A Girl Between (27 page)

I paused and stared at Belinda and Mercy before adding, “I
know it sounds weird, to recognize a person by seeing their soul through their
eyes but you have to believe me.  There were many others I felt familiar with
but I wasn’t sure why.  And did you hear me talk about the crone?  You know who
she was?  It was Miss Cassie.  She was there.  I couldn’t believe it!”

Belinda leaned in before asking gently, “Did you see your
father there?”

I smiled, widely, my eyes shining.  “Yes, he was there.  It
was the green-hooded man.  I looked in his soul and I could see that it was
him.  Of course, he didn’t know me from anything.  Why would he?”

I looked away and started biting my lip. “There’s one more
thing.”

“What’s that?” Belinda asked, concern in her eyes.

“Remember when I wanted to stay in Trier after I was
condemned to die?  I wasn’t ready to leave that life even, though I was afraid
of my death by fire.  I wanted to look out and see who was watching me as I
climbed the ladder to the pyre.  I had a feeling that I’d see something.”  I
gazed back at Mercy and Belinda and moaned, “Well, I wish I never did.  I wish
I never saw who was watching me.”

I felt a tear run down my cheek before I quietly added, “It
was Ian.  He was there, watching me as I climbed.  I knew that he was one of
them, for he had the same countenance and dress of the archbishop who had
condemned me to die.  I saw the darkness of his spirit as he was viewing me
with such cold detachment.  After a while, I became blinded from the smoke and
my tearing eyes, but I knew he was still watching me.  Even as I burned, I
could feel the icy fingers of despair close around my heart.”

Belinda sighed, “Tess, we’re almost done.  You’ve been
through a great deal today between the regression and all of these questions. 
We still have to know how the 14
^th
century
Karmic Apocalypse of
the Wiccans
went.

“I know,” I answered while leaning my head back on the couch
and closing my eyes for a moment.

“So, Tessie, what happened with the De Morney’s and that
corrupt bishop?  Did they figure out what was really going on?” Mercy asked.

I loosened my shoulders and sat up before finally
answering.  “It was after we did something to the Bishop of Reims.  My mama
caused his property and his manor house to be affected by a terrible
whirlwind.  It ruined most of his vineyards and killed a number of his sheep. 
The wind also destroyed his entire barn and part of his house.  By then, we
knew that Lord De Morney and the bishop were getting suspicious so we packed up
and left.”

“Where could you go in those days without a male escort?”
inquired Belinda.

“Mama and I walked all night to the monastery that was in
the mountains.  Mama had sold herbal remedies to the Saint Maurice monks in the
past and she thought they wouldn’t mind helping us.  We were lucky in that they
were bringing their wool and cheese to Paris within a few days.  We were able
to travel with them.” 

Mercy’s ears perked up.  “So, what’d you do in Paris?”

“Paris was scary for us at first.  After all, we’d never
been out of our village before.  Mama had to go around selling some of her
herbal concoctions to the city apothecaries.  She ended up meeting some old guy
who owned one of those places.  His wife had died and he was desperate for
someone to care for his children.  They ended up making an arrangement.  She
married him and he took us in.  We felt safe there because we could hide
ourselves away in a large town like Paris, unlike the small village we had come
from.

Belinda asked, “What happened to the rest of the good
witches after they implemented the
Karmic Apocalypse
plan?”

“We had been hearing things from witches and commoners who
were traveling through the area.  They talked about grave personal troubles
affecting some of the highborn and the religious leaders.  The troubles seemed
to be scattered randomly throughout the continent, although not all of the
lords and priests were affected.  After a time, it did appear that many
luminars had to flee from their homes because they were concerned about
eventual retribution.”

“It sounds like your plan to torment the bad ones was
working,” Mercy commented with a slow smile.

“Yes, it did work, at least for a time.  Our primary goal
was to stop the diaboles from destroying the good witches.  We punished them
for their evil deeds AND we managed to keep them very busy, so busy that they
didn’t have time to create all the typical witch hysteria.

Belinda asked, “So, why did it change?”

“After some years of suffering these misfortunes, a small
group of the diaboles finally got together.  They looked around and saw that
the commoners and the good witches weren’t having the same level of bad luck
that the diaboles were experiencing.  That’s when the diaboles started to get
suspicious and connect the dots.  They finally captured a young witch from the
Germanic territories and tortured her into a confession.  She revealed our
plan, not that I blame her.  It was bound to come out, sooner or later.”

“So, THEN what?”

I explained, shaking my head, “All hell broke loose.  The
diaboles couldn’t believe what the luminars had done to them.  They went back
to their fancy homes and manors with plans to arrest and torture any good witch
in sight.  Fortunately, we had managed to spread the word.  The luminars
weren’t going to sit around, waiting to get arrested and thrown into the
dungeon.  They would put up a fight.  After all, that’s what they had learned
to do.  The diaboles, on the other hand, had gotten lazy.  They had more
‘things’ and more money, but their magical power had waned.  It takes effort
and practice to keep up the magic.  Because of their wealth, all they had to do
was to pay someone to do their bidding.  For the first time, the diaboles and
the luminars were on equal footing.”

Belinda asked, “So the magical powers of the bad ones had
diminished?”

I nodded, “Yeah, like the old saying goes, ‘Use it or lose
it’.  The fighting between the diaboles and luminars went on for a couple of
decades.  The diaboles did become more fearful about accusing witches, for they
would find that their house would mysteriously burn down, or their children
would come down with an unexplained illness.  You could say that we learned how
to keep things in check, that is, until the year 1348.”

“That year sounds familiar to me,” Mercy commented with a
frown.

Belinda answered, “It’s the beginning of the Bubonic Plague
in Europe.”

I grimaced, “Yes, otherwise known as, ‘the Black Death’.”

I sighed, “We should have known that it would be impossible
to keep the diaboles in check for very long.  After all, until the recent past,
the bad ones had kept control over the commoners and the luminars through
brutal intimidation.  Resentment over their loss of control had been simmering
for a long time.  They desperately wanted their power back.  A diabole from the
Kingdom of Naples is believed to have brought a cage full of infected rats back
from China.  They were infected with the Yersinia Pestis bacterium, otherwise
known as the Bubonic Plague.”

“Why would someone do that?  Didn’t they know that the
plague bacteria would be deadly for anyone who was exposed?” Mercy inquired.

“It is said that a female diabole named Narcissa was driven
to madness by the death of her husband, Brando.  Narcissa and Brando were
nobles with a large estate in the Kingdom of Naples and ran their lands with an
iron fist.  Both husband and wife were known far and wide as very evil
witches.  The rebellion between the luminars that worked the estate and
Narcissa and her husband was fierce.  The estate manor had burned down under
mysterious circumstances and Brando died in the fire.”

“So, are you saying that Narcissa did this evil deed out of
grief?” Belinda asked.

“Mad grief I would say.  The day before the fire, an
execution had been carried out. Two good witches, a mother and a daughter, had
been burned at the stake right in front of the estate manor.  It is believed
that Narcissa blamed the relatives of those witches for the death of her
beloved Brando.  So, her final act of revenge was to bring the plague germs
here.  She wanted all luminars to die.  She didn’t care about anything else.”

Mercy leaned back in her chair.  “I know the plague was
terrible.  What happened to you?”

“Millions of people in the continent of Europe and the
English lands died, including commoners and witches alike.  No one could stop
the advance of the Black Death.  It did stop the fighting between the diaboles
and the luminars.  After all, who was left to fight?  Everyone was nursing the
sick or burying the dead.  By the way, the Black Death came to Paris.  I
managed to survive; however, it killed my mama and my infant son.”

I started to gather my things to leave and Mercy touched my
arm.  “Hey, Tess, listen up.  Will’s on the phone.  He’s checking to see if we
want to go sliding with him and some friends.  They have a new sliding
contraption called ‘speed demon’ and he wants to check it out.”

“Like downhill sliding?  Don’t you need some snow for that?”
I asked, frowning.

Mercy looked at me, “You don’t know?”

“Know what?”

“Look out the window,” Mercy directed with a grin.

I glanced out. “Wow!  How long has it been snowing?  It
looks pretty deep.”

Mercy answered, “I don’t know when it started because we
were in here.  So, you want to go?  Will’s waiting.”

“Sure, why not?  As long as you don’t think it’s too late
today.  It would be a great way to get my mind off of my family dying of the
plague,” I responded with a grimace.  “By the way, it’s still October.  Do you
always get snow this early?”

Belinda laughed, “Never in MY lifetime.  This is very
unusual.   There’ll be even more outages because the snow weighs down the
leaves, the trees weigh down the power lines . . . you get the picture.  We’re
really lucky here.  One advantage to living in a trailer is that you’re more
likely to have a generator.”

I listened for a minute. “Is that what I hear running?”

Belinda nodded her head.  “While you were under we lost
power.  I just had to flick a switch to turn it on.”

“With this weather, I’m sure our power at home hasn’t
returned,” I lamented.

“Tess, I’ve got stuff you can borrow to go sliding.  In
fact, you can stay here until your electricity returns if you want.”  Mercy
turned to Belinda, “Isn’t that right mom?”

“Of course, otherwise you’d end up going to a dark freezing
house with your wet clothes.” Belinda shivered.  “Just call your aunt and make
sure it’s OK.”

“Sure,” I responded, standing there, absently wringing my
hands.

Mercy glanced over at me, frowning.  “Tessie, what’s up? 
You’re doing what your aunt always does, wringing your hands.  Is something
bothering you?”

I deliberately crossed my arms in front of my chest to stop
my wringing before looking between Belinda and Mercy.  “Something’s nagging at
me, something I should remember from the regression.  It’s related to the
weather and I know it’s important.  Every time someone mentions the words snow,
or freezing or, or ice, little bells go off in my head.”

“Tess, just go off sliding with your friends and get your
mind off all this stuff.  It won’t come to you if you force it, believe me.  It
will just pop into your head when you’re not thinking about it,” Belinda
responded.

Mercy looked at the clock.  “Will’s gonna pick us up in
fifteen minutes.  We have to get ready.”

An hour later, Mercy and I were trudging up a long steep
hill with Will and his ‘speed demon’.  Nathan, Sam and Doug were there,
trudging up with a saucer, a huge tire tube and some homemade contraption made
out of a rickety chair nailed onto old wooden cross country skis.  “Someone’s
gonna get killed on that thing,” Will commented while staring at the chairski.

Sam laughed, “This’ll be great.  I had nothing to go sliding
with so I threw this together from crap we had in our garage.  Then, I sprayed
the skis with silicone.  Does anyone want to try it before I do?”

“No,” answered five people at once.

“I’ll go after YOU Sam,” Doug yelled.

It was great fun while it lasted.  Other people showed up to
slide so it got a little crowded.  I ended up trying every contraption we had,
even the chairski thing.  Instead of going straight down the hill, it would cut
across, either swerving off to the right or left.  Sliders that were walking
back up the hill had to dodge it or they would get smacked.  For a while, the
snow was sporadic, but as the day wore on it became heavier.  We’d have to head
out soon.

“Tess, I’m spraying some of Doug’s silicon on my ‘speed
demon’.  You want to check it out with me?” Will asked.  At that moment, we
were the only ones on the top of the hill.

“Yeah, sure.  I LOVE speed!”  I responded.

Will proceeded to clean off the bottom of his sled and then
he coated it with a layer of the silicone.  “We’re gonna fly down this hill so
I suggest you sit in front of me and I’ll hold on to you,” Will explained with
a teasing glint in his eye.  “I don’t want you to get scared.”

“Anything you say, Will,” I said with a condensing smile. 
Then, I climbed onto his sled and settled right in front of him.  He grabbed me
around the waist and pulled me close.  Next thing I know, we were flying down the
hill and beyond.  We were going so fast that I heard myself scream.  The sled
kept on going, right through some trees and into the woods, way beyond all the
other sliders.  We finally stopped when we ran up against a bush and the sled
tipped over on its slide.  We lay there laughing while catching our breath.

Will still had his arms wrapped around my waist.  “You OK,
Tess?” he asked softly in my ear.

“Yeah, I’m OK Will, how ‘bout you?”

“At this particular moment, I’m doing fine,” Will whispered
as he started to kiss the back of my neck.

I was surprised at first, but then I decided to just relax. 
Will’s arms pulled me closer to him and he kissed me by my right ear.  “Hope
you don’t mind, Tess,” he murmured.  “I’ve wanted to do this ever since that
first day I met you.”

“You have?” I breathed.

“Yeah,” he responded, while continuing to move his lips on
back of my neck.

“Why don’t I join you?” I asked as I twisted my body around
and caught his lips on mine.  I think I took Will by surprise because he paused
for a second and studied me.  Then he went crazy.  He kissed me all over, my
lips, my ears, my eyes and my neck.

“I love you, Tess.”

“You DO?”

“Yes, and you don’t have to say anything.  This must be new
to you, but I’ve known it since, well, since we first met.”

I squinted my eyes at him.  “You did?  I figured you thought
I was a dummy.”

“NO,” he laughed.  “My sarcasm was probably just a defense
mechanism.  I figured you’d think I was a geek.”

“Yeah, but you’re a handsome geek,” I teased, then I became
more serious.  “Look, Will, I’ve gotten to know you since then.  You are a bit
of a geek and you’re also super smart, courageous and very funny.  I like you. 
I mean, I really like you a lot.”

“How about that other guy, Ian?” Will inquired.

I shifted back a little and stared at Will.  “I don’t know
what’s going on with Ian.  There’re things about him I’m just beginning to
understand.”

“Really?  Care to explain?”

“No,” I answered.  Then, I smiled and kissed him again. 
Will sighed and kissed me back.

Abruptly, I started feeling a weird buzzing vibration at the
back of my neck that was very unpleasant.  Then I hear a voice, “
So there
you are!

“Will, did you hear that?”

“What’re you talking about?”

“
I’m speaking to you, GIRL.  He can’t hear me ‘cause I’m
directing this only to you.  He’ll hear me only too soon.”

I struggled to shift back from Will and prop myself up on my
elbow.  As I looked around, I couldn’t help but notice how isolated we were. 
Mercy and the guys were far away on the top of the hill.  The only way I could
see them was to lean over and look around a tree.  The darkness was descending
and the snow was piling on. 

I grabbed Will’s arm.  “Will, we’ve gotta get out of here. 
Something doesn’t feel right to me.”

“Well, well, look who’s here,” came a voice from behind the
trees.

I turned toward it to see a several people streaming in our
direction through the trees.  I immediately knew they had evil intentions
because there was a large cloud of red and black churning all around them. 
Their aura was so stirred up that it was visible through the snow and the
coming darkness.  I tried standing but some guy was suddenly there, pushing on
me with his big shoe.  I turned to see two other guys stepping on Will.  I looked
closely at them.  These guys were some of the ones I saw in the front of the
school the other day; creepy, nasty, and UGLY.

“So, it’s YOU again,” Tonya stalked up to Will, stepping on
his neck with her high pointy boot.  “I don’t like you.  You’re always getting
in my way and I’m sick of it.”  Then, she turned her gaze at me, staring with
her pale blue eyes.  She turned her big fat red lips into a sneer.  “It’s time,
Tess.  All this bad weather and then snow.  Didn’t you wonder about it?  Aren’t
you getting sick of the pain and suffering?  Well, I’m sick of you.”  She
pointed at me with her shiny dagger nails.  “I want you and your kind to go
away.  I want you to leave us alone.  We’ll be finishing things here today and
you’ll be gone.  Soon, all of your kind will be gone.” 

Tonya, along with some of the others seemed to be moving
their fingers around in the air.  Those movements seemed to coincide with an
uptick in the wind.  What were they doing? 

By that time, the entire group had surrounded us.  I didn’t
know most of them, but I thought I saw Ian’s brother, James and also Red.  It
was apparent they were all bad ones, the diaboles.  I knew they would try to
destroy us.  That’s what they always try to do.  They were all looking toward
the sky, moving their fingers around.  The wind was screaming and the air was
turning white, white with blowing snow. 

I took that opportunity to bend my neck a little and look
toward the hill.  I saw Doug speeding down in that ridiculous chairski.  He was
actually veering toward us.  I concentrated all my thoughts on Doug, “
look
at me Doug, look at me Doug”
.  He turned his head looked at me and for a
split second I thought I heard a “
What . . . . ?
”

WHAM!!!!! A blanket of white fell over me, snow up my nose
and in my mouth. Heavy and cold.  Tried to move my limbs but couldn’t.  “Turn
your head here, Tess,” Will whispered hoarsely.  I turned my head toward Will. 
There was some space there to breathe.

“Whaaaa . . . . ?” I tried to ask.

“Snow wind,” he whispered.  “They brought up snow wind to
smother us.  Can’t speak much ‘cause there’s not much air.  I knew so I moved
the sled above us.  Wait.  They’ll come.”  I bent my head closer to Will and
rested my forehead against his chin.  Then, I closed my eyes and tried not to
panic.  Other than my head, I couldn’t move any other part of my body.  Breathe
in, breathe out.  I couldn’t stop shaking from fear.

“Shhhh, it’s OK.  I know.  Just wait.”  I felt Will’s slight
smile against my forehead.  I closed my eyes and tried to zone out.  It was
impossible.

“Tess, I hear something.”

“What?”

“Just listen.”

There was a faint scraping sound that was getting louder.

Next, muffled voices, scraping noises.

Louder, “Tess, Will, you there?”  And shoveling.

Suddenly, light, air and voices.

Mercy’s face appeared above us.  “Tess, Will, are you
alright?  I can’t believe it.”  Tears were streaming down her face.

“Hey, Mercy, let’s get ‘em out of there before something
else happens.”  Sam appeared and grabbed my arm and pulled me up.  Will
scrambled up after me.  It was dark by then so Doug and Nathan led us through a
tunnel cut into the snow.  Once we got out we brushed ourselves off, and then
we turned around.

We just stood there, dumbfounded, staring at the huge
mountain of snow that Will and I had been UNDER.  It was a miracle we got out
of there.  Several people were there, some with snow shovels, others with
saucers.  You could see where they had been digging frantically trying to get
us out in time.

“Where’d all that snow come from?” Nathan asked, staring,
his head cocked to one side.

Doug answered, “It came from the evil ones, the diaboles.  I
caught a signal from you, Tess.   I knew something was up so I came running
over here.  You had disappeared under that mountain of snow and I caught a
glimpse of them running out of the woods.

“How’d you know it was the diaboles?”  Sam inquired.

“Because they brought up the snow wind to bury you.  This
snow wind isn’t what I would call a natural phenomenon.  It just doesn’t just
happen out of the blue,” Doug asserted, pressing his lips together.

Will grimly nodded.  “Snowwind typically occurs in very
particular circumstances, such as sudden extreme snowfall of light, dry snow
and a landscape with tunnel-like conditions that enable high winds.  The only
condition this situation met was the sudden extreme snow fall.  The diaboles
definitely brought this on.”

“What is snow wind?” I asked, looking between Doug and Will.

“It’s when very strong winds take snow from the air and the
ground and deposit it elsewhere.  It’s not what’s referred to as common snow
drifts.  It’s way beyond that.  Snow wind has been known to deposit up to 25
feet of snow in one area.”