pound her fists against it and scream Sebastian's name.

  Another half hour passed and then an hour. The sunset lit the sky in streaks of pink and orange, but was soon replaced by the milky dark of evening.

  Abby had not moved from the bridge and her legs had begun to ache.

  "Still no sign of him?" Oliver asked, startling her.

  Abby shook her head, afraid to say the words out loud.

  "Maybe he just got carried away. If I could fly, I would probably disappear into that place for a week."

  She nodded but remained silent.

  Helena moved next to Abby. She had packed up the tent and other items in the bottomless bag. She touched Abby's elbow.

  "I know that you can't imagine leaving right now, but for the baby's sake, you need to come back to the yurts."

  Abby bit her lip and stared harder into the forest. Had something moved?

  "I can't, Helena. What if he comes out and he's injured. I have to be here."

  "I'll be here," Julian said, walking up behind them from the woods. "I'm going to take the night shift."

  Helena smiled at Julian and tried to take Abby's hand.

  Abby pulled it away, unable to shift her focus from the forest beyond the bridge.

  "Set the tent back up," Oliver told Helena. "I'll go back to the Sky Mothers for some hammocks. Camping!"

  He ran off into the forest.

  Abby smiled after him and then returned her watchful eyes to the trees.

  "You're not looking at the dream wood, Abby," Julian reminded her. "It's an illusion, just like the bridge."

  Helena pulled a chair from her bag and opened it for Abby.

  "Sit down, honey."

  Abby sat and folded her shaking hands in her lap.

  She tried to keep her eyes open, but they felt thick and heavy. She leaned back in her chair.

  Kanti struggled in the arms of the giant, but it was no use. He outweighed her by three-hundred pounds, maybe more. He held her high, her feet kicking out for his shins or his groin, with her arms pinned behind her back. The hole before them yawned long and narrow. She knew that hole. She had watched the people in her tribe dig similar holes when an elder grew ill and passed into the spirit world. The white man sat on the edge of the hole with his treasures spread around him like a greedy child. He touched the strange charm on the gold rope, a serpent with a bloody heart. The man stood and brushed the dirt from the seat of his pants. As the giant held her and she writhed and kicked, the man kissed her hard on the mouth. He tasted of salt and rotten things. He tasted of dead and evil and darkness.

  When he placed the golden rope with the snake over her head, she tried to jerk away from him. She did not want the jewel against her naked chest. He gripped her hair and held her head in place.

  "You will wear it or return to the box."

  She glanced beyond him to the forest where she knew the giant had tied their houses. The box was wooden, long and narrow, much like the hole before her. Slits in the side allowed air and a sliver of light, but there were times she laid in it for hours. Before they placed her in the box, the giant always stuffed her mouth with bits of dirty rag so that she could not call out for help.

  She grew still, terrified at returning to the box.

  The man placed the snake over her head. The weight pressed into her chest and felt hot and heavy against her clammy skin. Another sensation accompanied the heaviness, a steady drum, as if the snake had a heartbeat.

  The giant tied her hands behind her back, tied her ankles together, and covered her mouth and nose with a handkerchief. She stood at the edge of the hole and stared down. Rough hands shoved her from behind and she fell into the hole like a piece of board, unable to break her fall. She started to cry as the shovels of dirt landed on her back.

  Abby woke gasping and crying. She swatted her hands in front of her, trying to fight off the man and the giant who had disappeared with her dream.

  ****

  "This is delicious, Bridget," Elda said over dinner.

  Their large dining table at Ula seemed empty with many of their coven in Australia

  "Thank you, dearie. I found the recipe in an old book of shadows, believe it or not. That Astral book that Sebastian brought. The witch who wrote it called it Soul Summoning Porridge. Ha, I love a witch with a sense of humor."

  Faustine looked up sharply and stood up from the table, knocking his chair to the floor.

  "What's happened?" Lydie gasped, her eyes darting to the candles as if she expected one to be extinguished.

  Elda stood and opened her arms wide, allowing a wave of calm energy to move across the room.

  "I saw something," Faustine said, not looking at anyone, but into the distance as if trying to see another place, perhaps another time.

  Elda went to him and rested a hand on his forearm.

  "What is it, Faustine? Has someone been hurt?"

  "No, no." He shook his head. "It was in the memory of the Lourdes of Warning. I didn't recognize it at the time..." he trailed off. "I have to go to the tower."

  He left the room abruptly without another word.

  Lydie looked shaken and on the verge of tears.

  "I'm going to my room," she spat and stomped out as well.

  Bridget pursed her lips and then shrugged, returning to her seat and spooning more porridge into her bowl.

  After a moment, Elda did the same.

  "I am going to take Lydie to Florida," Elda told Bridget.

  "You are? What on earth is in Florida? Just trying to cheer her up a bit?"

  Elda smiled.

  "No, though I hope it does cheer her up. I received a letter from her aunt. I've been contemplating telling her and now I feel the time is right."

  "An aunt?" Bridget asked, looking suddenly sad. "She won't leave us Elda, will she?"

  Elda shook her head.

  "No, I don't believe so, but she is coming to an ag
e where she needs a connection to her roots. This aunt has a blood connection to Lydie. It's important for Lydie to have that."

  ****

  Sebastian placed each foot gingerly on the soft boards as he walked across the bridge. He held his arms out to either side and fought the urge to get down and crawl. Heights didn't generally scare him, but the dizzying drop on either side of the bridge never ended. That scared him.

  When he finally made it to the house, he jumped from the bridge onto the stone steps with a whoop of laughter. The sound echoed through the chasm below and circled back in a haunting cry.

  Touching the door handle, he paused, absurdly thinking he should knock. What if someone lived on the other side? He couldn't just barge in.

  He knocked twice and waited.

  No one appeared at the door and not a sound emerged from within the house.

  He turned the handle gingerly. It screeched and he pulled his hand away as if burned. The door swung open with a shriek of rusted hinges. The smell that hit him nearly sent him staggering back to the bridge. He pulled his shirt up to cover his nose and mouth.

  He walked into the darkness, trying not to gag at the putrid odors that assailed him. It looked like a typical old house. Sagging furniture coated with dust and cobwebs sat on threadbare rugs. He moved down a hall to a stairway that led to the second floor. Whatever lay in the house would be upstairs, he felt sure.

  At the top of the stairs, he faced a long, dim hallway lined with doors. He considered listening at each one but then decided hesitation would not serve him in this awful place. He unsheathed his knife and pushed open the first door, finding an empty room with a small bed pushed against the wall. The bed was lined with ragged stuffed animals. Button eyes dangled from the faces of bears and puppies by strings. Their mouths were sewed in jagged black stitching. A rocking chair sat in the corner and it rocked gently as if someone sat holding a baby.

  He moved to the next door, more spooked by the empty room than he cared to admit. He pushed the door open and immediately a terrible wailing met his ears. It was not merely a cry, but a head-splitting sound that seemed to come from everywhere. He dropped his knife and clamped his hands over his ears.