“Settled,” Agnes said triumphantly, beaming. “Oh, you both are good at this sort of thing. It’s almost some sort of game.”
“A game I’ll win,” Ted said loudly, knowing the mystery lady would hear. Cringing at his cockiness, Miriam said “In your dreams.”
Dreamer and Ted spoke for a bit more, Dreamer telling him she’d be home in an hour. Already Ted was working out what they could do for Dreamer in that hour. Run her a bath, lay out little treats…
Dreamer whispered goodbye and put the phone down, then she smiled.
Miriam smiled back, saying “It’s a win-win. Are you happy?”
“Yes. Are you?”
“I’m happy if you’re happy. That’s a yes,” she added warmly, and Dreamer’s smile grew.
“Mama will send you back for me, wont you Mama?”
“Where are you going?” said Miriam, startled. “You said an hour!”
“I’m not going home, I’m… going somewhere else.”
Miriam recognised the mischievous glint in her eye, as did Agnes.
“Don’t even think about going where I think you’re going,” Agnes said firmly. “Leave that boy alone, Dreamer- let things lie.”
“I cant, Mama. I still need to know what I need to know.”
“You’ll only confuse yourself even more,” Agnes replied, shaking her head. “You’re just like your father- reckless.”
Dreamer smiled and teleported.
* * *
“Enough!” yelled the officers, five holding Damon back and another five holding George back.
“Tell them she’s alive!” Damon shouted at George, but George refused.
“We was hallucinating, Damon! Hallucinating!”
“We wasn’t ha- let go of me!”
The officers refused, saying “Detention, Stile!”
Seconds later he was sitting in a tiny room, all alone.
“How long am I in here?” he yelled, an officer calling “One hour!”
“But I didn’t- I’m not lying to you!”
“Well if your magical girlfriend really is back from the dead, let her rescue you! Let her take you for a walk in the park, Stile!”
Laughter erupted at the officer’s comment, Damon sighing as he muttered “She’s not my girlfriend. And she really is back.”
“Frustrating when they don’t understand, isn’t it?” a voice said softly, and Damon turned to look at the speaker, knowing who it would be.
Dreamer looked stunning in an emerald green gown, bringing out her eyes, with matching bangles and earrings.
Damon swallowed hard, scanning her face fearfully. Dreamer stared back at him until he let out a breath, assured she wasn’t angry.
“Yeah, it’s frustrating,” he said hoarsely, then he swallowed again. “Um- I…”
Dreamer waited, but he shook his head.
She stood in the corner of the room, watching him struggle to say something- anything. But he couldn’t. Dreamer let five minutes of silence pass before she said “How are you, Damon?”
“Fine,” he croaked. “You?”
“Never been better.”
“Good- that’s good.”
Dreamer said nothing in reply, Damon realising he had to talk fast or she might leave again, and this time not come back.
“When did you- you know. Come back to life?”
“About seven months ago.”
“How did your family take it?”
“As I expected them to,” Dreamer answered coldly. “Speaking of my family-” Damon flinched, knowing what was coming up next. “Tell me what possessed you to assault my only girl, my youngest child.”
Damon shook his head, saying “I don’t know.”
He drew back as Dreamer pulled out a magnificent wand- it wasn’t the silver wand he was accustomed to seeing, the nice silver one he’d seen since the age of eleven. This golden wand studded with diamonds looked much more deadly- and that meant Dreamer was more deadly than before she died. She was more powerful.
Dreamer moved closer, kneeling down so they were face to face. Her wand sparked as she pointed the tip right between his eyes, her green eyes darkening with fury. Damon swallowed hard, staring into them.
“Either you tell me or I’ll plague this entire prison,” she said icily. “You’ll all die within six months, officers included.”
“Dreamer, I- please,” he said desperately, as her free hand reached for his neck. Seconds later he was choking.
“You’d better talk to me, Damon.” Her voice was just above a whisper. “Tell me why you did it, and if you tell me you don’t know again…”
She didn’t finish her sentence. She didn’t have to.
Swallowing with difficultly, he choked out “You’ll be disgusted.”
“I already am disgusted,” she snapped. “You’ve got five seconds to talk before I set this plague off- one.”
“Dreamer, please-”
“Two.”
“I cant tell you!”
“Three, Damon!”
“No!”
“Four!”
As her wand started to emit some foul coloured gas, Damon realised she wasn’t kidding- he was stupid to think that she was. Dreamer would murder over a hundred people without thinking twice or looking back.
“I don’t do halves and quarters, it’s not my style. Fi-”
“All right!” he screamed, and the gas cleared immediately.
Dreamer raised an eyebrow as he swallowed, shaking like a leaf- then she tightened her grip on his neck as she said “Start talking!”
“I was your friend first,” said Damon, willing his eyes not to fill. “I was there before Ted- I was.”
“So?”
“I wanted you,” said Damon bitterly, “But you wanted him.”
“So?”
“Pandora looks just like you,” Damon said, swallowing hard. “Spitting image.” Dreamer didn’t answer this time. “So when I- did I what I did, I guess I was pretending-”
Dreamer released him and got up, wiping her hand as if he was something repulsive.
“Pretending she was me? Damon, that is- that’s… it doesn’t even have a name it’s so disgusting!” she said angrily, as he hung his head in shame. “What were you thinking?”
“That she was you. Didn’t we just cover that?”
His sassy remark earned him a powerful slap in the face- SMACK!! Damon crashed onto the cold concrete floor, tasting blood in his mouth. Wow, he thought as he got up slowly. What a woman!
Outside, an officer just happened to be walking by when Dreamer said “If you ever cheek me like that again I’ll rip your head off, understand?!”
“Understood!”
“I should murder you like you murdered me, you filthy son of a-”
“Dreamer, please!”
The officer pulled back a tiny bit of the metal slate, eyes widening in shock at the beauty glaring at one of the prisoners.
Stumbling backwards he whispered into his walkman “I need backup right away- don’t reply. I need Sergeant Brown up here especially- the detention room on the top floor. Come quietly.”
* * *
“Well I’ll be damned,” whispered Sergeant Brown, watching Dreamer rage at Damon with no intention of stopping soon. “He wasn’t lying.”
“She’s gorgeous, Sarge.”
“Look beyond the gorgeousness,” hissed Brown, glaring at his officers. “We’re dealing with Dreamer Black here- she’s a witch. You’ve heard of Agnes and Paul Black, right?”
“Dangerous evil magic beings,” an officer mumbled. “Especially Paul.”
“No, Agnes is the worst,” another officer whispered, but the first officer argued “Dreamer’s husband said Paul murdered his parents at him and Agnes’s place, with a couple spells. He made it look like they had some sort of fit or stroke or something- remember he’s a sorcerer.”
“Where is he now?”
“Word has it he’s in the Bahamas. But their daughter, she… she’s…�
��
“Even worse,” whispered P.C. Jones. “‘Cause she pretty, look at her.”
“Not even that,” said Brown, shaking his head. “Stile was telling the truth- and you’re right. She’s even worse because she came back from the dead- and cant you see that thing in her hand?”
Everyone took turns looking through the tiny crack in the door at Dreamer’s wand, which was sparking in her fury. Damon was practically begging her to stop; he was terrified of what she might do.
“Don’t tell me what to do either, Damon!”
“Dreamer, I’m sorry for what I did to Pandora- I’m sorry I killed you-”
“Sorry?” Dreamer’s voice was suddenly quiet, so quiet the officers shuffled forwards to hear it. “Sorry? My baby’s been scared of people for three years and all you can say is sorry? She hadn’t even socialised properly until I came back to her, Damon. She had to see a shrink.”
Damon wisely stayed quiet, wringing his hands in his lap.
“Maybe I should plague the prison and let you all die in here. You’ve all done something repulsive- you don’t deserve to live.”
“And- and the officers?” squeaked Damon, and Dreamer smirked.
“Let them die with you if they care for you so much.”
Hell, no! Brown pulled out his gun, whispering “She’s a demon! Get ready men… one… two… THREE!!”
He burst into the room with his men behind, holding up his gun and yelling “Freeze!”
Then they stopped dead, staring around.
“What- where is she?”
Damon sat on his chair as they looked about the tiny room, innocently asking “Is it time for me to go back to my cell?”
“You’ve got another forty minutes,” snapped Brown, temper rising. “Oh, I should’ve known better than to try and corner the witch- she’s the child of Agnes and Paul Black, after all. What was it, Stile? Teleportation?”
Dreamer watched as Damon smiled, saying “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Sarge. Why did you come in here? To see if I was ok?”
“To get your girlfriend!” roared Brown, reaching for his neck in agitation. “You stupid little… didn’t you tell us she was alive?!”
Very Homer Simpson like, thought Dreamer amusedly, as Damon choked “Yeah I did Sarge, but that still doesn’t tell me why you’re here!”
“She was in here!” shouted Brown. “Talking to you!”
“Let him go, Sarge!”
Brown realised what he was doing and released Damon quickly. Taking a deep breath, he said “She was here. Wasn’t she?”
Damon cocked his head to one side in mock concentration.
“Let me think… was Dreamer Black here in this prison?” He smirked and shook his head, saying “I don’t think so. I would’ve yelled my lungs out, Sarge- I think you’re hallucinating.”
Dreamer smiled. He’s got guts. He hasn’t changed one bit, has he?
Brown realised Damon was getting his own back for the countless times he and the others had teased him about Dreamer’s being alive for the past few weeks, prisoners and officers alike.
“Stile, you’re being irrational.”
“Very irrational,” another officer said, and Damon shrugged.
“If Dreamer was here she would’ve gotten me out.”
“Wishful thinking,” Brown said cruelly. “Let’s not forget what you did to little Pandora Black, Stile. Oh yes,” he said quietly, as Damon froze. “It’s all there Damon, in your files. You killed the mother and ruined the child, it’s all there. And from what I made out, Dreamer isn’t a very happy bunny. Plaguing the prison, killing us all… she’s just like her father.”
Dreamer was so close to cursing this man she knew she had to leave. Damon could feel the heat radiating from her body, and he knew she stood between him and Sergeant Brown; she wasn’t protecting him, though. She was about to do something to the man.
“Go,” he said, looking Brown in the eyes though he was talking to Dreamer. Brown folded his arms across his chest, saying “We’re not going anywhere until we get an honest answer. Was that witch here?”
Dreamer’s wand was out, pointing directly at his face. Sensing her fury, Damon repeated himself: “Go! We’ll talk another time.”
Dreamer refused. Brown stared through her body at Damon angrily, saying “We’ll talk now, Stile! Is she planning an attack on the prison?”
Dreamer nearly laughed out loud as Damon shook his head.
“I don’t know- please, just go. Come back at one in the morning.”
Damn right I’ll come back at one in the morning, thought Dreamer as she finally left the building. The cool night air was welcoming to her boiling skin. Dreamer inhaled deeply as if the air was water; she needed to calm down before she went home. Ted and the kids would see the anger on her face straight away, even if she smiled. It would be an evil smile.
Dreamer started walking slowly, twirling her wand between her fingers. She didn’t care how many people she startled, her anger hadn’t burned out yet. Seconds later she stopped and looked back at the tall grey building, thinking I’ll come back and deal with him. That filth you call a Sergeant.
* * *
Marlon got the first hug, expectedly. “I missed you, Mum!”
“I missed you more,” Pandora said, jealous as Dreamer kissed her son on the forehead. “I love that gown you’re wearing, Mum.”
“Thank you darling.”
Dreamer let Pandora hug her as well, her eyes on Ted. He was standing in the doorway, watching the warm scene with even warmer eyes.
Marlon let go of Dreamer reluctantly, Pandora as well as they slowly exited the room, taking their time to go upstairs. Ted waited until both their doors snapped shut, Dreamer as well. Now they were alone.
“I’ve run your bathwater,” Ted said softly, and Dreamer smiled shyly.
“Thank you. I need a bath after today.”
“You look brilliant,” Ted said, still in that quiet voice. “How’s Agnes?”
“Mama’s fine as usual,” Dreamer replied, and Ted said “Maybe we can go and visit her- the four of us. Later on this week?”
Dreamer’s small smile grew. “You mean that, Ted? You as well?”
“Me as well,” Ted answered, nodding. “If she doesn’t mind that.”
“Of course she doesn’t, but it cant hurt to ask.”
Ted nodded as Dreamer looked away, anger creeping up on her. She was still furious, both at Damon and Sergeant Brown. Ted watched her take slow, steady breaths, and knew something was wrong. Taking a step forward, he said “Dreamer?”
“Mmm?”
“What is it?”
“A man compared me to Papa,” she said truthfully, looking at him. “You don’t know how angry I feel at him- and another person I know.”
“How would they know your father?” Ted asked, then he realised what he was saying. Everyone in Europe had heard of Paul and Agnes Black, and rumours about their only child Dreamer. Even America had heard about Agnes and Paul- they were feared. Outcasts because of what they were- considered evil. Ted thought so too, when he was a small boy- only because of what his family had taught him growing up. They weren’t meant to be in this world, he thought. Agnes and Paul terrified him, as they did everyone else- and he vowed if he ever met them he’d tell them how much he despised them and their magical selves.
Much to everyone’s fear, Paul and Agnes moved close to Ted’s area- high on a hill overshadowing the small town. Nobody remembered there ever being a house on a hill, which frightened them all the more.
Dreamer watched him as he stood deep in thought, then she decided to join him wherever he was.
Ted was all set to fulfill his promise, and he boldly marched round to the house- all alone. He took a deep breath, then he rang the doorbell. Nobody answered. Thinking of pleasing his father, he bravely rang again.
“Who is it?” called a soft voice, catching him off guard.
“Er… Ted Stone. I want to talk to the witch
.”
“What?”
“The witch,” Ted repeated angrily. “Open up right now.”
He braced himself as the door opened slowly, then his jaw dropped. Fourteen year old Dreamer stared at him curiously, Ted staring back. Minutes passed as they scrutinized each other’s every feature, then Dreamer said “What do you want to talk to me about?”
“Come off it,” Ted croaked, stunned by her beauty. Swallowing, he tried to remain in control. “Stop being stupid. You’re not a witch.”
“Yes I am. I am,” she repeated, when Ted shook his head. “Not lying.”
“Where’s your magic, then?”
Dreamer stared at him as if he was crazy. “What do you mean?”
“See, I knew you was lying.” Ted smirked at her. “You’re normal, like me. You’ve got on your school uniform.”
“So? I could’ve been in my robe.”
“Your what?”
“Robe,” Dreamer repeated amusedly. “What I normally wear.”
“People don’t wear robes.”
“Witches do.”
Ted realised he was being led astray, and he glared at her.
“Just get the witch out here, ok? Or the warlock.”
“My father is a sorcerer,” Dreamer said coldly, “And my mother-”
A Witch Like No Other Page 16