Against The Odds (28 page)

She
covered her eyes with hands.

“
I hate when you do that.”

“
What have I done?”

“
You get straight to the issue, while I am trying to get my
head to admit what my heart knows.”

“
I hate it when you stall like that, as if things will change
if you pretend they are not there. It does not help, neither does
your silence. You are afraid you might die again, so why don’t you
say it? Why don’t you just let it out?”

“Because
it is hardly an easy thing to say, ‘honey, I might die, are you
okay with that?’ Face it Clayton. That is not normal.”

His eyes
were an icy blue.

“
Rebecca, I am not going to say this again. There is no such a
thing as normal. There is no such a thing. Will you give it up?
What is normal is whatever we are.”

He
stormed out, and went into the garden. He was losing it, which was
not helping. He wanted to shake her, get her to at least accept the
basics so they could deal with the real problems.
Normal? That had
nothing to do with it.
He was pacing up and down, trying to calm himself, but with
little success.
I want to shake her until she gets it.

Rebecca went to the phone.
I can’t deal with Clayton now. I need some
sanity.
She phoned
Jackie, but she was out. She phoned her parents and spoke to her
mother. Her soothing voice was so cool that Rebecca felt herself
relax. Her mother was prepared for it, she could tell. She knew
that she was the only one, the one they waited for and it bothered
her.

“
Rebecca, darling, this is the only way. If one of us dies,
then at least we have saved many generations. That is what your
father and I say. It might be worth dying to save all the other
children. So, if that is what you are worried about, we have
accepted that one of us, or all have to pay that price.”

“
I know Mum, I know. Also, I am pissed off that it went for
Double J. They have nothing to do with this. Nana was just giving
them a wonderful gift and it turns it into something ugly. I know
that you are right. But I am so pissed off.”

“
It will pass soon, baby. Think of saving the baby. That is
the important thing. It will help you feel better. Where is
Clayton?”

“
Pacing like a tiger. We are fighting and he paces out
there.”

“
Call him to the phone. Your father will calm him.”

“Clayton, phone,” she called and went to the kitchen. He
glared at her as he passed and went to the phone. When she went
back into the lounge, he was laughing at something her father
said.

“
Yes, charm her, hmm, and then she will just do as I say?
Okay, will do.”

He was
smiling at her.

Is that all you think about?

Yes, do you have an objection?

Yes, no, oh go away.

Come here.

Okay, but only in the interests of peace.

Really? I thought your body might be interested
too.

“Yes, I
see what you mean. I will talk to your stubborn daughter and see if
I can charm her to agree. I will call you later.”

She was
snuggling close to him now.

“
Clayton, sorry about that.”

“
Yes, me too. We are just getting stressed. If we fight again,
you must do that mind thing. It will definitely calm me down.” He
laughed.

“You
father says it is much weaker and that we should pounce now,
because as the baby grows, so too does it grow in strength. We will
do it on Wednesday night, because the moon is full and we are going
to them. Your mother knows where the yellow flowers are. Some place
called Ferncliff Forest. Also, no sex on Monday and Tuesday to
build up our energy.”

“
What else, Clayton?”

“
What do you mean?”

“
What else did my father say? Well, he said we might not be
able to shock each other afterwards again. Or even to talk with our
minds.”

“
Are you sad?”

“
Of course. I quite enjoyed all that power. I liked the way
you would shout at me and call me names. I will miss all that. It
has been an incredible journey. Are you willing and ready to do
it?”

“
Yes, I don’t see that we have a choice. There is no point in
playing games, as you say.”

“
Your father said the fact that we never really considered not
doing it is important. You know. The power of love.”

“
How could we have chosen not to do anything? We could never
put Double J through all this. Clayton that is
inconceivable.”

“
Yes, Princess, but that is the point. We acted out of love
for them. That will see us through it.”

“
Yes, I see, but Clayton, I am not afraid of dying. It was not
that bad.”

Clayton
was raising his eyebrows.

“
Really. I am afraid of living without you, that’s my
reluctance. But mother says if we die to stop it, then we must
accept that.”

“
Yes, if the only answer is that we die and then at least we
have done the right thing with our lives. But, Princess, we must
not think about that, not now, not ever. It will use it against us,
remember? We must think of the power of love, how love has made us
happy.”

She
nodded and he continued.

“
Now, can you make me happy, so that I will remember it in my
hour of darkness and possibly excruciating pain?”

*****

The four
of them arrived at midnight. It was dark and the wind was gently
blowing in the trees. They made their way through the trees, both
Protectors holding the women’s hands.

“It is so beautiful here Clayton, we
must come back in the day and have a picnic.”

“Yes, I wish we had come earlier. It
feels like such an unspoiled piece of the earth. Okay, will bring
picnic basket and beautiful princess, deal?”

“Deal.”

Good, the kids are ready
for it.

Yes, I love the way they
are helping each other, thinking about tomorrow.

Yes, Rebecca is handling
this very well. And you, my dear?

I am fine. I need to do
this, always have. You know how I lived with the guilt.

Yes.

“Mum, are you sure you have
everything?”

“Yes, your father made me check at
least three times. That bag is full of all my magic tricks. He also
made me pack a few other contingency items. We are good to go,
Rebecca. Tell me about work.”

“I have a new patient. He is very
sweet. He has giggling eyes. He is nine years old, but has a
terrible bed-wetting problem. When we talk, he simply stares at me
in fascination and giggles. I hope he gets over it, otherwise I
won’t be able to help him.”

“He is very sweet. I like the way he
held your hand possessively when I came in, as if you belonged to
him. He has a major crush on you. He is going to try and stay in
therapy for as long as possible. I can’t say I blame the boy,
especially because the father also seems to want to ‘visit’ you all
the time. They are patients for life, I’m afraid.”

“You see what I put up with. He
inspects all my patients and their parents. I think I should go and
check out those offices of his. There are a lot of pretty, young
women there. That is what I will do.”

“My pleasure, come and have a look.
You will be disappointed though. They think I’m awful, so they
avoid me. I am the big bad wolf, because I just don’t seem to have
much time for them. They will probably sympathize with you,
thinking how hard it must be on you to put up with me.”

“I have to find out about that.
Anyway. I had a strange call this morning. From Zane.”

“What did nosy parker
want?”

“I’m not sure. But he wanted to know
something, but could not bring himself to ask. I told him you were
behaving wonderfully and he seemed a bit disappointed.”

“I know, he told me that I was not
suitable for you, that you are a class act.”

He was laughing. “You should have seen
his face when he saw us together that weekend. His eyes battled to
stay in his head. We are just too interesting for him.”

“I know. I wish I could say something
ridiculous, so he would have some gossip, but I always
forget.”

“Tell him you are witch and that
Clayton is under your spell. That will sort him out.”

Rowena said.

“Yes, that has worked for us. Once, a
prying neighbor was obsessed with Rowena and me. Once we told her
that, she did not come near us again. She was too scared. She moved
onto the other neighbors and unfortunately for her, that couple and
their daughter are serious, practicing witches.”

They were laughing as they made their
way. Then Rowena spoke quietly.

“There, to the left, that clearing.
That is where we are going.”

Clayton and Rebecca could not see
much, but could see, just on the edge of the clearing, an array of
flowers, swaying gently with the wind.

“Okay, let the games begin.” George
said.

He unhooked the bag from his back and
started taking out jars and candles. The old couple was used to
making magic together and they worked quietly while they sprinkled
herbs on the ground and lit large white candles. Clayton was
holding Rebecca and watching in fascination. He had never seen a
ritual before and he liked the way it made him feel. Rowena called
them into the circles of candles and they stood together, all four
of them holding hands. They stood like this for a while, while
Rowena was invoking all sorts of people for protection. Clayton had
no clue who they were, but thought, if they can protect us, all the
better.

Then Rowena said. “Okay, let us invoke
the light.”

Clayton touched Rebecca’s back and
slowly moved his hands until they were on the butterfly. As he
placed his mark on it, the light started. It was faint at first,
but grew stronger as they stood. Then George placed his hand on
Rowena’s ring and their light shot into the air. When they had
enough energy, the two Protectors, with their hands, guided the
light, gently, until their long beams of light touched.

Be gone, Darkness, there is nothing for you
here
.

The
women chanted in unison, over and over. Then suddenly, they heard
the sound of breaking glass and the shrieking. It was just a
whimper and the sound was not loud or strong.

Then Rowena said, in a large clear
voice:

Power of the
light

Burning bold and
Bright

Banish forever the Angel
of Darkness and Pain

That all so affected, in
joy and happiness, may regain and retain

Their power of love and
power of light

Power of the Light

Bring to my sight

The token of the binding of Portia McGuire

So that it may be buried to retire

The Curse of the Darkness is now unbound and apart
taken

By the energy of the power of love unshaken

Let its power to drained, maimed and extracted

At this moment, by the power of the two Protectors, together
contracted

By the power of love and energy

So mote it be.

They
stood there, two bright beams of light, fused together at the top
like a triangle. Nobody spoke and Clayton could feel Rebecca
wavering.

“
I love you, Rebecca.”

“
I love you, Clayton, very, very much.” She took her cue
quickly.

Rowena
and George did the same and they heard a swishing sound and there,
through the light, pieces of long brown hair tumbled to the earth.
After a while, they all settled on the floor and in one flash of
light, all the threads of the hair were bound together, as if by a
ribbon.

“
Okay, slowly, release your light.”

Clayton
removed his hand from Rebecca and she turned to him and they held
each other, unable to speak. Rowena and George released the light
and George fell to the ground.

“
George, George! Not now. Wake up! Wake up!”

Rowena
was screaming at him.

Clayton
went over to him, “George, I need you now, more than ever. Turn
back now. There is nothing in those passages. Rowena is here. Turn
back.”

And he
took his right hand and rubbed him gently across the
heart.

“
Clayton, my boy, I love you, but not that much.”

Clayton
looked at him and he winked.

“
He is okay.”

Clayton said with relief, as George laughed. There he was
lying on the ground, laughing his head off at Clayton’s shocked
horror, at his wife and daughter’s tears. They had no sense
of
humor
. All he had
done was gone down to regain some of his energy. He had seen the
dark passage and knowing Rebecca’s experience, he had turned back
immediately. Or so he wanted to believe. They never discussed it
again. Clayton knew what had happened. He had been there when it
happened to Rebecca.
Okay, he does not want to talk about it. Fine by
me,
he
thought.