by Nancy Warren
The thing smiled at me, a ghastly sort of smile, and a flame licked out from between its lips. "You were remarkably stupid, but finally you understand.”
“I trusted you.”
She chuckled again. “The perfect ending for a witch who owns a knitting shop, should be death by wool and needles, don't you agree?"
It was horrible to hear that sweet older woman's voice emerging from this half human, half horror vision thing. I wished I hadn't thrown the revealing potion on it, now, it was so hideous to look at I could hardly bear it.
I didn't say anything. I had no idea how to reach it, and suspected if I tried to reason with it, I’d only make things worse. The creature took the fingers of her still mostly-human looking hand and pulled the black and white wool, as though testing it were tight against the doll. My mother cried out, her hair sticking straight up and seeming to pull her up and out of the chair, except the rope around her waist held her down. I could see the skin of her forehead stretching, and then the creature let go and she slumped back into the chair.
The Eileen thing said, "I could simply burn the doll, but that would be so quick, and so obvious, really. She’ll burn in the end, of course, but let's not be in a rush."
“There must be something I can do,” I said through dry lips. “Something you want.”
She chuckled again. “This is what I want.” She looked at her poppet, and at me, and then at Mom. "Let's just simply unravel her. That should be fun."
Do something, I said to myself.
I got to my feet ran at the creature, thinking if I moved fast enough, I could grab the doll away from her, but I was thrown back by the electric shock before got within three feet of her. The force threw me right against the wall, and I slid down to the floor. My feet bumped against the rug that we used to cover the trapdoor.
I could feel them down there, I was sure of it. In the corner of the room, was the basket I had brought down the very first time we’d held a vampire knitting club meeting. It still held holy water, and the wooden knitting needles, that I’d sharpened.. I doubled over and crawled, on my hands and knees, using the attack as my excuse to get close to the basket. I reached in and, to my relief, the knitting needles were still there. I picked one up.
Wands were really more like divining rods, a way of focusing the power of the spell. I said the words that would open a locked door and pointed my wand at the trapdoor. I heard the click as it opened, and then I waited.
The creature hadn't even noticed; she was too busy tormenting my mother. She had knotted the very beginning of her work, and the knot had settled under the soles of the doll’s feet. "We’ll begin at the bottom, and work up. That way, your mother can watch her own death. It's not everyone who can say that." And then she snipped the knot, took the loose end of wool, and began to pull.
As the stitches unravelled, Mom screamed and began to squirm.
Her feet disappeared.
Chapter 18
The carpet moved and then, to my great relief, Rafe and Alfred and Christopher Weaver exploded into the room. The creature rose and let out a hideous cry, as, snarling, pale, and bloodthirsty, the vampires advanced.
They cried out and fell back as they hit the electrical force field, but that moment of inattention was everything to me. I grabbed the mirror. It was pulsing with light and humming again, and as I recited the spell Margaret had given me, I felt the power fill me and course through me. I pushed through the vampires and held the mirror up in front of the creature’s terrifying eyes.
"Look away!” I yelled to my friends, closing my own eyes and looking down. As the full impact of the evil clashed with its own reflection, there was a terrible explosion. I couldn't hold onto the mirror, anymore. It was ripped out of my hands. Behind my closed eyelids I could see the glow of a great fire and then it faded and I opened my eyes.
There was nothing on the ground, now, but a pile of smouldering embers. Rafe rushed forward and stamped on them, kicking the live coals apart. Pete and Margaret came running in, and Pete immediately began helping Rafe, stomping and spreading the living embers until they were nothing but dead ash.
While they were doing that, I ran forward to my mother. I fumbled the knots with shaking fingers until Margaret, whose wits were better than mine, cast a freedom spell and immediately untied my mother.
My mother couldn't rise from the chair, though, as her feet were gone.
There was no blood or obvious damage. It was as though someone had taken an eraser to a picture of Mom and had erased her feet and one of her ankles.
I glanced at Margaret. "Can you fix that?"
"I don't know. How was it done?"
“It was the doll, where’s the doll?” I looked around and saw Nyx pick up the poppet as though it were a toy. The cat glared at Margaret, walked past her, and dropped the remains of the crocheted poppet daintily at my feet. "Good cat," I said.
Margaret rolled her eyes. "No wonder she hated me. You treat that animal like it's a dog."
“Nyx is my faithful friend, whatever she is."
I stroked Nyx and she began to purr. Margaret picked up the poppet and where the knitted doll’s legs ended was a long strand of wool hanging down.
Christopher Weaver stepped forward and held out his hand. "Allow me." He took the doll from Margaret. Christopher Weaver wasn’t only a vampire, he was a doctor and I was hopeful he might be able to heal Mom.
He rubbed the wool between his fingers and looked closely at the size of the stitches. He looked around on the floor and found the crochet hook Eileen had used.
Then he looked over at Mom and Margaret and Pete and Rafe and Alfred. Everyone was staring at him. “Do you mind if I go into the front shop? I find all the attention unnerving.”
"Of course, you don't have to ask.” I bit my lip. “But please, hurry."
My mother sat there, footless, looking stunned. Margaret spoke to her in a low voice, comforting her, I think, and telling her not to worry. “We’ll soon have you back on your feet.”
We exchanged a glance and Margaret winced at her own presumably accidental and most unfortunate pun.
But, for some reason, the bad choice of words was the tonic my mother needed. She began to laugh. "Well," she said, "the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step."
"Nothing like putting your best foot forward," Pete chimed in.
“Now, you’ve put your foot in it,” Alfred said.
I couldn't stand it. I left them making terrible puns and went into the shop where I flipped on lights to make sure Christopher could see properly.
I fussed around, and waited, as he rapidly crocheted the feet back onto the doll. As he finished off the feet, and knotted the last bit of wool, a cheer went up from the back room. I sighed with relief and hugged the vampire, and then we both ran into the back where my mother was trying out her brand-new feet by standing up.
She looked down at her old running shoes. "These are very ugly shoes. What was I thinking?" She looked up and included all of us in her smile. "I will celebrate my restored feet by buying a nice new pair of shoes, tomorrow."
She walked over and wrapped me in her arms and held me tight. Her voice only shook slightly as she said, "And, I think, a pedicure. Lucy, perhaps you'll join me? I think we could both use a day at the spa."
I'd never known a woman less inclined to indulge in a day at the spa than my mother, so I knew in that moment how very much in shock she still was. Of course, I agreed.
She glanced at the pile of ash and swallowed. "If you don't mind, I think I'll go upstairs. I can't stand to be here, anymore. Please, why don't you all come up? There's half a bottle of scotch left. I think we could all use a drink.”
Alfred and Christopher accompanied her upstairs, for which I was grateful. Rafe and Margaret and Pete and I remained behind. We looked down at the ashes of the former creature.
Margaret said, “We need to dispose of these remains very carefully. I must do some research. I'm not sure if it's better
to scatter the ashes into the sea so they can never gather together, or bury them.”
A new voice intruded. It was that of a young woman, lightly accented. I turned, and there in the darkened corner of the room, where I suppose the mirror had landed, after it flew out of my hands, was a young Egyptian woman, in a heap on the floor. I rushed over and knelt by her side, hardly believing my eyes. "Meritamun?"
She sat up shakily. The face, of course, I remembered. But, as Pete helped her to her feet, I saw that she was a young woman, about five feet tall, wearing a beautiful yellow silk robe.
I had thought the day couldn't get any more crazy. When was I going to learn never to make predictions? I had powers, but foretelling the future certainly wasn't one of them.
She put a hand to her head and said, "I'm free. I'm finally free." I looked at the golden bracelet, circling her wrist and recognized the protection spell. That must be how the evil one had originally got to her.
Margaret was both less romantic than I and more practical. She asked, "Do you know how to dispose of this creature’s remains?"
"Yes. Yes. You must place the accursed ashes into an alabaster box or vessel, then take them into the desert and feed the ashes to a camel. It will be excreted in the hot sand of the desert as the camel treks. Camels go far in a single day."
"Well, that's convenient," Margaret said. “We have so many deserts around Oxford. And camels are on every street corner. I can pop into a shop and pick up an alabaster vessel.”
I was shocked at her bad temper. We’d beaten Athu-ba tonight, and freed an enslaved witch. I said, "My parents will be going back to the desert soon. If we can find such a box, they can take back the ashes with them."
We all agreed that was the best thing to do and then Rafe said he owned an alabaster box. I suspected it was a priceless artefact from his collection. I told him my parents could bring it back when it was empty.
He looked down at the ashy remains and said he thought it would be best if they buried the box in the desert, too. He went home to fetch it and, while he did, Meritamun stretched out her limbs and danced around the room, laughing at the sheer joy of movement.
I was watching her, with a smile on my face, when she suddenly stopped and came toward me and took my hands. Her eyes were downcast. “I ask your forgiveness for what I have done. My magic has been used for evil. If you wish to take my life, I willingly offer it.”
I looked at Margaret, instinctively. I was too startled to speak.
Margaret said, “We don’t sacrifice each other, any more. My, you’ve got a lot to learn.” She turned to me. “The poor girl won’t know about cars, planes, the Internet, and I don’t know what else.”
“Fast food,” Pete added. “Cruise vacations. Online dating. Electricity.”
She looked from one to the other, mystified. “Never mind,” I said, laughing. “She’ll catch up.”
She put her fingers to the gold bracelet on her arm. “My father gave me this,” she said sadly. “He said it would protect me, always.”
Margaret walked forward and looked at the bracelet. “It wasn’t his fault. Or yours. Your magic wasn't strong enough to protect yourself from Athu-ba. You’ve spent centuries being punished.”
Meritamun nodded, looking sad. “He tricked me, and then trapped me inside the mirror.”
She didn’t seem able to say more, so I told Margaret what I knew. That her great usefulness to the evil one had been an uncanny ability to connect with the currently living witches who were the most powerful, and therefore the most dangerous, to Athu-ba.
Meritamun nodded. "I would see them. Like a vision. No matter how hard I tried not to. And all he had to do was look into the surface of the mirror and he would be able to see the witch in her daily life."
Pete said, "Crikey. Like an evil overlord spy cam?"
Meritamun had no idea what he was talking about. I told her I'd explain later and asked her to continue her story. She said, "And that is how it always was. I saw your mother, and then I saw you. He put a spell on the mirror so that your mother was compelled to bring it to you. He always intended to destroy both of you."
She looked at me, and the sweetness and gratitude in her face nearly undid me. She said, "Normally when anyone, even a witch, looked into that mirror, all they saw reflected was themselves. You were the only one who ever saw me."
"I wonder why?"
Margaret looked at me, sharply. "I told you that when your mother suppressed her own magic, she gave you extra powers. You must be very careful, Lucy. I suspect you are one powerful wise woman."
I didn't feel wise, I felt foolish and scared and, most days, I wished I wasn't even a witch. But there wasn't much I could do about it, now. My mother had pretended she wasn't, and that hadn’t turned out so well. At least, by admitting my own abilities, I was saving my future children, if I ever had any, from turning out as much of a freak as I was.
Rafe arrived back far sooner than any mortal could have made the trip. He showed Meritamun the alabaster box. It was exquisite. Slightly greenish and carved with hieroglyphics. "Will this do?"
She took the box and opened it and then settled the lid back on again. "Yes. This is most suitable."
"But it's so gorgeous," I said. "Are you sure you don't want my parents to bring it back to you?"
He looked at me. "I'd always remember that the remains of that evil thing had been inside. No, I'll be much happier if it's buried in the desert somewhere."
He smiled slightly. "Besides, that makes room in my collection for me to acquire something new."
I retrieved the dustpan and brush and we swept up the ashes very carefully and placed them in the alabaster box. Even though the lid fitted tightly, I duct taped it shut to be certain.
Then we all went upstairs. Before I turned out the lights I glanced back and saw a curious, star-shaped scorch, so like the one in Logan's dorm room. I planned to scrub the area until the scorch mark came out or, if that didn't work, I would paint over the floor. I did not ever want to be reminded of the horrors of this evening.
When I got to the door leading up to my flat, I found that Rafe had hung back and was waiting for me. He asked, "Are you all right?"
"I think so." I rubbed my forehead with the heel of my hand. "I discovered my assistant was an evil and potent demon, nearly saw my own mother killed in front of my eyes, and discovered that she's a witch too. Yep, it's been quite an evening."
He looked at me intensely. "Being trapped down there in that passage, hearing you scream and unable to break through, it was a tough evening for me, too."
I stared at him in surprise, hearing the intensity in his tone. Our gazes connected and he placed his cool palm against my cheek. "You've become important to me, Lucy. I couldn't bear it if anything happened to you."
I put my hand over his, where it rested on my cheek. "Well, tonight you were part of the reason that nothing did happen to me. Mother was worried that I was lonely here and didn't have any friends. But, tonight, I realized how connected I am, to you and the other vampires, to my mother and Margaret and Nyx. Now Meritamun. All of you make me stronger."
He dropped his hand and put his arm around me in a one-armed hug. "That's what friends are for."
Chapter 19
Upstairs, Mom had opened the half bottle of whisky that was still left from Hamish's visit. I didn't even like scotch, but I gratefully accepted a small glass.
"Well," my mom said, "I'm glad that's over."
It was such an understatement to the day that we all burst out laughing.
She said, "Meritamun, I don't quite know what we’re going to do about you." She glanced at me and I knew that whatever she remembered of this evening, she hadn't forgotten that she had so suddenly embraced her magic. She said, "I'm sure that Lucy and I can manage to get you some identification papers. When my husband and I head back to Egypt, we’d be happy to take you with us, so you could go home."
"Home," she said in a soft voice. “I fear that things have
changed since I was last free. All my friends and family are long gone, the only friend I have in the world is Lucy.” She glanced at me. "In my world, in my time, I was a servant to a powerful and good magician." She put her hands together and bowed her head slightly. "I would be honored if you would accept me into your service."
I was so stunned, I didn't know what to say. I was about to tell her that slavery had been abolished long ago, but I didn't want to reject her lovely offer. Besides, where would she go? She couldn't begin to imagine how much the world had changed. Before I could speak, Rafe began to chuckle. I could count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I had heard the man laugh, so I couldn't help but stare.
He said, the laughter not quite leaving his face, "Well, you do have an opening for an assistant, Lucy."
I slapped my hand onto my forehead and groaned. "Oh, no, you're right. I've just lost another assistant. I cannot, simply cannot, go back to Mrs. Winters and put up another advert in her shop. I can’t take any more lectures about the importance of keeping staff."
Meritamun was looking from one of us to the other with a slightly puzzled expression. I looked over at Mom and then at Margaret and Pete. "What do you think?"
My mother said, "I'd be happier knowing Meritamun was here. For both your sakes. You can look after each other."
I nodded. “It’s a great idea. And I have another one. Can we call you Meri?”
“Meri,” she rolled the word around her mouth like a sweet. “Meri.”
“It sounds more contemporary, and will be easier for people here to say.”
“Yes. I like it. A new name for my new life.”
Margaret said, "You'd both be welcome into the coven." She saw my expression and said, "Oh, don't worry. Meri is merely an exchange student from Egypt. We might as well stick close to the truth. We'll say she has an expertise in the history of ancient Egypt."
