The Dagger

by Marieke Lexmond

  ‘Make sure she treats you right, B can be a little... feisty.’

  Wes smiles, ‘That’s actually one of the things I love about her.’

  ‘Lucky you’ Fin puts his arm around Bridget’s shoulders, and whispers in her ear ‘You’re not getting off so easy, we need to talk.’

  Then Luna, Ron and Diane arrive. Diane freezes in place when she sees Bridget all the color drains from her face. ‘You’re here.’ Everybody falls quiet and looks from Diane to Bridget. Bridget feels the weight of everybody’s stare, as if the ceiling is pressing down on her. You never want to be the focus of a room full of witches. And you certainly don’t want to be pointed out by your seer Aunt. That is not a good sign, she evidently had seen something... not good.

  Maeve, as always is the mediator. ‘Aunt Diane, are you okay? Here a have a cup of chamomile tea.’ She ushers her aunt over to a chair and hands her a cup of tea. It’s like a spell is broken and everybody starts to talk at once.

  Bridget tries to blend in and slowly makes her way to the edge of the room. Ron catches up with her though. He bends down and whispers discretely in her ear. ‘It’s family only.’ Bridget glances at Wes, who’s having a ball mingling with her family. Bridget first impulse is to be irritated, but Ron is right. ‘I know.’

  ‘Selma and Alice are holding the fort at the Hat; why doesn’t he go and wait there with the dogs?’

  ‘Okay.’ Bridget agrees.

  ‘He can take my car,’ offers Ron.

  Bridget takes in her family. Such mixed feelings are bubbling up, but she firmly shuts them down. She’s here with a mission and better to get it over with as soon as possible. Wes looks at her and she gives him a little nod with her head, to meet her in the hallway. She disappears. Soon Wes comes to the door. She hugs him tight, so happy to have his solid presence.

  ‘Everything okay, honey?’ Wes takes her head between his hands and gazes into her eyes. She shrugs. He gently kisses her. She sighs and stands up straight. No time to show any weakness. ‘This thing is family only. Do you mind waiting at Under the Witches Hat? My aunt Selma, Ron’s wife and aunt Alice, Diane’s wife are there. We’ll come as soon as we’re done here.’

  ‘You’re sure? I can wait upstairs if you want.’

  ‘You’re so sweet. I’m going to be okay. Can you take the dogs? I’ll keep Moon. You never know.’

  ‘Take care, sweetie. I can’t believe you kept this a secret all this time. This witch thing is growing on me.’ That makes Bridget shudder. He quickly kisses her, grabs the car keys from her hands and whistles for the dogs. Wes smiles one of his heart-stopping smiles before he closes the door.

  The second the door is shut, Tara appears at the top of the stairs. Bridget and Tara’s eyes meet. Nothing is said, but a lot is communicated. For a moment, the Strength card seems to materialize around Bridget, but it quickly fades. She feels the pressure of expectation and hope. To be a witch is not always easy but it has its advantages. Bridget feels her Grandmother’s uncertainty. She’s always been such a rock, to see her Granny so in doubt makes her heartache. Then the dead body of Alana flashes before her eyes. Tara knows things, and she should tell them. This is not the time to show mercy. What if it all could have been prevented? What is so important that she calls the whole family? Some psychic self-defense is necessary if she doesn’t want to be sucked in by all the emotions. Better safe than sorry. Tara winces when she feels Bridget’s shield slam into place. With a sigh, she comes down the stairs.

  ‘You look tired Grandma, guilty conscience?’

  ‘Old age. You’ve become a grown woman.’ Tara smiles ‘Happy you’re home.’

  ‘I’m not staying.’

  ‘As you were saying.’ Clearly indulging her. ‘Lead the way.’ Tara motions for her to open the door. Bridget hesitates, which is not like her. She shakes it off and pushes the door open. A wave of high energy washes over them. It flows around Bridget’s shield and hits Tara who seems to take it all in. For a moment, Bridget wonders about the benefits of shielding against absorbing it all, but then the room falls totally quiet. All witch eyes are focused on Tara, she smiles a warm smile.

  ‘So good you’re all here! It warms an old woman’s heart. It’s been too long.’ The room erupts in a million questions directed at Tara. Sparks start to fly through the air. Diane, the only one who is quiet, watches with trepidation and takes a seat at the far end of the table. Bridget circles around to put some distance between herself and her grandmother. Tara takes a seat at the head of the table and Maeve hands her a cup of tea. ‘Thank you my dear.’ Ignoring all the questions and stares. She raises her hand and slowly, one by one, they all fall quiet and the energy in the room goes back to normal. ‘Why don’t you all sit down? This is going to take a while.’ Magically there is exactly enough room at the table for everybody. Luna, however, doesn’t take her seat and leans against the kitchen cabinet. Freya can’t contain herself any longer. ‘What the hell is going on?’ Freya sat down on the left-hand side of her mother. Tara puts a hand on Freya’s hand. She immediately pulls her hand back. ‘We deserve an explanation.’

  ‘Deserve is such an interesting word.’

  ‘Come on, Ma!’ Luna pushes herself off and walks to the only empty chair. ‘This might be the first time ever Freya, and I agree on something. A blood call? That’s going too far.’

  Bridget leans back and quietly observes the dynamics. Not much has changed by the look of it. ‘Let’s hear Gran out first before we jump to any conclusions,’ adds Maeve, ever the peacemaker.

  ‘She just always thinks we should be at her back and call. We’re adults, she has no right to push us around.’ Luna’s patience is running thin, and little sparkles form at the end of her fingers.

  ‘Maeve is right. There must be a reason. Mom?’ Ron uses his regal authority to silence his older sister and put the focus back on Tara.

  Tara shuffles in her chair and tries to sit up straight. How she wished she had still that natural leadership. Getting older sucks, she’s more fragile, and somehow, that gives others the feeling she’s incapable. She’s still a strong witch. So humiliating to have to face her own children. No escaping it now though, she takes a deep breath and begins.

  ‘I called you all to tell you a family secret. Something that has been passed on for generations to the eldest daughter and that has been on a need-to-know basis. And so far, nobody needed to know. My own mother always stressed the importance of keeping this secret. Now, Bridget came here with questions,’ she nods to Bridget in acknowledgement. ‘I hope this will answer the questions that brought you here.’ Tara looks around, and now everybody is silent, and she feels their focus. ‘Many, many moons ago, a coven of witches made an alliance with the elements. It was the rise of the industrial age and people were starting to lose touch with the natural world. The elements agreed to put part of their powers in an object. A Wand, a Dagger, a Cup and a Wooden Disk, your basic witch tools. But the power of the objects consumed the witches. Some of them wanted to use the objects to rule the world. That’s not the witches’ way, so the four strongest witches decided to take the elemental objects and separate them before they were discovered. The power of the four objects together is just too strong. It could destroy the world.’ Tara takes a sip of her tea. She feels the calmness of the chamomile settle in her stomach. ‘The Madigans have been the guardians of the Wand of Wisdom ever since. It has been passed on from mother to the oldest daughter.’ Freya eagerly sits up. As the oldest, she feels ready. ‘So are we here so you can pass it on to me?’ For the first time, Bridget can remember she sees her aunt radiate, she actually smiles. She didn’t think that was possible. Tara only takes Freya’s hand and squeezes it gently. ‘We’re here because I have had bad omens and I’m convinced something bad has happened to the Dagger of Consciousness, one of the other elemental objects. Now I’m worried the Wand might be in danger too.’

  The room expl
odes with questions, everybody talks at the same time, except for Bridget and Diane. The look on Diane’s face is one of dread. When Diane feels Bridget’s eyes on her, she quickly hides her emotions. Sparkles are now in the air. Tara gets up slowly and waves her hand in a small but effective spell. ‘QUIET!’ Tara sways and sits again, definitely an old lady.

  ‘You’re getting older, Ma. You should pass that burden on to me.’ Freya’s eyes sparkle.

  ‘I actually haven’t decided yet who I will pass the Wand to.’ This gets everybody’s attention.

  ‘But you said it passed on to the eldest daughter.’

  Tara looks uncomfortable and debates for a minute how to say this. ‘I know, but it needs to be the right person.’

  ‘You don’t trust me?!’ Freya jumps up. ‘It’s my right.’ Tara winces, she has been afraid this would happen. ‘All my life you favored others over me, and now you don’t even grant me this!’ Freya feels as if she’s been stabbed in the heart.

  ‘That’s not true sweetheart, I love you all equally.’

  ‘You’re going to give it to your precious Luna!’ Freya is shouting now.

  ‘No I won’t.’ Freya doesn’t even hear that, she storms out of the room. Surprisingly, it’s Ceri who heads after her. ‘Well done, Ma. Very subtle, you know how she is.’ And she disappears as well. The rest sits in stunned silence. Tara actually looks embarrassed. How was she supposed to tell Freya that? There was no good outcome.

  ‘I feel a lot is missing from this story.’ All heads snap towards Bridget.

  ‘It’s a long story. I obviously told only the important parts.’

  ‘Right. You’re sure you don’t want to add something? Although I totally enjoyed this revelation, this is not why I’m here.’

  ‘I thought you were here about the Dagger.’ Tara looks puzzled.

  ‘Why don’t you tell us who that evil twin is, that’s running around bespelling people?’

  ‘Who?’ Slowly it starts to dawn on Tara.

  ‘My partner got bespelled by an older woman who looks exactly like you! Like an evil twin.’ The truth barrels literally towards Tara, and when it hits her, she’s thrown backwards. She slams against the wall and loses consciousness.

  ‘What the hell are you doing?!’ yells Ron to Bridget.

  Luna and Maeve are at Tara’s side and make her comfortable on the floor.

  ‘I didn’t do this.’

  ‘She’s an old lady!’ Ron points his finger at her, and a little beam shoots towards Bridget, she barely dodges it, and it scorches the wall.

  ‘STOP!’ Diane stands up and sways. ‘STOP IT!’

  ‘She slung Mother into a wall!’

  ‘No she didn’t, the truth did.’ This seems to penetrate Ron’s anger. Diane urges everybody,

  ‘We all need to stay calm and work this through. I had a vision, and if we don’t stop now and be reasonable, we burn down the house.’

  ‘Nonsense, Aunt Diane, we would never do that.’ This from Fin, whose face has lost all color and doesn’t know who to believe.

  ‘We have to believe Diane, she knows,’ comes a very weak voice from the floor. Tara is awake. She wished she’d stayed blissfully unconscious, but no such luck. This is far, far worse then she imagined. Lucy had stolen the Dagger. ‘Help me up.’

  The commotion had brought Freya and Ceri back, still not very happy by the looks of it. Luna and Maeve help Tara back up on the chair. Maeve produces a fresh tea, and slowly, the energy level in the room goes down.

  ‘This is far worse than I imagined. This must have been quite a shock for you, Bridget.’

  ‘At first, I thought it was you. I got a visual of what happened at the crime scene. But it’s hard to swallow that your grandmother is a murderer. So I decided that I needed more information. And when I came face to face with her, I knew it was somebody else.’

  ‘I’m sorry.’ Tara stares at her hands.

  ‘Don’t be sorry, explain. I think we all want to know.’

  Tara looks up and sees the doubt in her children’s eyes. It hurts, it hurts a lot. ‘Her name is Lucy, and she’s my twin. You’re right, I didn’t tell the whole story.’

  ‘Her name is not in the family history.’ Says Luna.

  ‘Not in the book?’ asks Ceri

  ‘No she’s not in our book of shadows.’ Tara looks uncomfortable. ‘When it was time for my mother to pass on the Wand she called both Lucy and me to the tomb. She explained like I did, she wanted us both to know, as she hoped that our twin bond would make the burden easier to carry. Still, you can pass it only to one person. Lucy was technically the oldest, but my mother had always known there was a seed of darkness in her and she decided to pass the Wand to me.’ Tara shudders from the memories of that night. ‘Lucy didn’t take that well and attacked my mother. She had to defend herself, and when she saw no other option, she banned Lucy from the family. She can’t set foot on family property or use our name. We never talked about her again. It was horrible. I still miss my twin. And Mother... she died of a broken heart.’ Maeve gets up and gives Tara a big hug. ‘That must have been so awful.’

  Bridget doesn’t feel so sorry for her grandma. If they had known, they could have been prepared. ‘Well, she’s back. She killed a fellow witch. Stole...’ she motions with her hand towards Tara, ‘the Dagger and she bespelled my partner.’

  ‘I’m so sorry.’

  ‘Stop saying ‘sorry’ Grandma, we need to talk about what we can do about it. How do we find her? How strong is she? What has she been doing all these years? How can I help my partner?’

  ‘Bridget is right Ma. The more information we have, the better we can prepare ourselves.’ Ron looks around at everybody, and most of them nod in agreement.

  ‘She’s a very powerful witch. I don’t know how powerful. She must have grown over the years. She tapped into the dark arts, and that scares me.’

  ‘Light always wins over the dark,’ says Ceri with confidence.

  ‘That’s all very well, but so far it’s Dark Team: 2 and the Light Team: 0,’ adds Bridget with a healthy dose of sarcasm. Luna shoots her an angry look. ‘You’re not helping.’

  Bridget ignores her. ‘Did you ever see her again after...?’

  ‘I don’t know where she is.’ Tara expertly dodges the questions, which doesn’t escape Bridget, but she lets it go for now. ‘You do remember I’m a police officer, right?’’

  Dylan gives a quick laugh ‘You have no jurisdiction here.’ Moon gives a sharp bark and bares his teeth. Bridget puts a hand on his head, and he instantly calms down. Dylan moves away from the big dog, as far as his chair can scoot over. Fin pushes him back. ‘She won’t let the dog bite you. Don’t be a wimp.’

  Tara looks pale and is clearly affected by this news, she leans back in her chair and closes her eyes for a minute. She remembers desperately trying to reach Lucy. Their hands nearly touching. The realization on Lucy’s face when what was happening. The day Lucy got banned is burned in her memory forever. A tear escapes her.

  ‘Grandma!’ Bridget’s voice pierces her memory. ‘Please, is there anything else you can tell us about her?’

  Tara snaps out of it. ‘Not really, I don’t know where she lives or anything.’

  Luna tries to take charge ‘So where is that Wand and what do we need to know about it?’ Freya jumps up. ‘You see! She wants it.’ Immediately Luna and Freya turn on each other. The first sparks erupt.

  Tara puts her face in her hands. Sad that her daughters confirm her suspicion, she had been right to keep this all a secret.

  ‘I am the strongest witch in this family,’ says Luna, never particularly modest.

  ‘It’s the right of the oldest. It has nothing to do with you!’ Electricity discharged in the air between Freya and Luna. Diane turns pale, and Tara tries to intervene.

  ‘Girls, I haven’t dec
ided— ‘

  ‘I am your best choice.’ Luna states with confidence.

  ‘You always favored her. It’s disgusting.’ Freya counters and Dylan takes position next to his Mom.

  ‘You’ve always been jealous, instead of improving yourself you wallow in your feeling of injustice.’ Luna puts her hand up towards Freya. Now the whole room erupts, and the cacophony of voices charges the room. The flames on the candles are growing, and the sparks are out of control.

  Bridget distances herself and keeps an eye on her Grandma, who’s slumped down in her chair and has put her head in her hands.

  Diane jumps up and frantically tries to lower the tension in the room, but she doesn’t seem to be able to raise her voice enough. A towel in the corner catches fire. She doubles her attempts, but nobody is listening. She sees Bridget taking it all in and rushes over to her. She grabs Bridget’s arms and shouts in her ear. Bridget follows the frantic pointing of her aunt and immediately takes action. She takes a moment to center herself, mumbles a small spell that pops up from distant memory and shouts, ‘STOP!’ The room falls immediately silent. Tara looks up and looks full of hope at Bridget. The silence lasts only for a minute, and everybody starts back up. Bridget calls again, ‘STOP!’ Now they really seem to calm down. She points at Maeve. ‘Can you put that fire out?’ Maeve turns, and the rest of the eyes in the room follow. Now the whole corner of the kitchen is in flames. Maeve doesn’t hesitate, and a spell flows smoothly from her lips, the fire seems to be deprived of oxygen and become smaller and smaller.

  ‘Sit down, everybody.’ Commands Bridget. She gently pushes Diane forward. ‘Aunt Diane wants us all to calm down.’

  Diane’s voice is barely a whisper, and it forces everybody to listen ‘I had a vision that we would burn down the house, so please, don’t fight. We can’t fight right now. Dark things are coming. We need each other.’

  Tara takes this moment to stand up ‘Please darlings, I know it’s a lot. Think about it, let it sink in. We’ll talk soon. The Wand is safe for now, and I will meditate on who the right person is to pass it onto. So please don’t fight among yourselves. Diane is right; we need each other. The Goddess only knows what Lucy is up to. And I’m the only one who can decide and pass the Wand onto the next generation.’