wicked witches 08.6 - a witch in time (12 page)

He was pretty upbeat for a guy locked in someone else’s mind. “Why are you so excited to see me as a kid?”

“Because I want to see you,” Landon replied, not missing a beat. “You hide most of your photos from when you were a kid because you think I’ll laugh at them – which I won’t – and I want to see how cute you are.”

“You know it’s gross if you hit on me now, right?”

“Don’t be sick,” Landon said. “I want to see you. I’ve been patiently waiting for this part of memory lane. Bring it on. I mean … wait … bring you on? That’s not right. Let me see young Bay.”

“For some reason I’m really worried about how this is going to go,” I said, moving toward the kitchen. “I’m probably outside. We had a sandbox, and Aunt Tillie would put us in it for hours while she plotted against the neighbors.”

“I can’t picture you in a sandbox,” Landon said, moving to my side. “Were you cute?”

“I’m going to let you decide for yourself,” I answered. “As for the sandbox, well, we loved that thing. How do you think we got so good at making everyone eat dirt?”

“I thought it was an inherited gift,” Landon said, grinning as he grabbed my hand. “Take me to your miniature leader.”

“That’s creepy,” I muttered, pushing open the door to the kitchen and smiling when I saw the cake and pies on the counter. “Oh, this smells good.”

“Does it ever,” Landon said, releasing my hand so he could grab a knife from the block on the counter. “Let’s eat cake before we see young you. I’m starving.”

“Do you think we can eat cake in someone else’s memory?”

Landon shrugged. “There’s no harm in trying,” he said. He moved to cut into the cake but I realized what it was before he could finish his task and grabbed his hand, jerking it back before he marred the frosting. “What? I’m hungry. You know how I feel about cake.”

“You love it almost as much as me,” I replied automatically.

“Well, not that much,” Landon clarified. “Now, if it was a cake made out of bacon, that would be another story. Do you think they have bacon? We could cook some up.”

“Landon … .”

Landon either missed or chose to ignore my tone. “Find a frying pan, sweetie. I’ll make us some BLTs.”

“Landon.”

He opened the refrigerator without glancing in my direction. “Where would they keep the bacon?”

“Landon.”

“I need bread, too, Bay,” Landon said. “Find some bread.”

In general, I find his love for all things bacon adorable. This time I wanted to choke him. “Landon!”

Landon jolted, finally shifting his attention to me. “What?”

“Did you read the cake before you almost cut into it?” I asked.

Landon shook his head. “Cake is cake. Why?”

“Come and read it,” I prodded.

Landon groaned. “Why can’t you leave me to my bacon, woman?” He muttered to himself as he moved to my side and studied the cake. “Welcome to the world, baby girl.” He read the words on the cake out loud. “What does that mean?”

“There’s a stork, Landon,” I snapped, pointing at the bird carrying a baby on the corner of the cake. “There’s a crib. There’s stuffed animals.”

“Okay,” Landon said, dragging the word out as he tried to grasp what I was saying. “Oh. Oh!”

“That’s right,” I hissed. “This cake is to welcome a baby. Do you know what that means?”

“It’s either Clove, Thistle or you,” Landon supplied. He didn’t appear nearly as worked up as I felt.

“It’s me,” I said. “There are photographs of this cake in my baby book. This is my cake.”

“Too bad you were too little to taste it,” Landon said. “It looks good.”

“Landon!” I smacked his arm. He clearly needed me to spell things out for him. “Somewhere in this house I’m being born.”

Landon was blasé before I said the words. As realization dawned on him, though, his face drained of color. “Oh … no.”

“Yes,” I said, digging my fingernails into his forearm. “We have to get out of here.”

“No, you don’t,” Aunt Tillie said, popping into view on the other side of the room.

“How did you do that?” I asked, glancing around. It was my Aunt Tillie – er, at least the one trapped in here with us. I was sure of that. “Can you just manifest wherever you want?”

“It’s my memory,” Aunt Tillie said. “What good is it taking a trip down memory lane if I can’t control the destination?”

“I don’t believe you,” I shot back. “You wouldn’t have picked Uncle Calvin’s funeral again. If you could really control all of this, you would never have gone back to that memory. You were putting on a show. Don’t lie to me.”

“Don’t call me a liar!”

“All right, everyone needs to calm down,” Landon said, holding up his hands. “Sweetie, you’re about to draw blood. Let me go.” He pried my fingers from his arm. “That hurt, Bay.”

“She’s stronger than she looks,” Aunt Tillie said.

“I guess so,” Landon said, ruefully rubbing his arm. “Is she really being born in this house right now?”

“Take a listen,” Aunt Tillie said, lifting her finger so it pointed at the second floor.

As if on cue, the unmistakable sound of someone screaming assailed our ears.

“Well, that doesn’t sound good,” Landon muttered, jerking his head up. “Is that normal, or is Winnie about to die in childbirth?”

“Winnie isn’t going to die,” Aunt Tillie scoffed. “She feels like she is, but that pain will fade as soon as Bay gets here.”

“When will that be?” I asked.

“Soon.”

“Can we see?” Landon asked, shifting his eyes to Aunt Tillie. “Can we see baby Bay without anyone else knowing we’re there?”

“This is a watch-and-see memory, too,” Aunt Tillie said. “I don’t think anyone needs to question what the strange man and woman are doing in the bedroom while Winnie is giving birth. You can see baby Bay. If you want to, that is.”

“I definitely want to,” Landon said, dropping the knife on the counter. “Let’s go.”

Aunt Tillie smiled and led him toward the back stairwell that wound to the second floor. “You have to promise not to look too hard at Winnie’s lady parts,” she said. “I know you’re a pervert, but it’s still gross.”

“I don’t want to see that,” Landon said, horrified. “Wait … maybe I shouldn’t go up there.”

“That’s a great idea,” I interjected. “You go witness the miracle of birth, Aunt Tillie. We’ll wait here.”

“We’re not here for me,” Aunt Tillie responded. “This memory isn’t for my benefit. I’ve sat through six births – and each was louder and grosser than the next. Trust me. I don’t want to see you.”

“Well, I don’t want to see me either,” I said. “This is … too much.”

“It’s not too much,” Aunt Tillie argued. “It’s not as if I’m asking you to cut the cord. Stop being a baby, and come on. Oh, wait. Stop being a baby. That’s funny because you’re about to be a baby. I crack myself up.”

“Wait,” I said, striding forward and grabbing her arm. “Couldn’t this disrupt the space-time continuum if I see myself?”

“Oh, holy crud,” Landon said. “I don’t ever want to hear you call me a Trekkie again. Do you understand? Only a Trekkie would say something like that.”

“Of course she’s a Trekkie,” Aunt Tillie said. “She watched reruns with me all the time when she was little. She loved Captain Picard.”

“Well, I’m Captain Kirk,” Landon sniffed, crossing his arms over his chest. “He’s a better captain.”

“That’s a load of bull,” I said. “What kind of captain goes on every away mission with the first mate? Who is supposed to run the ship if they’re both killed? That’s just … stupid.”

“You’re stupid,” Landon shot back.

“You’re both stupid,” Aunt Tillie muttered. “Come on. Baby Bay is almost here. You don’t want to miss this. I promise.”

Aunt Tillie hurried up the stairs, leaving Landon and me to glare daggers at one another. He finally broke the uncomfortable silence first. “I guess Picard is an okay captain.”

“Kirk is fun, too,” I offered.

Landon’s face split into a wry grin. “Well, we were due for an argument,” he said. “The stress was bound to get to us.”

“Can we be done with it now?”

“Of course,” Landon said, tugging on my arm. “We can’t argue when we’re about to see your birth.”

“You know I come out of my mother’s lady parts, right?”

“Don’t ruin this for me, Bay,” Landon chided. “Why do you have to ruin everything?”

“Oh, whatever.”

Even though Aunt Tillie said we were observers instead of partakers in this memory, we padded lightly as we moved toward Mom’s bedroom. I could hear her grunting and screaming from twenty feet away, and let me tell you something, it wasn’t making me yearn for a baby.

“I think we should take kids off the menu,” I muttered, searching for Landon’s hand in the dark. “That sounds absolutely horrible.”

“Why is Winnie having Bay at the house?” Landon asked, shifting his eyes to Aunt Tillie. “Shouldn’t she be in a hospital?”

“All of the Winchester babies are born at home, boy,” Aunt Tillie said. “We can’t risk hospitals.”

“And why is that?”

“You’ll see,” Aunt Tillie said.

Landon and I stopped our forward momentum outside of the cracked door. I caught a glimpse of Mom through the thin opening. She was on the bed, Dad sitting behind her and acting as a prop, while Marnie stood at the end of the bed and waited for my arrival.

“It should only be one more good push,” Winnie,” Marnie said.

“I’m done pushing,” Mom said. “You push her out.”

“I don’t think that’s going to work,” Twila said, pacing nervously next to the bed. “Will that work, Marnie?”

“Go back to your panic attack, Twila,” Marnie snapped. “I’ll tell you when the baby is here and you can stop fussing.”

“We should’ve gone to the hospital,” Dad said. “She’s in too much pain.”

“I told you we can’t go to the hospital,” alternate Aunt Tillie said, appearing in front of the door. “If the baby is magical … .”

“Yeah, yeah.” Dad shook his head. “What are the odds the baby will do something magical at birth?”

“Aunt Tillie did,” Marnie replied. “Supposedly she was born in a big flash of light.”

“Yes, well, I’m sure that’s completely true,” Dad deadpanned, causing me to smirk. “I’m sure it’s not exaggerated at all. I still think we should’ve taken her to the hospital. What if there’s something wrong with the baby?”

“The baby will be fine, Jack,” the other Aunt Tillie said. “Just shut up and sit there. We don’t want the first thing the baby hears to be you complaining.”

“That’s rich coming from you,” Dad shot back.

“Don’t make me put you on my list,” alternate Aunt Tillie warned. “The only reason you’re not on it yet is because I know you’re worried.”

“Oh, Goddess!” Mom screeched, grabbing her knees. “Here it is.”

“Push hard, Winnie,” Marnie ordered.

“What do you think I’m doing? Oh!”

Mom screamed so loud the house started shaking. Wait … is that even possible? “Aunt Tillie?”

“Here you come, Bay,” Aunt Tillie said.

I shielded my eyes as the light in the bedroom flashed bright blue. It was brief, but it pulsed three times and died. Then I heard it … er, me. Marnie lifted me up and smacked little me’s bare bottom – and boy were we going to have a talk about that later. Who hits a baby? With baby me’s first breath, a screech filled the air.

“Oh, Goddess. She’s here,” Mom said, reaching for me. “Is she okay?”

“She’s loud,” alternative Aunt Tillie said.

“Of course she’s loud,” Dad said, a tear streaming down his cheek. “She’s related to all of you. Oh … look at her.”

“Look at that,” Landon marveled, his eyes fixed on the squawking infant Mom cradled against her chest. “That’s you.”

“What was with the light?” I asked.

“You were the strongest magically from birth, Bay,” Aunt Tillie said. “Even then I knew you would grow up to be special.”

“But … what was with the light? What did it mean?”

“It meant the Goddess marked you from the moment you joined our family,” Aunt Tillie replied. “She has big plans for you.”

“What does that mean?”

“You’ll figure it out eventually,” Aunt Tillie said, grinning as she glanced at Landon. He couldn’t drag his eyes from the baby. “He’s already figured it out.”

“What has he figured out?” I asked, frustrated.

“It’s time to go,” Aunt Tillie said, her eyes lifting. “You have more to see.”

“Wait!”

She was already gone, and the hallway around us swirled. Landon tightened his grip on my hand and his voice was barely a whisper, but I still managed to hear him over the deafening roar of our travel.

“That was amazing!”

I’m not trying to evade the question. I’m happy to answer the question. What was the question again? Hey! Is that a T-Rex? Run, girls!

– Aunt Tillie when questioned by the Michigan State Police about breaking and entering

Eleven

We’d barely landed – on grass again this time – when I made a bold announcement.

“We’re never having kids.”

Landon was still marveling at my birth, which was just … weird … to wrap my head around. “You were literally born in a ball of light.”

“Not literally,” I corrected. “The lights flashed a little. It’s not the same thing.”

“Did you see that?”

“Me coming out of my mother’s lady parts? Yeah, I saw it. It totally freaked me out.” I brushed off the back of my jeans and stared toward the house. It looked exactly as I remembered from my childhood. “Oh, crap. I wonder what horrors we’re going to see now.”

“Bay, that was the craziest thing I’ve ever seen,” Landon said, accepting my outstretched hand and allowing me to pull him to a standing position.

“You don’t have to tell me. I saw it, too.”

“It was also … beautiful.” Landon had a far-off expression on his face. “How many guys can say they saw their girlfriend being born?”

“Only the really perverted ones,” I replied.

Landon finally snapped his eyes to mine and flicked my nose. “Don’t ruin this. That was … .”

“Amazing,” I finished for him. “You’ve told me. It wasn’t so amazing for me. Did you hear the part where we’re never having kids? I can’t go through that. I’m a baby when I have a headache.”