Chapter 16
16
Dora had no idea where she was, she lay in the darkness wondering what had happened to her. The bed wasn’t hers, it was far too soft. The room smelled of lavender and lemon, and there was no daylight, just a soft blackness that for all of its strangeness wasn’t the least bit scary. She remembered the flight to Boston, but not much after that.
Yawning, she closed her eyes. Her stomach didn’t feel as if it had been tied in knots, that was one thing. She no longer felt queasy either. A tapping on the windowpane startled her, but she had no idea what it was, so she ignored it. Whatever it was didn’t want to be ignored though, and tapped harder. She sighed. What was that – or who was it? She really didn’t want to leave the warmth and comfort of the bed but whoever was tapping was becoming more insistent by the second.
Lowering her feet to the wooden floorboards, she crept towards the window, her heart beating a little too fast. She had no idea what could be so determined to capture her attention. Pulling one of the soft drapes back a little, she jumped to see a beady glass eye staring at her, then realised it was a bird. Not just any bird, it was… she couldn’t remember. What was it, what had her aunt called it? Unlatching the window, she opened it a little and the bird shook its head at her so she pushed it wider. It hopped straight in, making Dora stumble backwards a little.
‘Hades, you’re my watcher. Or you were my watcher.’
She sat down on the edge of the bed. It was her turn to watch, and she did with great interest. She had always thought birds were scary, too fluttery, but not this one. He didn’t flutter his wings much at all. He was staring at her just as she stared at him, and Dora laughed.
‘What is this, some kind of crow staring contest? I think you might win; your eyes don’t have heavy semi-permanent lashes like mine. So, in reality, I don’t stand a chance against you and to be honest I’m quite happy for you to be the winner.’
Hades cackled and tilted his head. ‘Winner, winner, chicken dinner.’
Dora’s mouth dropped open. ‘You can talk? Like, really talk? Oh I must still be dreaming.’
She bent down and pinched her own arm hard enough to sting; she felt it, she wasn’t asleep. The bird hopped down onto the floor then strutted across towards her, and she thought that maybe she should get out of here but before she could move Hades flew up onto her leg, staring up at her.
‘I don’t know what you want, and if I’m honest I’m a little scared too.’
He bent his neck and rubbed his head against Dora’s hand, which was folded in her lap. His feathers were so smooth and she lifted a finger and stroked the top of his head.
‘Can you talk, or do you just repeat phrases?’
‘Dora’s home, she’s home, she’s home.’
‘Am I home? I’m sorry, Hades, but I don’t remember this place at all. I don’t know what is going on.’
He hopped onto her arm. ‘Dora’s home.’
She laughed. ‘Well, if you say so then I’ll take that as a yes. I must be home, how long have I been away?’
‘Forever and a day.’
‘Yes, it kind of feels that way.’
They sat that way for some time, Dora and the pet crow she never knew she had, reunited with each other after how many years? How was she going to explain all of this to Katie? Oh God, she never even rang her to see if she was okay with the shop! She looked at her phone. It was almost seven. She had no idea what the time difference was. Instead of phoning she sent her a message.
Hey, hope today was okay for you and there were no problems. You wouldn’t believe what’s going on, but I’ll tell you over the phone tomorrow, it’s far too complicated over Messenger. Thank you for looking after the shop, speak soon Xxx
The message was sent, but the log didn’t show that it had been delivered. She decided she would ask Lenny. And then it came flooding back to her: Sephy and her pink boots, meeting her at the airport, the gorgeous house, the warmth and feeling of coming home to a family she couldn’t remember. Maybe she wouldn’t tell Katie about Hades just yet, it might be too much for her. Blimey, it was too much for Dora.
She yawned and stretched. ‘Sorry, bird, I need the toilet and I’m starving.’
As she opened the bedroom door, she heard laughter coming from a room down the hall, proper full-on giggles, and it made her smile. She hadn’t heard Lenny laugh like that for a long time and she liked it. Not wanting to intrude, she made her way to the bathroom. She still felt a little out of it, but at least she no longer felt queasy. She splashed cold water on her face to wake herself up then lifted her head and screeched to see Lenny standing in the doorway. Her eyes were shiny, the pupils huge, and she had a smile on her face. For once she looked relaxed although Dora could tell she was also a little drunk.
‘Dora darling, how are you feeling now?’
‘Much better thank you.’
Sephy came out of the room behind Lenny, softly closing the door behind her with one hand while balancing a tray with an empty jug and three used martini glasses.
‘Dora, you look much better. You must be starving. Let’s go down and eat.’
Dora stared at the door, there had been several different tones of laughter. Lenny saw the direction of her gaze.
‘Whose bedroom is that?’
‘Mine,’ said Sephy. ‘Sorry, did we wake you? We were having a little celebration; it’s been so long.’
‘Why did you need three glasses?’
‘In case you woke up and felt like a little drink, but we were greedy and drank the lot. I’ll make some more if you feel like it.’
Dora smiled, she didn’t acknowledge that the spare glass had the tiniest amount of black liquid in the bottom or that it had a straw. She didn’t want her aunts to think she was being rude, but she knew they were hiding something from her. It was quite obvious.
‘Hades. He can talk.’
Sephy smiled. ‘That bird used to be such a chatterbox, but he hasn’t been like that since you left. He can sulk for England. It must be seeing you again, Dora.’
‘How old was I when I left? Because I don’t remember any of this. There are tiny memories, from what seem like a very long time ago, just bits and pieces really. I must have been young?’
Lenny gently touched her sister’s arm.
‘You were a tiny little thing, and you didn’t speak much except to Hades and then you babbled to him in a language that no one else understood, but he did. He’d listen and chatter back to you.’
‘Why did I leave?’
Sephy’s cheeks had been flushed pink and now they were a deep red.
‘Is that the time?’ She was staring at the large grandfather clock on the landing, the ticking of which had soothed Dora’s sleep. ‘I really must be going; I have to open the shop tonight, I have a couple of customers who will be waiting for me. Please excuse me, help yourself to whatever you want, and Lenny knows the recipe to make you a little black magic.’
Sephy turned and rushed down the stairs, leaving Dora staring after her. Lenny breathed out the loudest sigh Dora had ever heard.
‘Always runs away from anything slightly confrontational, always has done and always will do. I have no idea how her plan is going to work if she can’t even face her own niece.’
‘What plan? Please Lenny, can you just tell me what is going on? I feel like Alice in Wonderland when she fell down the rabbit hole. Everything is beautiful, strange and it’s really making me feel weird that out of the blue I have this whole other life and family that I can’t remember.’
‘I need more alcohol, then I’ll tell you what I can, but you have to trust me that it’s not for me to fill in the blanks. I brought you home because you need to remember yourself, Dora, you need to dig deep inside of your soul and find all those memories you chose to forget this time around.’
‘I was only a baby, how am I supposed to do that?’
Lenny walked down the stairs and Dora followed her. ‘If you don’t, this lifetime will end. I can’t let that happen, we won’t let that happen, but you have to work with us, Dora. On the next full moon Sephy and I can perform a ritual that might help you to release what’s buried inside of you, but you have to do the work, we can’t do it for you. All we can give is a helping hand.’
Hades, who was watching the women from the banister, called out.
‘You have to work; you have to, Dora.’
Dora stared at him. ‘I have no idea what’s going on. What do you mean, this lifetime? We are born, we grow up, we live, we get old and we die, end of story.’
Lenny shook her head. ‘That’s not technically true, at least it isn’t in this family. It’s not been that way for the English women for hundreds of years. Don’t get me wrong, most mortals do exactly that.’
‘Mortals?’
Her aunt waved her hand in the air dismissively, her blasé attitude to all of this making Dora a little perplexed.
‘If we are not mortals then what are we?’ Dora held her breath, afraid of what her answer would be.
‘Immortals. And I’m not discussing this any further until tomorrow. It’s been a hell of a long day.’
‘What about me? I’m not tired, I just had the world’s longest nap.’
‘You will sleep once your head hits the pillow. I’m afraid Sephy was a little too generous with the valerian root and lavender.’
‘Lenny, am I dreaming or am I going mad? Because I don’t understand what’s happening.’
Lenny’s face softened in the glow from the warm light above her and she stopped at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for Dora to catch up to her.
‘No, Dora, you are not going mad, at least not this time. Although you did a very long time ago and that was a terrible time for you, but right now you are as sane as I am. I can’t speak for Sephy though, she’s always been a little out there, you know.’
She opened her arms and Dora fell into them. ‘I’m scared that I can’t remember all of this.’
‘You will, a little helping hand from me and Sephy when the time is right is all you need. For now, I want you to relax the best that you can. I know this has all come as a huge shock to you but, trust me, you can handle this and everything else that is going to get thrown in your direction the next couple of days. For tonight at least, let’s just enjoy being here. Why don’t I take you for a little walk down Essex Street, that will take your mind off things and the fresh air will do you a world of good. For all of its faults, Salem is a wonderful little town. Who knows, they might be showing Hocus Pocus on the common, it’s your favourite film.’
Dora laughed. ‘You know, you remind me a little of Winifred Sanderson, probably the same amount of grumpiness but you save lives, not steal them.’
Lenny grinned at her. ‘Funny you should say that. I think those Sanderson sisters were probably based on the English sisters, only we didn’t and never would steal children’s souls to make ourselves look younger, not when there is Sephy’s magic cream.’
‘Are you saying that the English women really are witches?’
Lenny rolled her eyes. ‘What do you think? We come from Salem. Sephy has the oldest apothecary in the city, you have a pet crow that talks to you, and you come from a strong bloodline of English women who were far too ahead of their time for those Puritan bastards who ruled with an iron fist yet were the biggest hypocrites of all. I’ll let you work that out for yourself, Dora. Now, come on, I’m getting cabin fever. I need to walk those cocktails off and clear my head before you ask me a gazillion more questions.’
Dora smiled at her aunt. She loved her more than anything and she loved Sephy the same even though she’d only met her a few hours ago. Lenny was right, she felt as if she’d known Sephy forever and maybe she had. She had to trust both her aunts. Everything would be fine. She had all the time in the world to work this out. Didn’t she?