The Dagger

by Marieke Lexmond

  ‘What do I need to know about the situation and what can I do about it? That should do it. She cuts the deck and pulls four cards.

  She draws once again STRENGTH: A woman and a lion.

  FIVE OF SWORDS: a battlefield with people walking around defeated while one-guy collect his winnings.

  KNIGHT OF WANDS: a knight on a horse charging forward with a wand pointed forward in his hand.

  THREE OF SWORDS: three swords piercing a bleeding heart.

  For a minute, she touches the cards and thinks. Bridget is again at the center of it all; she will charge into a situation that will bring her tremendous heartache. And somebody will take something from that situation.

  How can she warn her? It’s clear she doesn’t respond to the normal ways of contacting her. Would she dare to use Seamus’ deck? Conflicted, Tara decides to go to bed and make a decision in the morning.

  BOSTON

  The next morning, Wes wakes up early and Bridget is still fast asleep. Some of the dogs wake up when they feel him stir, but as he’s clearly not the person who feeds them, they settle back down while Wes quietly slips out of bed. He pads through the living room in his bare feet and sweatpants. His eyes are drawn to Bridget’s spell book. He reads the cover ‘Bridget’s book of shadows’. Now that sounds interesting. He glances around but the rest of the house is still quiet. He leafs through the book and can’t hide a smile. The beginning is clearly written by a child; it’s adorable. His last feelings of remorse melt away, Bridget is always so closed off about her past, and this is a chance to get a glimpse of it. He touches some of the writing or drawings and reads out loud, ‘I will the flowers to up and bloom, pop open and smell the perfume.’ A laugh escapes him—this is too cute! ‘A true love, handsome and free, bring him here for all to see. Kind and fun, a true love is when my story begun. So mote it be.’ Bridget a romantic, that’s unexpected. He quickly glances in the window and at his dim reflexion. Handsome and free, all right. With a smile, he flips another couple of pages. Hmm, this looks like another language. With his best socerer’s voice ‘Crecer, ramas crecen, sobre premido amplo. Mentres me gustaría que así, non deixar ir’. A loud crack follows. Startled he looks around. Floorboards start to pop loose and branches sprout from the floor. He backpedals, but the first branches have found him and start to wrap around his legs; the more he struggles the tighter they get. He shouts, ‘Help! HEEEEEELP!’

  Bridget runs in with her gun drawn followed by her dog posse. She freezes when she sees Wes, now covered in branches barely able to open his mouth. A sad ‘Help’ comes out.

  ‘Oh shit.’ Bridget quickly stuffs her gun behind her back and starts to pull the branches. The dogs bark and attack but that only makes it worse. ‘Stop. Stop it!’ The dogs growl but stop their attack. A sad sound comes from Wes. Bridget finally spots her spell book open. ‘You didn’t…’ There’s just one eye still visible from Wes, who is pleading for help and that urges her into action. She rushes to the trunk and throws stuff out till she jumps up triumphantly with her wand. She positions herself in front of Wes and says, ‘Deixar ir, eu non quería dicir iso así, liberalo lo como é para min.’ It does absolutely nothing. It’s getting harder and harder to see Wes, and he seems to be screaming with his mouth closed. Bridget tries again ‘Oh Goddess, hear me, help me set him free.’ Nothing. ‘Shit, I’m rusty.’ She rushes to her book and leafs through it. ‘Don’t worry honey, I got this.’ Only the creaking of branches this time, she glances and Wes is completely covered. ‘Shit, shit, shit.’ Frantically she tries to find a spell. ‘That’s it.’ She stands in front of the branches, centers herself, raises her wand ‘With the power in me I set you free.’ The branches quiver. ‘Reverse this spell and all is well. I command earth spirit, let it be.’ She touches the branches with her wand. For a couple of seconds, which feels like an eternity, nothing happens. But then the branches recede. Slowly they unwind and the shocked face of Wes emerges. The dogs chase the branches until they’re all gone. Wes and Bridget just stare at each other. Wes starts to shake violently ‘What the fuck?!’ Bridget steps closer to embrace him, but he steps back and puts his shaky hands up. ‘What are you?!’

  Bridget’s face falls; this is what she had always feared if he knew who she was. Dear Goddess, why did he need to find out like this. This is worse than she ever imagined.

  ‘What the hell was that?’ He hugs his arms around himself to try to stop the shaking.

  ‘You conjured up an earth spirit and it bound you.’

  Wes tries to process this, ‘And you’re a witch, sorcerer, magician, crazy person…?’

  ‘I come from a long line of witches.’

  Wes rubs his arms where some bruises start to appear. ‘Great, crazy person.’

  ‘No, for real. Witches do exist.’ Bridget can almost taste Wes’ disbelief.

  ‘I just never told you because…’ She plows on. ‘Because… My mother... Well, my mother... It’s a long story. Short version, I didn’t want that life, so I broke with my family and became a police officer.’

  Wes looks skeptical, it breaks her heart. ‘Apparently it’s not something you can switch off.’

  ‘I realize that now.’ She closes her book of shadows. ‘I should have never let this laying around. I’m sorry.’

  ‘Sorry?!’ Wes’ hands gently feel his face, remembering the suffocation. ‘Jesus! You almost got me killed!’

  Bridget doesn’t know how to make this right. She has never been very good at comforting someone. ‘It’s still me. Nothing’s changed.’

  ‘Nothing’s changed?! Everything’s changed! You’re a freaking witch and a sorry one at that.’

  Somehow this pushes the wrong button with Bridget. She’s actually a very strong witch. She’s only a bit rusty. ‘I never wanted to use magic again.’

  ‘How is that working out for you?’

  A tear wells up in her eye and rolls down her cheek.

  ‘Don’t you dare cry. You left that bomb lying around.’ He gestures to the book.

  ‘I didn’t know spells could work for normal people.’ It feels as a lame excuse, even to her.

  ‘Now you know. What kind of stupid witch are you?’ Wes is clearly not ready to accept what happened. Of course he’s upset, but he could cut her some slack.

  ‘I’m actually a pretty powerful witch, just rusty.’ And with a small voice, she adds. ‘Nobody got hurt.’

  Wes raises his eyebrow. ‘You lied to me.’

  ‘I didn’t lie; I only neglected to tell you about it. That life is behind me. You probably wouldn’t have believed me anyway if I told you. I dug my spell-book up because of this case.’

  Wes looks at her and can’t hide the feeling she had let him down, it pierces through her heart. She’s losing him. She doesn’t know how to stop it. ‘I’m sorry.’

  Wes motions her to go, she steps forward but again he puts up his hands. ‘Please. I need to…’ He looks so bewildered; it hurts more than she ever imagined. Slowly, she walks backwards while she looks in his eyes. He’s hurt, really hurt. Confusion and disappointment come off him in waves. When she’s at the door she turns, and looks back at him one last time. He’ll be gone when she comes home. She’s sure of it. Another life she messed up. He’s right; she is a failure.

  In the bedroom, she collapses on the bed and pulls Bouncer, a big black lab, close. He licks her face and knows how to calm her down and bring her back out of her downward spiral. Her phone beeps. She has five messages; they’re increasingly annoyed. Tom: ‘Where are you? Better come out now. Will wait one more minute.’

  Shit, she forgot. She jumps up, gets dressed, and is out the door within a minute.

  Bridget jumps in the car with Tom. He opens his mouth to say something and is clearly not pleased. She doesn’t give him a chance to start ‘Take a number.’

  ‘That kind of day, huh? You look like shit.’

&nb
sp; Bridget doesn’t want to talk about it; it’s better to focus on the case. ‘Don’t get me started. We need to go to the Boston Public Library.’

  ‘Because?’

  ‘I’ve been digging into that Dagger, the family heirloom. Here.’ She hands him the picture. ‘When did she give that to you?’ As she can’t say she has visions, she chooses to ignore the question. ‘I searched online but couldn’t find any information on it. Let’s check out the library. They have a great selection on the occult.’

  Bridget is not the only one with a bad start to her day. Elsewhere in the Boston area Lucy still struggles to attune herself to the Dagger. Lucy has placed the Dagger on her altar, and four candles are lit for the four wind directions. She has both hands raised to the sky and chants. Small storm clouds form above the altar, and a flicker of victory passes over Lucy’s face. She intensifies her chant. A small tornado forms and reaches for the Dagger. She smiles and chants louder and louder. A lightning bolt shoots from the clouds and hits Lucy in the face. She screams and topples backwards. Her eyebrows are badly scorched and her hair still fizzles. The bad smell of burnt hair fills the room. Cal runs into the room and sees Lucy’s red, scorched face. ‘Are you okay?’ Lucy doesn’t immediately answer. ‘Grandma? GRANDMA?’

  ‘Don’t shout. Help me up.’ Cal helps Lucy up and quickly pulls a chair close. Lucy plops down and breathes hard. ‘Damn. This should have worked. I tried every connection spell I could find.’

  ‘Can I help?’

  ‘You?!’ Cal flinches. ‘Get the car. I need to do some more research.’

  NEW ORLEANS

  In the meantime, Tara sits in her bedroom and stares at the Magical Tarot Deck in front of her. Seamus paces up and down in his portrait. ‘Stop it. I know what I’m doing.’ Seamus raises an eyebrow, which clearly says, ‘I highly doubt that’. With a snap of her fingers, the candles on the table are lit, and she picks up the deck and searches for Bridget’s card. Seamus leans forward, as far as his portrait allows. Tara clearly states her intention ‘She needs protection.’ Tara intentionally stares at Bridget’s card, Strength. Slowly the image of Bridget in the card begins to stir. ‘Oh Seamus, something is happening.’ Seamus’s worries have now turned to curiosity.

  BOSTON

  Bridget moves uncomfortably back and forth in her seat, while Tom steers the car expertly through the morning rush hour. ‘What’s up with you? Come on. You can tell me.’

  She feels her chest and her head. ‘I don’t know, I feel a bit queasy.’

  ‘Are you pregnant?’

  ‘What? Hell no.’ But something is seriously wrong, for a lack of a better word. She feels thin, and not in the skinny sense of the word. She needs to get out. Frantically she taps Tom on the shoulder. ‘Stop, the car. Stop the car!’

  Tom doesn’t hesitate and stops the car at the curb. He looks at Bridget and it almost seems like he can see through her. ‘Bridget?’

  ‘Tom! Help!’ Bridget dissolves before his eyes. Frantically he jumps out of the car and searches around the car.

  NEW ORLEANS

  The image of Bridget on the card stretches and bulges out of the card. Tara quickly puts the card on the ground as the image starts to grow and grow. She steps backwards. Seamus can’t hide his excitement. The cards really work! This exceeds even his wildest expectations. The image becomes life-size and starts to come to life. Bridget is standing in her grandma’s room dressed in the tunic from the card. And the unexpected by-product, a giant lion stands next to her. The animal leans into her and gives a powerful roar. Seamus’ eyes are big saucers before he puts his hands to cover his face, and Tara jumps even further back. Bridget looks totally disoriented. The lion starts to rub his head on her thigh and she absentmindedly pets him. It’s like with the dogs, he pulls her into the reality of things. She takes in her tunic, touches her arm if she’s real. She’s real all right, this is too fucking weird. Only then she looks around and sees Tara. ‘What have you done?’

  ‘I can explain.’ The lion roars again as he feels Bridget’s frustration.

  ‘It’s still you. I called you through Seamus’s Magical Tarot Deck.’

  ‘His what?!’

  ‘Magical Tarot Deck.’

  She should have known only her grandfather could come up with something crazy like that. ‘What happened to the real me?’

  ‘You are the real you.’ Bridget’s eyes shoot daggers. ‘Uhhh, I mean… I’m not sure.’

  ‘Not SURE!’ the lion shows his teeth this time.

  ‘It’s the first time we’ve used it. We didn’t get a chance to try it before Seamus died.’

  Bridget looks at the portrait. ‘Gee, thanks, Grandpa.’

  Seamus smiles at her apologetically.

  ‘You have to send me back. I was in a car with Tom.’

  Seamus wildly gestures.

  ‘You can’t send me back?’ Tara and Seamus’s faces say it all. They have no clue what they’re doing. How did she end up in this mess?

  Tara recovers, ‘It doesn’t work that way.’

  ‘How would you know? You never used it before!’

  Tara shrugs. ‘You were with a normal?’

  ‘YES! Heaven knows what is happening right now. I’m a police officer for god sakes. If he rallies the troops… I can’t think of that right now. We need to do something. I need to go back right now!’

  ‘Something terrible has happened. Somehow you’re involved. I read the cards, something is going to happen to you.’

  ‘Are you even listening?! Yes, something happened. You did this.’

  ‘You know that’s not what I mean.’ Tara starts to lose her patience as well. ‘I know you know. You need to focus, and I’m sure if we square this away, you will be able to return.’

  Of course she knows something else is wrong. She even knows something is terribly wrong, although she will never admit it. This whole case, all the signs. Okay, if it will help her get back, she’ll cooperate. ‘Okay, tell me.’

  ‘If I knew what exactly is wrong, I would tell you, but it’s a feeling.’ Bridget sighs impatiently. ‘Take this.’ Tara hands her a talisman. ‘Wear it on your body. It will give you some protection.’ Bridget stares at it, and then puts it over her head. ‘You have some serious—’ before Bridget can finish, she starts to dissolve. Tara groans in frustration, she needed more time.

  BOSTON

  Bridget is reappearing in the car, freaking Tom out! He draws his weapon and points it at a slowly solid growing Bridget. ‘Tom. TOM! It’s me. Bridget.’ His gun wavers. It’s even worse than she imagined. What is she going to do?

  ‘Put it down, please.’ Very slowly he lowers the gun. Bridget lets out a sigh of relief.

  ‘You… you disappeared.’ Bridget’s mind races; she makes a snap decision.

  ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘You were gone.’

  ‘Tom. Don’t you remember? We stopped because you felt faint. Then you sort of zoned out. It was scary, I shook you but you didn’t respond. I was about to call an ambulance and then you popped up and pulled the gun on me.’

  ‘You were gone. You… dissolved…’

  ‘I’m taking you to the hospital. I was here the whole time.’

  ‘You were gone.’

  ‘Here, feel me.’ She holds her arm in front of his face and pinches it.

  ‘How is that even possible?! You must have had some sort of hallucination or something. You freak me out.’

  Tom is starting to doubt himself. Bridget takes the advantage. ‘Come, let me drive. We need to have you checked out.’

  ‘No. No hospital. I think I’m fine… now.’ Still she gets out and walks to the other side and holds the door open. ‘Let me drive.’ Tom is clearly confused but lets her take control. They drive on in silence, and Bridget is relieved when they reach the Boston Public Library. She
parks in a no-parking zone but decides not to care today. They both get out of the car. Tom has a hard time snapping back into normal mode. He looks like an old man the way he climbs out of the car. Normally they would have some banter over that, but Bridget lets it go. Instead, she admires the stone building. It’s beautiful and impressive. Tom stands next to her. ‘You know what we’re looking for?’

  She waves the drawing and walks up the steps. Inside a cheerful middle-aged librarian greets them. ‘Welcome to the library. Is there something I can help you with?’

  ‘Yes. I’m detective Madigan and this is detective Walsh, we’re looking for more information on a dagger.’ She shows her the picture. ‘If you could point us in the right direction.’

  ‘Up the stairs to your left, the rare book room. That’s probably your best bet. It looks pretty old. There will be a librarian there as some of the books are very delicate and can only be handled by a professional.’

  ‘Of course. Thank you.’

  While they make their way to the stairs Bridget glances at Tom. ‘You sure you’re okay? Why don’t you go and have a glass of water, cup of coffee or something.’

  ‘I don’t know, what’s wrong with me. I never… maybe some food will help. I’ll catch up with you.’ Bridget doesn’t hesitate and moves on upstairs. She feels bad she did this to Tom, but this will also give her the opportunity to move around a bit more freely. After all, it’s about magic and look what it did to him. You can’t miss the rare book room; it’s a feast for the eyes, if you like old books, that is. She would have loved to spend time browsing the shelves. Tom will follow soon, so she’d better get started. The librarian points her up a short flight of stairs to a row of books, and Bridget is soon engrossed in her search.