"We had to blast it out," Faustine commented, "make it larger for the new boats, but don't worry, we have a whole new security system at Ula. The devil himself couldn't get past our cliffs."
Chapter 2
The castle had changed. The main hallway held new rugs in bright reds and yellows. The candle sconces were gone, replaced by huge orbs with stained glass reflecting the light within. Garlands, twisted with tiny white lights, weaved down the walls and along the floor perimeter, and pictures hung where previously the walls had been bare. Abby saw images of rainbows and huge, heavy flowers in full bloom. She saw watercolor fantasies depicting spring rains and lovers dancing beneath the full moon.
The library too boasted new, plush white carpeting and pillows strewn in enormous piles, surrounded by soft, sunken chairs and giant round ottomans. Bohemian tapestries in a hundred different colors bundled together in the center of the ceiling and cascaded out and down to the floor. The astrological mural was hidden beneath the fabric. Only the books remained the same, but those too appeared brighter, as if the dust and age had been blown off them. The fireplace roared and on the mantel, the old pictures of Ula were gone. The space now held vases of fresh flowers and animal figures carved from rose quartz.
"Wow, how could you possibly do this in four weeks?" Sebastian asked Faustine, marveling at the room.
"With a lot of help and lot of magic," Helena broke in, appearing from behind a golden tapestry and carrying a giant tray of pastries and teacups.
"Give me that," Oliver snapped, taking the tray quickly from Helena and pecking her on the cheek.
"Well hello to you too," she said, smiling. She settled into one of the overstuffed chairs and exhaustion showed in her eyes. "Come give me a hug, Lydie."
She beckoned to Lydie, who went and hugged her and then pulled up a pillow near her feet.
"It's all so different," Lydie whispered.
"We thought we were due for a big change," Faustine told them. Though something betrayed another emotion behind his words, sadness perhaps. Faustine was largely a creature of habit, and changing the castle so dramatically had left him slightly uneasy.
"I think it looks great," Abby said and sat on a pile of pillows next to Sebastian. She rested her hands on her belly and then quickly moved them to her knees. For the previous two weeks, she had worked on concealment spells around the baby. It had taken much of her energy and garnered more than a few awkward questions from Sebastian, but she appeased him by claiming she merely created protection spells for their new home.
****
"It sure has been lonely without you and Lydie Bug," Bridget told Oliver, giving him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. "But I don't blame you for needing a break from this place." She winked at him and returned to the stove to stir one of the seven steaming pots. Two of the pots stirred themselves and another made a sound like giggling as it boiled.
"That's dessert," she told him. "I thought we all needed a little mirth with our meal tonight."
Oliver grinned and surveyed the kitchen.
"No big remodel in here, Bridget?"
She looked at him sideways.
"It has taken me fifty years to get this kitchen just the way I like it. I'm not starting over now."
Oliver laughed. He peeked in at the roasting turkey and glass baking dishes filled with yams and green beans.
"Are we feeding an army?"
"You could say that," Bridget said slyly, but Oliver heard the serious edge in her voice.
"All the change doesn't make it go away, does it? These last few months have left their mark."
"Yes, and I admit, I'm racked with guilt that I wasn't here when Helena and Lydie were attacked. What bad timing I chose for a trip south. But the truth is Ula feels unsafe right now. I know that it shouldn't. The most powerful witches of Sorciére combined with our own have rebuilt the spells and created new ones that are a thousand times stronger than those we used before. But still..."
"It feels different being here," Oliver admitted. "I knew it would, and I won't pretend that our minds aren't part of the enemy. Everyone is scared. I almost thought Lydie would refuse to get on the boat to come back. She was so tense in the car on our drive up, I thought she might light the car engine on fire."
Bridget shook her head sadly and walked to the window that looked out on Lake Superior far below.
"Lydie will never be the same, and what's really sad is she experienced so much loss when her parents were killed. She faced death earlier than any of us and I'd like to say she made it out unscathed, but we all know better. Losing Max is going to stay with her."
"Do you think it's wrong for us to come back here, Bridget? I've wondered about that. If maybe I shouldn't buy a little house on the mainland too and keep Lydie with me."
"I don't think so, Oliver. The truth is that we're all afraid for Abby and Sebastian over there. They're alone, there's no fortress protecting them from an evil that has clearly grown in strength. When this is all over, that might be nice for you and Lydie, but right now...I think right now you both belong here at Ula."
****
Faustine stood at the head of the table. His cheeks glowed rosy from the wine and he was in rare form, with a smile on his face that went all the way to his eyes.
"Gratitude, my friends. I am grateful for this table filled with food and surrounded by witches and friends. I am grateful for our lives, for our health, for the intelligent universe that strives always to support us. I am grateful for each of you."
They held their glasses high and drank. Sweet cherry wine, spiced cider and the dark craft beer that Oliver insisted on bringing from the mainland. They drank and ate and talked.
Abby had second helpings of mashed yams and baked cauliflower. She watched Sebastian and Bridget excitedly discussing his new kitchen. Abby looked around the room at the smiling faces awash in candlelight.
I want to remember this moment, she thought and touched her fingers to the moonstone on her ring finger.
"You did it?" Helena suddenly gushed, grabbing Sebastian in a hug.
He laughed, and a blush rose up his face as the din in the room quieted and the other witches turned toward him.
Abby gave him a questioning look and he nodded toward her hand.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Helena gasped, covering her face. "My big mouth."
"No, it's okay," Sebastian reassured her.
He moved to Abby and took her hand. She stood with him.
"I asked Abby to marry me," he announced, and Abby felt a stiffness in his body as if he expected the witches of Ula to disapprove.
Instead, Elda began to clap and Lydie hooted. Helena did a little twirl and then looked sick and quickly took her chair. Abby glanced at Oliver, who gave her a forced smile. The other witches clapped as well and offered their congratulations. As Sebastian relaxed beside her, Abby returned to her earlier reverie. She wanted to stay in the moment forever, hearing the laughter of the witches and watching the moon rise, slow and white, into the dark sky.
Faustine cleared his throat.
"I am sorry to turn our attention to darker pursuits, but I believe it is time that we talk about the curse."
****
They gathered in the library after dinner, the witches of Ula and the small coven of Chicago. Everyone talked excitedly, drunk on food and wine and wanting to share their own secrets and adventures.
Abby chose a sunken red love seat next to the fireplace and pulled her legs to her chest, resting her head against the cushion behind her. The warmth dulled her senses and soon she felt her eyelids grow heavy.
Kanti had fought hard the day she was taken. Her fingers were bloodied, and her fingernails mostly ripped away. The giant had pulled out a hunk of her hair. Her skull, at the base of her neck, throbbed. She lay on the bed of dirty blankets and refused the tears and the panic that swirled in her abdomen. She could hear the giant and the white man outside the tent whispering together in their language that she did not speak. The white man s
cared her more than the giant. Though half his size, his eyes were black like a devil's eyes and when he looked at her, she felt lust and violence pour out of him. He had slapped her once, hard in the face, and made her mouth bleed. Then he had licked the blood off and cast her into the tent with no food or drink. Only a pile of soiled blankets awaited her, and she shivered in the frigid night air.
She could see the crackling flames through the opening in the tent and she wanted to go to the fire. The fire meant warmth, but more, she could communicate with Rowtag, the shaman of her tribe and her own teacher. Rowtag heard messages in the flames, and he had begun to teach listening to Kanti and her brother Nepi. Kanti took to the flames faster than Nepi, who was a spirit of the water and would likely seek his visions through the streams and lakes.
She moved onto her hands and knees, wondering instead if she might simply run. Break out of the tent as a whisper and steal into the dark forest at night. Before she could stand, the white man pulled back the flap in the tent. He walked inside and growled something in his language and then he laughed. She tried to stand anyway, and he shoved her back and pointed his finger in her face. He removed the leather strap from his pants and she thought he meant to hit her with it, but he merely cast it aside. She started to cry as she understood what he meant to do. He took his pants down and moved toward her.
Abby woke with a gasp and returned to the buzz of the library. She feared all the witches' eyes had cast toward her, but they continued to talk, lost in their individual conversations. Only Sebastian had tuned in to her. He sat on the love seat beside her, holding her hand and, she realized, pinching her skin slightly.
"I'm sorry," he said, patting the tiny red welt he'd left behind. "I could tell it was a bad dream."
Abby blinked a few times to clear the images.
"It was," she sighed, continuing to feel Kanti's fear as she realized the horrors in store for her. Abby had been having the dreams for weeks. Sometimes she saw new visions, such as the one she'd just had, and other times snippets of Kanti's original abduction. Each one left her sick and scared.
"Okay everyone," Faustine's voice boomed over the chatter. "Though I'm sure we could spend all evening idly socializing, I think it is time we get down to business."
He walked to the fireplace and stood before the flames, creating a long ghoulish shadow on the floor before him. Abby shuddered as the man from Kanti's memory drifted into her thoughts.
"I would like to formally welcome Victor and Kendra to the Coven of Ula. We are honored to have you here to celebrate, and we are grateful for all you have done to help Abby and Oliver."
Victor held up his glass of wine and nodded in response. He and Kendra lived in Chicago and had never visited the Coven of Ula. Although they were witches, they did not live as part of a traditional coven.
"I wish we'd met under more pleasant circumstances, and I have faith that one day we will sit here together and celebrate without the dark cloud that hangs over us. Tonight, however, we must discuss the curse that appears to be plaguing several of the witches of Ula."
Abby shifted, suddenly self conscious. She was, after all, the primary target of the curse that Faustine spoke of.
"The Vepars," Faustine continued, "our greatest enemy, are using this curse to their own advantage. Thanks to the Asemaa and to your Aunt Sydney in particular, Abby, we have documentation that reveals this curse; however, the volume of material spans hundreds of years and we have barely scratched the surface.
It is obvious that the Asemaa believed the curse originated with the Native American girl Kanti. We must consider that Sydney was only human." He looked apologetically at Abby. "And thus, her theories are more fallible than a witch who knows and understands our world. Still, she makes a compelling argument for this woman Kanti somehow cursing her own bloodline."
"How do you create a curse?" Sebastian asked.
"It's not easy," Elda answered him. "I've been doing a bit of research into curses. It is obviously dark magic. Though I doubt this girl had access to any such information. It seems obvious to me that it was born of anger, pain and intention."
"So, she was a witch?" Sebastian asked. "Because a human intention is not going to curse people for hundreds of years."
"Something powerful, yes," Faustine answered, looking pointedly at Sebastian, who himself had recently exhibited powers beyond the scope of a regular human. "In a tribe, she may have become a medicine woman, a seer perhaps. We don't know."
"Maybe that's why they kidnapped her," Lydie piped in. "To steal her power."
Faustine nodded.
"I tend to lean toward that idea. She was special, and that made her a target for the man who took her. Victor, did you want to get us started on the findings?" Faustine asked.
Victor stood and took Faustine's place in front of the fireplace. Victor and the other Chicago witches had been researching the origins of the curse at Abby's request.
"After Abby filled us in on Dafne and Tobias and the issue of the bloodline, we started digging into genealogy. Finding Dafne's maiden name was easy enough. The problem arose when we tried to find evidence of a child. The only way our theory of a cursed bloodline works is if Dafne gave birth at some point. We searched for adoptions and abandonments within one hundred miles of your Lake Superior mainland, primarily because we felt confident that she waited until close to labor. She knew it would look suspicious if she disappeared for a long time and probably did not feel safe venturing too far away. We also found it hard to believe that she wouldn't have traced her own bloodline, but since we didn't have access to Dafne, we couldn't exactly ask her."
Abby noticed a subtle shift in all the Ula witches at the mention of Dafne's name. Helena looked ready to cry. Dafne had been an integral part of life at Ula. She had been discovered by Faustine and Elda more than a century before. When she disappeared after the All Hallow's Ball, they were forced to accept that Dafne had betrayed her own coven in an attempt to stop the curse.
"We traced hospital adoptions, but didn't discover any promising leads, so we started to search for midwives. This was complicated, but we got lucky. A group of northern Michigan midwives had created an online scrapbook of births in Michigan dating as far back as 1878. We tracked every single midwife in the upper peninsula. They're all dead at this point, but midwifery is interesting. Many daughters follow their mothers into the field, and their work is the storytelling kind. Kendra found information on a midwife named Agatha Brinson. She spoke to Agatha's daughter, Julia, who is now seventy-two, but remembered her mom telling of an especially mysterious birth by a woman with long black hair whose eyes seemed to light on fire when her child was born. What's interesting is that a centuries-old oak tree outside the midwife's home burst into flames during the birth, and there was no lightning storm or strange activity except the young woman in labor."
"I can't believe Dafne had a baby," Helena whispered sadly. "Why didn't she tell us?"
Abby felt the emotion of the witches in the room. Without warning, a rush of hot tears fell over her cheeks.
"That's something we cannot possibly fathom," Faustine quipped, encouraging Victor to continue.
Abby knew that Dafne's deceitfulness had wounded Faustine deeply.
"Fortunately for us, Agatha kept a very detailed record of her births. Dates, times, names and adoptive parents. This woman with the fiery eyes demanded that her birth be anonymous, but the midwife refused and I'm sure Dafne, in her exhaustion, just let it go, assuming her false name would be enough."
"What name did she use?" Elda asked.
"Aubrey Blake."
"Wait, Aubrey Blake?" Abby interrupted. "As in Devin's cousin Aubrey?"
"Yes."
"Why would she do that?" Helena asked. "If she wanted the baby to be a secret?"
"To pay homage to her cousin," Elda said, understanding. "To atone for her guilt. I'm sure she believed that she caused Aubrey's death."
"From what we've found," Victor continued, "Aubrey and Dafn
e were like sisters, very close. It was their grandmother who had the fiery red hair, which only Aubrey acquired. Devin, the witch whose body Abby found, ended up looking nearly identical to Aubrey, amazing really, when you think about it."
"Yeah, I remember the newspaper article I found about the burning." Abby shuddered. The image of Devin's dead body returned, and she closed her eyes against the memory. Devin had looked nearly identical to the witch, Aubrey, burned one hundred years earlier.
"Dafne's child's name was Sylvia. Dafne did not name her. She left the child with the midwife, who placed her with a family, and they named her. I do not believe that Sylvia was a witch. She gave birth to three children."
"Sylvia was the name of my great-grandmother," Abby said.
"Yes, and they are one and the same. Which makes Dafne your great-great-grandmother."
Abby spit out the cider she'd been sipping. Sebastian grimaced and wiped his face.
"Sorry," she said, using her sleeve to wipe his cheek.
"Could it be true?" Helena asked. The dismay on her face mirrored every expression in the room.
"Dafne obviously didn't know," Elda countered.
Dafne had treated her cruelly from the first moment she arrived at Ula. She had been even nastier to Sebastian. She could not fathom the witch knowing that Abby was actually her great, great granddaughter.
"Maybe not," Victor agreed. "Without speaking to her, we can't know for sure. She could have tracked the bloodlines herself, of course."
"But she didn't," Julian argued. "I believe after Tobias murdered her friends, she cast the child away out of pain. I don't think she knew about the curse."
"Then who told her? Why did she hate us?" Sebastian demanded. "She obviously started to investigate the curse at some point, and by the time we arrived..."
"She was expecting us," Abby finished.
Faustine held up his hand.
"We don't know that. Before you arrived, she may have gotten wind of the curse, but didn't fully believe it. Perhaps your arrival brought the possibility back to reality."
Kanti Page 2
