The Magician: An Andromache Jones Mystery (Short Story#1) [COMPLETED]

Chapter Seven: Tick-Tock

Mac pulled out of The Black Horse Inn's car park and continued on the road heading away from Market Higham.  She was at a loss as to what she was supposed to be looking for.  The panic she had felt earlier quickly changed to numbness.  She was beginning to think that it was The Magician's plan all along to see her fail.

Then she thought she saw something strange in a field to the side of the road.  When she found a place to pull over, she got out and ran back to the field, covering a distance of about a quarter of a mile.  She walked over to the gate and peered in.  Halfway up, in the middle of the farmer's crop, appeared to be a red balloon.

Her intuition hitherto had been spot on.  She had been guided to take the right roads and turnings, and led to the balloons that she could so easily have missed.  She sent up a silent prayer thanking the Lady and hoping that neither she, nor her intuition, would desert her just yet.

Mac climbed up and over the fence, careful not to do herself an injury, and then broke out into a run between the rows of plants.  She pulled up sharp, breathing hard when she reached the balloon, which was tethered to the spot by a heavy stone.  Mac picked up the rock and found hiding beneath it another envelope, which she quickly opened.

 Sacrificed was she to the Huntress

Virgin goddess of the moon

Sentenced to pay for others mistakes

Failure will surely lead to her doom

 The words danced before her eyes.  This can't be happening.  I need to get back to the car.  The new riddle went round and round in her head.  She knew immediately who had been buried alive.

The women of Mac's maternal line were always given ancient Greek names; the reason for it wasn't important, but it had meant she had a very good grasp on Greek mythology.  It was no hardship for Mac to decipher The Magician's riddle; the words spoke of Iphigenia, the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra.  Agamemnon had offended Artemis, the virgin goddess of the hunt and moon.  In order to placate the goddess and banish the ill-fortune that was stalking him, he offered to sacrifice his daughter, Iphigenia, to her. 

Iphigenia was Andromache's grandmother's name.

Mac stumbled her way back to the car, tears flowing freely down her face.  She tripped and fell; she grazed her knees and her hands in an attempt to break her fall.  She sobbed; one time she even screamed, but she no longer cared.  She needed to find her grandmother.  She needed to save her grandmother.

The return trip seemed to take ten times as long; she knew fear of failure was playing with her mind now that the focus of The Game had a name and a face.  The name and face of one of the people who had helped raise her; who had taught her the tarot.

When she reached the car, she fell into the driving seat.  She knew she needed to get going, but again, she had no idea of where to go.  She didn't know if she had enough energy or control to use the pendulum again; her hands wouldn't stop shaking.  It was then that she noticed another envelope tucked under the windscreen wiper.

For a minute she sat staring through the glass, unable to move.  He is close by, she thought, slowly turning to look out of her window.  Being under The Magician's constant gaze was eating away at Mac's composure. He watched me stop the car.  He watched me walk to the field and find the balloon.  He watched me realise that he had taken my grandmother and buried her in a coffin somewhere, and he probably knows I don't know how to find her. 

She started crying again; there was nothing for it.  She needed to get it out of her system and deal with it as quickly as she could.  At first she cried because she loved her grandmother, then because she felt so helpless.  Last of all she cried because she was angry.  She picked up the mobile phone from the seat next to her and dialled.