Sisters of Misery (4 page)

Later that night, Maddie rested in the darkness, replaying the conversation in Tess’s room. In the moments before the deep, heavy folds of sleep slipped over her, Maddie jerked wide awake, inexplicably unnerved by Tess’s dreams of bonfires and swimming, of islands and stones. If her dreams were, in fact, prophetic, what could they possibly mean? Could they have something to do with her own dreams? And why did Maddie have the sinking feeling that something ominous was just around the corner?

As soon as Rebecca’s Closet was open and ready for business, customers began to pour in. Most were just curious about the newcomers to town. Everyone who wandered into the shop was welcomed by a burst of exotic fragrances and vivid colors. Glass apothecary jars containing dried herbs and spices lined the wooden shelves and bottles of flower tinctures were nestled away from the sun in the heavy oak bookcases.

Cordelia and Rebecca hung jewelry, handmade from dried roses and silk ribbons, on an antique coat rack and draped dried bouquets and wreaths from the wooden rafters that crisscrossed the high ceiling. They pressed flowers between pages of antique books and lined shelves with a jumble of decorative items: antique watering cans, handmade soaps, fat candles, thick stationary, sealing wax and ribbons, calligraphy pens and ink, and porcelain jars. Rebecca made sure to prominently display a wide selection of New Age books, crystals, incense, and various tools of divination—rune stones, tarot, and oracles—in order to capitalize on the store’s proximity to Salem, the Witch City.

And the flowers! Brilliant sparks of color shot out from every angle. They filled jars and buckets with blue and lavender hydrangeas entwined with ivy; dewy roses stretched out alongside sprigs of lavender and bright shades of phlox. Demure calla lilies rested against the haughty foxglove. Red salvia and pink petunias were alive with fire. Orange-scented pomanders hung from doorknobs and chair rails, efficiently strung by satin cords. The flowers filled every crevice so that once inside the tiny shop, Maddie felt like she was smack dab in the middle of the Garden of Eden.

Both Rebecca and Cordelia were skilled at making perfume from essential oils and floral extracts. They even claimed that certain aromas could heal almost anything—from the common cold to getting over a broken heart. Although most people came in regularly for the flowers, they were also tempted to try the herbal remedies available.

When elderly Mrs. Elliott complained about not being able to sleep well at night, Rebecca whipped up an ounce of
Night Whispers,
a mixture of crushed yarrow, dried lilac, essential oils of rose and jasmine, and dashes of foreign spices. When gossipy Hattie McGregor came into the store complaining of migraines, Cordelia made up a lavender, sage, and eucalyptus tincture to soothe her aching head. And large numbers of women came in anxious to try the cowslip potion that was rumored to magically erase wrinkles.

Even though the shop had become quite popular since its opening, whisperings of witchcraft, spells, and magic arose with every single mention of the store and its owners. But Rebecca and Cordelia paid no attention to the gossip and rumors swirling around them. They were just thrilled to have a thriving business, one where they could be surrounded by beautiful things and magical items. Maddie was so entranced by them that she didn’t care what people said. They were like images from a Botticelli painting come to life, luminous and mysterious. Maddie wanted to soak in everything and be a part of the glittering halo that seemed to surround them.

Unfortunately, Abigail had other plans. She didn’t want Maddie to be associated with any of the goings-on at her sister’s store. Even Tess knew that the townspeople would only tolerate Rebecca’s Closet for so long and that eventually, being associated—even in the slightest, most innocent way—with outsiders would inevitably come back to haunt them. And though Tess was always so quick to hide any association with the supernatural or psychic abilities she believed she’d been granted, she had only one word to say when she saw the store—
Grand!

Though they had only been in town for a few weeks, Rebecca and Cordelia already felt like a familiar presence in Maddie’s life. It was as if they were the missing piece that Maddie had always been seeking, and now that they were finally here, she couldn’t imagine life without them.

Luckily, with field hockey camp in full force, Kate, Hannah, Bridget, and Darcy hadn’t had the time to come to Rebecca’s store. And every time Kate suggested that Maddie meet up with them for end-of-the-summer parties, Maddie found a good excuse not to go. While this angered Abigail, it thrilled Tess. When the girls weren’t helping out in the store, Tess whisked them off to the museums in Boston, shopping excursions in Newburyport, and endless sea glass searches along the craggy shores of Rockport.

Maddie and Cordelia had become inseparable over the past few weeks—staying up late into the night talking, sneaking down to the beach for midnight swims, playing cards and backgammon with Tess after dinner. They were becoming more and more like a family. It was something that they all needed at that point in time.

But Maddie knew that the inevitable was right around the corner. School would be starting soon, and she’d have to share Cordelia with the rest of her friends. It would be no easy task, for sure. Maddie could already picture Kate’s reaction to her free-spirited cousin. Kate with her Lilly Pulitzer attire, blond hair perfectly highlighted and swept back neatly with a pastel headband. And then there was Cordelia with her long floral skirts, muted tanks layered over her long torso, untamed red hair flowing down her back with tiny braids woven intermittently throughout, arms and neck wrapped with strands of semiprecious stones. The two couldn’t be more different, and Maddie went to great lengths to keep them apart for as long as possible.

While Maddie didn’t have the expensive wardrobe that matched Kate and the other girls in her group, over the years, she had mastered New England preppy attire in order to fit in. Yet the peasant blouses, crystal necklaces, and colorful skirts that Rebecca and Cordelia had given her just seemed to feel more natural and refreshing than stiff Oxford shirts and khaki pants.

Maddie walked into the store one afternoon wearing a Polo golf shirt with a long patchwork skirt, her wrists adorned with lapis lazuli, aventurine, and rose quartz bracelets. She completed the look with her beat-up Keds, a silk, multicolored scarf knotted around her head with the ends trailing down her back, and large hoop earrings. The outfit, which Cordelia could have carried off with ease, made Maddie look like she was playing dress-up. Cordelia raised an eyebrow, amused at her cousin’s transformation.

“What?” Maddie asked defensively.

Rebecca and Cordelia eyed each other, obviously trying not to laugh.

“You look like Martha Stewart and Bob Dylan’s love child,” Cordelia said.

Rebecca swatted her daughter and opened her arms, inviting Maddie into a big bear hug. “I think you look beautiful. It’s an essential part of growing up to develop your own style.”

“I think that you’re being generous with the word
style
, Mom,” Cordelia said again. Maddie made as if to hit her. “Kidding, kidding! You look very cool.”

Rebecca returned to her paperwork, totaling up the vast number of sales that they’d raked in ever since the store opened.

“I hope that this store isn’t just a flash in the pan,” she said, almost to herself. “If people keep buying like this, we’ll be having an excellent Christmas this year.” She smiled.

“Mom, let me read your fortune,” Cordelia said, spilling rune stones across the old farm table. Maddie rubbed her nail-bitten fingertips over the carved symbols in the stones.

“How ’bout I read yours instead?” Rebecca suggested.

“Nah, I already know mine: Cordelia LeClaire will run off with a handsome prince who shows up on horseback, whisking her off to his castle a million, trillion miles from Hawthorne, Massachusetts. And she’ll never look back.”

“You’re going to leave your favorite person in the world here?” Looking at Maddie, Rebecca mouthed the word
Me
and then pointed to herself. “All by my lonesome?”

“Hey, it was your choice to come back here, not mine. And I don’t think that as long as there is a man alive in this world, you can ever say that you’re lonely,” Cordelia joked. Rebecca pretended to whack her daughter. “No, really, let me read your rune stones.”

Listening to their happy banter made Maddie feel like a third wheel. The strength of Cordelia and Rebecca’s relationship was so foreign to her, so very different from any other mother-daughter relationships she knew, with her own at the very top of the list. Maddie’s friends barely tolerated parents, only giving them the time of day during holidays or some other gift-giving event. And even then, the amount of affection was almost always in direct proportion to the dollar value of the gift.

“Why don’t you do Maddie’s?” Rebecca smiled at her. “Wouldn’t you like to know what the future holds for you?”

“No, that’s okay. I really should be getting home to help my mom get dinner started.” Maddie desperately wanted to stay and learn more about fortune telling and hear all of the stories of their travels and the interesting people in their lives back in California, but she knew that her mother would be furious if she shirked any more of her chores.

As Maddie started gathering her things, Cordelia squeezed her eyes shut and thrust her hand into the black bag of stones. She pulled her closed fist from the satchel and opened her palm flat toward Rebecca. They both peered at the blank stone. Cordelia flipped it quickly to display the other side.

“Hey, I got a faulty one. There’s nothing on this.”

Rebecca flipped through the Rune handbook. “No, that’s an actual stone. It’s called the
Odin
or the
Wyrd
stone,” she continued reading. “This is the Fate stone, the unknowable. It is the stone that represents both the beginning and the end. It symbolizes the unknowable, that which cannot be known or controlled. Only Fate will decide the outcome.”

Cordelia’s eyes widened. “Ooooh, scary,” she giggled as she jumped from her perch on the table. “Maddie, did you hear that? My future is
unknowable
and
uncontrollable
.”

Maddie felt a sudden wave of nausea as her dream of Cordelia out on Misery Island came back to her. She had mentioned the Sisters of Misery to Cordelia once or twice without going into great detail, but Cordelia had laughed it off, comparing them to the Junior League or a silly sorority.

“I don’t need a rock to tell me that you’re uncontrollable, my dear,” Rebecca joked. She lit an October Harvest incense stick, and the store quickly filled with the scents of autumn—cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and apples.

Maddie smiled, wishing that she didn’t have to leave the cozy scene behind. Waving a reluctant good-bye, she walked home where surely, her mother waited to pounce on her and start yet another argument.

Abigail was always eagerly waiting to point out all the things Maddie hadn’t done recently. Maddie
didn’t
go to field hockey camp; she
didn’t
secure an invitation to the Endicott’s end of the summer party; she
didn’t
place high enough in the sail meet for them to attend the awards banquet at the yacht club. All the things that Maddie
didn’t
do represented the one big thing that her mother didn’t do for her—love her unconditionally.

When she got home, Maddie found her mother furiously cleaning the kitchen. Maddie quelled the urge to run upstairs before her mother caught sight of her, demanding help with the chores, and instead joined her in the kitchen.

“Hey, Mom,” Maddie said tentatively, trying to gauge her mother’s mood, “How about going out for dinner tonight?”

Abigail turned, and from the look on her face, Maddie was expecting a lecture on not having enough money to go out to restaurants or how Maddie should try cooking a meal once in a while. She was taken aback when her mother said, “Well, that would be nice. What’s the occasion?”

Maddie felt a surge of excitement, not quite understanding her mother’s change of heart, actually spending money—and time—with her daughter.

“Oh, no occasion, Mom. I just—well, I thought that we could go someplace nice together.” She hesitated, adding, “Maybe even bring Tess, Rebecca, and Cordelia?”

“Oh,” Abigail said dryly, trying to keep the disappointment out of her voice but not sufficiently hiding it. “I just thought—well, I assumed you had been over to the Endicott’s this afternoon, that, well…never mind.”

“What do you mean, Mom?” Maddie’s earlier excitement was crashing and burning, leaving her insides feeling like leaden carnage.

“Well, I haven’t been to Crestwood Yacht Club in ages, and I
assumed
that you and I had been invited by the Endicotts for dinner. I mean, that’s the only place around town that’s worth paying for dinner, and you can’t eat there if you’re not a member, and it’s been such a long time since we’ve done anything socially with Kate’s family. Don’t you remember how much I adored Crestwood’s Cobb Salad?”

Abigail droned on, touting the merits of Crestwood’s menu, but Maddie stopped listening. She felt like one of those cartoon characters that had smoke steaming out of its ears in anger. Maddie couldn’t hear anything but the sound of her own fury and disgust. Of course, her mother wouldn’t want to waste time going out to dinner with her own daughter. To Abigail Crane, spending time with Maddie was only worthwhile if it was a social event.

She felt a flash of jealousy toward Cordelia, back in the store, laughing with Rebecca. Rebecca loved her daughter no matter what she did. Cordelia had no idea how lucky she really was.

Maddie quickly excused herself and ran up the stairs to her room to change, so consumed by her feelings that she barely noticed the darkening swell of the ocean that churned outside her bedroom window. If she had looked more closely, she would have noticed that the sea had turned to the color of slate. If she had listened to Tess’s advice about paying attention to the signs that were all around them, perhaps Maddie could have glimpsed the future and would have known that the lives of all of the women in her family were in greater peril than any of them realized.