by Ashley McLeo
“You did it! See, it wasn’t so bad. Different than I thought it would be. Was the vampire blood spicy, Evelyn? Yours was like drinking over-spiced mulled wine but thicker,” Sara said her eyes curious.
“And sweet,” Lily groaned as she sat on edge of the bed and bent forward to dampen her nausea.
“Both,” Evelyn answered. “I guess that’s a way to test when it’s all out of my system. I can prick myself and lick a drop of blood every day.”
Lily’s throat spasmed, and the blood threatened to come back up.
Brigit, intuitive to her daughter’s needs, placed a gentle hand on Lily’s shoulder and her nervous system calmed.
“It may be awhile before the blood takes effect,” Brigit said softly. “We’re hoping not to have to do another round back home, but Fiona will have enough supplies if need be. We’re flying blind here with an unknown dilution factor. Do either of you feel at all different now? Evelyn mentioned she felt lighter when her pneuma took up residence within her.”
Lily and Sara shook their heads.
“I say we let them rest. They need time to absorb it and Lil looks like she should lie down,” Fiona said shooting Lily an understanding smile. “We have plenty of things to be wrapping up before tomorrow anyhow, don’t we, Brig?”
“Fiona’s right. We can’t leave our messes to Jane’s coven. It isn’t right. The girls are safe here,” Gwenn seconded, when Brigit looked as though she was about to protest.
“We’ll be just down the hall. All they need to do is ring the bell Fiona bought and we’ll come running,” Aoife added, taking Brigit by the shoulders.
“And we’ll be right next door. We leave early in the morning and Rena still needs to pack for our flight. I’ll set my yoga mat up next to the wall while I practice. These walls aren’t so thick we wouldn’t hear anything strange,” Annika chimed in.
Lily wondered if Roman was one of the things the McKay witches needed to wrap up and her stomach heaved whether from the blood or the reminder of the secret she was keeping from Evelyn, she wasn’t sure. She closed her eyes and sighed. “I’d like a rest. I do feel a little queasy.”
“Well, the blood is doing something then,” Fiona said, packing up her supplies. “Ring the bell if you need anything or experience any pain at all. We’ll stay close.”
Brigit, predictably, was the last to leave. She paused at the door as she left, checking one last time that they were in fact capable of being left alone, and then disappeared through the door.
Sara pulled the trundle bed she slept on out from under Lily’s sickbed. “I’m going to take a nap,” she said, lying on the creaky mattress and staring up at the ceiling. “This may be one of our last relaxing days in a while.” She closed her eyes and fell asleep within seconds.
“How did she manage that so fast?” Lily whispered, half impressed and half envious as she eased into her own bed.
“I think vampire blood has a sort of draining chemical effect on the body. The first time I took it I bet I would have passed out, too, if I hadn’t been so scared and forced to open a portal. I slept for a whole day afterward. As a matter of fact, I think I could sleep that long now. I’m exhausted. Must be from giving blood,” Evelyn leaned back into her mound of pillows and closed her eyes.
“I’ll turn off the lamp,” Lily said, and plunged them into darkness.
Starseeds
Evelyn’s pneuma thumped hard against her sternum, waking her from her deep slumber. The first light of day was seeping weakly through the blackout curtains into their darkened room. She glanced over and saw Lily and Sara still snoozing peacefully and a pang of jealousy ran through her.
Why does that always happen when I wake up? She pushed herself up and nearly fell out of the bed as two lights, one bright green the other a flaming red shot into the bedroom and dove into her sister’s chests.
“Holy shit! It worked!” Evelyn screeched. Her pneuma fluttered wildly within her and it occurred to Evelyn her pneuma had felt the other two approaching and had woken her up for that very reason.
“What the hell?” Lily swore, lurching up from the sheets, eyes wide.
Evelyn looked at Lily’s hands and saw a faint white triquetra glowing in her sister’s palms. “Your hands,” she whispered.
Lily’s face paled.
A crooked grin spread over Sara’s face as she rose from slumber in a less reactionary manner. “It worked. We have pneumas! I can feel her moving inside me!”
“So cool,” Lily said without enthusiasm. “Sara, let me see your hands.”
Sara turned her palms up to reveal two white triquetras glowing up at them.
“It’s the signal Evelyn was talking about! They’re letting us know they’re here. Though I think that all the fluttering inside me makes that pretty clear,” Sara said sitting up and resting her back against the wall.
Another, weaker pang of jealousy shot through Evelyn. They believe it so easily. Probably because they experienced it together. She smothered the emotion before it grew and became the green-eyed monster that had been rampaging through her with increasing frequency since she arrived at the safe house.
Evelyn picked up the tiny bell Fiona kept by her bedside. “Shall I call the rest of the clan and tell them the good news?”
“Goddess be. It happened so fast,” Brigit whispered for the tenth time as Sara showed them her palms once more.
“Far faster than anyone anticipated,” Mary agreed, her hands tented in front of her mouth in thought. “So do you feel different? Evelyn, obviously your bodily experience wasn’t the same but chime in if what they say resonates with you. I’ll need any lead I can get for research.”
“Besides the fact that my pneuma won’t stop moving inside me, which is pretty weird, I guess I feel lighter, like Evelyn said. More airy,” Lily added hesitantly.
“Same,” Sara paused. “And older. More than a few years, like I’ve lived an entire other life.”
Evelyn sat up straighter. “Like your pneuma lived a separate life from you? One that came with memories and emotions? I’ve had these . . . moods since I’ve been here.” She hadn’t been ready to talk about them to her sisters. Not when everyone was so concerned over her health. But maybe now that her sisters had pneumas, she could confess.
Sara’s brows furrowed. “Maybe? I’m not sure yet.”
Evelyn slumped back into her pillows.
“What do you mean by moods, Evelyn?” Mary pulled up a chair next to Evelyn.
“Well, umm, when I wake up sometimes, before I get my head on straight and all, I . . .”
“We won’t judge you for what you say,” Sara affirmed. “You’ve awoken or generated . . . whatever, there’s a new being inside you. One you can’t control entirely. Plus, it may happen to us and we need to know what to expect.”
Lily nodded in agreement.
“I’ve been so envious of you two sometimes!” Evelyn blurted out. “Usually right when I wake up before I get my senses back. And once or twice when you were being all sisterly, too. But I don’t think that either of them were from me. I don’t really believe you exclude me or anything. My only guess is my pneuma’s feelings are taking over my own.” Evelyn’s face burned with shame. My sisters risked their lives to save me, and this is how I repay them? By saying I’m jealous of them?
“But I’ve slept in the same room as you for a week and you didn’t say anything or seem mad,” Lily said, hurt evident in her voice.
“Of course I didn’t! We’ve been getting along consistently for the first time. And I was sure these feelings weren’t coming from me. There’s no way I’m mad at any of you for anything! What I feel, it’s irrational, and I was embarrassed! Getting jealous has never really been a thing for me and I don’t feel like I have the right to be jealous in this situation.”
“She can’t help what she feels, Lil,” Sara whispered, though she, too, looked a touch hurt. “It’s probably the vampire blood or something.”
“What about feeling old
er like Sara mentioned?” Mary pressed, unwilling to be deterred from her mission. “I’ll need any similarities you can tell me that will help with my research. We need to start looking now so we can help train you three and your pneumas when we get home. The Sisters of Salem have a prodigious library I can take advantage of before we fly out tomorrow.”
Evelyn cocked her head. “Well, like I said before, I felt lighter, but I attributed that mostly to being starved and depleted of my magic. Older? I don’t know if I feel that way but . . . I certainly feel different, like I’ve lived a lot more. I’m more emotional, less-level headed, especially when I wake up. Wiser? I guess so.” Her voice lifted into a question as she contemplated what she’d uncovered.
“We should all meditate on our pneumas!” Sara jumped in excitedly. “This could be a great chance for us to bond to our pneumas and each other.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” Gwenn said. “Sara has always been abnormally in tune with her body. Perhaps the two of you should join her in a meditation?”
Evelyn groaned. As if my life isn’t woo-woo enough already.
There was a sudden movement in the corner of the room. Evelyn turned to see Annika had stood and begun pacing in small circles. Four times in a row the tall Swede ran her hands through her long white hair. Evelyn bit her lip and looked at Selma, who shrugged her shoulders. Annika looks like a woman who just had a revelation.
“You feeling alright, Ann?” Lily asked, her brows furrowed in concern.
Annika’s gaze shot up from the ground to find the entire room staring at her. “Yes, I’m fine, it’s . . . this may not be relevant but I had a thought. What Sara said about feeling older, and Evelyn waking up with those emotions she doesn’t think are hers and her pneuma waking her up so she could see the pneumas’ return to Sara and Lily, it all got me thinking,” Annika heaved a sigh. “I’ve heard people describe something like this before. Not as profound or abrupt but similar. Anyways, it will sound very strange, but I can’t help but feel it might be something.”
“Spit it out, Ann!” Rena said exasperatedly.
“You remember that yoga retreat? The one in Costa Rica that you refused to go to?” Annika turned to face Rena.
“How could I not! The stories you came back with from all those wackos had me concerned for the future of humanity. What a bunch of new-age bullshit. And coming from me that’s saying something. I bet none of them even live in a commune!”
Annika ran her hand through her hair again. “No, most live in cities. But anyway, that’s not the point. To be clear, I agree with Rena: I would have called most of what I heard the other yoga practitioners talk about a little too much for my tastes. That is, until right now.”
Rena’s mouth tightened.
“Since Rena wouldn’t go, I was assigned a cabin mate, and mine was a little out there.”
“What an understatement! Claiming she was from the moon.” Rena shot Lily a look. “Remember I was telling you about the nut jobs Annika met at Thanksgiving?”
Lily giggled but stopped short when Annika scowled at Rena.
“My roommate didn’t say she was from the moon. She said her soul was from another planet. That it was an ancient thing, reincarnated in human form on this planet. She called herself a starseed. Apparently there are a lot of people who identify this way. They don’t deny that they’re human in body but claim their souls aren’t. Their souls have adventures and stories of their own. My roommate said her soul always had these feelings that my roommate didn’t feel aligned with how she thought. At first I thought she may have multiple personality disorder or something, but it sounds kind of like what Sara, Evelyn, and Lil said. They’re feeling older, odd emotions that aren’t theirs and sensations they can’t control. Then there’s the triquetras that appeared on their palms signifying a triple goddess. That had to be telling us something, else why would it appear? What if they . . . What if their pneumas aren’t just a part of them? What if they were a part of someone else? Three someones who have been gone a long time and waiting to reawaken.”
Stunned silence shrouded the room.
Sara sucked in a long breath and Lily’s hand flew to her mouth.
Holy shit. That’s why Noro kept calling me Eve, Evelyn thought. He wasn't just being a nostalgic creep. And when he said I shined with the power I had a thousand years ago and that the fata I brought over were still here . . . he was actually talking to her because she was finally there. . . My pneuma. Eve’s pneuma. It all makes sense now. Evelyn stared at her blanket. The air became thick, running slower through her airways and feeling muddy in her lungs. But I can’t be. Eve was . . . Evelyn’s heartbeat raced as her mind flung about, begging for an alternative that made more sense.
Her pneuma shot from where it had been momentarily resting up into her heart, calming the spasms in her chest.
Evelyn looked down and gasped. Her chest was glowing, a bright sapphire blue triquetra visible in the deep "V" of her sleep shirt. She shot up in bed and her head swiveled violently on her neck. It’s happening to them too, Evelyn thought taking in the deep crimson triquetra on Sara's chest and Lily’s emerald green one. But how can we be sure that we carry the original three sisters’ pneumas within us?
Her eyes darted to Lily—who looked just as concerned as Evelyn felt—to Sara, who sat quietly, eyes closed and searching deep inside. Her gaze moved on to each other person in the room but no one else was paying attention to anyone but Sara.
They’re right, Sara knows herself the best of all of us. If anyone can get answers from another soul living inside her, it’s Sara. Time seemed to stop as Evelyn waited for her sister to communicate with a being living inside her from another place and time.
Finally, a bright copper penny flashed as Sara opened her eyes, and all breath in the room ceased.
“We aren’t just like them in looks and power, not merely less-powerful human imitations. We are the original three sisters and us—they can’t exist without our bodies to come back to. We’re the keepers of their souls and our own,” Sara took a shaky breath and released it slowly. “Annika’s right. We’re starseeds.”
Magirattzi
“Lil, could you help Sara walk Evelyn to the car?” Brigit asked, striding by with a suitcase in each hand.
Lily retreated to their room, pleased to have a task to take her mind off her altered, airy state.
“You two ready?”
“Yup,” Evelyn replied sitting up with Sara’s assistance.
“If you’re good on that side then I’ll take this one?” Lily asked Sara who nodded and wedged herself beneath Evelyn’s boney shoulder.
They stood together and a profound sense of relief washed over Lily as half of Evelyn’s mass fell on her, weighing her back onto the earth. Evelyn was still underweight but apparently it didn’t take much to counteract the lightness of Lily’s pneuma.
“You don’t have anything to take, right?” Lily scanned the room.
Evelyn shook her head and blinked. She looked lightheaded. “My parents are meeting us at the hangar with a few bags. Vicencia let them into the apartment and they packed what I asked them to.”
“You don’t think your parents let anything slip, do you?” Sara asked.
“I asked them not to say anything to Vici. I want to be the one to tell her. It helps that Dad’s her boss; Vici will do what he says without too many questions. She’ll be at the hanger because Dad requested it.”
That would help, Lily readjusted Evelyn’s pokey bones on her shoulder as they walked down the hallway.
They opened the front door and Lily stopped mid-stride. There was a jolt on the other side of Evelyn, indicating Sara had done the same.
“Who are all these people?” Evelyn asked staring into the sea of faces outside the safe house.
Alfred, Celestine, Alistair, and many others looked up at them.
“Everyone’s here to see you off,” Brigit said bounding up the steps and beaming at them despite her daughters’ obvious conf
usion.
“These are the people who helped save me?” Evelyn asked, a hint of understanding dawning.
“A lot of them,” Sara scanned the crowd. “And I recognize even more from the conference we held while you guys were healing. I guess they want to meet you and Lil, make sure we’re the real deal.”
Lily groaned. Small talk had never been her strong suit—especially not in her new world, where strangeness and things she knew nothing about lurked around every corner.
“So we’re networking,” Evelyn said, the corners of her lips lifting in self-satisfied smirk. “Leave this to me, girls. Networking is a speciality of mine.”
On to her next conquest. Lily watched as Evelyn hugged Shefali and the rest of her witchy family goodbye a half hour later. Evelyn hadn’t been kidding about her networking prowess. She’d had no trouble winning over any of the masses that came to see them off. Even more impressive, in Lily’s opinion, was that Evelyn always seemed to know what to say, whether it was complimenting Shefali on her gorgeous sari or asking Griselda for a brief demonstration of her powers. The grumpy half leprechaun-half elf had been delighted to indulge Evelyn, who she took to quickly, and created a shimmering rainbow over the triplets. She’s masterful at knowing what people want, Lily thought as her fingers waved through the rainbow. Why was it so hard for us to get along those first few months? She’s charming and good with people. Was it all my fault?
“I wouldn’t say that. I’m not so charming when I’m being competitive, which I couldn’t help doing with you two,” Evelyn said with an apologetic glance as they shuffled to the next group. “No, you have your barriers up, it’s just that we’re touching now so I can hear pretty much anything you are thinking and some of Sara’s thoughts, too. It’s the only part of my magic that feels easier than it was before before. I have a hunch my pneuma may be helping somehow. Sorry.”
