Bewitched and Betrothed

by Juliet Blackwell

  I followed the hospital signs to a dark, spooky stairway. Mounting the steps slowly, I was on guard, careful as I entered the hospital wing. Institutional-green paint peeled off the walls and ceiling; there were bars on the windows and doors. From outside came faint music and party sounds, combined now with howling winds.

  Beyond a set of small offices were a series of cells and examination rooms. Most were empty, but one was furnished as it would have been during the prison days: Old-fashioned metal cabinets lined the walls, an ancient wicker wheelchair sat in one corner, a claw-foot bathtub in another. A gurney and two cots were simply made with wool blankets.

  And Seth and Renee, holding hands, sat on one of the hospital beds as though perched upon a wretched throne.

  Renee was still the plump, fiftyish woman with a sweet smile, though she showed remnants of two black eyes from the concussion she had sustained not so long ago; Seth was still abnormally beautiful, with eyes that reminded me of a glacier bay. I could feel their combined power pulsating, joining in the dreadful thrum of Alcatraz Island itself.

  Together, they were the coincidentia oppositorum.

  They had set up an elaborate altar on the nearby gurney, including a pyramid of cupcakes vibrating with the energy of their cursed ingredients. I imagined they included the salts of the lachrymatories Renee had been collecting; those salts, like my own, throbbed with the power of concentrated grief. There were several offerings of noxious food and wine, alongside the remains of a few small animals and a multitude of insects. A pair of thick, blue-rimmed glasses, smeared with blood, looked like the ones Kyle Cheney had worn.

  On the second cot lay Forrest, his park ranger hat on the floor beside him. He appeared to be sleeping. I imagined he was drugged or gravely injured.

  “Lily,” said Seth. “Excellent. So nice to have you here with us.”

  “Yes, it’s, um, great to be here,” I said, trying to calm my breathing. I was still panting from the run and the adrenaline. “You don’t mind if I make myself at home, do you?”

  I whipped the backpack off my back, set it down, and crouched to take out the sulfur incense. I lit it and started to make a line on the floor with the Solomon’s seal that I had harvested from my terrace garden and dressed with my own blood. A small cloth bundle contained the shards of the mirror I had dug up in my garden, the glass in which Sitri used to appear. I could feel it hum in recognition of the demon. It would help with the connection to him.

  “You know you are the conduit,” Seth said, “and now that you’re here, nothing will stop the next step.”

  He gestured with his head, and I realized there was now a half circle of men standing behind me, blocking the only escape from the barred space.

  “Now that you’ve felt it, now that you know. Sitri recognized you, you know, right from the start,” said Seth in a seductive tone. “You will join us, and nothing will stop us. Just imagine how it will be.”

  “You can’t stop it, Lily,” cooed Renee. “The agreements have been sealed with sacrifice; the Big One is going to reshape the Bay Area, and we will reap the rewards of the urban renewal. We will reshape this place in our image.”

  “Yeah, about that,” I said. “I’m not really into threesomes.”

  Except for the three sides of a triangle, I thought to myself. I walked as casually as I could across the room, dragging my foot behind me to make a line in the dust. It wasn’t the best way to create the second leg of the triangle, but with sufficient power vested by me, it would do. I just prayed I had sufficient power. Even with the support of the magical allies behind me and both spirits within me, I still doubted my abilities. The strength of the combined magic in Seth and Renee’s coincidentia oppositorum was like nothing I’d ever felt before; it was like a soaring brick wall.

  “With the strength of my ancestors . . .” I began, but I was cut off by the deafening sound of the winds through Sitri’s wings.

  “Lilyyyyy . . .” Seth stood. He had grown larger, somehow. He was immense and threatening, and yet seductive. He was Sitri and yet not Sitri. “You and I could rule everything we could see! Imagine! No more violence, no more war, just peace and love and understanding. . . .”

  His words were enticing, and somehow I believed him. It took all my strength to remind myself that he was a liar. Even now, even given all that I knew, I wanted to believe what he was saying, I wanted to accept what he had to offer. To reign without fear or consequence. No more self-doubt, no more second-guessing.

  No wonder regular, unassuming humans fell prey so easily to demonic forces.

  Ignoring his words, I swatted away the gnats and wasps he sent to pester me. I started to intone: “With the strength of my ancestors, I am the power. I command you to show yourself . . . I do hereby license thee to return to thy proper place, without causing harm or danger unto man or beast, I compel thee!”

  Forrest moaned, breaking my concentration.

  I glanced over to see Renee standing over him, a bejeweled athame in hand.

  “You can save your friend’s life, Lily,” she said. “Just take his place. It’s entirely up to you.”

  “Fine, I’ll take his place,” I said. If Sitri could lie, so could I. Tipping a small vial behind my back, I drew a line of cemetery dirt as I walked toward Forrest. As I approached the cot, I realized there wasn’t quite enough dirt to close the triangle.

  “You’re cheating,” Renee seethed. She lunged toward Forrest with the knife, but I jumped at her and shoved her violently to the ground. The men blocking the doorway rushed toward me, but I lowered my head and mumbled an incantation, feeling Deliverance’s rage move through me. One after another they fell to the floor, writhing.

  “With the strength of my ancestors . . . I compel thee!” I repeated the command.

  Seth jumped up and began his own intonation, casting against me. He was strong, exuding energy and vitality, dominance and mastery. I felt my strength waning.

  “I know you by the name, Sitri, Bitru, or Set,” I continued, pointing at him. “Sitri, the Twelfth Prince. With the strength of my ancestors, I am the power!”

  Seth’s head whipped around, and his neck seemed to contort.

  “No!” I heard Renee’s voice, like a whisper.

  I had called on Sitri, I had spoken his name aloud. I had done my preparations, and I was not defenseless. I had performed the MoonWish spell, making a sacrifice of my own time and energy, not to mention the precious trousseau my mother had sewn for me.

  I had garnered magical allies. I had even embraced Deliverance Corydon.

  Seth was strong, but I was stronger. I just had to close that last leg of the triangle, and—

  “And what about now?” Renee said. “What about your precious Aidan? What will you do to save his life?”

  I looked up to see an unconscious Aidan had been rolled in on the same gurney from the dungeon. As I looked, his eyes fluttered open to give me a glimpse of that astonishing periwinkle blue, then closed again.

  “He’ll be fine,” said Seth, his voice gentle, persuasive. “I promise you, Lily. All you have to do is work with us as our conduit, and Aidan will be safe. Everyone will be saved. We’ll see to it. We can make it happen—just think, if you work with us, you can curb our less noble impulses. Be part of the solution! I promise you, everyone will be saved if you—”

  I lunged toward Aidan and placed my forehead to his, smelling the metallic tang of his blood. I felt a surge of energy, of pure power. In this moment, Aidan and I were our own coincidentia oppositorum; the two of us would be the ones to rule this city, this region, this magical domain.

  The third side of the Solomon’s Triangle magically closed around Seth. I was deafened by the screaming sound of the wind through Sitri’s wings as he arose within the triangle, surging up, appearing far too huge to remain within the triangle. And yet he was trapped there, along with a horrified-looking
Renee, holding her hands over her ears as she writhed on the ground, screaming “No! No no no!”

  I repeated the words of the exorcism, over and over.

  Sitri started to cackle, a horrible grating noise that reached down to my gut, but I could feel his strength weakening, while mine grew. I sensed the magic of Graciela and the other allies I knew were here on the island with us, backing me up. I even felt Oscar—whom I prayed was still safe in Bolinas—helping me open the portals. A flock of white butterflies appeared and began to ward off the stinging insects.

  “I do hereby license thee to return to thy proper place, without causing harm or danger unto man or beast, I compel thee!”

  And then, with one final surge of fury, I cast Sitri back to the astral plane.

  Nothing was left in the triangle but a pile of smoking ash stinking of sulfur, and a bloodied Renee.

  The rumbling started again, stronger this time. Renee lifted her head and gave me a smile of pure evil.

  “You see? You can’t stop it. It’s already been put into play. You had a chance to save it, but now? Say good-bye to your precious San Francisco.”

  The earth began to shake, and this time it was no small temblor. Medical trays clattered to the floor, a glass-fronted cabinet fell over and shattered on the cement floor. The walls creaked and groaned around us.

  Sailor rushed into the room, lifted Aidan onto his shoulders in a firefighter’s carry, and we ran to escape the building. The ground shook so that we careened from one wall of the hallway to the other. My shoulder smashed painfully against a fire alarm, and I paused to pull it just in case people didn’t realize they needed to evacuate, immediately.

  As we were about to turn the corner I glanced back to see the ceiling of the hospital wing crash down onto Renee, the altar of cupcakes, and Solomon’s Triangle.

  Sailor managed to carry Aidan to safety in time. We stumbled out into the foggy night to see the salts still sparkling over the island like so many fireworks. The lights formed a shape that had broadened and taken a conical aspect over the entire island.

  The earth quaked harder, and things began to tumble. The metal water tower creaked, tilted, and finally fell over in a deafening crash. An exterior wall of the warden’s house fell onto the courtyard below, narrowly missing several partygoers who screamed and ran, falling to the ground with the force of the movement of the earth. I tried to move but careened into Sailor, who had already set Aidan on the ground. Sailor embraced me and eased me down to the ground in the open courtyard, sheltering me with his body, even though we were away from anything that could fall on us. Still, I clung to him as the earth repeatedly fell away and surged up, jerked this way and that, tossing us like toothpicks in the back of a truck with no suspension, heading down the ruttiest of roads.

  There was nothing more to be done.

  If the spell worked, the earthquake would be limited to Alcatraz Island. All we could do now was wait and see.

  After what seemed like an eternity, the earth quieted. The fog miraculously lifted, giving us a view of San Francisco. The skyscrapers still stood, the lights still twinkled, the traffic still moved. The Golden Gate Bridge still spanned the mouth of the bay, connecting San Francisco to Marin. Sausalito appeared just as it was.

  The earthquake had hit Alcatraz, but not beyond. We had prevailed.

  Several new craters had opened, revealing sections of the Spanish dungeon, now caved in. I wondered whether the group of chanting men had made it out. Fire broke out in the administration building, and the partygoers were crying and yelling, but most seemed to have emerged relatively unscathed. Alarms screamed and national park police swarmed over the courtyard and were checking the public areas of the cellblocks, in triage mode. I wondered what they would make of what they found in the hospital wing.

  I spotted members of Graciela’s coven already tending to the injured. Graciela herself came to lay hands upon Aidan, who had fallen back into unconsciousness.

  Suddenly a murmuration of birds appeared overhead, swirling and swooping, returning to the island. They reminded me of the white butterflies sent by the woods folk, which first had appeared when I battled against Deliverance Corydon. But this time Deliverance had worked with me. I had managed to maintain control of her, and her fierce, unforgiving edge had helped.

  I glanced at Sailor, feeling the delicate tenderness that came after a battle won, after danger faced and survived. The unspoken acknowledgment of something precious which had come far too close to being lost. An acute awareness of profound luck, of being touched by grace.

  “Sure you want to go through with the handfasting?” I asked Sailor. “According to Aidan—and Seth and Renee—I’m something of a magical hot spot. Last chance to get out of it.”

  Cupping my head in his hands, ignoring the grime and the blood, Sailor bent his head and kissed me.

  Chapter 28

  Bronwyn, Maya, Lucille, Selena, my mother, Graciela, and half of her coven were gathered in Calypso’s big living room. We were resplendent in our vintage clothing. The coven sisters wore their sparkly best; Bronwyn looked chic in her early 1970s Yves Saint Laurent trouser suit; Maya was charming in a brightly colored dress from the late ’60s; Selena looked adorable in her blush rose ensemble.

  Even though we were all wearing outfits from different eras, they somehow worked together. We had already done a photo shoot at the store, and for the past two hours Susan Rogers and the newspaper photographer had been following us around Calypso’s house, snapping up a storm.

  The rest of the wisewomen were outside, hovering over the food tables. Other friends were assembled near the fairy circle of redwoods at the edge of Calypso’s verdant garden, drinking sangria and chatting. I snuck a peek out the window and saw that Renna and Bronwyn’s granddaughter, Imogen, were absorbed in intense discussion, laughing. Wendy and Starr and Wind Spirit, all from Bronwyn’s coven, were dancing to a lively tune Eric was playing on the accordion, and every once in a while Patience burst out in song, a mournful, beautiful sound. Carlos watched her, a small smile lighting up his usually carefully guarded face. Conrad joined in the dancing, his face alight not with a drug-induced high but with the joy of friendship and music. Elena and Bethany sat, arm in arm, in the shade, quietly watching the festivities. Two dozen others—including several other friends and relatives of Sailor’s—were enjoying the day as well.

  It was time for the handfasting.

  After the events of the past few weeks, I could hardly believe it.

  Oscar ran in and out excitedly, dividing his time between our gathering and the folks outside near the food tables. He sported white frosting on his snout, and I hoped he hadn’t snuck a bite of the wedding cake Iris, Calypso, and Caroline had stayed up all night baking and decorating.

  He had been preening ever since he managed to negotiate a settlement with the woods folk to allow Sailor and me to have our handfasting in the redwood fairy circle.

  Alcatraz was more than a little worse for wear, but that wasn’t my main concern at the moment. In fact, a big part of me hoped that cursed island would go ahead and sink into the bay, living only in the fading memories of locals and those unfortunate enough to have resided there against their will, like Ray Perry. According to Carlos, the forensic anthropologist had used dental records to determine that the skeletal remains had, indeed, belonged to Perry; along with the allegations of abuse in his letters, the curators with the National Park Service were deciding how to present this newly discovered bit of Alcatraz history. Professor Guzmán had called to invite me to the next Indigenous People’s Sunrise Gathering—he had heard what happened and decided it was time for him to go. It would be good to replace my last images of the place with something more positive, with togetherness and solidarity and recognition of the painful past that had brought us all to the place where we are, right in this moment.

  Speaking of this moment, I had more press
ing concerns, such as fitting into my wedding dress, a ’20s-era champagne-toned slippery silk satin with a sweetheart neckline and asymmetrical skirts. My mother had worn this gown for her own wedding, and her mother and grandmother before her. I was crowned with the tiara my mother had won as Miss Tecla County; Bronwyn had garnished it with wildflowers.

  “It fit before,” I said, trying to suck in my stomach, slightly mortified. I supposed my recent indulgences in burgers and Tater Tots weren’t helping the situation. You would think all the stress would melt away those pesky extra pounds, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

  “No worries,” said Lucille, already approaching with pins in her mouth, despite the pincushion strapped to her wrist.

  A few extra pounds be damned. I was feeling good. Great, as a matter of fact. Powerful. Ready to step into Aidan’s shoes, magical satchel in hand, to take on the foes and the challenges. I had gone up against a demon, once again, and had prevailed. And after all this time, I had been completing my training with Graciela’s coven. I felt like I was coming into my own.

  As a last act before being shipped off to one of Graciela’s colleagues in Michoacán to heal, Aidan had once again secured my lachrymatory, which had miraculously remained unbroken and somehow refilled with salts. Renee had been pulled from the rubble and, at least for now, appeared to have acknowledged how close she had come to death and recognized me as being in charge. Forrest had survived the quake as well and was still hospitalized but on the road to recovery. Unfortunately, Kyle Cheney had not been so lucky; the wealthy man had been found dead in the Spanish dungeon, yet another demonic sacrifice. Sitri had been sent back to his primordial dimension, though like any demon he could again be conjured to this plane. There was no end to human foolishness. If he returned, I could only hope I was strong enough to go up against him for the third time.

  At least I was reconciled with Deliverance Corydon, at peace with the role she was playing inside of me. I needed her strength, and I would use it, with the backing of Graciela’s coven and all the witchy women who had gone before me to provide balance and keep me on the right path.