Peach Pies and Alibis (7 page)

Dee stared at the cartons of yogurt and eggs, jugs of milk and orange juice, a wedge
of white cheese speckled with green mold, and the apples, carrots, and celery stalks
visible in the produce drawers. “I don’t know,” she said after a long pause. “It’s
just that she was fine when I talked to her and she’s always been healthy and robust.
It’s her face…her hands…the story they tell.”

“She was in pain,” Ella Mae murmured.

“Yes,” Dee said. “Intense pain. I guess it could have been her heart, but I doubt
it.” She continued to search the room with her eyes. “It’s the timing, you see. The
harvest celebration is coming and she would have been chosen to—” Dee abruptly halted.
“I can’t say anything about this to you. I’m sorry.”

Ella Mae was hurt and confused. “Aunt Dee, you’re obviously upset. But you can talk
to me. You can trust me.”

“Please wait outside,” Dee whispered, averting her gaze. “I’ll be there in a moment.”

Though troubled by her aunt’s strange behavior, Ella Mae exited through the back door
and then made her way around the house to where her Jeep was parked. She decided to
let
Chewy out for a bathroom break. After securing his leash, she led him to the edge
of the woods. He sniffed and strained against the leash, heading for a break in the
trees and a narrow path that Ella Mae hadn’t noticed before.

“We can’t go far,” she cautioned, still trying to process Mrs. Carlisle’s death and
Dee’s strange behavior.

Chewy raced up the hill until the ground leveled out, and then he slowed. The trees
fell away, revealing a small meadow of grass and wildflowers. Toward the front of
the clearing sat a row of bee boxes. The hives were abuzz, but only a few bees ventured
out into the mist. The rain had ceased, leaving a veil of moisture hanging in the
air—a gauzy curtain that might have been spun from spiderwebs and dew.

Suddenly, the subtle pink and yellow hues in the sky separated. Deep indigo, bright
blue, emerald green, gold, and amber exploded like a firework show overhead. The fragments
of color merged, forming a striped ribbon above the trees.

Ella Mae gasped. She’d never seen a rainbow of such brilliance before. And she’d never
been this close to one either. It felt as if she could jump up and touch the radiant
arc of light.

“I’d like to see the treasure at the end of this rainbow,” she whispered to Chewy.

As she watched, the colors pulsed and fluctuated, rippling like waves rolling into
the shore. Ella Mae forgot about the approaching ambulance. She forgot about Aunt
Dee’s fear and Ms. Carlisle’s tortured face. She would have forgotten about Chewy
too had he not yanked on the leash, eager to keep moving.

Without hesitating, Ella Mae scooped him into her arms and ran back to the Jeep. Above
the treetops, the rainbow throbbed in a steady rhythm and Ella Mae could feel her
heart beating in time to its cadence. The desire to get closer
to it overpowered all rational thought. Gunning the engine, she threw the Jeep in
reverse and then pushed the gas pedal to the floor, rocketing down the uneven driveway.
On the main highway, she turned north, her mind barely registering the sight of the
fire department’s EMT truck, which crested the top of the hill and headed down the
road she’d just left.

For Ella Mae, nothing existed except for the rainbow. It was calling to her, beckoning
her to come closer, to find its source and bathe in its spectrum of glowing colors.

She continued to race north, deeper into the mountains. The entrance for the state
park approached, and without slowing down, Ella Mae jerked the wheel to the right,
glancing out through the windshield as the Jeep bumped and bounced over the aged asphalt.

“Just wait,” she pleaded with the rainbow. “I’m coming.”

From the passenger seat, Chewy whined. He was having a hard time keeping his footing
with Ella Mae’s erratic driving, and though she put her hand out to steady him a time
or two, her focus was already divided between the road and sky.

Finally, she reached a parking area several miles away from the main road. She had
a vague memory of being there before and was certain that there was a path leading
to a lookout directly below where the rainbow appeared to be rising from the ground.

It was vibrating relentlessly now, humming in her mind like a fast, familiar song.
Throwing the Jeep into park, she left Chewy inside with a window cracked. She shoved
the keys in her pocket and broke into a run. Her hair came loose from its ponytail
and streamed out behind her like a horse’s mane. She sprinted uphill until her thighs
burned and she couldn’t draw enough breath into her lungs.

And then, the path came to an end. There was a wall of boulders straight ahead and
a steep drop to the right. The path widened into a large circle, and there were several
picnic tables positioned near the lookout bordered by a protective steel fence. Ella
Mae took in the rounded tops of the blue green hills below and then focused on the
boulders again.

The rainbow seemed to originate on the other side of the rock wall. Undaunted, Ella
Mae tried to climb the smallest boulder, but her feet refused to find purchase.

“Damn!” she yelled and placed both hands flat against the smooth rock. Instantly,
she felt the hum in her head intensify. And then, she felt something blow through
her like a hot wind. She shut her eyes, but the sensation was over as quickly as it
had begun, and when she opened her eyes again, the boulders were gone.

“Wh-what?” she stammered, gazing around in astonishment. She was in some kind of orchard.
Tidy rows of apple trees stood like sentinels. Ella Mae moved past them and found
herself in a secluded clearing ringed by more trees. Directly overhead was the rainbow,
hovering low in a winter white sky. Ella Mae raised both arms and the colors shifted
and scattered. To her amazement, she saw that the entire arc had been made up of thousands
of butterflies.

A mass of orange monarchs and eastern tiger swallowtails swooped through the branches
of an enormous maple tree, chased by playful ceraunus blues and goatweed leafwings.
Yellow skipperlings and red-spotted purple butterflies briefly illuminated the branches
of a giant oak before disappearing completely.

Panting from exertion, Ella Mae longed to chase after them, to beg them not to go,
but she was too exhausted to move. She felt hot too, as if she were burning with fever.
Putting a hand to her forehead, she realized that her skin was fiery to the touch,
and yet, her fingertips were ice cold.

Darting a glance over her shoulder, she saw the boulder wall peeking through the line
of apple trees. She sensed that she could find her way out by heading for the rocks,
but she
wasn’t ready to leave. She still felt the pull from the rainbow and it led her forward,
coaxing her sore and aching legs into carrying her to a wizened ash tree growing on
a gentle rise above the clearing.

The tree had an ancient air to it. Stooped like an old woman, its gnarled branches
hung down like lank hair. Its bark was scarred and wrinkled and its twisted branches
looked like arms. The closer she moved to the tree, the more easily Ella Mae could
visualize a female form. She saw the curve of hips, a pair of breasts formed by two
knots, and a rounded belly.

“Lady Tree,” she said reverently, for there was something powerful about this tree.
Bowing her head, Ella Mae placed a hand on the rough bark.

The moment she touched the tree, a jolt of electricity passed through her body. It
was so strong that she began to convulse. Unable to stand, she dropped to her knees
and gasped for breath as the pain consumed her. It felt like her bones were being
burned. Like her blood was on the verge of boiling. The feeling was so extreme, so
intensely powerful that she couldn’t cry out. She couldn’t see either. A searing light
filled the field of her vision.

Just when she believed she couldn’t take another second of agony, the pain stopped.

And suddenly, supportive hands were holding her upright by the arms. Voices, soothing
as caresses, whispered her name.

“You’re all right,” she heard her mother say. Enveloped in the familiar scent of rosewater,
Ella Mae dared to open her eyes.

Her mother grasped her left shoulder while Reba had a firm hold on the right. Verena
and Sissy were also close by, hands raised in case Ella Mae should fall.

Ella Mae expected to see alarm in their faces. Or terror. At the very least, concern.
But she saw none of these things.
Instead, her mother, Reba, and two of her aunts were gazing at her in unadulterated
rapture.

“What happened?” she asked, her words scratchy and raw. Her throat was so dry that
she could barely speak. “How did you get here? How did I get here?”

“This is your Awakening,” her mother said and held a bottle of water up to her daughter’s
lips. Ella Mae had never seen such joy in her eyes. “We didn’t think it would ever
come. When you moved to New York, we believed your time had passed. Most women are
Awakened in their teens, but you’ve always been one to bend the rules.”

Reba smiled and squeezed Ella Mae’s cheek. “Now we can tell you everythin’! No more
hidin’ things or talkin’ in riddles.” Her face grew stern for a moment. “But this
also means that your powers are gonna be stronger. Who knows what you could make folks
do.”

Ella Mae frowned in confusion. She swallowed some water and then looked to Verena
and Sissy for help. “Did you all go through this?”

Sissy nodded. “The rainbow called and we came here. This is our sacred grove. It’s
the place where most of us first discovered our magic. It’s where we gather with others
of our kind. And once a year, we renew our powers here.”

Verena gave Ella Mae’s hand a fond pat. “This is the happiest day of our lives, Ella
Mae. You, who are like a daughter to us all, have truly come home!”

Ella Mae’s mother surveyed the sunny glade. “I hate that Dee is missing this. I can’t
imagine what could be keeping her. She called and told us to come here, but she didn’t
say why. She must have known what you saw, and yet, she isn’t here.”

“I know why,” Ella Mae said with a groan. “Oh, poor Dee. I left her without a word
of warning. I left her alone. With a dead woman!”

“A dead woman!” Verena shouted. “Who?”

Adelaide put a hand on her sister’s arm. “Let’s try to be calm.” She looked at Ella
Mae, her eyes dark with worry. “Tell us what happened.”

Ella Mae did. When she was finished, her mother and her aunts exchanged fearful glances.

“I told you she’d need protectin’,” Reba muttered.

Sissy shook her head. “It could have been a heart attack. Melissa wasn’t old, but
she wasn’t
young
either. It’s a possibility.”

Reba scowled. “She was as fit as a fiddle and you know it. The medical folks might
say it was her heart, but I won’t believe it. There was ways of scarin’ a person to
death. Trust me, I know.”

This statement caused another quick flurry of anxious looks. The happiness that had
illuminated the women’s faces a few moments ago was gone. Instead, Ella Mae saw mouths
drawn into tight lines and brows creased with worry. “Who
was she?” she asked. “Melissa Carlisle? And please don’t tell me she was just a nice
lady who sold honey at the farmer’s market. Tell who she really was and why you’re
so shaken up by her passing.”

“Look at this tree,” her mother commanded. “This ash is the source of our power. Every
year, she renews our gifts. And she also exacts a price for those gifts.”

Sissy gazed up at the tree with an expression of awe. “It’s no coincidence that she
resembles an old woman. Long ago, she stood straight and tall as a young girl on the
verge of womanhood, but her magic is fading. That’s why she looks like a crone now.”

“Once a century, she is given new life,” Verena continued the narrative. “One of us,
one of our kind, volunteers to become the next Lady of the Ash. It’s a terrible and
noble sacrifice!” she cried. “But it’s absolutely necessary.”

“What are you saying?” Ella Mae couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She stared
at feminine curves of the ash tree in horror. “Someone’s in there? A woman turned
into a tree?”

“Not
into
a tree, hon.” Reba smoothed Ella Mae’s wild hair.

“And it’s more of a
joining
,” Sissy explained, pressing her graceful hands together. “The woman and the tree
become a single entity. For a few years, the tree can gesture by moving her branches.
She can use the wind to whisper to people and is even able to speak to a family member
telepathically. But over time, she becomes more and more like a tree and less and
less like a human. Nature is stronger than us by far. And we’re all made up of bits
of fire, air, earth, and water.”

Reba studied the stooped tree pensively. “This lady’s tired. She’s ready to let go.”

“Melissa Carlisle volunteered to become the next Lady of the Ash,” Adelaide said.
“The elders had accepted her as the best choice. During the harvest celebration, she
would have embraced the tree and it would have embraced her in return. Now she’s dead
and we have no replacement.”