“There’s something amiss in our magikal world. There’s something amiss in this human world as well. Something that shouldn't be. I’ve been trying to figure it out, been looking through the histories here, but I haven’t reached any conclusions yet. I do know there has to be a traitor in the Guild. What I did find out for sure was that someone or something has….”
Tara’s words were cut off by a boom of thunder that shook the house and rattled the windows like an earthquake. A roar like a freight train bellowed in their ears while a wind began to blow inside the house, disturbing all of Tara’s neatness and order.
“SAAAAADDDDIIIIEEEEEE!!!!!”
It was her mother’s voice again. This time louder, clearer and Sadie was sure that Tara and Elgarbam had heard it, too. When she looked to them for some sort of acknowledgment, their faces began to blur; she felt as though she were being pulled apart at the seams—again. In an instant, all went black then changed again in a burst of green light. Sadie was sitting in an empty, grey stone-walled room with no windows or door.
Adrienne MacDougal, Transportation Spells, and the North Wind
Sadie checked herself in case some parts went missing in this transportation. She assumed this must be another one of Hannah’s doomed transportation spells and was just glad she made it through in one piece.
When she saw that all was right, she stood up to survey her surroundings and prepared to be hassled by Ms. Cabot, the rest of the three, and whoever else was against her as well. What she found was not what she expected. She was in a room very unlike any that were at the Guild headquarters. Walking around, she saw no signs of a door, much less a window, and she guessed the room to be about ten feet by ten feet.
The faint smell of something burning lingered in the air, and the temperature began to drop. Wrapping her arms around herself, Sadie put her back to the wall and waited. She didn’t know what she waited for, but she didn’t have to do it very long.
A mist began forming in the far corner. It was inky and contorted and swirled with jerky motions until it converged in the shape of a man. He stood over six feet tall and was wearing a black suit with an unusual bunch of purple flowers in the lapel. His arms were crossed behind his back, and his face wore a familiar smile.
Why do I feel like I know him?
He snickered a little and began to speak in a deep and condescending tone.
“I am THE MASTER, soon to be the Master of All, this world, the magikal realm, and all the realms if I feel the need. A measly little girl such as the likes of you will never best me. You will give me the Ataraxia Heart, or I will do to you what I did to your mother.”
(The mention of her mother made Sadie’s stomach lurch.)
“I see that manipulating from behind the scenes is not working—sending an imp to do a man’s job and so on. So here we are, face to face; let’s see if we can come to some sort of arrangement. It’s either that or I destroy you now!” he bellowed, and to Sadie it was an obvious show of force.
A flurry of bursting sickly green light sizzles and pops rained over his head though he hadn’t moved a muscle. The burning smoke scent filled the room again, infecting Sadie’s already sickened stomach.
Sadie hesitated not knowing what to do or say, and she focused on the man’s face. He seemed to have a grey sheen to his skin. She knew she didn’t know him, yet still she couldn’t shake the feeling of familiarity.
“I don’t have the Ataraxia Heart, and I don’t even know what it is,” said Sadie.
She was disheartened and getting a little aggravated that everyone expected her to know where this Heart was. She didn’t even know what it was.
“Don’t play stupid with me. You’re a MacDougall, eternal keepers of the Heart. After much torture, your mother still held tight to her silence so I KNOW you must have it. Now tell me where it is, and I’ll make your death quick and painless,” the man replied matter-of-factly.
Sadie thought for a moment—either way she was going to die, so why not lie about it?
“I can give you the Heart if you let me go to get it,” she said.
“Do you think I’m stupid? Do you think you can get the better of me? You tell me where it is, girl…no, wait.”
The man called the Master smiled and ran his fingers through his hair. He sniffed his lapel and continued.
“I wouldn’t usually do this so abruptly, but I’m running out of options. Your stubbornness in not telling me where the Heart is…is admirable. Maybe you can work for me once this is all said and done. No, I could never trust you completely.”
(Sadie hated that it was like he was having a conversation with himself and not her.)
“I think it’s time to just pull out ‘the big guns’ as they say. I think, no, I know, I have something that will make you talk,” he replied.
The man raised his arms and snapped his fingers. In a moment’s time and with a burst of green light, Sadie was transported yet again. This time she landed in a dark, dank dungeon. The smell of burning permeated the air and distant moans of agony broke the silence.
“Sadie,” said a breathy, timid voice that she was used to hearing only in her head.
As Sadie turned, she nearly fainted with shock. With her heart racing and an unknown feeling coursing through her body, she ran to the far side of the dungeon.
This must be a trick.
“Sadie, I love you so much; it’s so good to see you again. I never thought I would,” said the voice. “Please, come to me.” And then this voice said something to confirm Sadie’s deepest desires. “Come give me a ladybug hug, my little beguiled child.”
Sadie felt like weeping. When she was a tiny thing, her mother used to say that Sadie gave ladybug hugs, wrapping her in fluttery arms like wings. She also used to call her Ladybug. She used to call her “my little beguiled child” because life was so full of wonder and excitement back then that Sadie had trouble containing herself most of the time. This was all long before her mother had died, well, before everyone but Sadie thought she had died.
It had been three years since her mother’s supposed death. Sadie KNEW she was still alive. She still didn’t know how, but she knew. Everyone thought she was crazy and now, with her mother standing before her, she felt a validation to her claims that had caused her so much grief.
Those who jeered her, those who teased and tormented her for not accepting her mother’s death, would soon be called out. Her heart was filled to the brink of bursting from sheer joy and happiness. But she was also afraid. Afraid this was yet another trick—that somehow the Master had found out her mother’s pet name for her.
Sadie remembered that awful dream and wanted to believe so much that this was, in fact, her mother. Trusting her instincts, she decided it had to be. No strange feelings in her stomach or head argued the fact.
She ran to her mother, wrapping her arms so tightly around her it made her gasp for breath. Sadie heaved and shook with years of built up sorrow. Sadie’s mother laid her head on Sadie’s, her arms shackled in iron chains. The two sobbed together for several minutes before her mother finally broke the silence.
“Shhhh. It’s okay now, Sadie. We’re together. We’ll find a way to get out of this, I hope; when we do, we’ll set things right,” her mother said through her own sobs.
Sadie hesitated for a moment and tensed, remembering once again the horrid witch-thing in her dream that had tricked her into thinking it was her mother. She thought for a brief moment this was history repeating itself. She relaxed when she also remembered her mother’s ladybug reference and realized that was something only she and her mother shared.
I will trust my inner feelings; I will trust my heart, and my heart says this IS my mother.
“Mom, why didn’t you tell me I was a witch, how did all of this happen, why is all of this happening, and what is the Ataraxia Heart?” begged Sadie through her subsiding tears.
Inhaling a deep, long breath, Sadie’s mother looked at her daughter and began.
“I
used to work closely with the Guild, fighting the Syndicate. Certain ‘qualities’ came easier to me than others because I held the Ataraxia Heart. Our family always has. But the troubles only seemed to be getting worse. When you were born, your father and I tried to hide you away from that world. We traveled through many realms trying to find a safe place to rear you.
“We eventually settled on the human world since magik is no longer commonly practiced there—no longer under the eyes of humans. We had planned on telling you everything when you came into your powers at age thirteen. I loved you so much I didn’t want any harm to come to you. I see now that doing so only brought more harm and trouble your way and that I was wrong.
“Your father died when you were almost one, when the Syndicate held one of their many attacks. That’s when I knew I had to pass the Heart to you because they would be coming for me next. As long as they didn’t know what the Heart really was, I thought you’d be safe at home with me, with powerful magik all around you and the house…. Everything went well until the Syndicate found me, and that left you all alone, not knowing anything....”
Her words were broken off by more tears of grief.
Sadie’s arms had begun to ache, and she reluctantly released her hold on her mother. Looking into her eyes, Sadie no longer felt any anger at her for not telling her the truth. She was even letting go of all the unkind and hurtful things that had happened to her for insisting her mother was still alive. At least for the moment.
“I knew you were still alive. I felt you…I even heard you,” whispered Sadie.
“I tried to reach you telepathically, but guessed you weren’t getting it because you didn’t know you could do these things or because these iron chains had more effect than I thought. You were never taught like I should have taught you. Plus, what could you have done? You don’t even have your talisman yet.”
“I had it; Hannah gave it to me, but the imp they call Gok took it when he captured me.”
“I thought I heard my name,” said Hannah, appearing from nowhere in waves of rippling magik.
“HANNAH! Boy, am I glad to see you!” shouted Sadie as she rushed to give out more hugs. As she wrapped her arms around her, Sadie felt the girl stiffen, and she smelled something burning on her clothes. She backed away, looking up into the girl’s eyes for clarity.
“It was so much fun manipulating you, Sadie, and almost too easy. Coming to you in your dreams, well, that was just fun, especially seeing your face when I changed from your mother to that wretched-looking witchy-thing. Not my best look, but it served its purpose.
“And then you didn’t eat the To Die for Cake. I was a little worried, but that’s a good thing ‘cause the Master wanted you alive. Boy, I woulda been in trouble. Again, things worked in my favor. You believed I really liked you; you believed I was on your side. It’s so easy to manipulate someone who is in desperate need of friends. So then, you took your talisman directly to the Master.”
(She pulled the raven skull from a pocket in her dress.)
“You made it easy to plant the seed of your alleged deception by not knowing about the Ataraxia Heart. I guess we can thank your mother for that. And you know absolutely nothing of magik. All I needed was a little help which I got from my brother.”
David magikally appeared beside her, and Gok appeared on the other side.
Sadie backed away when the stench coming off the imp reached her nostrils. David stood with a smug smile on his face, and the imp drooled with delight while petting the scalps on his sash. Sadie looked back at her mother, helpless in iron chains, and began to shiver as emotions of all kinds ran through her body. She trembled as the feelings swelled inside her.
The raven skull in Hannah’s hands began to shake, causing the emerald to glow slowly. It began to tremble more violently, and Hannah struggled to hold onto it. Suddenly, it flung itself into Sadie’s hands.
“Hannah, the skull, now what are we going to do?” David asked this question with a hint of sarcasm thrown in.
“It’s of no concern to us; she doesn’t even know how to use her powers yet. And stop acting superior to me; the Master says we’re equal. What we need to focus on is getting that Heart,” said Hannah.
The imp had slowly begun to inch his way towards Sadie’s mom while David and Hannah went for Sadie. No longer able to control her anger and pent up frustration, magik began snapping and crackling above Sadie’s head.
“Look, the stupid girl can’t even form complete magikal energy,” said David.
“She’s as dumb as they said and untalented to match, and I think everyone was right about one thing. She’s certainly not like any other MacDougall.”
Sparkles of light began to shower down on Sadie as the magikal energy became stronger and seemingly more focused. Crackles and fizzles of sparks changed into a rainbow of colors above her head.
“Sadie, come touch me,” said her mother.
Sadie backed slowly towards her mother, leaning into her body when she reached her. As soon as they touched a burst of light came from the raven skull eyes, Sadie’s chest felt oddly full and yet emptying at the same time.
The chains holding her mother disintegrated and the ashes fluttered to the ground. As soon as her hands were free, Adrienne MacDougall threw up her arms and a protective force field surrounded the pair. Gok, David, and Hannah ran towards them, but were knocked back by the invisible shield.
“Now what, Hannah? The Master isn’t going to like this, and I must say that it doesn’t look good,” said David. “And I’m not being sarcastic; I’m being very serious.”
“Don’t count us out yet,” said Hannah as she shot magik of her own out of her finger tips and at the shield.
It bounced off, showering Gok with sparks. The imp cowered, and for the first time, Sadie saw fear in his eyes.
“I’m going for the Master,” shouted the imp. “And I’m gonna tell him just how bad you’ve screwed up now, screwed up now.”
He disappeared in a cloud of thick oily smoke.
Hannah and David stood staring at Sadie and her mother. The four seemed at a standstill. Sadie began to wonder how they would ever get out of this one. If it were a chess game, they would be at a stalemate.
“Sadie, I want you to hold tightly to the raven skull in your left hand and put your right hand over your heart, holding three fingers up in the sign of a W. I’ll be here, right behind you, with my left arm around you and my right doing the same as yours. When we do this, I want you to visualize a safe place, somewhere we can go that’s far from here, somewhere….” But her words drifted from Sadie’s ears because she had already begun doing what her mother said.
The world around her began to spin, not in an unpleasant way, but in a comforting and cozy kind of way that swept through her whole being. The spinning became a blinding rainbow of colors and sparkles, and flashes of crackling magik snapped and popped all around as the scene before them slowly changed. The last thing Sadie saw clearly was David punching his sister in the arm and the looks of surprise on their faces.
When the comforting spinning feeling subsided, along with the bursts of magikal sparkles, the scene that started to materialize was fire. The fire became a fireplace; the fireplace was in Tara’s cottage. Sitting before it were Tara and Elgarbam with similar surprised expressions that the mother and daughter pair had seen on Hannah’s and David’s faces.
“Well, I know who the spy is,” said Sadie. For the first time in a long time, she didn’t babble on.
Tara jumped from her chair, put her hand over her mouth as if to stifle a scream, and ran to Adrienne. She stopped just short of her, looked at Sadie standing in front of her, and then grabbed them both in a hug to rival that of a grizzly.
“Well, if that ain’t the darndest thing,” said Elgarbam. The little gnome waddled over and, trying to hide the tears in his own eyes, joined the group hug.
“‘Tis a good thing to know your daughter’s not the crazy loon we once thought. You really are still ali
ve, Adrienne. I mean, it’s really you, right? I’m not trusting me eyes like I used to with all this ‘new magik, new glamour stuff’ going around,” he said as Adrienne scooped him up.
“Ooch! Put me down, woman. I’m a proud gnome with dignity, and I’ll not be tossed around like some child’s toy,” said the annoyed gnome.
Adrienne laughed and set him down. All the pain and suffering Sadie had been holding in for three years was released at hearing her mother’s laughter once again. She cried silently to herself, but these were tears of joy.
“It’s good to know I was missed. It’s even better knowing my daughter never gave up hope on my still being alive, unlike some of you friends of mine.”
(Adrienne winked at Tara and Elgarbam.)
“What I want to know is why no one listened to her. I mean, we’re witches; it’s not entirely inconceivable to imagine I had lived through the Syndicate’s attack on me,” said Adrienne as she hugged Sadie again.
“Adrienne, we sent out magikal tracers, we sent out spies, we did everything, but found no sign or you or source of your magik. What were we to think? Plus, Sadie didn’t even know she was a witch. What were we supposed to think? We certainly didn’t believe you’d go off and get yourself killed without telling her of her heritage. When we used to watch her, we just thought she was crazy, like the human world assumed, for thinking you still alive,” Tara explained before turning to Sadie.
“You said you knew who the traitor was? Who is it?”
“It’s Hannah,” said Sadie.
“Hannah? But she’s just a witchling in training—handpicked by the Three themselves. Are you sure? How do ya know, lass?” Tara seemed rather agitated at this news, and all the butterflies and birds that usually sat on her or encircled her immediately fluttered or flew away.
Any Witch Way Page 16