The Magick of Dark Root (Daughters of Dark Root)

by April Aasheim

  We watched Merry guide him back to our group, holding his grubby hand without a trace of disgust on her face.

  “You think he will get…better?” I asked, as Merry wiped drool from Leo’s bottom lip with a Kleenex she almost magically produced.

  Ruth Anne shrugged. “In every culture, they talk of bringing people back from the dead, but you never hear what happens afterwards. Your guess is as good as mine. He seems to be advancing fast, though. When he first broke free, he could hardly stand up or put two syllables together.”

  “Yeah,” Eve said, peeling her filthy, leather gloves from her hand. “Our little boy is growing up.”

  Merry sat Leo down on a tree stump and gave him one of June Bug’s picture books from the car.

  “Fun-nee!” he said, pointing to an illustration.

  “Yes, yes. Funny. That’s right. Now you be good boy and look at the pictures, okay?”

  “Oh-kay.”

  “This is unreal,” I said as Merry joined us. “Someone pinch me, please?”

  “I’m too tired to pinch anyone,” Merry moaned, her words heavy with exhaustion.

  There were bags under her eyes and her clothes were the color of the earth she stood on. Only her golden hair still shone, as if immune to whatever darkness the world threw at it.

  “I’m sorry I wasn’t awake for this,” I apologized to her. “You shouldn’t have had to tend to him yourself.”

  “You did what you were supposed to do. You brought him back.” Merry glanced towards Leo and sighed. “I can’t keep him, though. Not with June Bug and having to care for Mother. What are we going to do?”

  “I’ll find out where he’s from,” Eve said. “Maybe we can drop him back off?”

  “We can’t take him back like this!” Merry put a hand to her hip. “We need to care for him until he can care for himself. It’s our duty.”

  “Don’t look at me,” Ruth Anne said, taking a step back and lifting her hands, palms out. “I can barely remember to feed myself, let alone someone else. The poor guy wouldn't last long in my room.”

  “I’ve never seen you miss a meal,” Eve said. “Though, I still can’t figure out how you stay so skinny.”

  “We are not going to pick fights now!” Merry intervened. “What about you, Eve? You could keep him in the apartment above Mother’s store.”

  “Oh, no. He’d destroy the place.”

  She was right. All that work getting the store back in order would be wasted with Leo around. I dug the toe of my shoe into the dirt, waiting for the others to ask me, but not one of them looked in my direction.

  Indignant, I spoke up. “What about me? I’m responsible for this, after all.”

  Merry bit her bottom lip, Eve bit on her nails, and Ruth Anne scratched her head.

  “What choice do we have?” I asked.

  Merry looked at me, her eyes wide and compassionate. “Honey, he’s going to be a lot of work. You’ll have to feed him and bathe him and even help him use the bathroom. It’s too much.”

  “You do all that with Mother,” I protested.

  “But you don’t.”

  “The worst I could do is kill him again.” I let out a nervous laugh. When no one said anything I squared my jaw and straightened my shoulders. “I’m taking him. I took care of June Bug while Merry was in the hospital. Maybe I didn’t do a great job, but I did it.”

  Merry’s eyes crinkled at the edges. “You’re right, honey. And you did a great job with June Bug.” She cast a final glance at Leo, fighting through her instinct to take him herself. “We’ll all help. Hopefully, he’ll be back to his old self soon and we can take him home.”

  Home. When all was said and done, we all just wanted to go home.

  Merry ran her fingers through her hair, encountering a tangle. “It’s set, then. Maggie, you take Leo and the rest of us will help.” She yawned, stretching her arms into the morning sky and revealing a midriff that was far too thin. “Now, ladies, if you’ll excuse me, I have to make my daughter breakfast, soak in a hot bath, and a take very long nap. Call me if you need me. I’ll keep my phone close. See you at six?”

  “Six? Why? What happens at six?” I asked.

  “It’s Thanksgiving.”

  “Are we really still doing that?”

  My sister’s face became stone. “Yes, we are still doing that. We need to have some sense of normalcy in this family. I won’t have June Bug reporting to her father that we missed a holiday.” She yawned again, her face softening. “Besides, this is the first time in fifteen years that we will all be together for the holidays. We can’t miss it, no matter what the world throws at us.”

  “I suppose,” I said, wondering how we could pretend that anything was normal again as Leo flittered around the front yard, flapping his arms like he were trying to take flight.

  Maybe for us, this was as normal as it got.

  Eve seated herself in the backseat of Leo’s Cadillac as Merry and Ruth Anne headed inside, waving sleepy goodbyes. I caught up to Leo and grasped his dirty hand, resisting the primal urge to drop it and run screaming into the woods.

  He was dead. I was holding a dead man’s hand.

  Panic rose up inside me.

  It was the yellow collar of his polo shirt, hardly visible beneath the layers of mud, that brought me back.

  “It’s gonna be okay,” I said, to both of us.

  “Merr-Eee!” he wailed, clenching and unclenching his free hand in my sister’s direction as she disappeared inside the house.

  “You’ll see her later today,” I said, leading him to his car. He climbed into the passenger seat obediently, sniffling as I buckled him in. As I walked around the car to the driver’s side, I saw something on the ground.

  Mother’s wand, charred and broken in two. The gem lay next to it, devoid of color.

  The wand of eternal life was dead.

  Twenty

  JEREMY

  “At least I get a car for a while,” I said to Leo, who sat beside me playing with the automatic window button as he called out for Merry every time the window rolled down.

  Behind us, Eve had curled into a fetal position, snoring so loudly I was surprised she didn’t wake herself. The whole scene would have been comical on any other day, but this morning, with my head still throbbing and weariness threatening to consume my entire being, it didn’t even warrant a snarky comment.

  “Sit down!” I ordered Leo, who stuck his head out the window like a dog.

  Flecks of dried on dirt were being picked off by the wind. When he didn’t comply I pulled him sharply by the arm and pushed him back into his seat. He fought me a little, wrenching my hand away, but I slammed on the breaks and tightened my grip.

  Eventually, he gave up and sulked all the way to Harvest Home.

  “It’s for your own good,” I said, as he rubbed his wrist. If Merry were here she’d be giving me “that look”––the look that said I could have handled the situation better. I took a deep breath and pulled into our driveway.

  “Eve, we’re here,” I said, thumping her on the shoulder. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, giving a little start at the sight of Leo’s face.

  “Didn’t mean to drift off,” she apologized, smoothing her long, blue-black hair into place. “I guess I’m more tired than I thought.”

  “You had a long night. Help me get him inside?”

  “Yeah.”

  We escorted Leo to the house, each of us taking an arm. He could probably walk on his own, but I didn’t trust that he wouldn’t run off into the woods. He stepped in a puddle and quickly withdrew his foot, shaking off the mud as an expression of hysteria overcame his face.

  “It’s just mud,” I said, pulling him along. “Suck it up.”

  Leo looked at his leg and nodded as we continued the trek up the porch steps. The scents of pumpkin and nutmeg drifted out the windows, causing my stomach to growl.

  “Mmm.” Leo lifted his nose, sniffing at the air.

  “Well, he’s hungry. Tha
t’s a good sign, right?” I asked Eve.

  “I suppose. But good luck getting any of that food.”

  Aunt Dora had always been a stickler on not letting us get so much as a taste before dinner was ready, especially a holiday dinner. Between Leo and my rumbling stomach, it was going to be a long, long day.

  Eve hesitated when we got to the front door. “How do we get him past Aunt Dora? She’s not going to let a man she doesn’t know stay in her house.”

  “Leave that to me.”

  She bobbed her head in a nod, too tired to object.

  As we stepped inside, Aunt Dora popped her head into the living room. “I hear ya didn’t get the turkey,” she said, frowning. “Thank goodness fer Shane. Wonderful boy.” Her eyes took in Leo. “Who’s this?”

  “This is Leo. A friend of mine from Woodhaven. He has no family so I said he could spend the holidays with us. Hope that’s okay?” I gave her my most innocent smile.

  Aunt Dora appraised him suspiciously but didn’t press on.

  Before she could speak again, I asked, “What’s this about Shane?”

  “He got the turkey. Said he will cook it an’ take care o’ the dressin’.”

  “Shane’s coming here?” I looked down at my filthy clothes and then to the grinning, finger-sucking man beside me. “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

  Aunt Dora placed a flour-whitened hand on her hip. “Because he ain’t comin’ here. We’re all goin’ ta his. Now go help yer friend clean up. There’s linens in the cabinet.”

  “You’re going too?” I said.

  Aunt Dora didn’t go anywhere lately, claiming the pain in her hip made it almost unbearable.

  “Aye. We all are. Could be yer mother’s last…” She shook her head, not finishing the sentence. “Well, enough o’ that. Back ta bakin’ pies fer me.”

  She limped back into the kitchen without the aid of her cane.

  Mother’s last Thanksgiving.

  I looked at Leo, remembering the broken wand. He had taken the last bit of magic from it, leaving it dead.

  “I hope you’re worth it,” I said.

  He titled his head to the left, hearing my words, but not understanding.

  But there was still a tree somewhere within the boundaries of Dark Root; a magical willow.

  I hadn’t taken a wand yet. I could get my own.

  I wasn’t sure where it was, but I knew someone who did.

  Larinda.

  The phone rang. I fumbled inside my pocket, trying to pull it out, while testing the bath water with my other hand.

  “Hello?” I answered, expecting it to be Merry or Ruth Anne, checking to see how I was “coming along.” The masculine voice on the other end surprised me and I almost dropped the phone into the bathtub.

  “Maggie? Happy Thanksgiving!”

  “Michael? What do you want? And since when do you care about Thanksgiving?”

  I turned off the water, tucked the phone between my shoulder and ear, and sat Leo down on the edge of the tub. “Arms up,” I said.

  “What?” Michael asked.

  “Sorry, not you.”

  Leo lifted his arms and I pulled off his polo shirt, and then his undershirt. His chest was a bit hairy and his belly had a slight bulge, but he didn’t look unhealthy. There was even a color to his skin that made it hard to believe only a few hours ago he had been…

  “Maggie? You still there?”

  “Sorry, I’m kinda busy,” I said, hearing the agitation in my voice as I helped Leo take off his shoes.

  “Well, did you hear what I just asked you?”

  “What? No, say again?”

  “Maybe I could see the baby during the holidays? Under your supervision, of course. We could do family Christmases and Thanksgivings, that kind of thing.”

  His words stopped me mid-shoe-pull and I dropped Leo’s feet, grabbing the phone with both hands “Michael, you don’t celebrate holidays. And we aren’t a family!”

  “I know I didn’t in the past, but I’ve changed Maggie. I’ve grown.”

  “No one grows that fast in two months!”

  Another long silence on his end, followed by the words, “You did.”

  I gritted my teeth, trying to hold back the barrage of curse words that came to mind. My growth, in part, had been because of him. Him and his deceit. I took a deep breath and exhaled, relaxing my grip on the phone. I had other things to worry about now.

  “Sorry Michael, this isn’t the best time. Can you call back later?”

  Not waiting for an answer, I hung up.

  “Merr-eee.” Leo tilted his head back and wailed the words, as if he just realized that his future was entirely in my incapable hands.

  “Shut up,” I said, yanking at his zipper. “Merry’s not here.” He dropped his hands to his side but didn’t help as I wrestled with his pants. At last, they loosened and I pulled them to his knees, then had him stand to step out of them.

  I tried not to look at his exposed body. “Now, get in,” I said, my head half turned away. Leo didn’t move. “Get in!” I repeated, pointing at the bathtub.

  His eyes bore into me but he continued to stand there.

  I gave him a good shove. He outweighed me by at least fifty pounds and I could hardly budge him. “Please, Leo, please,” I begged, feeling the tiredness overwhelm me. Where the fuck was Eve right now? Probably sound asleep when she should be helping me.

  I kicked off my shoes, hoisted my skirt, and stepped inside the bathtub. “See? Not that hard. Now you do.”

  He continued to stare at me, blank-eyed and slack-jawed. I was tired. So tired. And the back of my head throbbed where I had fallen. All I could think about was finishing his bath and getting into bed.

  I bent down and splashed my arms so that he could see the water wasn’t dangerous. Then I scooped up a handful and splashed him in the face.

  “Ow-ee!” he yowled, stepping back and stumbling into the sink like I had doused him in acid. “Merr-ee!” He swiped at the droplets of water.

  I worried that Aunt Dora would barge in, but part of me wished she would. She’d know what to do.

  Leo wept near the sink, his bottom lip trembling. The sight of him, a naked, forty-something-year-old man weeping in my bathroom, coupled with the exhaustion that swept over me like a tidal wave, was too much. I dropped into the tub, still fully clothed, and buried my face in my hands.

  “I can’t do this,” I said, unable to stop the tears. “I can’t do any of this.”

  The ends of my hair swirled around me in red, psychedelic swirls. I watched them curiously as I continued my cry.

  A soft hand on my shoulder startled me.

  I looked up to see Leo, staring down. There was something in his eyes. Some glimmer of the humanity he must have had before life had turned him into a woman-grabbing prick, as if he were trying to reach across that chasm of death and remember.

  His words were slurred, but understandable. “I-I’m…s-s-sor-rry.”

  I raised my eyebrows, feeling the weight on my soul fall away. “Oh, fuck, Leo. I’m sorry, too. I’m so fucking sorry.”

  I reached out my hand, guiding him into the bathtub, one foot, then another. He sat down, facing me, him naked, me in my clothes. Dirt washed from our bodies and joined my hair in the mad swirl as we scrubbed each other clean.

  “Magg-ee,” he said, touching my chin with the tip of his fingers.

  “Yes, I’m Maggie. You’ll be all better soon,” I said, stepping out of the tub and offering him a towel. “And then you can go home.”

  “Home?” His eyes widened as he spoke the word.

  “Soon.”

  I took his hand and led him down the hall, his body still clothed in only a towel. We had rooms to spare but for now he would be sleeping in my room. I dragged a twin mattress down the hall from the Huntsman Room and into my own, setting it next to my bed.

  “You tired?” I asked. He ignored the mattress on the floor and plopped down onto my bed, moving his arms and legs ar
ound like a child making snow angels. “Okay, you take that one, I’ll be here on this one. Stay put, okay?”

  I collapsed face-first onto the mattress, not bothering to slide out of my wet clothes. “Stay put,” I repeated as my eyelids clamped shut.

  As I drifted off, I heard the rustling of Leo on the sheets, the sounds of Aunt Dora bustling around the kitchen, and the ringing of my cell phone in my skirt pocket. But all I cared about was sleep. I could sleep a thousand years, and that still wouldn’t be enough.

  Twenty-One

  TWO PRINCES

  A loud knock on the door roused me and I fought through the heaviness to open my eyes. I almost screamed as a broad, dull face hovered inches above mine.

  “Good grief, Leo!” I said, sitting upright. “I hope you weren't that creepy when you were…”

  Alive?

  “Dooooor.” He pointed, drool seeping from the corner of his mouth as Eve burst in.

  “It’s about time you showed up,” I said, tripping over the mattress on the floor as I got to my feet. “Lock the door behind you.”

  Eve thrust a sheet of paper at me.

  “I was trying to find out more about our mystery man.” Her skin was pale and there were dark circles beneath her eyes.

  I took the paper and read as she narrated along.

  “Forty-three. Never married. No kids. Works as a traveling salesman for a tech company. Only known family member is a mother in Linsburg.”

  “Linsburg! Oh, Eve, that’s awesome.” I gave her a grateful hug. A few days of rehabilitation and we could pawn him off on his mother.

  “Thanks,” she said. “How soon do you think he’ll be, um, better?”

  Leo sat on my bed, picking at his bare toes. Eve grimaced.

  “Maybe that was something he did before the accident?” I suggested.

  “Yeah, not likely. Unless he had a foot fetish.” Eve rubbed her hands together. “I will spend the next few days trying to gather more information about him. When I was an actress in New York, I played an amnesia victim. The only thing that brought me back was a picture of my dog. Maybe it’s the same sort of thing.”