Annie has no idea what she is playing with. I don’t understand what they are doing. You have to find out what it means. All I know is their plan is wrong! People will die. They will incite war. We must stop them. You have to get me out so I can help destroy them and get my revenge.”
Tom was still ashen with shock. “Surely Annie wouldn’t be behind something so dangerous. It’s unbelievable she would do that. She loves her country. Surely she wouldn’t put it at risk. She must have good reason.”
“That’s for you to find out, and I will help, if you can ever work out how to get me out. I can’t tell you how important it is to get me out of their reach. I am the only one that can forge the magical circle to generate enough power. They need a witch from the bloodline who raised the Cone of Power that prevented the Spanish Amada invading us and later Napoleon. I am the only one left. I hoped you might have tried to release me before now,” Violet said accusingly.
Tom composed himself and moved towards the mirror. “Violet, I thought you were dead. They told me you died in the ritual, and you were put on the funeral pyre with the rest. I mourned you. I am so sorry I didn’t look for you.”
“I know, I know, but we don’t have time to dwell. Tom, Cat, please get me out.”
“How?” Tom asked urgently.
“You can get me out. Tonight is the Mabon feast. It is a time for celebrating the ‘mother’ goddess and her bounty, but also a time for freeing prisoners. They plan to initiate Cat into the coven; they suspect Cat is me, therefore, the element and the power to complete the magic circle. They need her to join them for their plan to work. They will test her first to see if she is the real thing. You must help her prepare. When she has convinced the coven and Erubus of her authenticity, she will be privy to the plans. Just before the ritual is due to take place, Cat must relinquish her power back to me, rendering her powerless, which will prevent the magical circle from forming, scuppering their plans. Then I can have my revenge on Erubus.”
Violet turned her attention back to me. “They don’t know if you are the original Violet or a decoy or a distant relative. Joab was charged with finding out if you were me and finding out if you have power. Oh, and you were drugged to make you fall for him, to make you more susceptible to corruption. Annie laced the tea and cake on your meeting with herbs to make you more vulnerable to Joab’s charms. When Joab thought you might be me, he drugged you too, to make you love him as he loved me for all these years.”
I flushed red when I thought of how crazy I was about Joab.
“The electricity you felt every time you touched was the only way I could stop you from getting close to him. I charmed the necklace to protect you from those that may use you for their own gain. It appears Joab had some motives of his own as well as manipulating you to become part of the coven and the new magic circle. It was exhausting projecting the energy through you, but I couldn’t let him get to you. He is Annie’s puppet. You can’t trust him.”
“Why does Annie have such a tight hold over him?” Tom asked.
“Annie doesn’t. Erubus does, and she is part of them now. I don’t know what they have over him. All I know is he was working undercover as a spy for a specialist occult unit during the war. It will have taken him to some dark places. Cat, you are best positioned to find out.”
“How do we free you?” Tom pressed her.
I wasn’t sure I wanted to free her. Violet was powerful, ruthless and vengeful. She frightened me. She created me from nothing. What was to stop her from destroying me? My mind raced through the possibilities. Can we coexist where nature only meant for there to be one of us? A grey mist of realisation and dread swept over me.
Violet knew my fate but brushed my fear aside. “The energy is fading; I haven’t got much time. Decipher the symbols on the necklace. I think it may be a code or key to a spell recorded in Granville’s book of shadows. Granville recorded all of his dealings with Crawley in the book as well as detailed plans for Operation Cone of Power. I don’t know where it is. I suspect Annie does. Annie is part of Erubus now. If she suspects and proves you are a fake, she will kill you. It is forbidden to make a doppelganger.”
“Violet, if my very existence is illegal and you are free, what happens to me after we carry out our plans?” I asked weakly.
“You are very astute for a newborn. There is no room in the world for us both. It unbalances nature. We will deal with that little issue when we have to. The goddess will decide which of us will live.”
“Releasing you could be my death sentence. I won’t do it.” I was terrified.
Violet was fading into the glass.
“Then the deaths of hundreds, even thousands will be on your conscience. War demands sacrifice of the best of us. Trust me. I know. Convince the coven you are me. If you succeed, just before the coven raises the Cone of Power, we will switch your power back to me, rendering you useless and breaking the magic circle. I take my revenge, and we plan your escape. Remember, our minds are connected. Listen for me when you need me. Cat, you are strong. You have no idea what you are capable of. We must work together for the greater good. I know you will make the right choice.”
There was a noise in the kitchen above us.
“You have to go to the party, both of you, pretend nothing has happened. You need to learn to use your power. Find out everything you can about their plans. I have learnt enough to know the ritual they plan to carry out is more than a group of magically inclined home front volunteers steering a crazed German away from attacking us. This time, it can lead to another world war, which can have apocalyptic consequences. I can’t tell you how disastrous it will be if they succeed. A lot of people will die. GO!”
I panicked. “How can I go to the party? How do I act normally? You told me I’m a doppelganger, not even a proper person. I am highly likely to be killed.”
The girl in the mirror was angry. “Don’t be such a coward. You are part of me, and we have kicked some serious ass in our time. Stop this pathetic lost girl act. You know who you are now. You are beautiful, you are clever, you are strong, and if you cared to find out how to use it, you are bloody powerful. You have my power; for now, I am the spare. Accept who you are. You are charged with saving the world whether you like it or not. You have to convince the coven; you are part of them. You have to learn about every detail of the plan so you can stop it. I need you. Tom will help. NOW GO.”
“No, I can’t do it!” I shouted. I turned to push past Tom whose face was still gray with shock. He numbly blocked my exit, but I darted past him. He turned.
“Cat….wait.”
He grabbed hold of my upper arms. “You have the power to command the attention of anyone who sets eyes on you. It is not magic. It’s just you…look.”
I looked at the reflection in the mirror. The girl with fiery hair stared defiantly back at me, urging me to act.
“It is her, not me. Look at her. She is beautiful, commanding. I am not. I am just Cat.”
“No…that reflection is you. Violet, the girl in the mirror has gone.”
CHAPTER 15
I glared coldly at Tom and stormed up the stairs, desperate to escape, wishing to run away from the insane circus where I had become the main attraction. I threw the door open with rage and paced across the kitchen and collided with Joab.
“Hey…babe, what’s going on?”
I swung around and glared at him. “BABE? Since when was I your babe?” I hurled Joab’s attempt at endearment back with disgust. “I need to be alone right now…I am going out.”
I stormed out of the front door and powered along the road. I reached the stile and climbed over it, then walked through the churchyard and out in the open field on the other side of the hedgerow.
I came face-to-face with the jaunty-looking Mandy Lion and the sign promising to keep the good in and the evil out of the village.
“Oh, you can fuck off too!” I slammed my fist into its toothy grin and knocked his head off. I slumped down next to the dec
apitated scarecrow. I pulled my legs under my chin and allowed tears to pour down my face. I lay down on the hillside watching the wispy clouds in the blue sky.
“I thought I would never see her again.” Tom collapsed down next to me.
I froze, caught off guard by the unexpected intrusion. I searched for a polite way to tell the heartbroken boy to leave me alone. I glanced at his face, which was still pale with shock. I realised that he was probably feeling as stunned as me. Perhaps we could deal with this better together.
Tom sat up, plucked a strand of wheat and picked at it nervously. Then he glanced at me and quickly looked away.
“I feel like such an idiot. When we first met, I honestly didn’t make the connection between you and Violet. There was something vaguely familiar about you, but I couldn’t put my finger on why. It has been a really long time. Violet was beautiful, but it wasn’t really her appearance that I loved and remembered so fondly. I had never known a girl, a woman, who was so self-possessed. It was her energy that was utterly magnetic. She was formidable.”
I turned and scowled at Tom, preparing to depart in disgust. The girl Tom was describing was not the Violet I had experienced.
“She is an evil witch who made me as bait, so I could be hunted and killed so she could escape.”
Tom shook his head. “No, you’re wrong.” He seemed oblivious to my outburst. “It was impossible not to fall in love with her, and I did. So did Joab. He was just Joe back then, before he got pretentious and adapted his name to sound more modern. I was lucky; she chose me. Violet was the unforgettable love of my life. It has been a long time since I lost her. The memories become rose-tinted. Truthfully, she could be selfish, impulsive, completely unpredictable, explosive and infuriating. There were always two opposing sides to her.” Tom turned and looked at me; his expression softened. “I see it now. You look like Violet, the same red hair, the same weird eyes that changed colour from hazel to green depending on the light, but looking at you is a little like looking at a faded oil painting in an antique shop. All her vibrancy isn’t there, leaving a vacant impression of someone long gone.”
I sat up and shoved him. “I am feeling pretty shit too, Tom. I have just discovered I am a doppelganger, created by a spell from chopped off body parts. I am not a real person. On top of all that, you describe me as vacant, so I assume you think I have nothing going on in my ‘vacant’ brain that will get me out of this?”
Tom turned towards me, shuffled closer and held my hand. I pulled away to begin with then relaxed at his warmth.
“You may not realise, but you have come home. You are regaining your purpose and belonging, and you are growing. You may be a magical creation, but you are half of Violet, maybe the best half.”
“Yeah right…” I scoffed.
“When I saw Violet in the mirror today, I was overwhelmed. All I wanted was to get in the mirror and pull her out of her prison, rescue her, to hold her and kiss her. I thought I could be the one that saved her, instead of her always being in charge. The decades of grief stirred in me. But you know what? I let go of Violet, I endured her loss, I cried, but I learned to live with the grief. Violet was a beautiful, exciting memory who played a big part in the man I grew into being, but I looked at you, I saw you storm out in a whirlwind, and I knew then that you are like her without her enormous ego, but you are also your own person. I will cherish Violet forever, but it is a long time since 1940.”
“1940?” I said wearily. “Why are you and Violet talking about 1940 like it was only months ago? Why do you still look young if you were actually there? How old are you really?”
“Old. I was born in 1921. So was Joab. Violet was born in 1922…” Tom explained. “It was the spell, the Cone of Power. We absorbed the life force of hundreds of witches because we were the elements of the pentacle at the base of the cone. All that energy that was meant to tower into the sky came through us first. We have barely aged since that Lammas ritual in 1940. The energy from the Cone of Power killed everyone except Joe, Violet, Anne and me. From that day we became immortal, it seems.”
I stared at Tom shocked. My brain reached saturation point and couldn’t take anymore. I was trying to compute the inconceivable knowledge that Violet, Annie, Tom and Joab were nearly a hundred years old. I was an illegally made doppelganger of a witch and probably a sacrifice to save the world. I was numb. There was a deafening ringing in my ears and a leaden weight in the pit of my stomach. I was seventeen, not much older than a child. How the hell should I deal with this level of shit?
“That is the past. Now, we need to think about the future.” Tom pulled me to my feet. Shakily I relented. “Try your power,” Tom challenged me.
I shook my head. His voice seemed miles away. He stood and searched the undergrowth for a fallen branch. He drew a circle around us in the soil. He gathered some dry twigs and leaves to act as kindling, then flicked a lighter to ignite the bundle until it crackled into life. From his pocket, he pulled a sachet of salt from McDonald’s and a bottle of water and placed them around the circle. He pulled me to standing, firmly holding my hands.
“This is ridiculous. I’m not doing it. What’s the point? I am probably going to die anyway,” I said, pulling away.
“You have to try. Didn’t you hear what she said? If you can’t pass yourself off as Violet, you will die tonight. Your very being goes against nature. Your existence is illegal in witch circles. If Annie doesn’t kill you, Violet might, and if you survive those two, then your fate is in the hands of the goddess. Prove yourself indispensable and strong, and she may choose you, if she is on your side. You are untouchable. You must learn how to use your talent so you convince the coven you are Violet. You need the blessing of the goddess. Hold my hands and repeat everything I say. We have to evoke the goddess. We need the wisdom of the crone to help you gain your power. We need her help to guide us to the book, to decipher the code.”
“Tom, you heard what Violet said. There is not room for us both in the world. I don’t want to let her out,” I stuttered, terrified.
“I will not let you be harmed. Planning must be meticulous. You convince the coven you are Violet, diverting attention from the original in her prison. We will crack the code and release her, then at the crucial moment directly before the Lammas night ritual, you will transfer the power back to her. Violet will go into hiding, and the magic circle will fail. Nobody will know it was you that broke the circle.”
Tom made the plan sound plausible, but I wasn’t convinced. “She spoke of revenge. How does she plan on taking her revenge while my identity is protected?”
“I will talk her down. Besides, foiling the plan is revenge enough. I will not let you die. I promise. Now we must focus on gaining control of your power. Have you tried it yet?”
I remembered the strange and scary moment in the library when Violet bestowed her power onto me. I thought about the mini hurricane that ascended from my hands. “Well, I haven’t tried my power per se. It kind of took control of me…and the room.”
“So you definitely have Violet’s power. Let’s get the goddess’s blessing and teach you how to control it.”
“OK,” I said reluctantly.
Tom began whispering a chant. As he repeated it, the words grew stronger and faster, then I was able to join in. Like a distant memory, the words flowed through me as I had always known them.
“Behold the crone, dancer of time, completion of the sacred cycle. She who is wisdom, beloved, respected and feared, honoured as grandmother, ancestress and hag. In the end, there is a beginning. Death brings birth; life renews through her. Behold the crone, dancer of time. Mother of worlds, maiden of rebirth, child of the next generation dancing through time. She who cuts the cord of life and death, grandmother of all of the crones comes silently, powerfully, relentlessly, crossing space and time, holding the threads of life and death. The mistress of endings and beginnings. Speaking through elders, I am the crone, the grandmother, the wisdom of age. The crone comes dancing silen
tly, powerfully, relentlessly, to all.”
We repeated the words, again and again. A wind rose through the trees, whistling. Clouds billowed above us. My hair writhed in the magical wind clawing at our clothes. The rain pounded the earth, soaking through the fabric that clad our bodies, which coursed with adrenaline. We gripped onto each other.
“We are doing it, Cat. You raised a storm. You have her power.”
I was stunned. I couldn’t speak. Then hysteria swept through me and a delirious, mad laugh took hold of my senses. Tom pulled me to him, the rain soaking us.
“You can do it, Cat.” He kissed me hard on the mouth. His eyes conveyed a sense of happiness and optimism. Through the wind, I could hear whispering.
“The power of the element of air is yours to command.”
As suddenly as it started, the storm dropped. I collapsed onto the floor.
“What the hell was that?”
“It was the goddess. She gave you her blessing. You have Violet’s power. All you need is to convince the coven you are Violet. For that, you need a new dress and attitude. Now try it without me. Stand outside the circle and command the storm.”
I focused on my hands. I imagined the storm whirling like a ball within my palm. “Element of air, I command you, element of air, I command you.” I repeated the words as my hands struggled to contain a whirling hurricane, determined to escape.
“Element of water, I command you, element of water, I command you,” Tom uttered, and he threw his arms into the air. “Throw your arms towards me.”
I hurled the ball of hurricane towards the water Tom elevated above us. There was a crack of lightning as the two elements collided. They ricocheted on the trees in the nearby thicket, instantly felling them with an almighty crash. I held my hands wide and commanded the elements again; a hurricane ball hovered above each of my outspread hands. I flicked my palms over, and then my body rose on the clouds of elemental energy metres from the ground. I turned my palms over and drifted to the ground. I pointed to a roll of straw in the harvested field, and with both hands, I beckoned it to ride on the storm I had created, until that too was floating above us.
The Haunting of Violet Gray Page 13