Shiver Me Witches

by A. A. Albright

  ‘But why would he invent something like that?’ I wondered.

  Brian shrugged. ‘I have no idea. Maybe he thought that it would put an end to your natural curiosity. Maybe he just couldn’t bear to say out loud what he had really done. Either way, it was a lie. When you were soon to be born, Abby and I made a decision. She was going to go and speak to Grace, to give her all of the stories Arnold had suppressed. If Grace wouldn’t – or couldn’t – publish them, Abby and I were determined to do it ourselves. Once Abby was done with Grace, we were going to meet at the market in Riddler’s Cove, and go to Arnold’s house together.’

  As they paused for a moment to draw breath, I asked, ‘But what happened to change things? Because I spoke to Grace. She said you never did go to speak with her that day.’

  My mother shook her head, sobbing more than ever. ‘I didn’t. But my stars, I wish I had! I was just about to walk in the doors when my father appeared before me. He told me that he had read my letter, and that it had changed everything for him. He told me … he told me that Brian was already at the house, and that he wanted to have breakfast with us both, and talk about our future. Our future as a family.’ She shook her head, wiping her eyes. ‘He seemed so genuine. So full of remorse for the way he’d been. So full of hope that we could improve our relationship. I was a fool to ever believe him.’

  By now, Fuzz had ensconced himself firmly on my lap, and he was just as curious as I was. Even so, he didn’t try to rush the conversation along. I had the feeling that, just like me, he was frightened of what my parents were going to say next.

  ‘I knew how scared Abby was of confronting her dad, so I went to Riddler’s Cove early to buy her some cake and coffee, and then I sat on a bench by the market, watching the world go by and waiting.’ He gave me a weak smile. ‘It was snowing that day. I still remember how those flakes felt. I still remember the smell in the air. The hope in my heart. I knew what Arnold was like, what sort of man he had been. But this – the news of having a grandchild that was both witch and sióga – I was sure that it would bring about a change in him.’

  He patted the cane. ‘I had a gift for Arnold. A gift from my grandfather, to yours. My family were delighted about your arrival. They wanted to bridge the gap between us. And so my granddad carved this, and imbued it with sióga magic. It was supposed to let Arnold know that we were not to be feared. The magic we had, we would gladly share. But instead … instead this gift became my prison.’

  He clenched his teeth, and my mother took over. ‘My dad had no intention of ever being at home to meet us that morning. He had gone out so that he could make sure of it. He was just walking into Three Witches Brew when Brian spotted him.’

  ‘I walked over to him,’ said Brian, his teeth still slightly clenched and his words coming out curt and angry. ‘And I told him how much Abby did love him, despite everything. How much my family wanted him to be a part of the wedding. We spoke for a few minutes on the street, but if I could go back to that day, I would warn myself. Because I should have seen it – how his mood changed the moment I mentioned the cane. He said that it was the most wonderful gift anyone had ever given him. He asked me to join him at his house. Said we’d wait there together for Abby. I hoped that finally that man’s heart was in the right place. But I was so very, very wrong.’

  Fuzz was completely still now, and his eyes were wide as he stared at my father. ‘He used it on you, didn’t he?’ said the cat. ‘But how? What did he do?’

  ‘You know what he did,’ I said with a strained voice. ‘We both do.’

  My mother wiped away another tear, then pulled my father close, looking at me through watery eyes. ‘I know that you’re an inanimage. I am too. So is my dad. But our gifts don’t just extend to bringing inanimate things to life. As I grew older, I became able to hide myself in things. To become part of them. My dad could do the same. But what I didn’t know was that he could send other people into objects, and trap them there.’

  For a few moments, we all sat in silence. My parents were too upset to talk, and I was too stunned. I remembered Arnold telling me he’d done something to break my parents apart. Something to make sure my mother could never find my father again. I never could have imagined it was this.

  ‘Normally,’ said Brian, breaking the silence, ‘I would have been able to break out of a spell like that easily. But that cane was so powerful. Combined with his powers as an inanimage, it was too strong for me to break free. I was me but not me. For a long time it felt as if every sense I had was being dulled, but then … then something far worse came along. I could feel again, but what I could feel was Arnold drawing on me. Using my power. To do what, I didn’t know. For a long time, I didn’t know anything else at all.’

  Abby took in a deep breath, pulled at her hair, and looked steadily at me. ‘So you see, when my father stopped me outside the newspaper office that morning, he had already trapped Brian. I sensed that something wasn’t right the moment I walked into his house. He had laid the table in the dining room with a seat for Brian. But Brian was nowhere to be seen. My father assured me that he had been sitting right there when he left the house, and said that he must have just popped out for a minute. We waited, and waited … I kept looking at the cane. I had no idea about the gift Brian’s grandfather had made. I just knew that it was new, and that there was something very, very wrong about it. After about half an hour of waiting, my dad said that it seemed like Brian must have had a change of heart. That he mustn’t want to marry me after all. I played along and said yes, that must be what happened. I said that I had to leave to meet with a friend and … he just let me go.’

  She reached for my hand. ‘I went straight to the fae queen. To your grandmother. I told her that I was afraid my father had done something to Brian. At first she laughed because, let’s face it – the faery queen was hardly afraid of an cantankerous old witch like my dad. She took my hand and said we’d go and see him together to sort it out. But my dad had been a busy little bee that morning. He’d done something to her. Something to bind her to her enclave. No matter how she tried, she couldn’t get out.’

  I felt my nose wrinkle. ‘What? How could he do that? She’s the faery queen. All powerful and whatnot.’

  ‘No.’ My mother shook her head. ‘Not all powerful. Not powerful enough to cope when my dad had the cane and Brian’s magic to draw on. She was in perfect health, and she had her magic, but she just couldn’t seem to get herself out of her realm. That’s when she realised that I might be right – that Arnold might really have done something to Brian. I was terrified then. We both were. If my dad could make Brian disappear, what else could he do? I was worried for me. For you. I called my dad again and again, but he kept insisting that he had done nothing. That Brian had obviously just abandoned me. Every time I phoned, he dismissed my accusations. He didn’t seem to want to talk about anything but you. When you’d be born. When I was going to come home with his grandchild so we could be one big happy family.’ She shivered and pulled her dress close. ‘Your granny still couldn’t leave, but she was working hard to break through. She was just as concerned about what Arnold might do to us. But if he had managed to trap her there the way she feared … she wasn’t sure if we were safe even in her realm.’

  ‘So you left,’ I said. ‘You went to the human world.’

  She nodded. ‘The Queen used protection spells on us. Given what we feared my dad might have done, we weren’t sure if the magic would hold. But it did.’ She smiled at me. ‘You were born in a tiny, grotty flat on the North Circular Road in Dublin. It was December twenty-first – the Winter Solstice, in the Year of the Singer. As far as I’m concerned, that year was named for you. It’s why your magic comes out most easily when you sing.’

  My hand went to my mouth as I stifled some shocked laughter. ‘Seriously? Well then someone needs to go back and rename it the Year of the Crow. But … what happened next? How did I wind up being left at that hospital? The doctors figured I was almost two when
I was found there.’

  She pulled at her hair again, biting her lip. ‘They were right. I got to be with you nearly two years. During that time I could feel people in my mind. Seers, maybe. Searching for me. Hunting me. My dad’s minions, no doubt. But when I started to sense people physically following us … that’s when I knew I couldn’t run anymore. He was getting close. Too close. And I was so terrified of what he’d do to you once he found us.’

  ‘Because I’m half fae?’ I asked, blinking.

  ‘Yes. Because of that. He had been so obsessed, every time we spoke. Of course I hoped it was simple love but … with Brian missing, how could I ever trust that? Your granny had already done her best to protect you, but I added to her spells. Used every ounce of power I had. I got some outside help, too, from a friend on Samhain Street – one of the dodgier enclaves in Dublin. We damped down your witch powers and your fae powers. Made sure you could never be tracked by Arnold. And then I kissed your little forehead, I left a note with you so they’d know your name, and I left you at that hospital.’

  Fuzz began to purr again, and I knew he was desperately trying to comfort me. I stroked his head and looked my mother in the eye. ‘What happened next?’

  ‘I was on my way back to Samhain Street. My friend there had objects of awesome power. Dark objects.’ She shuddered. ‘Objects I could use to fight your grandfather. Because that’s what I was going to do. I was going to confront him. And if he didn’t back down and give me his word that he’d return Brian and leave us all alone forever, then …’ She sucked down a huge sob. ‘Then I was going to kill my father. Because I simply couldn’t see any other way. Except he was one step ahead of me, as always. I was crossing over the canal on my way to the enclave, when suddenly … suddenly the world went black. When I woke up again, I was in the library at my father’s house.’

  She shook her head, as though she was still in disbelief. ‘That afternoon, he finally told me what he’d done to Brian. As he said it, he was leaning on the cane and smiling. He told me he’d never had as much power in his life, and that Brian had been a typical fae fool for giving him an object like that cane. He told me … he told me he wanted you. He wouldn’t tell me why. Just that he wanted you. He said that if I refused, he’d trap me the way he trapped Brian, so that I’d never get to see you again.’ She looked at Brian, sobbing loudly. ‘What could I do? I called his bluff of course but … I had no way to fight back. And … that was it. I didn’t know anything. Didn’t feel anything. I didn’t even know what he’d trapped me in. I had the vaguest sense of self, and nothing more.’ She wiped her face. ‘Until the day you walked into his library.’

  She sat up, grasping both my hands now. ‘I couldn’t see you. But I could hear your voice. I could sense you. For the first time in I had no idea how long, I felt my heart beating. Felt my mind ticking away. But more than any of that, I felt fear for you. The conversation became clearer. I could hear him try to get you to touch the grimoire, to prove you were an Albright. I was terrified for you, but I still couldn’t move. And then … then I heard your argument escalate. Heard the crash as your magic sent him flying across the room. And then I felt a loss, deep and painful, as you ran out of the house and left me there.’ Her eyes widened, and her words came quicker. ‘I was alive. I was alive, and I was real. I knew where I was – I could feel the bond to my broom again, just like when I was a little girl flying it. And so I connected with that bond, and I flew out after you. And ever since then, I’ve been waiting and waiting, terrified of what Arnold would do. Fearing for your life. Watching you grow into your power. Being proud of you. Loving you. And doing my very best to protect you whenever I could.’

  There was a long, stretched out moment where I just gazed at her, taking in everything I’d been told, unable to believe what she’d been through – what both my parents had been through. Then Fuzz stood up, licked his paw and said, ‘Well, if it’s any consolation, you make a really good broom.’

  As Abby laughed, Fuzz turned to my dad. ‘And what about you?’

  ‘It was similar,’ he replied. ‘I’d felt a little bit more than Abby did, because Arnold was constantly drawing on my power while I was trapped. But every sense other than pain had been dulled. I knew I was in the cane, but that was really it for a long time. And then there were a couple of occasions where I … I don’t know. Something changed. The first time I was in a busy room. Lots of voices. The second time the room was even busier.’ He shrugged, looking confused and unsure. ‘The voices were happier. There were festive songs and music. Clinking glasses and conversations about a newspaper. Amongst it all, I just … sensed you.’

  ‘A Christmas party,’ I said. ‘When I worked for the Daily Dubliner, Arnold came to our Christmas party. And before that he visited the newspaper office, just after he bought it. The third time I met him was at Let’s Go Round the Bend – a café on Capel Street – when he offered me the job on the Daily Riddler.’

  My dad nodded, laughing dryly. ‘Yes. That’s when I next felt lively. In that café. And it was so much stronger than at the party. I began to hear your conversation. He bought you minestrone soup. You were wary of him, and you were right to be. Like the first time your mother heard you, my biggest emotion was fear. But unlike your mother, I couldn’t seem to do anything about it. I couldn’t move of my own will. Couldn’t do a thing to protect you. But … as time went on, even though I was powerless, I realised that I could still feel and think. And every time you were near, that grew stronger. And then one day … I could control the cane. I heard talk around me, heard that it was Midsummer. And so I came here.’ He patted the hawthorn tree behind him. ‘This is the tree my grandfather carved the cane from. It exists in two places. My world, and this enclave. It’s why my grandfather chose this tree. He liked the symbolism of the two worlds coming together. I hoped with the power of the tree, the cane, and the solstice combined, maybe I could do something to free myself.’

  My mother smiled at him. ‘And I came here because I was drawn to the spot. I didn’t know why. I just followed my instinct. For a couple of days we were just … here. A broom and a cane, side by side. But I knew that I needed to stay. I knew in my bones – well, in my wood – that it was important. That something special was going to happen. Eventually the solstice came, and we both escaped. At first we were stunned. We hoped it would be permanent, but we sensed it wouldn’t. So we talked. We planned. We decided that if we sensed the same draw to this place at Halloween, that we would bring you here and explain everything.’

  My father sat forward, his eyes glinting with excitement. ‘You’re what started to bring us back, Aisling. As soon as you were close to us, everything changed. And we think – we hope – that you might be the missing piece to bringing us back for good. Arnold got his power from a cane made of this wood.’ He touched the tree again. ‘Something that exists in both worlds. You’re a combination of both worlds, too.’

  I looked nervously at them. ‘Do you want me to try and do something now? I mean, it won’t be pretty what with me being a terrible singer and not all that great at the whole magic thing but … if it brings you back for good, I’ll do anything.’

  My mother shook her head. ‘Not yet. I can feel myself fading. It won’t be long before we return to the broom and the cane. But the next solstice, in December.’ My mother bit her lip and grinned at me. ‘On your thirtieth birthday, my love. By then your magic will be ready. We think something about you is drawing your grandmother, too. She’s supposed to be stuck in her own world, with not a single one of her people able to contact you or help you. That’s what my dad told me, anyway, and I believe it must be true because otherwise … someone from that side of your family would have been in touch. They would never have left you to go it alone.’

  I could feel my eyes stinging. Also, there might have been a little bit of guilt about the not-so-fuzzy feelings I’d been having towards my grandmother.

  ‘But it’s changing for her, too,’ my mother continued e
xcitedly. ‘I know it is. I’ve heard you speak to Pru and Fuzz about it, so I know she’s been able to contact you in small ways. It’s because of all this that we think it’s you who’ll break my father’s magic. But whatever you do, please don’t let him know you’re doing this. That we’re planning this.’ She looked desperately at me, her body and my father’s both fading, growing smaller, rushing away from me and back into their wooden prisons. ‘Because if he finds out,’ she said, her voice growing more distant with each and every word, ‘he might just decide it’s time to get rid of us both for good.’

  26. Sail Away With Me …

  The old pier was creaking with the weight of all the bodies. I worked my way through the crowd with Fuzz in my arms, feeling far less excited than I thought I’d be at the spectacle before me.

  My parents had been back in their wooden prisons by the time I clicked my fingers and left the Wandering Wood. Fuzz had insisted that I take him as a passenger. He said he trusted in my power. Personally, I thought he was just too lazy to walk back by himself. Either way, we made it in one piece.

  Part of me had wanted to pick my mother up, hold her tight and never let her go until December came. But I’d left her there, propped up against the tree next to my father. They might not be able to speak, or to touch, but I had to let them be together for as long as the magic of Halloween allowed.

  There were lights strung up all over the pier, and tables heaving with food and drink, while the local choir sang sea shanties, accompanied by a band. Funny, but I hadn’t been invited to sing with them tonight. Maybe my invitation got lost in the mail.

  At least a dozen pirate ghost ships were in the harbour, with one or two of them sending their crew to shore in smaller boats. There was only space at the pier for one boat to dock there at a time, and I already knew which boat that would be. It had all been arranged by Gretel and the Wayfarers earlier that day.