Any Witch Way (14 page)

“What’s wrong?” asked Sadie. Elgarbam just shook his head and motioned for them to walk the east road.

“We don’t call him that to his face. That would be rude and hurt his feelings. Now he’s not going to help travelers like us for quite some time,” said Elgarbam. “Maybe that’s why you had so much trouble in your world. They didn’t think you were crazy; they thought you were rude.”

Sadie blushed and yelled back over her shoulder, “I’m sorry, Seamus.” But the tree did not respond.

“Great, now the next time we see him, we’ll have to stay and talk to him for more time than I’d like to, and we’ll have to bring a pretty special cherry tree,” Elgarbam complained. “We can’t worry about that now though; we’ve got at least a good country mile to get to Tara’s.”

“You seem to know the way,” Sadie responded somewhat curtly. She had never, ever been called rude before, and her mistake was just that, a mistake. “Why did we have to ask Shuddering Seamus in the first place?”

“Cause Tara’s is a magikal house. It changes direction, changes its placement all the time for safety reasons. I’m sure it’s moved quite a bit since that little disaster the last time you were there. You heard Seamus; the path has been changing even more because of the war. Now c’mon; let’s make time.”

*  *  *

The pair walked on in silence except for Elgarbam’s whistling. Whistling reminded her of Whistle, and Sadie wondered how many more good people and creatures would die before all of this was over and done. She pondered what to do next, to take her mind off Whistle. Her mood was still somewhat tainted by the dungeon stay, but she wasn’t that worried. Tara would, should, have all answers.

She rubbed her temples to ward off the oncoming headache while her stomach began gurgling its own discontent as well. Elgarbam stopped along the way to gather the last vestiges of raspberries in the thicket alongside the road. Sadie gobbled down what she could find, at least the ones that had not been frost bitten.  

When they reached a curve in the road that hugged the ridge of a valley, Sadie could see the tiny little cottage she remembered to be Tara’s. It looked as though no imps had ever invaded. Alroy was at his usual spot in the pumpkin patch, chowing down on the gourd-like squashes and throwing the stems and attached vines over his shoulder into a heap.

Smoke came from the little chimney and all looked well. Sadie sighed and her mood lightened. They plugged on, leaving the road, and walking down into the valley towards what they hoped was a good meal, some good news about the war between the Guild and the Syndicate, and some good answers about what to do next.

Upon reaching the far edge of the pumpkin patch, Alroy looked up and sniffed the air. His eyes finally found Elgarbam and Sadie, and a huge smile spread across his face. The troll lumbered to his feet and ran to the pair with the ground trembling in the process. He reached them and held out his hand. “Any good food, tired of pumpkins and gourds?” he asked.

Sadie giggled, remembering the amount of food Alroy could eat. Elgarbam replied, “Not this time, Alroy; we’ve come unprepared for you, my large gray friend. I apologize for any inconvenience. Is Tara at home?”

The troll looked sad for a moment and nodded his head ‘yes’ before grabbing a huge pumpkin and shoving the whole thing into his mouth. Juice and seeds rained down on Sadie and Elgarbam, since trolls don’t eat with their mouths shut. They moved quickly from under the gorging Alroy and towards the promising safety and comfort of Tara’s home.

Approaching the door Sadie heard beautiful singing coming from inside. It reminded her of her mother.

SAAAADDDDIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

She stopped, still as stone. “Did you hear that? It was my mother,” she asked the gnome.

“Still holding on to thinking your mother be alive, eh? They told me you were a bit crazy, but c’mon now, child, she’s been dead and gone for over three years. You’ve got to accept it and move on,” Elgarbam replied.

“She IS still alive and I KNOW it!” shouted Sadie.

The door to the cottage opened suddenly and the smell of cinnamon wafted out as Tara appeared before them.

“Tara!” shouted Sadie as she ran to hug the woman. “How did you get out of the bubble? And what exactly happened? How did the imps get in? I’m so glad you’re alive; what’s going on? Ms. Cabot thinks I’m a traitor. And what’s the Ataraxia Heart? I don’t have it I swear! Whistle’s dead! How are we going to fix this mess? And I ….”

“Ssshhh now child, so many questions to come rambling from one little lass.” She hugged Sadie tightly. “Oh, I be glad to see you too after the mess that be goin’ on. Come inside and we’ll begin to try and make things right,” Tara said, releasing Sadie from her tight grasp.

The three passed through the small door and into the large cottage as Tara ushered them towards the warming fire. Sadie hadn’t realized just how cold it was outside and was glad to be indoors. As Tara brought them steaming mugs of cider with cinnamon sticks, she began to speak.

“First, let me offer many apologies at the loss of Whistle; he was a good gnome and a good friend. I’ll miss him terribly,” she said, placing a hand on Elgarbam’s shoulder.

The little gnome bowed his head, but said nothing in return.

“Now, to answer a few questions. Ms. Cabot and some others from the Guild came to do damage control, but they didn't seem to see me in the bubble, nor did they see Alroy tied up and all staked out in the field. ‘Course I couldn’t get that nasty imp Gok to tell me anything about why, and he soon disappeared. And his repetitive speech can be so annoying. Grimm let me out of the bubble.

“I didn’t think that old cat had it in him, but he freed me nonetheless. I hear the imp caught up with you in town, Sadie, and you were still being held by him, them, whoever the pesky devils be. I also hear you’ve lost your talisman in the process. ‘Tis a shame. You’ll need it to have full control of your magik, Sadie, love, especially since you’re but a mere witchling.  

“You do know that even though everyone has magik in them, it must draw from somewhere, and your talisman helps to gather the energy for you to harness. Magikal objects and talismans all come from the Source, not that we be knowin’ who, where, or what that is, but that’s not important right now.

“That’s a whole other story. What is important is that we figure out where to go from here.”

Though Sadie had already heard a little bit about talismans and the source from Hannah, Sadie didn’t dare interrupt Tara as she spoke. She didn’t want to be called rude yet again, and she had decided it would be best if she learned all that she could. Her plan was to try and keep her mouth shut and take everything in. With her new resolution in mind, Sadie watched Tara get up to cross the room. Her always-beautiful velvet skirts rustled as she went to get a book from one of her shelves. On her way back, she began to speak again.

“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.

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.