Water Witch

by Carol Goodman

  “I had to see Lorelei,” I said loudly and then, beneath my breath, added, “I have a spell to keep the door open and Frank has a plan to stop the Grove. He’s with my friend Bill. Are they here yet?”

  Liz shook her head. She looked around the glade, wringing her hands. “I can’t believe it’s come to this. Perhaps if I had been stricter in whom I let in … but each case was so compelling and I truly believed that diversity made us stronger. Now look at us! What will the college and town do without all these good people?”

  I looked around the glade at those we would lose. “We would be weak,” I said. “A shadow of what we were. That’s what the Grove and the creatures they’ve joined are counting on, but I’m not going to let that happen.” I squeezed Liz’s hand and leaned closer to tell her what Frank had told me about the nephilim, but then there was a loud rustling in the trees above us. Even my grandmother and all the members of the Grove looked up nervously. All except the two blond twins who were striding through the glade, parting the crowd with the same preternatural force I’d witnessed before in Beckwith Hall, coming straight toward me. Angelic looking, Frank had called the members of the Seraphim Club. These creatures had the features of angels, but there was a feeling of cold emanating off them that no one could ever call angelic.

  Liz stumbled backwards, pushed aside by a disturbance in the air that arrived with the blond twins. I felt it now, too – pulsing gusts that made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. Then the two blond twins turned to flank me and the disturbance was around us, and I felt instead a strange vacuum, as if the air had been sucked out of the glade. They each tried to grab one of my arms, but I shook them off and walked toward the rest of the Grove members who now moved aside to reveal an arched doorway in the thicket. The Grove members had been guarding the door – but why? It wasn’t like anyone here was anxious to get through the door to Faerie. Could they be worried about what might come out of the door?

  “You’re late,” my grandmother said by way of greeting.

  “I had some things to take care of,” I replied, refusing to sound apologetic. “I see the Stewarts have brought Lorelei,” I added noticing now the plaid clad group. The Stewart men stood around her protectively, fierce looks on their broad faces, more like an honor guard at her service than jailors now. She had managed to work her charms on them on the journey through the woods, but at least she hadn’t made a break for it.

  “I thought we’d start with her,” Adelaide said. “What are you waiting for? You can open it, can’t you?”

  “Of course I can …” I began, but then hesitated. If the Grove were working their spells to close the door why did they need me to open it? “Can’t you open the door?” I asked.

  A look of annoyance crossed over Adelaide’s face. “That’s not the kind of magic we do, but if you like we’ll destroy the door before you open it. Your friends will be trapped in this world forever without Aelvesgold …”

  “That’s not true,” I said. She looked so startled to be interrupted that she didn’t bother to deny it. I continued in a low voice only she could hear. “Your new friends at the Seraphim club have all the Aelvesgold you’ll ever need. That’s why you want to close the door, so you’ll have the only source of Aelvesgold in this world. Witches will have to come to you if they want to stay young, and the fey that remain in this world will become your slaves.”

  Her lips curled into a faint smile. “And why not? It’s better than witches being the slaves of the fey as they have been for thousands of years. Join us and you’ll see how powerful you’ll become with an endless supply of Aelvesgold to feed your magic.”

  “I don’t need …” I began, but I suddenly thought of the Aelvestone I’d dropped into the spring. The power I’d absorbed from it was still thrumming through my body, but how long would it last if I couldn’t keep the door open? Already I could feel a longing for more of the stuff. Of course I knew where the new Aelvestone lay, but Lorelei’s eggs needed that one to grow. I’d never be desperate enough to take it from them, but would others find it and steal it?

  Adelaide’s smile widened. “Go ahead. Open the door and let the good neighbors of Fairwick go back where they belong. Once you’re free of their influence you’ll see you’ve joined the right side. You don’t owe them anything. Even your incubus boyfriend has abandoned you.”

  The taunt almost undid me, but instead it steeled my resolve. Liam might not be here now, but he’d saved my life – and so had my friends in Fairwick. Frank was on his way now to destroy the nephilim. I needed to stall for time.

  “I’ll open the door,” I said, “but I won’t let you close it.” I drew the fairy stone from my pocket and saw Adelaide’s eyes widen.

  “I saw that in your father’s hands once. I wondered what had become of it.”

  “He gave it to me, of course.” I slipped the stone on my finger and turned to face the arched doorway. There was nothing beyond the arch but more thicket now, but I’d seen it opened onto a seaside cliff. With that image in mind, I passed my hand across the doorway.

  Nothing happened.

  My heart stuttered in my chest. Was the grief I felt over Liam keeping my heart closed and so the door as well? Was that the caution I’d ignored in Wheelock: Don’t use this spell if you’ve recently had your heart broken?

  I felt Adelaide tense. All the eyes of those in the glade were upon me. Were they afraid I’d fail – or hoping I would?

  I closed my eyes and pictured the time I was in Faerie with Liam beneath the willow tree. I felt the warmth that had spread between us, the way his face had been haloed by radiant light, his eyes full of love. If only we’d had more time together, I thought, if only he’d been able to tell me who he was when he became corporeal in this world, or that he hadn’t changed when he took a new form …

  I heard a gasp from the crowd behind me. I opened my eyes and found myself facing not the cliff and ocean but a green field that sloped down to the grassy bank beneath the willow tree: the place where Liam and I had made love.

  “Good idea. Show them the prettier side of the place,” Adelaide whispered. “They’ll see the ugly side soon enough.”

  I wondered whether there really was an ugly side to Faerie or if Adelaide was just bound and determined to think so. I was glad, though, that I’d summoned this beautiful place. When I turned to the crowd behind me I saw the golden light reflected on their faces.

  “I promise you that I will not let the Grove close the door,” I said raising my voice so everyone in the circle could hear me. “It will stand open on the solstices as it always has. If you wish to go now to visit Faerie, go ahead. I promise that you will be able to return as long as you pledge to do no harm in this world.”

  A murmur of voices rose from the crowd and I heard someone say “We should go then. If she’s able to open the door next solstice we can come back. If not, at least we won’t be trapped in this world.”

  “Good thinking,” Adelaide whispered to me. “Let them think there’s hope that they can come back. It will keep them from panicking and avoid a riot.”

  I ignored her and focused instead on Lorelei, who had stepped forward of her own volition looking calm and at peace. As she came forward two Stewarts walked on either side of her, each carrying a set of bagpipes. As they approached the door, they began to play.

  The plaintive notes seemed to capture exactly the mood of the gathering. The two pipers separated and went to stand on either side of the door. Lorelei paused beside me.

  Your children are safe, I silently mouthed.

  The ghost of a smile lit her face, and then she adjusted the plaid mantle around her shoulders and daintily stepped through the door. I watched her walk down the grassy hill toward the willow tree where Lura and Quincy stood waiting for her with a group of undines. Among them I could make out one undine with red hair bouncing up and down on her toes and waving to me. Raspberry. I was glad to see her looking so happy.

  When I turned back to the glad
e I saw Fiona Eldritch in a long green dress, her ash white hair falling loose around her shoulders. As she stepped forward, bells chimed. I had never been fond of the fairy queen, but the sight of her preparing to leave this world forever squeezed something tight in my chest. The Stewarts piped a mournful dirge as she approached the door. She stopped a few feet away and turned to one of the pipers. “Play something happier,” she said. “The doorkeeper has pledged to hold the door open for us.”

  She touched her finger to the piper’s brow and a lilting song took the place of the dirge. I felt a surge of power at the queen’s faith in me. Fiona smiled and then turned to Adelaide.

  “This isn’t the first time we have had to leave this world. Always when humankind has thought they have no need of us they have soon enough seen the error of their ways and longed for us to come back. As long as one human longs for our return the door will not stay closed forever.” She turned to me. “And I believe that this doorkeeper will not let that happen.”

  Gathering her skirts and in a whirl of green and chiming of bells, she stepped through the door. On the other side a man appeared mounted on a white horse. His hair was the color of spun gold, the same gold that glittered on his horse’s bridle and reins. He held in his hands the reins of another horse, white too, but with a silver saddle, reins and bridle. Fiona’s back tensed as she saw him, but then she bowed low, touching her forehead to the ground, her green skirts spreading out in a pool around her. It was startling – and a little frightening – to see Fiona bow to anyone, but when she rose at his bidding I caught a glimpse of her face, radiant in the golden light of Faerie, and saw that she looked more triumphant than cowed. As she mounted the white horse I heard someone behind me say, “She’s back in her domain.”

  I turned and found Casper van der Aart and his boyfriend Oliver standing beside me. “Do they fight often?” Oliver asked. “Because no one likes a bickering couple.”

  “We’ve probably got a few hundred years of happy reconciliation balls,” Caspar said, and then, turning to me, he explained that Oliver wanted to come with him. “Although I keep telling him he doesn’t have to.”

  “And I keep telling him I’m not doing it because I have to, I’m doing it because I want to. Besides, I’m dying to see this place. And no one is going to stop me.” He glared at the blond twins who had taken up places besides the two pipers. Their lips curled in identical smirks but they made no move to stop Oliver from stepping through the door with Caspar. As soon as they stepped through I saw a group of stocky white-haired men and women waving from the bank and Caspar lifting a hand in greeting.

  The denizens of Faerie were coming forward to greet their long lost friends and relatives. As the Brownes passed through, they were greeted by a flock of diminutive creatures clad in leather pelts and peaked caps. Dory, the last of her family to reach the door, arrived hand in hand with Brock.

  “We only just got you back,” I said to Brock. “I promise I’ll keep the door open so you can both come back.”

  “I know you’ll do your best, Callie, but don’t worry. If we have to stay, we’ll be all right – and so will you. I hear you’ve found a good handyman.”

  I blushed, wondering what else he had heard about my new handyman, and then I hugged Brock and Dory, trying not to cry. They stepped through the door hand in hand. Another group had gathered on the bank – tall blond men and women, a one-eyed man with a spear, a giant carrying a hammer, and a cavalry of women on horseback with winged helmets on their heads. As Brock and Dory walked toward them, the Valkyries saluted them. I turned away, my eyes overflowing with tears, and saw Diana Hart standing at the door, surrounded by a herd of deer, the golden-eyed stag in the lead. Liz stood beside her, holding her hand. Although it was summer, Liz wore her fur coat around her shoulders. Not just any fur coat – it was her familiar, a bear named Ursuline. Of course Liz wouldn’t leave without her.

  “Don’t worry,” I told Liz. “I won’t let them close the door forever. I have a spell to stop them.”

  “I’m sure you’ll do your best,” Liz said, patting my arm. “But just in case I’ve asked Joan Ryan to step in as interim dean – and I’m hoping you’ll help her. Goodness knows what will become of the college …” Her eyes filled with tears and I squeezed her hand.

  “And take care of this.” Diana draped something pink and scratchy around my neck. It was the scarf she had knitted to heal my spine, now a good six feet long and knitted in an intricate pattern that resembled the runes and spirals I’d seen on Skald’s phone. “I knitted extra protection spells into it. It should keep you safe … and remind you of your friends.”

  I would need it, I thought. All my closest friends – human and fey – were leaving me. The one remaining chink of my wards grew heavier as I watched, with blurred vision now, the procession pass by me. Many squeezed my hand and told me they were sure I’d do my best to keep the door from closing forever, but as I watched my friends walk through the door I began to wonder if I really would be able to keep the Grove from closing the door. I had bound the door to my heart, but how reliable was that? And where was Frank? If he didn’t come with a means of destroying the nephilim, would I be able to stand against them?

  The last person to approach the door was Soheila, accompanied by three women, all with Soheila’s dark hair and flawless olive skin. Her sisters, I surmised, come to depart this world with her. Her sisters wore expensive designer clothes, as if they were going out to lunch instead of Faerie, but Soheila was wearing a long ceremonial caftan embroidered with a pattern of feathers. Her long dark hair was loose around her shoulders and seemed to move in a breeze of her own making. She smiled and I felt a warm spicy breeze against my face that dried my tears and filled me with a sense of peace.

  “Be well, Cailleach McFay,” she said, letting her sisters go on ahead of her. “Don’t forget us.”

  I was going to tell her that I could never forget her or any of the remarkable creatures I’d met this year, but a loud shout stopped me.

  “Wait!”

  Soheila and I turned to see three men enter the glade – Duncan Laird, flanked by Frank Delmarco and Bill Carey. Frank and Bill each had a hold of one of Duncan’s arms.

  As the three men approached, Adelaide stepped between them and the door.

  “I’ve had enough of these histrionics, Dr. Delmarco. If you want to go to hell with your succubus girlfriend, go ahead. But do it now. The door will be closed soon.”

  “You’re counting on this creature to close it, aren’t you?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, her eyes passing over Duncan as if he wasn’t there and focusing instead on Bill. She frowned, looking puzzled. “What are you?” she asked.

  “The question is what is this creature?” Frank said, pushing Duncan forward. Adelaide recoiled, as if afraid to come into contact with Duncan. There wasn’t much Adelaide was afraid of.

  Frank dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out a handful of powder that he threw in Duncan’s face. I smelled clary sage and bluebells, the same herbs I’d used in the unmasking spell, and another herb I couldn’t identify. Frank uttered a few words in what sounded like Gaelic. Duncan growled and wrenched his arms free of Frank and Bill. Both men fell back, thrown by a force I felt from several feet away. A great whirling maelstrom was pouring out of Duncan’s arms as he stretched them out to either side. A blazing gold light burst from him, blinding me. I closed my eyes against it. When I forced them open again, Duncan stood before me, only it wasn’t Duncan anymore. Giant wings had sprung from his back and were beating the air into a froth. His skin was golden, his eyes colorless ciphers. His hands had grown long, sharp claws. He raised one of the claws and I stepped back. He stepped with me and laid one claw beneath my jawbone.

  “Is this what you wanted to see, Cailleach?” His voice had turned into something strangely musical, like harp strings plucked by steel claws.

  “Stay away from her,” Frank and Bill shouted at the same
time. They moved to stand on either side of Duncan and me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the blond twins, transformed now into winged monsters, move toward us, but the Stewarts stepped in front of them and raised their shields.

  “Ye wee bastards!” growled Angus Stewart in a surprising reversion to a Scottish burr. “How dare ye show your faces in my town?”

  “These are the creatures that are behind the Grove’s attempt to close the door,” Frank said in a loud voice so that those remaining in the glade could hear. “They are the ones who attacked the fishermen in the woods and made it look as if it was the work of an undine. Look at the scars on this one’s back.” Frank pointed to the marks that Duncan claimed had come from the bat-winged imp. “Those were made by nephilim claws. They’re liars and fiends who are able to get inside your dreams …” Frank looked at me and I recalled how Duncan had claimed it had been Lorelei who had tried to drown me in my dream, but it had been Duncan all along, “… and would enslave you all.” Frank began to recite a string of Gaelic words. Duncan flinched with pain. The spell was working, but then he recovered, flexed one wing and knocked Frank backward as lightly as if he were swatting a fly.

  Duncan turned to me, smiling. “Yes, we are nephilim, the sons of angels …”

  “The sons of bastard elves,” Frank muttered from where he lay on the ground.

  “No,” Adelaide said, stepping forward. For a moment I thought she was going to defend me and my heart warmed to the thought. I realized that I’d never entirely given up on the idea of my grandmother loving me. But then she crushed that hope. “That’s a false story. The nephilim are the sons of angels, not elves. They’re the only creatures who don’t need to go back to Faerie for Aelvesgold. They create it themselves. Look.” Adelaide stepped closer to Duncan, bowing her head reverentially, the first time I’d ever seen her do such a thing, and whispered something in a language I didn’t know. His upper lip twitched into a sneer that I could see, but Adelaide, on his other side, could not. Then he bowed his head and plucked one of his own feathers out of his wing and handed it to Adelaide. She brushed the feather against her face and the lines of age fell away, her hair turned from silver to gold, and her skin glowed with youth … and Aelvesgold. “Who but an angel could do that,” Adelaide said, practically purring with pleasure. “This is why the fey were jealous of them.”