The Broom #2
Two hours later, Eilonwy came back with an overnight suitcase and a large canvas bag with a pillow and blanket inside.
She had changed into a long-sleeved T-shirt and switched her jacket for a longer, dark blue canvas coat with a curious amount of outside pockets.
She also wore boots and considerably more jewelry.
Around her neck was a charm pendant of dawn silver that matched her bracelet.
Dawn silver was enchanted with morning light to specifically dispel ghosts—not forever, but until the next sunset.
She also wore a shorter, regular silver chain with a protective pentacle that warded her against malicious spell casting.
She still had the charm bracelet around her wrist, but it was now joined by a thick silver ring with a shadow sigil on her right pointer finger and a matching ring with a moon sigil on the left index finger, both excellent for spell casting without a wand. She practically buzzed with energy.
As soon as Eilonwy walked through the unlocked front door, she called out, “Taran!”
“Up here! Lock the door behind you.”
She closed and locked the door and left the suitcase on the last table before heading upstairs. Hammering accompanied her steps as she climbed the stairs.
She found Taran in the hallway supply closet. He was taking down the shelving to expose the back wall. Three of the four shelves were stacked on the floor, but he seemed to be having trouble with the bottom one.
Rolls of toilet tissue littered the floor, as though children had thrown them around trying to decorate for homecoming. A lamp was attached to the bathroom door handle by a bungee cord.
“I see you’ve been having a rough time. How long have you been at it?”
“About an hour, but she keeps throwing toilet paper rolls at me. I’ve been telling her we don’t mean her any harm. She calmed down when I told her about where we live, and how you and Mom used to help ghosts.”
“How do you know the ghost is a she?”
“When she reached out to you, I could see she had a curvy female form and long hair.”
“Interesting. Did you get the blueprints?”
“There aren’t any, but Penny says this building only shares the back wall. There shouldn’t be any overlap. I walked around outside, and I can’t account for a trapezoid shape of about ten feet by seven.”
“It seems odd that no one else has figured this out.”
“I asked about that, and she agreed with me, sort of.”
Eilonwy cocked an eyebrow. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“I told her we wanted to spend the night to see if we felt a ghost. She said yes, but she didn’t say I could tear into the wall.”
“Did you ask if you could tear into the wall?”
Taran grinned. “I did not.”
“Are you planning on tearing open a wall with nothing but a mallet and a chisel?”
“No.” He laughed and pulled out the last shelf. “I checked for wards, however, and there are old ones right here.”
“What kind?”
“A doorway ward. I suspect I just need to unravel it at the corners. I’m moving the shelves first, so I can get in without triggering anything nefarious. I’m not feeling a trap as much as a seal, but sometimes they feel similar, and this one seems to have two layers.”
“I’m impressed.”
“Thank you.”
“Could you wait before you open the door?”
“Why?”
“I want to set up the radio and prepare the spray, just in case.”
“You do that. I’m going to eat first.”
“You brought food?”
“No, I’m going to run across the street and get the Chinese food I ordered.”
“Did you get me egg rolls and fried rice?”
“Of course.”
“And green tea?”
“I’ll get you green tea,” he said over his shoulder as he headed out the door.
Eilonwy busied herself downstairs unpacking a portable AM/FM radio.
It was silver with a black handle, and no bigger than a thick book, but weighted at the bottom so it wouldn’t tip over.
More importantly, it had an antenna, and a dial that could be tuned between stations.
Then she took a blue glass spray bottle, one that could hold about two cups of liquid, out of the suitcase and placed it on the table.
Eilonwy could see out to the street through the front and side exit doors.
The main windows were boarded, but the doors weren’t for fire safety reasons.
She could see Taran across the street waiting in line for her tea.
Satisfied, she turned on the radio and listened for a specific kind of static, one with a low hum that could barely be heard, and then she spoke.
“I know you can hear me, and that Taran has been talking to you. We want to buy this building and turn it into a coffeehouse. We aren’t trying to get rid of you, but we want to be sure you won’t scare everyone away. We can’t afford to open a place just for it to close in a year.”
Taran came back into the restaurant with a white bag and two drinks.
“Here’s your tea,” he said, handing her a so-called environmentally friendly hot cup with a tea bag tag hanging over the side. “I’ll get utensils from the kitchen.” He put the bag on the table. Taran hated to use plastic anything, especially single-use items.
“We are going to have dinner,” Eilonwy said to the ghost, wherever it was.
“You are welcome to join us and chat. The radio is set up so you can have a voice. It’s not a trap.
The electric charge can help us see you better.
I suspect the reason the electricity upstairs is sketchy is because you use it to manifest yourself. ”
She tapped the spray bottle. “I warn you, though, this is a mixture of vinegar, salt, and dandelion water that will drive you away if you become violent.”
“My sister is serious about safety,” Taran added and placed wet utensils on a cloth napkin on the table.
“Wait, let me clean the table off,” Eilonwy said, and took a box of alcohol wipes out of the suitcase.
“Point stated and confirmed,” Taran joked.
They sat at the booth closest to the side door and ate, the radio hissing static nearby.
Between bites, Taran asked, “How are we going to get Uncle Ric to release our money?”
“I have a plan. We will appeal to reason. If that doesn’t work, we’ll get the Mavens involved. They will intercede on our behalf.”
Taran grimaced. “Do we really want to alert the witch council? I know they were friends with our mother, but that might call unwanted attention to us.”
“True, which is why he will cooperate. I know he doesn’t want us to have visibility now, with Mom and Dad gone, but he may get fetched, and then we’d have to take care of ourselves and Wren. If he doesn’t like that, we must have a backup plan,” Eilonwy insisted.
She was referring to the Fae practice of the rulers in the homelands banishing some of their fully Fae people to wander the earth and create half-Fae children until they were fetched back.
The laws of Fae, however, still applied to them and their children.
Parents were required to present exceptional offspring to whichever court they served.
In this case their father, Ewan, and uncle, Ric, were brothers from the court of shadows.
Their mother, Joanna, and their mother’s sister, Janelle, were full witches and had married the brothers, not knowing they were Fae. Once they found out, they had hoped their children would be safe under their protection. It was a foolish hope.
Ewan had intended to present his talented children to their queen so he could be permitted to stay in the Fae lands, but Joanna objected, and she was more powerful than he was.
Ewan then slowly poisoned her so she couldn’t hide them.
Then he poisoned her sister, Janelle, once she suspected.
Ric was furious with Ewan, and it ended badly.
Eilonwy knew how badly. Taran only thought that Ewan had been fetched back.
“Wren is taking Aunt Janelle’s death hard. I’m worried about her,” Taran finally said.
Eilonwy saw a mist form at the top of the stairs but didn’t tell Taran. She didn’t want to alert the ghost that she saw her. She also didn’t want to stop the conversation. Ghosts all seemed to enjoy listening to gossip.
“Aunt Janelle has only been gone for a year, and it was harder on her, knowing how our mother went,” Eilonwy said, partly to intrigue the ghost, partly because she was hoping Taran would finally remember what happened.
Taran stopped eating. “I…still can’t believe Dad poisoned them both.”
Eilonwy put down her fork. It was the first time Taran had admitted this out loud. She wasn’t sure if she should continue, but she also didn’t want to stop him from expressing his grief.
“It’s a terrible thing to know,” she answered.
“It doesn’t make sense,” he said quietly.
“You were close with Dad.”
He looked at her, his eyes wet. “You were closer to Mom.”
“She loved us both the same.”
“No, she loved us both, but she liked you more.”
“Dad liked you more,” she countered in a soft tone.
“He loved you, too,” Taran said equally softly.
“I don’t think he did,” Eilonwy stated.
Taran was about to reply but stopped himself. He looked away, clearly thinking, and not liking the answer he was coming up with.
The ghost drifted closer.
Taran continued. “I’ve been thinking about this, and I want you to be honest with me. Is…is Dad…dead?”
Eilonwy had been dreading this question.
She wanted to scream “Yes!” but instead she closed her eyes to keep her tears back.
Her mother and aunt were dead by the machinations of her father, their father.
He was a parent who was deeply selfish—brilliant, but selfish.
He could do the most amazing apotropaic magick involving wards, charms, and traps, all to fend off attack.
He was also a deeply flawed drunk with an ego and a temper.
“Answer the question,” came the static voice of the ghost.
Eilonwy and Taran both snapped their attention to the radio.
“Please,” the ghost said.
Taran nodded consent.
“Fine, but first, what is your name?” Eilonwy asked.
“You can call me Haley,” the ghost answered.