The Magick of Dark Root (Daughters of Dark Root) (48 page)

My sisters gathered in closer, holding hands.

“The spell will only take effect if they are willing.” Jillian warned me, the candle dancing like a ghost before her face.

If they were willing.

I cleared my throat and looked to my mother, who was propped up in her bed against the wall. “Sasha Benbridge Shantay, do I have your full permission to perform the ritual?”
 

Mother closed her eyes then opened them again. “Yes, Magdalene. You have my full permission to perform the ritual.”

“And do you do this with a glad heart?”

“I do.”

I turned to Leo, who sat next to her on the bed. I filled my lungs with air as I pressed my lips together, then exhaled and asked him the question.

“Leonard Winston, do I have your full permission to perform the ritual?”
 

Leo’s bottom lip trembled and his eyes began to run.

“Don't cry, Leo,” I said, handing Eve the book and tossing back the hood of my cloak. I sat on the edge of the bed and took his hand. “You don’t have to do this.”

“Yes. My…my permission,” he answered.

“Leo…”

“My permission!” he said, firmly.

“And do you…do you do this with a glad heart?” I swallowed, barely getting the words out.

“Yes, Mag-da-leen.”
 

I kissed the tips of his fingers and put his hand to my heart. “I’ll never leave you,” I said.

“I-never-leave-you-either-Maggie.”

My heart felt like a stone that had been hammered to bits. “I can’t do this!” I looked helplessly at the others in the room. “He doesn’t understand!”
 

“Maggie,” Jillian said, her eyes unyielding. “We all have to do difficult things in life. Don’t let your feelings get in the way of what needs to be done.”

I cried. I couldn’t help it. I wasn’t my mother. My mother didn’t shed tears like this. She was strong. I wasn’t.
 

“I’m too emotional,” I said to Jillian. “I care too much.”

“That’s why you were chosen.”
 

My teeth chattered as I looked to Mother and Leo. I wasn't sure how much they would understand, but I needed them to hear this anyway.
 

“I wanted to tell you both how much I love you. You’ve given me so much. I just…I just…” I choked and had to stop.
 

It wasn't fair, loving people only to have them taken from you. I dug my fists into my eyes, willing the last of the tears away. It wasn’t fair, but that’s the way it worked. We came into this world, we lived, if we were lucky we loved, and then we said goodbye.
 

Hopefully, we left the place a little better for our time here.

“It’s time,” Jillian said, glancing out the window. The moon was high in the sky. There would not be another chance after this one.

I looked at my sisters. Their hands were linked in a chain.
 

“Okay, ladies,” I said, lifting my chin. “Let’s do this.”

I crawled into the bed between Mother and Leo, feeling less than regal. I had lost all sense of nobility when I broke down in tears. Jillian handed me my wand and Eve offered back my book. I shook my head at Eve. I knew the spell by heart. I closed my eyes and began the incantation as my sisters fed me their energy.

May the silver cord

That binds you

To this plane

Be serenely severed

Releasing you

From grief

From pain

May you find the light

In the darkness
 

And flowers
 

In the garden

And Music
 

In your heart

May your soul

Be lightened

On the journey

As you start

May your memories

Grow stronger and longer

Mixing with those

Who have come before you

And those who come after

May your journey be filled with wonder

And laughter

Be brave, dear soul

As you transverse

The boundaries

Of this Universe

When the spell had been cast, I steadied my breath, focusing only on the blue flame of the candle in my mind’s eye.
 

I melded into it, feeling its heat, watching the flame grow bigger, until it filled my mind completely and I was nothing but an expansion of the light.
 

At last, I stood in a very bright room, a wondrous cavern filled with immense love. It was so overwhelming and beautiful I almost fell to my knees. I twirled once, trying to find the source of the love.

And then the light went out.
 

Though I stood in complete darkness, I wasn’t afraid.
 

There was a comforting presence with me, or all around me. I didn’t belong here, but I wasn’t sent away. Two forms took shape beside me: Mother and Leo.

We joined hands and stepped forward, like Dorothy and her companions on the road to Oz. Only this road was in shadows and we weren’t sure what awaited us at the end. After seemingly endless steps, there was a small pinprick of light that punctured the darkness, like a solitary star in the night sky.
 

“There,” Mother pointed ahead.

I stopped and gripped her hand. “Are you scared?”
 

“Terrified,” she said. “But I’m so ready. I’ve been ready for a long, long time, Magdalene.”

With each step the light expanded.
 

“Maggie!” Mother gasped. She was transforming beside me, from a withered old lady with a stooped back, to a formidable, heavy-set woman of middle age. I looked to my left at Leo. His shoulders had broadened, his arms grew flesh, and the bruises on his body softened then disappeared.
 

Mother stopped and looked at her smooth hands.
 

“I’m beautiful,” she said, pulling on a strand of her thick brown hair. She cocked an ear. “The music! Do you hear the music?” She stood on tiptoes like Alice looking through a keyhole. “I can see the garden Robbie told me about!”

I didn’t hear the music or see the garden. “Mother…”

“Look again!” she said. The light flooded outward like someone had opened a stage curtain. Before us was a field of technicolor flowers. “We must hurry!”
 

She dropped my hand and ran forward, her floral nightshirt replaced by a white, cotton dress. Her curls bounced behind her. Leo and I quickened our pace, to keep up.
 

“Robbie!”
 

A figure emerged, a young man dressed in an army uniform with a wide-brimmed hat that fastened around his chin. He reached from the light into the darkness, his fingers awash in a soft blue glow.
 

“Robbie!” Mother said again, her fingers reaching for his.
 

Robbie’s uniform disappeared, replaced by suspenders, trousers, and a gray cap hat. A lock of blond hair fell into his kind blue eyes as their hands met.
 

She turned back to me and said, “I love you,” before disappearing into the light.

Leo ran after her.

“Leo, wait!” I said, grabbing his arm. There was no one waiting to greet him in the light. “I must have made a mistake. You can’t go in there alone.”

Leo straightened his shoulders and softened his face. “Don’t be afraid, Maggie. I’ll be okay, now.”

“You’re talking better,” I said, noticing that the hair on his head was thicker than before, and his arms were muscular and firm. “Let’s go back,” I said. “I’ll take care of you. Maybe if we go now you can keep this new body?”

Leo shook his head sadly and took my hands. “No, Maggie. I need to be here.”
 

“But…”

He raised his eyes, searching for the words. “When this happened before, I went to a dark place. There, I really was alone.”

I swallowed. “You mean when I…”

“It wasn't your fault.” He ran his hand through my hair. “You saved me, Maggie. Now I get to go here.” He waved his arm and the light before us shimmered.

“Oh, Leo! What will I do without you?”

“Take care of your baby, the way you took care of me. I’ll be there with you, I promise.”

I tried to cry, but I couldn't. There was only love here, even in the dark.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Yes.”

Leo linked his arm in mine and we marched forward. “They won’t let me in,” I said.

“I know.”

When we had reached the entrance to the light I saw figures move, dozens of people in clothing from all time periods, like a cast from a large, multi-verse play. They were laughing, talking, walking.
 

A man in jeans and a denim work shirt looked up from the book he was reading, saw Leo, and smiled.

“Dad,” Leo said simply. The man reached his hand into the swirling vortex that separated our reality from his. “Dad, meet Maggie.”

“Thank you for bringing my son to me,” he said. “I’ll take it from here.”

I stood on tiptoe and gave Leo a hug, feeling the solidness of his shoulders. This was it. “Don’t forget me,” I said.

“Never.” He kissed me on the top of my head. “I’ll miss the smell of your hair the most, I think.”

I smiled.

“Don’t be sad. You gave me the chance to know what it was like to have a real mother. I can’t thank you enough.”

Leo pulled away, then entered the light, his body disappearing into stardust as he slid across the meridian.
 

“Goodbye, Leo,” I said, closing my eyes. When I opened them again, I was once again alone.
 

At the far edge of the light, I heard the trickle of water and saw the outline of a silver-blue river. In front of the river stood a majestic willow, with branches that glowed like fireflies.

I didn’t need to worry about Mother or Leo. They were in a place elevated beyond my loveliest dreams.

We buried them both, in the shade of the Willow’s Daughter.
 

I remembered Leo’s comments about dirt and worms but I knew this time would be different. They weren’t stuck in limbo. They were where they needed to be.

“Maggie Maddock, Guardian of the Underworld,” Jillian smiled, handing me back my wand after the service. “Not many people have the guts to create a wand that lets them travel between the planes of life and death. But, as you’ve seen, when you’ve lived a good life, death is nothing to fear. One question though: Where did you find the wood for it? This type of yew is rare, even in these parts.”