Electric Blue (29 page)

"Why didn't you tell her this in the beginning?" Naomi asked. "Why let her go into this blind? She could be killed!"

The House shrugged. "Because it is the way. Poppy must learn for herself what troubles she must face. She must learn about herself along the way too. Even now, she heads towards the Darkness, even as it eats more of Ashling. Only the Shifter can stop the Darkness."

"But what can we do in the meantime?" David asked. "We can't just sit here and do nothing."

"This is true. I sense that you are all noble. You must protect this house. There is a war coming; I can sense it. Protect this house and those inside."

"Will you help us?" Cecelia asked. "We will need more help than we have here. We aren't very many. If there is a war coming, we have to be prepared."

"The war comes after All Hallows’ Eve. But you are right, you must be prepared," The House said.

"Then what are we to do?" Cecelia asked. "I have never fought a magical war."

"Neither have I, but we can at least try, can we not?" The House said, making Roz's face smile. "It is time I left this body. It grows restless, and Roz needs her space."

"But," Naomi began, but she never finished.

Roz closed her eyes and there was another loud clap of noise, the breeze intensified inside the attic. It built up speed until the wind started whipping candles around the room, books and bric-a-brac; everyone had to hold on to each other so as not to be blown along with the wind. A small whirlwind, a funnel of air, formed in the centre of the circle. As quickly as it started, it stopped. Everything that had been in the air fell to the floor with a clatter. Naomi raised her head from the floor and narrowly avoided being hit by a candlestick. What she saw made her gasp. Standing in front of them was a little girl. No, not a girl, but a young woman. She had long brown hair that fell to the floor in masses around her. Curls of hair tickled the girl's feet and she giggled a soft, lovely sound. "You may call me House," she said.

Chapter Thirty Nine

They Come Together

Mistress looked up when LaWanda entered the room. "You're late," she said.

"Keep your panties on," LaWanda replied. "I'm here ain't I?" She sat down across from Mistress, her solid oak desk providing the only barrier.

"Yes," Mistress said coolly. "You certainly are."

"Look," LaWanda said. "Can we lose the bitch attitude here? I'm helping you out, how about you remember that?"

Mistress looked momentarily shocked. No one had dared ever to speak to her in such a way. She lashed out with her right hand and sunk her long red nails into the skin around LaWanda's chin. "Let's see how you like a little pain," she said. She cut through the skin, her nails sharp as razors. She felt LaWanda trying to pull away from her, but she just dug her nails in harder, deeper. Blood was now running down her hand and wrist. Smiling at LaWanda, Mistress leaned forward and ran her tongue along her wrist, licking the blood off of her skin. "You are delicious," she said.

LaWanda looked at her. For the first time, she was afraid in Mistress' presence. She now knew that the woman was mad. She could see it in Mistress' eyes, they were dark and they seemed to go on forever. LaWanda said nothing however; her thirst for revenge was too powerful to be brushed aside by common sense. Mistress withdrew her nails from LaWanda's skin. The five holes created by Mistress' fingernails bled furiously and LaWanda put her hand up to stop them from bleeding.

"Don't do that," Mistress spat.

"But I'm bleeding!"

"And whose fault is that?" Mistress said with a smirk.

"Yours," LaWanda said defiantly.

Mistress slapped LaWanda hard across the face with the back of her hand. The slap increased the bleeding of the cuts and also split her lip. Mistress leaned forward and slowly raked her tongue along LaWanda's lips. "Don't screw with me," she whispered in a voice so soft that LaWanda wasn't even sure she heard it. "Don't you EVER screw with me, or you will regret it a hundred times over. Do you know what I did to the last person that pissed me off?"

"No," LaWanda whispered.

"I shot her. She was a dragon, a dragon capable of taking on the shape of a human woman. If I can kill her, I can certainly kill you." She spit in her face. "You are beneath me, let's be perfectly clear on that, alright?"

"Yes Mistress," LaWanda said.

Mistress smiled. "You're learning! Good. I wouldn't keep you around, but I need you. You know Poppy's heart, Alicia's. You know the house, do you not? The House on Harrow Hill?" She would not dare tell LaWanda the house’s true nature.

"Yes."

"Then you will be my way in. Do you have the list?"

LaWanda wiped the spit off her face, the blood still pouring from the cuts on her chin. Blood was now dripping from her mouth too, where one of Mistresses rings had torn the flesh. She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. On it were five names.

"Is this it?"

LaWanda nodded. "Lucas and Mark both hate
Orlando
for something, so they are more than willing to join. Jethro and Karma are both dead, and then there's me."

"Yes, then there's you," Mistress said. "Are these all the people that would have a grudge against our Shifter?"

"All that I can think of."

"You said there were others. . .?"

"I wasn't able to contact them. They are the members of the coven that broke up when Alicia had to leave. They are not at all pleased that the coven has disbanded."

"Then you need to get a hold of them. How many are in the coven?"

"Without Orlando or Alicia, eleven."

"Thirteen members? How cute." She smiled to herself. "Find them. Then report back to me."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to the cemetery," Mistress said. When LaWanda had left, she leaned forward and dragged her finger through the blood that had dripped from LaWanda on to her desk. She stuck the finger in her mouth and smiled in satisfaction.

* * * * *

The cemetery was dark at night. Smoke rolled across the moon and the stars were few. Mistress loved graveyards and cemeteries. They always put her in a good mood. She cherished the dead, thought of the skeletons underneath her feet as if they were antiques. She longed to die one day, so that she could experience what death was like. It was one of her obsessions. She took her time. She weaved in between tombstones and ran her fingers along the letters, letting the tips of her fingers dig into the grooves of the words. "Dearly Departed" or "Rest in Peace". She laughed. There was nothing peaceful about death. She found what she was looking for. The tombstone was new. In fact, the grave had only been dug a week and a half ago. She kneeled in front of it and ran her hand along the tombstones front. Karma's tombstone was cold to the touch. She knocked on the tombstone now, as if it were a door. "Come on granddaughter," she said. "We have some business to attend to." Mistress smiled to herself when the dirt of Karma's grave began to stir. . . .

* * * * *

Poppy had a growing sense of doom. Something was happening to Ashling, to the Otherworld she had brought life to. They had been traveling for what had seemed like days, though Poppy knew that time in the other world could be tricky and difficult to determine. Her watch had stopped working the moment she had entered the house and now the hands spun of their own accord. The world around her was in trouble. She didn't think that she was its creator; she knew that it had existed in some other form before her. But she seemed destined to be its protector. Something, or someone, meant harm to this Otherworld. It was up to her to find out whom. They had reached the part in the path that Tholonious talked about. It was as he said, a grey shapeless cloud that blocked the path they were on. The land on either side of them was still meadows and trees, large valleys that stretched as far as the eye could see. The landscape had been beautiful, Ashling gorgeous, until they had arrived here.

Poppy looked at where the path was supposed to be, at the land on either side of it that was supposed to be there, but it was gone. Only a grey cloud remained. She felt like Dorothy in
The Wizard of Oz
, for some reason. Off to see the Wizard. . . .

"So what do we do now?" she asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Tholonious said. "I have thought for weeks on what to do but cannot rid the other world of the evil. It has sunk its teeth in deeply. Thankfully, we are safe at my camp."

"Your camp?" Alicia asked.

"Where we live. There are bands of Fairies all over the otherworld. We normally do not live in large tribes, so we are spread out all over the place. My people and I live close to here, just back behind the large hill we passed an hour ago."

"Then why didn't we stop there?" Alicia asked.

"I wanted you to both see the Darkness with your own eyes. Telling and seeing are two different things."

Alicia smiled. "Very true."

"So your camp is not far?" Poppy said. "I say we head there and figure out what to do next."

"A very good idea," Tholonious said.

As they trekked back towards Tholonious' camp, Poppy retreated within herself. She could hear her Crow Self whispering in the back of her head. Her father's voice called to her. She went a little further inside her mind so that she could hear him.

You are still on the right path, he said.

Are you sure?
She thought to him.

Yes. This will lead you away from the path, but you will find it again soon. A rest will do you good.

If you can talk to me here, why can't you just show yourself to me, come to me so that we can meet?

She felt her father sigh within her. Because, that is not the way things were meant to be. It's unfortunate, but we are bound by laws we don't understand here. We must adhere to them.

Poppy paused for a moment, while they climbed a particularly bumpy part of the path and then asked her next question.
Why could I not talk to you before?
She thought.

You were not listening before.

It can't be as simple as that.

It rarely is, her father assured her. The other world, this Ashling that you have created, it enhances your powers as you spend more and more time in it. It is your heart home. As well, as you get closer to me, it is easier for us to talk like this.

How are we talking to each other?

It is kind of a mind talk, Shape Shifters can talk to each other telepathically.

Then that must mean. . . .

Yes?
Her father prompted.

That you are a Shape Shifter too.

She heard her father chuckle.
Yes, that is what it means.

I thought I was the only one. . . .

Never assume, Poppy. It will get you into trouble.

Can I know your name? She thought

Her father chuckled again. Full of questions, just like Lucy. Everything will be answered soon. In the meantime rest assured that I am always with you and will make sure no real harm comes to you. I will see you soon. . . .

And Poppy felt her father drift away from her. She huffed. She wished that people would start telling her what she needed to know instead of dodging questions because she had to go on a quest. She sighed inwardly, thinking of her father’s warning that she must never assume. There were laws in the other world that she may not like, but she would have to abide by them. She was pulled out of her private world by Alicia tugging on her arm. They had arrived at the camp.

Chapter Forty

Land of the Fey

Poppy shook her head to clear her mind after her conversation with her father and followed Alicia. She grabbed Alicia's hand nervously. Alicia smiled back at her and squeezed her hand. The path veered off to the right of where they had been going, heading into a dense forest. Trees grew tall and long on either side of the path which switched from dirt and gravel to a small cobblestone path or road. The sun did not reach through the trees. As they followed Tholonious through the forest, Poppy felt eyes watching them. She could hear the whisper of the wind as it played in the branches of the trees overhead. Rather than make her nervous, this place calmed her. The ground hummed under her feet.

"Are you the leader of your people?" Alicia asked.

"No," Tholonious said. He was flying just ahead of Poppy, his small silver wings flapping furiously. "Our people have a wise man. Our leader is Morganna, Queen of the Fey, though none of us have ever seen her."

"Do the Fey not have a court?" Poppy asked.

"They do, but you must know the right people to attend it." He winked. "Besides, I prefer the forest. It is more of a home to me than a court could be. Held prisoner by walls. . . ." he shuddered. "I don't even want to consider such a notion."