The Magick of Dark Root (Daughters of Dark Root) (6 page)

“How did you find it again, after all these years?” I asked, stealing one more glance at the tree.
 

“That, my dear, is a silly question.” He winked.

“Oh,” I said, feeling dumb.
 

I had recently discovered that Shane could locate things that were lost, as long as he had seen them. Even things that everyone else had given up on.
 

Without warning, he pulled me into his chest, wrapping his sleight, muscular arms around me. I could feel his warm breath on the side of my neck, the tips of his fingers pressing into the small of my back, his hips locking onto mine.
 

My breath caught his, syncing up, our chests rising and falling as one.

The sound of his heartbeat through his thin, cotton t-shirt was almost deafening. I wanted to crawl inside him, fuse with him in a way I’d never wanted to with Michael. I reached around, thrusting my hands into the back pockets of his jeans, and pulled him even closer. He moaned softly, growing hard against my leg.

“Shane,” I whispered, lifting my chin with eyes closed and parted lips.
 

If he wanted to take me here in the forest, I wouldn’t object. I’d been objecting to too many things for too long. I wanted to lose myself in his touch.
 

“Oh, God, Shane,” I moaned.

“I love you, Maggie,” he said, putting his hands on either side of my face and kissing the top of my head. “I love you so Goddamned much.”

“What?”
 

I opened my eyes.
 

His jaw was hard, his eyes soft.
 

“What do you mean, you love me?” I asked, pulling away.

“I’ve waited so long for you, Maggie. Longer than you know. I realize I shouldn’t be laying this on you, not like this. You deserve better.” He reached for my hands, clasping my fingers in between his.

I shook my head, trying to make sense of it all.
Waited so long?
I’d only returned to Dark Root two months ago.
 

“What do you mean?” I asked.

He dropped his head. “I’m sorry. I forget sometimes.”

“Forget?”

“Forget that we don’t have the same memories.”

I tried to process this. I had almost given myself physically to this man, but he had said he loved me. In the blink of an eye everything had changed. Even if I did have similar feelings for him, my life was too complicated for love right now.
 

“Shane,” I said, “I can’t…”

“I know you’ve been keeping something from me, Maggie. Whatever it is, I’m here for you, okay? You just got out of one relationship and the last thing you probably want is to jump into another. But I’ve waited all these years,” he said, glancing towards the tree. “I don’t mind waiting a little longer.”

“It might be a
 
while,” I said, laughing even as I wanted to cry.
 

“
I hope it’s not too long,” he said, his handsome face softening. “I’d like to be able to kiss you while I still have all of my teeth.”

“I’d like that too. I need to figure some things out first, okay?”

“I’m not going anywhere.” He brushed a lock of my hair from my face and tucked it behind my ear, studying me. “You’re so beautiful. Your hair. Your eyes. Your nose. Your freckles.”

“I’m not beautiful.”

“Yes, you are. And you don’t even know it. It’s one of your endearing qualities. With your looks and my culinary skills we’d make some pretty awesome children.”
 

 
I laughed at the irony as a large raindrop fought its way through the trees, plunking on my head.
 

“Geez. And I wasn’t even trying. Now let’s get you to your ma’s before you’re soaked.” He took my hand and led me back to his pickup.
 

Once we were buckled in, he said, “And whenever you’re ready to talk, remember I’m here.”

“Thank you. I’ll remember.”

He squeezed my hand and drove us out of the woods.

As we pulled into the large dirt driveway of Sister House, I gave Shane a kiss on the cheek. In an alternate universe––one where I didn’t carry another man’s baby––I would have invited him inside and introduced him as my boyfriend. We’d spend the holidays together, making plans for Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Maybe making plans for the rest of our lives.

But this wasn’t that universe.
 

Instead of inviting him in I said, “Hope you have a great day, Shane Doler.”

He tipped his hat to me, a glimmer of sadness in his smoky gray eyes. “Ah, it’s the plight of the cowboy to wander the world alone.”

“Don’t be a dork,” I said again, climbing out of the truck and smiling as though nothing serious had transpired between us. “And for the millionth time, you’re not a cowboy!”

“Hey, it’s all I’ve got.” He forced a smile. “See you around, Miss Maggie Mae. And for the love of all that’s good and holy in this world, get rid of that thing.” He pointed to the alpaca sweater that peeked from the top of my tote bag.
 

Shane cranked up the radio, blasting Alanis Morisette’s
Ironic
as he sped away.

I watched him go, then turned my attention towards my childhood home.

Sister House. Though only half the size of Harvest Home, it appeared massive as I stood before it: a sprawling, white Victorian, with a century’s worth of secrets. My sisters and I had vanquished one demon here, but there were others, tucked into every nook and cranny of the manor. These were the ghosts of our pasts, and of things to come. Sister House had been waiting for us, and now that the daughters of Dark Root were all home, it could make its plans.

The trees that surrounded Sister House rustled as wind caught their branches, conjuring up sounds like whisperings. I stood on tiptoe trying to make out the words.

“Maggie. Maggie. We see you.”

I scanned the forest, peering into the grayness through the rain. My skin crawled as I realized that someone watched me. Or something.

I charged towards the house, sloshing through mud that grabbed onto me like quick sand.
 

“Maggie. Maggie.”
 

At last, I stood trembling before the door.
 

A covenant would be made within these walls today that would bind me to Dark Root forever. I turned the knob and walked inside.

Three

WELCOME ALL AGAIN

November, 2013

Sister House

Dark Root, Oregon

“Knock, knock,” I said, pulling a smile onto my face as I stepped inside, nearly tripping over the orange tabby lounging in the entryway who merely yawned at my arrival.

“Aunt Maggie!” My five-year-old niece leapt over the cat and barreled into me, wrapping her arms around my legs. “You made it!”

“I couldn’t stay away from you, Mae,” I said, calling her by her birth name. She wrinkled her nose and I corrected myself. “I mean June Bug.”
 

I bent down to give her a hug, as always astounded by how much she looked like her mother with her cream-colored hair and robin’s egg blue eyes. “Hey, lookie there. You lost another tooth!”
 

She opened her mouth, revealing a large gap in the top front row.
 

“At this rate the tooth fairy will be broke by springtime,” I said.

June Bug grinned, brushing a wisp of fine hair from her face. “Grandma says we should put her dentures under the pillow and see how much money she gets for them. Gross!”
 

A week ago, we’d all wondered whether her grandma would ever leave the hospital and here she was cracking jokes about her fake teeth. I couldn’t help but laugh.

June Bug scooped up the cat, which my mother had also named Maggie. “Do you want the kitty cat? Aunt Ruth Anne’s allergic.”

I shook my head. The last thing I needed was something else relying on me. “No, honey. I’m sorry. Auntie can’t take a cat right now.”

“I guess we have to take him to a shelter then.” Her bottom lip pushed.
 

She released the cat. He bounded up the staircase, as if understanding its impending fate. June Bug took my hand as Merry strolled into the living room carrying a steaming mug. Dressed in red velvet and brown corduroy, with her blond hair tied back in a bow, she looked like she belonged on the holiday cover of an East Coast magazine.
 

“How’s it going, sis?” she asked, joining us and planting a kiss on my cheek.

“Aunt Maggie is afraid she’ll kill the cat, mommy.” June Bug answered, looking between myself and Merry. “Isn’t that right, Aunt Maggie?”

I quickly withdrew my hand from June Bug’s. I had forgotten that she could read people when she touched them, able to feel and even take on their emotions. It was a gift she shared with her mother. I should have cleansed my energy before coming into the house.

“I think she’s scared she’s going to hurt her baby, too,” June Bug continued. “But we won’t let anything happen to them. Right?”

I raised an alarmed eyebrow to Merry. Though June Bug was an empath, she seemed to know more than she should, even with that gift.
 

Merry knelt down so that she was eye level with her daughter. “Well, that’s understandable honey. Having a baby is a scary thing. But we are all going to be here to help Aunt Maggie, right? And let her know that everything is okay.”

June Bug nodded and Merry resumed her standing position. “Now, honey, go tell everyone that Aunt Maggie’s here, okay?”
 

June Bug darted off, a blur of blond hair and red satin, calling out “Aunt Maggie’s Here! Aunt Maggie’s here!”

“Are you sure she’s only five?” I asked. “I don’t remember being that wise when I was her age.”

“That’s because you weren’t,” Merry teased, nudging me in the ribs.

“She’s like a little old woman. Maybe we shouldn’t let her hang out with her grandmother so much.”

“The two have been almost inseparable since Mama woke up. But I think it’s good for both of them.” Merry’s eyes ventured to the staircase, mentally moving towards Mother’s room on the second floor.

“Anyways,” Merry continued. “Sorry about June Bug reading you like that. She’s supposed to ask permission first.” Merry turned her head in both directions, checking to see that we were still alone. Turning to me, she whispered, “I think her talents are growing. Evolving. She knows things. Everything.”
 

“Like reading minds?” I whispered back, surprised. There were few witches who could read minds. It was one of the highest gifts given.

“No. I don’t think so. It’s more like reading motives and intentions, I guess. She told me the other day that she was going to ask her daddy to send more money so that I would stop wanting to
kill
him. I’d never spoken those words but that’s what I was feeling.”
 

Merry’s ex-husband Frank had run off with a barely-legal barista the year before and sent child support payments only when he felt like it.