by E M Graham
My eyes were blinded by the blue of the light trail but I sensed movement from Alice, I couldn’t tell if it was by her own will or the result of the magic gone awry but she fell, rolling off the altar of stone and dropping heavily onto the ground at Seth’s feet.
Seth stood for a moment, absolutely still as the light travelled back through his arms with no prey to stop its path, then he arched his back and let out an ungodly curdling, unending scream.
The smell of burnt flesh singed the air.
All motion in the bowl was suspended, the chanting stopped, the hooded figures petrified as if turned to stone. A wisp of smoke curled up from Seth before he collapsed heavily on the ground beside Alice.
I felt the first tendrils of the wind rising now, playing with a strand of hair around my face, and from the corner of my eye noticed the fog above the clifftop hollow lifting, twirling, dissipating as the power which had bound it was loosed.
Of the magic which had moments previously thrummed and roared and flashed in the air, there was no sign. It was now a normal, cloudy, windy night at the top of the Southside Hills. A fox barked further down the mountain, calling to its mate, and the wind susurrated through the scraggly bushes above our heads.
A movement from the floor of the hollow. One of the figures brushed back its hood and stood looking about, dazed.
“Fuck me,” said Polka Dot Quiff as he shook his head and looked all around him. “What the hell are we doing?”
Another figure walked slowly to Seth and knelt by his side. It was Sasha. She put her hand to her mouth as if to stem a flow of upchuck, but she didn’t succeed, and ended up throwing up the contents of her stomach to the side of her boyfriend, just missing Alice’s inert body.
I saw Hugh emerge from the blackness above the bowl. The camouflage was off and all eyes were now on him as he made his cautious way down the scree slope with Jon de Teilhard at his side. Dad was staring at me hard, but didn’t say a word. Shit. I was probably really in for it now. Life was so unfair.
Scuffling the loose pebbles under foot, I leaned over Sasha and nudged Seth’s inert body with my toe.
“Is he dead?”
She shook her head and moved aside so I could see. Tears were still wet on her face, but she was already getting color back in her cheeks. Seth wasn’t dead, but he would wish he was when he awoke. The beautiful face was now reddened and scorched, the skin bubbled in places. One hand lay across his chest, and that too was a mass of blisters.
I silently passed him and knelt by my friend’s side.
“Alice,” I said softly, looking for signs of life.
“Alice!” I grabbed her shoulder and shook it hard, and finally she stirred. I threw myself down next to her and held her tight. She opened her eyes, and weakly pushed me off.
“Don’t crowd me, Dara,” she said.
I looked deep into her eyes, where the ravages of Seth still remained, and then I hugged her again to get him out of her.
We all climbed silently back out of the bowl. The wind had returned to full force around our heads, but I could hear the wail of sirens coming along Southside Road far below us. Hugh carried Alice, and two of the Kin brought Seth down the hill as gently as they could, considering his burns.
Jon had already called for reinforcements of the Normal kind, the comforting arm of the legal and health emergency systems. He had a bit of explaining to do to them, but he knew how to handle it. An equinox prank gone wrong, he said, it backfired hence the burns. No, he hadn’t been part of it, he had come on it at the last moments. Much of what he told them was true, I guess.
IT WAS NOW ALMOST October. The events of the equinox felt long ago as regular life crept back up on us all. Hugh got Dad to agree to let me go to the Outer Hebrides after Christmas to learn the basics of the craft – Jon could hardly refuse the request after what he’d witnessed that night. I think more than anything he just wanted me far, far away and out of his hair. The catch was I had to pass this semester at university, and without using magic on exams. Bummer, but how would he know if I cheated, just a smidgeon? I did have a lot of catching up to do, though.
So I was lying on my bed with Edna’s boom box turned up on blast with the Eurythmics, trying to catch up on the stupid Math 1010 but it wasn’t really working for me. Sweet dreams, indeed. That late afternoon with Seth in the field still played on my mind, I couldn’t get it out. Even though I’d been scared shitless the whole time, I had yearned for him to enter me, to take me with him, to open me to the dark possibilities only he could offer. That witch’s power to seduce was incredible magic, and dangerous too.
But his promises were all lies, I had to keep telling myself that. Despite being impressed by my powers, he didn’t want to nurture and teach me, no, he wanted to suck my energies out to make himself even stronger.
I knew he had gotten to Alice in much the same way, I could sense it from her, that leftover longing for the allure of Seth.
While I was lost in this musing and the music, my door opened. It was Sasha. She stood on the threshold hesitantly, unsure of her welcome.
“Hey,” I said, sitting up and reaching over to mute the sound.
“Dara,” she said. “Edna called out to get you to come downstairs, but I guess you didn’t hear.”
I hadn’t expected to see my sister, not in a million years, not after she’d been responsible for bringing Alice into the clutches of Seth. I didn’t want to see her either, but she was here, for the first time in many years. She was looking healthier than she had for the previous few months, I had to admit, less fashionably pale and thin, more herself.
She walked on in to my room and sat on the bed next to me. I shifted over and drew my knees into my arms and waited for the bitch to begin. She had a lot of explaining to do, and we both knew it.
“I’m... I’m sorry.” That was all she whispered, looking down at her lap.
That was it? She was going to have to do better than that. That measly apology didn’t even begin to scrape the surface off my anger, and I prepared the guns for my assault on her.
“Do you mind clarifying what you’re sorry for? Is it the bit about being prepared to sacrifice my best friend for your boyfriend? Or is it about the murder of the half-blood last June, huh? Or, God forbid, maybe you’re apologizing for torturing me and making my life living hell for the past few years? Which part exactly are you sorry about?”
I wished I could have planned this better – I’d rather have been looming over her in a threatening manner as I gave my sarcastic speech. Instead, I was still sitting next to her on my bed so I held myself as stiffly as I could. The pink elephant from all those years ago lay dusty on the shelf before us.
“All of it?” She sighed deeply. “And more.”
I waited, not wanting to make anything easy for her.
“Seth was...” She let a deep breath of air. “How can I explain it? He was like a madness which took hold of me. From the moment I first saw him, and he saw me, it was like I became blind to anything else in my life.”
I did know, and Alice knew, what enchantments Seth had been able to cast, but that didn’t excuse her behavior. Murder? No, she could have stopped it. I didn’t think of my own willingness to sacrifice Alice for the power Seth promised to share with me.
“I became engulfed by him,” she continued, her eyes on her lap as she fidgeted with the frayed edge of my patchwork quilt. “He told me I was special.... and we would rule the world. Just like he told you.”
She laughed bitterly at her own stupidity. “So... I can’t make it up to you. I can only offer my heartfelt apologies to you, my sister.”
Once upon I time I would have swallowed this whole, believed her and been full of hope for us again. But too much had passed between us, and as they say, that ship had long since sailed. I knew her too well.
“Dad made you come here, didn’t he?”
She nodded. “He’s downstairs with Edna. This is part of my penance, I’m supposed to offer you the olive
branch, welcome you into the folds of the family. And invite you to dinner tonight.”
“Gross. The last thing I want is to see Cate over the supper table.”
Sasha laughed. “Yeah, she’s not too happy about it either.”
We sat there on my bed for a moment more in silence, till I turned my head a little to look at her. “So we’re supposed to hug and make up?”
She put her head to one side and considered, looked down at me in my scruffy sweats. “Let’s not and say we did, huh?”
I was cool with that, but before she left, I needed an answer from her.
“Sassy....It’s just... Alice? Come off it, Sasha, how could you let him choose a friend of mine?”
She was silent. “That I am really truly sorry about. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Seth knew somehow, that she’s a virgin, and that got him all hot and excited, and the way he put it... the way we all were thinking was that half-bloods weren’t really important, weren’t really people like us. It was crazy, I know this, and I can’t understand how we could all be influenced en masse by him like that.”
“And after I confided in you, you went to collect her,” I pressed on. “Did you know that I was locked up in the janitor’s closet by your friends?”
She raised her fine brows in surprise.
“No, I didn’t,” she said. “I wondered why you weren’t there with her. I was sure you wouldn’t get in the car with us and that it would turn out okay, that’s why I told him.”
“Because you knew why Seth wanted Alice.”
She nodded. “But you weren’t there.”
“And you allowed him to abduct Alice. Where did he keep her that night?”
“In the house he’s looking after, the one on Circular Road. It belongs to some Kin who are travelling. They have their basement finished as a home temple, it’s all magicked. We would hold private ceremonies there. And orgies, well, they sort of went hand-in-hand.”
My eyes widened at this, but I didn’t want to know the details. “That’s why we couldn’t find her.”
I thought a moment longer. I needed answers and this might be my only chance. “So, did you know he almost abducted me?”
It was her turn to be surprised. “No! He wouldn’t dare!”
“You think?”
“Hugh had, I don’t know, sort of adopted you or something. Seth wouldn’t have risked getting Hugh involved, of all witches.”
“Why do you say that?”
“You don’t know about Hugh, what he does?”
I shrugged. “He works for some European organization, yet he’s a half-witch like me,” I said. “But why would Seth be afraid of him?”
She made as if to answer, then shook her head. “Never mind.”
I looked at her with narrowed eyes. I’d get to the bottom of that some time, just not right now.
“He did, though,” I told her. “Seth caught me in Alt, spun a web around me like a spider, and almost ate me whole. So, I did get a taste of what you went through, all of you. One part of me hungered for his lies.”
She looked a bit put out. “He didn’t mean any promises he made you,” she assured me. “He despised you for being a half-blood.”
“I know,” I said, and I had known it at the time. “So what happened, with Seth, I mean, afterwards?”
Sasha took a deep breath. “Well, the Kin all got together and had a big pow wow. They decided not to turn him in for the manslaughter of Tracey.”
“Manslaughter? It was murder!”
She shrugged and flicked her raven-black hair off her face. “Well, we didn’t realize it was going to end up like that, and by the time it did, it was too late,” she said. “We were all in it too deep. So, they didn’t turn him over because that would have meant dragging us all through the muck.”
By us she meant the offspring of the wealthy Kin houses. Jesus. Some things would never change in this town. Cover ups were a way of survival when you held the reins of power. I almost couldn’t believe that they would go as far as to hide the facts of the murder from the authorities, but then again, this was the Kin, and the sad thing was it wasn’t all that surprising that they hushed the whole thing up.
“Anyway, they’ve exiled Seth back to Montreal with the expectation that his own Kin there will take appropriate action.”
“I hope we’ve seen the last of him.’
She nodded halfheartedly, then changed the subject. ‘So, you’re going to learn to be a proper witch, huh?”
I pulled myself up and set my shoulders straight. Only my sister would know the buttons to push for greatest offense.
“Sasha, I am a proper witch,” I said and quoted Hugh. “It’s not the genes, it’s the magic in the blood. I’m just going to catch up with my heritage, learn what I should have been taught when I was younger. Like you guys were.”
We didn’t have much to say to each other after that, and she left, obviously relieved to have it over with.
I’M SITTING ON THE EDGE of the wharf with my feet dangling over the murky water of the harbor where me and Hugh sat that day, the first time we met. Feels like a long time ago, but less than three weeks have passed. Looking out at the Southside Hills across the water, that whole time is like a dream half forgotten. The fall sun is still warm on me as I sit in this sheltered place, although the days are fast getting shorter yet and the night frosts are turning the leaves their brilliant reds and yellows. The hills are quiet now.
But I am excited about learning how to be a proper witch, despite what I said to Sasha. I really am but I’m dreading it too in a way, because well, it’s a lot of responsibility, and I know it’s going to change me.
Hugh agreed with me when I told him that, pointing out that I’d been too comfortable in the little rut I’d dug for myself, dressing like a kid, acting like a spoiled brat around Dad and enjoying my own pity party all the time. He said it was time I got over myself and began to fulfill my potential. He’s only six years older than me, you know, but you’d never say it because he acts so grown-up and pompous all the time.
Zeta didn’t get hurt in the fire, by the way. She looked fine as she was interviewed on TV, grabbing what attention she could, claiming the fire was started by jealous witches who didn’t want her opening up the craft to outsiders. I know she doesn’t have much magic in her, but she’s not probably not wrong in her statement and I somehow think we haven’t seen the last of her yet.
Oh, and Benjy showed up not long after one morning down on George Street, looking like the leftovers from last night’s party, only more strung out and greasy than usual and ranting about his time with the fairies. I was the only one who believed him. He told me how he woke up by the red berry bucket, and how he’d had this fabulous time with the Gentle Folk and he couldn’t wait to go back there again. My guess is they tired of him pretty quickly and kicked him out after they’d had their fun. So I did all that for nothing, after all, the worrying and the scheming, I should have known they wouldn’t want the likes of him around for long. He brought the bucket back with him, but now he’s over at the Waterford Psychiatric Institute as they try to dry him out.
Speaking of all the trouble I caused – well, the baby. I’ve seen Jane around a bit, and the kiddies always run up to me still hoping for a bit of chocolate, but their mom keeps a pretty sharp eye on them. Is the baby a changeling? I may never know for sure. Maybe I imagined the whole fairy visit to her house, maybe the evil glint in the infant’s eye when she sees me is just gas and not a warning to keep my mouth shut. Perhaps. She should know I can never say anything, because too much talk about the fairies would get me locked up in the room next to Benjy at the Mental.
Alice came out of her ordeal okay, I’m happy to say. From what I gather, Sasha and Seth showed up at Fort Amherst that night waiting for us, and Seth turned on the glamour to enchant her, to lower her guard and convince her to go with them, despite how much she hates my sister. She still yearns for him deep inside, I can tell, although she’s in to
tal denial about the events of that whole twenty-four hour period.
Of course, she doesn’t tell it quite like that. Alice hints that she was Seth’s lover, and she totally accepted Hugh’s explanation to the Normals that the whole night was just a prank gone bad. The burns on her arms and face are healing well, especially with the help of a salve from Hugh that the doctors don’t know about.
My friend has also firmly turned her back on the supernatural. All that shit that happened? Well, she says it didn’t. Nope, because she’s a scientist and she knows it’s not possible. I should be writing fairy tales, she tells me, like my Aunt Edna, and she won’t entertain the possibility that she has elf-blood not even after I made her sit through Lord of the Rings. She just cannot see any similarity between herself and Arwen, even though Alice is the spitting image of her.
Edna and Mark don’t know about the events of the equinox as Jon had that covered up pretty damn quick, and Tracey’s death is fast becoming a cold case for the police. Hugh told me that the Kin have all gotten together and are finally admitting that the prejudice within their ranks is unacceptable. They’re going to open their Kinship to any who have magical blood, not just the ones born in to the right families. This is providing the half-bloods can show the proper credentials of course, and you know they’re not going to advertise this publicly. Maybe things will change here, slowly.
So, I didn’t end up rescuing Benjy or the baby, but I did put Alice in deeper danger, but then got her out again in time, thank God. I still avoid the dwarves, because those guys have long memories and are famous for holding on to grudges long past the sell-by date. At least we got Nan Hoskins quieted down and she’s no longer terrorizing her family. I guess that trip up the hill must have taken the good right out of her.
