A Girl Between

by Marjorie Weismantel

  Belinda inquired, tilting her head to one side, “When was the other time it happened?”

  “It was just a few years back. My cousin, Eve was playing on the high school basketball team. She was pretty good. She was the starting point guard. She fractured a bone in her arm and couldn’t play for a few weeks. She was so afraid that the coach would continue playing this bratty freshman even after she returned. It was all she could talk about. I was sick of hearing it, plus I did feel bad for her. I snuck in her room one night while she was sleeping and grabbed hold of her injured arm. I just sat there and held it until I almost fell asleep. Finally, I ended up getting that same weird feeling, like there were ants crawling into my skin and right through to my bones. After it stopped, I practically had to crawl to my room. The bones all over by body were aching so bad. I didn’t go to school for a week. I told my aunt that I had the flu. Eve went to the doctor’s two days later for another X-ray to see if it was healing properly. Her arm was completely healed. The doctors were all shocked . . . . said they’ve never seen anyone heal so fast.”

  “How did you use this ability of yours against Lord De Morney?” Mercy asked.

  I said, “I had heard that the laundress of the De Morney manor had taken ill. As in the past, I immediately went to the manor to offer my healing services. When I arrived, before I saw the laundress, I told Lady De Morney’s serving woman that I had a special potion for her Lady’s gout. After that, I went to see the poor laundress. She was not in good shape. She had jawfaln, or fallen jaw. She said that she had been bitten by a wild dog on the previous day.”

  Mercy asked with a puzzled look, “Did she have lock jaw?”

  “That’s exactly what she had. I knew what it was at that time and I knew that it was incurable. I’d seen it happen before. Anyway, I treated the laundress by placing my hands on her face and gradually drawing the disease into my body. After that, I managed to go to Lady De Morney’s room with my special gout potion. It was very difficult for me because I was feeling the lockjaw disease starting to course throughout my body. Fortunately, Lady De Morney was very anxious for my potion as she was resting on her bed with her gouty foot lifted up on a pillow. As I rubbed the potion all over her leg and her foot, I used all of my concentration to push the jawfaln, or lockjaw disease out of me and into her own body.”

  “Did it work?” Mercy asked anxiously, edging closer to me.

  “Yes, it did. Lady De Morney acquired lock jaw and died. It’s a very bad way to go. I saw her later because they wanted me to try and cure her. The poison that you get from the bite of a diseased animal causes your muscles to contract so violently that you lose the ability to draw a breath,” I shuddered.

  Mercy’s eyes widened. “Was she a bad person?”

  “Yes, she was a nasty piece of work. She and her husband, Lord De Morney were both diaboles. They were cruel to their house servants and they treated their field peasants like the lowest slaves. She was always right in front during the executions and burnings and she would bring her two horrid children with her. I really hated her.” I stared off, my mind elsewhere.

  Belinda took my hand. “So, Tessie, dear, what else happened?”

  “Two days after Lady De Morney was infected with lockjaw there was a strange storm. There wasn’t much rain, but there was enough lightning for me to make use of it.”

  “What’d you do with lightning?” Mercy asked, frowning.

  “I was able to catch lightning and then throw it out again. When there was lightning near the De Morney’s field, I was able to catch it and fling it directly onto their barley and wheat fields. It had been quite dry so much of their fields burned to the ground.”

  “Did you learn anything else about your witch skills?” Belinda inquired.

  “Yeah, and it was a rather simple thing. Mama and I snuck into Lord De Morney’s barn. Mama was going to lame his best ox and sterilize two of his breeding cows. As she was ‘laying her hands’ on the ox, a stable boy came in and started yelling and running toward us. I simply gestured to a pitchfork across the barn and called it to me. The pitchfork came flying over and landed at my feet. I immediately picked it up and pointed it at the stable boy’s neck. I gave him my evil eye and told him that if he interfered with what we were doing, or told anybody anything at all, I would come back and make sure that he caught the jawfaln, just like Lady De Morney. The boy grunted, turned around and left. I knew he wouldn’t say anything because the De Morney servants hated them as much as we did.”

  Mercy looked at me with her raised eyebrows, “So, you have the power of telekinesis. I think you’ll require some practice.”

  Belinda leaned in and asked in a soft tone, “Tess, there’s something I meant to ask you. When you were at the gathering of witches, you indicated that you knew some of them, but they didn’t know you. Was that true?”

  I paused for a moment before answering, “Yes. When I went around to the witches, they took their hoods off so that we could see each other. As I saw into their eyes, I also got a glimpse into their souls. Witches only reveal themselves like that when they know they can trust somebody. That’s when I saw who they were.” I gazed at Mercy. “You were there, Mercy. You were the Gaelic woman with the red cloak. And, Will was also there along with Sam. There was Doug, too, the one who likes dodgeball in gym. I also saw our two gypsy friends, Dika and Nadya, and some of the new students who have arrived in Woodley recently, including the sister and brother from my English class. And, I swear, Mr. Kenney was there. I mean, it didn’t look anything like him because Mr. Kenney is short and round. This guy was tall and really gaunt, but I’m sure that it was Mr. Kenney’s soul in that body.”

  I paused and stared at Belinda and Mercy before adding, “I know it sounds weird, to recognize a person by seeing their soul through their eyes but you have to believe me. There were many others I felt familiar with but I wasn’t sure why. And did you hear me talk about the crone? You know who she was? It was Miss Cassie. She was there. I couldn’t believe it!”

  Belinda leaned in before asking gently, “Did you see your father there?”

  I smiled, widely, my eyes shining. “Yes, he was there. It was the green-hooded man. I looked in his soul and I could see that it was him. Of course, he didn’t know me from anything. Why would he?”

  I looked away and started biting my lip. “There’s one more thing.”

  “What’s that?” Belinda asked, concern in her eyes.

  “Remember when I wanted to stay in Trier after I was condemned to die? I wasn’t ready to leave that life even, though I was afraid of my death by fire. I wanted to look out and see who was watching me as I climbed the ladder to the pyre. I had a feeling that I’d see something.” I gazed back at Mercy and Belinda and moaned, “Well, I wish I never did. I wish I never saw who was watching me.”

  I felt a tear run down my cheek before I quietly added, “It was Ian. He was there, watching me as I climbed. I knew that he was one of them, for he had the same countenance and dress of the archbishop who had condemned me to die. I saw the darkness of his spirit as he was viewing me with such cold detachment. After a while, I became blinded from the smoke and my tearing eyes, but I knew he was still watching me. Even as I burned, I could feel the icy fingers of despair close around my heart.”

  52. Aftermath

  Belinda sighed, “Tess, we’re almost done. You’ve been through a great deal today between the regression and all of these questions. We still have to know how the 14th century Karmic Apocalypse of the Wiccans went.

  “I know,” I answered while leaning my head back on the couch and closing my eyes for a moment.

  “So, Tessie, what happened with the De Morney’s and that corrupt bishop? Did they figure out what was really going on?” Mercy asked.

  I loosened my shoulders and sat up before finally answering. “It was after we did something to the Bishop of Reims. My mama caused his property and his manor house to be affected by a terrible whirlwind. It ruined most of his vineyard
s and killed a number of his sheep. The wind also destroyed his entire barn and part of his house. By then, we knew that Lord De Morney and the bishop were getting suspicious so we packed up and left.”

  “Where could you go in those days without a male escort?” inquired Belinda.

  “Mama and I walked all night to the monastery that was in the mountains. Mama had sold herbal remedies to the Saint Maurice monks in the past and she thought they wouldn’t mind helping us. We were lucky in that they were bringing their wool and cheese to Paris within a few days. We were able to travel with them.”

  Mercy’s ears perked up. “So, what’d you do in Paris?”

  “Paris was scary for us at first. After all, we’d never been out of our village before. Mama had to go around selling some of her herbal concoctions to the city apothecaries. She ended up meeting some old guy who owned one of those places. His wife had died and he was desperate for someone to care for his children. They ended up making an arrangement. She married him and he took us in. We felt safe there because we could hide ourselves away in a large town like Paris, unlike the small village we had come from.

  Belinda asked, “What happened to the rest of the good witches after they implemented the Karmic Apocalypse plan?”

  “We had been hearing things from witches and commoners who were traveling through the area. They talked about grave personal troubles affecting some of the highborn and the religious leaders. The troubles seemed to be scattered randomly throughout the continent, although not all of the lords and priests were affected. After a time, it did appear that many luminars had to flee from their homes because they were concerned about eventual retribution.”

  “It sounds like your plan to torment the bad ones was working,” Mercy commented with a slow smile.

  “Yes, it did work, at least for a time. Our primary goal was to stop the diaboles from destroying the good witches. We punished them for their evil deeds AND we managed to keep them very busy, so busy that they didn’t have time to create all the typical witch hysteria.

  Belinda asked, “So, why did it change?”

  “After some years of suffering these misfortunes, a small group of the diaboles finally got together. They looked around and saw that the commoners and the good witches weren’t having the same level of bad luck that the diaboles were experiencing. That’s when the diaboles started to get suspicious and connect the dots. They finally captured a young witch from the Germanic territories and tortured her into a confession. She revealed our plan, not that I blame her. It was bound to come out, sooner or later.”

  “So, THEN what?”

  I explained, shaking my head, “All hell broke loose. The diaboles couldn’t believe what the luminars had done to them. They went back to their fancy homes and manors with plans to arrest and torture any good witch in sight. Fortunately, we had managed to spread the word. The luminars weren’t going to sit around, waiting to get arrested and thrown into the dungeon. They would put up a fight. After all, that’s what they had learned to do. The diaboles, on the other hand, had gotten lazy. They had more ‘things’ and more money, but their magical power had waned. It takes effort and practice to keep up the magic. Because of their wealth, all they had to do was to pay someone to do their bidding. For the first time, the diaboles and the luminars were on equal footing.”

  Belinda asked, “So the magical powers of the bad ones had diminished?”

  I nodded, “Yeah, like the old saying goes, ‘Use it or lose it’. The fighting between the diaboles and luminars went on for a couple of decades. The diaboles did become more fearful about accusing witches, for they would find that their house would mysteriously burn down, or their children would come down with an unexplained illness. You could say that we learned how to keep things in check, that is, until the year 1348.”

  “That year sounds familiar to me,” Mercy commented with a frown.

  Belinda answered, “It’s the beginning of the Bubonic Plague in Europe.”

  I grimaced, “Yes, otherwise known as, ‘the Black Death’.”

  I sighed, “We should have known that it would be impossible to keep the diaboles in check for very long. After all, until the recent past, the bad ones had kept control over the commoners and the luminars through brutal intimidation. Resentment over their loss of control had been simmering for a long time. They desperately wanted their power back. A diabole from the Kingdom of Naples is believed to have brought a cage full of infected rats back from China. They were infected with the Yersinia Pestis bacterium, otherwise known as the Bubonic Plague.”

  “Why would someone do that? Didn’t they know that the plague bacteria would be deadly for anyone who was exposed?” Mercy inquired.

  “It is said that a female diabole named Narcissa was driven to madness by the death of her husband, Brando. Narcissa and Brando were nobles with a large estate in the Kingdom of Naples and ran their lands with an iron fist. Both husband and wife were known far and wide as very evil witches. The rebellion between the luminars that worked the estate and Narcissa and her husband was fierce. The estate manor had burned down under mysterious circumstances and Brando died in the fire.”

  “So, are you saying that Narcissa did this evil deed out of grief?” Belinda asked.

  “Mad grief I would say. The day before the fire, an execution had been carried out. Two good witches, a mother and a daughter, had been burned at the stake right in front of the estate manor. It is believed that Narcissa blamed the relatives of those witches for the death of her beloved Brando. So, her final act of revenge was to bring the plague germs here. She wanted all luminars to die. She didn’t care about anything else.”

  Mercy leaned back in her chair. “I know the plague was terrible. What happened to you?”

  “Millions of people in the continent of Europe and the English lands died, including commoners and witches alike. No one could stop the advance of the Black Death. It did stop the fighting between the diaboles and the luminars. After all, who was left to fight? Everyone was nursing the sick or burying the dead. By the way, the Black Death came to Paris. I managed to survive; however, it killed my mama and my infant son.”

  53. Weather Day

  I started to gather my things to leave and Mercy touched my arm. “Hey, Tess, listen up. Will’s on the phone. He’s checking to see if we want to go sliding with him and some friends. They have a new sliding contraption called ‘speed demon’ and he wants to check it out.”

  “Like downhill sliding? Don’t you need some snow for that?” I asked, frowning.

  Mercy looked at me, “You don’t know?”

  “Know what?”

  “Look out the window,” Mercy directed with a grin.

  I glanced out. “Wow! How long has it been snowing? It looks pretty deep.”

  Mercy answered, “I don’t know when it started because we were in here. So, you want to go? Will’s waiting.”

  “Sure, why not? As long as you don’t think it’s too late today. It would be a great way to get my mind off of my family dying of the plague,” I responded with a grimace. “By the way, it’s still October. Do you always get snow this early?”

  Belinda laughed, “Never in MY lifetime. This is very unusual. There’ll be even more outages because the snow weighs down the leaves, the trees weigh down the power lines . . . you get the picture. We’re really lucky here. One advantage to living in a trailer is that you’re more likely to have a generator.”

  I listened for a minute. “Is that what I hear running?”

  Belinda nodded her head. “While you were under we lost power. I just had to flick a switch to turn it on.”

  “With this weather, I’m sure our power at home hasn’t returned,” I lamented.

  “Tess, I’ve got stuff you can borrow to go sliding. In fact, you can stay here until your electricity returns if you want.” Mercy turned to Belinda, “Isn’t that right mom?”

  “Of course, otherwise you’d end up going to a dark freezing house with your wet clothe
s.” Belinda shivered. “Just call your aunt and make sure it’s OK.”

  “Sure,” I responded, standing there, absently wringing my hands.

  Mercy glanced over at me, frowning. “Tessie, what’s up? You’re doing what your aunt always does, wringing your hands. Is something bothering you?”

  I deliberately crossed my arms in front of my chest to stop my wringing before looking between Belinda and Mercy. “Something’s nagging at me, something I should remember from the regression. It’s related to the weather and I know it’s important. Every time someone mentions the words snow, or freezing or, or ice, little bells go off in my head.”

  “Tess, just go off sliding with your friends and get your mind off all this stuff. It won’t come to you if you force it, believe me. It will just pop into your head when you’re not thinking about it,” Belinda responded.

  Mercy looked at the clock. “Will’s gonna pick us up in fifteen minutes. We have to get ready.”

  An hour later, Mercy and I were trudging up a long steep hill with Will and his ‘speed demon’. Nathan, Sam and Doug were there, trudging up with a saucer, a huge tire tube and some homemade contraption made out of a rickety chair nailed onto old wooden cross country skis. “Someone’s gonna get killed on that thing,” Will commented while staring at the chairski.