“Look! Here, ghostie ghostie!” Ruth Anne shouted. She held her EMF reader high, so that the flashing red and green lights were visible to all. “Look! I’ve got the light! Follow me!” She danced around, holding the reader above her head. A few shook free of me, heading for my sister, and slowly the others joined. Ruth Anne easily outran them, zigging back and forth like a dog keeping a Frisbee from its owner.
Shane reached me, wrapping his arm around my waist and pulling me towards the woods. “You’re a beacon here, Maggie. Luckily, Ruth Anne seems to be right in her element at the moment.”
We found a narrow game trail and raced into the woods. I looked back and caught sight of Ruth Anne, who seemed to be enjoying her game of ghost tag. When she saw us reach safety, she broke off and raced towards us, leaving her new friends in her dust.
“Thank you,” I said to Ruth Anne, once she caught up to us. “That was brilliant.”
“I may not be able to cast spells, but I’m pretty good at running away from things,” she said, grinning in the dark.
“Maggie, that ankh of yours is glowing again,” Eve said. “You may want to hide it before you attract anymore loonies.”
It blinked slowly, sporadically. “Interesting,” I said. I moved to the right and the frequency increased. I then moved off to the left, and it slowed.
“It’s an inter-dimensional version of hot and cold,” Ruth Anne said. “Badass.”
“I think it wants us to head right,” I said.
Shane looked at me, skeptically. “That’s not the direction I’m locked into.”
I was torn. Did I follow Shane’s tracking abilities, or the magickal ankh? We looked both ways, the forest dense and dark in all directions.
“Let’s follow the ankh,” I said.
Shane’s face fell, but he nodded. “It’s your journey.”
We crept carefully forward, picking our way through the undergrowth and the inquisitive tree limbs. How long we walked, I couldn’t tell. I checked my hourglass, but there was no light to see the falling sand.
And then suddenly, there it was. A dazzling golden archway stood in the midst of utter blackness. My ankh blinked excitedly.
Was this our gate?
We gathered around it. The archway was braced between two trees, and there was nothing but a void at its center. I suspected it was similar to the closet portal, and I flinched as I poked my hand at it, dreading the cold that would follow. But it was a solid surface, and my finger bent upon impact. “What the…”
Shane and Michael tried too, pushing on it like a jammed door.
“Is there a keyhole?” Merry asked. “Your ankh kinda looks like a key.”
“Not that I see,” I said.
“Let me check it out with my… wait, that’s me!” Ruth Anne said, her mouth falling open as she stood before the gate. “Can you see me in there?” she asked, looking at us.
We crowded in. It took a moment, but then I did see Ruth Anne’s image staring back at her. She was wearing different clothes and her hair was much longer. But it was clearly Ruth Anne.
She poked at it, and it rippled like water.
“Neat,” she said. “I think we should…”
But that was all we heard. My sister was pulled through, disappearing before our eyes.
I felt myself thin out along the edges. I was being pulled in, too. I clutched my crystal bracelet and my ankh, praying I’d end up with the others. And that it was one step closer to finding my son.
5
The Emperor
Ruth Anne’s eyes darted to the cabinet above the kitchen window. Inside, there was a jar – a jar Aunt Dora kept filled with money. Not just change either. Crisp twenties and even hundreds.
“Ya want more tea, dear?” Aunt Dora asked from across the cozy kitchen table. She was wearing her gardening clothes, and Ruth Anne wondered how much longer until she actually gardened.
“Nah, I’m good.” Ruth Anne shook her head, nearly dislodging her glasses. She smiled cheerfully, though her toes tapped spastically beneath the table. Her aunt refilled both tea cups anyway, and leaned back in her chair. Ruth Anne snuck a peek at the clock over Dora’s shoulder. She’d been up all night, wondering how she’d finance her trip. And then like magick, the answer came to her - Aunt Dora’s money jar.
Ruth Anne opened a book and pretended to read, hoping it would bore her aunt into the garden. Her mother, the flamboyant Sasha Shantay came in the back door and took a seat beside Dora. The two women chatted about candles and missing socks.
“Honestly, Dora,” Sasha said. “I had no idea children cost so much when I decided to have them.”
“Aye,” Dora agreed. “They’ll squeeze yer last penny out.” She winked at Ruth Anne and she blushed, wondering if her aunt knew.
In the adjoining living room, the screams of her younger sisters interrupted the conversation. They were playing some sort of chasing game and fighting over a rule. Moments later, they filed into the kitchen. Ruth Anne had made up the game herself, so it fell under her jurisdiction to decide the outcome. She gave her verdict and they took it, knowing she valued fairness. Plus, she loved rules - they appealed to her logical mind. As she watched her siblings leave the kitchen, Ruth Anne realized how much she would miss them. She consoled herself with knowing she’d soon be able to read her books without constant interruption.
Sasha patted Ruth Anne’s hand. “Those girls are giving me a headache the purest willow bark couldn’t cure.”
Ruth Anne resisted responding. If Sasha didn’t like being around children, perhaps she shouldn’t have had so many?
“Now Sasha,” Dora said. “They’ll be grown an’ gone soon enough, an’ ya’ll miss all that carryin’ on.”
Sasha took a long draw from her cup, her eyes both amused and doubtful of Dora’s prediction.
“Ruth Anne!” Merry burst back into the room, rosy-cheeked and flaxen-haired. Her blue eyes twinkled as she caught her breath. “Can you talk to Maggie again? She’s trying to cheat!”
“I’m not cheating!” Maggie marched in, defending herself. She put her hands on her hips, ready to argue, drowning in her cherry-red curls. “I tagged Merry with the end of my broom, fair and square. Now she has to be the witch flying in the sky. That’s the way it goes, right?”
Eve trailed in behind, dressed head to toe in lavender and lace. “Ruth Anne knows everything,” she nodded with certainty.
Ruth Anne adjusted her glasses, frustrated by yet another distraction. “If you’re playing Witch-in-a-Ditch, then Maggie is right.”
“See! Told ya!” Maggie stuck out her tongue and then ran outside. Merry and Eve followed, all giggles and screams, slamming the door behind them.
“I better get out there, too,” Sasha said. “Before they dig up the entire garden.”
Ruth Anne raised an eyebrow, hoping this would be her lucky break.
“Can I get ya anything, luv?” Aunt Dora asked, standing to rinse her cup and saucer.
“Uh… maybe. Do we still have any of those pickles you canned last year? I’ve been thinking about them.”
Dora grinned, rubbing her hands. “Have ya, now? Me, too! I have a few jars in the cellar.”
“Need help?” Ruth Anne asked, knowing Dora would refuse. Sure enough, Dora waved her hand and plodded over to the basement stairs, the door shutting halfway behind her.
Ruth Anne waited a moment, listening to the creak of the old wood stairs, before springing to her feet. Then she scrambled onto the counter, opened the cupboard, and quietly slid the jar to the edge of the shelf. It was heavier than she imagined and she nearly dropped it. In full sunlight, she could see the wealth inside the glass: a leprechaun’s pot of silver, gold, and green. She reached in and pulled out the entire roll of bills. Then she slid the jar back into place, closed the cupboard, and hopped down from the counter. Looking around to make sure she was still alone, she stepped into the adjoining laundry room to count out her haul.
Nearly $1,700!
She swallowed, trying to control her shaking hands and rapid heartbeat.
Farewell Sasha Shantay! Farewell Dark Root! Nice knowing you!
She heard her sisters return through the back door, giggling on their way to watch TV in the living room.
Ruth Anne curled her fist around the wad of money. This wasn’t right. Maybe she should return it before anyone noticed. But before she could, Aunt Dora and Sasha were back in the kitchen, talking. Ruth Anne pressed her ear to the laundry room door and listened.
“Those girls are harder on the garden than the bugs,” Sasha said.
“Aye, but cuter,” Dora agreed.
“Oh, Dora. I’m so tired and frustrated lately. The girls are wild and won’t listen. And not one of them is practicing their spell-work! I’m afraid everything we’re working for will be lost.”
“Don’t ya worry. They’re all talented. They’ll come ‘round.”
“Even Ruth Anne’s has become rebellious. She’s talking back and hinting she knows things.” Sasha sighed. “It would be easier to take if she showed any sign of being gifted. Ironic, the one daughter who actually shares my DNA doesn’t have a drop of magick.”
“Her talents may be latent,” Dora said.
Ruth Anne stopped listening. Her mind went back to her mother’s comment. She’d always had her suspicions about her sisters, and had even confronted her mother about them once.
“What an imagination you have, Ruth Anne,” Miss Sasha had said in response. “Perhaps you should be a writer.”
And now, here she was, hearing the truth spoken out loud for the first time. It angered her, and now she was glad to have the money in her hands.
“Armand is still out there,” Sasha continued. “We must expedite their training.”
“I told ya he was dangerous.”
“Oh Dora, I knew he was dangerous. But if I didn’t train him, someone else would have. Or worse, he would have trained himself. Armand has his own fate, and we have ours. We must stay vigilant, and keep the girls away from him, no matter what. So mote it be.”
“So mote it be,” Dora confirmed.
Ruth Anne knew about Armand. She was old enough to have met him, to feel his contempt as he looked her over coldly. She hadn’t seen him in years, but her memory of him frightened her to the core. Why were they still talking about him? That was it. No more delays. She was getting the hell out of Dark Root.
When she’d talked to her father on the phone, she’d told him she’d get the money. And now she had it. Surely, they could live on this for a long time.
When her mother and aunt finally left the kitchen, Ruth Anne slid out of hiding and went into the living room. Her sisters had collapsed on the couch in a heaping pile of sweat and laughter, their brooms piled on the floor beside them.
How can I leave them?
Then she remembered her mother’s words about DNA.
She looked down at the roll of bills one final time, then tucked it into her pocket.
Ruth Anne was the first one in… and the last one through. Her face was a pale mask of shame as the portal spit her out. She stumbled, looking up at us with wide eyes, massaging one side of her head with her knuckles. “I had the worst dream.”
“Yes, we all saw your dream,” Eve said, narrowing her eyes.
“In vivid detail,” Merry agreed, petting Starlight on her shoulder.
“You guys saw that, too?” Ruth Anne asked us, her knuckles now digging into her temples, trying to extract the unwelcome memory.
“Afraid so,” Michael confirmed.
“It wasn’t that bad,” Paul said.
Eve jerked her head around and shot him an outraged look. “Whose side are you on?”
“I didn’t know this was a ‘sides’ thing,” Paul said. “It was obviously a traumatic event for Ruth Anne, and I was just trying to reassure her that it was okay.”
Eve’s face froze like a Gorgon, and I wondered how Paul wasn’t turned to stone. “I might need reassurance, too. Have you thought of that?”
I looked at Ruth Anne. Her lips trembled, and her gaze fell to the long shadows cast by her legs. I followed the line of the shadow, taking in the new landscape. It wasn’t night, but it wasn’t quite dawn, either. The sky was that dreamy azure that only comes when the sun and moon are about to trade paths, their lights tickling each other flirtatiously. There was a refreshing coolness to the air.
“Let’s ask Maggie,” Merry said, pulling back my attention.
“Ask me what?”
Merry lifted her hand and began counting on her fingers. “What do you think of the fact that Ruth Anne, one - took money from Aunt Dora, two - never told us she was leaving, or said goodbye, three - knew Sasha wasn’t our real mother, and four, knew your father was a danger to us, and left us there anyway!”
Until she said it aloud, I hadn’t given any of it much thought. We had all done regrettable things in our teen years. But now that Merry had laid it all out, I began to get angry. I joined Merry and Eve in crossing my arms and staring her down.
“How could you?” I asked. “How could you have left us there with crazy Mother? I always thought your dad just showed up and you left spontaneously. But you planned to leave us, didn’t you? Ruth Anne, how could you?”
“Et tu, Mags?” She looked down at her feet and sighed. “In my defense, I didn’t know Armand was your father. He was just one crazy warlock among a bunch of other crazy witches and warlocks. You know, a typical day in Dark Root. And Gah! I was fifteen!”
She ran her hands through her short hair, then lifted her face, palms up. “I was scared, okay? Mom was doing all this voodoo shit, putting curses on people, and talking about the end of the world. Basically, going nutso.” She snorted and jammed her glasses onto her nose. “I felt horrible about it, but I had to get out of there. I had forgotten… buried, the whole thing, until now.”
“Does Aunt Dora know you took her money?” I asked.
“No. I never told her. I couldn’t bear the look on her face. I’m sorry.”
“Are you?” I asked. Sasha had blamed me for the missing money. I very clearly remembered the look Aunt Dora gave me, the same one Ruth Anne couldn’t take. She locked her cabinet thereafter. “Are you really sorry, Ruth Anne?”
“Of course, I’m sorry! Leaving was the hardest thing I ever did. But I didn’t know how to save myself, let alone you girls. It was always my intention to come home and make it right.”
“But you never paid Aunt Dora back,” I said. In honesty, I wasn’t mad about the money anymore. I was hurt. Now that I had come to know her as an adult, it was harder to believe she could have left us as kids.
“I didn’t do a lot of things I should have done.”
“Your sisters are here for you now, Maggie,” Shane said gently. “All of them.” If it had been anyone else, I would’ve shot them one of Eve’s Gorgon looks. But he was right.
“You all could show a little compassion,” Ruth Anne said. “I just had my guts splayed out to everyone I love. I took one for the team. You’re welcome.”
She might be right. Jillian had warned that our secrets would be used against us. Perhaps with Ruth Anne’s unwitting help, we had maneuvered that obstacle.
“We’ll talk about this later,” I said, thinking it over as I examined our surroundings. I needed time to process the conflicting emotions: Anger. Betrayal. Abandonment. And countless others chiming in to get their say. I knew Ruth Anne never meant to hurt us. Like each of us, she needed to get away. And like each of us, that meant casualties.
“Let’s figure out where we are,” Shane said, as Ruth Anne tapped and shook her wonky compass.
Michael whistled quietly. “This place has a strange atmosphere. Ancient.”
Ruth Anne looked up from her spinning compass. “I know what you mean. It feels so familiar. Like I’ve been here before.”
The gate we’d come through was no longer there, nor the surrounding forest. My eyes adjusted as a radiant dawn flooded the world. We
now stood in an endless wheat field. The stalks were in clumps that varied in height from up to our ankles to as high as a tree. We had left one forest for another, of sorts.
My ankh flashed. I smiled, and looked for Eagle Mountain. Though I couldn’t see it, I knew we were on the right track. My mood improved as the sun warmed the earth, and the wheat swayed in the breeze.
“How long should we wait for your boyfriend to do his magic tricks before we move out?” Michael asked, his eyes scanning the horizon.
Shane shot a quick reply. “That’s husband, if your ministering credentials aren’t as shifty as you are.”
“Ignore him,” I whispered. Then, to everyone else, I added, “We’ll stay as long as it takes for Shane to get a lock on Montana.”
Shane relaxed and closed his eyes. His fingers twitched at his sides while we held our breaths, waiting. A wisp of a smile fell over his face and he looked at me. He had it. “That way,” he pointed.
“We call that forward,” Michael said. “Brilliant.”
The wheat field stretched for miles, and the further we went, the taller the wheat. Soon, it was up to our waists.
The skies brightened, rivaling the crystalline blue of Merry’s eyes. Geese flew overhead, arranged in a deep V, headed into the lazy marshmallow clouds. The wind tickled my cheek and the scent of summer was so rich I felt giddy. It was the smell of freedom and adventure. The fragrance of life.
I wasn’t the only one whose mood had lifted. Merry spun in wide-armed circles ahead of us. “It smells like Kansas,” she said, breathing deeply. “I miss this.”
“It does smell like Kansas,” Michael agreed, giving Merry a smile of acknowledgment.
We walked on and on, without stiffness in our legs or the slightest sense of exhaustion. The day was invigorating, and even though I still didn’t see the mountain, I felt wholly inspired. Only Ruth Anne straggled behind, her face long, as if the weight of her pack had doubled.
I wasn’t angry anymore. The anger had fled before the beauty of the day.
“Ruth Anne, you study things,” I said, falling back to join her. “Why do you think we’re in a wheat field? Is this symbolic?”
The Shadows of Dark Root (Daughters of Dark Root Book 5) Page 9