Secret Of The Rose (Legacy Of Magick Series, Book 2) (18 page)

Things at the manor were more insane than usual. Great Aunt Faye had announced she was moving in. She’d had the girls and I haul in a huge set of leopard print luggage to the downstairs guest room, formally known as Gwen’s home office.

Gwen’s computer and desk were relocated into a corner of the dining room. Holly efficiently set up her mother’s work station, while Ivy and I freshened up the downstairs room and adjoining bath. Aunt Faye watched over the proceedings and sat back in a curvy chair, announcing that she’d prefer the bedroom furniture to be rearranged. So, Ivy and I put our backs into it and rearranged. Then vacuumed again.

I think we’d still be at it if not for Ivy, who’d — out of sheer frustration—levitated the chair the older woman had been sitting in. When Great Aunt Faye realized the chair was several inches off the ground, she’d suddenly announced the room was sufficient for her needs. As soon as the chair hit the floor again, we were excused.

Marie, Violet, Cora and Gwen had saved whatever clothes and personal items that they could from the girls destroyed bedroom, and discarded the rest. The back bedroom was stripped now, except for the splattered floors, walls, and stained closet doors. My bedroom only needed to be put back to rights, as nothing had been broken or destroyed in there, merely tossed around.

Marie had washed the hardwood floors, stains and all, with a mixture of cleaning supplies and what she called ‘Indigo Water’. When I’d asked what that was, Marie had informed me that it was a magickal mixture used for spiritual protection and to ward off evil. When she poured some of the contents from the bottle into the mop water, I could have sworn I’d heard drums beating from somewhere. Like the old tribal kind. I’d offered to help her, but she’d asked to be left alone to do her work. A little spooked by the phantom drumming. I’d backed out of the room and left her to it.

Things were still uncomfortable between Gwen and me. We were polite to each other, but, for lack of a better word, Gwen was distant. I imagined she was not happy that I’d forced her hand into telling the girls about Bran’s parentage. Holly and Ivy were quieter than usual, and Ivy was bunking in my room. Holly was sleeping in her mom’s room while they waited for their new mattresses to be delivered. There was plenty of room in their mother’s suite for the pair of them, but Ivy had admitted to me that she wasn’t quite ready to forgive her mother for keeping secrets. Personally, I was relieved to go back to my classes at the Museum, if only to get away from the pandemonium.

On Wednesday afternoon, I shut the front door of the manor behind me. Fall break had officially begun, and after everything that had been happening, I was really looking forward to some down time. Halloween was two days away, and I was excited to see the kids in the neighborhood come to the house for trick-or-treating. I was about to head up to my room when Marie strolled into the foyer.

“Good. You’re home.” Marie— seamstress extraordinaire, smiled and waved me into the living room.

“Where’s Gwen and Aunt Faye?” I asked.

“Your great aunt wanted new window treatments for her room, so Gwen took her shopping,” Marie said.

“Typical.” I rolled my eyes.

I set my things down, and walked into the living room to see Holly standing on a chair wearing a billowy, long, pale pink tulle skirt. Cypress waved at me from the couch, and when my cousin turned to face me, my mouth fell open.

It wasn’t Holly at all.

It was in fact, Ivy. She had on what appeared to be a Glinda— Good Witch of the North costume.

Saying nothing, I stopped, backed up, and walked out of the room. I waited a second, and entered again. Nope. Ivy was still in a Glinda costume. “I’ve passed into an alternative universe,” I said.

Cypress and Ivy giggled at my reaction. Marie let out a booming laugh and went to fuss with the length of Ivy’s tulle skirt.

“Holy shit, are you wearing
pink
?” I staggered towards the couch. “My heart… it can’t take the strain.”

“I know, right?” Cypress said.

“Very funny,” Ivy frowned. “It’s actually pale peach.”

“Yeah, and you have sequins and sparkly butterflies sewn onto your shirt…” I said.

I sat down next to Cypress and stared at Ivy, my mind reeling. Before I could comment further, Holly came strolling in from the foyer. She carried a classic pointed Witches hat, and wore a gothic style, corseted gown. The dress was gorgeous and long in charcoal with black trim. The material swished as she walked in.

Suddenly, I got it and started to laugh. “Oh my god.
Good Witch
and
Wicked Witch,
right?”

“We thought it would be more fun if we switched it up,” Holly explained.

I went to admire the gown Holly wore. “I’m digging those Victorian style sleeves, Blondie.” The sleeves were large and poufy from shoulder to elbow and became snug below the elbow, ending at a point over her hands.

“Didn’t Marie do a great job?” Holly said proudly.

“It was an old 80’s style wedding dress. I dyed it first, then embellished it.” Marie said from down on the floor where she shortened the hem of Ivy’s tulle skirt.

“Good god woman, is there
anything
you can’t do?” I said to Marie.

“Well, I didn’t have time to make the corset,” Marie said.

“I lent Holly one of
my
corsets,” Ivy said.

“Why am I not surprised that you own corsets?” I said to Ivy.

“You should see the props she made for the Halloween Ball,” Cypress said. “They’re really awesome.”

I eyeballed Marie. “You’re an artist, a seamstress, you design props, and you run your tattoo shop?”

Marie stopped from trimming off the excess tulle from Ivy’s skirt. “It’s all art in one form or another.”

I made a circling motion with my finger for Holly, and she turned around for me. “This is amazing,” I said as I checked out her costume. The black under-the-bust-style corset cinched around her middle, and gray ribbons laced up her back.

“Marie, I brought the hat.” Holly held up the pointed hat.

“Great.” Marie tipped her head over towards the coffee table. “Hand it to Cypress and we’ll decorate it for you so it matches the gown.” Marie stood up and held out a hand to Ivy. “Come on down, and let’s see if it’s the right length now.”

Ivy hopped down, and I saw sliver ballet slippers flash from under that massive tulle skirt. Ivy took a few steps forward, then more confidently started strolling around the room. “This length will work. I’m not tripping anymore,” Ivy said to Marie.

Cypress handed her a large rhinestone crown, and Ivy went to check her hair in the ornamental mirror that hung in the living room. She brushed her long choppy bangs aside and stuck the tiara on her head. With a dramatic indrawn breath, Ivy spun and started to parade around the living room. Waving to imaginary Munchkins, I supposed.

Holly shook her head at her sister’s theatrics, and took her turn up on the chair so Marie could check the length of her
Wicked Witch
costume.

“Those the shoes you’ll wear the night of the Masquerade Ball?” Marie asked Holly.

“Yup.” Holly lifted the skirt and stuck out a toe.

I saw black lace up boots with a low heel and, of course, a pointed toe. “Nice witchy boots,” I said to Holly.

“Click your heels together three times, and think to yourself... ” Ivy simpered and waltzed by us.

“Autumn.” Marie ignored Glinda and caught my attention. “See that garment bag draped over the chair? That’s yours. Go try it on for me.”

“It’s done?” After seeing what she’d pulled off for the girls, I couldn’t wait to see the final outcome of my costume. I picked up the garment bag and went into the powder room to change.

I closed the powder room door behind me, toed off my sneakers, and stripped out of my jeans and shirt. Last I had seen the old black bridesmaid gown— it had been a long, sleeveless crepe gown. At the first fitting, Marie and I had discussed how to turn the thrift store find into a dress that would look more like Morticia Addams.

“Wow,” I breathed. The dress had been transformed. Amazing what a little black lace and tulle could do.

“Autumn!” Cypress banged on the door. “Hurry up. I wanna see!”

“Okay, okay,” I muttered. I pulled the zipper down the back of the dress, and slipped the gown over my head. There was no way I could pull the zipper up myself, so I left it and came out of the bathroom.

Cypress pounced. “Nice!”

“Ooh,” Ivy said, and wafted down the hall past us.

“Zip me up, will you?” I turned around, and Cypress tugged the zipper up.

I took an experimental step forward in the slim fitting skirt. I found that I still had room to walk. Relieved that my range of movement was not too restricted, I went into the living room with Cypress carrying the garment bag and Ivy/ Glinda flouncing around behind us.

Holly was stepping down from the chair. She squealed when she saw me. “Hey, that’s very Morticia!”

I walked to the long mirror to look. Now, the deep neckline was trimmed in gothic black velvet ribbons. Marie had added long, black lace sleeves that ended in artfully shredded black tulle. It gave the sleeves a dramatic look. The dress was creepily elegant, streamlined, and not too fussy... Which is exactly what I wanted. “It’s wonderful. What do I owe you?” I said to Marie.

“Nothing. Gwen took care of the bill,” she shrugged my question away.

“But, I—”

Marie cut off my argument. “Be sure to leave your hair down and loose that night... Like you have it today.” She held up a finger. “Wait a second. I have a few things to jazz up the costume.” Marie dug around in her sewing box and came over to the mirror. She handed me some silvery dangle spider earrings and a matching spider shaped pendant on a black cord.

I slipped the jewelry on and grinned at myself in the mirror. “Once I use that temporary black hairspray, it will look perfect.”

“You sure you don’t want to wear heels?” Marie asked me and knelt down to check the hem.

“I have some flats,” I told her. “I’d trip in the heels. It’s risky enough with me wearing a long dress.”

“I dropped off Duncan’s, ‘Gomez Addams’ costume this morning,” Marie said as she continued to tug at the hem.

“How’d that burgundy smoking jacket turn out?”

“Very well. I watched my DVD of
The Addams Family
so many times to get the right look for that smoking jacket.” Marie finished her adjustments and stepped back.

“So what are your costumes for the big Halloween Masquerade Ball?” I asked Marie and Cypress. “You’ve never told us.”

Cypress took her phone out of her back pocket. “I’m going as a Wood Nymph.” She pulled up a picture of herself in her costume. “See? I have wings, a green dress, with flowers and leaves for my hair,” she explained while the girls and I all gathered around.

“That suits you,” Holly said.

“So, Marie?” I raised my eyebrows at her. “What’s your costume?”

Marie flashed me a grin. “I want to surprise you.”

***    

After the costume fitting was over, the twins and I put the gowns away in my bedroom closet. Cypress and the twins left me and went off in search of a glue gun to trim out Holly’s Witch hat. Once the girls were gone, I stacked my books on my desk and tried to settle down. But I found I couldn’t sit still. Something was pushing me.

I wandered over to the mantle and my growing collection of framed family photos. The picture of my Grandmother Rose, and a two year old me, was front and center. The photo Gwen had given me of my grandfather Morgan with his crow, Midnight, sat next to that. The romantic anniversary photo of my grandparents was now showing, to its best advantage, in a fancy antique looking silver colored frame. It still made me wish I could remember them. One of the selfies Duncan had taken of the two of us at the house I’d landscaped for him turned out so well, that I’d framed it too. It made me smile every time I looked at the picture.

Next to the photo of me and Duncan was my birthday present from the twins— a framed black and white photo of the two of them sitting with Merlin. I adjusted the framed photo of the girls and the cat a bit, but otherwise left the display of photos alone. That first framed picture of my father and I was still there, but I’d moved it to the back of the collection.

With the mixed feelings I had about my father, I wasn’t comfortable looking at it any longer. While I didn’t want to pack it away, I also didn’t want to see it every day, either. I realized as I studied my little collection that I had no photos of Gwen or Bran. While I mulled that over, the scent of Roses came out of nowhere.

I turned my head slowly, half expecting to see Ro in my room. But there was nothing to see, only smell. Come to think of it, I’d only ever seen my grandmother’s ghost in the gardens— so far, anyway. I rushed to the window and there she was— puttering away in the rose garden. In the fading light just before sunset, she appeared real.

I grabbed my jacket, clattered down the main steps of the manor, straight past Gwen and Aunt Faye who’d come home from shopping.

“Autumn!” Gwen called after me.

“Not now, Ro’s back!” I said and hit the front door at a dead run. I raced around the side of the house, my heart pounding.

“Ro!” I called skidding to a halt at the edge of the formal rose garden.

“Hello, sweetie.” Ro stood up from where she was kneeling wearing the same outfit I’d seen her in before. She pushed her garden hat back, and held out a purple rose from our gardens.

I held my breath, wondering what would happen if I tried to take the flower, and reached for the stem. When my fingers closed around it, I gently took the rose from her.

“You can stop holding your breath now. I’m going to be here a little while,” Ro told me.

I blew out a shaky breath. “Well, give a Witch a break will ya? I’m trying to wrap my mind around all of this.” I lifted the rose, which was very real, and sniffed. “Thanks, Grandma.”

“So, you’ve learned one of the secrets.” Ro crossed her arms.

“Yes, I know that you are my grandmother, and I know about Bran.”