“I don’t see why we can’t do this outside on the patio table. It’s such a beautiful day.” Ruby tried to keep the panic out of her voice as she followed her daughter into the kitchen.
“Nonsense, Mother. Really, do you want some bird to fly over the new towels I’ve brought you and mess all over them? You know how annoying those things can be.”
“You’ve no idea,” Ruby grumbled.
“I bet you don’t see many birds with that big black cat around, do you Grams?” Ellen asked.
“No, sweetheart, just the persistent ones.” Ruby stared at her granddaughter and marveled how much Ellen resembled her. Alison took more after her father with his curly brown hair and brown eyes, but Ellen took after her. When Ruby was Ellen’s age, she looked exactly like her. She’d aged normally until she hit her twentieth year, then her aging process had slowed down considerably.
“Is he yours?”
“No, he’s just a stray I’ve seen wandering around.”
“Well, that’s a good thing,” Alison said, looking up from the towels she was laying out on the table. “Most of the homes Dan and I looked into don’t allow pets.”
Ellen rolled her eyes at her grandmother, and Ruby stifled a laugh. If it weren’t for the fact that a wicked man-raven was lurking around somewhere, and that her daughter was determined to rip her from her home, she would actually be enjoying this visit. Spending time with her teen-age granddaughter was a rare treat.
“Those are lovely towels, dear,” she told her daughter.
Alison smiled. “I’m glad you like them. They’re nice sets to replace those big old bath towels you have. They’ll go great in your new place.”
This wasn’t the time for Ruby to break into another argument with her daughter. She was sure it was the reason why Alison brought Ellen along with her, thinking Ruby would be more agreeable with her granddaughter around.
“I have some lemonade made up in the fridge, and I baked some cookies the other day. Why don’t we take them outside and we can have a little picnic.”
“Mother, there’s no sense putting this off any longer. You know you can’t continue to stay here alone. It’s just not safe for you.”
“Please, Alison.” When had her daughter become such a nag?
“No, no more arguments or excuses. I have a trunk full of boxes, and I’ve come to help you pack up your stuff.”
“Pack up?”
“Yes. Of course, we’ll have to hold a yard sale. There won’t possibly be enough room in your new place for all this stuff.”
“You said you and Dan were looking at places. You didn’t say you’d found one.” Ruby glared intently at Alison. Her daughter wore a determined look on her face; she wasn’t going to back down this time.
“We’ve narrowed it down to two places.”
“But I don’t want to leave,” Ruby said.
Alison gazed back down at the towels as if to avoid the devastated look on her mother’s face. “You can have the final say on which place you’ll take. They’re both really very nice. One looks out onto a river, and the other one is close to a park. They’re both walk-outs, and you’d have a place for a little garden and a grassy area for a chair.”
“Far cry from my own backyard.”
Alison ignored her words. “Both of them are right in town, so you won’t have that long walk anymore.”
“I like to walk.”
“You’ll be closer to Dan and me and the kids.”
Alison’s words tailed on, but Ruby was no longer listening. She scanned the kitchen frantically with her eyes. Ellen was suddenly nowhere to be found. When had she slipped away?
“I’ll look at the places,” Ruby said quickly.
“What?”
“I said I’d go.” Ruby stalked over to the cupboard and reached beneath for a tray. She snatched a bunch of cookies from a jar and tossed them onto a plate, unconcerned that she broke half of them. Then she grabbed the lemonade out of the fridge and put it on the tray before pushing it into Alison’s hands. “Put this outside, and we’ll discuss whatever you want. I’ll get Ellen and be right out to join you.” She didn’t give Alison any time to argue, but ushered her down the hall and out the back door. As she saw her daughter head towards the patio with a triumphant smile on her face, Ruby turned and began rushing through the house.
“Ellen!” she hissed, sticking her head into rooms as she passed, desperate to find her but not wanting to attract another’s attention. Where is that damn bird?
She searched the entire first floor of the house, and then the second, but there was no sign of Ellen or the raven. There was only one place left they could be...the attic.
Cautiously, trying to not make a sound, Ruby crept up the stairs to the attic. She was careful to avoid the steps she knew would squeak if tread upon. Opening the door at the top of the stairs was agony. When she wanted to burst it open and jump into the room guns blazing, she was forced to go slowly in her old, wearisome body.
She inched the door open just enough to peek inside, and scanned the part of the room she could see. He was in there; she could just make him out, cape flapping around him from the breeze through the open window. She pushed the door slightly farther, cursing the faulty vision of her old eyes, and could see him rubbing his hands together in what appeared to be glee. A little farther and she could see the smirk his lips were twisted into. She could just barely make out Ellen now. Standing about five feet away from the raven. She peered at her face, expecting to see a look of pure terror. Instead, Ellen looked unimpressed, as though facing down a crazed, cloak-wearing man was a daily occurrence in her life.
“You cannot escape me,” the raven said to Ellen. “Tell me what is in this book and perhaps you’ll live out the day.” He held Ruby’s spell book with his bony crooked fingers.
Ruby held her breath to keep from gasping. Ellen didn’t know what the spell book was for. She was no witch. In fact, she’d never even been in the attic before. Ruby made sure to keep the door locked whenever company came by.
“Do not threaten me, you foul creature.”
Was that little Ellen’s voice, strong and brave?
The raven took a menacing step toward Ellen, and Ruby could contain her caution no longer.
“Back off, buzzard!” She rushed forward into the room to stand before Ellen.
“Ah, look what the cat dragged in,” said the raven. “Where is your feline friend?”
“Piss off!”
“Grams!”
Ruby moved aside just enough to see Ellen, and still kept a cautious eye on the raven. “Run, Ellen. Right outside to your mother, and whatever you do, don’t let the cat in.” She knew Tarock would be desperate to get inside, especially if he figured out Ruby was up in the attic. She couldn’t take the chance the raven would get him though.
“I’m not leaving you, Grams.”
“Ellen, please. You don’t understand. That man is not what he seems. He’s dangerous.”
“All the more reason for me to stay.” The stubborn set of Ellen’s jaw made Ruby cringe with trepidation and overflow with admiration at the same time. “I won’t leave you here alone, Grams.”
“Oh, Ellen. I can handle this. But I need you to go.” Please, before you see something that scars you for life.
“How touching.” The raven, a predator not known for its patience, lunged forward and grabbed onto Ruby while she was distracted. Ruby threw herself to the floor, bringing the raven along with her.
“Damn it, you bugger. Run, Ellen!” She grappled to keep hold of him, determined to keep him from her granddaughter.
Instead of fleeing, Ellen waved her hand over the struggling pair. “Spino So Attatra Karta!” Ruby heard her yell. Time seemed to slow down suddenly. Ruby stared at the raven. He’d gone completely still, and yet she wasn’t affected. Ruby took Ellen’s hand when she reached down to help her to her feet. “Hurry, Grams, it won’t last long.”
“Where did you learn how to do that?” Ruby threw the question over her shoulder while she rushed to the table her vials of potions sat upon.
“From the Internet. There are spells you can learn on this really cool site I found.” The look of excitement on Ellen’s face was unsettling. Spells? On the Internet? How things have changed! In the old days you could be burned at the stake for even possessing a spell book.
Ruby snatched up a vial and paused a moment before she went to throw it at the raven. “Those spells will only have power if they’re recited by a...”
“By a witch, Grams. I know.”
Ruby tried to rein in the grin spreading across her face. Could it be possible? “You’re a witch?” Her heart beat faster, soaring with hope.
Ellen met her gaze and smiled. “Yes. Like you, Grams.”
Ruby couldn’t believe it. She’d been so discreet. How had Ellen figured out her secret? “How long have you known?”
“I began to see the signs in myself first. Little things, such as wishing it would rain, or hoping for a snowstorm to cancel school. When those wishes came true, I began to search for answers. I discovered all kinds of information in books and online—like how you have to be directly descended from a witch to be one yourself. And since mom and dad are obviously not magical, that left only you.”
“And...you’re okay with this?” After all this time of isolation, hiding who she was from her family, could she at last have an ally?
“I admit I struggled with the idea for a while, but now I have to admit it’s pretty cool.
“What about Todd? Does he show any signs of being like us?”
“I don’t know. If he’s experiencing anything, he’s not been sharing it with me. Anyway, he’s not around much, and when he is, he’s sleeping. Typical teenage boy.”
Their conversation was interrupted by a loud groan on the floor.
“He’s waking up,” Ellen said.
Quick as a flash, the raven shook his head and leaped to his feet. He saw Ruby with the vial. He dove at her just as she raised her arm and threw the potion. Ruby went to stand by Ellen, holding her tightly to prepare her for the sight she was about to witness. Moments later, the raven, back in his true form, flew out of the puff of smoke and circled around the room.
“Cool,” gasped Ellen.
“Yes,” Ruby agreed. She didn’t think so a moment later when the bird let out a loud squawk and flew at them. Both of them threw their arms about, trying to fend off the attacking bird. Ruby rushed to grab a broomstick and swung it around while Ellen took refuge under an old table. Nothing Ruby did deterred the raven who seemed bent on revenge. Every time she went near the door the raven blocked her path. Even if she could get away, she still must get Ellen out. We have to escape the attic, but how?
Then suddenly, a black flash flew through the open window from an overhanging tree limb. Tarock leaped high in the air and caught the vicious bird in his powerful jaws. They rolled onto the floor in a fury of flapping black wings and extended claws.
“No, Tarock,” Ruby whispered. She watched the mayhem before her anxiously. She could throw another potion to change them but then there would be two immortals fighting instead of two animals. This was the hardest thing she’d ever done in her life—to do nothing. To let the scene play out and not interfere no matter the consequences. There was no way she could intercede without endangering Tarock.
It seemed an eternity before the pair on the floor grew still. Neither made a sound, and so much fur and feathers were scattered upon them, it was impossible to see if they even breathed.
Ruby crept forward and knelt down to reach out and brush the feathers off Tarock’s face. “Darling, can you hear me?”
It was an endless moment before he finally moved. His whiskers twitched and then one eye peeked open. Ruby scooped him up and took him safely across the room. Though the raven lay stiff and still, she didn’t take the chance he was no longer a threat. Ellen joined her, staring apprehensively at the cat.
“Oh, Grams, the poor, brave kitty. Will he make it?”
Ruby hurried over and picked up the potion to change him. She didn’t think he possessed the strength to do it himself. Before she used it, she looked at Ellen. “Prepare yourself.” She sprinkled the potion over Tarock’s fur.
When the small puff of smoke the potion created cleared, Ellen’s eyes opened wide upon seeing Tarock the man lay before her. “Holy crap!”
“Language, missy,” Ruby scolded, although she must admit she’d thought the same thing when she’d first laid eyes on Tarock.
Ellen pried her gaze away from the man lying on the floor and gestured over to where the raven lay. “What do you want to do with that?”
Ruby was now kneeling on the ground checking Tarock over to make sure he wasn’t hurt. He groaned and twitched a little when her fingers tickled his skin, but he appeared well enough and certainly didn’t seem to mind her prodding at him. Satisfied he was all right, she got up and walked over to her table once more. She retrieved a little cloth sac and went to stand over the raven. Upon closer inspection, she could tell by the stiff look of his feet sticking out like tiny tree limbs that he was indeed dead. She reached into the cloth sac and withdrew a handful of shiny sand, scattered it over the bird, and waited a moment.
Intrigued, Ellen came over to watch. “What’s that?”
Three seconds later, the bird disappeared. “Vanishing potion. Comes in handy when you’ve got a sink full of dirty dishes you want to get rid of.”
Tarock got to his feet and walked over to stand beside Ruby. He put his hand in hers and then leaned down to kiss her sweetly on the cheek.
“Ellen, I’d like to introduce Tarock. Tarock, this is my granddaughter, Ellen. She’s a witch too.” Ruby couldn’t keep the pride out of her voice.
Ruby sneaked a peek out the window toward the patio as the pair shook hands. She spotted Alison pacing around the picnic table, her gaze continuously wandering to the windows of the house. “We’d better get down there before Alison gets concerned.”
As the three exited the room, Ellen walked beside her grandmother. “You’re not really gonna let mom make you leave are you?”
“I don’t know. This whole mess started because I tried to create a nurse for myself out of a little dove. I’ve learned my lesson though, no more fooling around with birds. I was hoping having someone here to watch over me might put to rest your mother’s fears and buy me more time. I’m not sure what to do now.”
“Hey, don’t you still have some of granddad’s old shirts laying around?” Ellen asked suddenly as they passed a spare bedroom Ruby used for storage.
“I think there might still be one or two hanging in the closet in there,” she said, gesturing toward the room. “I couldn’t bear to pack up everything of his into boxes. Why?”
Ellen grabbed Ruby with one hand and Tarock with the other. She headed for the closet. After searching for a moment, she tossed a stiff high-collared white shirt to Tarock. When they peered at her questioningly, she smiled. “Try it on.”
Tarock removed his cape and put on the shirt and began doing up the buttons. It was a little snug over the bulging muscles of his arms, but it would pass.
Ellen stared at him approvingly and grinned at Ruby. “Meet your new nurse.”
Ruby ran a critical eye over Tarock’s handsome form. He certainly gave the appearance of being a capable professional. Although, she must admit with those muscles he looked more like an exotic dancer or a body builder than a nurse. “I don’t know if your mom will buy it.” Or maybe she will agree and then decide to move back in with me? Who could resist him?
“I think it’s a great idea. We should have done this earlier,” Tarock said.
“It has to work, Grams. You can’t teach me all I need to know from an old age home. Could you imagine all those potions and puffs of smoke in there? It’d be chaos. Besides, you wouldn’t be able to take Tarock with you.”
When the image of what had gone on between her and Tarock in the tree house suddenly popped into Ruby’s mind she needed no further persuasion. Never mind all the magic spells and potions she’d no longer be able to concoct. “You’re right. Let’s do it.”
The three of them smiled conspiratorially as they walked outside to talk to Alison.
“What if it doesn’t work?” Tarock whispered to them as Alison eyed him with raised eyebrows.
“There’s always the vanishing potion,” said Ruby with a wicked grin.