Alma struck a match and started lighting several small lanterns. They twinkled like stars in the darkness.
“I know it isn’t the fanciest of situations, but at least it will be warm. The heat from the fire loves to rise up here. I almost feel dreamy just thinking about it!” Mina reassured. “There is a straw mattress over there and an old quilt folded over in that wardrobe. Mind you, it might be a bit dusty and need an airing out on the morrow.”
There could have been icicles hanging from the ceiling, and I still wouldn’t have minded. I was simply happy to have a place to sleep other than the outdoors.
In the far corner, I saw the most peculiar object yet. A large wooden wheel sat propped up on a sort of stand, a cloud of wool stuck on a spike at the front.
“This is where we spin,” Alma announced, noticing my interest. “On the spinning wheel,” she added.
“A wheel that spins?” I said dumbly. “But, don’t all wheels go round?”
Laughing at my naiveté, Alma took a seat behind the wooden wheel. She picked up the wool and began to methodically work the pedal with her foot. Spinning madly round and round, the large spokes blurred together until they nearly looked invisible. The wool ran through her fingers effortlessly as the spool gobbled the white fluff.
“See, it’s quite easy!” she exclaimed, grabbing another ball of wool and feeding it to the insatiable beast. “It’s all in the tension.”
“Oh dear, he still looks a bit befuddled!”
“Maybe we went too fast?”
“Sit here, dear,” Edna ordered, nudging Alma out of the way. She gave me a gentle push and plopped me down into the empty seat.
“Now, you take this wool here,” she said, putting a wad of it in my hand. “And place your right foot on the treadle below. Now push it up and down, up and down, until you feel the rhythm in your bones. That’s it. Grip the wool firmly and stretch it into the bobbin. Not so much, now! Yes, much better.”
“He learns quickly, this one!”
“What talent!”
Whirr! Whirr! Whirr!
The rhythm of the wheel merged with my body, and for a moment my mind was cleansed. There was only repetition. Continuous motion. My pulse beat along with the treadle. The fibers ran through my fingers in a constant stream. I liked it.
“That’s enough for today,” Edna finally said, placing her hand on the wheel and breaking my concentration. “I dare say he would go on all night if we let him!”
“Should make life much easier for us,” Mina replied.
The other two agreed happily with her.
“But, there is more to this job than just spinning, I’m afraid,” Edna continued. “As with all pleasures in life, there is decidedly less pleasant work to be done first.”
True to her word, the less pleasant work started early the next morning, but unlike every other morning of my life, I was able to go at it warmly clad, with a full belly, and rested from a good night of sleep. The sun was barely peeking over the horizon when I went out into the cool morning air, carrying two armfuls of alfalfa.
“The sheep are your first priority. The number one thing you must do is give them nourishment,” Alma said. “The pasture here is not quite up to snuff in these cold months.”
As I opened the gate, hungry bleats scolded me for making them wait. Between the slick muck beneath my feet and the army of warm noses prodding my back and legs, it was a miracle I didn’t fall. But I completed the chore without complaint. I was handed a shovel.
“After they are fed their stall must be cleaned. Make sure you put down a nice layer of thick straw after. They get frightfully grumpy if you skimp on their straw.”
Two empty buckets.
“Make sure the troughs are filled. You need to check on their water several times a day. If the ice freezes the surface, take a pickaxe to it and give it hell,” Edna instructed.
Another hundred little tasks soon followed, each one preventing me from doing the one thing I wanted to do. Spin.
After dodging a head-butt from a particularly irritable sheep as I trimmed her hoof, I finally saw Mina come out to let me know I had earned my lunch.
Sitting in the kitchen, I noticed I was alone. Stuffing the bread and cheese in my mouth, I took my chance. I went back up the loft, where the wheel stood all alone. Everything was just as it was left the day before. It was beautiful.
Just as I put out an eager hand to touch the smooth grain, a disapproving cluck echoed behind me.
“Not before you finish tending to the fence. Several of those posts need replacing,” Alma scolded, both hands on her hips.
Head lowered, I left the wheel behind and went back outside.
As darkness fell and there was no more use being outdoors, the sisters ushered me back into the house.
“Not bad for a first day,” Mina praised.
“Except for when Gilly tried to snap at you. That sheep is going to become a nice mutton stew if she keeps it up,” Edna said, double checking my arm just to be sure I was unscathed.
“Let’s see, we’ve covered sheep care, fence mending, stall repairing. Is there anything else?” Alma asked, counting the jobs on her fingers.
I couldn’t have stopped myself if I wanted to. The words bubbled up from my soul, hot and eager. “Can I spin now?”
They gave me a wide-eyed look. “My goodness. We forgot the most important part!” Mina exclaimed. “Of course you can spin. What use is having sheep if you don’t use their wool?”
Whisking me back up the ladder, we stood before the machine. Its wood glistened in the low flames.
This time, the sisters explained all the parts of the wheel…what this metal piece did, and what that rotating part wound. How to properly prepare the wool and hold it just right. You must pinch the wool, if you care to know. Bobbins, carding, drafting, all were among the hundreds of words they hurtled at me at such speed I was barely able to keep up. It didn’t matter. I listened and learned, soaking it all up, storing it away to think over, review, and memorize later. Their lesson concluded on the floor brushing bits of wool, a basket still remaining to be carded.
“It’s a shame yarn doesn’t pay more for the work, but that’s just part of the trade, I’m afraid,” Alma said grabbing a new piece of wool, scratching the paddles over the springy white ball.
“Better one has a trade that makes some money than no trade at all,” Mina replied.
“If only we could spin wool into gold,” Edna said.
All three cackled at the idea.
“Now, before we set this boy mad with dreaming from our silly ideas, let’s see how much he’s learned,” Mina said, standing and directing me to the wheel.
They gathered around as I set everything up just as they said. Placing the bobbin in the correct position, winding the wool just right. Then I treadled, and the wheel spun.
I heard clapping in the distance, but my mind was already too focused on the methodical pumping.
Whirr! Whirr! Whirr!
Funny, though, as I spun I couldn’t help but imagine the fuzzy ball in my hand twisting into gold, shining brightly twirling around the bobbin.
I chuckled to myself at the very thought of it. Such an intriguing idea those sisters had. Too bad it was only fantasy.
The years passed, and every morning that I woke beneath the sisters’ roof, I was grateful.
They had been my salvation, though they didn’t realize to what extent. They did only what came natural to them, showing me affection in the form of hugs and sweet cakes. To repay their kindness, I always did my chores without protest. I fed the sheep just as the sun rose over the hills, carded their wool, and spun it into yarn. They had my absolute devotion. I even grew to enjoy their sisterly squabbles.
“The fork doesn’t go on the right, it goes on the left, Edna!” Mina would correct, eyeing her closely as she set the table for dinner.
“I read in Etiquette of His Royal Majesty that the fork, in fact, goes on the right,” Edna snapped back, placin
g the fork on the right with a loud bang of defiance.
“Technically,” Alma would chime in, not ever wanting to be left out of an argument, “Forks are not traditionally used for Soufflé.”
For the first time since the king had shattered my life, I was happy. I found this especially true when I would spin. I would feed it my fury, centering on the spiraling mouth of the bobbin as it feasted eagerly. Then, the gentle whirr of the wheel would lull and quell the hatred for the king. The animosity infecting my heart dissipated. I thought that maybe I could start again.
But, as usual, pain always found its way back to me.
Those rumors I heard long ago of the sisters using witchcraft were not completely untrue. Every night, the odd objects that had been stuck in nooks and crannies slowly emerged from hiding. Pendulums, crystals, stacks of cards, all sorts of fascinating items suddenly appeared. Alma added the final touch, covering the oil lamps on the wall with a purple cloth. The gold embroidered stars twinkled as the light illuminated them from behind.
Once Alma covered the final lamp I was given some sort of sweet, and sent up to my loft for the night. As the night deepened eager knocks rumbled the door.
In the beginning I thought nothing of it, perfectly content with my apple turnover or slice of cherry tart. However, sweets can only quell a boy’s curiosity for so long.
Careful not to make a sound I tiptoed down my ladder, making sure to stand flat against the cool wall once my feet hit the bottom.
With solemn decorum, the sisters circled the crystal ball I had first seen when I arrived. Bowing, Mina removed the black velvet revealing the pure orb and lifted it up towards the sky. Edna and Alma burnt a bouquet of sage underneath, the pungent smoke traveling up the smooth glass.
Taking the hands of their customer, Alma and Edna would lead them to a seat at the table with the crystal in the middle. Mina sat motionless on the other side. The customer would ask her a question or confess a worry. Mina would look deep into the crystal, waving her hands over the clear surface, muttering something inaudible.
Mina’s eyes remained closed as her hands hovered just above the round surface. They would then sit in absolute silence. After several long moments, Mina would open her eyes and she would speak, her words received with smiles, swears, grimaces, or even occasionally, sobs.
It was my fifteenth birthday.
As I sat in the chair by the fire, Edna and Alma dug a pendulum out of a flowerpot. Mina walked towards me as she had every night. But tonight, I noticed no cake in her hand.
“It is time,” she said serenely.
“For what?” I asked as she kissed my forehead.
“Why, it is your fifteenth year!” Alma exclaimed stacking a pile of colorful, illustrated cards on the table. “A very important age. We have been waiting a long time for this day.”
“Today you become a man, and it’s only proper we see what fate has in store for you,” Mina said, walking over to the crystal ball.
Edna swiftly covered the lamps and the light grew dim. Mina removed the black velvet cover revealing the flawless globe and motioned me to come.
I was thrilled to see the sphere again, this time even closer. My skin tingled with the sensation of falling through water.
“It has always been a great pity we couldn’t read your future until now,” Alma said. “But that’s the thing with the future. It’s very picky about when it will allow itself to be revealed.”
“Yes, very improper to expose someone so young,” Edna added.
“How does it work?” I asked, putting out my hand to touch the globe.
I was stopped by a tap on the wrist and cluck of a tongue.
“The crystal grants us the ability to decipher the phantoms contained within, illuminating the path one will take. It is an ancient art form designed to channel the energy around us to its fullest extent,” Mina answered.
“We have often wondered what path fate has chosen for you,” Edna said.
She grasped my hand with a squeeze and sat me down in the chair.
Alma gathered a bundle of sage from under the table and lit it. A plume of smoke rose from the smoldering leaves, and the scent filled my lungs.
Mina lifted the crystal above her head while Edna and Alma held the sage underneath, muttering words in a strange language. Once the ritual was complete, Mina laid the ball back onto its cushion. Her eyes glazed over as she stared into the realm of the orb.
“This will be your destiny, child. We hope it has many blessings in store for you,” Alma and Edna whispered in my ears.
I beamed, hoping my future would be filled with the same joys I had known during these past years. Truly, I asked nothing more.
A serene feeling took me and icy water ran over my body as I stared into the clarity of the sphere. It wanted to know me, asking for my secrets, my dreams. Unable to resist, I told it everything.
Without warning, I found myself naked, submerged in a vast black ocean. There was quiet around me, my soul weightless as I swam fully exposed to the universe. I didn’t want to leave this feeling of complete and pure liberation. However, the ocean began to shrink around me. First it dried into a pond, then a puddle until there was no water left at all and I only felt the hard back of my chair.
I shook my head and opened my eyes, curious to find out what was in store for me.
Mina’s face was frozen in terror, and a similar rictus infected Alma and Edna.
“A…a Shadow!” Mina gasped.
Alma and Edna released my hands like they held the very plague. Confusion tore through me.
“My poor dear boy!” Alma cried out.
Edna clapped her hands to her mouth, stifling a cry.
“A deep darkness dwells in this boy, deceit and devastation lying in his wake,” Mina pronounced. “Sisters, we have unwittingly allowed a Shadow to live beneath our roof.”
They made several signs with their hands as if to protect them from an evil force—from…me.
“A Shadow?” I asked, every feeling of horror suspended by a single thread of truth that was ready to snap.
Mina answered, “A Shadow is a kind of being, feeding on our energy driven by its own purposes, no care of others capable of reaching its stale heart. These creatures are usually born from our hopelessness, nothing but a shade, a reflection of our darkest emotions. But never has there been a creature mingling both human and shadow as one. Until now. You boy, are destined for a dual spirit.”
The sister’s faces were ashen now. Blood rushed through my ears and fear ate into my stomach. I couldn’t accept they actually believed this of me. It was just a stupid ball of glass.
“That’s insane,” I said, pretending a calm that was as worthless as a paper hat in a rainstorm. “You’ve practically raised me. Never once have I spoken an ill word or ever wanted to do harm. Now you are going to believe what some crystal tells you over what you know to be true?”
Even as I spoke, I looked into their eyes and knew. Their opinion would not change. In that moment, my heart and my life shattered beyond repair.
“Such ghastly images I saw! Straw, gold, a child. I have never received such a foul reading in all my years,” Mina whispered, refusing to meet my gaze any longer.
“We never should have taken him in,” Edna muttered.
“Now we know why we lost so much business. It was the darkness within him,” Alma said coldly.
My hands rolled into fists and they pumped with the anger thundering in my soul.
“So that’s it then?” I spat, jumping to my feet. “I’m just supposed to accept that I’m some vile creature intent on destruction?”
“We told you we believed in fate, and fate has marked you, my poor one. There is nothing to be done. You cannot un-write what is written,” Mina replied, her voice as grim as the grave.
I stared at them, hot tears running down my cheeks, willing them to reconsider. This was utter lunacy! Couldn’t they see that? No, they couldn’t. They were too afraid of me now. Afraid o
f what I was destined to be.
They turned away from me, and once again I was that outcast little boy, shivering outside in the cold.
“You must leave us. Tonight,” Mina said, facing the wall. “We cannot allow you to stay. You have darkened our door far too long.”
The others remained silent, and I bit my lip in angry disbelief at their betrayal.
A bodiless hand gripped my heart, its fist squeezing out all the ice until all that remained within was flames. The pain I thought gone returned. But this time, it was deeper, etching itself within my flesh and soul, encompassing everything until I felt nothing else.
I saw the crystal sitting brazenly there, mocking me for having ever believed I could move on. For having believed I could trust another person.
Without a second thought I picked it up and threw it against the floor. A loud crack echoed through the room as the glass exploded around my feet. Bits of crystal flew all over, the ball destroyed into a million pieces just as my soul.
“See,” I heard Alma whisper. “It has already taken hold.”
She might as well have stuck a knife in my chest and carved out my living heart.
Willing my breaths to slow, I observed the results of my destruction. The women cowered in my presence, but I no longer felt a part of their world. It was like I was a giant, looking down on some other race below. Small and weak. Silly.
My quarrel wasn’t with them. They were the victims of inane superstition, of the reputation that never really stopped haunting me. They hadn’t made me the outcast.
The king had.
He had thrown me into this abyss when he destroyed everything I loved. He made me this thing. This Shadow. For the first time, I saw clearly what I must do.
The king must pay for his sins.
I would take back what was taken from me, my name and family avenged. Only then would the pain woven into my bones finally be unraveled. In that moment, my revenge was born. I would show them all they were wrong. When the king paid for the sins he committed against his subjects, they would thank me.
Spin: A Fairy Tale Retelling (Spindlewind Trilogy Book One) Page 5
