Chapter 49 Hector
HECTOR
“Hello, my darling boy.”
I opened my eyes to find myself staring up at a face I’d almost forgotten. It was haloed in a bright light, so bright that the edges blurred and wavered like an unfair illusion.
“Mum?” I gasped.
It can’t be.
But it was her. Flesh, bone and blood. Her.
My mother’s soft smile blossomed as she sighed, dark hair spilling over her face.
It had been years since I’d last seen it and yet it felt like only yesterday when I was lucky enough to witness it.
“Yes, of course it’s me. And my, haven’t you been busy.
I didn’t except to see you so soon, or I’d hoped that would’ve been the case. ”
There was an undeniable edge of pain to her voice. It got me sitting up, which was strange because I had no concept of where the floors met the walls, or the walls met the ceiling.
“I’m dead, aren’t I?” I asked, finding myself searching for someone beyond her shoulder, although I couldn’t place who. “Like you.”
“Yes, and no.” Heather Briar rocked backwards to give me space, her youthful gaze not leaving me for a second. “This is a crossroads, Hector. A place where the roads meet between the living and the dead. In other news, my darling boy, it is a place of choices.”
I squinted into the bright expanse, trying to make sense of what she’d just said, but nothing was working. When a thought entered my mind, it filtered away like sand through open fingers.
“I don’t understand,” I said, fixing my gaze back on her as my hands fumbled for a wound on my stomach. The search was fruitless, because my skin was smooth and without mark. “I—I was just with…”
Arwyn. His name was lightning, coming sudden and hot. I sagged forwards, as though a comet had just crashed into my chest, the pain of it too much to handle.
“Now, now,” my mother cooed, drawing me into a hug. “It’s okay, Hector. I have got you. We still have some time together…”
I’d forgotten, over the years without her, just how it felt to be in her arms. The smell of lavender and citrus that clung to her thick hair.
I took it all in, pushing my emotions to the side to simply enjoy the one thing I’d craved every day and night.
I was so distracted by it that I almost missed what she’d just said.
“Is this going to stop then?” I asked without pulling back. “Me being with you?”
Mum rested her chin upon the top of my head, making me feel like that little boy again. “In theory. No one dwells on the crossroads forever, Hector. Eventually you are to decide which path to take. I made that decision, as have many witches before you. Your time will come.”
“Sooner rather than later,” came another voice, softer lilt and kind.
I looked over Mum’s shoulder to find another woman standing at a distance.
“Eleanor Letcombe,” I announced, eyes narrowing, but it came out like more of an announcement.
She took her skirts in her hands, and bowed. “It is I.”
“A welcome party,” I said through tear-filled laughter. “Gosh, I must be special.”
Even in death my sarcasm didn’t fail me.
The last time I’d seen Eleanor was during a trial, and she’d looked older… weathered by love and time. Now, she was full of youth. Her skin was pink and soft, her eyes free from the lines of age. She was but a young girl with flowers in her hair, and na?ve love in her eyes.
“How is this happening?” I asked.
Mum followed my line of sight, and beckoned the young version of Eleanor to join us. “Sometimes, when you are presented with important choices, it takes more than one person to help guide you right. Eleanor here, she was persistent in her want to see you. I couldn’t turn her down.”
“Exactly. Couldn’t being the prime word.
I was displeased to hear of your arrival, and selfishly wanted to join.
” Eleanor smiled, her eyes closing with how dramatically her face changed with the emotion.
“Firstly, to congratulate you on fixing my wrongs. When I made my deal with Bahmet, it was with the intention to save witch-kind from angry men who didn’t understand us.
I never would have imagined the dark side to Bahmet’s offer.
If I had, I would’ve burned alongside my sisters and never given in to my desires to hurt Tomin. ”
“You don’t need to apologise,” I said, reaching a hand for her. “Without you, without your guidance and the grimoire you gave me, none of this would be happening. I would’ve been kept in the dark, unknowing on how to save… my friends.”
Friends felt like such a useless and weightless word. They were, after all, much more than that.
“Family, Hector. You can say it.” Eleanor’s smile faded, eyes growing heavy as she looked down at her feet. “I take responsibility for you having to be in here, in this place of choices, when you could be enjoying life alongside the love you have found.”
Mum left me out of her arms, giving me room to walk to Eleanor and take her hands.
“Stop the self-pity,” I said. “We do not shoulder unnecessary burdens, Eleanor. We’ve all made choices in life, some good and some bad.
But what matters is the intent behind those choices.
You made that deal with Bahmet to give witches a chance of survival, and it worked…
for a while. But without the kindness you showed me, without giving up your grimoire and opening my eyes to the truth of our roots, Tomin would still be alive, Bahmet would still be thriving. ”
Eleanor looked up at me with tears in her eyes, and for a moment I saw her as the aged woman I’d first met.
“The young witch is right,” a deeper voice, more rich in tone, called out. “For it has been Heather’s sacrifice, Eleanor’s guidance and his own resilience that freed us from Bahmet. The demon has been destroyed, and with it my children finally have the taste of freedom I have wanted for them.”
We each turned around to find the third speaker in tandem.
Watching at a distance was a woman who oozed power.
It rolled off her in undulant waves, increased by the crown of stars and moons upon her wrinkled brow.
Her hair, wild as ivy, cascaded down her back like a river of shadow with strands of silver woven amongst. It was as if she embodied the night, because as she walked the place of light was suddenly burdened with shadows.
Her cloak swished around her, moving unnaturally. It was only when she got closer that I realised it was because animals hid beneath. Hounds, handsome wolf-like dogs with pointed ears, and glowing silver eyes.
Mum bowed her head. Eleanor curtsied. And I was left stunned as I watched the Goddess of Witchcraft step towards me. There was no denying her… presence and name. It came to me like a whisper on the wind, and a drumming in the ground.
Hekate.
“Hector Briar, I am both pleased to meet you, and saddened to find you on my roads.”
Realisation sped up, and I quickly tipped my head. “My Queen, forgive my reaction.”
“Have you never looked upon such beauty before? No, likely not that. Perhaps it is my strength you falter beneath, yes? My undeniable prowess and divinity, that mere mortals quake in the face of.” Firm fingers pressed beneath my chin, nails itching my flesh, as Hekate guided my bowed head back to face hers.
“In this place, we are all equals. I do not take pleasure in seeing my children bow to me, for I am not the ruthless lord you have grown used to dealing with.”
Her smile was both frightening and inspiring. She had more teeth than any mortal, with lips as red as blood and skin as pale as the moon itself. Her jewelled eyes, sparkling as though they harnessed the stars within them, looked to my mum, and then to Eleanor.
“Maiden,” Hekate said, smiling at Eleanor. “Mother.” Her voice was a song as she regarded my mum. “And me, the crone. Three faces, three embodiments of power that I have often been depicted with. And thus, three voices to guide you from this place to the next.”
“I beg you, Hekate,” Mum snapped, desperate to get her word in. “We all know that Hector has so much more to give. His time is not now, even though I wish to never let him go.”
“And yet, Heather Briar, if his time is now that would mean you would be returned to one another. Is that not what you want?”
“I want my son to experience the freedom of life that his actions have awarded. I have waited all this time to see him again, what more is it to wait until it is his time, naturally speaking.”
Hekate swept her gaze to Eleanor. “And what have you got to say, Maiden? You know the pain of dying before your time. Would you sympathise with the Mother, or believe the rules of life and death, and covet them?”
Eleanor chewed on her answer for a moment, pinching the skin of her lips between slightly bucked teeth. “I believe, as I know you want me to, that choice is what matters here. Hector can decide where his path takes him next.”
Hekate smiled, humming as she did so. It took her a moment to focus back on me, so long I almost begged to be graced with her attention.
“That is right. Hector, you may be seeking some reward for saving my children from the forces of darkness. I imagine you have a number of things you desire. And I wish to give something to you. But, before that, you must answer the most important question. Are you ready to leave life behind you, and dwell happily in my embrace, or are you not ready to give life up yet?”
I was being given a choice. I’d listened to them counselling each other about my future after this moment, but hearing it plainly from Hekate stilled me to my core.
“Are you saying I can go… back?” I asked, hope sparking in my too-still chest.
“That is exactly what I am telling you.” Hekate swept her cloak back, allowing for her hounds to walk free of her shadows. “I will reward you for your successful destruction of Bahmet by giving you the chance to walk back off this crossroad. To step back into life and leave this place behind.”
“Thank you,” my mum breathed, relief evident in her cracking voice.