by Marnie Cate
“Now to perform the solo Dance of the Moon. I ask Meg Stone to join me,” Ms. Lilianna said as she held her hand out towards her.
Meg had a wide look of surprise as she hesitantly took her hand and walked towards the bright blue spotlight in the center of the stage. The other dancers moved in a line to the back of the stage and the soft music began. Meg extended her arms to the sky as if reaching out to the moon and began her dance. Her expressive dance made me feel as if she was really dancing for the moon. I looked over to Gram who had tears glistening in her eyes. This tiny little dancer before me was so elegant and talented. Watching my sister dance, I felt so proud and awed. With a final bow, Meg's dance ended; she dramatically collapsed to the ground as if put in a slumber. The audience roared with delight.
Walking out to take her hand, the teacher praised my sister's talent. “Ladies, come join us.”
The other dancers took their place with Ms. Lilianna and Meg in the middle and began soft tapping and clapping. Dancers from each end of the line moved forward to the front of the stage, took ahold of the hand of the other girl and gave a deep bow before waving and dancing off the stage. When Meg and Ms. Lilianna were the last on the stage, they both gave a final low bow and the lights went out. The audience was now on their feet with applause and cheers.
Suddenly, the spotlights began circling the stage. In anticipation, we watched on as a soft mist covered the platform and the light stopped in the center. Out of the haze, a tall man appeared carrying one of the dancers. As he moved forward, I recognized the child in his arms was Meg. She did not look scared but instead extremely happy.
As my eyes moved to the face of the man, I gasped. His dirty blonde hair was longer than it had been when I last saw him and his rugged face was no longer clean-shaven but instead he wore a short beard.
Taking my hand, Gram whispered with disbelief, “This can't be. He drowned in Sparrow Lake.”
The man stopped at the center spotlight and said with a laugh, “Yes, friends and family. I have returned from the dead just in time to see my daughter, Meg, in a dance that will be talked about for years to come. I know you will all have many questions for me but first let me reunite with my dear family.” As he exited the stage with my sister in his arms, I ran to her.
When I reached Meg, she exclaimed, “Mara, he isn't dead. Our father is alive. Isn't this wonderful? Now maybe she will come back.”
Pulling Meg to me, I spoke to this man in front of me. “If you are Elliott Stone, where have you been for the past eight years?”
Taking my hand and pulling me to him, he whispered, “Caterpillar, I have missed you so much. Trust me and I will tell you everything.”
Chapter 20
People began to surround Elliott with so many questions. Gram sent them all away. She thanked everyone for his or her concern but thought it would be best for us to have this family discussion privately at home. As the five of us rode in the truck together, there was a dead silence. By the time we pulled onto our property, Meg was sound asleep in Cole's lap.
“Carry her into my room, Cole,” Gram directed, as she turned to me. “Go grab Meg's favorite wolf and sheep stuffed animals. You know how upset she will be if she wakes up and they are not with her.”
Not sure why Gram would suggest the stuffed animals since they were mine not Meg's, I was confused. Without hesitating, I nodded and went to my room as she directed not wanting to contradict her.
Climbing the ladder, my mind raced. What was she trying to tell me? There must be something more she wanted me to see. Beside my lamp sat the two stuffed animals. As I picked up my gray wolf, I carefully examined it trying to decipher the message Gram was trying to give me. I could not see anything out of the ordinary that would help me out.
Setting the wolf down, I picked up the small lamb. As I inspected every inch of it, I noticed the tiniest bit of red thread on the bottom of its white foot. Lightly tugging on the out of place colored string, I felt a small movement. I continued gently tugging on it until is slowly began to break free. After I had pulled it a few inches, it stopped.
I tugged on it harder but it would not budge. Squeezing the small foot, I felt there was something hard inside. Taking a small pair of scissors from my nightstand, I carefully began cutting the fabric around the small opening. With my nails, I pulled on the red string until the object that was hidden inside loosened. At the end of the string was a small silver cylinder that was no bigger than my thumb.
Twisting the cap off the container, I found inside a rolled up piece of lavender paper with the following words in small writing,
As grandmother laid in her bed with her big eyes and her big teeth, Red knew that it was a lie. Removing the glamour before your eyes, Red, will not come easy.
You will need to burn an incense made of the dried petals from the agrimony flower, dragon's blood resin and spiny needles of a juniper tree.
Before lighting the incense, the wolf in disguise must consumes two small petals of the yellow rue. Be warned too much rue will reveal the truth but death will come to the one ingesting.
After reading the note several times, I carefully rolled it back up and put it back in the cylinder. With the animals in hand and the cylinder tucked safely in my boots, I stopped at my jewelry box to look at my father's picture. Yes, the man downstairs was in appearance my father but why would he return today? I guess I would need to face him to find out.
In the kitchen, I could see Elliott sitting at the kitchen table drinking a cup of coffee. When I reached the second to last rung of the ladder, Cole pulled me into his arms and greeted me with a kiss.
“Anything you need me to do just let me know,” Cole quietly whispered in my ear, as he gently set me down.
Kissing him on the cheek, I whispered back, “Put on your best face, you are going to meet your future father-in-law.”
Cole and I walked hand-in-hand towards Elliott. He turned to us. When he saw me, his eyes lit up. “Marina, my dear, wow you are so grown up. Who is this?” He gestured at Cole. “Sit. Come tell me all that I have missed.”
“This is Cole Sands. You knew his father, Thomas.” I responded.
“Yes, Cole, my boy. You have grown. How is your family?” He asked with a bright smile.
Staring at him, I tried to control my anger. “I would rather know where you have been,” I said softly. “If you have been alive, why did you wait almost eight years to return?”
Sighing, he slowly began to explain his absence, “The night before I drowned,” he paused and restarted.
“The night before I left, I was met by Cedric Drygen and a few of his men on the way home from working in Chester's woodshop. Drygen told me that I had been playing house long enough with Eliza and that he was going to reclaim what was his. I fought with him and he overpowered me. He was about to drive his knife into my heart but changed his mind and instead drove it into my shoulder blade.”
Unbuttoning his shirt, he pointed to the long ragged scar.
“Laughing, he warned me that the next slash of his knife would kill me but not before he killed both you and Meg in front of me. I begged him to spare you both. I told him that I would do whatever he wanted if you were not harmed. As he moved to drive his knife into my leg, Eliza appeared and she told him to stop. She promised that I would leave and never come back. She told me it was the only way to keep you safe. She then told Cedric to leave and that she would take care of everything.”
Stopping as if the memories were causing him pain, he took a deep breath and continued, “When Drygen left, she told me her plan to save us all. I would go fishing on Sparrow Lake as usual but my boat would be overturned and my body would not be found.”
“The morning I left, she wouldn't let me wake you and say goodbye. I should have taken you both with me at that time far away from here.”
“Why didn't you go for help?” I asked. “There are so many people that would have protected us.”
“My thoughts were only of keeping you an
d Meg safe. So I followed her plan.” Continuing his story, he looked at me with tears glistening in his eyes. “The morning I left, Eliza woke me before dawn. She had already packed me a small bag. She did not let me take anything but some clothes. I asked to take pictures of you, girls. She wouldn't let me. She said it would look suspicious if any of my things were missing. I insisted that she allow me to take more food than what she had packed or I would not leave. Angry that I was questioning her, she stormed out of the room. I quickly grabbed the first picture I could find of the both of you that I didn't think she would notice was missing.”
Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a worn photo of me holding Meg when she was born. “I kept this with me as a reminder that everything I did and would need to do was always to keep you safe.”
Shaking, he stopped and took a long drink of his coffee before continuing his story, “She brought me to Chester's boat. As I was pushing it into the water, she stopped me. She coldly told me that if I failed that your death would be on me. I was to leave Starten and never return. I loved you girls so much that I was going to leave just until I could figure out how to save you. To make it authentic, she took a knife and cut my hand. She said my blood on the boat would make it seem as if I was hurt and that is why I drowned. Our goodbye was cold and I knew that the woman I had fallen in love with was no longer there. I had to leave her to keep you both safe.”
“It turned out that Eliza was right in her plan. When the boat was found turned over with my blood looking like I had struggled to live, everyone believed it to be true. At first, I just hid in the Starten Forest where I could watch over you all. I watched as she played the stricken widow perfectly. A few times, I was close to being caught. This made me realize that I needed to leave the town and begin planning my return to you. I settled in Great Winds. It is a small village. People never settled there long enough to question me but plenty of information would come into town about the Drygens. Rumors about your mother's remarriage and her return to Starten reached me and I knew that I had to come back.”
With a look of shame, he turned to Gram, “Mae, I wish I would have told you everything. If I could have changed the way things happened, I would have.” Unable to finish his apology, he wearily laid his head into the palm of his hands.
I wanted to question him more but Gram stared hard at me as if to tell me to keep silent. “We can't worry about what should have happened. You are here now. Cole, move your things out of Elliott's room. For the time being, you can sleep in Meg's bed,” Gram said firmly.
With a look of surprise, Elliott responded, “No, I couldn't impose. I can get a room at Miss Adilene's boarding house.”
“You are not leaving these girls again. Your clothes are still hanging in the back of the closet,” Gram said sternly. “There will be no more discussion. You are staying here for the time being.”
With a relieved look on his face, he said, “Thank you, Mae.” Turning from her, he reached across the table and took my hand into his, “Can you give me a chance to be a father to you again?”
Confused and wanting him to be my father more than anything, I squeezed his hand back and said, “I'm glad your home. I have missed you.”
“I will make it up to you, Caterpillar,” he said. “I promise.”
Chapter 21
Cole began to move all of his things to my room and my father went to his room to sleep.
Once we were alone, I softly began firing questions at my grandmother, “Do you think he is really my father? Is this just a trick? Will we be safe?”
Putting both her hands on my shoulders, she just stared into my eyes. After a few minutes of silence, she said, “I do not know if that is Elliott but I do know that you are safe. You found what I sent you upstairs for I presume?”
I nodded and she continued, “Once we are sure Elliott is asleep, we will make a protection potion. Now we need to gather supplies. Let me see what I sent you to get.”
Pulling the cylinder out of my boot, I handed it to her. As she read it over, she said, “Yes, that's it. We can do this. We will need to get the juniper tree needles and rue flower petals. I know of a place not far from the binding circle that you can find both. For tonight, it will need to wait.”
Gram went to the pantry and came out with a small silver book. Inside, she flipped through the lavender pages.
“Yes, this will do,” she muttered and handed me the open book and left me to read it.
Rabhadh Fola was written on the top of the page in a deep red ink. At least I hoped it was ink. The spell needed two white candles, burdock root, salt and sage. All ingredients were items we had in the pantry. Just as I finished reading, she came back with her arms full.
“Here, let's be quick,” she insisted.
As she laid the white candles on the table and lit each one, she directed me to stand on the other side of the table across from her. Handing me a large metal spoon, she said, “Put the sage on the spoon and put it over both flames.” She then took a knife and scraped off some of the burdock root into the spoon that was starting to get hot.
“Hold out your hand,” she said and I had a feeling what was next. With a quick slice, she cut my finger and then placed my finger over the spoon. As I watched my blood drip onto spoon, Gram cut her own finger and let her blood drop onto the spoon.
Taking a pinch of salt in her cut finger, she said, “With this blood, I bind this salt to me. Once the barrier it forms is crossed, I request your warning.”
Handing me the salt, she said, “Now you do the same.”
Pinching the salt in my fingers, I began to repeat her. As I spoke the words, I felt a spark of electricity running from our clutched hands. When she released my hand, the tingling stopped. Putting the salt on the spoon and directing me to do the same, she took the spoon from me. She then poured the hot contents into a vial labeled Waning Gibbous Moon Water.
Calling out in a quiet voice, she said, “Goddess, your blessing is needed on this night. Please protect this home from harm. Blessed be.”
Blowing out the candles, I said, “Blessed be.”
“Now take this and sprinkle it around the floor outside his door. It will dry quickly so he should not be alerted. It will warn us of anyone crossing the boundary you outline and it will last until the next sunset,” Gram directed me, as she began to clean up the table.
“Go on,” she said as I stood staring at her.
“I don't understand why Blaze and the others can't be here to watch him.” I said.
“Mara, go on. The Goddess sent them to teach us to trust the magic we have inside us. They cannot interfere with our path,” she said, with frustration. Taking a long sigh, she grabbed my hand and said, “There are many things that cannot be explained. You just have to begin to trust your instincts.”
Squeezing her hand, I nodded and left to finish the task I was given. I stopped outside the bedroom door listening. I heard soft snoring so I began sprinkling the liquid. Each red drop fell and was absorbed into the wood quickly. The herbal metallic smell filled my senses.
Just as I finished creating the barrier outside of my parents' room, Cole came down the stairs. “I am officially moved in upstairs,” he said. “What do you need now?”
“If you could go start the kettle, we can make a cup of tea before we go to sleep,” I said, with a smile as I cupped the potion bottle in my hand. Quickly kissing him, I sent him on his way smiling.
Once I knew he was gone, I sprinkled the potion in front of Gram's bedroom door and went outside. The cool night air felt pleasant on my skin. A small breeze picked up and I inhaled deeply. The smell of the various trees in bloom and the crisp night air calmed me. Continuing my task, I sprinkled all the barriers beginning with the patio door and circled around all downstairs windows. When I reached the bedroom my father was in, I stopped and stared at him through the part in the curtains. He was laying under a deep chocolate colored bedspread and his chest slowly lifted as he breathed. He looked so much at peace.
Hating myself for my longing for the sleeping man to really be my father. I called out for peace. “Air, blow away my fear and give me the wisdom to follow the truth,” I pleaded.
Waiting for the response I wanted, I sighed and tried again, “Breeze, I need you. Please tell me that you are still with me.”
Sadly, I did not feel the warm gust of wind. Instead, I heard the crickets and the crackle the leaves as the birds settled in their nests.
Looking to the sky, I spoke to the crescent moon before me. “Goddess, please send them back to me.” Taking a deep breath, I focused myself to be strong and continued my task alone.
Once all the downstairs windows and doors were protected, I went back into the house. The warmth of the kitchen comforted me. Cole and Gram had already poured themselves some tea and were have a serious conversation. I stayed quiet and listened not wanting to interrupt and, if truth were told, to hear what he was thinking about everything.
“Mae, we can't just let someone stay here that claims to be their father. How do we know he is telling the truth?” Cole said, heatedly
Grabbing his wrist, she said, “This is not the time for you to become overprotective.” I noticed the tattoo on his wrist was now just a faint silver outline. Hiding in the shadows, I let them continue their conversation. Gram said, with confidence, “Our family is strong enough to overcome anything that we face. I warned you when you asked my permission to marry Mara that the path before us would not be easy. Find the resolve you had inside then and trust me…trust her.”
Putting his hand over her hand, he said, “I trust you, Mae. I just can't fathom the thought of ever losing her. I really don't know what I would do without Mara.”
