WINDOWS: A BROKEN FAIRY TALE (23 page)

“First off, it’s
‘successful entrepreneur’, not commoner.
 
Secondly, there’s no reason for you to get jealous.
 
I’m certain Daniel isn’t into incest or
bestiality.”
 
Sarah smiled sweetly as the
chubby pumpkin got more agitated.

Patricia calmed
herself and the snotty demeanor returned.
 
“I’m so glad my father wasn’t a blacksmith.”

“I’m so glad mine
didn’t raise a bitch.”
 
Sarah
retorted.
 
She took a step to leave and
almost ran over Raven and Bekah who were nearly convulsing with laughter.
 
They were holding on to one another for
support and wheezing so hard they couldn’t make a sound.
 
Mandy stood beside them, looking torn, but
then followed Patricia, who stormed off.

“That was great,
Sarah.”
 
Bekah giggled.
 
“You tore off a chunk and swallowed it
whole.”

Raven
snorted.
 
“Good job, Lil’bit.”

Mandy wasn’t quite
as proud though, when she came back.
 
Her
eyes shot disapprovingly at her sisters.
 
“You two know what a rough life Patricia’s had so stop laughing.”
 
The she-witches chortled louder.
 
Sarah bit her tongue, trying desperately to
keep her own laughter in check.

“She started it
Mandy.
 
You heard her.”
 
Raven wiped a tear from her eye.

Mandy ignored her
and spoke directly to Sarah, who was studiously avoiding eye contact with the
evil duo.
 
“Patty is a great person once
you get to know her.
 
It just takes a
little while.”

“No, you’re just
an absolutely terrible judge in character.”
 
Bekah finally managed to quit snickering.

“Well I love you,
so what does that mean?”
 
Mandy demanded,
glaring at Bekah.

 
“Means Sis is right.”
  
Raven butted in unhelpfully.

           
Sarah
dragged Raven away before a real fight could get started.
 
As they meandered through the crowd, a
glittery something caught her eye and she pulled up.
 
Raven stumbled slightly at the abrupt halt
but Sarah ignored her fussing.
 
A man was
making shapes out of ice in thin air; delicate forms that twisted
gracefully.
 
First a globe of ice slowly
ascended, then fell apart, only to reform as a ship.
 
Other balls of ice burst and formed fish that
swam through the air, following the boat.
 
They sparkled like diamonds under the lamps in the yard.

           
“Can
you do something like that?”
 
Sarah
asked, still transfixed on the ice maker.

           
Raven
shrugged.
 
“Make something that pretty,
no.
 
Make ice, yes.”

           
“Then
why don’t you?”
 
Sarah knew more about
magic now than she really cared to but never saw Raven creating ice.

           
“It’s
not very useful.”
 
Noticing the questions
in Sarah’s eyes, Raven tried to explain.
 
“Hold out your hand, Lil’bit.”

           
With
more than a little uncertainty, which seemed logical considering exactly who
she was trusting and not sure what was about to happen, she did.
 
Raven twirled her fingers and an icicle
formed about two inches over Sarah’s palm.
 
With a sharp jerk Raven sent the spike of ice towards the outstretched
hand.
 
Sarah knew she was about to be
impaled but the ice collapsed into glittering dust that quickly melted.

           
“There
isn’t enough water in the atmosphere to make them solid.
 
So, ice is useless except to be pretty.”

           
“But
with magic can’t you just make water appear?”
 
Sarah figured that would be simple but Raven shook her head.

           
“Nah,
that’s impossible.
 
Magic doesn’t work
like that at all.”

           
This
new bit of information surprised Sarah.
 
She figured magic could do anything.
 
“So how does magic work?”

           
“You
see, everything is connected by energy.” Raven held her hands together,
interlocking the fingers in demonstration.
 
“We -- witches and sorceresses-- bend that energy to our will.”

           
“But
you said that only a sorceress could inscribe runes.
 
Why is that?”
 
Sarah remembered a stray bit of knowledge from the first night they met.

           
“A
witch can manipulate the world’s energy but can only make it do what is naturally
possible.
 
A sorceresses’ power comes
from within so we combine our power with that of the world to make it do things
it wouldn’t normally be able to.”

           
Raven
stopped talking and Sarah felt something brush past her.
 
Then a voice whispered in her ear making her
jump.
 
“Like this.”

           
Sarah’s
head swiveled to look behind her as the real Raven reappeared, ethereal at
first, like an image in a dark window, quickly becoming more substantial.

“That’s the same
thing you did that night we went to the Equinox.”
 
Sarah didn’t like to think about that night.

           
“I
call it the ‘locust shell’.
 
I trap the
light off my body and then become invisible.
 
It’s great for tricking people.”

           
Their
conversation was interrupted by arms wrapping around Sarah’s waist and hugging
her.
 
Sarah felt someone’s boobs pressing
into her back so wasn’t really worried.
 
A recognizable voice clucked gleefully, “Thank you Sarah, I love it!”

           
Sarah
smiled at Kelly.
 
“I’m glad you liked
it.
 
Thanks for inviting me.”

           
The
birthday girl preened, showing off the necklace Sarah made for her.
 
There was a small glass tube with an oval
mirror inside that spun whenever the wearer moved.
 
The tube was hung on a thin silver chain that
looked like it would dissolve in the rain, far too delicate to hold the glass
and mirror.

           
“How
did you do this?
 
It’s amazing.”
 
Kelly tugged on the chain to prove how sturdy
it was.

           
Sarah
blushed.
 
She’d never been really good at
receiving compliments.
 
“Well, I was
looking at how rope was made and wondered if the same principle could be
applied to metal.
 
I just made slender
silver wires and twisted them together, then put a latch on the ends.”

           
“Well
it’s wonderful.”
 
Kelly spun to Raven
with her hand outstretched.
 

Raven handed over
a small envelope which Kelly tore open eagerly.
 
“That’s from me and Bryson.”

A birthday card
slid out and Kelly read it, her eyes going wide with shock.
 
“EEE!!!” The girl screeched, bouncing up and
down excitedly.
 
She threw her arms
around Raven before dashing off and holding the card like it was worth a
million gullions.

“What did you get
her?”
 
Sarah watched with a grin as Kelly
nearly upended a waiter carrying a tray of champagne.

“A membership to
Lafitte’s.”
 
Raven whistled innocently
while looking in another direction.

Sarah demanded to
know what Bryson had to do with it.

“Well, do you
remember how I wasn’t on the train with you?”
 
Sarah narrowed her eyes suspiciously but Raven kept talking, “After
y’all left I might have accidently had him land on the roof at Lafitte’s and
told ‘em the only way to get him down was with a new membership.
 
They figured it was a small price to pay.”

“Well I think you
just made her birthday wish come true.”
 
Sarah remarked with a small shake of her head.

As they strolled
through the throng of merry makers, something she had been curious about tugged
at Sarah’s brain.

“Raven?”

“Yeah, Lil’bit?”

“You said a
sorceress’ energy comes from within, right?
 
So exactly how strong are you, magically speaking?”

Raven pondered the
question for a long second, staring up into the clear night sky.
 
She hadn’t really considered it before, but
magic users could gauge another’s strength easily.
 
“Comparatively speaking, Sis is a candle.
 
I’m a bonfire.”

Sarah tried vainly
to stop them; could feel her lips forming another question, one she didn’t want
to know the answer to.
 
Haltingly, her
hand finding Raven’s for comfort, she whispered, “How strong is she?”

Raven knew Sarah
who meant.
 
Surrounded by hundreds of
party-goers, she never felt more alone.
 
Through
gritted teeth she breathed, “She burns like the sun.”

CHAPTER
20:
 
THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM

           
The girl was throwing a terrible hissy
fit.
 
She stomped around the room,
shouting how hateful the world was.
 
A
mighty heave sent the couch tumbling against the wall, shaking the
pictures.
 
Her boot lashed out angrily,
striking the book shelf.
 
It tottered
slowly until the girl kicked it again.
 
Then it crashed to the floor.

           
How was something like this
fair?
 
Wasn’t she a relatively good
person?
 
She didn’t cheat… much… and only
beat up members of the Protectorate when they got on her nerves.
 
Sure there were the occasional fights with
her adopted mother but since Elspeth was always fussing about something, she
shouldn’t be blamed for that.
 
So why, in
the name of all that was good and wonderful in the universe, should she be
forced to endure such hardships?

           
The darkness slunk back, away from
the demented monster it was forced to share this room with.

The castle seemed
to be preparing for some sort of cataclysm.
 
Raven and Bekah were crying, Elspeth was telling them to stop blubbering
while Stephen busily made arrangements that involved a fifty gallon drum of
water to be situated in the entrance hall.
 
Daniel taught a refresher course in first aide to the castle employees and
Sarah sat in a nearby chair watching the whole scene with great amusement.

           
She
asked, when first stumbling upon the flurry of activity, if there were some
sort of siege being planned.
 
Duchess
Chandlish casually dismissed her, saying that Rebekah was going on a business
trip and would be gone for two weeks.

           
Raven
and Bekah cried louder, hugging each other tightly.

           
“I’ll
be left all alone with nobody to love me!”
 
Raven wailed.

           
“Nobody
loves you anyway.
 
I mean nobody will
take care of you!”
 
Bekah sobbed.

           
Finally
the castle and its occupants were as ready as they could be and Bekah left for
the train station.
 
Raven whined loudly
and tried to follow but Elspeth ordered the guards to stop her.
 
Sarah didn’t know what was funnier, the
facial expressions of the men who looked like they desperately wanted to
mutiny, or the fact there were twenty of them.

           
“You
know the station master has forbidden anymore good-byes from taking place
there.”
 
Elspeth admonished Raven, who
was pacing back and forth in front of the visibly shaken platoon.

           
“I
don’t know why,” the irate redhead groused, “it was only one car.”

           
“And
one building.”
 
Stephen interjected.

           
Raven’s
hand flittered in disdain.
 
“It was a
rickety old shack that probably fell over in the wind.”

           
Elspeth
shook her head.
 
“It was a brand new
brick building.
 
We’re still finding
pieces of it three years later.”

           
“I
can’t be blamed for shoddy workmanship, can I Lil’bit?”
 
Raven stared forlornly out the window, making
small waving motions with her hand.
 
Sarah
ignored them and went off in search of Felicity, the only one she figured to be
reasonably normal.

           
At
the end of the business day on Monday a week later, Liz appeared at the shop
with an idea to cheer up Raven, who had been moping the whole time despite
talking to Bekah at least once every waking hour.
 
Beverly
bowed her way out of the door, leaving the two sisters and Sarah.
 

           
“There’s
a play tonight.”
 
Liz said, “And it’s a
comedy.”

           
Raven
and Sarah looked at each other having worked very hard that day.

           
“Mandy
and Brian are out of town so I have nobody to go with.
 
Besides, it’ll be fun.”
 
Liz added, and Sarah had to agree.
 
A calm night out would be a perfect remedy
for the heavy pall that hung over the shop.

           
Raven
shook her head.
 
“Sorry, but I’m too
tired tonight.
 
I inscribed five swords
and two shields today.”

           
Sarah
glanced at Raven.
 
After studying her
partner for a moment, she declared that she was tired as well.

           
Liz
wouldn’t be discouraged that easily though.
 
“Raven, Bekah’s been gone a week and you’ve done nothing but cry about
it.
 
Come have some fun tonight.”

           
Sarah
almost accepted for them both but Raven made a show of stretching her back
wearily.
 
“Sorry, but some of us have to do
physical labor.
 
Tomorrow night we’ll go
out, I promise.
 
I’ll even pay for the
tickets and dinner will be Sarah’s treat.”

           
Only
after repeated assurances that there would be dinner and a show the next
evening did Raven manage to usher Liz out of the shop.
 
She closed the door to find Sarah standing
with her arms folded.

           
“Why
did you lie to her?”
 
There was a hint of
vexation in the blonde’s demeanor.
 
“I
know how much you miss Bekah but this is getting ridiculous.”

           
Raven
leaned up against the wall, sighing gloomily.
 
“Lil’bit, I need a favor.
 
Something I never wanted to ask you.”

           
Like
poison, Sarah felt the chill creep into her blood until her entire body
trembled.
 
She knew what the favor Raven
meant and knew she couldn’t do it.
 
Bekah
showed her how to press the runes in order to create the magical barrier that
kept Malleus contained but still.
 
Sarah
was terrified, both that she would mess up and that she would succeed.
 
What if she missed a rune and Malleus got
out?
 
What if she hit an extra rune and
Raven was trapped in there forever?

           
“I
can’t.”
 
There was no chance Sarah was
going to do this by herself.

           
Raven
shook her head.
 
“It has to be you,
Lil’bit.
 
There’s nobody else.”

           
Reluctantly,
ignoring her every instinct to flee, Sarah trudged behind Raven up the steps to
the roof.

           
Just
as Bryson was landing in the clearing that hid Raven’s prison, Elspeth smiled
into the large Congreve crystal on her desk.
 
Mandy’s face peered out at her mother.

           
“What
is it, honey?”
 
The Duchess was happy to
hear from Amanda.
 
She didn’t play
favorites but Mandy was the baby of the family and everyone doted on her.

           
“Mom,”
Mandy’s voice betrayed her nervousness, “remember how I was supposed to tell
you if Raven ever acted unusual?”

           
Elspeth
leaned forward in her chair, “More so than normal, yes?”

           
The
image of Mandy fidgeted.
 
“Liz just
called and said Raven was too tired to go watch a play tonight.
 
The one she’s been dying to see.”

           
The
Duchess locked her fingers together and studied Mandy’s face.
 
Raven turning down entertainment was
peculiar.
  
“And what of her business
partner?”

           
The
girl in the crystal shook her head.
 
“Liz
said that Sarah was tired too.
 
Both of
them are going to sleep.”
 
Mandy must
have seen something in her mother’s eye because she felt worried.
 
“Mom, what’s going on?”

           
“Nothing,
dear.
 
You and Brian enjoy your
evening.
 
I’ll see you when you get
home.”

           
After
Mandy’s image faded from view, Elspeth looked at Stephen.
 
“Find out if Raven is at her shop, please.”

           
Stephen
bowed and left.

           
The
following Saturday morning was cold and blustery.
 
Fog obscured the windows as Sarah bustled
around the shop, straightening a sword here, adjusting the tilt of a shield
there.
 
She wasn’t normally a fussy
person but she was filled with nervous energy.
 
Liz invited her to visit a local spa followed by an afternoon of
shopping.
 
She was raring to go since she
had never visited a spa before, mostly because she had been incredibly
poor.
 
After opening up the shop she had
been kept busy setting it up and filling orders.

           
Now
things were different.
 
Beverly was turning out to be a fantastic
worker easily capable of managing the shop and Sarah had more money in her bank
account than she knew what to do with.
 
The business was bringing in a ton of new customers all the time and
most of them walked out with a purchase.
 
Back in Vestavia she would never have dreamed something like this could
happen.
 
Sarah turned slowly around,
looking at her store.

           
Bright
lights, fed by a battery that Raven kept fully charged, shone down on their
wares.
 
Gleaming swords, intricately crafted
by her own hand at her own smithy, hung on walls in rows behind locked glass
cases.
 
The cases all had a rune
inscribed, making them shatter proof.
 
Against another wall, polished shields winked at her.
 
And then there was the jewelry, an idea Raven
insisted on after seeing how much Kelly loved her present.
 
In the counter, behind more unbreakable
glass, were necklaces and earrings for sale, even though this was supposed to
be a weapons store.
 
Raven suggested, correctly
it turned out, that men would buy them for their wives.
 
Now there were women coming into the store
almost as often as men.
 
Jewelry was
still just a small part of their stock, but the prices they charged made the
effort worth it.

           
A
sharp knock interrupted Sarah’s pleasant thoughts.
 
She opened the door, delighted to see
Liz.
 
The two had become best friends
over the past few months but Sarah still felt a little guilty.
 
She recently discovered, thanks to Raven and
Bekah deciding it would be fun to watch a fight they weren’t involved in, that
Liz and Daniel had dated off and on throughout college.
 
Liz spoiled that particular entertainment by
laughing and saying Daniel was free to date whoever he wanted to, and she
particularly approved of Sarah.
 
Still,
Sarah made it a point not to mention Daniel to Liz or vice versa.
 

           
“Okay,
Beverly, you’re
in charge of the shop.
 
Just close like
normal.”
 
Sarah instructed.

           
Beverly smiled from behind
the counter. “Leave everything to me, Ms. Petty.
 
You and Lady Felicity have a wonderful day.”

           
Sarah
waved and tried to leave but a loud crash from the apartment upstairs, followed
by a series of emphatic threats to a certain fuzzy critter, stopped her.
 
“Please go see whatever that was and make
sure Raven cleans it by the time I get home.”
 
Already Sarah could feel the muscles tightening in her shoulders.
 
Thank goodness she was getting a massage
today.

           
Figuring
the insurance company would pay for the bulk of the damages, Sarah left the
shop and climbed into a waiting car.

A key turned
inside the crevice, carefully hidden deep within the castles interior.
 
Slowly cracks appeared and a door slid
open.
 
Stephen followed Elspeth into the
small, windowless area.
 
The only other
occupant was a man bound tightly to a chair sitting in the middle of the room.
 
Impassively they watched as the man twisted
his wrists, testing their bindings.
 
Finding them secure he slouched back into the chair and sneered.
 
He was captured while trying to sabotage
Elspeth’s car earlier that morning, a plan that would’ve succeeded if not for
the sharp-eyed head of castle security.