The Wolf, the Witch and the Coffin

by Ophelia Preston

  The Wolf, the Witch and the Coffin

  By Ophelia Preston

  Copyright

  Front cover image © Brian MacLennan 2013

  The Wolf, the Witch and the Coffin © 2013 Norma MacLennan

  First Published 2013

  Dedication

  This book is dedicated to:

  My husband, Brian.

  Adeline – Mother-in-Law extraordinaire!

  Acknowledgements

  I would like to thank several people for their help with this book.

  My husband, Brian, for his input, editing and patience, support and re-reading!

  Alyson Dunlop for her input and support.

  Frances for being a guinea pig reader.

  Prelude

  One of my earliest memories is that of my father going out hunting to put food on the table for us. If he didn’t catch anything then my mother, siblings and I wouldn’t eat.

  I also remember him hanging his kills in our shed, skinned. It was a horrible sight for a four year old to witness but it meant that as an adult I was far less squeamish than many of my peers.

  What these memories taught me was that I never wanted to be poor again. I never wanted to feel my belly ache from lack of food. I attended a local college because my family couldn’t afford to send me to a university but in the end I didn’t really need that degree. I had an ability that was highly regarded, and very highly priced.

  I am a natural witch and my special skill is my ability to find things. Not people, unfortunately, but objects. I dowse. I tend to have an affinity with ores and gems, any kind of rock really. Oil companies have hired me to dowse for oil, with mixed results.

  I was also raised to be thankful for all my blessings, and I was. I took one day out of every month to help my local community. Anyone who had lost an object, be it keys, a watch or other jewellery, would come to my ‘open clinic’ and I would try to help them locate it. To me, this was giving back for the gifts I had. I made a lot of money dowsing for corporations and I gave some of it to charity but I always enjoyed my open clinic.

  The neighbourhood I live in is cosy, everyone knows everyone else, a rarity in any city. People greet each other in the street and keep an eye on any strangers hanging around.

  I knew my clients from the open clinic cared for me but I didn’t know just how much, until I needed their help.

  Chapter 1

  It was a Thursday and the rain came down heavily. I had been soaked through coming back from a job and decided a shower was necessary. I had a long, warm shower and dried off my hair, dressing in casual clothes for the open clinic I was to hold later that day.

  A quick bowl of homemade soup and a sandwich later, and I was ready to brave the world once more.

  A knock at the door disturbed me, and I carelessly opened the door without looking through the peephole first, assuming it was one of my neighbours.

  Two men barged in, one closing the door behind him, while the other shoved a rag in my face. I passed out round about then.

  The next thing I was aware of was being tied up, lying on a couch, a very plush leather couch. Sunlight poured into the room and my first thought was that I must have been unconscious for quite some time as the rain had vanished. The ground was bone dry.

  ‘So, you’re finally awake!’

  As I tried to turn around to see the speaker, I fell off the couch. Rough hands put me back in place but sitting up this time.

  ‘What the hell is going on?’ I demanded, angry at being treated like this.

  ‘I need you to find someone for me. Urgently.’ A tall, dark, blonde haired man came into view. He sat before me wearing a loud red and orange short sleeved shirt, beige chinos and sandals. While he was lean and tanned, he seemed pale and almost gaunt under this. His chin was set and his hands were gripping his knees. One thing that struck me instantly was how cold his eyes were: icy grey and devoid of emotion.

  ‘You’ve been lax in your intelligence gathering, sir. I don’t find people, I find objects,’ I told him, watching his face crumple in rage.

  ‘I don’t care if you don’t find people, you’ll find this guy!’

  ‘No, you don’t seem to understand so I’m guessing you didn’t look into my particular talent. I can’t find people. My gift attunes to objects, not people. Trust me, I’ve tried. The police tried to get me to help on a few missing children cases and I just couldn’t make a connection. I’ve tried several times,’ I said honestly.

  The man stood and paced, nodding to one of his men. He asked something quietly and this other man shook his head. Chino man slapped him hard across his face and turned back to me.

  ‘You lying to me?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Ok, we can work around this. The guy had a watch he never took off. You can find that, right?’

  ‘I usually get the reading from the person for the object. Do you have any other objects that this man held dear, wore daily, that I could try to link up with?’

  I didn’t think this would work, having tried before, but I needed to show this crazy man that I was willing to try it.

  ‘Ron, you got his bag?’ He turned to the man he had slapped. The red faced man nodded and went out of my line of sight for a moment, to return with a black hold-all type bag. He handed it to his boss and stood waiting, face expressionless.

  The boss rummaged through the bag and found a shirt and a necklace.

  ‘These any good?’

  ‘I don’t know but I can try. Normally I have things that I need to do a reading, to get me in the right energy space, if you know what I mean. You wouldn’t happen to have a hazel rod, a clear quartz crystal and some lavender, would you?’ I looked at him hopefully. He shook his head.

  ‘What’s a hazel rod?’

  I shook my head and looked about.

  ‘Is that sand? Where are we?’ I demanded when he nodded.

  ‘Florida,’ he shrugged. I guffawed, unable to hide my shock. When I had been abducted I was in New York! How long had I been out? ‘I have a private jet, fewer questions,’ he offered, seeing my shock.

  ‘Can you buy lavender here? Fresh, not dried? I can sit on the sand, it’s made up of quartz anyway.’

  ‘Ron,’ the man ordered and Ron vanished, off to the local flower shop.

  ‘Do you need anything else?’

  ‘Just calm,’ I replied honestly. ‘I will try my very best but I have been unsuccessful in the past. I need to know you won’t hurt me if I fail.’

  ‘If you try your damndest, I’ll return you to your home unharmed but you need to know this is a matter of life and death. It’s vital I find this man,’ he looked sincere enough.

  ‘I will try. If I had my hazel rod, I’d feel more confident. It’s the main instrument I use to divine an object. It focuses my energy onto the energy of the thing I’m looking for.’

  ‘Could you buy one, or make one?’

  ‘No. You need to purify it, cut the wood under a growing moon, then imbue it with a specific power under a full moon.’

  He didn’t say anything after that.

  We waited for Ron to return. In the meantime I was untied and given a glass of water. I stood at the massive doorway, all glass, leading down to the stunning looking beach. The house itself was decorated to a minimum, a few chairs and sofas strewn here and there, a table in the centre of the room and a TV on the wall opposite the doorway. White walls, white carpet and neutral beige furniture. Only the table and TV injected any colour, being pine and black respectively.

  ‘Is this a private beach? I can’t be disturbed once I try to connect with his energies.’

  ‘It is for my use. No one will disturb you, I assure you
.’ He seemed to be reassured by my promise to try my hardest to find this man. He was no longer aggressive and seemed content for me to walk around the room we were in. I just wanted this over so that I could go home.

  It took Ron two hours to return with a bunch of lavender. I took it from him and, along with the shirt and necklace, went out onto the sand. I asked for more water and found a quiet spot to sit in.

  The sand was warm beneath me, soothing rather than scorching. The wind was a gentle breeze and the water lapped on the shore several metres away. I was surrounded by the elements as I took the lavender into my hands, rubbing my fingers over it and then massaging my temples. The oils from the flower went into my skin and I felt the instant pull of energy, the call to leave my body.

  ‘Don’t touch me for at least an hour,’ I said, gathering the man’s belongings into my lap as I slumped back into the sand.

  My mind travelled for what seemed like an eternity. Something was pulling me. I couldn’t understand why this was working, when it never had before and I tried to still the anger that rose. All those missing children I could have helped locate but was never able to make the connection and now, for someone who had kidnapped me, I was able to find a person!

  The injustice of the situation was not lost on me. However, I was not able to do anything other than let the energies show me what they would.

  I saw the Golden Gate Bridge, and was moving along the harbour, when something stirred, someone had touched me.

  ‘No!’ I opened my eyes. The boss himself was leaning over me.

  ‘You looked dead, barely a breath for two hours. I was checking to see whether you were alive!’ He stepped back from me.

  ‘I was so close!’ I slowly sat up and he handed me a glass of water. ‘I was in San Francisco, moving along the harbour.’

  ‘Frisco! Ok, we leave in an hour.’ The boss stood and helped me up. I swayed a little but steadied myself before he tried to help me.

  ‘We’re going now?’

  ‘It really is a matter of life and death, miss...’

  ‘Emilia. Emilia Anderson. Can I ask your name?’

  ‘Call me Alex for now.’ He shook my hand.

  We walked back to the house and I was given sandwiches, as it had been many hours, I was told, since I had last eaten.

  ‘I need to know something before I go anywhere else with you. I need to know what you intend to do with this man when you find him. If you want to kill him, then I can’t help you.’ I knew it was daft to announce this but I had narrowed down their search a little and I didn’t want to be the means to someone’s death.

  ‘He won’t be harmed, as long as he does what we want. The man owes us big time.’

  Somehow, that sounded like an understatement, given that Ron snorted and the other man present smiled ruefully.

  ‘Very well,’ I had to concede. The men packed quickly and we headed out to the car. I was given a blindfold but was not tied up, on the provision that I did not try to escape or look at my location. In a strange way it reassured me. It meant they, hopefully, really were planning returning me to my home when this was over.

  Alex had obviously made a few calls in the house because a group of large, muscular men were waiting for us when we reached the airport. I was put directly onto the jet, without even catching a glimpse of which airport we were taking off from.

  I’d been in a few jets in my time and this was a typical rental. Beige leather seats and coffee tables decorated the cabin.

  By this time the sun was setting. I was hungry again and felt generally yucky. I needed a shower. My hair, normally a glossy honey colour, felt lank and lifeless. My skin was horribly sweaty and I’d been wearing the same clothes for who knew how long.

  I have to mention that I’m not normally so accommodating to people who have treated me ill but I wasn’t getting a negative vibe from these men. They were desperate, as though their claim of life and death was real. I felt no aggression towards me from any of them. I just wanted this to be over and to be able to sleep in my own bed once more.

  I must have fallen asleep on the plane because when I next woke I was in a bed in another large apartment.

  Clothes had been laid out for me, in my size. A towel sat on top of them and one door was ajar, leading to an en-suite bathroom. I enthusiastically showered and washed my hair, glad that someone had left out shampoo as well as a shower gel.

  Feeling better than I had in a long while, I dressed and opened the other door. It led to a corridor.

  Alex was waiting for me in the huge living room come kitchen. He nodded and waved to another man I hadn’t seen before, who brought a plate of food out to me. Luckily I wasn’t a vegetarian, because it was covered with meat!

  Tea followed, along with toast. I devoured it all, having been genuinely hungry. Alex and Ron watched in amusement as I packed away all that food.

  ‘Sorry, the dowsing makes me famished,’ I said as way of explanation.

  ‘How long have you been doing it?’ Ron asked, his face looking tanned but showing no sign of the slap from the day before. He was handsome, with dark brown hair, big dark eyes and a smooth jaw-line. He, like all the men around me, was well built.

  ‘Dowsing? Since I was thirteen. My Grandmother had the gift, spotted it in me and trained me.’

  ‘So, you like it?’

  ‘It’s a good living. I try to hurt as few people as possible. Some environmentalists have tried to sue me, saying I’m helping to rape the planet; but what I do actually means less harm is done. I can be specific down to the centimetre with some ores, and to the metre with precious gems. Oils are harder, I can be metres out but can give them a general area. But with metals and gems, my gift means they go for the one specific spot, rather than blowing up half a mountain. Needless to say, all cases were thrown out but I do feel bad that they think that of me.’

  ‘Will you be missed? When we checked you out it said you were single and had no family here?’

  ‘My family are back in the UK. I’m single and don’t have room mates. I have friends who may be wondering where I am, and the people who attend my open clinic, they’ll be worried,’ I said honestly. Ron nodded.

  ‘You’re the most honest person I’ve met in a while. We can tell when someone is lying, and you haven’t, not once,’ he smiled.

  ‘No point in lying. You just get into more trouble than it’s worth in the end.’

  ‘True but most people try anyway, especially in this sort of situation,’ Alex put in.

  ‘So you kidnap people regularly?’

  ‘No, I wouldn’t say that. But we do encounter highly stressful situations where many people would be more inclined to lie.’

  A man came in with more lavender.

  ‘Willing to try again? I promise we won’t touch you this time,’ he smiled.

  ‘I’m willing. Do you have quartz, or sand?’

  ‘We brought a bag of sand. It’s out here’ he said, moving to the patio. A sand box filled with sand sat on the veranda, looking out over the bay. I could just make out the golden gate bridge!

  I managed to fit into the box, before I was handed the lavender, shirt and necklace again. As before, the energy took me off on a journey. This time it seemed more urgent, faster. I followed the ‘scent’ of the one I was looking for, the owner of the shirt and necklace.

  I felt him on the edges of my subconscious and felt his panic at my earlier search. His thoughts seemed to be centred on a cave, up the shoreline. Something or someone was there that he was trying to keep hidden. Just as I located this cave, and the street of the man I was looking for, something hit me so hard all the wind was knocked out of me. Another slam to my head and I fell over, returning to myself. A third attack came at me and I threw up in front of the box, gasping for air. I threw a mental barrier up to prevent further attack.

  Ron and Alex were beside me in a heartbeat, as I wiped blood from my nose.

  ‘You never said there was another witch here, protecting the o
ne you’re looking for. He seemed to think I was after something he’s hidden in a cave just up-shore of here. I think I counted ten blocks between us and them. They’re in a pub, I mean a bar, under it? That can’t be right.’ With that I passed out again.

  Chapter 2

  Ron leaned over me with smelling salts. The scent was horrible and woke me out of my dark slumber.

  ‘What happened?’

  ‘You said there was another witch protecting the guy we’re looking for and I think that witch attacked you. Your nose was bleeding and you vomited. Are you ok? You need a medic?’ He looked genuinely concerned.

  ‘No, I just need a shower and food, lots of it,’ I replied, offering a smile. He helped me to the bathroom and told me he’d wait outside in case I fell over. I heard him call for food while I stripped off.

  The shower revived me and more clean clothes were laid out for me in the bedroom. I was shaking when I emerged and Ron helped me to sit, handing me a large burger as he did. I ate like it was going out of fashion, almost breathing the burger in. A glass of water washed it down and I was able to go through to the living room to talk with Alex.

  ‘You saw the cave?’ were his first words. He was pacing the floor, past the window and back and I almost felt motion sickness, he was moving so fast.

  ‘So you’re not looking for the man I’ve been tracking, but whatever is in that cave?’

  ‘The man you’ve been tracking has my brother; in the cave. He has held him for over a year, and made us do things for him, threatening my brother’s life if we don’t comply,’ Alex told me, rage barely concealed in his voice.

  ‘Why didn’t you go to the police?’

  ‘Some things cannot be dealt with by human laws, Emilia. You must know that,’ Ron put in, then dropped his eyes when Alex hissed.

  ‘Human?’ I tried not to gulp.