“Are you okay Pacey?” Dean asked.
I swallowed down the increasing pressure waging war inside my brain. It was too much data to try to remember, too many lifetimes all thrown together into one.
Rhi place a hand on my shoulder. “You’re shaking.” She whispered.
I tried to shrug it off, but I could feel my body trembling. My fingers were slick with sweat and my mouth watered. The pain inside my head intensified and I felt my guts lurch.
“I think I’m going to be sick.” I croaked.
Dean pulled over, and I threw open my door. The chocolate flavored gelato tasted like crap coming back up. I emptied my stomach onto the dirt road. I sat back and wiped my face with my hand.
“You alright?” Wes asked.
Dean pulled me into his arms and handed me a bottle of water. I drew away from him and rinsed out my mouth.
“I’m better now. Can we go?” I said. I was so embarrassed.
It wasn’t long before a hiss of surprise went through the car. We pulled up beside Pillar and looked up at the large log cabin perched on top of a mossy covered hill. Cypress trees surrounded it as if it too grew from the ground.
Crude steps covered with flat rock cut into the earth leading up to it. A staircase made of earth. The railings were twisted limbs covered in green lush vines white flowers sprouting throughout.
The log cabin rose up from the hill like a warm enchanting palace. The wooden deck filled with pots and flower boxes. A pergola styled ceiling covered the porch. Everything was dripping with vines, moss, and flowers. It was straight out of a fairy tale.
Dean took my hand and pulled me from the car. The others followed soundlessly behind me. Pillar led the way up the earthy stairs to the front door. I turned when we reached the top and sighed in disbelief. The mountains were open in front of me. Rolling hills covered with tall trees in various shades of green. Mist rose from them like breath.
“My God.” Dean whispered beside me.
Pillar watched our expressions with a mixture of dread and fascination. I got the feeling she didn’t bring many people up here. It was a long drive from the small town and almost straight up the mountain. She probably didn’t have any neighbors for miles.
“Ready.” She asked and opened the front door.
The inside was just as spectacular as the outside. Large wood covered vaulted ceilings rose twenty feet into the air. Rod iron chandeliers hung from the high ceilings and glittered with crystals and light. It was warm and inviting. A large plush white rug covered shiny dark wood floors. A rock fireplace covered a large portion of the far left wall.
Gilded and rusted sconces hung around it. Old black and white pictures, ornate mirrors, and old antiques filled the room. The sofa was cream and covered with lush throws and earth tone pillows. A miss matched buffet, hutches and old tables were scattered throughout the room. It was eclectic and country, a mixture of Victorian and old world.
Pillar walked farther into the room towards what I assumed was the kitchen. One wall of mixed glass with a set of French doors led from the kitchen into a sort of green house. The kitchen had wooden beams across the high vaulted ceiling. White cabinets with glass fronts held various clear and white glass dishes. A wood burning stove sat near the corner, and a big farmhouse sink across from it.
In the center of the room was a large ornately carved island. The white paint was cracked and chipped. The metal handles worn by use and time. Everywhere around us was beauty. Old and forgotten mixed with the new and lush. I peeked through the glass windows out into the green house.
Sun streamed in through the mixed glass roof. Tables and dressers were covered with metal pots and ceramic flower boxes. Drawers filled with earth and flowers, herbs growing from old pitchers and glass jars. It was everything you ever expected to find in a witches garden. Dry leaves covered the white washed wooden floor.
I couldn’t help but wonder how old the house was, with its mix of country cabin, and old Victorian home. It was a mash up of generations. Like the architect had slapped them all together. The green house was the most different. The walls made out of glass doors and windows, no two the same. All of them held together by flaked white paint peeling wood. It was gorgeous.
“Wow.” I whispered.
Pillar smiled. “I know it’s a little…overwhelming.”
She glanced at the ceilings and floors. I looked across from the kitchen into the dining room. Glass see through cabinets were on both sides of the carved ornate archway. Everything dripped with time, and the markings of being well loved.
“It’s beautiful.” I said.
Rhi, Wes, and Dean stood in the center of the entryway and turned in circles taking it all in. I could see a spiral rod iron staircase past the dining room. I walked through and looked up. It led to a loft above the dining room.
I hadn’t noticed it when we first walked inside my attention pulled from the living room to the long wall of windows off the kitchen. Bookcases surrounded the loft, and in the center of the high ceiling was a sky light. I walked up the metal stairs unable to stop myself from exploring.
“Pacey.” Dean hissed in warning, but I didn’t stop.
If Pillar had wanted me to, she would have told me. The center of the loft was filled with large leather chairs and low coffee tables. Books spread across the tops. Some were open to marked pages, teacups in stacks at their side.
I sucked in a breath of surprise when I realized I wasn’t alone. A dark skinned man sat in one of the leather chairs, a teacup in one hand and book in the other. All around him, bright white light shimmered and danced. A pair of glasses covered his bright glittering green eyes. He wore a white button up shirt and jacket with dark pants.
“Oh I’m sorry.” I said in embarrassment.
He smiled and closed the book with a snap.
“Not to worry love, I was just leaving.” He set down the book and the teacup and stood.
He was at least a foot and a half taller than I was. I stumbled back a step and he caught my wrist.
“Careful.” He whispered.
His voice was deep and rich, a strange accent lighting his words. He dropped my wrist and walked gracefully down the steps. A cry of surprise rang up to me from Rhi.
“Hot damn, who are you?” She teased.
I shook my head and followed him down the stairs. Pillar wore a look of surprise when she saw her other visitor.
“Gideon?” She said.
He nodded once in her direction then walked through the French doors out to the green house. He disappeared through a glass doorway and was gone.
“Uhh who was that?” Rhi said with a smile.
Wes stared at her with worry. The stranger intrigued her, and I couldn’t really blame her. He was gorgeous.
“That was Gideon.” Pillar said.
Pillar walked into the kitchen and started pulling stuff from the drawers and cupboards. She tossed a thick leather bound book onto the table with a thump. She opened it to an important passage. The pages were so thick it wouldn’t close all the way.
She took out a long silver knife to weigh down one side and a thick ceramic bowl for the other. I didn’t know how she could see anything on the browned pages. Leaves pressed into the edges and detailed drawings mixed with the writing.
Pillar took a similar branch from a nearby jar and placed it in the bowl.
“Finger.” She snapped and held her hand out to me.
I extended my own and jumped when she stabbed my index finger with the knife. Three drops of blood dripped on top of the plant. She let go of my hand and hummed to herself while she ground the blood and dry leaf together.
“So…” I said, not sure what to say.
Pillar grunted. “He’s not important.”
“Is he you’re friend…boyfriend?” I asked. He definitely wasn’t a relative. No one sane looked at their family the way she looked at him.
Rhi snorted and Pillars narrowed eyes flew to her. Rhi dropped her own and took a seat
at the table. Wes and Dean joined her.
“No, and no. He’s neither.” Pillar said.
That was interesting, a man, a very handsome one at that, was in her house when she came home, and he wasn’t her friend or her boyfriend.
“He’s not your business. It doesn’t matter.” The green light that had been surrounding her all day sizzled. She was angry. At him or me, was anyone’s guess so I dropped it. She ground the leaf vigorously together with my blood and pulled out two similar round mirrors.
“The ritual itself is pretty basic, blood, and oath, sealed with protection. When I start the circle no one, come into it or leave it. It’s important we get this right the first time. Are you ready?” Pillar placed her hands loudly on the table and stared at the four of us.
I shrugged. “Sure.”
She drew a circle around her and me with salt. The bowl placed in the center of the floor in front of us the mirrors at its side. She lit the ingredients inside the bowl and hummed. The green light that surrounded her filled the circle. I felt the power sizzling against my skin. She spoke a series of words so quickly I couldn’t keep up. The green light tightened and got heavier around me. I felt like I couldn’t breathe.
“The names?” She prompted and handed me the piece of paper.
I took a deep useless breath and said. “Eve, Marrah, Akima, Sorah, Leriatte, Annah, Elizabeth…Patience.”
I felt the heat and power rise up around me. It swirled around with the green light and flew into the mirrors. They glowed with bright white light. Pillar took the knife and grabbed my finger. This time I didn’t jump when she broke the skin. Two drops of blood fell onto each mirror. The piercing light intensified.
“Seal the mirrors with your power.” Pillar demanded.
I stared at her not understanding.
She closed her eyes in annoyance and said. “Your spit…you have to spit on each mirror once.”
I grimaced and did as she instructed. The bright light flashed out once knocking me onto my butt and was gone. The heavy green power evaporated and swung back into pillar. Her body shuddered when it hit her, her hair blowing out around her face like she was standing in the wind.
“Wow.” My three friends said in unison.
Pillar helped me to my feet then thrust the two hot mirrors into my hands. I glanced at my reflections in both. There was no blood or spit clinging to them.
“They belong to you now. No one can use them against you. When it’s time for you to travel call Charlie. I shouldn’t have made them for you, but I-I couldn’t just let you die.”
“What do you mean you shouldn’t have?” I asked.
Pillar pressed a shaky hand to her forehead and took a deep breath. “Gideon being here changed things for me. I think he knew what I was doing. It was a warning. I can’t tell you anything else…only that you can’t repeat what happened here to anyone, or tell them about our town. Gideon is a creature of habit, old, grumpy, and intolerant, you break his laws, and he will come after you. Be careful.”
A chill of fear ran down my spine. “What is he?” I asked.
Pillar’s eyes widened in surprise. “I don’t know what you mean.” She lied.
“He was covered in white light the same way you are covered in green. Hell, all of those people in town were covered in something. What is this place?”
Pillar squeezed her eyes shut and then opened them. She started picking up the stuff she had used and threw it into drawers. When she picked up the bowl full of charred leaves and blood, she tossed it into the sink. The sound of breaking glass followed and she stopped. Her shoulders bent.
“This place is our sanctuary away from you.” Pillar glared at me, and then my friends.
“Humans have been persecuting my kind for thousands of years. Thou must not suffer a witch to live. Does that ring any bells?”
My face paled. It was a quote from the bible.
Pillar shook her head and continued. “I can’t tell you what they are. It isn’t mine to tell. But you would be smart not to mention that little ability to anyone. Seeing our auras makes us targets and you…a weapon.”
Pillar didn’t show us to the door, and I couldn’t blame her. She lived in a world outside of my own, a world full of magic and sorrow, and sadly persecution. We’d all learned about the Salem witch trials and the Spanish Inquisition in school. Innocent people murdered for being different, and not conforming to societal standards.
How many of them were people like her or the other people in her town. How many of them were something else we were too scared of or intimidated by to accept. Witches, fairies, whatever they were, didn’t really matter. They needed to be protected at all costs. I had a funny feeling if my mouth got a little to open, that cost might just be my friends and me.
Chapter Twenty
The Otherside
I had to go into a natural body of water. The only problem was it was cold outside and October was nearly over. Living so near the ocean hadn’t toughened me at all. I didn’t go in the water. I would lay by it, or look at it, but that was it. The idea of seaweed and sharks cured any need I had to swim.
The nearest body of water outside of the ocean was either a river or lake. I had my pick of creeks nearby, so I chose Culliver. Hoping the water wasn’t disgusting or cold. I probably would have had better luck wishing for it to rain gold.
Once I was deep enough into the water. I was supposed to say three words in welsh. Mont da Annwn. Charlie said it meant to go to Annwn. Annwn was the Welsh word for The Otherside. A sort of otherworld that consisted of heaven and hell combined.
The idea of going to hell with a magic mirror by invoking a body of water…was terrifying. What if I couldn’t get back? What if I got there and I got hurt?
There were far too many ways going there could go wrong. I had to leave one of my mirrors behind as a marker so I could return. If anything happened to it, God knew what would happen to me on The Otherside.
Charlie thought that once I went over, I’d be able to find Lilith pretty easily. But there was no map and no way of knowing how long it would take. She said The Otherside shifted constantly. What was in one place the first time you went by could easily move around when you went back? Making it impossible to navigate if you didn’t know where you were going.
The worst part was I had to go alone. No one who actually knew what they were doing was willing to risk it. Dean offered but my mirror could only take me. Pillar hadn’t said anything about being able to take a guest with me.
I spoke to Charlie for hours on the phone, going over pages and pages of data to help me find Lilith’s cave. She said my shared gift would help me. The blood blade would sense my desires and I’d end up exactly where I needed to be.
She had faith in everything working out the way it should, but I wasn’t so sure. So far, it had all been a little too easy, and I hadn’t heard from Lilith in almost a week. I couldn’t seem to shake the feeling that something was wrong. She’d had countless opportunities to derail me. The knife theft was a prime example, and yet it was all silent on the western front. That silence, after so much death and blood, was creepy.
“Dad.” I yelled as I marched down the stairs trying to stop the thoughts that kept pressing against my mind.
I didn’t want to think about Lilith’s lack of action and what it meant. I wanted to pretend that everything was going to work out the way Charlie was so positive it would.
I had an hour before Dean showed up to take me to the creek. Rhi and Wes were going to meet us there in Rhi’s car, giving Dean, and me some much-needed privacy. We’d been doing everything together lately, like the trip to Cal Poly, and then Concord.
“Dad.” I said again.
He wasn’t in the living room or kitchen. I walked out the back door and heard him working in the garage. Ever since his break up with Bridget, he’d been spending all of his time out there. I didn’t want to feel responsible, but I somehow did. He was lonely and broken, and I was going somewhere I may not b
e able to return from.
I wanted to tell him I was sorry about Bridget, even if I hated her and what he’d done. I wanted to tell him about Lilith. I couldn’t tell him so many things without putting him, my friends, and myself in further danger.
I felt alone.
“Dad.” I said from the garage doorway.
He shut off the table saw and turned to meet my eyes. “Hey Pacey, what are you up too today?”
I forced myself to smile and the nausea back down. I was not going to throw up everywhere and blow my cover. I had to play it cool.
“We, we’re going to study at Wes’s and then maybe go hiking.”
The cover was that if anything happened to me, they could say I fell into the water and never came up. That way I didn’t just disappear on my dad, that way, maybe he could move on if something did happen. I shoved the negative thought from my mind.
“I didn’t think you guys were into that outdoorsy stuff.” He said.
I laughed but it sounded empty.
“You okay Pacey. If something’s going on you can tell I’ll do whatever I can to help you honey. You know that right?”
“I’m fine. I’m hoping to get caught up on school work so I can go back in a week or so.”
My dad’s face brightened. “That’s excellent. You still have another semester of senior year; I’m sure you can catch up and do extra credit or something. You have to think about the future.”
“Yea.” I agreed.
I closed the distance between us and wrapped my arms around him. I breathed in his familiar smell and felt my heart squeeze with pain.
“I love you daddy.”
His arms slipped around me and he rested his chin on my forehead. “I meant what I said, you can tell me anything.”
I released him and swallowed back my tears. “I know. But I really am okay.” The lie tasted bitter.
His face glowed with concern and suspicion but he didn’t call me on it. I walked out of the garage without looking back. The time for words was over, only actions were left.
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