The Water Witch

by Juliet Dark

  “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 if 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. 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—at least we won’t be trapped in this world.”

  Lorelei stepped forward of her own volition, looking calm and at peace. One Stewart walked on either side of her, each carrying a set of bagpipes. As they approached the door, they began to play.

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

  I nodded at her and she understood that her children were safe.

  The ghost of a smile lit her face, 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-gold 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 glade 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.

  “This isn’t the first time we have had to leave this world,” said Fiona. “Always when humankind have 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 make that happen.”

  Gathering her skirts and in a whirl of green and the 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 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 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 his white horse at his bidding, 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 beside the two pipers. Their lips curled in identical smirks but they made no move to stop Oliver from stepping through the door with Casper. As soon as they stepped through I saw a group of stocky white-haired men and women waving from the bank and Casper 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, then I hugged Brock and Dory, trying not to cry. They stepped through the door still holding hands. 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, 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. 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 to Faerie, but Soheila was wearing a 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, but it was no longer Duncan. Giant wings had sprung from his back and were beating the air into a froth. His skin beneath the tattered scraps of his torn shirt 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—also now transformed into winged monsters—moving 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 who 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. 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. 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. She 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.”

  “The fey recognized how dangerous they were,” Soheila said. “They were mating with humans, creating a race of heartless monsters. They would have destroyed the human race.”

  “Which would have been very inconvenient for those of you who feed on humans,” Duncan snarled. “That is why the fey imprisoned us. But now we are free, and once the door closes there will be no one to stop us.”

  “I won’t let you close it,” I said, and then repeated the words of the heart-binding spell.

  Duncan’s lips curved into a slow, sensual smile. He ran the tip of his claw down my throat and between my breasts. I took another step back from him, still repeating the words of the spell, appalled that I’d ever let this creature touch me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Bill step toward us.

  “Are you sure, Cailleach? I’d rather keep you alive. I’ve enjoyed our time together, despite your reserve. I’m sure we could break through that in time.”

  A growl came from Bill that wasn’t entirely human.

  “I’d rather die,” I snarled, and then repeated the spell, louder now. “QUAM COR MEA APERIT, TAM IANUA APERIT!”

  “Ah,” Duncan said, “A heart-binding spell. How clever of you. But surely you read the caution in Wheelock? The best way to disarm a heart-binding spell …” He lifted his hand, one claw poised in the air as if he were making a point. “… is to stop the heart of the doorkeeper.”

  I felt the disturbance of air as his claw descended in a violent swoop toward my throat. I raised my hand to ward off the blow and his claw sliced through my flesh. His hand raised again and I saw the flash of gold-tipped claws coming toward me, but then something moved between us. It was Bill, riding a stream of moonlight that moved fast as quicksilver. He pushed me aside and took the blow meant for me. He fell to his knees, his hand to his neck. I dropped down beside him, my hand meeting his over the gaping wound in his throat.

  “Bill!”

  Hot blood poured over our joined hands. He looked down at it, surprise widening his eyes. “Callie, look! I’m human. That must mean you …” He slumped in my arms and fell across the threshold of the door, his blood spilling on the wet ground with the last beats of his now human heart.

  “Bill!” I cried, cradling his face in my hands. For a moment I saw Liam’s face superimposed over Bill’s, then the face of the incubus I’d seen in Faerie, and then just plain Bill. The man who had fixed my roof, removed a splinter from my hand telling me he was sorry he’d hurt me, and who had made love to me the last two nights. The man I finally understood I loved—a moment too late.

  I looked up at the winged creature above us and something broke inside me. The last ward shattered in a million pieces. Maybe it was finally understanding that I loved Bill—or maybe it was the clarity of hating Duncan—that burned it away. I felt the last coil unwind around my heart and my full power surge in its wake. I stood and held up my arms. A great wind roared through the glade, knocking all the humans in the glade to the ground. Even Duncan stumbled backward a few feet, but he held his ground and started to laugh.

  “Ah, so you’ve discovered your power, little witch. It won’t be l
ong until you join us. I’m glad I won’t have to kill you after all. It looks like a drop of your blood mingled with the blood of one who loved you is all the blood sacrifice needed to close the door.”

  I turned and saw Bill’s body dissolving into light. When he was gone, the door filled with a red-gold glow and then exploded into a fireball. The force of the explosion rocked the earth and knocked me off my feet. I felt myself hurtling backward through space—and then nothing at all.

  THIRTY-ONE

  When I came to, Mac Stewart and Frank were kneeling beside me.

  “Thank goodness, she’s alive,” Mac cried.

  “Of course she’s alive,” said Frank. “It takes more than a firebomb to take this girl out. Right, McFay? And you didn’t really need those eyebrows.”

  My hands flew to my face. My skin felt hot to the touch and suspiciously smooth above my eyes. I sat up and looked around the grove. The ground was scorched black, the honeysuckle trees gray skeletons against a smoky sky. A wraithlike creature in a long tattered dress appeared out of the smoke and hurried toward us. I thought it was the angel of death until she got closer and I saw it was Soheila, her face covered with soot. She held a dripping piece of cloth in her hands. “From the Undine spring,” she said, pressing the cold wet cloth to my face. “It will heal you.”

  “What happened to everyone?” I asked. I shuddered, recalling the claws that had ripped through Bill’s throat. I didn’t ask where Bill was. I had seen him vanish before the door closed. I would never see him again.

  “The Stewarts helped anyone who was injured to the hospital,” Frank told me. “The two pipers who were by the door were badly hurt. The Grove has beat a tactical retreat, along with the Nephilim …” Frank hung his head. “I’m sorry, Callie. I thought the spell would be enough to destroy them.”

  “You couldn’t have known how powerful they’ve become,” Soheila said. “They said they’d be back in the morning to discuss the ‘new administration.’ I think they plan to take over the college.”