Born of Shadows- Complete Series

by J. R. Erickson

  For the first several miles, she swam an easy breast stroke. As she drew closer, she felt a subtle shift as the dark energy trembled through her body. With each thrust forward, the feeling intensified. She no longer doubted that the entire island had become a part of the evil being who occupied it.

  In the dense fog, Abby swam close to get a good view of the island. The trees on the edge of the island were large and huddled close together. They blocked the interior from view, but already Abby felt her stomach plummet at the sight before her. She counted five skin-walkers. They sat on the trees' huge limbs. Some of them tore at fleshy things grasped in their taloned hands. A wasteland of carnage spread over the beach. She saw mounds of bloody flesh, rib cages and other bones. To her immense relief, much of it had fur, and she hoped that the skin-walkers preyed on animals rather than humans.

  She swam slowly around the perimeter of the island. Loud shrieks that echoed across the water revealed many more skin-walkers hiding in the darkness of the trees. The Serpent House gradually came into view. Three stories high, the house seemed to sag forward as if the tide slowly pulled it into the lake. Lights blazed through the windows, but still the house seemed dark.

  Abby kicked her legs and watched. Every few minutes, a shadow paced in front of a lit window, but she couldn't make it out.

  The cloudy sky made time hard to determine, but she couldn't waste a moment. Sebastian believed she had gone into town to the library. They didn't have the luxury of flexibility in the midst of all that had transpired. If she were more than ten minutes late, he would start searching. Not to mention Vidya would need to eat soon. Abby already felt the tingling sensation as her breasts started to get heavy with milk.

  The shadow paused in front of the window. Abby's skin crawled. Whoever stood inside now looked out. Could they see her? Was it Victor?

  She dove beneath the water and swam to another location. When she emerged, the shadow no longer stood silhouetted in the square of light.

  Lifting her hand above the water, she saw only the tall dark trees of the island beyond it. For now, she was invisible.

  Running across the beach, she glanced behind her at her footprints, swearing under her breath and using her element to wipe them away. They smeared, but no longer resembled an actual footprint. She wiped her feet in the beach grass and crept across the porch, pausing at the door.

  Slowly she turned the handle and slipped inside, closing the door and searching the entryway. No one stood watching, waiting. Staying close to the walls, she hurried through the parlor. The study doors were closed, and she pressed her ear close to the glass, listening. No sound from within. Grimacing at the creak as she pushed the door open, she slipped inside and closed it. The study was empty.

  What if the amulet was gone? If Victor had already returned it to his chest? But when she opened the drawer holding the velvet box, she knew instantly that the ouroboros lay inside. The box itself seemed to pulse and when she touched it a warm throbbing met her fingers. She opened the case and lifted the necklace out, hesitating for only a second before slipping it over her head and tucking it beneath the wet suit.

  Upstairs she heard footsteps. They moved from one end of the house and back again. Was Victor pacing through the rooms? The amulet pulsed against her skin. She wanted to rip it off. But no, she had to keep going. She was so close now. The footsteps pounded down the stairs and Abby knew she had to get out, fast. If Victor found the amulet gone, he would know she was inside. She flung open the study window and climbed out, dropping ten feet to the sandy beach. She lifted her hands and, drawing on the energy of the water, she pulled the window back down. Halfway it got stuck and made a terrible screeching. Though it was too high to see inside, she knew that Victor or someone else had entered the study. She turned and ran for the water, focusing on the shoreline where she'd parked her car, knowing her body would intuitively guide her there. As she swam away from the island, she stayed beneath the surface for long periods of time. The invisibility charm had not worn off, but she felt safer beneath the water.

  Chapter 18

  As Julian turned onto the rutted dirt road that led to the Winds of Change Farm, Elda noticed how different this visit felt from the previous. Low dark clouds hung in the sky capping the Montana mountains in a slithering white mist. She felt the rain building and wondered if thunder and lightning would accompany it. A house full of witches during a thunderstorm was one of her favorite experiences; the energy raced through the air like darting hummingbirds.

  When Ellen greeted them at the door, she wore overalls splattered with mud and Elda noticed bits of straw sticking from her braid.

  "Our mare Flame birthed a slick little black foal last night. She's been named Lit by Jeremy, her unofficial owner and my grandson." She gestured at her clothes in explanation. "I'm going on twenty-eight hours awake and fixin to collapse into my bed before y'all leave. My daughter Penny is in the kitchen baking bread so just give her a holler if you need anything."

  Ellen left them at the room they'd visited before. Nora sat in her wheelchair next to the window. She slumped over as if in sleep. As the door creaked open, she startled awake and blinked at them several times before recognition passed over her features.

  The coffee table had been set with a pitcher of tea and a plate of scones. Elda and Julian settled on the couch.

  "You caught me dozing," Nora told them, smoothing flyaway hairs behind her ears. "Don't worry though, I do it more often than not these days so you weren't seeing anything unusual."

  Julian laughed and Elda smiled.

  "Rainstorms are perfect napping weather," she offered.

  "That they are," Nora agreed. "And this one's waitin to take me home, but I wanted to speak with you first."

  Elda frowned, but Julian seemed unperturbed by the comment.

  "You'll die soon?" he asked as if it were the most ordinary question in the world.

  "Tonight," she told them nodding and offering a small, but genuine smile. "And boy am I ready."

  Elda understood that death for witches often arrived as a welcome departure from a long, harried life. Still she'd rarely encountered anyone who met it with the ease of the witch sitting before them.

  "I wanted a look at Flame's little girl before I left. She'll be a firecracker that one. And of course, I wanted to pass along my memories to both of you. I'm sure the dreams have come for that very purpose."

  "How does your family feel? Do they know you're leaving soon?"

  Nora nodded, looking at the window toward the barn where Elda sensed most of the grandchildren hovered around the new baby horse.

  "I've been here for three hundred years, my dear, they've gotten their fill of me." She laughed and her eyes lit for a moment as if remembering lifetimes of family come and gone. "We talk openly about death here on the farm, always have and always will. Some of us have been around for centuries and others have barely seen a year before our spirit called us home. That's the mysterious beauty of this life. But we're all together, here, on the other side, the space between. They'll wish me well and celebrate with a big potluck tomorrow afternoon."

  Julian nodded, smiling. "I hope for a similar farewell when it's my time."

  "Then make it known now while you've still got lips to speak it," Nora reminded him.

  Elda took his hand and squeezed.

  "It is known," she told him.

  Nora smiled and nodded. "Now that we've gotten the death conversation out of the way, let's talk about good and evil."

  "Perfectly light conversation for tea and scones," Julian said picking up a scone and taking a bite.

  Elda let out a short dry laugh and then hiccuped, surprised at herself. All three of them started to laugh until Nora's laugh became a harsh deep cough.

  Elda rushed to her side and placed her hands over the old witch's chest helping encourage breath back into her lungs.

  After several moments, Nora held up a hand.

  "Thank you, oh my. I'd better be careful or
I won't get this story out after all," she whispered, reaching for a glass of water on the window's ledge. She took a shaky sip and closed her eyes before touching the pink rosary that lay coiled in her lap.

  "Can we get you anything else, Nora?" Julian asked.

  "No. I'm right as rain now," she murmured, taking a big breath. "My nights have been rather exciting since I last saw you both. I've been walking the halls of my past and," she smiled fondly, "I forgot how wonderful those years were at Serpent House. It has been a gift to revisit those days and I want to thank you both for that."

  "We didn't do anything," Elda started, but Nora silenced her with a wave.

  "I know you didn't intentionally do anything, but some energy wants me to remember in order to help you. I'm grateful and felt it prudent that you are aware that there are entities in the universe rooting for you. You are not battling this darkness alone."

  Elda smiled and put her hand over Julian's, feeling as if a ray of sun had suddenly come streaming into the room.

  "My grandfather was very involved in the native American tribes of the Great Lakes region. In those days, much of our country was composed of tribes and many, if not most, of the American witches were native American. My grandfather worked closely with several Algonquin tribes. They shared magic, language, tools and most of all knowledge. After Eugene came to Serpent House, my grandfather took him on as an apprentice of sorts. In addition to studying the ouroboros and other items they discovered with the Egyptian artifacts, my grandfather taught him about the tribes. He even took him to meet some local shamans and the magical children who would eventually become the healers and the seers."

  "Kanti," Elda breathed.

  Nora looked up sharply.

  "Yes, Kanti. I had forgotten her name all these years, hundreds of years." She shook her head as if she hardly believed it herself. "Until four nights passed when I woke with her name on my lips. I believe I forgot her because my grandfather tried to shield me from the horrors committed by Clyde. After Eugene's death, my grandfather no longer spoke much of the tribes and I never asked why, too caught up in my own pain to notice."

  "Your grandfather knew that Clyde kidnapped Kanti?" Julian asked, frowning.

  "Not right away," Nora continued. "We didn't know Clyde had returned at all. My grandfather assumed Meghan took him far away and we would never hear of him again. It was only later when Rowtag, the shaman of Kanti's tribe, contacted my grandfather and told of her abduction. After that we started to hear the stories. Stories of torture and murder. My mother told me those stories after I insisted I wanted the truth. I'd overheard my grandfather speaking the name Kanti. The tribe wanted revenge, justice perhaps, but that is not the witch's way," Nora spoke bitterly as if she disagreed with that stance. "We moved here to Montana. We had stayed in Serpent House several years after Eugene's death, but we could not rebuild our coven. We fixed the house after the fire, but it was haunted, plagued. It never felt the same and the snakes on the island started to reproduce in large numbers. Before Eugene's death, the snakes had been friends to the coven, but they grew hostile. They attacked on-sight, unprovoked. We abandoned the island and Trager City. My uncle, who was not a witch, had moved to Montana when I was just a child. In letters to my father he described the wild beauty, untouched by man. We followed him and built The Winds of Change Farm."

  "That's how Clyde learned of Kanti," Julian said. "From the work your grandfather was doing with the tribes."

  Nora nodded.

  "The guilt followed my grandfather for the rest of his life. He was the link between Clyde and the murdered child of their tribe."

  "They knew she was murdered?" Elda asked. "We've been researching and haven't found anyone to substantiate that."

  "Rowtag, their shaman, was as powerful a witch as you or me. He knew when she died, that it was violent and..." she paused and pursed her lips. "Not final. She did not pass peacefully from our world. Rowtag told my grandfather that Kanti visited him, but it was not the friendly encounters of a ghost who has moved to another realm. She was angry, tortured and trapped. She nearly drove him to madness and I believe the other members of his tribe eventually pressured him to leave. They could not stand the stories he told of her captivity in the world between worlds. My grandfather learned that Rowtag raved for days after a visit by Kanti."

  "Did Rowtag try to find Clyde?" Julian asked.

  "I believe that he did, and he sought my grandfather's help, but my grandfather refused. He knew what the shaman would do to the man Clyde and wanted no part in it. The shaman insisted that he needed Kanti's bones. He told my grandfather the bones had to be buried on sacred ground for Kanti to pass into the afterlife. He said if the bones were not at rest, the spirit would be confused. He was sure that Clyde was moving Kanti's bones and that he'd done something to the bones and perhaps to the burial ground to keep her tethered to the earth realm."

  "Wait," Elda held up a hand, thinking. "In Dafne's journal she wrote that Tobias wore an amulet on his chest, the ouroboros, but fifty years later, Alva dug up Kanti's bones and the amulet hung around her neck. And the bones had been moved from the place on the map."

  Julian nodded. "To the base of the tree."

  "You found the girl's bones?" Nora asked.

  "Yes, on Abby and Sebastian's property, which continues to disturb me," Elda murmured.

  "And me as well," Julian agreed. "Clyde has been having those bones dug up and reburied for hundreds of years."

  "To ensure that Kanti's spirit cannot transition to the afterlife," Elda said.

  Nora yawned and covered her mouth.

  "I'm sorry," she sighed. "It's not the story. I'm quite fascinated in fact. It's this old body, she does what she wants these days."

  "Of course," Elda told her. "Do you have more to tell us, Nora? If not, perhaps we should leave you to your rest."

  "One more thing," Julian interrupted. He pulled a folded map from his back pocket. He opened it and moved closer to Nora.

  "Does this area have any significance to you?" Julian pointed to a place on the map and Nora frowned, nodding.

  "Eugene grew up on that peninsula. His house was right about here." She tapped her finger in a space on the map.

  "Abby and Sebastian own those woods now. They live there," Julian muttered.

  "And that's where Clyde buried Kanti," Elda finished.

  ****

  Abby ruffled the blonde curls on Vidya's head watching her sleeping face over Sebastian's shoulder. He looked hilarious wearing Vidya strapped in a pink baby carrier across his chest. Perched on his head was a hat with a little umbrella to block Vidya from the sun. Additionally he wore a back pack stuffed with bathing suits, bottled water and trail mix.

  "We could have used a magic bag from Ula," Abby told him. "It would have made this trek a bit easier.

  He turned to her and grinned.

  "Do you doubt my carrying abilities? I'm a beast of burden, honey."

  "I see that." She laughed.

  They followed a trail that wound through the woods and ended at a steep climb through a pine forest.

  "Doin okay?" he asked as they climbed higher.

  "Yeah," she said. "Feels good to make this body work. I spend so much time nursing Vidya, my butt's starting to feel like a pancake."

  "Well it's a sexy pancake," Sebastian told her.

  She grinned and reached forward, pinching his butt.

  "Whoa there," he called over his shoulder. "Don't get me excited or we'll have to stick Vidya in a tree so we can have some private time."

  "In a tree?" she asked.

  "Yeah. The birds will watch out for her."

  Abby nodded. They probably would. They had been following them through the woods, many flying from tree to tree overhead, and a few hopping along the dirt path.

  The trees ended and the pine needle floor gave way to sand. As they reached the top of the hill, Abby gasped. They stood at the top of a blowout sand dune that edged Lake Michigan. The dune sloped at
least one-thousand feet to the sparkling turquoise water below.

  "Surreal, isn't it?" he asked.

  "It looks like something from a travel magazine," she whispered.

  "It is. Sleeping Bear Lakeshore is considered one of the most beautiful places in America," he told her, dropping the backpack and adjusting Vidya.

  "How did you find this place?" she asked.

  "I asked a couple guys in town the other day. They drew me a map and everything. Said it's a totally unknown dune, and I had to swear not to tell anyone about it and prove that I was a local before they'd tell me how to find it."

  She laughed.

  "I can see why they want to keep it a secret."

  "Care for a swim?" he asked.

  "That's an awfully steep hill," she mentioned, touching Vidya's cheek.

  "You'll see, babe. Piece of cake."

  Sebastian started to trot down the dune and Abby followed. Soon her strides had become long jumps that sent her scissor-kicking into the air. He watched her, wide-eyed, as she flew more than twenty-feet into the air during one jump.

  "I'm jealous," he called.

  "Want me to hold Vidya and you can try," she asked, panting a bit when she stopped.

  He shook his head and kissed Vidya's temple.

  "Some other time when it's just the two of us," he told her, but his eyes looked sad as he spoke and Abby felt the little pinpricks of unease that had been cropping up more and more lately.

  Sebastian had been insisting on little day trips claiming that he and Abby needed normal family time. However, during the brightest moments, he tended to look more grief-stricken than joyful. Though she had asked him about it, he always shrugged her off. She circled back to the belief that his new daughter brought up painful memories of his family, but that didn't quite ring true.

  As Abby moved closer to the edge of Lake Michigan, she thought of Snake Island. Just miles from where they stood, the island sat teeming with skin-walkers, Victor patrolling the halls of the old house. Did he know she had stolen the amulet? Would he soon be coming to get it back?