by Les Goodrich
She saw stars wheel before her and she felt as if she were traveling out of her body. She flew above signs and roads and towns and she saw forests below her where fog held in the dark fields. Far below her a figure stood on the edge of a wooded hill and faced a rolling valley and the figure glowed with a pale blue light that shone from the very ground beneath.
Brit’s perspective shifted and she stood before the glowing apparition, hooded, and draped in black. The figure lifted its hood. It was Aradia, glorious in her darkness and glowing in muted blue electric phosphorescence that emanated from the Earth itself.
She lifted her arms but only slightly and extended her hands as if to offer welcome and Brit could only look but not move. Back in the black room Brit felt the intruding hands suddenly retreat as if in fear.
She opened her eyes from the waking dream and there in the darkened room before her stood the self-same blue-lit figure and Brit’s voice was still mute but when she spoke she heard herself in her mind and she knew Aradia heard her as well.
“Aradia, Queen of the Witches,” Brit silently spoke and her saying so was no opinion, for it was simple fact, as plain as the brightness of the Sun, or the solidity of the oldest stone.
“All witches are queens,” Aradia spoke and the very words flooded Brit with an overwhelming Love, the purity and strength of which she had never imagined. “Or kings. And I am your goddess and always have been. All that has come to pass has been by my design to help you grow and to save what is sacred. I have watched you with your friends and you have made me so proud with all you have learned and all you have taught them about me. I am forever your friend but you have friends where you could scarcely conceive in your wildest dreams. Everyone who has ever met you has loved you.
“I have always come to this world to help witches and I will forever. It is my existence. You are loved. Think of me in darkness and know I am there. When you feel the coldest fog in the most frightening places that is my kiss. You are loved.”
With Brit’s next blink Aradia was gone and in this life Brit never saw her in that way again. Hours later when Brit washed somewhere between sleep and hallucination, the door before her creaked open in a long slow push. Brit blinked to adjust her eyes and as the door closed she saw Darkspell standing there.
Dracaena and Ella in matching pajamas of pink cotton with pale blue stripes. Ever silent. Their long black hair was pulled back and they wore long old-fashioned sleeping caps that matched their striped pajamas and hung with pale blue pom-poms at their points. They both wore pale blue plush terrycloth slippers. Ella held a small dry erase board. They stepped to Brit. Ella wrote on the board with a blue marker and Dracaena pulled a wand from her pajama waistband.
Dracaena flourished the wand toward Brit and Brit was freed. She stood shakily but Ella placed her hand upon Brit’s shoulder and coaxed her to sit back down. She made the shhh sign with her finger vertical upon her lips but no sound escaped. She showed Brit the board.
We’re sorry for getting you in trouble when we were kids. Older kids made us.
When Brit had read the tile Ella erased it and wrote again.
They were going to tell everyone we were witches. We had enough problems back then.
Ella erased and wrote.
We have never truly agreed with Shadowclan or liked Gwen but she’s the only person to ever give us a chance.
“Then come over to Light Tribe,” Brit whispered and Ella placed her small cold hand over Brit’s mouth. She made the shhh sign. She wrote.
Maybe Ashenguild someday (beside it a winking smiley face).
She quickly erased and wrote again.
We are rescuing you. If Gwen catches us, we all die. Follow us. Make no sound.
They led Brit from the room and Brit found herself in another room just like it. Through the door on the far wall they moved into another identical room. Then another. Upon leaving the fourth empty room Brit found herself standing with Darkspell in their ridiculous matching pajamas on the nighttime front porch outside The Poison Apple where Dracaena pulled the front door to the shop closed behind them. Brit knew she had just experienced some of the most powerful dark magick there was. An inverted space-fold concealment spell she had only read about in a book that had scared her so badly she had stopped reading it.
Darkspell dashed with their slippers flapping down the steps and Brit followed. They led her into the alley across the street and took her between buildings and courtyards through Old Town. The two girls forever glanced behind them, their pom-pom sleeping caps swung as they ran, and they emerged along the tabby wall alley where Brit had given them the slip so long ago. They took the alley to the main lane and Darkspell led Brit through a side door into the back room of the dark and closed chocolate shop that faced the bars across the street. Ella wrote on her tablet.
My parents own this place. You can’t go home or to Avalon Spellshop yet. Gwen will look there first.
She erased and wrote again.
Stay here. When my mother opens in the morning she will let you out.
She erased and wrote a final note.
Now we are even.
Then they were gone.
Brit could hardly believe what had just happened. She was thrilled to be free and she sang an old wiccan chant and danced in little circles with her arms out.
Full moon shining bright
Midnight on the water
Oh Aradia
I am the silver daughter
Full moon shining bright
Midnight on the water
Oh Aradia
I am the silver daughter
As she chanted and spun she felt the spirit of Aradia, familiar and alive, fill and surround her in a new way, although she had sung that little song many times before. She knew Aradia was with her and she laughed and sang once more.
Full moon shining bright
Midnight on the water
Oh Aradia
I am the silver daughter
Brit came to a stop and snooped around the dark chocolate shop but it was small with only the back room and the front of the shop. She looked to the empty street through the dark front windows then retreated to sit on the floor in the back room where she felt safe from view.
She drank bottled water from the darkened cooler and she ate three chocolate covered strawberries from the dark refrigerated case.
“Put this on my bill,” she said to the room and in time she slept.
She awoke to the sound of some clicking or scratching and as her eyes adjusted she looked for the sound. It seemed to come from the ceiling and she noticed a vent and she thought that maybe it was the ticking of the air conditioner coming on. She heard the scratching sound grow closer and she stood when she knew it was right at the vent and she thought it could be a mouse.
She was thrilled to see Prisma slide down between the vent ribs and fly down into the shop.
“Prisma!” Brit shouted and Prisma landed on the floor and skidded to the wall with her hand on her heart. More friends where you could scarcely conceive in your wildest dreams Brit thought.
“Brit the witch,” Prisma recognized her and she stood up. “You gave me a heart attack. What are you doing in here?”
“Hiding from bad witches. But I know what you’re doing here. Stealing chocolate.”
“Am not,” Prisma said and she straightened her straw paper shirt.
“Then what are you doing?” Brit asked.
“I’m helping them get rid of the day old stuff. They know I take it. I swear.”
“It’s okay. I’m so glad to see you.”
“Glad to see you too,” Prisma said and she walked over to where Brit was.
“Can you get a message to Mims for me? Do you know where she lives?” Brit asked.
“I do. What message?”
“You must go right away and as fast as you can. Tell her I’m okay. Tell her I’m okay and have escaped. Tell her I’m in hiding and for her to get that message to Carol. Or Jordan if she’s ba
ck.”
“Okay wait, wait, wait. You have to slim that down. My head is little. I can only fit so many words in it at a time,” Prisma said and she held her head in her hands and staggered like she was dizzy.
“Okay relax,” Brit said. “Just tell Mims this: Brit escaped. She’s hiding. Tell Carol or Jordan right away.”
“Brit escaped. She’s hiding. Tell Carol or Jordan right away,” Prisma repeated. “Can I get some chocolate first?”
“Yes but hurry. This is important. I was kidnapped and everyone probably thinks I’m dead.”
“Okay I can do it,” Prisma said and she flew to the case in front and lifted a square of fudge. “Brit escaped. She’s hiding. Tell Carol or Jordan right away,” Prisma said as she worked to get the fudge out. Her dragonfly wings hummed. “Brit escaped. She’s hiding. Tell Carol or Jordan right away,” she kept saying and she flew to land on Brit’s shoulder and she kissed her on the cheek. “I’m glad you’re not dead. Brit escaped. She’s hiding. Tell Carol or Jordan right away,” Prisma sang and she flew back out through the vent.
Brit was alone again but she knew everything would be okay.
Prisma climbed in through the mail slot and woke Mims who was shocked to see her. She gave Mims the message. Mims texted Jordan.
In the shop where everyone dozed Jordan heard her phone chirp. The sound woke them all and Jordan read the note saying it was from Mims.
“Brit escaped. She’s hiding. Tell Carol right away.”
“Oh my god where is she?” Carol burst.
“Where is she?” Jordan typed and read the reply.
“She’s hiding in the chocolate shop,” Jordan said.
“The chocolate shop?” Carol asked and Tanner and the doctor looked at each other.
“That’s what Mims says. Who cares? She’s all right.”
“Thank Goddess Diana,” Carol said and her mind began to wheel. She thought of Gwen and the ransom note and the mermaid spell painting and book.
“I wonder if Gwen knows she’s gone?” Carol thought out loud.
“How could she not know?” asked Jordan.
“It depends on how Brit was concealed. Where she was held. If I know Gwen, she would have put her somewhere exceedingly secure. The only way Brit could have escaped is with some help. If that’s the case, then Gwen may have no clue.”
“The Sun rises soon,” Tanner observed. “We have to meet Gwen at her store in just a few hours. Should we go to my boat and get the stuff?”
“No,” Carol said and she stood into action. “Doctor Covington, swing by The Poison Apple and see if Gwen knows Brit’s gone. Stay out of sight. Then meet me at my house. Tanner, Jordan, you two meet me at the corner of Spanish and Cuna right before sunrise. Bring your wands. I have a plan.”
Chapter 22
The Sneaky Plan
At home Jordan opened a teak box on one of her tables. Within it were several quartz clusters and a leather necklace with a black tourmaline crystal. She retrieved the necklace and put it on. She washed her face and passed her wet hands through her hair then brushed it and pushed it back with her wide black headband. She rinsed her wand in the sink, shook it dry, and made coffee.
She took her coffee out to her porch and waited to leave. She sipped her coffee, and saw the little girl in the courtyard peering up from behind a hibiscus bush. Jordan stood to the rail. The little girl ducked back. Jordan put her cup down and slipped as quietly as she could down the stairs. At the hibiscus bush the little girl was gone.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” Jordan said. “Come see me someday.”
She went back upstairs and got her coffee. She sat again and watched the night. She watched for Nettle but he never came around. When it was time she rode her bike to meet the others.
Tanner and Jordan stood on the dark sidewalk where Spanish Street met Cuna west of The Poison Apple. They waited to see Carol, and Jordan twirled her blackthorn wand.
“You’re a badass with that thing,” Tanner said. “I guess you know that.”
“I do my best.”
“Where’d you get it?”
“I got this in Salem the year I turned sixteen.”
“You were with Carol then?”
“Yeah. I’d just started to work in the shop that winter. I went with Carol to Salem for a new age trade show for the store. For me, at that time, it was the most exciting thing in the world. I felt like I’d finally come home after a lifetime of being misunderstood. Sixteen-year-old me, in Salem with Carol, and every person we met was a witch. It was a glorious time.”
“Sounds cool.”
“It was. I thought I wanted to move to Salem after that. But Carol said she needed me at the store. She really did give me a purpose. She saved me.”
“And that’s when you got the wand?”
“It is. I bought it in a tiny witchcraft shop in Salem. That little store was so cool. You walked in and it just felt electric. Dark and humming with huge crystals everywhere and piles of books and candles burning and tables with crystal balls and witchy stuff all over and little narrow high-back wooden chairs where people could sit and read. A big white and black cat lived in the shop. The witches that worked there were young girls and guys, maybe in their twenties, and I just wanted to stay there forever.
“One of the girls gave me my first ever espresso. She had gone next door to get coffee for the store. I lived there when we weren’t at the trade show. The witch bought it for me just because she knew I was there in the back looking at books. Espresso with whipped cream melted into it.”
“She created a monster,” Tanner said.
“When I saw the blackthorn wand it was in a glass case and it had a red ribbon around it. One of the girls that worked in the shop came up and said, That’s your wand.
“I looked up at her and she was smiling. I didn’t say anything at first and the girl said, The Morrighan is your goddess. Blackthorn is her tree.
“I had read some about The Morrighan and thought her lore was cool but that was all. She’s the goddess of war, but like life and death in battle and success in hard times, and a ton of other things. She’s complex. Powerful. But I was too young to have given much thought about a patron goddess. So I just said, Oh yeah?
“And the girl said, It’s obvious. You’re all ravens, and black feathers, and nightsky, and star shadow, and powerful as hell.
“I had no clue what she was talking about and this other girl, the girl who got me the espresso, walked up from where she had heard us, and the first girl said, Isn’t she? And the espresso girl said, No doubt. I just stood there. Then the espresso girl said, Do you think it feels like this in here all the time?”
And I was like, It doesn’t?
And she said, No, just when a powerful witch walks in. Buy the wand.
No one had ever made me feel so good about myself and it was because they really weren’t trying. They were just being honest.”
“Or just being the best wand salesmen in the world,” Tanner said.
“It wasn’t like that,” Jordan said and pushed him.
“I know, I’m just kidding. That sounds amazing. I wanna to go to Salem someday.”
“I’d love to go back,” Jordan said.
“So no powerful witches worked at that shop? Only you lit it up?”
“Ha! I asked them that too. They said it was because they were there all the time. You know how we can feel it when a serious witch comes in. Think about when Gwen was there.”
“No doubt,” Tanner agreed. “And Carmine stands out. The store vibe goes up when he walks in.”
“Carmine’s an asshole.”
“He is not. He’s cool. You should give him a break,” Tanner said and then they saw Carol walking up Spanish pulling a dolly.
Carol swung the cart to a stop before them. At the bottom was a sturdy cardboard box. On top was a framed oil painting of a witch at her cauldron that Jordan recognized from Carol’s home.
“Is that the painting from your fire
place mantel downstairs?” Jordan asked.
“Shhh, yes,” Carol whispered. She looked around the empty street. “Are you sure no one followed you here?”
Tanner and Jordan both nodded.
“Come on then,” Carol said and walked off pulling the dolly.
“What’s in the box?” Tanner asked.
“Zane Grey and Louis L’Amour.”
“Who?” Jordan asked.
“Western books. Fiction.”
“Western books?” Tanner asked.
“Yeah I love westerns. Anyway, just books.”
“What are we supposed to do with your old art show witch painting and a few cowboy books?” Jordan asked.
“You’ll see. Just go along as if these are the real thing. No matter what happens, act like this is what you fought so hard to get. If I’m right this will work. Just pray I’m right. I’m taking an awful risk. If things go wrong we’ll have to hold court in the street and fight it out with Datura and Gwen. Those little twins too I suspect.”
“Darkspell,” Jordan confirmed and added, “not twins.”
“Yes, Darkspell. It won’t be pretty. You brought wands like I asked you?”
“We don’t go anywhere without wands anymore,” Jordan said and the three walked toward The Poison Apple down Cuna Street and clouds above the fort began to glow the palest shades of rose.
Carol stood between Tanner and Jordan on the street. Soft wind blew dry and cold up from the river and street lamps sputtered off in the greying morning light. They faced the two story shop. A yellow glow from within cast panes of light across the scraped wooden porches. The door creaked open and Datura stepped forth with Gwen behind her and Darkspell slipping out last and closing the door.
Datura on Gwen's right in a narrow black dress, boots, and long black sleeves. Her eyes hid behind black makeup and her white lips stood parted. She held her wand at her side, as did the others.