The Magick of Dark Root (Daughters of Dark Root) (36 page)

Leo’s sweet tooth exceeded both mine and Ruth Anne’s put together. If he wasn’t fed constant sugar, he’d bang his fists on the walls and bump around the room, knocking things over until we gave in.

Eve went on candy runs at least three times a day but it was never enough.
 

“You can’t have anymore,” I’d tell him, then he’d ball up his fists and cry so loudly I was afraid it would alert Aunt Dora.

“I’m done,” I said to Eve when she made her afternoon delivery. She dumped a bag of Tootsie Rolls onto the bed and Leo covered them with his arms to show he wouldn’t share.
 

I stuck my tongue out at him.
 

“What else can we do?” Eve asked. “We can’t take him to his mom’s yet. Not like this.”

We stared at the slobbering, shirtless man with a mouthful of chocolate. Except for underpants, I had given up putting clothes on him because it was impossible to keep them clean.

“You take him,” I said. “I’ve done my part.”

“Oh, no! If you think you’re bad at it, I’d be worse. Even the thought of taking care of someone gives me the hives.” She scratched at her arms and the sides of her waist.

“I’m calling Jillian,” I announced.

“Whatever,” Eve said, still scratching as she left the room.
 

“Don’t you walk out on me,” I said, tripping over the floor mattress and yelling at her down the hall. She didn’t look back as she descended the staircase. “Fine! Go back to work and leave me alone with him. That’s all you ever do!”

I slammed the door and faced my ward. He held up the empty Tootsie Roll bag, flashing me a chocolate smile.

“How did you eat them so fast?” I said in both awe and disgust. “Did you eat the wrappers too?”

He shook the bag at me.

“I'm not giving you anymore! You are going to get sick if you keep eating candy. Have some of that asparagus Merry sent over.”

Leo looked at the plate on my dresser. “Yuck-ee.”

“I know. But good for you. Look.” I took a bite, forcing myself to smile, even though it tasted like shoe. I handed him the plate and he shoved it away.

“If you never get better, you’re never leaving!” I said, grinding my teeth together. “Now eat your damned vegetables.”

Leo crawled backwards on my bed, bracing his back to the wall. His eyes widened with what I assumed to be terror at the plate in my hands.

“Geez. I’m sorry.” I scraped the asparagus into the wastebasket. It smelled like urine. “Look, all gone.”

Leo smiled sleepily. I tugged on the ends of his feet, pulling him prone. I gave him his favorite pillow and covered him up with a blanket. “Take a little nap, okay? Maybe we’ll take a walk later, if the weather’s nice.”

He yawned. His eyelids fluttered shut and he fell asleep.

I grabbed my cell phone and went into the hall. I hadn't talked to Jillian in almost a month. I dialed her old number, hoping it still worked.
 

“Hello?” An airy voice picked up the phone. I immediately felt Jillian's energy, as crisp as a spring morning.

“Hi,” I said, shyly. “This is Maggie.”

“Maggie! I was expecting you to call.”

“You were?” Relief flooded me and I realized how much I missed the woman. Though I’d only known her a short time, we had shared a strong and immediate connection.
 

“How are things?” she said, her voice light yet prodding. “You didn’t call just to shoot the breeze.”

I took a deep breath, trying to figure out what to say. Finally, I blubbered out, “Everything’s wrong, Jillian. Everything.”

“Maggie,” she said, her voice calm and motherly. “I’m here. Now start from the beginning.”

And so I did.
 

I told her what had happened since our last conversation: how we had rallied to save Dark Root, how I’d cut off Leah’s hair, how Ruth Anne had returned, how my mother had recovered, and the discovery that I was pregnant.

“Honey, I already knew all that.”

“You did?” Bolstered by the confessions, I then told her how Mother was sick again and that she told us about her wand, and how Larinda wanted into Dark Root to gain access to the Lightning Willow so her daughter Leah could select a wand from it.
 

I also told her how I could get my wand, too, and heal Mother.

There was a tense, palpable pause on the other end.

“Those things, I didn’t know. Larinda must be desperate. Maggie, listen to me, okay? She is a powerful witch. She is clearly not being fully forthcoming with you. Don’t bargain with her, no matter how enticing the offer.”

This was all so confusing. I didn’t know what to think any more.
 

“Maybe Larinda would hold up her end of the bargain?” I ventured.

Again, another long pause. “Maggie, there is an important rule that you should know. Each tree only bestows one wand. Miss Sasha already selected a wand from that tree, so it is impossible for Leah, or anyone else for that matter, to get one from it. Unless…”

“Unless what?”

“Unless your mother dies. Only then will the Lightning Willow be released from the pact it forged with her years ago.”
 

My shoulders slumped. I cried into the phone. Low, unyielding sobs until I couldn’t cry anymore. I had thought I had this all worked out. I had no idea where to go from here.

When I finally stopped, she said, “There’s more to this story, isn’t there?”

“Yes. But please don’t hate me.”

“I could never hate you.”

Shame swept over me as I confessed to using my powers to hustle men out of their money, and how one of those men had attacked Eve, and I used my
deathtouch
on him.
 

“We killed him,” I said.

A tense pause at the other end. “I see.”

“Am I going to hell?”
 

Jillian was a psychic-medium, able to predict the future and communicate with the dead. If anyone knew who was headed for hell, she did.

 
“Oh, honey, no,” she said, a smile returning to her voice. “No one goes to hell for trying to help someone they love.”

“But he only attacked Eve because of her enchanted perfume.”

 
“Honey, that’s not the way spells work. In order for a spell to take effect on someone, they must already have the tendency in their nature. Kind of like alcohol.”

“Oh.” I cracked open the door and peeked at Leo, still sleeping on my bed.
 

It was hard to believe that this naked man-child had that sort of degeneracy in him. I dredged up the memory of him grabbing at Eve, the lustful look in his eyes. The Leo of that night was not the same Leo I knew now.
 

“That’s not to say that Eve should be creating perfumes like that.” Jillian’s voice tightened. “When you mess with the laws of nature, you have to expect there will be consequences.”

“Yes.”

“I sense there’s even more. Spill it.”

“We found Mother’s wand. It was buried in her locked room. We used it on Leo, and brought him back to life.”
 

There. It was out in the open now. I had shared my secret and I felt immediately lighter.

“That’s not possible!” Jillian gasped. “Even with your mother’s wand!”

“It is. And we did it.”

“Oh, Maggie! Does anyone know?”

“Just me and my sisters.”

“Hasn’t anyone told you that you should never summon what you can’t unsummon?”
 

“I-I…”

“Talk about messing with the laws of nature! Even Sasha wouldn’t have attempted that!”
 

After another long, aching pause she spoke again, her voice had softer.
 

“I’m sorry. I blame myself, really, for not helping with your rearing. Sasha and Dora could only do so much for a woman with your
abilities
. Maggie, you must keep this secret, even from your mother and aunt. Their minds are old, and though they mean well, there are those who will take advantage of their fragile state. If Larinda knows the full extent of the Lightning Willow’s abilities, or yours for that matter…well, let’s keep this to ourselves for now until I figure out what to do.”

“But what do I do with Leo?”
 

“Leo?”

“Yes, the man I, uh, well, he’s here with me now. I keep thinking he’ll get better but he’s not.”

“Is he dangerous?”

“Not at all. He’s sweet, actually. Nothing like he was that night.”

I heard pages being flipped in the background. “He’s not really alive, Maggie. Not like me and you. You know that right?”

I nodded into the phone, a sob catching in my throat. I was beginning to see that.

“You must escort him back to the realm of the dead. There may be a spell for that in your mother’s book. And we’d need the right wand, one made for that purpose.” She sighed at the enormity of the task as she slammed her book shut.

“A death wand?”
 

“A Wand of the Underworld.”

“But I only get one wand. I can’t choose that one!”

“Time is short. If you don’t act soon, Leo may be trapped between the two worlds forever. He will grow weaker and sicker, slowing deteriorating away. That’s not fair. Not to him, and not to you.”

“Why did I save him if I have to send him back?”
 

She sighed. “Everything happens for a reason. Maybe you’ll find your reason.”

“I don’t think I can send him back, Jillian. Isn’t there another way?”

“Maggie, it’s the compassionate thing to do.”

“I can’t. I just can’t.”

“You don’t have a choice. I’m sorry, darling.”

I finally convinced Eve to sit with Leo for a few hours so that I could
get my head together
. I ventured out into the woods, like I had when I was a kid, thinking things over in the solitude that only the trees could provide.

Jillian was wrong.
 

I did have a choice.

She had warned me against Larinda, but I wasn’t afraid. Larinda’s magic was fed by fear and I’d stared death in the face, quite literally, and there was nothing Larinda could do that could scare me more than killing a man and bringing him back to life.
 

I’d get Larinda to tell me the location of the tree. Trick her if I had to.
 

Then, when Mother died, I would take my wand from it before Leah could. With it, I’d resurrect Mother just like I had done with Leo. My powers were stronger than anyone realized. With the aid of the Lightning Willow, I could bring them both back to full health.
 

I could even charge people for healings and save this damned house in the process!

It was a solid plan, except that it relied on Mother passing and keeping Leo healthy until then. The circle in all its glory. I also had to find Larinda, and my instincts told me that the shack in the woods was no longer there. But I was sure she’d make an appearance.