Chapter 4
Four
The black crows haunt my dreams once again, leading me to wake up in a slight panic, taking a moment to remember where I am.
I slowly sit up and get my bearings. The light outside is now dark and the streetlamps give a slight glow beneath the windows.
I can hear the faint sound of an argument from below me.
It takes me a second to realise it’s coming from inside the house.
It’s most likely just another parent row.
She’s spent too much, he has a go, then lets her spend more.
I slip out of bed and walk to the bedroom door.
I slowly open it to get a better listen of tonight’s Jerry Springer episode of my parents.
I slowly descend the attic staircase to the main landing.
That’s when I realise it’s not my dad; it’s my mother and another woman’s voice.
My mother sounds angry. The other woman is speaking softer but also trying to get a point across.
Panic hits me. What if we’re being burgled?
Mother is feisty so will defend herself, but she’s also no spring chicken.
I stop being silent and run down the stairs into the hallway where my mother is stood at the front door.
It’s closed but a woman is standing there on the inside facing my mother.
She’s old. Probably the same age as my mother but without the Botox and bleached hair.
This woman has dark hair like mine but it’s streaked with silver and hangs in long waves down her back.
She’s dressed in a long flowing chiffon dress made of different shades of green.
She has dirty tan moccasins on her feet.
They both stop mid-conversation to look at me.
As I get closer, I realise this woman looks identical to my mother.
“Oh, look at her, Cassie. She’s beautiful. I’m so sorry, Harriet, did we wake you?” the woman asks with her warm voice. Her beautiful sapphire eyes glisten as they look at me.
I feel completely out of sorts. Am I still drunk? “Sorry,” I say politely, “but who are you?” My face must look so confused. My mother hangs her head down and huffs.
“Oh, Cassandra, please tell me you’ve told Harriet about me,” the woman says.
My mother brings her head back up to look at me. “Harriet, this is Aradia.” She falls silent for a moment before carrying on. “She’s my twin sister.”
My mother has clearly done everything to look different to this woman from bleaching her hair to extensive plastic surgery, but you can see it still. Under all of the plastic. They are indeed twins.
“Twin? You told me you had no siblings. No family.” I gasp in shock.
“That sounds about right. Cassandra has never been a fan of where you came from, have you? It was more about where you were going, or more what you were getting.” The woman shoots my mother a look.
“Don’t come into my house and make out that I’m awful. So what if I wanted better things for my daughter than what we had? That doesn’t make me a bad person, Aradia.” Venom is in her voice.
Aradia places her hands up to calm my mother down. “Now, now, Cassie, I’m not here to have a go. I’m here for Harriet. You know this.”
“Yes, well, that’s not happening, so wasted journey and all. Lovely to see you, say hi to Mum and that’s that.” She tries to usher Aradia out of the door.
I walk down the stairs to the bottom. “Mum? So, your mum is still around? Is your whole past just a big lie then, Mother?”
My mother comes towards me and holds my hands. Her face looks worried and upset. Does my mother actually have feelings?
“Harriet, I wasn’t truthful, but it was out of protection and trying to give you everything. Which Daddy and I have done. Please believe me when I say this, my family is better not knowing. Your life is here, with me, with Greg.”
I pull my hands down and turn my attention to Aradia who is still stood near the door. I slowly walk towards her. I can smell her musky warm vanilla perfume which fills my nose with comfort. My heart feels a fullness feeling as if I have known her all my life.
“You said you were here for me? Well, here I am. So, say whatever it is that you’ve come to say.” I sound a little blunt, but I still feel very confused about this whole situation.
“Shall we sit?” She gestures to the back of the house where the garden room is.
I nod and turn to lead the way. My mother grabs my arm and looks at me with stern pleading eyes.
“I’ll allow you to listen, but please, Harriet, know that here with me you’re safe and looked after. You’ll never want for anything. You know that.”
“You’ve lied to me my whole life, Mother. Allow me to make my own judgement about my, uh, aunt.”
She turns her face up at the word aunt.
“Aunt? She’s never done anything for you, Harriet. It’s been me and Daddy and Gregory.” The venom is still hot on her lips.
I ignore her remark and carry on walking towards the garden room. Aradia follows me close behind as my mother stomps up the stairs.
“This will end in tears, Harriet. Mark my words,” my mother shouts from the landing.
Aradia takes a seat on the wicker furniture set out in the garden room.
Rain is pattering down on the glass roof and trailing down the windowpanes, dancing as they fall down to the earth below them.
I switch on a floor lamp which ignites the room in a soft orange glow.
The radio is playing Radio 4 quietly in the background.
We hear my mother’s bedroom door slam, echoing through the house.
“Your mother was always one to be dramatic.” Aradia smirks playfully, starting to stand again. “Shall I make us some tea?”
I gesture for her to sit down. “Let me,” I say.
I walk over to the kitchen which is joined to the garden room by a large archway. I boil the kettle and make two cups of mint tea. I set them down on the coffee table along with two pecan plaits Phoebe had made earlier in the day.
“Mint is one of my favourites. Thank you, sweetheart.” She smiles at me.
The fine lines around her eyes and mouth smile with her.
She’s the image of warmth and it radiates from within her.
I can imagine she’s one of those people everyone gravitates to.
She is the complete opposite of my own mother who is cold and hard.
How did they come from the same person? I’ll never know.
She takes a sip and continues. “Well then, Harriet—”
“Most people call me Harri,” I interrupt.
“Harri, I love that.” She grins. “This must be a lot to take in, so I’ll start softly.
Well, I’m your aunt, Aradia, I’m fifty-one and live with your grandmother Cerci in a cottage in a village called Brindlewood, deep within the forest up north from here.
I have no children, just a dopey cat called Nettle and a few other animals.
I know we haven’t been around, so this must be difficult.
Your mother made it exceedingly difficult to do so, but please don’t be hateful towards her.
She was doing what she thought was best. Cassie isn’t a bad person, you know.
She’s just got a little lost in life, but I know for sure that you, Harri, were always at the front of her mind. ” Her voice is soft like silk.
I snuff at that remark. “No offence, Aradia… Sorry, do I say Aunt Aradia now? I don’t know, but I doubt that my mother did anything out of care for me.”
“Aunt Aradia. Oh, I love hearing that. But trust me, Harri, she loves you more than you know. But she also knew this day would come and we would meet.”
We both sip our tea, and Aradia takes a bite of a pecan plait.
“So why are you here?” I question.
She finishes her bite and puts the rest back on the plate.
“I would love for you to come and stay with me and your grandmother. Learn about your family more.”
“But why? Why now unexpectedly?” I question.
“You’ve been through a rough bit recently, no? Having feelings that feel different. Dreams that don’t make sense. Shedding people you once thought were wonderful but turned out to be… well, not so wonderful.”
“How did you…?”
She smiles that soft smile again. “The Chattoxes are special people, Harri. We know and sense things that others may not pick up on. You’ve been sensing a lot recently, but you’re unsure about what to do with it all.”
“The Chattoxes?”
“Your mother wasn’t always a Montgomery, sweetie.” She sips her tea.
“So, you’re like psychic then or something?”
“I guess you could say that, but more. What is your understanding on witches?”
I laugh. “You mean like the ones in fairytales and books?”
She raises her eyebrow the same way my mother does when I say something she doesn’t agree with. “I can see we have a lot of work here. But it’s your choice if you want to know more or if you want to go back and live the life you were living.”
“This is crazy. I feel like I have actually finally lost the plot.” I am so confused. Is this woman saying she’s a witch? Maybe she’s mental and my mother is right. I should stay away.
“Harriet, when you are around animals, do you find they tend to gravitate towards you? Do you find that birds have no fear of your presence? When you’re in nature you feel whole?
That your feelings can be intense and you have so much empathy for others you can feel their emotions too?
A burning sensation you can’t explain? All of these things are linked to who you really are, someone for you to discover, and I would like to help you find that. ”
“This is a lot.” I stand up not knowing what to do with myself.
“I need to take some time before I just decide to leave with you. No offence, but I’ve just met you and you’re asking me to come and stay with you.
You’re talking like fairytale stories are real and it’s just a lot to take in right now. ”
“Completely agree. It’s a lot to process. But you’re a bright girl, you know an opportunity when you see one and you also know danger when you see it. Listen to your heart.” She’s right. I don’t feel any danger from her, just comfort and the want to know more about my family.
“I will stay tonight but I must leave tomorrow to get back. I teach yoga tomorrow evening at the village hall. Yogis get very cross if I’m not there.
” She chuckles to herself. “So just let me know in the morning. I take no ill feeling if you choose to stay and forget all of this. I just want you to be happy.”
“And I appreciate that, I do, it’s just that… well, I don’t know you. And there’s talk of witches and cottages in the forest. You’ve gotta see how weird that is.”
“Totally. It’s bonkers to the norms.” She laughs and places her hand on mine.
“Norms?”
“Normal folk.”
Her hands are bejewelled with different silver rings with an array of gemstones set within them. Her bony fingers rest on my hand. Her hands feel soft and warm.
“But you know you don’t feel normal, do you, Harri?
Look, I’m aware you’ve recently had a breakup.
The forest is incredibly beautiful this time of year.
We live just outside of the quiet little village Brindlewood, like I said, where we have all the amenities you need to relax for a while.
Even if it’s just for a week or two, why not come with me and just have a holiday?
Do something more productive than downing bottles of champagne over a man who can’t even make a bed. ”
My face drops again in shock. This woman knows everything. “How did you know I drank—”
She cuts me off again and taps the side of her nose.
“I told you, Chattoxes can sense things. Well, I can. Other Chattoxes have different gifts. The offer is there, sweetie, just have a think about it. Now I hope you don’t mind, but it’s been a rather long day.
Would you mind showing me where I could sleep for the night? ”
I stand there, confused and completely spaced out before Aradia clears her throat to get my attention.
“Sure, follow me,” I say still dazed by what has just happened.
She stands up and smooths out her beautiful dress, so it falls gracefully around her.
She picks up both teacups and takes them to the dishwasher before following me out of the kitchen and up the grand oak staircase.
It’s nice to see that someone else doesn’t just rely on the “help”.
I take her to another guestroom which is made up with navy blue bedding and beautiful china plate inspired wallpaper. She peers inside.
“Beautiful. Your mother always had an eye for the more indulgent decorations.” She turns to me and opens her arms. I instinctively walk into her embrace.
The smell of her perfume wraps itself around me with her arms. She squeezes me hard like she doesn’t want to let go.
“I’m so glad I finally got to meet you, my beautiful niece,” she whispers in my ear. She lets go and I take a step back.
Her warmth is captivating. I don’t know her but all I want to do is know her. Her face is my mother’s, but kinder, softer, the maternal aura I have craved my whole life.
“You too.” I smile.
She smiles back gently and waves her hand. “Go and get some sleep and we can talk in the morning.”
She walks away from the guestroom towards my parents’ room. She turns to me still smiling. “I best go and check on Cassie first.” I watch as she lightly knocks on the door and lets herself in. I don’t hear any more shouting so that must be a good sign.
I take myself up the stairs to the attic room.
I sit on the bed and let myself fall back.
What on earth just happened? Did my mysterious aunt who I have never met just tell me that my family on my mother’s side are actually a bunch of witches and the reason I’ve been having dreams and this weird “not belonging” feeling is because I am a witch?
I’m just waiting for Ashton to pop out from the walls and tell me I’m being Punk’d.
Maybe Mother has kept me away from them because they’re a bit kooky and think they’re witches but actually they’re just odd, weird country folk.
But a break does sound good. A small village who has never seen me before or even heard of a Montgomery.
Some peace and quiet to reassess what I’m actually going to do with my life.
Maybe some time to forgive Greg? Although I think that’s cutting it fine.
I’m also intrigued to meet my grandmother.
The person who made my mother. Because Aradia seems to be the complete opposite of my mother.
I’ve also never had a grandmother. My father’s parents lived in Germany.
We met them once then the next time we went to Germany it was for both of their funerals.
Both died within a week of each other from old age.
I like to believe that when my grandmother passed my grandfather just couldn’t live without her, so surrendered his soul.
But that’s just me being a silly romantic.
It was more likely he couldn’t fend for himself, and my own father wasn’t going to help him.
I spiral into the what ifs until I finally let sleep take me back to the forest where the crows no longer feel as unsure.