Lonely Souls (4 page)

Ellsy let go and looked at me, her eyes kind and filled with grief to match mine.

“How about we get you all cleaned up. Let’s go upstairs, shall we?” she asked, winking at me.

“Probably a good idea,” I said, touching the remnants of crushed leaves and flowers on my skin.

We started heading up the stairs, and I noticed Logan was still lingering behind unsure of what he should be doing. His eyes were following us up the stairs and he looked so, well—cute.

“I’d like it if you came up with us. I’d be too worried about you down here all alone with the piranhas, especially as uncomfortable as you look.” I tried my best at humor.

“Thanks!” He followed immediately.

Getting up to my room, a huge sigh escaped. I didn’t even know where to begin.

“I’m guessing my aunt filled you in on what happened earlier?”

“Yeah. She went over it lightly. I kept an eye on things here while she went to pick you up.” Ellsy’s smile showed genuine concern.

“Does she believe me?” I asked.

“I think she’s concerned for you.” Ellsy paused, her brow furrowed. “I think we all are.”

“There was something else in that shop with me, and it wasn’t natural or normal or anything I’d ever be able to dream up,” I said looking at Ellsy for confirmation. “I haven’t told her all of it yet because she wanted to wait until everyone was gone, but I swear I felt a touch of black magic.”

Logan’s eyes caught mine, and concern washed over his face. He had been my best friend all through grade school and junior high until they moved away, and here he was supporting me. It was as if we were in junior high all over again, him trying to protect me from anyone who dared to cross me. I wanted to laugh, but instead the tears came again.

“Listen, we’re both going to be right out here waiting for you. Go get cleaned up, and we’ll talk about it after everyone leaves. Our suitcases are in the car. We aren’t going anywhere, and we’ll have plenty of time to figure things out,” Ellsy said.

Whether or not Ellsy, Logan, or Aunt Vieta believed me didn’t matter anymore. What mattered was there were people who would listen, and that’s all I needed for now because I wasn’t sure if I believed myself either.

Nodding at Ellsy, I grabbed my robe and went out into the hall, hearing the voices from below.

“Can you believe she came back looking like that?” I heard a woman’s voice.

“Her poor mother would be so disappointed,” came another unfamiliar voice.

“Not everyone makes it through an event like this,” a male’s voice interjected. “My hunch is she might not make it.”

The anger began stirring inside of me as the comments seemed to get louder and louder. My house was packed with people. However, my mother and I were probably only friends with about thirty of them, at the most, and they all wanted to pretend they knew what was going on. I did my best to stay calm by reminding myself that this was not their fault. Witches or not, we are all still human and curiosity can be very difficult for some to control. A laugh finally escaped as I thought about how often my mom used the familiar ‘curiosity killed the cat’ saying and how very fitting it seemed to be now.

Turning on the shower, I waited for the water to get warm and looked in the mirror, startled at the face I saw. Between the mascara that ran down my face, mixed with red, pink, white, and orange rose pieces squashed on my cheeks and forehead, I couldn’t believe that Logan didn’t run the other direction when he saw me.

Stepping into the shower, I suddenly remembered my bag that I had set down right before hugging Logan.

“Ellsy! Ellsy!” I hollered.

She came running into the bathroom, panicked.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“My mom’s planner is in my bag downstairs. I don’t want anyone to get it. I think that’s what the thing might have been searching for.”

“No problem, hun. I’ll have Logan go get it.”

I don’t think she believed there was a
thing.

“Thank you,” I whispered. “Thank you for being here. I think I’m in worse shape than I know.”

“I think we all are, Triss. That’s what family and friends are for.” She gently shut the bathroom door as I continued to let the conditioner do its job of detangling the mess I created earlier. The water running down my body created a clarity that I had attempted to obtain in the cooler before the horrible being popped up. I always prided myself on my imagination and so did my mom, but I don’t think this was anything my mind could have made up. The longer I stood in the shower the surer of the events in the flower shop I became.

If I wanted to be taken seriously, I was going to have to start changing the way I went about things. I could no longer look like the disheveled teen that I had become. I needed to feel dynamic and powerful—well, maybe that was overstepping it a little. I needed to play their games, however. If everyone here thought my mom was dead, then I should behave as such even if I didn’t believe it. Regardless, I needed to raise it up a notch. The first step was going to be my dress and hair. The guests would have to wait.

***

Dressed in my robe and a towel around my hair, I went into my mom’s closet. She had everything color coordinated. She may have been disorganized in quite a few areas of her life, but her closet was never one of them. It seemed like black would be the best thing to wear at a function like this. People would approve. Scooting the hangers around, I finally landed on my outfit of choice—a black silk tunic and black leggings. I grabbed it and scurried back into the bathroom quietly. Staying in my robe, I pulled the scissors out of the vanity drawer and began giving myself bangs. There! My hair looked much better, more daring maybe. I only needed one last thing before I faced the events waiting for me below.

After hearing the running, ill-favored commentary about my behavior and possible outcome in life, I decided I needed a little something on my side to get me through the events. Opening the vanity-length mirror, that also acted as one of our great hiding places for herbs, ointments, and all things that made a person feel better, I scanned quickly for the little bottles of yarrow and peppermint. I grabbed the azurite bowl to mix the yarrow and peppermint oils in, and I began dropping the oils in the stone, letting the fragrances intermingle as the clarity of the stone allowed for the oils to reach their maximum potency. The yarrow and peppermint mixture should intensify my ability to perceive everyone’s intentions. I lightly stroked the oil behind my ear, along my wrist, and at my collarbone. It was already making me feel better, clearer.

Putting everything back in the medicine cabinet, I almost knocked over the small brown bottle of acacia. How ironic. That vial certainly would have been nice to have at the shop to dab myself with for protection. Better luck next time.

Standing back and looking at myself in the mirror with my new bangs and the vibrancy of the oils spreading through me, I took a deep breath readying myself for the rest of the evening. My brown eyes certainly lacked the golden glow they usually carried, but at least I looked more presentable.

“
Veritatem Morum
,” I uttered, closing my eyes and then repeated once more for assurance, “
Veritatem Morum
.”

I shoved the scissors back in the drawer, dressed quickly, and headed back to my bedroom where Logan and Ellsy were waiting for me.

“Wow! You are one of the only girls I know who could pull off giving themselves a new haircut,” Logan said smiling. “It looks nice.”

“Yes, it does. Now what do you say we go downstairs and give these people what they want so we can get some privacy soon?” Ellsy said. “By the way, I flipped through your mom’s planner, and I think we do have some items to discuss.”

“So I might not be crazy?” I asked.

“I don’t think she said that,” Logan said, teasing me.

Wrapping his arm around me, we headed down the stairs to greet the many who were waiting for me. “If I could make these people disappear, I would,” he whispered.

“Thanks,” I replied. “It’s time I learn more useful spells I’d say. All I managed to do was place a spell on my ability to better gauge the truth about these people’s intentions.”

“Ooh,” he puckered his lips, catching my eye. “Sure you want to do that?”

“Not really, but I thought I might as well face the facts early on,” I replied quietly, enjoying the strength of Logan’s embrace.

Thankfully, some of my cousins had saved a seat for me in between them, and I managed to sneak right in on the couch. Logan had let go of me and wandered into the family room after his mom. I recognized one of the voices who I heard when I was upstairs. I followed the direction it was coming from and found myself accidentally scowling at the male who thought I was about to go over the deep end. I really wanted to go over to him and give him a piece of my mind, but thought better of it. I’d only give his statement more validity.

He looked like the type who would enjoy the sport of speculating based off of others’ misery. He had short greying hair, a potbelly, and a fidgety sense about him. I didn’t recognize him from our coven, but there were many other visitors from surrounding covens. I tried to let the ointment do its job, feeling his intentions run through me. It seemed he had some sort of interest in being here. The sense I was getting from him was that he showed up to do a job, and that job was possibly reporting back to someone. I could only see his profile, but I was hoping he would turn toward me, so I could get a better glimpse. It would be nice to see what the person looked like who thought I was about to be put in the loony bin.

One of my cousins, Tammy, started talking to me, bringing me out of my fog.

“Hey, I think you’ve done a fine job of holding it together,” she started, patting me on my knee.

I looked at her and smiled. If only she knew.

“Thanks. It doesn’t seem that guy over there thinks so,” I said pointing at the potbellied gossiper.

“Aaah, you heard?” she asked, squeezing her lips tightly and shaking her head.

“Yep. I might be needing a straightjacket any minute,” I said, trying to force a smile.

“Don’t mind what these people are saying. A lot of them aren’t even from our coven. I think they are only here to satisfy their curiosity because of…,” she stopped herself.

“No, I get it. I keep reminding myself not to get bitter. It’s only natural, I guess. But I’m still confused how we even got to this place. None of our family wanted a memorial yet. However, here we all are.”

One of our neighbors, Nancy, held her hand up in a slight wave, with her lips pursed. I waved back at her and nodded as a thank you. At least she was giving me some space.

“Well, as much as you’ve heard on the gossiping end about you, I’ve been hearing that many from our coven had the same reaction as ours about the memorial. You’re not alone in that thinking. A lot of people can’t understand what the hurry is about. I know my mom has been struggling with it, but she’s been hoping the coven would provide the support needed for you if she went along with things.”

“Poor Aunt Vieta.” I shook my head.

“So is that Logan?” Tammy asked, already knowing the answer. “He’s certainly grown up,” she purred.

I rolled my eyes. “We both have.”

The first group of mourners came over to offer their condolences, and I knew I was in for many more hours of the same. Virginia and Sofia were the first in line. Virginia was dressed in a beautiful black dress with a royal blue scarf, which really set off her brilliant red hair. Her eyes held the kindness I had seen many times before. Sofia was her daughter and was blessed with the same hair color and fair skin. She had just graduated from college. I didn’t know her well, but they were both coven members. Standing behind them was a couple that I didn’t recognize. They were an older couple. The wife had pale blond hair, bordering on white, and her husband had a cane in his right hand. Going by my gut and the little bit of magic I employed, I felt relieved that not everyone was out to snoop. After accepting their condolences, I was immediately inundated with the next batch, one of whom was especially chatty. She was apparently my preschool teacher from the coven. I didn’t remember her, and she seemed a bit skittish, but I couldn’t put my finger on whether that was her regular personality, or if she was shady like the heavyset man who felt it was his obligation to commit me.

The night continued on in very much the same manner, and I was greatly relieved when the last group of people departed, leaving me with my family and close friends to digest what type of whirlwind just happened in the name of my mother.

Chapter 5

I finally allowed myself to be grateful for the support that the community was giving our family, but I might have been feeling like that mainly because everyone was gone, and I had a night to sleep on everything. Whatever the reason, I had to keep reminding myself that this wasn’t their fault. These people probably did believe my mom passed away. I just didn’t. Something in my gut told me she’s still on this planet. Unfortunately, I never did get to greet the man who had such an opinion on my state of being, but something told me I would have the chance someday.

Logan was in the kitchen with me. I was sitting at the kitchen table, and he was making us orange juice. Ellsy was in the living room with my aunt. I could hear their voices get louder and then softer as they were undoubtedly talking about me. My cousins had left before I woke up. They were all in college taking summer classes and had to drive back in several different directions in the state. I was secretly relieved. I loved my cousins, but they had different priorities than I did right now. First of all, they had priorities. I was still in a fog.

“So how long do you think you guys might be able to stay?” I asked Logan.

He spun around with an orange in one hand and a knife in the other, looking so much older than I could really grasp. It was hard for me to get used to the idea that this was the same guy who had been my best friend before high school hit, and the distance of his move took over. It was amazing what just a couple of years did for him.