A Tale of 3 Witches (3 page)

"Please excuse my grandmother," Stacy said to Mara. "It isn't that she has no manners, she's just been in a bad mood for thirty years." She turned back to Birdie. "Birdie, unmarried people share rooms together all the time now."

"And society is in a poorer place for it," Birdie snapped.

Mara hesitated, not sure what to do.

Gus pushed her forward, saying, "I agree with you. Lousy girls should never be allowed to sleep in the same bed as us glorious men. But I'm not fussy. As long as she keeps her girl cooties away from me, I'm willing to share."

"Hey!" Mara protested.

"Hey, nothing. Now, hush up or you're sleeping on the floor." Gus said, trying to push her in the door.

Stacy's mouth twitched, as she tried not to laugh.

Birdie snorted, eyeing Mara and Gus again. "You are poor substitutes, but I suppose you'll have to do."

Stacy turned to Birdie and said, "They'll have to do what?"

Birdie looked at Stacy, exasperated. Then, as if it explained everything, she said, "Samhain!"

CHAPTER FIVE

Stacy was pouring a shot of Jameson into her Aunt Lolly's coffee cup when she noticed Mara eyeing her. They were about the same age and apparently came from the same kind of crazy, although Mara seemed to handle it better. Stacy envied that and she suddenly felt a kinship to the girl. Mara had soft eyes, but a determined set to her face, and Stacy thought they might get along well.

"She doesn't fully believe, but she's close,"
Tillie whispered into Mara's ear.
"Something must have steered her from the path."

"No kidding," Mara muttered to her aunt.

Stacy smiled nervously at her guest. "I know it may look strange, but whiskey actually keeps Lolly sharp. And apparently," Stacy added, rolling her eyes, "we'll be needing her at her best."

Lolly cackled, downed the mug and walked off into the pantry, in search of something that sounded like "
biskies
."

"Where's Gus?" Stacy asked.

"Still unpacking. He likes to have everything put away exactly where he wants it or his brain goes on strike. At least, that's what he tells me."

"That would drive me crazy," Stacy said. "Want some coffee?"

"I'd love some. Without the whiskey though. I even look at alcohol nowadays, and it makes me fall asleep." Mara sat down, returning to one of her favorite subjects. "Gus is just weird about certain things. Like, the house can be a mess, but his magickal herbs have to be labeled and alphabetized. He's fanatical about the temple space being clean, but I can't get him to pick up after himself in the house." Mara rolled her eyes. "Priorities, right?"

Thor trotted through the kitchen and slapped the back door with his huge paw. It was warm for this October night so the outer door was open and the screen was unlatched. It flung open and Thor trotted out the door. Stacy watched as it banged behind him.

"That is awesome!" Mara said, laughing. "I need to teach my Dobermans how to do that."

Stacy put a cup of coffee in front of Mara and said, "Oh, I love Dobies. Smart dogs. I can't take credit for Thor, though. He came pre-trained."

Mara looked around. "How long is your great-aunt going to stay in the pantry?"

"It's a really big pantry," Stacy laughed, deciding not to explain Lolly's peccadillo about the pantry.

"As long as she's out of there by tonight, I guess we're okay. Dinner and then a midnight scrying session, right?" They were going to try to get more information on the danger they were about to face. That was the trouble with portents. They got everyone all worked up and then reality either amounted to a fraction of what you feared was coming, or it could wallop you into next Tuesday.

Stacy nodded and was about to sit down when she nearly doubled over, gripping her stomach, and then put her hand to her forehead. She closed her eyes and leaned against the table. Sweat poured from her.

"Are you okay?" Mara rushed to Stacy's side, careful not to touch her. Last thing she wanted to do was cause the girl more pain.

"This. Is. Your. Aunt. I think." Stacy ground out, as if each word hurt her. Suddenly, she stood upright, her face set to pissed off and said, "I got it, Tillie! Now stop harassing me or else I'll, I'll... Well, I'll send you to a very dark, very cold place for all eternity, that's what I'll do!"

Mara heard Aunt Tillie's laughter echoing in her head, like a challenge, but decided not to mention it. Last thing she wanted right now was to be a referee between the living and the dead.

Stacy took a deep breath and said to Mara, "Geez I thought my grandmother and aunts were bad, but this one's worse than even Birdie."

"What's she doing?" Mara asked, a little afraid of the answer. She had had first-hand experience with Tillie's brand of undead warfare and it wasn't pretty.

Stacy went to the sink for a glass of water. She poured it and turned back to Mara. "Your aunt is kicking my ass." She said, as she wiped her brow with a towel. "I don't think she trusts me."

"Why? What did she do?" Mara asked.

Stacy took a deep breath. "I can't hear dead people. I only get feelings and images. From what I gather, she's pushing me around because she's afraid I'm going to miss or ignore or forget something in my vision, so she's piggybacking on top of them. If you get the chance, please tell her the visions I get are photographic imprints on my mind." She looked at Mara pointedly. "I never forget, so she can ease back on the kung-foo fighting."

Mara smiled. "I'm pretty sure she's listening, but I'll tell her."

"Good. These visions are hard enough. I don't need her giving me a migraine on top of them." Stacy sat down at the kitchen table, still holding onto her glass of water.

Mara sat back down, next to her, curious. "What was the vision?"

Stacy shuddered rather violently. "This is going to sound crazy–"

Mara interrupted her. "My whole life is about crazy. That toad you've been tripping over? His name is Grundleshanks. He's dead. He travelled here with us, along with Aunt Tillie. And you've met Gus, right? There is nothing you can say to me that will make me think you're any crazier than we are."

The two women faced each other and Stacy opened her mouth to reply – but couldn't. Mara quickly grabbed Stacy's hands and held on as all around them, the lights brightened, nearly blinding them. And then, in a flash, the lights burst, sparks rained down, and they were plunged into total darkness for what seemed like an eternity.

*   *   *

Mara's voice sounded in the darkness, trance-like. "Blackness and then shadows. Hills, valleys. Then gaping nothingness."

Stacy's voice, eerie, almost otherworldly, picked up the vision: "Torturous uncertainty. A vacuous void of pain and then loss..."

"A veil of tears," Mara said, her voice shaking, as tears streamed down her cheeks.

*   *   *

Suddenly, the room was back to normal. The lights were on and they were fine. No broken bulbs, no shattered glass. The room was calm.

Mara looked at Stacy and dropped her hands, a wordless "oh" forming on her mouth.

"You saw it! You captured my vision!" Stacy said. "That was... I didn't think anybody could do that."

Mara nodded. "Yeah. Learn something new every day, right?" Although it had taken Mara by surprise as well, since she had never met Stacy before. And that wasn't normally something she could do with just anyone. They must have some kind of bond between them that ran deeper than flesh.

"Hmmm, maybe as deep as witchblood?"
Tillie cackled in her head.

Mara brushed Tillie away. Yes, yes. Witchblood, blah, blah, blah. But what had the vision meant? As far as visions went, it had been frustrating. Mostly emotion and feelings.

Stacy and Mara looked at each other.

"Do you know what it means?" Stacy asked.

Mara shook her head and said, "Whatever is coming is bad."

"I got that much," Stacy said, exasperated.

Mara closed her eyes and nudged Tillie for an answer.

"I'll tell you what it means, Missy. It means I was right and you'd better get your patoot in gear. Whatever it is, is on the way."

Mara opened her eyes and looked at Stacy. "We need to be prepared now. Whatever it is, it's starting tonight. It's not waiting until Samhain."

Stacy sighed. What a strange girl this Mara was. Normally, she'd argue against anyone coming in out of the blue and bossing her around. But she couldn't shake a feeling that this time, she needed to go ahead and trust this woman, even if she hadn't known her long. "Okay. Where do we start?"

Mara relaxed, thinking. Then she suddenly smiled at Stacy, mischievous. "Wait, before we do anything, I just have to ask. Can you really send aunt Tillie to a cold, dark place for all eternity?"

Stacy smiled back and made a face. "No. But I can sing 'Ninety-Nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall' until she wants to go to one."

Only Mara could hear Tillie say,
"I heard that, punk."

CHAPTER SIX

Stacy and Mara had reported what they'd seen to Birdie, who started cursing herself for not having insisted the full coven arrive earlier. From what Mara understood, most of the sworn coven resided miles away, and since they hadn't planned on getting there until midnight, that was most likely when they'd show up. Thankfully, the town was filled with wannabe witches, along with a few coven members, and on this night there was no time to waste. So Birdie had hurriedly made a few phone calls while Lolly helped Stacy bake. Although most of Lolly's help consisted of filching the cookie dough and popping it in her mouth before Stacy could get it in the oven. But since the coven would need food to ground with, after they were done, Stacy just sighed and opened another package of pre-made cookie dough. Thankfully, Birdie was on the phone and away from the kitchen or she'd have a coronary that Stacy wasn't baking from scratch.

Now, the heavenly aroma of fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies filled the house, quite at odds with the increasingly edgy disposition of everyone in it. Gus and Mara joined Stacy, Thor, Birdie and Lolly in the parlor for tea while they waited for witchy back-up to arrive.

*   *   *

The door opened and a third Geraghty sister entered, loaded down with shopping bags. She reminded Mara of Ann-Margaret. No matter how old the sisters were, it was easy to see that they had been beauties in their day.

"And still are,"
Aunt Tillie hissed in Mara's head.
"Age is as age does. Beauty is eternal."

"Okay, Aunt Tillie. Relax."
Mara thought back at her.
"They're still beautiful."

Tillie sniffed, but she quieted down, appeased.

"Fiona," Birdie said. "Did you see any members of the coven?"

"Iris Merriweather and Gladys Sharp were both behind me. Gladys said she was bringing more supplies." Fiona set the bags down and smiled wide at her guests. "So, we have new faces. How fun. Don't keep me in suspense. Tell me all about yourselves."

*   *   *

After introductions and hugs, and tea all around, the front door opened again. This time, a man walked in, carrying a large, black suitcase. His face was shadowed under his hat and more shadows oozed around him, like an oil slick. Mara froze, feeling like she had poked an unfamiliar snake and it reared up, showing a cobra hood and fangs. All around her, she could see the other witches reacting in similar ways. There seemed to be no one who was unaware that this man was trouble. The man himself, however, was paying as much attention to them as a just-fed and overly-full snake does to the sight of another chicken.

As he walked through the room, toward the check-in counter, he brushed past Fiona. At his touch, Fiona's face blanched and she set down her tea.

Mara studied the man closely. She couldn't quite get a bead on his face. No matter how close he passed by a light, it was like his face was veiled in shadows. In fact, he almost seemed more shadow than human. She glanced at Stacy, who was also watching the man, her face tight with a mixture of suspicion and revulsion.

"I made a reservation for two rooms." He said, tipping his hat, but still keeping his eyes covered. "Henderson."

Thor growled, deep in his throat, and Stacy placed a hand on his collar.

Birdie cleared her throat. "Of course. Your rooms are up the stairs, to the left. Will your wife be joining you soon?"

"I don't have a wife," he said. He turned, ascended the stairs. Then paused and said, "I have some rather large items out on the curb. Please have them placed in the second room."

They watched, silent, as he climbed the stairs. As the bedroom door above them opened and shut, Stacy turned to Birdie. "Sure, we'll just strap the packages to Thor and haul them on up."

"This is why women are always going to need men and men are completely self-sufficient," Gus said. "I'll go bring them in."

"Don't get too enamored with yourself. Men still need us to continue the gene pool," Mara snapped.

"For now," Gus replied, walking out of the house.

 "Who the heck was that, Birdie?" Stacy turned to her grandmother, eyeing the upstairs.

"Trouble." Birdie tightened her mouth.

"No kidding," Stacy replied. "I feel nauseous, just being in the same house with him."

"I don't feel so good either," Fiona said, sitting down. Her face was white, and she was sweating.

Mara shot Fiona a concerned look.

Stacy stood up, Thor at her hip, and said to Birdie, "Do you want me to get rid of him? I can tell him we found termites and we have to shut down. No wait, rats. Rats would be better. Or cockroaches. I'll take Thor with me."

Gus came back in, loaded down with packages and looking like a pack mule.

"No, let him stay." Birdie responded.

"But, why?" Stacy asked, at a loss.

"Keep your friends close, keep your enemies under your feet," Gus muttered, as he started schlepping the packages up the stairs.

Mara had her eyes closed, focusing on getting answers. "He's not the enemy," she finally said, "but what he brings is."