Authors: Jamieson Wolf
Alicia stared at it, open-mouthed. "How did you do that?"
The girl smiled again. "I can do anything. This was always here; you were just not able to see it. Now that you can, how can you deny its existence?" She stood and pointed into the distance. "Behind that hill is a cave. You can wait there until you are ready to continue. You can do your teaching there. After seven days, you must leave the cave."
"What do we do after we leave the cave, though?" Poppy said. "I've never gone on a quest before."
The girl gestured at the table and where it had once been glass, a map appeared. "Beyond the cave are The Plains." She pointed out the plains, a large expanse of open space. "The plains are home to various creatures, but all are friendly. You will have no trouble there. After The Plains is The Forest. Your father will be there," she said, pointing to the middle of the forest. "Whereas The Plains are friendly, The Forest is not."
"I thought you said that there could be anything out there," Alicia said. "Why are we being sent backpacking across flat land?"
"Because this is the form that Poppy's quest has chosen. Not knowing anything of magic, she would associate the term quest with that of a journey." The girl smiled. "And her quest is relatively simple: Find her father."
"You mentioned two other parts to the quest," Poppy said.
"Those come later, after you find your father. I cannot tell you more than that. Your father rests in the middle of The Forest. When you find him, your second quest will begin."
"I feel like I'm in The Lord of the Rings," Alicia whispered
"Now, you must be off," the girl said. "I will be waiting here for your return. Safe journey!" She held up her arms, smiled at them and slowly faded away. In her place, two large back packs rested by the chair, each with their name embroidered on them.
"I wish I could disappear like that," Alicia said. "It would sure come in handy at parties. I would always have the last word."
Poppy chuckled and they grabbed their packs and headed in the direction of the hill, the ground soft under their feet.
* * * * *
When they reached the cave, they found bedrolls and a small lantern. Their packs contained food, clothing and a medical kit, extra blankets and a tent. "Why could you not think a quest is a luxury stay in the Hilton, that would have been nice," Alicia said.
Poppy laughed "I don't think I really had a choice in the matter," Poppy replied. "After all, I was who I am when I was born, right?" She sat down and began to set up her bedroll. She turned the lantern on and its soft, amber light made the small cave glow. "Did you want to help me with dinner?"
They rustled around in their packs and came out with hot dogs and marshmallows, several cokes and a bag of cookies. "I'm camping in the Otherworld," Alicia said. "This is just too weird. You seem to be taking this all rather well."
"It just seems right, somehow," Poppy said. "C'mon, let's start a fire."
With the fire crackling away, they had the food prepared in no time. They said nothing when they ate, instead choosing to listen to the land around them, the trees and the wind and watch the sand and gravel at their feet as it was swirled by the wind.
Poppy sat down in the mouth of the cave and pulled Alicia to her. She pulled her close, wrapping her arms around her and hugging her. It felt good to have another person with her on this journey; it felt better to have another person along. She felt safer, more secure. She kissed Alicia on the back of her neck.
"I just want you to know," Alicia said, "that I'm sorry for everything. I had no intention of hurting you, I love you too much."
Poppy put a finger to her lips. "I know. Let's not talk about that now."
"What would you rather do?"
Poppy smirked. "I can think of a few ideas," she said and started undressing Alicia. Tomorrow, the quest could begin, her teaching could start. But right now, after all the weirdness she had experienced in the past while, what she needed was the love of a good woman. She kissed Alicia again, relishing in the feel of her.
Chapter Twenty Two
Sacrifice
Monica listened to the house around her. It stretched its wood and windows, its glass and stone, settling in around itself, reshaping itself to the land. Not that it mattered with this house. She sat up on her bed, the book she had been reading face down on its covers and looked in the mirror. Gone was Moe's ex wife, but here was someone else instead. Monica had used the mirror to make herself into what she would have been, had her life not been ended before its time. Long blonde hair fell to just below her shoulders in a wave of curls and her blue eyes glared back at her with cat-like sharpness. Gone were her ringlets of blonde hair and gone too was the red hair of Moe's ex wife. She had seen her picture in his mind, had wanted him to love her. Instead she had enraged him, driven him away. She seemed to have that effect on people.
She looked up when she heard a whoosh and saw Moe standing there before her. He looked as if he was going to say something but had stopped short. Finally, he said "You changed again."
Monica shrugged. "Yeah." She smiled weakly. "I felt pretty bad about last time." She took a breath. "I
do
feel really bad about last time. I wanted you to love me, and you wouldn't love me as a girl, I figured that if I looked like someone you had loved, I would stand a chance."
Moe stepped forward, a sad expression on his face, and took his chin in hers. He leaned forward slightly, so that he was ever so close and kissed Monica softly on the lips. "I have not been able to think of anything but you since I left here. I have been up in my room for a week because I can think of nothing but you." He pulled away. "Tell me how you came to be here," he whispered.
She nodded. The time for secrets had passed. "You know of the Coven House?" Moe shook his head and Monica continued. "This house was built many hundreds of years ago to protect Witches from prosecution and provide a place in which they could continue their education. Many hundreds of thousands of Witches have been educated here. It was owned by the Coven; the Coven was responsible for protecting their kind and making sure we were safe."
"This is a house for WITCHES?" he said.
"Yes, Witches of the Coven. It is a house of magic. When I asked you about possession, the house responded. It is alive with magic, but it is also alive, do you understand?"
"The house is not a thing, but a being?"
"Exactly. There were some who felt that, since the house was a living being that it should be fed. . . ."
Moe's mouth dropped open. "You don't mean. . .?"
"Sacrifices. Yes, I do. I was one of the lucky chosen, actually, the only one chosen, for the Honor." She began to sob. “I was only thirteen when it happened. Witches are supposed to go on vision quests, so that they may familiarize themselves with their magic. I remember the day that Mother came to me. . . ."
"Your mother did this to you?"
"No no, the Coven Mother. . .she would watch over us. And she was head of the Coven. Her word was law. She came to see me, and I remember her hair was all standing up on end; there had been rumours at the time that she was crazy. She came to me in my room and told me to follow her, that I would be doing a great service to my fellow Witches instead of going on a vision quest. . . ."
Moe came up behind her, put his hands on her shoulders. "So what did you do?" he asked.
"What could I do?" she said. "I had no choice but to follow her and she was the head of the Coven, why would I think she would do. . .such a thing?" she sniffed and went on. "I went up all those stairs, thinking that it must be a wonderful thing for me to do for the Coven, if I have to go up so many stairs. It's funny what you remember isn't it?" she began to sob, gasping for breath, but calmed herself and continued. "When I got up here, everything was set up, the knives, and the bed. I was tied to that bed, right there. As she was tying me, she explained to me that the life blood, the magic in my life blood, would keep the house whole, would feed the house what it needed to keep producing magic. After all, a relationship was give and take, she said. She slit me open from just above my collar bone down to my navel." She slowly undid her dress, and opened it so that Moe could see the long, ragged scar that ran down the front of her body. "I bled to death. She watched me as I bled to death and then drank some of my blood. I don't remember what happened after that, only that I showed up here, like this, sometime later. The Coven disbanded because of her actions and I. . .I was trapped here."
Monica turned to him, and let herself be hugged by him. "You did nothing wrong," he said. "You are not evil, and you did nothing wrong. It was done
to
you, understand?"
Monica nodded. Moe leaned forward to kiss her again, this time with more urgency. She felt the heat rising from them both, felt the vibrations move around them. She kissed him with all the lust she had and let the dress fall from her shoulders. Moe groaned when he saw her and laid her gently back on the bed. She felt him on top of her, moving above her and every sadness she had ever known was wiped away by his kisses.
* * * * *
Afterwards, lying on her bed naked, Moe trailed his finger along her skin. "I think we need to go talk to Poppy," he said.
"Can't you feel her?" Monica said.
"What do you mean?"
"When you're dead, you can feel things. You can feel magic and those in magic. You can feel other dead, feel for the other dead. Poppy is in the house, Moe. She has begun her vision quest."
"Then we have to talk to Alicia and soon," he said. "You have to tell them what you told me."
"But then they'll know I was here the entire time. . ."
"Now is not a time for secrets, remember?" she nodded and he kissed her. "I'll be with you. C'mon," he said. "Let's go find Alicia."
* * * * *
Of course, they couldn't find her. What with Monica unable to leave the room, Moe had gone looking and found neither hide nor hair of Alicia. In desperation, he called David; it was the only number on speed dial and he couldn't find Poppy or Alicia's phone books. David answered on the second ring.
"Hello?"
"David?"
"Hey, Moe!" The two had stayed in contact since Valentines' and had grown to become good friends. "What can I do for you?"
"Do you know where Alicia is? I have something to talk to her about."
There was a pause before David spoke. "Where are you? Are you at the House?"
"Yeah. What's going on David? Where did Alicia go?"
"I can’t believe you don't know. . . ."
"David, what's happened?"
"Stay there, we'll be there in fifteen minutes."
Before Moe could ask who he meant by "we", David had hung up.
* * * * *
When the doorbell rang, Moe went to answer it. David was there, flanked by Orlando and a white haired woman he did not recognize. Then again, seeing as he could never leave the house, he didn't recognize many newcomers.
"This is Cecelia," David said when Moe had opened the door.
"Pleased to meet you," Moe said.
"Moe is one of the resident ghosts here."
"How is it you're able to walk around in solid form?" she asked.
"Nothing gets by you, does it?" Moe said.
"There's no time for that now," David said. He walked into the living room and sat on the couch. "Moe, we gotta talk."
"You know, it doesn't matter whether or not you're alive or dead, that still doesn't sound good."
"It's not the best news, but it could be far worse." He smiled. "C'mon, sit down."
Moe did so, choosing to sit across from David by sitting on the coffee table. Cecelia took a place to the left of David on the couch. "So, what's going on?" Moe asked.
"It's a little hard to explain. . .I don't know where to begin. . . ."
"How about at the beginning?" Moe asked. "That's always good."
"Sounds like a plan," David said. He began the tale, starting with what Poppy was and leading into what the Coven House was.
"Oh, I already know about that," Moe said.
"You already know about the Coven House?" Cecelia said.
"Yeah, it's one of the reasons I wanted to talk to you," Moe said. "You should both come with me."
* * * * *
As they climbed the stairs to the attic, David finished his explanation of Poppy and Alicia's whereabouts. "So Poppy has gone on a vision quest because she's the first Shape Shifter in a thousand years and the embodiment of magic and Alicia has gone with her as her Guide?" Moe said.
"Correct," David said. "You catch on quick."
"I've always been a good listener," Moe said. "One of my strong traits."