by HMC
‘Jim’s Services. You can call me Hank, though. I’m the son.’
‘You’re all right, Hank,’ I said, before he disappeared.
Mum waited and when I gave the nod, she threw her arms around me. ‘You did so good!’ she said.
I repeated everything Hank had said and Mum went about calling up to find out about Jim’s tree-lopping services in Melbourne. Hank and his family didn’t listen to Mum’s warning. His death was in the news the following day.
‘The stones have been charged and will be placed at each corner of the school,’ Anna said as she opened the boot of her car. Mum and I took a stone; it was more like a bolder. ‘Chanting was used to charge them, Mouse. What kind do you think?’ Anna was always teaching.
‘White light protection?’ I said. That’s all it ever was lately.
‘Good.’ She nodded as she grabbed one of the stones and heaved it out. ‘Inside these rocks are gemstones. Black onyx. It’s not only a powerful protector, but the absence of light creates invisibility.’
THAT was the one I should’ve taken yesterday. Maybe then I wouldn’t have had a literal run-in with Hamish. The guilt crept over me for punching the poor guy in the face. I wondered how his forehead was today – whether I’d left a mark. My cuts had healed well and stung less but now my right hand ached as I carried the heavy stones. It had collided with a bone. He and Aidah could sue me for both trespassing, and physical abuse.
I tried to recall the bruja in the mirror from Saturday, and I tried to reimagine the feeling I got when I first saw Hamish and Aidah in Sadie’s. The memory fluttered away like a butterfly over a fence. I knew it was there, but it was no longer in sight – no longer reachable. Memory could be fickle as the wind, especially when you needed it most.
‘It should keep us under the radar,’ Anna continued.
Mum huffed as we placed our stone down in the first spot by the garden – the east side. ‘We protect this place,’ she said between breaths, ‘but this evil goes to another school. This evil goes to other children.’
‘We can’t protect everyone, Mum,’ I said.
‘I worry about that, too,’ said Anna. ‘Connie, the vision was for Mouse. This is where she’ll be spending most of her time come tomorrow. And I just know if she needs to protect a child, she’ll be shown more. It’s the way of it.’
I bit my lip. I wanted to tell them about Sonny. Anna looked at me and for a moment I was worried she already knew. After yesterday, I felt like I was losing my touch – like I was making up stories in my head about some poor woman and her son who were new in town.
Cat, where are you? I shrieked in my mind to a ghost who’d stopped returning my calls. I don’t know what’s real anymore.
‘Watchers of the east, keep us safe.’ Anna used chalk to draw a half triangle, with a circle inside on the cement. Mum and I repeated her words. Anna pushed the stone over the glyph and we moved on. We placed our stones at the four corners of the school, and after Anna had finished her last chant, we made our way back to her car.
‘Do you think this enough?’ said Mum.
‘For now,’ said Anna. ‘Mouse and I will do the house then she can get on with her schoolwork.’ Anna studied me. ‘We can go on as normal tomorrow, Modesta. Unfortunately being a witch while trying to lead a normal life means nothing stops in a crisis.’
‘The show must go on,’ I said.
When we got home Anna sent me around the house to do some smudging. I trailed bergamot around my room. I stepped into the en-suite for the first time since Saturday morning. ‘Protect us with all your might, oh Goddess gracious day and night.’ I stood before the mirror and waited. ‘Nothing. She’s nothing. It’s nothing.’ I smiled at my reflection. ‘You got this, Sirenita.’
I continued my chant all the way around the house as Anna poured sea salt by the windows. I put my bergamot down, and Anna came over to me. ‘Ankh. That’s clever, Mouse,’ she said as she studied my pendant. ‘In some cases it’s used for protection, even love. But why this particular one?’ I shrugged. ‘This is a different kind of ankh,’ Anna said. ‘It’s used in ceremonies to resurrect the dead.’ I tried to hide my shock. ‘Where did you get it?’ Anna seemed to look right through me.
‘Sonny Albright gave it to me.’ It wasn’t a lie. Not technically. How could I be questioning everything when I still had this bloody thing around my neck?
‘Just be careful what you do with it.’ Anna passed me and went to join Mum in the living room.
After rummaging through the kitchen for a while and snacking on a bit of everything in the fridge, I found myself hungry still. When my heart was empty, I could never quite fill my stomach. I made my way to my bedroom.
Tomorrow I’d meet Ms Lawson again and start my internship. Thank goodness for the public holiday. While families spent their long-weekend relaxing at the beach, I got to work. It took most of the day, but I finished off my lesson plans, and then spent the next hour ironing clothes for the week. Anna had gone home for the night.
Mum was watching the news. I decided to pack my school lunch before making dinner. That’s when Mum screamed. My apple fell to the kitchen floor. I ran to the lounge room.
‘What! What is it?’ I said. She pointed at the television.
‘Megan Small went missing from her Gold Coast home sometime last night,’ Bruce Paige from Channel Nine said.
The television cut to a distressed woman. The text beneath her read: Racheal Small, Megan’s step mother.
‘I don’t know what time it happened. There was no forced entry,’ she said. ‘We heard nothing. We just want our little girl back.’ Video footage of Megan came up on the screen. There were some clear shots of her face, her brown pigtails, and her missing teeth. She was receiving presents at her birthday party. As she tore open a present she whistled, and my skin crawled. It was to the tune of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.”
It ended with a school photo of her. The uniform was too familiar. My stomach flipped. Everything I picked at in the kitchen threatened to revisit me. All went quiet. My legs gave out from under me and I fell to the floor.
‘Modesta!’ Mum called to me. She was by my side and helped me into a sitting position. My phone rang in my pocket. It was Anna.
‘Anna?’
‘Modesta. Did you see it?’ she said. ‘We’re too late,’ she said. ‘Megan Small. She’s gone missing.’
‘She’s one of your students,’ I said.
‘Yes. And she’s one of yours, Mouse. She’s supposed to be in your class tomorrow. She’s a friend of Sonny’s.’
Now my stomach really flipped. ‘My class,’ was all I managed to say.
‘She’s been gone all night. You didn’t see anything, no visitas?’ Anna said.
I could hardly hear her anymore. All I could hear was the whistling, Twinkle Twinkle. ‘She puts her tongue in your ear,’ I found myself saying. Then I passed out.
I heard Anna’s voice. ‘I compel you to tell me the truth.’ I was in my bed. Wax burned my arm.
‘Ouch!’
‘Anna, do not hurt her. She been through enough!’ Mum slapped Anna on the arm.
‘I’ll do more than that,’ said Anna. I smelled thyme.
‘What else have you seen, Modesta?’ My tongue tingled, then it burned as if I had just chewed a Habanero pepper! ‘Speak and the pain will subside,’ Anna said calmly, as she and Mum sat on my bed.
‘Tell her, young lady.’ Mum pointed a finger at me. I needed the pain to stop.
Once the words started, they poured out like water. ‘Sonny died in the ocean.’ It started there, and ended with me talking to Hamish yesterday. When I stopped speaking, the burning was completely gone.
‘Do you understand what this secret has done?’ Anna asked.
I nodded. Tears came.
She stood and paced the room. When she saw how upset I was, she stopped. She sat back on my bed. ‘I know, I know.’ She hugged me. ‘It’s all right.’
Mum put her arm around
me from the other side. ‘It must be hard for you. You see little Sonny hurt,’ Mum said.
‘We’ve put our protection around the school. Once the students arrive tomorrow I’ll do some more work. For now, we have to go and get Megan back,’ said Anna.
‘What?’ Mum cried out. ‘No, no, no. Neither of you go anywhere!’ She stood.
‘We have to,’ I said. ‘We have no choice.’
Anna nodded. ‘Agreed.’
I thought about Aidah and Hamish. ‘What if Aidah isn’t responsible?’
Anna stared at me. She seemed to come to some realisation and a smile danced on her lips. She shook her head. ‘I can’t believe I didn’t even think of it.’
‘What?’ I asked.
‘She’s done this. It’s her fault,’ Anna said. ‘It’s not your fault for keeping secrets, Mouse. Aidah makes you see her as she wants you to see her. Even you. She fooled even you! She dulled your senses.’
‘Magic,’ I breathed.
‘Let me check. I’ll get the knife.’ Anna stood.
‘What?’ Mum jumped off the bed. ‘No knives!’
‘I’ve seen this before, Connie,’ Anna huffed. ‘The same glazed over look in the eyes, the off behaviour.’ Anna pointed at me. ‘When I was small, a horrid little slag called Brigid came to my school. She had everyone fooled into thinking she was an angel. Underneath? She was like Damien from The Omen, or Henry from The Good Son.’ Anna started pacing again. ‘Accidents started happening, parents went missing. One of the older kids Brigid didn’t like walked off the edge of the Southport Peer and drowned! No one pointed a finger at her. Somehow, I was immune. I saw through, and I see through now! Around the time Brigid showed up, everyone got this dreamy look, like Modesta did when she mentioned Aidah. It’s old magic.’
‘If this is true,’ said Mum, ‘What must we do with the knife?’
Anna placed her hands on her hips. ‘It’s not for Mouse. It’s for me.’
Mum threw her hands up. ‘Well, why no say this?’
‘I studied Brigid for days trying to figure out how she did it – made everyone stupid – I mean. No offence, Mouse. Until I realised all they need to do is breath the same air, and it can get into your lungs. Into the blood. Into the brain. Aidah will have everyone wrapped around her little finger without even trying. But not us. Like I said, I’ll get the knife.’
Anna did the ceremony in the next room. She wanted to be alone for it, and I could learn another time, when the stakes weren’t so high. I was cool with that. I may have seen plenty of blood in my lifetime, and Mum may work in a hospital, but when we had the choice, we’d prefer to be ignorant, thank you very much.
It was called a spell binding. It was an anti-spell, or shield, stopping Aidah from getting into our systems – and getting her out of mine at the same time. Anna had to cut her arm, and draw the blood down the blade. It was as effective as it was disgusting, in my opinion, and I’d have to learn how to do it sooner rather than later. She said my name and I heard it like she was next to me. My body tingled, sweat poured out even though I was stationary, and the room smelt of petrol. There was a fizzing sound in my ears, then a pop. ‘I think it’s working,’ I said to Mum as she held my hand.
An azure blue mist cloaked us. Mum shivered. It felt like ice ran through my veins. Mum wrapped her arms around me as we breathed frost, and looked at each other with wide eyes. A little warning from Anna would’ve been nice, though she’d been so hyper, pacing all over the place like a monkey in a cage, it’d surely slipped her mind.
When Anna returned to my bedroom, Mum and I were warming back up. I’d gone from sweating, to freezing, and back to Gold Coast, summertime sticky, in the space of four minutes.
Anna had dried blood on her arm still. She hardly saw us, as she went on with her rant as if she’d never left the room. ‘She’s got people fooled into thinking she’s some normal woman. I bet she’s even the kind who attends meetings and organises charity events.’
‘Anna!’ I stood up, walked over to her, and squeezed her shoulders. ‘Calm down. You’re not focussed. You could have told Mum and I we’d almost freeze to death with your spell. You’re not even looking at me!’ I shook her now.
She stared at me with empty eyes for a few seconds.
‘Mitote,’ I said.
Anna took a deep breath. There was a re-entry of the self, back down to the earth-plane, and now she was seeing me. She nodded. ‘Maya.’ We smiled at each other. Both words meant a fog of perception, a non-presence. Both were a reminder that we must awaken from our dreams, and return to the now. If you let them drive all the time, emotions were a powerful vehicle on the road to destruction.
‘Back to Aidah,’ I said as I returned to sit on my bed. ‘I felt her at first. In Sadie’s. I felt what was really under there. It was … nasty. There was a kind of heavy static in the air when she came in the room.’
Anna nodded. ‘And this Hamish?’
I shrugged. ‘I don’t know. He seems like a normal kid. But Aidah started to look like a normal woman to me, too. My judgment is moot, I suppose.’
‘It won’t be now,’ said Anna. She took the chair in my corner, covered in clothes. Mum sat quietly listening.
‘I’ve found out as much as I could about this Sacmis who came to visit us the other day,’ said Anna. ‘These women are definitely connected. I’m thinking they’re related. This confirms my thoughts. If this Aidah woman makes people think a certain way around her, it’s similar to the story. Sacmis was able to make the villagers think things. As we’ve learned from little Brigid, it’s dangerous. Really dangerous.’
I gasped and put a hand to my mouth. ‘That’s how she lures the children.’
‘Probably.’
‘How she lured Megan.’ I was feeling sick again. ‘I have to call Trent about Sonny.’
‘You do,’ said Anna. ‘Trent can’t let him out of sight. Tomorrow at school, we’ll do a protection spell. We can do it without his noticing. Connie, I need you and Modesta to stay here, do you both understand?’ said Anna.
‘Oh hell no!’ I stood. ‘I’m coming, too. Besides, I’m the one who knows where Aidah lives.’
‘Well, we go nowhere without a plan,’ said Mum. She stood and put her hands on her hips. ‘You all listening to me. I have the plan. I know exactly what your Aunty Catalina would do. Okay?’
Anna smiled and nodded. ‘Okay, Connie. Who are we to argue with that? Mouse, welcome to the magic of Connie Castro. Watch and learn.’
Mum stood over a box that sat on her bed. ‘Is in here.’ She pointed at it.
I swallowed. ‘Okay. Who’s doing the honours?’
Anna stared at the box. ‘You should do it, Connie.’
Mum nodded and opened the box. I stared. ‘It’s hideous.’
‘It’s beautiful,’ Anna said as she studied the crude, carved giraffe. ‘It’s obviously African.’
‘Sí,’ said Mum. ‘It was given to Catalina from Mali. Witch doctors. He say it help her see far.’
‘The Mali worship Ama.’ Anna was getting excited, which meant she had facts to share. ‘Divination and healing. There’s no dark magic in this object. I don’t think. But we must be careful.’ Anna looked at me.
‘What? You want me to pick it up? Gross.’ I looked down at the wooden thing, picked it up, and turned it over in my hands, studying the grooves. It was light. I tried to feel something from it. Nothing came.
‘They sometimes coated their work with blood,’ said Anna.
‘Argh!’ I dropped the giraffe onto the bed.
‘Well, anthropologists think it was mostly during their ancient ceremonies.’ Anna was perfectly thrilled.
I pulled a face at her. ‘Oh, well that makes it okay, then. If you’re so interested, you hold the bloody thing. No pun intended.’ I grinned.
‘I will.’ Anna picked up the giraffe and stroked his head. I scrunched my nose up. A tiny speck of light shone from the giraffe’s eyes.
‘Do you see this?’ s
aid Mum.
I nodded and smiled. ‘Yes, I do. Looks like Anna’s made a new friend. Now if this thing detects magic like you say it does, then we might have a chance.’
Anna smiled. ‘I like it.’
‘I can see that,’ I said.
‘We have some phones calls to make,’ said Mum.
‘There’s definitely no one home,’ I said, as we watched the Armstrong’s house safely from behind a bush across the street.
‘The phone call was good, Connie. It worked,’ said Anna, as she squeezed Mum’s shoulder. ‘Of course a woman like Aidah would make an appearance at an Australia Day BBQ in her new town. She’ll probably run for council. There’ll be plenty of people on the beach to keep her occupied. Even Mayor Tom Tate is showing up, apparently. Let’s get a closer look,’ Anna said as she made her way across the road without so much as a let’s go.
We stood before the house. I’d been there three times today, once in a vision, once on my own (what an insane thing to do), and now. If Megan was missing, she was either here, or long gone. The thought of the little girl from my vision came back to me. She started whistling through her teeth again.
‘We can climb the fence over here.’ I led them to the spot. Mum needed a little boost over and she landed on the grass just as I had – with a thud, and a sore behind.
‘We’re looking for anything out of the ordinary. If this woman has Megan, I feel like it will be revealed to us,’ said Anna as we edged along the side of the house with me in the lead.
‘I’m sorry, Anna.’ I stopped and looked at her. ‘She has Megan. Or she had her. It’s already been revealed. Now we just have to find out if we’re too late.’
Anna’s face dropped. She nodded. ‘You’re right, Modesta. You’re right. Just wishful thinking, I s’pose.’
‘Focussing,’ Mum said.
We got to the yard where Aidah had been sunbathing earlier that day. ‘How are we getting in?’ Mum asked.
I scanned the back of the house. On an inkling, I walked over to the back door mat, lifted it, and sure enough, there was a key.
