New roller skates! Score!
I jumped up and down gleefully before throwing my arms around my mother’s neck, almost knocking the coffee cup from her hand in the process.
Behind me, Emma had found a duplicate gift with her name on it, and she was busy unveiling her own skates.
“Brian, it smells like the bacon is done, and I don’t want it to burn. Can you-”
Before she could finish, the man who must have been my Dad jumped up and left the room. A moment later his voice came from down the hall: “It’s perfect. Anybody hungry?”
I joined the parade into the kitchen, where the table was covered with food – fresh fruit, pancakes, bacon, a hash brown casserole, and a few random boxes of cereal.
“How’s everybody’s Christmas so far? Did Santa do well?” Dad asked us. The reply was enthusiastic, positive, and unanimous.
Seeing Dad twirl Mom around the kitchen and kiss her while my sisters and I gobbled up a delicious breakfast made my heart just about explode with joy.
Not even in my wildest dreams could life be so perfect.
25 Emma
At some point, I became aware that I was trapped in a Groundhog Day-style loop of Hell on Earth.
Again and again, the head-on collision. On endless repeat, Merritt died an agonizing death while being taunted by Zillah March.
I couldn’t warn them. I couldn’t leave the car. I couldn’t turn away.
That didn’t stop me from trying.
I grabbed for my Dad, for my Mom, for the steering wheel, yet when all of that failed, and the crash inevitably took place, I did any and everything I could think of to intervene on Merritt’s behalf. To no avail.
Zillah tortured her every single time. My pain was fresh and raw every single time. I even turned coward and tried running away, so I wouldn’t have to experience it again, but no matter which direction I turned, all I saw was my sister suffering.
All I wanted to do was die. To lay there with sweet, beautiful Merritt and just let go.
During what seemed like the 477th replay, something changed.
Zillah walked through the wreckage like always and approached Merritt, but this time a second figure followed her.
Smoking a pipe.
“Are you ready to go, Emma?”
Darla Counts Owls.
She looked right at me. The first person in this scenario to acknowledge my presence.
“She was really awful, this one,” Darla said, the thumb of the hand in which she held her pipe pointing to Zillah. “I just hope Hell lets her stay. Couldn’t blame them if they kicked her out, though. Anyway, if you’re ready, I’m ready.”
Darla extended a hand to me and pulled me up from where I knelt on the pavement. I collapsed into her arms, sobbing.
“Don’t look back now. You don’t need to see that ever again.”
Darla led me down the road, from back the way we’d driven. I heeded her advice and didn’t turn back. I could hear Zillah’s wicked voice for a while, but it faded as we walked.
Darla led me off the highway and down a dirt road that led up into the mountains. It seemed a long walk, but I wasn’t tired.
We came to a cave, where Darla rubbed her thumb and first two fingers together, creating a small ball of flame she held in her palm.
“This ought to be the way back,” she said, and walked deeper into the cave, dimly-lit by the hand torch.
Do you know that feeling when you’re dreaming that you’re falling, and then you land? Multiply that times a million.
I slammed back into my body and sat up with a gasp.
I was in the hallway; the same hallway Briar had been in looking for Fiona. I struggled to catch my breath until I felt the familiar tingling warmth that meant Josephine was nearby. I felt her hand rubbing the small of my back.
“You’re okay, Emma. Everything is okay.”
Dr. Ibis and Calista sat on an antique-looking bench a few feet down the hallway and Darla Counts Owls paced nearby.
“Well done, Ms. Darla,” Dr. Ibis complimented.
“One down, one to go. And she was the easy one, I’m afraid. This is turkey oak. Briar’s not going to want to come back.”
For the first time, I noticed Briar lying next to me. She looked to be peacefully sleeping, with a silly smile on her face. Small sticks were scattered on her face and in her hair. Darla held one in her hand.
What the hell was going on?
26 Briar
Emma went first, our Dad running alongside her as she rolled in starts and stops down the hill that ended in the cul-de-sac where the humble Ayers home sat.
Being older, by a whole nineteen minutes, meant my sister got to try out her new roller skates before I did.
It was far from graceful, but her harrowing forty-foot trip down the slight incline was a success. She didn’t fall once, although that had more to do with Daddy than with her sense of balance.
I waited in the grass for my turn, biting my bottom lip in anticipation. Mom and Merritt drew huge flowers in chalk on our driveway.
Daddy returned Emma to the safety of the lawn before returning to the top of the hill and waving for me to join him. I trudged through the grass, the butterflies in my tummy getting bigger with each step.
He extended a hand to me and like a newborn foal I wobbled out onto the road, my wheeled feet wanting to go in every direction at once.
Just then, a woman came strolling down the street. She waved at me, and I returned the greeting, but nobody else seemed to notice her.
Daddy held my hand as I slowly started to roll down the hill.
“Go Briar!” Emma cheered.
My speed increased, and for a moment I was free, but Daddy reached out to steady me before I lost control. It was a brief, thrilling ride, but I navigated it successfully. Emma put both her hands up, and I slapped her with mine and we embraced.
“What are you beautiful girls drawing over here?” Our dad asked, approaching Mom and Merritt while he took a brief break from us.
The odd woman across the street, now smoking a pipe, of all things, waltzed across to where Emma and I stood.
“Hello, Briar,” she said. “I’m afraid it’s time to go, sweetie.”
I was baffled. Go where? It was Christmas Day. I was right where I wanted to be. Needed to be. Where I belonged.
I looked to my parents for help, and to Emma, but none of them seemed the least bit troubled by the stranger addressing me.
“What go?” I asked. “Go where?”
“Home, Briar. It’s time to go home.”
“This is home. This is my family. What are you talking about?” Nerves started to get the better of me. I wasn’t scared exactly, but I was definitely nervous, and not just because of the roller skates.
“I’m sorry, Briar. I don’t want to force you. But the longer you stay, the harder it’s going to be.”
“Daddy!” I cried out. I was starting to get scared. “Mommy!”
I could hear myself shouting, but nobody else could.
“Hey Emma, I don’t like the look of those clouds. Let’s head inside for a little bit and if it blows over, we can come out and work on your skating more this afternoon, okay?” “One more time?” Emma implored. “Please?”
Our dad stood up and took a long look at the darkening skies. “One more. But that’s it. Meet me at the top of the hill.”
He walked right past me and the strange woman and met Emma at the starting point. They rolled down the hill just like they had before, just as I had only moments ago.
“I’m Darla. You know me. I’m the only real thing here, Briar,” the stranger insisted.
I tired to walk through the grass to get closer to mom and Merritt, but my legs wouldn’t work.
“Please stop. Please leave me alone,” I asked, my quivering voice putting the lie to my attempt at boldness. “Daddy!”
“You don’t belong here, Briar. This isn’t your childhood. Let me take you home.”
“No, you’
re wrong, this is my family.” My voice cracked halfway through “family.” Tears streamed down my face. Merritt, Emma, and our parents went back inside just ahead of the rain. None of them looked back for me.
“Somebody help me!” I cried out.
“Shh,” the strange woman said, stepping forward and wrapping her arms around me. “I am helping you. All you have to do is let me.”
I dropped to my knees despite her embrace. “Please let me go back to my mommy and daddy. I need my family. Please go away go away go away…” I repeated the mantra, fighting through tears, but she remained steadfast.
“I can’t, Briar. Your friends need you. Your family needs you. Emma needs you.” She crouched down next to me an held me. I was hysterical. I kept looking toward my house for help. Through the front window I could see my Dad walk through the family room wearing a Santa hat. My body was wracked with a bottomless, empty sadness.
Thump!
In an instant, I was back in the hallway where we’d encountered the Dixon brothers. I scrambled to my feet in a panic and fell against the wall, seeing stars. I jumped up way too fast.
“Whoa, Briar. It’s okay. Everything is okay. You’re home.” Emma stepped forward and kept me upright, bracing me against the wall. She took my face in hers and looked into my eyes. “I’m here. I’m right here. You’re okay.”
Josephine’s calming touch brought my pounding heart back from the brink, and I slumped back to a sitting position on the floor. Across the hall, Darla Counts Owls sat on the floor, trying to catch her breath. She wiped tears from her eyes with the backs of her hands.
“I’m so sorry, Briar,” she said.
As the world came completely back into focus, I lost it. I overcame Josephine’s gifts and I lunged toward Darla. “You ruined everything! You took everything from me!”
My hands touched her throat just as Emma and Josephine half-tackled me.
I broke free of them just as Calista joined the fray. I found myself lifted from the floor, hovering and helpless, as Darla tried to compose herself and everyone else looked baffled by what had just occurred.
“Tell them” I hissed. “Tell them what you did to me, Darla.”
“It gave me no pleasure, Briar. I hated having to do it. I can never apologize enough.”
“Can somebody please explain this to me? To us?” Emma asked. She stood between Darla and I like a referee, a palm lifted toward each of us, in case one of us tried to renew the fight.
Darla’s voice was low, just above a whisper.
“The Dixons used a very old root on the two of you. Once they paralyzed you with the water; the still water.
“Emma, they sent you to a place in your mind, your worst nightmare. Darla turned toward Dr. Ibis, who was nodding, and Calista, since they were clearly in the dark. “It made you relive the car accident that claimed the lives of your parents and your sister.”
Emma wiped tears from both her cheeks and Josephine comforted her.
“Briar, you were sent somewhere altogether different. The root showed you yours wildest dream. Made it real to you. As real, in your mind, as anything in this world.”
“What was it?” Josephine asked.
“Christmas morning,” I said, fighting back tears. “With Emma. And Merritt. And our mom and dad.” I choked out the last few words.
Emma looked at me with open-mouthed shock. “Oh, Briar. Oh my God.”
“And I took her away from that,” Darla confessed. “I pulled her right out of the arms of her family.”
“You had to,” Calista objected. “Briar, she had to. It wasn’t real, anyway. No matter how real it seemed, it was a trick.”
“I. Don’t. Care.” I hissed. “I’ll never forgive her. Never.”
“Briar, Darla saved me from Hell. She delivered me from madness. From the worst pain imaginable. I know how real it seemed. How it felt. But it wasn’t,” Emma pleaded. “It wasn’t real. I’m real. This house is real. The people who matter, who love you, who are counting on you, need your help here. Right here and now.
“If you want to be angry with anyone, let it be me. I convinced you to try to rescue Fiona.” The mention of Fiona’s name snapped me back to reality.
“Did we save her?” I asked.
“She was here,” Darla said. “They took her.”
“They?”
“The Dixons.”
“Where?”
“Wherever they have Aleta, Virginia, and the rest.”
“Then let’s make my pain mean something and pay those bastards back and save our friends,” I said, as Calista relaxed her telekinetic grip on me and returned me to the floor.
“That’s my twin,” said Emma, throwing her arms around me.
27 Emma
“Catch me up,” Briar asked.
“Remember downstairs, when I said I’d been calling in my mind for Aleta, but getting no response? Darla heard me. She was with Dr. Ibis, and they came as fast as they could. They met Chantelle, Josephine, and I outside, at the end of the tunnel, and we came back up through the house. By the time we found the two of you here in the hallway, everything was over. Nobody else was here, and the animals had stopped attacking. But Darla figured it all out.”
“How?”
“It’ll make more sense if she shows you,” Calista replied, and waved for Briar and me to follow the group into the bedroom from which we’d heard Fiona crying.
“We found you two girls on the floor, here in the hall,” Darla pointed to the floor. “We tried to wake you up, but you were both dead to the world. Dr. Ibis knew what the sticks meant, so I went inside your minds to try to help.”
“And when Emma came to, she told you about the Dixon Brothers?” Briar asked.
“Not exactly. Watch.”
We gathered behind Darla in the guest bedroom. There were scorch marks atop the bed.
Darla stood in front of the large mirror above an antique dresser next to the bed. She waved her hand in a circular motion and blew a cloud of smoke toward the glass. When the smoke cleared, rather than seeing the reflection of our group, the mirror was dark, nearly black.
Darla extended an index finger and touched the mirror, making small counter-clockwise circles.
Briar gasped as an image appeared. In it, the two Dixon twins stood next to the bed, a bed on which Fiona lay, immobilized.
I instinctively looked over my shoulder at the bed, but of course it was empty.
“Is she… are you…” I couldn’t find the words. “Are you rewinding the mirror?”
“Indeed, Darla replied with a smile.”
One of the Dixons scattered small twigs on Fiona’s chest and she immediately began to wail. I shuddered as I remembered what that spell had done to me. My heart broke for Fiona.
“Look at her hands!” Briar blurted out. I looked at Darla’s, one of which held a pipe while the other made circles on the mirror.
“Not hers,” Briar corrected. “Fiona’s.”
In the mirror, Fiona’s hands lay at her sides. As she became more anguished, her hands began to glow, softly at first, then red-hot. Tendrils of smoke rose from the bed where her hands scorched the duvet.
“Did you know she could do that?” I asked. “Calista? Jo?”
“We all have secrets,” Calista replied.
In the mirror, the Dixons appeared to argue about Fiona’s hands, and what they meant. Unfortunately, Darla could provide only video playback, no audio.
One of the Dixons looked up as if he’s heard something, and he placed a hand on his head. He motioned for his brother to leave the room.
“This is where we think they realized you two were back in the house,” Josephine said.
“How far back can the mirror go?” I wondered aloud. Was there anyone else, or anything else? Did the animals come up to this floor?”
Darla concentrated and spun the images back farther. The room was empty, when Fiona strolled in, dusting and straightening.
She paused as if something had di
stracted her, and she left the room briefly. She ran back in, hiding on the side of a large armoire, invisible to anyone passing by in the hallway. Moments passed and one of the Dixon brothers came in spotting the trembling Fiona. He smiled at her and grabbed her as she tried to run past him out of the room. He popped the cork on a jar of water in his hand and flipped it over in his palm, letting some of the contents dribble out before splashing the liquid into Fiona’s face. She collapsed instantly, and he placed her on the bed.
He was joined presently by his twin, which brought us up to speed.
Darla “fast forwarded” the imagery past a long, unbroken shot of Fiona suffering on the bed to where Dalton and Devonnaire returned to the room. Dalton walked to the window and threw the curtains open, sunlight streaming through.
The next thing we saw chilled me to the bone. Stepping out of the shadow in the corner of the room was none other than Ezekiel Walker.
He greeted the Dixons, paused at the bed to look at Fiona, and exited the room. He returned almost instantly, scooping Fiona up off the bed and saying something to the Dixons before stepping back into the shadows with Fiona and vanishing.
Dalton and Devonnaire left the room by more conventional means.
“After this, the next thing on the mirror is the four of use coming into the room,” Dr. Ibis explained. “We think Ezekiel meant to take all of you with him, but we arrived back here in the proverbial nick of time, and he had to leave with just Fiona.”
“Where are they? Do we have any idea at all?” I asked desperately.
“No,” Darla answered. “But I’ll have my daughter do some scrying and see if she can find anything.”
We watched as Darla fished around in her fringed leather satchel and withdrew, of all things, an iPhone.
I had to laugh.
“What?” Darla asked. “Steve Jobs was a wizard too, don’t you know?”
“Baby girl, I need your help,” Darla said into her phone. “It’s very important. Go to the pond by Juniper Hill and consult our ancestors on my behalf. They like you better than me anyway.” Darla listened for a moment and then laughed heartily. “Some of our friends are missing.” Pause. “Ms. Virginia. And Aleta Indigo. Yes. And two handsome mermen. Oh, and Ms. Fiona, from Virginia’s house.” They may be with the Dixon Brothers. Or Ezekiel Walker.” Pause. “Yes, I’m serious. I know. Yes, now. Right away. Thank you, baby girl.”
Carolina Conjuring Page 13
