Electric Blue (37 page)

Concerned, Lilly went to the bedroom and looked inside. There, on the bed, Roz lay dead. The room was filled with blood and insides had been splattered on the walls, on the mirror in front of the bed, on the ceiling. Her stomach had been ripped open. There were grey bits that hung from the bed canopy, splatters on the gauze that draped the bed. Sitting in the middle of the carnage, rolled up against his mother, a baby was sleeping soundly, sucking his thumb.

Chapter Forty Nine

Magic Lending

"Spare me," Mistress said, making a gagging motion with her long red fingernails. "I don't want to hear this. I want power, don't you understand?"

"That's what this is all about?" Poppy said. "Your quest for power? You want my power, I know this. You've gone through all this, killed people, for your quest for power?"

"Others have done worse," Mistress said. "I am just following in their footsteps."

"Not if we don't let you," Alicia said. Blue magic flickered at her fingertips.

Mistress rolled her eyes. "This is where we fight, right?" Mistress sighed. "Alright, come on; let's see what you're all made of."

The lightning flew from Alicia's fingers before Mistress knew what hit her. Her head arched back and she cried out in pain.

"This is for everything that you've done to us," Alicia said.

Mistress let out a roar and threw her hands up. A loud, massive boom sounded as they were all thrown off the stairs. Mistress used a magic that no one could see, but they could feel it. Lucia landed on top of Cecelia and Naomi fell to the floor with a smack, getting up seconds later. Alicia, getting the brunt of the damage, was thrown backwards to the very wall which Karma had hit.

"You think you can hurt me so easily?" Mistress said. "You think I'm a pansy to push around, one of your garden variety Witches?" she laughed. "Think again."

Mistress held her hands out in front of her and she began to trickle away, as she had done before when she invaded Karma's body. Her laugh followed her as her being, floating like small marbles made of shiny glass, floated up the stairs. They heard her laugh louder as the marbles crashed through the door.

"What the hell are we supposed to do?" Alicia asked. "There's no way we can fight her."

"We can't," Cecelia said. "This is part of Poppy's quest."

"I'm sick of this damn quest," Poppy said.

"But you are almost there!" Cecelia hissed. "Your first quest was to find who you are, the second was to find who is destroying Ashling and the third is to destroy her." She looked at Poppy pleadingly. "Please," she said. "Please do not give up while you are so close. If you die, we have no hope left."

"How am I supposed to fight her?"

"I have an idea," Alicia said.

“I'd really like to hear it," Lucia said.

"What if we give our power to Poppy?" Alicia asked. "Not all of it, just some of it, like
Orlando
did to David and David did to
Orlando
." Poppy flashed back to that day, when
Orlando
had lay dying and he had passed his power into his lover and then David has brought him back to life using that same electric blue energy.

"Too much may kill her," Naomi said.

"If we do not try, we are all dead anyways," Lucia said. "Monica may already be dead,
Orlando
is lying upstairs dead in the kitchen, Tholonious was killed before the battle could even begin, almost like a ritual sacrifice. Karma has died twice now. Roz, Chip, David and Lilly and Edgar are upstairs. We have to try, otherwise we will all be dead too and all this will be for nothing." Tears were streaming down her face. "We have to try, otherwise, what was all this for? What was Valentine’s Day? Someone has been screwing with our lives and we're close to finding out why." She looked at all of them. "We have to try."

The others looked at her and nodded. Alicia took a hold of Poppy's hand. "What we're doing is passing you power," Alicia said. "We won't hurt you, but this will increase your natural magic. It may make you strong enough to hurt Mistress."

"She must be stopped at all costs," Cecelia said.

"No matter what the cost," Naomi said.

"If any of us should die," Lucia began.

"Don't say that," Poppy said, "Please, enough have died already."

"If any of us should die," Lucia continued, "keep fighting. Do not let her win, okay?"

Poppy, speechless, nodded. They each took a hold of each other’s hands, standing in a small circle around Poppy. Lucia, Naomi, Alicia and Cecelia circled around Poppy slowly, chanting in a language that Poppy did not understand. Their soft, low voices calmed her and she closed her eyes. Poppy felt the energy building in the middle of the circle. She could feel the electric blue energy raising the hairs on her arms, lifting the brown curls on her head, making them stand on end. She could feel the energy rising, building. It felt hot on her skin, like a warm breeze.

"Poppy," Alicia whispered in her ear. She opened her eyes.

She could see the blue lightning dancing in front of her, flying around her as if she were at the centre of a large storm, or an electric blue tornado. She had one moment to take in its beauty, one moment to watch the shapes moving in front of her. That moment seemed to go on forever, but it really was only a few seconds. Poppy felt gentle hands pulling her head back and then choked back a gasp when the blue energy filled her like a liquid, flowing into her mouth like velvet. Then it was done and the room was thrown into darkness once more. There was no sound except Mistress' laughter as they destroyed the house upstairs. Then, there was a sound, like a match being lit. In the darkness of the basement, a blue light began to glow. Slowly, the glow intensified until there was a shape and then intensified more so you could make out the shape. It was Poppy, electric blue energy flickering over her skin like snakes and giving it a blue cast. Her eyes, though, her eyes had narrowed to that of a bird’s. Small, dark red eyes glared at everyone in the room.

"Alright," Poppy said. "Everyone ready?" Everyone around her nodded. She smiled a dark smile that did not reach her eyes. "Let's go," she said. She lifted her hands and floated three feet off the ground to the stairs. She lifted her hands a little more and she floated above the stairs, reaching forward to open the basement door with a flick of lightning. Alicia had never seen Poppy angry. Poppy said that when she was angry, she went to a dark place. It looked as if Poppy was all the way inside the darkness now and she said a silent prayer to the Goddess that her lover would be okay. Poppy was scaring the crap out of her. They walked slowly behind her, like an entourage, careful not to be touched by the blue energy around her.

They followed Poppy to the living room, watching as Mistress reformed herself high above the floor. She had her hands raised and they watched as the balls that had been causing havoc slowly rejoined their master. It was as if Mistress was surrounded by a small whirlwind and then it cleared. She looked down at Poppy and smiled. "Oh, my, don't you look pretty," she said.

"That's not quite the look I was going for," Poppy said.

"Did you want to come out and play?" Mistress said with a sneer. "Come on little girl, come play with mommy!"

Poppy gritted her teeth. Alicia could hear them crunching. "You. Are. Not. My. Mother." Poppy said, emphasising each word.

"Oh, sad but true, I'm afraid so, why, you don't think your father would have found me attractive? You don't think he would have liked a little foreplay before ritual? He created the Coven, Poppy. He had any one of us he wanted, he had me the most of all. When I had you, I was blessed."

"YOU ARE NOT MY MOTHER!" Poppy screamed. Her eyes had gone completely red, as if they were bleeding. Alicia shielded her eyes as Poppy flung out her hands and blue energy was flung from her fingers. It pushed at Mistress, shoving her with a brutal force. She was thrown through the large glass picture window, shards of glass falling everywhere and tinkling down like diamonds. There was quiet for a moment, silence.

"Is she dead?" Lucia asked quietly.

"We have only just begun," Poppy said.

Chapter Fifty

Magic Breathing

Poppy floated outside through the large hole in the window. The electric blue energy followed in her wake. She turned to Lucia, Alicia, Naomi and Cecelia. "Stay here. Stay inside the house. Go get Monica and Moe in the basement and bring them up to the attic with Chip, Roz, Lilly and Edgar."

"But-" Alicia began.

Poppy's eyes flared a dangerous blue. "No buts. Do as I say. Get you and the rest them upstairs. Lucia, look after Monica if you can. Cecelia, keep an eye on Roz, her time is near."

"But Poppy!" Lucia began.

"No," she said. "Cecelia is right, I must do this on my own, this is something I must do. It is my quest, my destiny. I don't know why, I don't know how, but it feels right somehow." She floated down in front of Alicia and kissed her softly. The electricity flying around her tickled Alicia's face and lips. "I will miss you most of all," she said. "If I should die, Alicia, know that I love you."

Alicia looked at her lover with tear-filled eyes. "And I love you." She kissed Poppy again, just as softly and touched her long brown curls. The electricity tickled her skin, brushed against it. "I love you so much."

Poppy smiled at her and floated out the window.

* * * * *

Poppy sailed out of the window and floated down to the ground. Lest people with prying eyes should see this, she had to do something. Mistress was waking soon. She did the only thing she could think of: she swooped down, placed her hands on Mistress' face and wished with all her might that they might be in the Otherworld. In Ashling. She knew that Mistress could not hurt anyone else there, could not hurt any more of her loved ones. She would fight her alone. Just as she felt her body fading and Mistress' with hers, Mistress opened her eyes. "What are you doing?"

"Taking you where you want to go," Poppy said. They faded quickly and soon there was nothing on the front lawn but a shower of broken glass. Lucia stood and looked out where her friend had just been.

"Goddess be with you, my friend," she said.

* * * * *

When Poppy next regained consciousness, she saw only blackness. Shaking her head, she felt her eyes flicker open. The world was different around her. She remembered then and the images came in quick succession. Her eyes were still red; she could felt the blood pulsing behind them. She remembered grabbing onto Mistress' face, feeling the woman scream under her hand as they faded into a world that was part of Poppy's blood, her blood called to it, pulled her to her other home, a body on two worlds. She saw the two of them falling through mist, felt it brush against her face, her body, felt her body and limbs fall away. Her body was racked in spasms of intense pain as a change came upon her without warning. She felt the feathers push themselves through her skin, felt them grow like flowers out of her pores, felt her shape changing, her face taking on the shape of a beak, black as night. She let out a sharp caw of pain and felt the bloody tears on her feathered face.

And then she saw no more; sleep had taken her, or she had blacked out for a moment. She would have to change more than once a week, she thought. She never wanted to feel that pain again. She still felt the after effects of it running through her skin, under her feathers. She shivered in the ecstasy of it, felt herself almost wishing for the pain again. She looked around and was pleased with what she saw. She was in her cave. She was in her cave! She recognized the cave walls from the week that she and Alicia had spent inside it. She could still feel Alicia's energy and felt it give her strength. She looked over at Mistress, asleep on the ground; her head had hit a rock, or something. There was a large gash on her forehead. It appeared that traveling through the veil didn't agree with her. She hopped further back into the cave, until she was shrouded in darkness. Her black feathers made her invisible. Poppy had a plan.

Poppy let out a loud, sharp caw. Mistress, shocked out of her sleep, bolted up and looked quickly around her. She could not see Poppy, hidden as she was in the back of the cave. Poppy was sure she could feel her though, could feel her energy. Mistress got up on her feet with a growl and Poppy could see the woman had indeed changed. Gone was the mask of calm that she had worn before. She was aging before Poppy's eyes. Poppy narrowed her eyes so she could see closer and she watched as wrinkles sprouted on Mistress' forehead and creased her face.
She's dying. . .
Poppy thought inside her head.
There is too much power here for her
.

Indeed, Mistress looked worse for wear. She was looking around wildly, trying to find Poppy. "WHERE ARE YOU?!" she bellowed. "WHY HAVE YOU BROUGHT ME HERE?!"

Do you not like this place?
Poppy said inside Mistress' head.

She hit herself on both sides of her skull. "How are you doing that?" she whispered.