"She has imprisoned me to stifle my greatness, but you can't stop a master who is meant to rule the world. Only a small-minded witch would believe that she could stop a great sorcerer. She will rue the day she kissed my infant cheeks," he read out loud.
"There's a lot more." Liam bent down and picked up a stack of dried leaves covered in writing.
A name caught Sebastian's eye and he snatched it from the stack.
Kanti, it said. Not once, but a dozen times at least. Around the name, the man had drawn symbols and written random words like fire, sacrifice and eternity.
Sebastian shook his head as if not quite believing it.
"What's Kanti?" Liam asked. "That word is all over this place."
"I should have known it was all connected. It's always connected," Sebastian grumbled.
Liam watched, waiting for an answer.
"Not what, but who. Kanti is a woman, or was a woman. She's the reason we came to Australia. It's a long story. If we're stuck here, I'll tell you, but right now, let's skip it. Have you ever seen this guy?"
"Clyde? I'd imagine he's dead. We're not witches, after all. He'd be three hundred years old."
"True, and if I wasn't standing here looking at this name, I'd assume that too. But my assumptions often bite me in the ass."
"That's assumptions for you. I don't think he died here in the Forest of Purgatory, though."
"The Forest of Purgatory?"
"I named this place, seemed fitting," Liam told him, smiling ironically.
"Yeah it does," Sebastian admitted.
"That weird feeling when you come up through the hole - I believe it removes the charm that the witch uses to track us. Before I found this room, Meghan could always find me, but not when I'm in here. I can't feel her in here, ever, and I've heard sounds below when she sends her phantoms after me, but they never find me."
"Her phantoms?" Sebastian asked, almost preferring not to know.
"They do her bidding. Black and thick, but not solid. I don't know what they are, but they appear and sort of wash over you and that's it. You wake up in Meghan's hell hall."
Sebastian thought back to the black shadow that had surrounded him in the old house.
"I've met them," he said.
Liam sat heavily on the bed and rested his skeletal face in his hands.
"I can't tell you how happy I am to see you, mate," he admitted.
Sebastian started to ask why, but didn't need to. One look at Liam told him everything he needed to know.
"What do you eat?" Sebastian heard his stomach grumble and imagined the look on Abby's face were she with him. She often commented on his insatiable hunger even in moments of crisis.
"You saw the soggy grass out there?"
"Please, no!" Sebastian grimaced, thinking of the mushy stinking grass.
"That and the fire ants if you crush about fifty trillion of them. Usually give me a wicked stomachache after, though."
"So, she'd let you starve? Did you ever ask her for food?"
Liam shrugged.
"I ate twice, real food, when I pretended to be her son."
"What?"
Liam looked mildly ashamed, but nodded.
"She believes I'm her son. She probably believes you're her son. And that skeleton that lives in the house, I think once upon a time, she believed he was her son. I think she trapped Clyde in here, but somehow, he got away and every time another hybrid is stupid enough to stumble into her spider's web, she wraps them up nice and tight and keeps them for eternity."
"Why did you enter the pond, Liam? I visited the coffin that reveals the past. You went to her intentionally."
"Pretty nasty, huh? Climb into this coffin to see the past. Gave me the willies the first time I was in there."
"Yeah, if I wasn't claustrophobic before, I am now."
"I went to the pond hoping that Meghan would reveal the secret of the dream wood. I wanted Hannah to join me inside, not forever, but just occasionally. I also suspected that the water witch was Meghan and I knew that Binda had spent much of her life trying to find out what happened to her. I figured if I delivered Meghan to Binda, the Sky Mothers would give us their blessing. We wanted to build our own place, but Hannah needed their approval to stay in the coven while living apart. Binda thought me unworthy of Hannah, though. Between you and me, Binda's not exactly fond of the blokes.
"Did you ever get to ask her about the dream wood?"
Liam sighed.
"She speaks in riddles. I think her mind's as mushy as the grass outside. If I asked her questions, she would become furious and insist that I was trying to manipulate her. One day I was Clyde and she doted on me, the next day she would call me a blood traitor and leave me shackled to a tree to get eaten by the ants. I gave up trying to talk to her."
"We've got to get out of here," Sebastian murmured, fearing his own future encounters with the dark witch.
He walked along the perimeter of the room, reading the confused words scrawled on the rock wall.
"Look there, above the table."
Sebastian walked to a crudely made table that looked ready to collapse beneath stacks of rocks carved into various shapes. Some of which appeared to be weapons, much like the one Liam had attacked him with earlier.
Sebastian studied a jumble of images that transitioned through the stages of man as a primitive species, to Homo-Erectus, Homo Sapiens, Neanderthal, and finally to modern man. Except it didn't end there. The next image brought Sebastian closer to the wall. The modern man transformed into a walking wolf with wings. A skin-walker.
"My head feels like it's about to explode," Sebastian said, rubbing his temples. Exhaustion, dehydration, and the overload of information threatened to capsize him.
"I know, seems to me the guy was nuts, but you want to know something really crazy?"
"Hmm?" Sebastian asked, not sure if he did want to know.
"I've seen one of those things. The flying wolf man. I saw one in the dream wood the second time I went in. It was crouched in a giant tree watching me. Scared me half to death. Fortunately, in the dream wood, you can make things disappear, which I did, but I figure the original guy, Clyde, must have created it."
"I've seen one too." Sebastian sighed.
"Yeah, there's some crazy stuff in here."
"I didn't see it the dream wood."
"How's that?" Liam asked, sitting up straighter.
"I've seen one in the world, they exist."
"No! Really?"
Sebastian nodded.
****
Abby took the tiny glass bottle from the pocket of her cloak. She had never used a vanishing serum before. Oliver once told her of magic that could make you disappear, and at the time, she'd brushed it off. Now she intended to put it to use. She had found the book while searching for information about the dream wood and slipped it into her pocket to peruse later. However, after she saw Binda, she felt inspired to put one of the spells to use. The enchantment called 'The Vanishing' contained notes in the margins, the kind of notes that told Abby it was a well-used piece of magic.
She checked to ensure the apothecary was empty before slipping inside and quickly mixing the ingredients in a glass bowl. Fortunately, the Sky Mothers meticulously labeled everything and Abby easily found the ingredients she sought. She had to search for spider eggs, but found those in a glass cooler that blasted her in an icy mist when she opened the door. Quickly pouring the elixir into an amber bottle, she hurried back to the waterfall to find Binda.
The witch no longer stood in the garden, but Abby glimpsed her disappearing into the woods and raced after her.
She took the potion in a quick gulp and gasped as the fiery liquid scalded her throat and raced, inferno-like, into her stomach. A huge steaming belch erupted from her lips and she clamped a hand over her mouth. Had Binda heard her? Staying perfectly still, she waited for several breaths and then peeked around a tree. Binda's white cloak billowed behind her as she moved steadily through the woods. She did not appear to h
ave slowed her stride.
As Abby followed, keeping her distance to remain undetected, she watched her hands closely. Were they growing lighter? More transparent? Yes, after several minutes, she saw that the leaves had begun to show through her outstretched arms.
Binda stopped at a large dark pond, and Abby ducked behind a tree, though she had likely become invisible.
"Meghan, Meghan," Binda hissed, kneeling over the black water. She leaned close so that her nose nearly touched the glistening surface.
Abby stepped closer, placing each foot as if it were a fragile egg that she must not crack. Binda was an old witch, smart, cunning, and frankly a little scary. Abby did not savor the thought of being discovered spying on her.
"Please Meghan..." she whispered, more loudly. The pond lay silent, but then in its center, Abby saw a ripple. The water undulated. A woman's face appeared just beneath the surface.
Binda moaned and reached for the water, but did not touch it.
"Oh Meghan, my sweet Meghan. I've missed you. Do you know how I've missed you?"
Binda's tone had changed so dramatically that Abby could hardly believe it was the same witch speaking. The hard edge that punctuated Binda's words had been replaced by despair and hopelessness.
The water opened and another voice rose from it. Abby stepped back at the sound and nearly fell over a rotting log.
"Come, at last, have you?" the voice taunted. It was a woman's voice, but mean and slick, like the hiss of a snake, the whisper of a knife slicing through the air. The voice scared Abby and she wanted to grab Binda by the shoulders and pull her away from the pond's edge.
"I've wanted to come a thousand times. And before that, I did come a thousand times. You know that I did, but I had to stop. I couldn't take it anymore, seeing you trapped down there."
The woman beneath the water laughed and the sound echoed through the forest as if they sat in a cavern.
"Hard for you? Hard for you, living free in the world? Don't talk to me of hardships, Binda."
"Please don't be angry with me," Binda started and Abby could see tears splashing from her face into the water.
As the tears touched the surface, the woman in the water contorted her own face into a horrible scowl. The water thrashed and Binda fell back, soaking wet.
She wiped the water away with her cloak.
"I didn't put you in there, Meghan. You did. I won't let you punish me for your mistakes."
"Mistakes," the witch cried out. "And where were you when I needed you most? Building the Sky Mothers. Recruiting new witches, younger witches with pretty blond hair and huge empty heads. You left me to deal with him alone. He killed me, Binda. He destroyed me."
Binda crawled to the edge of the pond on her knees. Her hands shook, but again, she reached toward the surface.
"If I had only known, Meghan. I thought he was trapped. That you would return to me. I didn't know."
"It doesn't matter now. What do you want?"
Binda closed her eyes and Abby felt the outpouring of her sadness so deeply that she wanted to burst into tears.
"There are witches here from Trager City. They speak of an amulet."
The face beneath the water stretched into a huge hideous grin.
"Yes, I know Binda. It is time for Clyde to come home."
"But they won't give you the amulet, Meghan. They mean to destroy it."
The water thrashed and then as quickly grew calm.
"Not if they ever want to see their beloved hybrid again."
Chapter 13
"I've been here for a year," Liam reminded Sebastian as he walked the room again.
He touched walls, kicked at the floor and felt along the ceiling.
"If there was a secret passage, I would have found it by now."
"But you said yourself, he got out. And obviously, he created this room to hide from her. It makes sense this would be the way out."
"If we weren't in the center of a mountain, maybe."
"I tried going back through the pond," Sebastian said. "Practically got eaten alive by ants."
"I attempted that too, and if you decide to let the ants eat you and go for it anyway, you'll smash your head into a brick wall that looks like a pond."
"What?"
"You can't get into it. It looks like the pond from below, but it's rock hard. I learned the hard way, five or six times."
"Argh," Sebastian raked his hands through his black curls and tried not to start kicking the walls.
He couldn't imagine being trapped in the dream wood for much longer. He already felt close to his breaking point.
"What if we attacked the witch?" he asked.
Liam offered him a wry smile.
"Tried that too. I've gone after her with rocks, sticks. I've pretended to be her son to get close to her. You name it, I've tried it. One time, I actually got my hands around her throat, but the next instant I was plummeting toward my death."
"But you didn't die?"
"Nope, I woke up on the swamp grass every time."
****
Lydie knocked and then backed away from the door, tempted to duck behind Elda's skirts as if she were a shy little girl instead of a young woman. Elda offered her an encouraging smile, but it did little to calm her pounding heart. She focused on breathing slowly and deeply, not wanting to ruin her first impression by accidentally setting her aunt's house on the fire.
The door opened and a tall woman with long blonde curls answered the door. She wore a fuchsia dress, dangling peacock earrings and a smile that transported Lydie back to her childhood. It was her mother's smile.
"Lydie?" the woman asked, stepping forward as if she meant to hug Lydie, and then offering a tentative hand as if that might be more appropriate.
Without thinking, Lydie flung herself into the woman's arms. She inhaled scents of rosemary and garlic and a tropical smelling lotion, coconut perhaps. Camilla hugged her back, pressing her lips to Lydie's head.
"I can't believe it has been ten years," the woman murmured.
Lydie felt tears streaming down her face. She wanted to stay in her aunt's embrace, partially due to embarrassment at her emotions, but mostly to hold on to this woman who knew her, who loved her.
Camilla hugged her extra tight and then pulled away, looking into her face.
"You look just like her," she said, brushing a tear away from her own face. "For a moment when I opened the door..." her voice caught and she shook her head, laughing and starting to cry harder.
"I'm Elda. It's wonderful to finally meet you," Elda told her, stepping forward and offering her hand.
"Yes, thank you, Elda. Thank you so much for bringing her. Call me Cammi."
Cammi invited them into her home. It reminded Lydie of her childhood home, what she remembered of it. Now her memories were tangled with the dilapidated shack that her family home had turned into in the years after it was abandoned. Cammi's kitchen was bright and sunny and faced a huge vegetable garden with a funny looking scarecrow wearing a top hat. Two cats napped on the blue sectional in her living room.
"Meet Dozer and Nutmeg, Nutty for short."
"We had a cat named Nutmeg," Lydie exclaimed, remembering a fat tabby cat that her mother grew catnip for in the backyard.
"I know you did," Cammi told her. "And the original Nutmeg was a skinny black and white stray that your mother lured back to our house with bits of cheese. Your mom was about ten, and the name became a little tradition for us. This girl here," Camilla said, petting the silky gray cat, "must be the fifth or sixth Nutmeg in our family."
Lydie felt her breath catch in her throat as a million questions tumbled to the front of her mind. This woman, her aunt, had an entire lifetime of her mother to share.
Elda sat next to Lydie on the couch and took her hand.
"Cammi and I decided that I would stay tonight and then head back to Michigan tomorrow. However, you may stay as long as you like," Elda explained.
Lydie stared at Elda, questioning. Did sh
e mean forever? The thought hurt almost as much as the overwhelming joy when Cammi opened the door.
"I thought a week," Elda continued, perhaps sensing Lydie's distress. "But of course, that is your choice and you may come home sooner or stay longer, if you prefer."
Lydie sighed, relieved when Elda spoke of home. She wanted very much to know her aunt, but could not imagine leaving Ula forever.
****
"I have an idea," Sebastian said into the darkness. The candle had burned out hours ago and he'd been listening to the steady snores of Liam from the bed.
Liam grunted.
"Huh?"
"I'm going to jump."
"Jump where?" Liam's voice, thick with sleep, floated to him from the darkness.
It was so dark that Sebastian could not make out his hand in front of his face.
"Off the bridge by the house. It's meant to scare us, to make us think we'll die, but we can't really, right? We're in a dream reality. It's a construct of the imagination."
"The ants feel awfully real."
"So does the grass, and the rock, but the emptiness can't be real. We're in a forest, not on a mountain. How could she create an abyss where solid ground has to be?"
"Sounds like a terrible idea," Liam murmured.
He shifted in the darkness and Sebastian heard him fumbling next to the bed. A flame ignited and Liam held it quickly to a lantern.
"When will you do this?"
"I'm figuring that out. But we need to distract her. I think she knows when we fall and performs magic to keep us trapped here. But if I jumped when she was distracted, I bet I'd land somewhere else-either in the dream wood or back in the forest by the Sky Mothers."
Liam rocked back and forth on the edge of the bed, nodding with his unspoken thoughts.
"You could be right. But how do we distract her?"
"You'll let her capture you, play at being her son, whatever. I'll jump, and then when I have the amulet, I'll send it through the dream wood with Claire. The witch will have to go to the pond to retrieve it. That's when you jump."
Liam frowned and narrowed his eyes.
"This plan sounds a lot more promising for you than me."
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