Chapter 41
FORTY-ONE
Lenny and Sephy had agreed to go and speak to Clara, leaving Dora out of it for now.
Dora had not objected because she had other stuff to do.
She was going to demand Hades take her to speak to Morana to find out what was going on.
She left Sephy and Lenny in the shop, telling them she was going to see Ambrose.
The scene of the accident was devastating, and she couldn’t look that way.
Instead, she walked down to Federal Street, looping back around until she reached Botts Court that led her back onto beautiful Chestnut, Sephy’s street.
The entire time she was scanning the sky for Hades, calling out for him a couple of times.
When she reached Sephy’s garden, she saw him perched in the branches of the oak tree.
‘Hey, I’ve been calling for you. I need your help.’
He looked sad. Could birds look that sad, had he looked that way when Lucine had died?
‘I need you to take me to trouble.’
At this he perked up a little.
‘You know where she lives, right? I need to talk to her, so can you show me? But you can’t tell the aunts, they won’t like it. This is between us and trouble.’
He nodded, then took off in the air.
‘Go slow, I can’t run far, okay?’ Dora called after him. ‘And don’t go through all the busy streets, take me a quiet way.’
She had no idea if he’d understand that, but he headed towards New Derby Street which was definitely much quieter than everywhere else.
Dora wasn’t sure what she was going to say to Morana.
Hades flew a little distance then he’d perch on a rooftop or a wall to wait for her to catch up.
Dora was out of breath. Olympic track athletes could train with birds, that would keep them in top-notch running condition.
When they reached the corner of Jaho she thought about grabbing a coffee, although it was busy and she preferred the little café further down, The Wolf Next Door, where the cups weren’t pink but the coffee was good.
She waved to him and took a seat at one of the outside tables to catch her breath and think about what she was doing.
Her aunts would be furious with her, but she felt a desperate pull towards The Book of Black Magic too.
Was the fact that it was out in the world what had been holding her back from being able to relax?
It was her book too if her parents wrote it, and she deserved to take a peek inside of it, especially if this Morana was reading it.
If she could get the book off Morana and talk to her, it would be worth it.
Not that she wanted a book of black magic spells.
Lenny wouldn’t even let her look at the nice book of magic spells, so this one would a billion per cent be out of bounds, but it would solve all of their problems.
Hades landed on the fencing next to her and a group of women all wearing matching tees and witch hats began to coo and ahh at him excitedly. He began to peck at Dora’s hair, preening her, and they screeched in delight.
‘Oh my God, we love him, can we take a photo? Is he your pet? Did you train him to do that?’
She smiled at them. ‘He’s my familiar. I’d ask him if you can take a photo and, no, I have never trained him. He’s very clever, aren’t you?’ She gently scratched his head, and he hopped up and down. The youngest of the group approached him.
‘You are beautiful, can we take your photograph? Please.’
Hades gave a curt nod then Dora laughed as he stood up and pushed out his chest. She rolled her eyes at him. ‘You are such a guy.’
Hades squawked as if agreeing with her then took off into the air, soaring majestically above the rooftops.
‘I want a pet crow. How did you do that? It’s incredible.’
Dora stood up. ‘I think I’m his pet, not the other way around. Enjoy your day, ladies.’ She left them excitedly chattering about Hades and followed him down onto Wharf Street, where he was perched on the top-floor window ledge above an empty shop.
He had done as she’d asked and brought her to where Morana lived. But suddenly Dora wasn’t sure if she was doing the right thing.
As she crossed the road, she noticed a dark stain on the tarmac and walked around it because it looked like blood, like a lot of blood had been spilled.
The door to the apartments hadn’t been closed properly, allowing her to get inside without alerting Morana she was here.
There was a stillness inside along with the strong smell of sage, rosemary, lavender and Palo Santo that filled the air.
The higher she climbed, the more intense the smell was and she reached a door that was also ajar and knocked.
The woman that answered looked as if she had been replaced from the haughty, obnoxious one she had met earlier. There were dark shadows under her eyes that looked haunted and her hair was scraped back in a messy bun. Mascara trails down her cheeks told Dora she’d been crying.
‘What do you want?’
Maybe not all of her attitude had gone.
‘Can I come in?’
She sighed. ‘I’m busy.’
‘Doing what, cleansing the whole of Wharf Street? I could barely breathe walking up these stairs it’s so strong.’
‘Good.’
‘What? Good that I can’t breathe?’
Morana looked horrified. ‘No, I didn’t mean that. I meant it’s good it’s strong. I need all the help I can get.’
‘Then why don’t you let me in and I can help you.’
She opened the door, and Dora’s eyes began to water as she stepped inside, it was so potent. ‘Look, you really don’t need to die of smoke inhalation while you’re cleansing your space, less is more.’
Dora began to waft the front door to let some of the smoke escape, then she went to the cast-iron cauldron on the coffee table and dropped the lid sitting next to it on it.
‘Hey, you shouldn’t interfere. This is my space.’
‘Your eyes are bloodshot, and you look as if you’re about to pass out.’
‘They are? I do?’
Dora nodded. ‘I know you were a bit reluctant to talk to me earlier, but Hades is worried about you and therefore that means I am worried about you. What’s going on?’
Morana was staring at herself in the gilt mirror on the wall, lifting her eyelids down to look at how bloodshot they were. She turned to Dora.
‘A lot, a lot is going on, and you wouldn’t understand. I appreciate you checking on me, especially because your pet bird is worried about me, but I got myself into this mess. I’m good, I really don’t need you. I need to sort this out myself.’
Dora slumped onto the sofa. ‘Sorry, that sounds good and all that, but I hate to tell you I think that you do.’
‘And who are you exactly? Dora what?’
‘Dora English.’ She let that hang in the air.
Morana shrugged. ‘Am I supposed to know you, are you a local celebrity or something?’
Dora snorted with laughter. ‘God no. Although, my aunts own the oldest apothecary in Salem; it’s literally been there for hundreds of years. We are all bloodline witches and Hades is our familiar.’
Morana sat down. ‘Then why did he start hanging around me?’
‘Are you a witch?’
‘I used to dabble a little, but I wasn’t until a woman gave me a book with my name written inside and demanded five hundred bucks for it. That book has ruined my entire life in forty-eight hours.’
Dora looked around. ‘Where is the book and what’s it about?’
‘I can’t believe I’m telling this to a stranger. A book of black magic.’
Dora gasped. Her aunts were right, this was the book, but how did Morana end up with it, this made no sense to her. ‘Did you use it?’
‘Geez, what is it with you Salem witches today, you’re so touchy when it comes to the subject of magic.
Yes, I used it not knowing that it worked, I mean I didn’t expect it to.
It was more wishful thinking than anything and then when it did, I tried to get rid of it.
I even threw it in the trash and the next thing it was back on my coffee table.
’ She pointed to the table, which was devoid of any books, just the cauldron sitting on it.
‘What happened when you used it?’
‘I managed to badly hurt my awful neighbour, my best friend got hit by a bus and died a couple of hours ago and I found a lot of cash after doing a money spell. I ruined my life and at least two others because of it. I am done with magic.’
She sucked in a breath, trying not to cry and Dora felt bad for her. There was tapping at the window and she saw Hades. She stood up and pushed the window up a little further so he could hop inside.
‘Great, not only do I have the most judgemental crow in my apartment, but I also have another Salem witch here to tell me off.’
‘I’m not here to tell you off, Morana. What other Salem witch has been in here today?’
‘Some scary woman called Clara who had eyes the colour of Pennywise just before he bites the arm off Georgie Denborough.’
‘What did Clara want?’ Dora was shocked that Clara had found Morana and been here.
‘Same as you, the book. You’re too late, I already gave it to her. She was so mean. I was glad to get rid of it though, so I wasn’t going to argue with her. She took it with her and said she would put it somewhere safe.’
Dora felt every inch of her skin crawl, but at least the book was in safe hands now. She took out her phone to ring Sephy, who didn’t answer, so she tried Lenny.
‘What?’
‘Morana is no longer the owner of the book; she doesn’t have it.’
‘Tell me, Dora, how do you know that?’ Lenny’s voice had an edge to it that meant she was pissed with her.
‘I’m here in her apartment. Hades showed me where to go.’
‘Get out of there now.’
‘I will, I thought you’d be pleased.’
‘Dora, for once do as you’re told, get out. I’ll explain to you later. That damn bird has a death wish.’
The line went dead.
Dora stood up. ‘I need to speak to my aunts about this, but I’ll come back later, okay? and we could talk more about all of this, try to figure it all out. For now, can you please stay inside and try not to do any magic.’
Morana cackled. ‘I will not be doing magic ever again. You don’t have to worry about that. I’m through with this shit.’
Hades looked from woman to woman, then he flew out of the window at the same time that Dora walked out of the front door. She was not sure why Lenny was so panicked about her being here but sure she would find out soon enough.