In the Forest of Light and Dark (28 page)

Witches are more Numerous than I could have Imagined
 

I went into the weekend having made plans to hang out with Katelyn but only after I had visited my step daddy at Saint Christopher’s of course. Katelyn had asked me if I would like for her to accompany me to the hospital when I went, and I told her no saying that she might raise my step daddy's heart rate up too much. She only responded with, “ewe”.
     When I saw my Step Daddy Cade that Friday evening he was awake, but not really responsive, mostly because of all the pain medication they had him on which made him severely drowsy. But, when I had visited him on Saturday, he was a lot more alert and sitting up in his bed. They’d even moved him out of the I.C.U. wing and into a normal room which had a television and phone.
     It had made me really happy to see him doing so well even though he still looked like he had taken a tumble-down Mt. Harrison face-first. Some of the swelling had subsided a bit in his face, and I could once again make out his dark, brown eyes through the slits of his eyelids.
   During our conversation I had asked him,
What happened?
Or at least what he could remember had happened and he had told me, “I don't really remember a doggone thing. The last thing I recall I was on my way down to the town hall to pay the water bill since we didn't mail it in on time, and that’s it. That's all I can remember.”
     We then sat around discussing frivolous things and a little while later before leaving the hospital, I had told my parents that I’d give them some time alone and would be back in a few minutes. I had used the time to vacate the hospital and to visit a fast-food joint across the street where I bought my step daddy a bacon cheeseburger and a side-of-fries which I cleverly planned on sneaking back into his room for him. I had no doubt that the way Step Daddy Cade eats, he was most likely starved
by this point, and hospital food just wasn’t going to cut it.
     By the time I’d made it back, I had walked into the room to find my mama and him holding hands while gazing idiotically into each other’s eyes. My mama's long brown hair draped over her shoulder so that it rested on the edge of my step daddy's bed. At that moment the two of them seemed happy just to be with each other, and I thought I saw my mama laughing at something he’d said. It had been the first time in weeks that I had seen her smile.
     When they noticed me come into the room, my mama said, “There you are. You about ready to get going?” and I told her, “Sure.” Then, my mama leaned-in to give my step daddy a goodbye kiss before telling him that she would be back later. He then told her that she didn't have to do that. That she didn't have to spend every single waking moment by his side. That he would be just fine for the rest of the evening by himself watching television. But I could tell that my mama wasn't listening, and I knew that probably as soon as she’d dropped me back off at home and had made sure that I would be alright, she’d be right back on her way to Saint Christopher’s.
     Then, I also leaned over my step daddy's bed to give him a hug before leaving and was careful not to put any pressure on him, especially his broken arm. As I kissed him on his cheek, I slipped the bag that contained the cheeseburger and fries—Which I had tucked away in my jacket so I could get past the myriad of doctors and nurses. But only one nurse had looked at me as I slipped past her down the hall, and
Dear Lord,
she was older than dirt, so I didn't suspect that she had suspected anything—into his good hand. And, as quick as a drug deal, my step daddy didn't miss a beat when he slipped the bag quickly under the bed covers so my mama—a.k.a. The warden—didn’t see it. It was as if
he had already anticipated me doing such a thing.
     After lunch, my mama dropped me back off at home, and after checking the mail she said she would be picking up a few things from the store for dinner for me because she’d probably be back at the hospital later. I told her not to worry about me, saying that there were already lots of things in the house that I could make myself, and that I would be going out with Katelyn later anyhow. She then smiled at me warmly and I wasn't sure if it were because she was glad to see that I had made a friend—fearing that I wouldn't have made any at all—or if she thought I was just saying that because I was actually worried about her and didn't want to be a burden on her.
     After my mama had left I had given Katelyn a call, and she said that she would be right over. I then used the time while I waited for her to check in on Casper, spending a few minutes playing with him and making sure he had plenty of food and water for the day.
     When Katelyn finally came around, the first thing she did was to ask me how my Step Daddy Cade was doing and I told her about how much he’d improved since yesterday, and how the doctors had said that he might actually be released from the hospital sometime next week.
     We then soon left my house and headed for the village and as we strolled through the neighborhood, we’d received a few sardonic looks from motorist as they passed us by. Which was nothing new of course, you learn to ignore it after a while.
     We had been on our way to meet a friend of Katelyn’s that she’d mentioned to me about earlier, and at the time I had said to her, “I thought your only other friend in the village other than me was Billy Lambert down at the Kwikfill.” Which caused her to give me a sly look that suggest she’d thought I was calling her a loser. Which had caused me to find it difficult not to laugh at her, but I’d managed not to with only a tight-lipped smile.
     As we walked we had passed the village square and the park along with most of the other business on Fairings Boulevard before we finally arrived at a white two-story building with black shutters. The place had a verandah that stretched out from its front entrance that continued around the corners of the building, and on the lawn stood a white sign with black lettering that matched the building’s facade which read, MOUNT HARRISON HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
     “The historical society?” I asked Katelyn having felt somewhat perplexed.
     “Hey, you wanted to know more about your family's history in this village, so what better place?”
     We headed inside the old Victorian style building which looked like it had stood there since Abellona Abbott's time. And once inside I looked around at the place’s main hall, which held artifacts from years gone by along with corresponding pictures that hung on the walls or been seated next to them. Underneath each photo was a caption that read about the artifact and I had read a few briefly before I started looking around trying to take in the place. But, before I could get a really good look at any one object Katelyn said, “Come on.” and began pulling me by the arm down a nearby hallway.
     We had entered into a second room off to our left. It was bigger than foyer had been and carried with it a lot more antiques.
     “I don't see her.” Katelyn said, and I then asked, “Who?” Feeling confounded, but she didn't answer me so I just began looking around again as Katelyn went off in search by herself.
     As I waited for Katelyn to return I examined some of the old antique farm equipment and the corresponding pictures that went along with them that showed the pieces being used out in some farmer’s field. I had also taken the time to look at a few pieces of military uniforms and weaponry, like a sword that had belonged to a man named, William Augustus Mills, who (according to the card underneath the sword) was a Major General in the U.S. Army during the war of 1812. A second card right below the rest of his belongings, said that he was also in charge of the defense of Fort Niagara against a British invasion during the war.
     Katelyn then came back into the room and said, “I don't see her, but she must be around here somewhere though. Come on.” and she nodded for me to follow her deeper into the building.
    At the top of a staircase that led to the second and then the third floors were a series of doors that stretched down both sides of another narrow hallway. The first door on the left side of the hallway said, RECORDS DEPARTMENT on its hazed out window. Katelyn opened that door and had stuck her head inside where I heard her call out, “Hello!” before opening the door even further so we could enter.
     The room appeared filled with shelf after shelf of books much like a library would have, and it smelled musty from ancient paper and uncirculated air.
     Katelyn again said, “Hello.” a little louder this time, and that’s when we both heard a voice from somewhere near the back of the archives say, “Yes, back here.”
     Sitting at a desk next to a window that was allowing a generous amount of light to pour through it was a woman. She was as thin as a string bean and wore a button-up sweater that I’d pictured somebody’s grandmother would have worn.
     “Come in… Come in, Katelyn.” the woman then said when she saw us, and as we approached her I watched her demeanor begin to change as she gasped while putting her hand up over her mouth.
     “Oh, my…” she began and then stood up in a pause, frozen like a statue as she continued to stare at me.
     “H-Hello,” I said to her somewhat warily, but got no immediate response back from her.
     “Terra, this is my friend, Cera.” Katelyn then said with that coy little smile she liked to give whenever she knew something you didn’t. “Cera, this is Terra Reich.”
     “Nice to meet you, Terra,” I said while extending out my hand, which she then took, but before I knew it she had pulled me in giving me a hug which caught me a little off guard.
     “Oh, my… Oh, my, my, my…” Terra then said as she stared at me again like some long-lost relative. “Cera, you look just like her. Except, for your blond hair of course though, where did you ever get that?”
     “From my daddy, I suppose.” I mumbled, but then followed that up by saying, “Like whom do I look like?”
     “Your grandmother, of course,” Terra then said with a mirthful smile brimming from ear-to-ear. “You look just like your mama too when she was your age.”
     “You knew my mama and my grandmother?” I asked eagerly to hear about them.
     “Yes, of course.” she then said while continuing to stare at me as if still completely astonished. “You even have your grandmother’s aura. You’re going to
be
very
powerful.”
     I looked at Katelyn briefly to see what she was making of the way Terra was acting. She remained impassive, though, so I asked Terra, “What do you mean, powerful?”
     “What I mean is that you’re going to be a very powerful witch, my dear.”
     “Excuse me.” I have said being caught off guard yet again.
     “You have it, just like your mother and your grandmother did—I can see it flowing all around you.”
     As she told me this I just stood there not knowing what to say.
     “Don’t you feel it, Cera?”
     “Feel what exactly?”
     “The power… The magic. Haven’t you noticed any of it?”
     “It’s true. She has it.” Katelyn then said to Terra having finally broken her selective mutism. “She can make it rain, and she puts all the cats in heat causing them to follow her around—protecting her.”
     “Shut up.” I whined gruffly at Katelyn thinking that she was making me out to look nuts, but she ignored me and went on saying, “She can also shoot lightning out her hands, and tease boy’s in homeroom with her wonderfully perky tits.”
     “Katelyn, shut up.” I said again now feeling embarrassed and wishing I had never told her what I’d done to Cory Slater in homeroom. “I cannot do any of those things.” I then said earnestly to Terra. “Katelyn’s just being a smart ass.”
     “No, she’s not.” Terra then said to me, her voice turning low. “I know a witch when I see one.
Besides,
it takes one to know one.”
     “So you’re a witch too, huh.”
     “That I am, my child. Just like your mama and your grandmother
and Katelyn here.”
     “Okay, I’ll play along.” I said deciding to have fun with it.
     “Cera here was hoping you could give her some insight into her family’s history.” Katelyn then said to Terra.
     “Oh, of course I can.” Terra told her and me enthusiastically, her voice suddenly picking up an octave. “I am the Mount Harrison village historian after all. What would you like to know, my child?”
     “Everything,” I said.
     “Terra,” Katelyn said, once again chiming in, her voice sounding suddenly sullen. “Cera and her family have had some real weird experiences since arriving in Mount Harrison, and some of the people around here haven’t exactly rolled out the welcome mat for them so far.”
     “I see.” Terra responded as she slowly walked over to a glass cabinet nestled up against a wall and unlocking it with a key she’d pulled from her sweater pocket. From behind I watched as she pulled a very large, old, leather-bound book from one of its shelves and then she made her way back over to us setting the book down on the desk she’d been previously working at.
     “How much of your family’s history have you been told about from your mother, Cera?”
     “Not very much I’m afraid.” I said taking my eyes off the book and looking at Terra. “And what she did tell me I’m not sure was very truthful.”
     “You’ve heard of Abellona Abbott haven’t you, my dear?” Terra then asked while intensely locking her gaze on mine, and I could see that her eyes were deeply colorful like opals. 
     “Yeah, actually, she’s one of the few things about my family’s past that frankly, I’ve heard too much about already.” I answered.
     “What do you know of her?”
     “That she was some girl who the jackasses around here accused of being a witch so they drowned her in the river after burning her friend at the stake—some old woman named Alcina, who lived out in the forest.”