The Witches of Dark Root: Daughters of Dark Root: Book One (The Daughters of Dark Root) (47 page)

“Find him? After what he did?” Aunt Dora’s hands balled into fists. She picked up her cup and threw it across the room, where it broke into a hundred pieces.

I sat in my chair, afraid to look up or down.

“He didn’t really do anything,” I began defensively. “True, he tried to summon, but from what I understand––”

“Dat’s da problem. Ya don’ understand anything!” Aunt Dora snapped. “Dat man ne’er cared about anybody but himself!” Her eyes were fixed on me, her gaze cold. At last, she turned and walked into the living room, her feet crunching on the porcelain from her coffee cup as she left.
 

“Mark my words, Maggie,” she muttered angrily. “He won’ care about ya. Only yer powers...”

I had never been chastised by my aunt in my life, and I sat there dumbly, unsure of what to do. Finally, I took a wad of dish cloths from a kitchen drawer and got to work cleaning up the mess. It took me an hour, but I was going purposefully slow, waiting for Aunt Dora to fall asleep in her recliner before tip-toeing past her, and into my room.
 

As I opened the door I sensed a presence inside.

I caught a glimpse of it in my peripheral, a small dark shape lurking in the corner. I walked past it and flung myself into bed, not bothering to switch on the light.

“Please go away,” I said to it, exhausted. “If you want to play tomorrow, that’s fine. But I can’t do this tonight.”

I felt a lightness in the room as my mind faded to black.

“A week ago, you’re telling me you’re thinking about staying, now you want to leave again?” Shane was bent over, wrestling with the legs of a fold out card table he was trying to set up in front of Mother’s store.

Tomorrow was Halloween, the official opening of Haunted Dark Root, and Shane insisted we give early visitors a taste of what was to come. Apparently, this included Eve and I giving free ten minute Tarot Card readings on Main Street.

Eve had finished her shift. She was a natural, telling people exactly what they wanted to hear. ‘Of course you are going to get that raise...’ ‘You just need to put a little vanilla behind your ear, then he will come running after you...’
 

She then sent them on their way, giddy and excited, and vowing to come back the following day for the main event. I wasn’t sure I could follow that act.

“I need to find my father,” I said, as I carried a chair from Mother’s shop onto the sidewalk.

Shane had arranged my stand so that I would be in clear view of pedestrians, without blocking the walkway. I removed a new deck of tarot cards, shuffled them, and placed them face down on the table.

“I won’t be gone forever,” I added.

“But, isn’t he dangerous? Are you sure that going after him is a good idea?”

Shane stood over me, dressed in tight jeans, boots, a button-down, plaid shirt, and his now-famous cowboy hat. I half-expected to see a lasso or a bull whip in his free hand. Whenever someone passed by he tipped his hat and smiled, pointing out all the fine amenities that Dark Root had to offer.

I had to hand it to him; he was a natural at public relations.

“I appreciate the concern but I’ll be fine,” I said.

“I’m not gonna try and stop you. If I had a chance to see my father, I’d take it.” Shane took a drink of water from the Dixie cup on my table. “I just want you to be aware how much you’ve done for this town.”

 
“Me?” I said, noticing that a group was already beginning to assemble at my table for their free readings.
 

I had never done a Tarot Card reading in my life, but I had seen my mother do enough of them to at least fake it.

“I’ve done practically nothing,” I protested. “It’s you guys who have made the difference.”

“Are you kidding me?” Shane removed his hat and ran his fingers through his floppy brown hair. He returned the hat to his head. “People don’t come here to see me. They come for this. They come...” he added, reaching into a large paper sack and pulling out a shiny, black, witch’s hat. I shook my head violently as he placed it on me, pulling it down around my ears. “...To see Maggie Maddock and The Witches of Dark Root.”

Shane looked to the crowd, raising his hands and encouraging them to applaud for me. I shot him a look that said he was in big trouble later.

“He’s right,” Eve said, looking up and down the street for the delivery man who was supposed to bring the candles for the lighting ceremony. “They come to see the women.”

Shane propped a sign against my table that read FREE and the crowd grew larger.

I sighed, realizing I was going to be trapped here all afternoon.

“Are you done?” I asked. “Looks like I have work to do.”

“Not yet,” he said. Shane stepped back into the store and returned with an old-fashioned broom. He set it next to my table, framed the picture with his hands, and nodded approvingly. “...Now we’re done.” He dusted the corner of the table with his fingers and whispered, “Just think about staying. It would mean a lot to...us.”

Then he crossed the street and headed for Dip Stix, maneuvering through the steady stream of pedestrian traffic.

“So,” a voice at the front of the line said. “Are you going to read my cards, or what?”

I nodded absently, pointing to an empty chair across from me. I shuffled the deck until my hands tingled, my sign that it was time to stop.

“Tell me what you would like to know,” I said, laying the cards out in a line, face down on the table. “Then pick three: one for your past, one for your present, and one for your future.”

“I want to know how your mother’s doing.”

The voice was low, taunting and sarcastic.

I raised my eyes, peeking out from under the long brim of the witch’s hat.

Leah.

The world spun and I searched the street and the nearby windows for Eve or Shane. Neither were in sight. I clenched the edge of the table with my hands, steadying myself.

Leah regarded me coolly, that same smug look I remembered pasted on her pinched face.

I took a deep breath, fighting back the urge to reach across the table and grab her. There were families watching with small children. I couldn’t lose it now, no matter what she deserved.

“What are you doing here?” I said.

Leah smirked, her glasses threatening to slide off her stub of a nose. “Oh, I was out and about,” she smiled sweetly. “I thought I’d pay a call on some old friends.”

“I'm not your friend.” I could feel my lips twist into a snarl.

“Give me my reading or I’m complaining to management.” Leah flipped over her first card: The Hermit.

“Too bad there’s not a weasel card,” I said, refusing to be rattled. The table shivered, betraying my calm face. “You’d better go. You saw what happened the last time I lost my temper...”

Leah tilted her head back to laugh, placing a hand on her chest.

“The candle trick?” she said scornfully. “Please. Level Two Magick, at best. You’re nothing more than a neophyte when it comes to casting. My daddy could do that in his sleep.” Leah licked her lips, flipping over the second card: The Devil. “Oh, I meant
our
daddy. He was a pretty neat guy. Too bad you never got to know him.”

My fingers dug into the table. “That’s about to change,” I said, flipping over the last card: Death. I pushed the card in her direction. “...I'm going to find him.”

“Good luck with that.” Leah picked up the card, raised an eyebrow, then tore it in two. “He died a few years ago. Or hadn’t you heard? I guess your psychic friend doesn’t know everything, does she?”

“Jillian?” My eyes widened. “How do you know about her?”

Leah leaned back in her chair, that smug smile back on her face. “I know many things,
Magdalene
.”

“You’re a liar,” I snapped, my eyes darting around to see who was watching...and listening. My father wasn’t dead. He couldn’t be. Not before I got to meet him. “My father sent you to Woodhaven to find me. That’s why you were there,” I said.

Leah snorted. “What an active imagination you have. You still think everything is about you. Woodhaven. Dark Root. Michael.
Daddy.”
Leah removed her glasses, wiping them with the hem of her shirt before she put them back on. “Daddy’s dead. And your mother may be joining him shortly.”

I’d had enough.

I stood, knocking my chair back. I reached for her then noticed a little girl about June Bug’s age watching me.

“Reading’s over,” I said instead, squeezing my hands into fists. “And if you ever come near my mother, or anyone else in my family again, you will be sorry.”

Leah rose, placing her hands on the table as she leaned forward, her mouth inches from my ear. “Daddy didn’t send me. My mother did. Your family is in possession of an artifact that belongs to us...”

“Artifact?” I said, genuinely baffled that time. “What artifact?”

Leah paused, as if deciding how much to tell me. A smile cracked her thin lips.

“I tried to break the old hag first,” she said. “But she was more stubborn then I realized. I almost got her to confess to its whereabouts, but she was stronger than the tea I gave her. She just kept saying your name. So...” Leah tilted her head to the side “...I went after you, instead.”

“I knew it!” I snapped. “You
are
the reason she got sick! What else did you use besides the jimson weed?” I put my hands over hers, digging my nails into her flesh.

Leah flinched, but didn’t pull away.

“Enchantments are my specialty.”

I looked around me again for Shane or Eve. Still no sight of either of them. I moved my fingers from Leah’s hands to her wrists, squeezing them tightly, holding her captive.

“What sort of enchantment did you use? And what’s the elixir?”

“A little something I learned from your mother’s book.” Leah smiled like a cat who had finally caught its mouse.

At first, I wasn’t sure what she was talking about, but then I understood.

“The missing pages in Mother’s book. You took the spell and the anti-spell!”

“I learned so much from that little book.” Leah’s eyes sparkled, zeroing in on the crystal around my neck. “I learned about love. That was fun. Watching that pathetic little man of yours run around like a chicken with his head cut off, doing my bidding...”

She licked her lips, then sighed dramatically.

“...I never counted on you leaving,” she said. “I honestly thought you’d stick around, put up a fight, and then give me what I was looking for in trade for your...boyfriend. And he was, shall we say, useful to me for a while.”
 

Leah pulled her hands free, letting her words sink in.

My heart stopped as I put it all together.

She had been able to cast a spell on Michael just as easily as Eve had. Without thinking, I swung my hand back and slapped her, sending her head jerking in the opposite direction. I heard someone in the crowd gasp, but I didn’t care. I was beyond caring.

“I suggest you stop,” Leah growled, taking a step back beyond my reach. “
Wilder.
”

“Or what?” I asked, ready to charge her.

“Or else, you will never get the anti-spell.” Leah smiled, her ferret eyes gleaming, knowing that she had me cornered. “I’ll return tomorrow and trade you the artifact for the anti-spell.”