An Enigmatic Witch, page 19
‘So, what’s the deal with the bike, anyway?’ I was determined to keep up the chatter, to keep the thoughts in my head down to a dull roar.
‘It’s mine,’ he said.
‘Yeah, but you don’t live here.’
‘I bought it once when I was visiting. Couldn’t pass up the deal. It’s registered in Jon’s name, I keep it at his garage,’ Hugh said, then caught himself. ‘In his former garage, I should say.’
‘At Cate’s,’ I confirmed. I stuffed some fries into my mouth and chewed them thoughtfully, then washed them down with the chocolate milkshake. ‘So even though Dad moved out, you’re still friendly with her?’
I hadn’t mentioned my own connection with her to him. No reason, really, except that she thought it might be best to keep it quiet from our Kin connections.
He shrugged. ‘Why ever not? The separation is amicable on both sides, very civilised of them, as to be expected. It’s much easier this way. I work with them both, we’re all part of the larger Kin organization, they don’t bring their personal issues into the working relationship. And that’s how it should be.’
So he wasn’t aware of the reasons Jon had stayed with his wife all those years. Or at least, the reason according to Mom. Interesting. Perhaps Dad and my boyfriend weren’t as good friends as they claimed to be. Or perhaps no one had true friends among the Kin.
‘I heard that the cleansing ceremony is tonight,’ I said, switching tracks. ‘I wouldn’t mind seeing it.’
His eyes fired up again with enthusiasm. ‘Absolutely. We can’t miss it.’
‘What exactly happens?’ Dad had said they didn’t touch the lines, just opened them up to clear out the excess. I couldn’t imagine it was actually much to see, and I said as much.
‘It’s... it’s a wonderful experience, to watch the lines being cleared,’ Hugh said earnestly. ‘There’s nothing like it in this world. You’ll see.’
He sat back with a smile. ‘There’s so much I want to show you in this world.’
And there was so much I wanted to see, and with Hugh by my side. But I was beginning to realize that I didn’t necessarily want him showing me, I wanted us to explore and discover. Together, as equals.
More and more, I was coming to understand that I wanted to be an active partner, not just a ‘plus-one’.
We wandered back out to the motorcycle, but before we put our helmets on, I stopped and inspected the bike. It wasn’t a ginormous one, not like some of the Japanese and American ones I saw around town. It was old-school, bare bones really, and didn’t offer a very comfortable ride for the passenger.
Who would want to be a passenger all their lives? This wasn’t going to be my future, I decided right there and then.
‘Teach me to drive.’ I turned to look up at him.
‘Sure,’ he answered me, surprise in his voice. ‘Your aunt’s car would be the best to learn with. We can start anytime.’
‘No. Not a car. The bike,’ I said. ‘Your bike.’
‘My Harley?’
‘Do you have another bike?’
His mouth was set, and I could see a battle going on inside him. ‘I don’t, that is, I mean...’
‘Teach me to drive it,’ I said again. ‘What’s wrong, you don’t want to give up control?’
‘It’s not that,’ he brushed aside my words. ‘But you need a learner’s permit. Once that’s in place, you can get proper lessons. It’s very important, you know, for safety reasons.’
‘I can get a permit,’ I said. ‘But I want you to teach me right now. Just the basics. Right here in this parking lot.’ I didn’t know why I was challenging him, taunting him really. He loved his Harley. Maybe I was testing to see if he loved me enough to let me drive it. If he trusted me with it. I kept my eyes on his the whole time.
‘Mmmm,’ he finally said after wriggling a bit, but finding no way out. ‘Okay, just around here. But I can’t be on the back with you, you have to learn how to balance it first.’
And to give Hugh his due, he taught me the bare basics of driving his precious Harley, watching me jealously the whole time as I made my slow way around the empty parking lot. There was a lot of stopping and starting and dangerous overbalancing on my part, but I did it. I picked up the change of gears and the brakes and even how to lean into the curves.
Satisfied, I kicked the stand and stood up. I wasn’t sure what I had just proven or gotten out of my system, but I felt a lot better about me and him and our future.
‘Thank you,’ I told him as I stood back to let him take charge of his bike again. ‘This means a lot to me.’
‘You know it wasn’t easy for me.’
I laughed. ‘Yeah, I know. I think that’s why I wanted it.’
He took me in a big embrace, squeezing me in his arms. ‘Sorry I haven’t been around much since I got back into town,’ he murmured against my helmet. ‘But you know. Work.’
‘Hey, I’ve been busy too, with my own work,’ I reminded him, speaking into his leather jacket.
‘Yes,’ he said. I heard the smile in his voice. ‘Your little assignment.’
I stiffened, pushing against the arms that held me close. Did he even realize how patronizing he’d just sounded? I stepped out of his reach. But he didn’t notice anything amiss, and busied himself fitting his helmet on, brushing his lustrous dark waves of hair away from his face.
‘And have you given any thought about what we were discussing the other night?’ He turned to me.
Oh right. He’d reminded me about our marriage, right before I upchucked all over him.
Marriage. I didn’t say a word in response, pretending to be busy putting on my own helmet. Would marriage to Hugh be like this all the time? Being his passenger as he brought me places, showed me things? In between my Duchess duties of course, providing the heir and a spare for his dukedom.
Both Cate and Margaret had strongly advised me not to agree to it, that it would tie me down for twenty years or more, that I wouldn’t be able to develop my own career or explore my own desires. I would be weighed down by the extremely ugly heavy ring which his mother couldn’t wait to pass on to me.
I stopped and stared at his bike before I got on behind him. He was revving it up, raring to go, while I, I was preparing to be his passenger. On the bike that he owned and steered and controlled.
Maybe, maybe what I really wanted from life was a motorcycle of my own. Not literally, of course. But I knew I wanted to steer my own way through life.
21
In the dusk of the evening, Hugh steered the Harley up the steep road to the tower at the top of Signal Hill. It was the best place to be if you want to take in the whole city at once, well the old parts of it anyway. The stone building sat on top of more than five hundred feet of sedimentary rock which rose straight up out of the ocean. A powerful place in itself, it was always the perfect spot to sit and ponder. Tonight we were going to watch the light show of the ley line cleansing ceremony. He promised me it would be worth it.
‘Will we be able to see it from here?’ I asked him, my voice raised above the wind which, although it was blowing steady from the east and we were sitting comfortably in our little nook on the opposite side of the hill, was still managing to lift our hair and cut through our leather.
‘The best viewing point is directly over the Temple,’ he said. ‘We need to fly.’
He didn’t mean we would fly fly, of course, not the way I’d been practicing whenever I could. Hugh was referring to the mind flight which was very easily done. I settled my back against the solid rock behind us and prepared to relax my body enough to loosen my thoughts. My phone buzzed inside my jean jacket pocket, but this was not the time to be checking it.
‘I’ve got something special to tell you,’ he whispered, close to my ear. He took my hand in his and squeezed it. I looked up at him. Those green eyes were gleaming with excitement.
My stomach gave a small lurch. I hoped it wasn’t about the ring, that his mother had insisted he give it to me. We had different views on that clunky piece of metal, valuable though the gem stones might be, for it was heavily laden with meaning. I prayed he wasn’t going to take it out right there and then and force me to refuse it.
‘Oh yeah?’
‘They’ve asked me to prepare to take part in the next cleansing ceremony.’
My whole body relaxed and breath could enter my lungs again. My phone buzzed again, I continued to ignore it.
‘Dude, I hate to rain on your parade,’ I said in a deadpan voice. ‘But don’t hold your breath waiting. You’re going to be like, in your mid-seventies the next time this is done.’
‘Stop your teasing,’ he said, poking me with his elbow. ‘You know I don’t mean here. It’ll be in Africa, or if that doesn’t work out because of politics, in Spain.’
I thought about what he said for a moment.
‘Aren’t you awfully young for this... this honor?’ Dad had told me it was only the highly regarded Elders, those who had proved they were trustworthy over many years.
His chest rose under the leather jacket. ‘Young in age, perhaps, but not in maturity. This is what happens when you follow the prescribed path, do everything right. The influential witches get to know you, and that smooths the path.’
Hugh was right to be proud, for in the world of the Kin, reputation was everything. Yet the more I learned about the Kin and their ways, the less I was drawn to being a part of this structure. Even just a few days ago, I’d wanted the same for myself. But now, knowing what I did about the ley lines and the tapping of them during the cleansing ceremony, I was beginning to have my doubts.
‘I don’t think I’ll ever be asked to be a part of the ceremony.’
He thought a moment, then shook his head in agreement. ‘No. You’re too much of an unknown still. With your history... But still, you have many years ahead of you. And having children calms the female hormones, they say. So...’
My eyes widened. Shit, really? He said those words like they were a good thing. To cover my reaction I took my phone out and checked to see who was so desperately trying to get in touch.
Brin. He’d phoned five times. I flicked to the texts, although he really didn’t like sending messages so I wasn’t expecting much. But he had texted finally, as I hadn’t picked up his calls.
Y rnt u anser phon? Brin wasn’t great at spelling. It wasn’t because he was stupid, he just didn’t respect the history of the printed English language, and he was right as a lot of it didn’t make sense. Hav packge from T must giv u. Bad.
What was he trying to say? And who was T? Whatever. My friend was really going off the deep end, I feared. His contact with Eldric must have him spooked, but it could wait till the morning. I put the phone away and prepared to straighten Hugh out about the hormone thing. And the whole ring thing.
‘With time, and my guidance, of course, you’ll be able to go far.’ Hugh squeezed my hand reassuringly.
I took a deep breath. I couldn’t do this any longer, and it was only right to tell him. Marriage between us was looking less and less likely every time he opened his mouth. I prepared to let loose but he was already looking at his wrist watch.
‘It’s time,’ he said. ‘Let’s go.’
I admit it was easier not to begin that difficult conversation right then, to wait for a more auspicious moment. He kept hold of my hand and I felt him relax beside me. I used that deep breath I’d just taken to also force my own body to relax and move into astral projection mode. There would be time enough later to discuss our futures.
And we floated over the city of St. John’s, unmindful of the strong easterly breeze coming from the North Atlantic Ocean. The sun had fully gone from the sky by now, and being above the city lights, I could look up and see the stars in their glorious path across the sky. The town below us was quiet, yet something felt off. It was undefinable and unseen, like the faintest whiff of a forest fire a hundred miles away, so faint the conscious mind doesn’t register the presence of smoke. I looked all around, and everything seemed normal, yet something about the movement of the shadows in the old alleyways below was almost catching my eyes.
I need to do this in Alt.
No, we don’t have to. We’ll see things fine from this perspective. He was urging me north to where the Temple lay hidden in its valley.
But I refused to budge. I’m going back, in order to do this in Alt. Something is off down below. I can feel it.
We had to return to our bodies in order to do the switch. I sensed his impatience, but he reluctantly trailed me back to the hill.
When we were both present again in the physical, I opened my eyes to find him staring at me, his brows drawn and his mouth turned down.
‘It’s starting soon,’ he warned. ‘We don’t have much time.’
‘Humor me,’ I said. ‘You coming with?’
He nodded, slowly. And so we flipped through the Veil to Alt. Immediately the lights below us dimmed and the city shrunk, the gaslight of the streetlamps soft and yellow, kerosene lamps in the windows of the larger homes, tallow candles in those of the poor. The shadows were darker and more pervasive here.
‘Ready?’
He opened his mouth as if he was going to object but then he shrugged. And we relaxed our bodies again to let our minds out over Alt. While we hovered past the ancient winding streets, I searched with my mind’s eye and also with my other senses for whatever had alerted me. And then I saw it.
At first, it was just a subtle movement deep within the shadows of the tall buildings on Water Street. Then, another one on Duckworth Street which ran parallel but up the hill that was the old town. As my mental eyes adjusted to the dimness, I saw the shadows of the super naturals emerge. There were many of them, vampires, dwarves, trolls and the unnameable ones who lived in the old sewer systems deep underground. Further up the hill, there were Fae and nymphs flitting along the trees of the old burial grounds, long disappeared in real time.
They were swarming like bees, congregating in groups, silent, this mass of bodies and their faces were set with worry. Yet beneath these drawn faces, I could also sense a buzz of excitement running through the crowds of super naturals. They stood in the darkened doorways and beneath the trees, their tenseness permeated the air.
Look below, I said to Hugh. Something’s happening.
He paused in midair, the better to let his eyes adjust to the dimness, and he searched the crowds.
It’s the cleansing ceremony that has them excited, he assured me after a moment.
But they look worried, some of them. Others are...expectant. I don’t have a good feeling about this.
Some of the super naturals don’t like the ceremony, he admitted. They wrongly feel that... well, it’s no matter. We don’t have much time.
You don’t suppose...
What? I could feel Hugh’s impatience to be gone and over to the Temple.
Could this be the rumblings of rebellion the Kin were worrying about? Do you think they have something planned for tonight?
I think we would have heard about it, he said with not a doubt in his voice. We have a very good intelligence network.
This isn’t normal behavior, I insisted. Look at them!
And he did. He slowed down his flight to really examine the groups far below us. But the rebellion, that’s the elves, he pointed out finally. There’s no elves in this group.
I looked down and searched the crowds, what I could see of them below the tree branches. He was right. The only Kith missing were the elves.
Come on, he urged me. To the Temple! Time’s running out.
We flew on north, past the ponds that fed the farms and the cattle and sheep and we crested the final hill. I looked back a couple of times, and searched amongst the trees below us, but could see no more evidence of the inhabitants of Alt. I had to let my bad feelings go and concentrate on the show that was about to happen.
He positioned us over to the side of the Temple. I knew if we moved over a tad closer we could look down through the moon window and see the Elders, my father included, in their circle preparing to perform their ceremony.
Can you see the lines? Hugh was pointing off to the west.
I adjusted my mental eyes to allow the light from the seams to surface, and yes, there they were, the bright green, pulsing with the delicious force of life. They felt so close I thought I could swoop down and touch them. How could these wondrous lines of life energy need any assistance?
Wait for it.
They glowed, and suddenly, all the ley lines leading to the Temple, their point of convergence, they all grew even brighter if that was possible. The lights seared into the darkness, burning molten gold and red and neon blue like they were going to burst out of the earth and rain into the sky. It was like watching the Aurora Borealis, but coming up from the ground.
I took a deep breath.
Yet then just as suddenly the light of the lines calmed down again, back to the delicious green shining only, no hint of gold within the seams again.
I waited for a moment longer, but nothing else happened. Is that it? Is that all there is?
Hugh nodded beside me. I know, it only takes a moment. There’s more to it, I’m told, but we can’t see it because the ceremony is inside the Temple. And no, we can’t peek through the moon window.
I felt cheated, and not a little disappointed. A bit of a let-down, actually. It should have been more exciting after all that pre-ceremony hype.
He shrugged. We turned away from the lines to head back to our bodies far across town, and that’s when I saw them. Beneath the trees in this boreal forest of Alt, not too far away from the Temple itself, there was the slightest of movements that wasn’t the wind in the leaves. When I focused my eyes past the mass of foliage, I saw the pale faces glowing eerily in the shadows, and over by the entrance driveway to the Temple, there was Brin. He was accompanied by one of Eldric’s Bitches. No, he was being held by him and struggling to escape the iron grip the other had on him, his eyes wild and terrified.
