Spun by Sorcery (23 page)

She exists only as a reflection.
Samuel’s voice rumbled against my breastbone.
You can’t make contact with her.

But Penny saw me,
I said deep within myself.
She winked at me.

Watch and learn, child.
Aerynn sat down at her wheel, the same wheel that had been my mother’s and her mother’s before her. The same wheel Janice had saved before she fled Sugar Maple in my Buick.

“Are you most certain, Da’Elle? I could brew the indigo once the wool is spun and achieve a most pleasing effect.”

The tiny brunette shook her head. “’Tis plain I want. With the troubles afoot, plain is best.”

My mother Guinevere had been the most gifted spinner I had ever seen. Even as a little girl I had known I was in the presence of something very special. But watching Aerynn at her wheel was to see magick happen right before your eyes.

The roving raced through her fingers in a spray of silver and gold sparks I knew very well and was transformed into yarn as fine as a spider’s web in the blink of an eye. I could have sat there, perched on the heavy pine table, and watched her forever.

I nodded, unwilling to break the spell I was falling under.

“The meetinghouse is no longer safe,” the dark-haired Fae said as she settled down on the long bench with her needles and ball of yarn. “Mary Hopson passed word to Willem that we need to go underground.”

“It is time.” Aerynn’s eyes never left her wheel. “We need to leave quickly, Da’Elle,” she said, and my heartbeat quickened. “The madness is knocking at the door.”

“Humans have a limitless capacity for evil,” Da’Elle said. “They drove us from our homes across the ocean and now they are driving us from our homes in the New World. Our only recourse is to slip beyond the mist where we belong and leave this world to them.”

“We belong here in this dimension,” Aerynn said. “Our ancestors decreed it to be so.”

Da’Elle’s lovely face darkened. “And they have long pierced the veil.” Her knitting was all sharp angles and stabbing motions. “There are those who would sweep down upon the humans and kill them as they sleep.”

“Then we would be no better than those who have oppressed us.”

“But we would survive,” Da’Elle said, tugging hard at the yarn as she formed a stitch. “Is that not what we are striving toward?”

Aerynn shook her head and said nothing as she applied herself to her spinning. A ripple of apprehension moved between my shoulder blades. There was something about the way Da’Elle looked at Aerynn that chilled my blood. I knew that look. I had felt the edge of its sharpened teeth.

Isadora,
I thought, and knew the truth of it in my bones. Isadora was one of the beautiful young Fae’s descendants. Was I seeing the beginning of the war between our families?

“How is your Samuel?” Da’Elle asked in a casual tone of voice.

“He is well, thank you. He will be home from the sea any day.”

Da’Elle’s mouth tightened. “You are in love.”

Aerynn’s cheeks reddened. I smiled to myself. So it was hereditary after all. “We have not tried to hide it.”

“And how do his human parents feel about it?”

“Samuel was taken in by his human parents when he was a baby,” Aerynn said carefully, “but they knew from the start that he is full-blood magick and welcomed him as such.”

Da’Elle’s laughter held the sound of breaking glass. “And you believe that.”

“They have moved among us every day since we first came to be. You know this to be true, same as I.”

“You know because that is what Samuel wishes you to know.”

Tiny flames of anger danced from Aerynn’s fingertips. She curled them closer to her palm and continued spinning.

“He clearly has you bewitched,” Da’Elle said. “There is no other reason for you to cling stubbornly to your idea of migrating northward.”

Aerynn’s laugh was uncertain. “I am most certainly not bewitched.”

“And that is part of bewitchment,” the beautiful Fae said. “He has ensorcelled you and yet you remain unaware.”

“I love him,” Aerynn said simply. “Magick plays no part.”

Da’Elle’s laugh held a bitter edge. “Samuel may be magick but in many ways he is more human than sorcerer.”

“Thanks to Joshua and Rebecca Bramford, he has seen the best the race can offer.”

“And now we are seeing the worst.”

Aerynn inclined her head in agreement. “And that is why we will go north in the spring. It is but a few weeks, Da’Elle.”

“The hangings will continue. We could be dancing on air long before the thaw.”

“I believe we have time.”

“We need to be of one mind,” Da’Elle said, glitter spilling from her fingers and toes. “Our unity is our strength.”

“And our strength will only grow if we remain in this dimension,” Aerynn said. “We’ll build our own town to the north where we’ll be free from persecution.” She stopped spinning and looked at her companion. “All of us together, as the ancestors want it to be, sharing our wisdom and our riches.”

“The community must be of one mind,” Da’Elle repeated. “It has been so from the beginning in the Old Country.”

“They’ll follow us,” Aerynn said. “North is the promise of freedom.”

Da’Elle put down her knitting and met my ancestor’s eyes. “And the Fae can promise that and more beyond the mist.”

“You can make many promises, but only I have the power to bring a town to life.”

“That may not always be so and as long as you draw breath in this dimension, you will always be at the mercy of the whims of humans,” Da’Elle said. “You will take our people and walk them into bondage.”

“Never!” Aerynn cried. “My magick is strong. I will find a way to protect our new home down through the ages, a spell that will remain unbroken as long as our town exists.”

“Your magick is new. Your powers are yet untried.” Da’Elle gestured beyond the cottage. “In the end it will be up to them to decide our fate.”

And in the end, that was how it happened.
Samuel’s voice filled my head.
But that moment of truth still lay in the future.

As you will see, that was not my destiny.
He exhaled slowly.
Nor was it hers.

The old man was good. No doubt about it. I’d barely finished my sentence when I found myself perched in an enormous maple tree behind the meetinghouse. The night was dark and star filled. Without the ambient sounds of the twenty-first century, I found myself readjusting again to the depth of silence they enjoyed. The distant hoot of an owl sounded like a clap of thunder.

Young Samuel arrived first. He was tall and strong and dazzlingly handsome. Magick shimmered from him like starlight as he waited for Aerynn. His serious face broke into an unguarded smile as she appeared around the side of the meetinghouse. No words were spoken. None were needed. I felt like a voyeur as I watched them melt together in the shadows.

I tried hard not to listen but the soft sighs and gentle laughter painted a picture that broke my heart. Sometimes it was better not to know what the future held.

“The worst is upon us,” the young and handsome Samuel said as he held Aerynn close. “The town elders will come for you and for all of us two nights from now and we cannot stop it.”

But you can,
I thought. What else was magick for if not to protect the ones you loved?

I heard Aerynn’s sharp intake of breath followed by a prolonged silence.

“We’ll leave tomorrow after dark,” she said finally. “That should give us time to gather everyone.”

“Da’Elle will not go easily.”

“But she’ll go,” Aerynn said. “Our tribes have been united down through the centuries. Our knowledge springs from the same source.”

“She will go beyond the mist with her sisters.”

“She’ll come with us,” Aerynn said with more confidence than I would have felt in her place. “She is as much of this world as we are.” I felt, rather than saw, her smile. “Besides, you have something she values as much as we do. She will follow where it goes.”

“The talisman?” Samuel asked.

“We are bound to it, all of us. The Fae feel its mighty pull same as we do.”

“But will it pull them into the north lands?”

“Where the talisman goes, we go. It gathered us together here in the colonies and it will gather us together at our new home up north.”

Talisman?
I thought.
What talisman?
Nobody ever told me about a talisman.

“Building a town is a difficult task,” young Samuel said.

“But we can do it,” Aerynn said. “Together we can build a sanctuary where we will all be safe from harm.”

“Humans are not the only danger we face. Our biggest danger may yet come from within.”

“I am not a fool, Samuel. I see clearly what lies ahead but we will create the sanctuary I dream of and even my most outspoken foe will be won over to our side. I know this.”

“I am not sure such a place can exist in this world or any other.”

“It can,” she said. “It will! That is our destiny.”

The plan was simple: Aerynn’s clan would gather at the outside of town the next night when the moon was new. With Aerynn in possession of the talisman, Da’Elle and her people would have no choice but to follow.

“If something happens and I am not there by the hour before dawn—”

“Shh!” Aerynn pressed her fingers to his lips. “Do not say that. You will be there with me.”

“They are watching me closely, Aerynn. I will not lead them to you.”

“I need you and I will not leave without you.”

“Yes,” he said. “You will.” He pulled a small pouch from inside his cloak. “To travel safe from harm, this is all you need.”

She peered inside. “The talisman,” she said, her voice breaking. “It was to remain with you ’til we started up north. You’ll be vulnerable.”

“Only if I am delayed,” he said, his voice betraying no fear.

“Is this the end for us?” she asked. “Is this your way of saying good-bye? For if it is—”

He silenced her with a kiss. “I will never say good-bye,” he vowed. “What I feel for you is eternal.”

She pushed the pouch back toward him. “Then bring this with you when we meet again.”

“I would have you keep it for me.”

Finally Aerynn acquiesced, but her fear showed clearly on her face. “You will be here at the appointed hour,” she said. “That is our true destiny.”

“If I am not,” he continued, “you must leave without me.”

“I would never—”

“Yes, you will because I ask you to.”

“Samuel.” She sounded a warning. “Do not—”

“Hear me out. If I am not there, the reason will be serious. Use the time to put miles between us. Head north along the route we have planned and I will find you as soon as I am able.”

“The wilderness is vast. How will you do that?”

“Use the power of the talisman to summon me and I will follow the scent of magick until we are together again.”

My heart ached for the two foolish young people. I wanted to believe they would find their way to Sugar Maple and grow old together but I knew otherwise. Sugar Maple was Aerynn’s destiny but not Samuel’s. They would discover that fact soon enough.