McCann's Manor

by Charlotte Holley

  "Right,” Liz said. “You'll be there shortly, then?"

  "Aye, lass. We shall join you presently,” Benjamin said.

  Liz nodded and smiled at Benjamin, more as an effort to reassure herself than anything else. She was beginning to get the willies wondering about the ordeal to come. She knew how to deal with ghosts; magic was more than a little beyond her scope and she knew it. If Tarrh responded favorably to the antidote, it would make three wizards against two; if he didn't get better soon, they would be evenly matched in numbers, but what about strength? How capable was Melody as a sorceress? Was Benjamin truly stronger than Moira? Then there was Sean to be concerned with. He was something of an unknown quantity that made her feel threatened, though she had to admit the possibility it was only his visit to her room that had made her wary of him.

  She had pressed for this moment; now the time had come, she was uncertain, and she knew there was no room for doubt. She at least had to support the others with her positive energy, but just this moment, she didn't have any positive energy; only a weak feeling in the knees and knots in her stomach.

  "'Tis all right, lass,” Benjamin reassured her. “You and Kim go and we will be there in a few moments. Everything is going well; trust me."

  Kim took her by the arm, nudged her toward the secret panel. “Come on, sweetie,” she encouraged, “we're holding up progress here."

  Liz took a deep breath, allowed herself to be led into the passageway. She had a really bad feeling she couldn't identify and it had her spooked almost to the limit. She wanted to go home and hide in the pyramid, pretend all this wasn't happening. She wasn't ready for it, she told herself.

  Once Kim had closed the panel to the passageway, she turned to Liz. “Come on, get it out of your system,” she said.

  Liz shook her head. “I just feel like I'm paralyzed with fear. I can barely stand here,” she confessed.

  "All right, I can understand that. I feel more than a little shaky myself. You have to stop and think where that's coming from, though. That's exactly what Moira and Sean want us to feel. They are probably feeding that fear straight into us right now. Do you have your garnet Ben gave you?” Kim asked.

  "Yes, I do, but—"

  "Then let that negative emotion flow out of you and into the stone. Feel yourself being cleansed of all negative feelings. Can you do that?” Kim asked.

  Liz pulled the dark red stone out of her pocket, looked at it and nodded. “I can try. Thanks for reminding me, Kim,” she said.

  "Sure. Let's get back to the work room like we are supposed to be doing. Even if Moira doesn't really know about these passages, which I personally doubt, she can still hone in on us and our thoughts; she might be able to find us here and mess everything up,” Kim said.

  "You didn't ever say what you got when Ben asked you to try to pick up on what Moira was doing,” Liz said. “Did you get anything?"

  "Well, not too much other than she is really angry and she hates just about everyone and everything. Her bitterness is so much a part of her and her thoughts, it is hard to get anything else about her,” Kim said as she opened the panel leading to the work room. “In you go."

  "I hope we haven't made a mistake in coming here,” Liz confessed.

  "Little late to be sorry we came, isn't it?” Kim asked. “And anyway, we did the most rational thing we could under the circumstances."

  "I guess ... You don't think I was foolish to insist on coming?” Liz asked as she picked up a crystal off Tarrh's table.

  "The fact we did it proves it was the right thing to do because we're here, right? You know I believe what is supposed to happen in life is what does happen. Besides, I believe I'm as responsible as you for our being here,” Kim said. “Everything is going as well as it could, I think. Tarrh is perkier than he was when we arrived."

  "Yes, he does seem to be doing better; I thought it was just my imagination, but since you said so, I do think he is better, if only heartened by the fact we're here and trying to help him. Still, I keep wondering how much one little cupful of antidote can do for a man who has been being poisoned for years,” Liz said.

  Kim shook her head, sighed. “There you go again with all that negativity. You have to remember, Melody has been doing everything in her power to counteract Moira's handiwork and there is no limit to what the power of love and positive thinking can do. The difference is that now, Tarrh knows how much she has invested in him and we're here with a tangible antidote as well. His attitude alone could make the difference."

  "Well, that's true. I guess I'm just so far from knowing about magic and what it can and can't do, I have trouble remembering what love and healing energy can do. We have never had any dealings with black magic before; most of the people I know say there is no such thing as magic in the first place,” Liz said. She held the crystal off Tarrh's table up to the light, admired its clarity. It was about five inches long and maybe an inch wide with perfectly faceted double points. She had never seen a more brilliant or perfect crystal and she was quite taken by its energy.

  "That crystal was given to me by my grandfather,” Tarrh said as he entered the room with the aid of Benjamin. Benjamin helped Tarrh to cross the room and to sit in the big chair beside his work table.

  "Oh, I am sorry. I was just admiring it,” Liz said, placing it back on the table.

  "No, ‘tis quite all right for you to hold it. Tell me what you felt when you touched it. It must have called to you or you would not have picked it up in the first place,” he said.

  Liz reached for it again, held it to her heart. “The energy in it is strong; perhaps the strongest I've ever felt from a crystal. I can feel it has been with you for a very long time and that you have used it to aid you many times,” she answered.

  "What does it tell you about my grandfather, lass?"

  Liz closed her eyes and focused on the energy she felt from the stone. “He was a very strong wizard. It delighted him that you were interested in the craft and that you were actually quite good at it without any instruction. He gave you this stone to guide your ways and to keep your magic pure because he wanted you to do great things with it,” she said.

  "Yes. What else?"

  "Most of these instruments of the craft you have here came straight from him. It is as though his magic passed from him directly to you through these implements. You had no need of instruction because the tools had everything you needed to know imbedded in them already. They were passed from his father to him; in fact, they were passed from father to son for generations, but your father didn't like the purer side of the craft and your grandfather saved the tools for you in hopes you would return to the magic he loved and treasured.

  "This caused a rift between you and your father, because he wanted you to follow in his path, not that of your grandfather, whom your father considered to be old fashioned and too much of a purist. Your grandfather wanted you to use only the white side of magic and not to toy with the darker powers. But ultimately, you would wield them both, which had the effect of lessening the powers of light that your grandfather had bestowed on you,” she said as she opened her eyes.

  "Yes. True, every word of it,” Tarrh admitted. “Yet now I have need of the powers of light and I would renounce my earlier preoccupation with the dark powers. Will these utensils of light come to my aid now, even though I abandoned them before?"

  "A true friend is ever your friend, my boy,” Liz said, somewhat surprised by her choice of words.

  Tarrh's eyes went wide with amazement at her words, then filled with tears. Tears! Why, he'd not cried in all these years since he abandoned his grandfather's ways for those of his father; not once. Yet now Elizabeth had spoken the very words of his grandfather all those years ago when the old man had given these precious possessions to him as a boy and it was as though the dam would burst, so heavy-laden with sorrow was his heart all at once over the lost years of joy they could have brought him.

  He wept for a long while and as he wept, the others sa
w the beginnings of a transformation in him. The light of life seemed to come back into him and his frail, bent form grew straighter, more robust. When at last he spoke, his voice was as one reborn in health where malady and emotional poverty had been. “What does the crystal say I must do to return to purity?"

  Liz looked at the others for some guidance, but they all shrugged as though they had no idea what she should say. Again, she closed her eyes, held the stone close to her heart. “You must reclaim your power from the usurper. Moira has tapped into the vast potency you once had and you have allowed her to do so, which has drained you almost to the point of death. It was not her potions of poison, but your own energy being drained from you all this time that nearly killed you. You need only reclaim your rightful power to be again possessed of all your vigor and strength,” Liz said looking at the crystal that had grown almost uncomfortably warm in her hand and seemed to take on a glow of its own as she spoke to Tarrh.

  "How? How can I reclaim my power?” he asked.

  "You know what you must do,” she said.

  "Nay, I know not! You must tell me,” he pleaded.

  Liz looked around uncertainly. This was nothing she knew anything about. Shouldn't it be Benjamin administering this knowledge to Tarrh? She looked at Benjamin, but he shook his head and smiled at her. She gave him a penetrating glare and again closed her eyes.

  "Okay,” she said at last, “the stone wants us all to gather around Tarrh and pour energy on him from its depths. We are to envision the light from the stone beaming down onto his head. All you have to do, Tarrh, is to accept the energy, claim it as your own and be healed. Are you ready to do that—just that and nothing more?"

  "Aye, lass, I am ready. I shall accept and be healed, as you have said,” Tarrh responded.

  Liz positioned herself in front of Tarrh and motioned Kim to get on Tarrh's left side and Melody on his right side with Benjamin behind Tarrh, directly opposite her. “Each of you place your left hand on the shoulder of the person to your left with your right hand touching some part of the crystal. Breathe deeply and envision the pure full spectrum crystalline light pouring from the stone down onto Tarrh's head and then gradually filling his entire body with the light,” she instructed. She felt like a fake telling the others what to do. Any of them was probably better qualified to conduct this ritual than she. In truth, rituals always made her a bit uncomfortable and she would much rather anyone else do this. Yet, the crystal had spoken to her, so it was up to her to follow its bidding. This much she did know.

  "Now, slowly begin to circle to your left around Tarrh, continuing to maintain your contact with each other and with the crystal,” she instructed. She breathed deeply as she and the others set in motion a spiral of light and energy that encompassed them all with Tarrh in the most potent spot, at the vortex of the convolution.

  "We will make three complete circles and end by bringing both hands together on the crystal for the same amount of time that we circled him,” she said softly. To her amazement, at the end of the first completed circuit, she saw brilliant colors begin spiraling inside the sphere they had created with their combined energy. The spectrum churned and spiraled, coming to a point at the center of Tarrh's forehead before disappearing inside his body.

  "Now bring your left hands to touch Tarrh's head while keeping your right hand on the stone for the same amount of time,” she advised. Their combined touch on Tarrh's head had the effect of further intensifying the colors and bringing them to a more rapid movement. She waited until all the colors had disappeared into his body before she proceeded, closing her eyes once again.

  "Tarrh, you are beloved of your grandfather; you are beloved of Melody and you are surrounded by the light and by the love of these, your loyal friends. We unite in freeing you from the spell that has bound you and from the illness it has caused. We bless you and charge you now to walk in a new light and vigor all the rest of your days. These deeds which we bind here with these instruments of magic will remain bound so long as you follow the path of light. Only you can break this binding and only you can render it powerless to heal and protect you from being further distressed by evil magic.

  "Arise, Peaitarrh McCann, and be therefore healed and blessed from henceforth,” Liz concluded. When she opened her eyes, Tarrh looked like a different man. She handed the crystal to him.

  He stood in front of her and took her right hand in his, placed the crystal again into her hand. “This belongs to you now, for it has spoken to no one save you since it last spoke to me, years ago,” he told her.

  "I can't accept this,” she protested.

  "Yes, you can, lass, for it chose you,” he assured her as he pressed her hand around its now cool form.

  "Thank you,” she said hesitantly. “I will consider it one of my finest possessions and I'll treasure it all my days,” she said.

  "Aye, I know you will, lass. I want to thank you all for helping me. I should not have believed it possible I could be restored to my old vigor in such a simple and beautiful way. Why, I had almost forgotten the power I once knew,” he said.

  "Aye, and with the return of your strength, Moira will have lost a considerable amount of power,” Benjamin pointed out. “We should make our move before she realizes what has happened and she has a chance to recharge her own strength."

  "I am ready,” Tarrh said. “She and Sean will be in her chambers, for that is where she houses all the tools of her craft. I will take charge of Moira. Benjamin, you see to Sean. Melody, you, Liz and Kim take care of rendering the beasts harmless. Here, ‘tis a simple sleeping potion that will put them out until we have the chance to get Moira and Sean where we want them to be. When the fiends start toward you, blow it into their faces and they will fall immediately into a deep sleep; do take care not to inhale any yourselves."

  Melody took the vial of sleeping potion from Tarrh, showed Kim and Liz how to blow it at the dogs and then poured a bit of the powder into each of their hands. “We are ready, Tarrh,” she said.

  "Very well, then. Let us be off and finish this piece of business. I will take care of getting us to the place and time when the accident occurred, but we will all be as invisible spectators to the event; that way, I can finally see what actually happened that fateful day and Moira will behold for herself what part her beloved had in the death of her father and how he deceived her all this time. ‘Tis high time the truth be known,” he said. “Let us go now."

  Chapter 37

  Joel pulled his black Jeep Cherokee into the drive at McCann's Manor just as Mark was heading back to his gold Mercedes. Mark walked out and greeted Joel as he exited his vehicle. “Hello there,” Mark said. “No one seems to be at home."

  "Yes, I know,” Joel answered. “They asked me to feed the animals for them if they didn't get back."

  "Something wrong?” Mark asked.

  "I hope not—er—I mean, no, nothing's wrong. They left rather unexpectedly and they weren't sure when they would be returning,” Joel explained, an uncomfortable chill creeping down his spine. He hadn't before this very moment considered how he would feel entering the house alone with everyone gone.

  Mark cocked his head, raised his brow, waited for an explanation. When he saw none seemed to be forthcoming, he cleared his throat, shifted his weight and peered suspiciously at Joel. “All right, ‘fess up, Joel. What is it? Surely you aren't afraid to go into the house?"

  Joel looked at the ground, rubbed the back of his neck, shrugged. What to say? “And why not? You don't mean to tell me you would relish the opportunity to be alone in that house, do you?"

  "Me? Certainly not!” Mark said flatly. “But you—I would expect you to be past that kind of fear and superstition, that's all."

  "Why is that? Because I'm a priest?” Joel asked.

  "Well, yeah. You aren't supposed to believe in ghosts,” Mark said.

  "What makes you say that? I have seen ghosts, Mark Adams,” Joel said abruptly. “And if you think ghosts are only fear and superstition
, why would you think twice about venturing into the house?"

  "I—well, no need to get testy, Joel,” Mark said. “I just didn't think—never mind what I thought or didn't think. It was a poor choice of words. Sorry."

  Joel took a deep breath, shook his head. “No, I apologize, Mark,” he said. “It didn't hit me until I got here that I was, shall we say, loath to go into the house alone."

  "I can't blame you for being reluctant, that's for sure. I certainly wouldn't want to do it and I haven't ever seen a ghost,” Mark said.

  "Well,” Joel said slowly, “I'm willing to forgive you, if you will accompany me in to tend to the animals."

  Mark eyed Joel for a moment. “You're serious, aren't you?"

  "I'm quite serious, I assure you. What do you say?"

  Mark frowned, thought over the proposition. “You won't forgive me unless I go with you? But you're a priest!” he protested.

  Joel laughed lightly. “Jesus will forgive you either way, Dr. Adams, but just because I'm a priest doesn't mean I have to,” he said pointedly.

  "Surely you're jesting,” Mark said.

  "Only a very little, I assure you. This will be the last time I agree to take care of someone's animals unless they want to leave them at my house. Come on, you'll feel better about yourself for having saved me from my fear and superstition,” he teased.

  Mark shook his head. “I don't know—” he said.

  "You know you'd never forgive yourself if anything happened to me in there and you had just left me here—all alone—to face the spirits in that house ... alone,” Joel said, “What would the community think of such a man?"

  "What? For being sensible? They would probably think you had taken leave of your senses and that I was the only sane one on the property for not going in!” he teased.

  Joel watched the sun getting ready to set, sighed heavily. “It will be dark soon. I can't stand here arguing over the virtues of your not letting me go in there, all alone,” Joel said. “If you won't go, I had better get on in there.” He slammed the door of the Jeep and headed up the walk.