Chapter 39
39
One at a time, the three of them had reconvened at Sephy’s house, with Dora arriving first, followed by Lenny, then Ambrose. Sephy had greeted each one of them at the door and hugged them tight. Dora could see her aunts watching her and Ambrose intently and she wondered how it must feel to finally see them together.
Now they were all sitting around the old kitchen table, Dora clutched her dress in her lap and looked at Sephy.
‘Now what?’
‘How do you feel about your dress, Dora?’
‘I’m not sure. Excited and scared of what will happen when I put it on.’
Lenny let out a groan. ‘You made us all accomplices to your crime and you’re not sure?’
‘No, I want to wear it and of course I’m going to. I had so many flashbacks to so many different lives, it’s kind of mind blowing.’
She looked down at the dress. ‘How can something so innocent-looking hold so many memories?’
Sephy reached out and poured herself a cup of the tea she’d had steeping in the old, blackened, cast-iron tea pot. ‘It’s not the dress really, dear, it’s a part of the key to unlocking your magic, like a joiner has a tool chest full of saws and hammers, different tools for different jobs. That dress is part of your toolkit.’
‘What else did I have in my toolkit?’
Sephy pointed a finger at the cup and the hot, amber-coloured liquid began to swirl around inside like a minor hurricane. It began to churn so fast that it spilled over the edge onto the saucer.
‘Oops, I’m a little out of sorts with everything today.’
Dora poured herself a cup of tea, then pointed her finger at the cup. Nothing happened. She swirled it around in the air, but still nothing happened.
‘Why can’t I do that? If my magic is so powerful, why won’t it work? It did in the museum before.’
Lenny shrugged. ‘You haven’t used it properly this lifetime. There have been moments that you probably weren’t aware of, or when you desperately needed it, when you have. That’s when you fully believed in yourself. Look at your uncanny knack of knowing every scent and being able to describe them. The flowers, plants and seeds love you and anything you put your hands on grows into a beautiful specimen. That magic will come back if we can find the place you locked it in and set it free.’
‘How could I lock it away if I didn’t know it existed, Lenny?’
Sephy intervened. ‘Real magic is the feeling deep inside of you when you realise that your veins are filled with moonlight and stardust. It’s an instinct, a calling, when you can sit outside and hear the insects and birds chattering to you, when you notice the rainbows and the shooting stars, the moon’s glorious phases, the changes in the weather, the trees whispering as you walk on by. Magic is all around us, yet few people choose to acknowledge it. For some of us, the lucky ones, we can soak it up, harness its power and use it for good things.’
Lenny tapped a finger to the side of her head. ‘Our subconscious mind is a more powerful tool than any of us will ever understand. Maybe this time around, though, you needed protection from the power, after all you have lived some dreadful lives that always get cut short at such a young age.’
Dora nodded. ‘I get that, I suppose after everything I’ve been through it might try to protect me from it all. But what about Corwin? We are talking about fighting him and binding him to this earthly plane, is that not dark magic?’
Sephy shrugged. ‘Darling, if we don’t stop him, he will once more annihilate the English women. Although I like to live my life as calmly and peacefully as I can, I cannot stand back and watch him do this again, I am well and truly done with it. Therefore, I would say that by taking the steps to stop and bind him here where he has no power, we are most certainly acting in the best interest of every single witch in the world. We owe it to ourselves and to them to end this mindless persecution of women. Look at your friend, did she deserve to be hurt so badly she could have died? She was nothing to him, just a pawn in his quest to find us and to find you so he could do the same.’
At the mention of Katie, Dora felt a sickness spread inside her stomach at the thought of her lying there letting a machine breathe for her.
Ambrose’s phone began to vibrate in his pocket. He took it out, read the message then stood up.
‘Dora, I have to go there’s been an influx of customers at the shop and Margo needs a hand. Your aunts are the best teachers you could ever wish for. I would listen to them and learn what you can. I have a feeling that we don’t have long before Corwin makes his move. And you’re stronger with me a little farther back.’
He left them all staring after him and not one of them spoke until the front door was closed behind him.
‘You could at least try the damn dress on, Dora. We went to a lot of effort and if it doesn’t fit you, we need to know so Sephy can alter it.’
Dora stared at Lenny, straight-talking, say-it-as-it-is, tough-cookie Lenny. Her aunt was right though; she could sit here all day and what would it achieve? She stood up and took the dress into the downstairs bathroom where she held it up in front of the mirror. Undressing down to her underwear, she kicked off her boots to get her jeans off and tugged it over her head, lifting her arms into the linen material that had once been stiff and a little uncomfortable but after centuries now fit like a glove .
Dora stared back at the woman in the mirror. She didn’t recognise her. She was so familiar yet a stranger. And then a bolt of electricity ran down her entire body, so shocking that she had to grip onto the sides of the small porcelain sink to keep herself upright. If she’d looked up, she would have seen a stream of fizzing white light splashed with touches of gold running straight through her body. She could smell smoke, wood smoke, she could see trees and a small wooden cottage with a well-tended herb and vegetable garden. Her fingers gripping the sides of the sink were crackling with unseen electricity and her hair had a static charge running through it, like when you rub a balloon on your head, making the strands stick up. She stared at her reflection in the mirror and could see tiny flecks of gold dancing in the irises of her eyes and feel the unharvested power deep inside her belly. She was no longer plain old Dora English, she was Isadora English, the daughter of an English sister, and she was ready to fight to save herself and her aunts from being attacked by George Corwin ever again. She could feel the power inside her like a glowing ball of light that pulsated and throbbed so strongly that she fell to her knees.
There was a knock on the door and Sephy’s voice whispered, ‘Are you okay in there, dear?’
‘Fine, I’m fine. I’ll be out in a moment.’
Dora sat on the cold tiled floor, her back against the toilet, and lifted her fingers in front of her face. They were trembling with vibrations and there were tiny blue and green sparks snapping from them into the air before disappearing. Looking for something, anything, she spied a toilet roll balanced on the corner of the sink. She pointed at it and her finger did the tiniest twitch, the tissue paper flying into the air as if it had been hit by a gun. It exploded into minuscule shreds of white paper that rained down all over Dora and the floor as if it was snowing. She held out the palm of her hand and caught some of it, staring in wonder, and then she began to laugh. Well I never, a witch for centuries and I’ve just managed to blow up a loo roll. Way to go, Dora, what talent. This made her laugh even louder and she got a case of the giggles.
She closed her eyes and could see both of her aunts standing outside the door, Lenny was leaning against it with one ear while Sephy was wringing her hands. Dora pulled herself up, smoothed down her dress and tried to tame her hair, which was now positively wild. She pointed at the brass doorknob with her finger and sent a bolt of electricity through it to the other side where Lenny was gripping it with her fingers. Sephy let out a scream and there was a loud crash. Dora pulled the door open to see her Aunt Lenny sprawled on the floor, looking dazed, with Sephy fussing over her.
Mortified, Dora bent down. ‘Oh my God, Lenny, did I kill you?’
Lenny looked at her and began to laugh, a loud, hearty belly laugh that Sephy couldn’t ignore and soon she was laughing too. Dora, who was terrified she’d hurt Lenny, stared at the two women, full of confusion. They were laughing so loud it almost deafened her and Ophelia came running down the stairs to see what all the fuss was about.
Lenny was struggling to speak. ‘Dora, don’t stroke the cat; you’ll electrocute her and that would never do.’
This made her aunts laugh even louder. Dora sat on the bottom step and watched them both crying so hard they were wiping tears from their eyes. Eventually Sephy held out her hand for Lenny who took it, and she dragged her to her feet.
‘What’s so funny?’ Dora asked. ‘I don’t get it. I nearly killed you, Lenny.’
Lenny opened her mouth and got another fit of the giggles. She shook her head, held up her hand then cleared her throat.
‘I’m good, although my ass may be bruised for a while but that wouldn’t be the first time.’ She winked at Sephy who slapped Lenny’s arm.
‘You are incorrigible, Lenora English. Dora, don’t look so alarmed, I’m sorry we got a little carried away but that was one hell of a shock. Lenny’s face as she flew through the air was priceless.’
Lenny smiled at her. ‘Dora, by that little display of untamed power, I’m assuming the dress worked.’
Sephy turned to Dora and sighed. ‘You really are too beautiful; you look just like your mom when she was your age, only you have an air about you that she never did have.’
Dora had given up trying to understand what had just happened or the mystery that was her aunts. She had taken to staring at her fingers. They were no longer cracking and fizzing, they were just her usual fingers with her black nail enamel that was starting to chip.
Sephy patted her arm. ‘Come, child, we have a lot to discuss. Let’s start with a little black magic and take it from there.’
‘Black magic?’
Lenny smiled and mimed lifting a glass to her lips.
‘Oh, right. I see.’ Dora nodded. ‘You mean alcohol. Yes, I will take all the black magic you have because I think I’m losing my mind.’
Sephy began to dance towards the kitchen, and Lenny followed behind her, the pair of them swishing their hips and moving their shoulders to some music that Dora couldn’t hear.