The Accidental Witch (27 page)

I went to the mirror to check my hair.

“Damn,” I whispered.

I was bald. Well, not completely, but I could certainly pass for a skin-head. I ran my hands over my head. I was not pretty or dainty enough to pull off this look. I sat back down on my bed and began to sob. I sobbed like a snotty, ridiculous little girl. I sobbed because I was bald and hideous. I sobbed because I was pretty sure I had dragged Abaddon back down to Hell with my bare hands and climbed my way out again. I was also pretty sure that Hell had been Hell and what I had seen there would probably haunt me for the rest of my life. I sobbed because I was alone and the world was just as it should be, but it would never be the same for me.

Diane came in. She had a tray with tea on it and some kind of fluffy, French pastries. She smiled.

“Get back into bed,” she said.

I wiped my nose on the back of my hand and followed her orders. Diane looked pretty and perky. She set the tray down beside me on the nightstand and sat down on the bed. She wiped my tears away with some tissues she had on the tray. It must be easy to be prepared when you are an oracle. I took the tissues from her and blew my nose.

“Why are you crying?” she asked.

“I’m bald,” I said as I tried to pull myself together.

Diane laughed. “You are lucky to have your skin after what you’ve been through. You looked a lot worse when I first saw you.”

“How long has it been?” I asked.

“It’s been a while, Phae,” Diane answered in that kind of lowered voice that tells you the problem is bigger than you expect.

“How long?” I asked.

“You’ve been out for two months,” Diane said. “You started out in the hospital, but there wasn’t any progress there, so Fred had you moved back here. He had to use some powerful magic to convince Aaron that home health would be better for you, but Fred’s got a big bag of tricks. He spent weeks working on you. You were burnt from head to toe. You looked like Freddy Krueger. I didn’t think there was any medicine or magic in this world or the next that could save you, but here you are and you are still pretty, just a little bald.”

I touched my head. “What did everyone think happened?” I asked.

“Fred told everyone that your mamma did it. He said she set you on fire in a fit of rage and since folks around here never did care much for Nineveh, they believed him. She got away from the police, of course, but The Guild sent some folks and they caught her.”

“What will they do to her?” I asked.

“There will be a trial,” Diane said. “They want us to go to France to testify.”

“I love France,” I said.

I reached over and took the cup of tea that sat beside the bed. There was a rose quartz in the bottom of it and a stick of cinnamon sticking out of the top. I smiled. Fred was still in the house. I lay back and drank the tea, letting the warmth spread over me.

“You’ve had a lot of people worried about you,” Diane said. “Everyone’s been to see you at least once. Ellie, Aaron, Brenda, Candi, Sam, Aaron’s entire family, John, and even Johnny Boy flew down from Chicago to see you. Amy even stopped by with flowers. You’ve changed a lot of people’s lives, girl. I swear the way Sam talked, you are a saint and miracles follow you wherever you go.”

I smiled. The room was filled with flowers.

“You know, your step cow and all her evil progeny have even been here on more than one occasion to make sure you were okay,” Diane said.

I put my hand on Diane’s and smiled. “Thank you,” I said.

“No,” Diane answered. “Thank you. You saved my life.”

I smiled again and then I stood up and walked over to the window. I was wearing a flannel nightgown. The floors were cold beneath my feet. It was snowing. It was snowing outside like it had in Chicago. I’d never seen anything like it. It didn’t snow in Alabama. It was beautiful, maybe the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

“Fred says Abaddon changed the weather, maybe for good. He made a big mess. Millie will never recover. She’s retired. Some other of the older folks have retired, too. The demon just took too much out of them. There are a lot of job openings at the hospital and I have it on good authority that if you ever got back on your feet, your job at the hospital is waiting for you. The patients have been complaining about you leaving. They loved you.”

I turned and put my slippers on. “Is Fred here?” I asked.

Diane gave me a knowing sort of glance. “You know,” she said, “I wouldn’t normally approve of someone like Fred. I’ve never trusted the immortals, but that man has fought night and day for you. He’s here. He’s downstairs. He wanted me to see you first.”

“Why?” I asked.

“He’s afraid you might blame him.”

“For what?”

“For the ritual, for everything that happened after. I don’t know. He’s a man. They’re all a mystery to me.”

I walked to the door. Diane smiled at me and I walked slowly down the stairs. My legs weren’t working quite right yet. They probably wouldn’t have been working at all if it hadn’t have been for Fred. I stumbled through the front and back parlors to the library where Fred sat with a book in his lap. He wasn’t reading the book. He held it on his lap as if he was, but he was looking out the back window, out into the distance. He looked like he looked the first night I saw him. He had his glasses on and his terrible corduroy jacket. It’s funny how time can change perception because all I saw when I looked at him was beauty. He was absolutely the most beautiful man I had ever seen. I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around him and kissed him.

Fred pulled me onto his lap and his book hit the ground. He pulled me to him and kissed me like it was the last time he would ever see me. He kissed me all over and buried his face in my chest. I held him and it was the best thing I had ever felt.

“I thought I’d lost you,” he said.

“You brought me back,” I said.

“Can you ever forgive me?” he asked.

“For what?” I answered.

“For trying to make you do what you shouldn’t have done. I should have never asked you to do that damn ritual. Never. You reminded me of what goodness was out there. You reminded me of who I should be.”

“Please,” I said. “Shut up. You saved me. You came and you changed everything, so just shut up.”

And he did. He kissed me all over. I locked the library door and he pulled off my nightgown. I kissed each of his tattoos and we made love on the hardwood floors with the boards groaning beneath us.

When we were done, we lay on the floor for a long time. There was a fire in the fireplace and it had started snowing again. Fred stroked my short hair and I kissed his neck. It all seemed very surreal. He seemed surreal. Slowly, he began kissing me again. He kissed my stomach and my hands. He kissed my inner thighs. He made me cry out in joy and then he made love to me again. We spent an entire afternoon that way, wrapped in each other’s arms.

Evening came and there was a gentle rapping at the door. Fred left me sitting on the floor wrapped in an old afghan and answered the door. He didn’t let Diane in, but he whispered a few things to her and then closed the door. He sat down next to me.

“Dinner will be ready in a few minutes,” he said. “Perhaps you should clean up and get ready for the meal.”

“Diane cooks?” I asked, incredulous.

“Not really,” Fred answered. “But she does a marvelous job of getting carry outs.”

“Good,” I responded. “You scared me for a minute. I thought that Diane must be possessed or insane or something.”

Fred smiled. “No, she’s not possessed.”

I walked slowly up the stairs. I was still unsure of myself. I took a long leisurely shower. I had noticed I was a bit smelly. I had been at the mercy of others for my grooming for some time now, apparently, and others don’t always clean as well as they should. I felt much better after the shower. I felt stronger. I stepped out of the shower and stared at myself in the mirror for a very long time. It wasn’t too terrible. I had lost quite a bit of weight in my coma and the effect caused by the short hair and my gaunt face could only be described as waifish. I put on a good deal more makeup than I usually would in order to offset the effect of the masculine hair and slipped into a dress.

Diane and Fred were waiting for me downstairs. I smiled at them and sat down to enjoy my Ruby Tuesday. For a while we ate in silence, but I couldn’t bear it. I had to fill the empty space with conversation.

“So,” I said. “How’d you do it? How’d you save me?” I asked Fred out of curiosity.

“I couldn’t do it on my own. You were too far-gone and we didn’t really understand what had happened to you until Diane woke up and explained it. I thought the burns were from normal fire. I worked under that presumption and failed numerous times to heal your wounds. You only got worse. When I found out you’d actually been to Hell and back … it changed everything. Hell fire isn’t like normal fire. I had to call The Guild for help. They already had representatives in the area to secure Nineveh, so they helped me. The hardest part was convincing Aaron to discharge you from the hospital. He blamed himself for what had happened.”

“Why do people always want to blame someone? If there is no one else to blame, they blame themselves. Dear God, why can’t it just be and not be anyone’s fault? Well, except Nineveh’s. We can blame her.”

“We can do more than blame her. People died while Abaddon had the town. She’s a murderer. She unleashed the demon on innocent people just to get your attention.”

“Who died?” I asked.

Diane hit Fred in the arm. Apparently, he wasn’t supposed to tell me that. Diane looked grief stricken.

“He killed all the local guild members,” Diane said softly. “Dr. Phil was the only one who made it. He hunted the others down and killed them. Millie is alive, but she is disabled. I guess Nineveh had told him to kill them. She didn’t want anything standing in her way.”

“I should have killed her,” I said.

“No,” Fred said. “You did the right thing, but you’ll have to come with us to France for the trial.”

I nodded.

It was getting dark outside. I felt a chill. Looking at my two friends across from me, I knew there was more. I knew that the battle wasn’t entirely over, but I was afraid to ask. I was tired and I wanted life to go back to normal. They probably did, too.

“What else?” I asked.

“Abaddon’s affects have lingered,” Diane said. “You can see. It is still snowing. We’ll need your help to clear the air. He imprinted you. You took some of his strength. You are the only one who can end the demon’s residue. I’m sorry about this. I wish it were different. I know the last thing you want to do now is deal with this.”

I nodded again. I felt like I was in a bit of a haze. I ate my food and avoided conversation. I was beginning to realize that the uncomfortable silence was there to protect me. No one wanted to tell me that while I had slept and healed, the shit had hit the fan. Things had gotten better, sure the demon was gone and Nineveh was in prison, but it wasn’t over yet. As I ate my food and watched the snow, I realized I wasn’t entirely ready for the truth yet. I just wanted to enjoy a pleasant evening with the people I loved. I would deal with the rest in the morning.

Fred and Diane seemed more than content to leave it at that. They did everything for me. They cleared the dishes and cleaned the kitchen. They helped me to the sofa and put on a movie. They made popcorn and we all sat and watched some vampire movie together. We laughed from time to time. When the movie was over, Diane made margaritas.

“So how’s it going with the bartender?” I asked casually as we drank.

“Oh, that’s ancient history,” Diane answered. “After I lost the baby, he didn’t seem so interested.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “It seemed like you really liked him.”

“I did for a while, but it’s hard for me to have a real relationship. I want to, but it is hard not to look into the future. I know too much.”

“Like what?” I asked

“I don’t know, like I know he would have turned out to be a fat, bald, old man covered in liver spots. It’s hard to stick with a guy when all you see is what he’s going to look like when he’s 60. I mean it’s fine for a while, but I know I’ll never marry or commit to anyone in any real way.”

“Isn’t there any exception to your rule?”

“No,” she said. “I can even see your future, Phaedra. I see glimpses of it,”

“What do you see?” I asked.

“You’ll live a very long time. You’ll be very rich and important and we’ll always be friends. Maybe that’s why I always stick with you. I know you will save my life again and again. I know you will always be there for me. I haven’t seen that in any man, yet.”

“Give it time,” I said. “You can’t see everything.”

“True,” she answered. “The future surprises me all the time. I didn’t see Fred coming. I didn’t see your mother’s actions. I didn’t see a lot of things.”

“I think I better go to bed,” I said. “I’m still very tired.”

“Good night,” Diane said.

Fred walked me up the stairs and read beside me while I drifted off to sleep. It was still snowing, even in my dreams. In my dream, the snow was everywhere and I wore all white. I was alone in a large field with a castle in the background. I had never seen the place in my dream and the dream was so vivid, I wasn’t even sure I was dreaming.

In the distance, I saw Nineveh. She was wearing a long white gown and walking toward me. The hem of her dress was soaked with blood and she left a trail of blood behind her as she walked. As she got closer, I saw that there were two bears on either side of her. They were polar bears. In her hand she held someone’s heart. I watched her approach without fear.

Finally, she stood in front of me in all her beauty and she handed me the bleeding heart. The two bears left her and stood beside me. Nineveh smiled.

“In death,” Nineveh said. “I will be far more powerful than in life.”

Nineveh took a knife from the folds of her skirt and drove it into her chest. She fell onto the white snow and a circle of alizarin crimson blood formed around her pale form. I stepped away from her and looked at the heart in my hand. It was still beating. I looked around, waiting for something else to happen, but there was only the sound of the beating heart. Nineveh was gone. My mother was gone and I held her heart.