The first few rays of sunlight filtered through the thin sheen of curtains and illuminated the room. Rebecca had been awake for quite a while but she didn't move from the position she woke up in. It had been five days since the events at the Viewing Room. Five long days since the grand revelation that she wasn't just Lilian, she was also Masilda, in a clear but twisted way of things. Rebecca understood the Paduereani's need for space to grieve, and she was more than happy to give it to them, especially since there was also a coldness growing inside of her. It wasn't sadness or shock or fear, although there were those in it, too. It was indifference.
The power exchange in the Viewing Room was overwhelming, and she was aware of Grandma Vai's instruction to everyone to let her rest and recuperate but on her second day of holeing up inside the room, she no longer felt physically drained. What she felt was indescribable. It was as if a hole had been punched in her gut and no amount of sleep and rest could close it up. It was like finding out the answers to the secrets behind her visions only lead to more questions. And Rebecca was starting to lose hope.
It felt never ending, this identity crisis of hers . Every day since her resurrection, all they ever did was run. It didn't matter whether it was to flee from The Necromancer, or to chase after a gray cat through the thick of the woods. All they did was run. And she was exhausted with all of it.
Rebecca turned her head to follow a scent the morning breeze carried to her nostrils. The fragrant wind was coming from the bedside table, where an ornate vase was filled with sprigs of herbs she couldn't name. They were delightful, but not enough to convince her to get out of bed. What's the point of getting up, she thought, What's the point of all this, really?
She shut her eyes and willed herself to go back to sleep again. To go back to dreamless hours where she isn't expected to do anything but exist. To convert oxygen to carbon dioxide. To occupy space. To fill the missing pieces left by Lilian, by Masilda.
A soft knock from the bedroom door interrupted her, "Rebecca, honey?" asked Lucille, she opened the door and let herself in. "Good morning."
Rebecca didn't move a budge, but she heard the door close, and felt the mattress shift as Lucille sat at the foot of her bed. She knew Lucille was aware of her wakefulness. Still, she kept herself immobile, to avoid engaging in unwanted conversation.
"Rebecca, stop doing this," Lucille spoke. "I know you don't feel very well, but you won't get better keeping yourself imprisoned in here like this. Jili's asking about you everyday," her voice was endearing, and for a moment, Rebecca considered regarding her. "She's really worried about you," Lucille continued.
Being unresponsive was easier than acknowledging Lucille's consolation. But it was not entirely deliberate on Rebecca's part. As much as she wanted to tell Lucille she felt like she was spiraling to a breakdown, she couldn't find the words to express it. She also didn't know how act around Lucille or the others. Nobody told her outright, but Rebecca felt their expectations weighing down on her. She felt that because - in essence - she was both Lilian and Masilda, they expected her to live up to them and their magical significance.
"Hmm, lemon balm and geraniums. Jili sure is an intuitive gypsy for her age," Rebecca felt Lucille stand up. She heard her footsteps on the polished wooden floor, walking closer to the bedside table for a closer whiff. "I haven't smelled this combination for years. Reminds me of someone I used to know."
Of course. Everything reminds you of Lilian. Rebecca thought and was a little surprised with the abrasive tone she used to think it. She still kept her eyes closed.
"It reminds me of my ex-husband, Gerhard."
Rebecca's eyes fluttered open. She saw Lucille holding some of the geranium blooms, gently running her fingers against its small, smooth petals. Their eyes met. "You mean The Necromancer, right?" Rebecca asked in a hasty, breathy manner.
Lucille held her gaze and smiled, satisfied with coaxing a reaction from the girl. "No, I meant Gerhard. I don't personally know The Necromancer. But if you're asking if they're the same guy, then yes they are. Bummer, right?" she sighed and shook her head gently. Looking at Rebecca's confused frown, she offered, "Maybe now's the right time to tell my story..."
Reluctantly, Rebecca nodded and scooted over to one side of the bed to let Lucille sit beside her. Rebecca laid in bed while Lucille sat and rested her back against the headboard. In her hands were two geranium flowers. She played with them thoughtlessly as she began with her story. "The Necromancer wasn't always The Necromancer, or at least he wasn't born evil. He was normal, just like you and me."
Rebecca turned to her and knotted a tighter frown between her brows.
"Okay, 'normal' isn't exactly the right word, considering...but you get what I mean. He was just a man, with a bit of a sixth sense." Lucille handed her one of the blossoms and Rebecca ran her hands on the soft, white petals, enjoying the soothing feeling it gave her.
"I met him when I was a sophomore in college. Being a girl with a magical secret to hide, I didn't really make any friends at the university. I preferred to hang out inside the library, reading and researching about magical things not found inside the Grimoire. I know, that sounds like I was a total nerd, but honestly, I just didn't know what else there was in life for me. Being a witch was all I knew about myself and I guess, in the loneliness, I ignored really trying to find myself, who I was, beneath all the spells and powers.
"One night, I sneaked out of the dorms to perform a Karma cleansing ritual on a nearby lake when I found a man standing around the edge of the waters, his slacks were soaked knee deep and he held out both hands to the moonlight. He was crying, begging the moon to help him stop the voices in his head. And I don't know what came over me that night but I approached him and talked to him. I wasn't the type who would just go and offer unsolicited advice to strangers, but I saw Gerhard for the first time and there was a compelling charm about him. Even when he was wailing helplessly in the night, looking absolutely disheveled and all."
Rebecca imagined Lucille in a university. What would she have looked like, she thought. She was sure Lucille would still have her long flowing hair and her skin would be even more radiant. She would be the prettiest in the class, but nobody would notice her. She'd be a wallflower, just as she wanted it. She tried to imagine The Necromancer in college with her, too, but Rebecca couldn't shake the evil eyes he had used to glare at her. Rebecca wasn't feeling especially warm, but the image of The Necromancer sent a stronger chill down the back of her spine.
"He wasn't a simple magical being, like me. He was...an anomaly," Lucille continued, "No one in his family could talk to the dead like he did. Nor did anything weird happen to him at one point in his life. He was just a mortal human, except from the moment he was born, the dead would communicate to him. When he was very young, maybe three or four years old, the voices were so overwhelming, his parents sought medical help, thinking it was a mental disorder or some disorder that medicine could help.
"It was successful in suppressing his sixth sense for a while, letting Gerhard live a 'normal' life up until the night I saw him at the lake. Apparently, his body was just adjusting to puberty and adolescence and once his physical body was stable enough, his abilities resurfaced. He wasn't going to kill himself, not deliberately. But he didn't understand what the spirits wanted and in desperation, he thought going underwater would shut the voices out."
"It would've killed him," Rebecca said without even turning to Lucille. "But you saved him, didn't you?"
Lucille nodded, "I suppose so. I didn't do anything. I just approached him and asked if he might want to talk about it. I would never forget the way his face turned from hopeless sorrow to a surprised relief when our skin touched. I didn't feel anything but he would later tell me the voices stopped harassing him when I held out my hand for a handshake. Maybe it was the witch blood in me that had that effect, or maybe it was all him, like I just happened to be there when his time to hone his powers came; but with all things magic, sometimes things just happened and we're not supposed to ask how."
Lucille paused and sighed. Rebecca noticed a little melancholy in her voice.
"I used to think it was destiny, you know. I came and silenced his tormented soul, and he came to abate my lonely heart. We started out as friends and then lovers, and then we got married," Lucille shrugged her shoulders, as if she was embarrassed to admit to Rebecca how she'd craved and lived the generic suburban life most girls wanted. Rebecca somehow understood that in the midst of all the paranormal, the two of them became each other's anchor to sanity. Their union saved both of them the misery and burden of being gifted. "I used to think we'd stay happy for the rest our lives. I guess The Destinies had other plans."
The woman sighed again in sadness but this time Rebecca forwent with her cold shoulder. She reached out to Lucille's free hand and held it in a gentle squeeze. "It wasn't all sad. You were blessed with a daughter, after all," As soon as she spoke the words, Rebecca wondered how weird it was for Lucille to hear the likeness of Lilian talk about her in the third person. She observed Lucille and there might've been a discomfort in that, but the woman didn't let it show.
"Yeah," Lucille smiled and returned her squeeze. "I am still deeply grateful for Lilian."
Rebecca handed back the geranium blossom to Lucille and turned to face her. "What happened to him? Why did he..." she paused, thoughtfully choosing her words, " Why did he turn evil?"
The woman held the two blossoms together and with a simple wordless spell, she made them levitate a few inches from her palms. The flowers spun in the air in what Rebecca interpreted as a dance. They twirled higher and higher around each other until Lucille released a soft breath, cutting off the magic and sending the flowers down, back to her open hand.
"It had been a mix of fear and thirst for power," Lucille said simply.
"What do you mean?"
"He lived his whole life fearing the return of the voices, something he didn't understand then. When I came around, the voices stopped," Lucille paused. "I would like to think he married me because of what we had together, of the love he had for me, but I don't know anymore..." A thoughtful pause came between the two women.
"The Handfasting, a kind of Wiccan wedding, if you must," she explained to Rebecca, "It helped him gain a bit of control over his gift. I knew it had some effect on him, I felt it, too. The changes weren't easily seen but when we did the handfasting, not only did our souls united in the sacred ceremony, so did our powers. I felt a kind of coldness, a void that needed filling and in some weird way, my witch magic seemed to fill it for him."
Lucille now gave both the flowers back to Rebecca. For a second, Rebecca was prepared for the story to end, it was pretty obvious they were treading on tough ground with the issue so she recieved the flowers and said nothing.
"It started his hunger for power. Nevermind if initially, he was only seeking my help for silencing the spirits. As the days and weeks went on, he was starting to want more power. He no longer wanted for them to go away, he wanted them to come to him. He wanted to use the spirits, to rule over them and to do his bidding. I grew afraid of it, of him, so I suggested we strip him of his powers, but the suggestion must've been too late. He got addicted to the power, or at least, at that time, the notion that he'd have control over it.
"I found out I was pregnant with Lilian eight weeks into it. We had been fighting a lot and I thought the news would shake him back to his senses. I thought a daughter would show him the goodness of the world."
Rebecca shifted her position and stared at the flowers in her palms. They started twisting in the wind again, even without Lucille's conscious thought. Since witches' powers were tied to their emotions, the flowers were only acting through Lucille's strong but fragile emotional state. This was one of the myriad reasons why Lucille kept her emotions guarded, she didn't want magic to affect everything around her at the slightest emotional trigger.
"For a while, I believed he'd changed. He was loving, caring, and he seemed to have reverted back to the man I fell in love with. My pregnancy was peaceful. We went to the doctors together, medical and otherwise, and things felt like they were falling back into place again.
"That is, until I found out he was only in it because to him, the baby was a new source of power. I found out about his plans to drain both me and our daughter's powers once Lilian's manifested. We got in a pretty awful fight and that's when I decided it was the final straw. I hexed him, the first time I actively used my powers against him, to protect me and my daughter. I ran away, delivered and raised Lilian on my own."
The flowers spun in the air too fast, Rebecca feared it would catch fire. She had to grab with a clap that startled and distracted Lucille. "I'm sorry," Lucille muttered when she realized what she had been doing.
Rebecca just smiled at her and asked, "Did she know about her father?"
"Lilian was just three when I found out he had been practicing in the Dark Arts, that he'd become The Necromancer," Rebecca handed her the flowers, which Lucille promptly returned to the vase before she'd do something awful to them. "He found other sources of power, sources I didn't want to know about. And yes, I told Lilian everything when she was about six or seven, when she was old enough to understand that what happened to her father wasn't her fault. I told her he loved her, but he was going through a lot and needed time on his own. Lilian held on to that hope, you know. She dreamed that one day, her father would turn himself around and he'd be there for her, especially towards the end, when she was too sick and she needed him."
"Lucille," Rebecca took the mother witch's hand in sympathy.
"We tried everything. I took her to real doctors and hospitals and such. But chemo was expensive, and I saw how the other patients were. They were throwing up, losing hair, and...they were dying. I also took her to soothsayers, witchdoctors and I myself did spells and potions for her. Still, we couldn't cure her. Cancer was a part of her and magic could only do so much."
Rebecca snuggled up to Lucille and leaned her head against her shoulder. It wasn't the first time Lucille talked about Lilian and her sickness. It made it easier for her to talk about it, but it didn't mean she felt less somber. She still missed Lilian badly.
"It was Lilian who first accepted her condition. I couldn't just give up and let her die. I thought about going into the dark side, only to save my daughter. I almost went up to find Gerhard and beg him to do something, but Lilian didn't want me to. She said he'd find her if he wanted to. I took that as something she saw in a vision, and maybe Lilian did see him find her and cure her. Except she didn't know she had to die first for her vision to happen."
A single tear trickled down Lucille's cheek and she quickly wiped it away with her fingers. "I'm sorry," she told Rebecca. "Isn't it a little too early to talk about things this heavy?" She let out a soft, forced laugh, and wrapped Rebecca in her arms. After a while, she spoke,"Rebecca?"
"Hmm?"
"I can't claim to understand how you're feeling right now. I've never been in your position, I don't think anyone else can say they've been," Lucille gently stroked Rebecca's hair. "But I want you to know that you're not alone, alright? We've all been lost one way or another, but I want you to know I'm here for you. I'll always want to listen to you."
"Alright," Rebecca replied. "Actually, I want to talk to you about something," she sat up and faced the mother witch. She took Lucille's hand and sighed, "I'm scared. Not just of The Necromancer but of...everyone. Even you."
"Me?" Lucille was confused. "Is it because of the dark magic I wielded at the abandoned cottage?"
"Umm, not that. I thought that was impressive," Rebecca admitted. "I'm scared I won't be able to live up to your expectations. To you and the Gypsies' expectations."
"Oh, honey," Lucille gently swept her fingers against Rebecca's cheek and kissed her forehead. "You don't have to worry about it. We've already talked about it."
"You have?"
"Yes." Lucille nodded. "We figured this was too much for you to handle alone, especially since you still don't have your own memories, your own identity." Lucille held both Rebecca's hands and smiled warmly at her. "I told you I've already accepted Lilian's death, right?"
Rebecca nodded.
"I talked to Grandma Vai and Kaven and Jili. I asked what they wanted to do about...well, about the situation."
"What did they say?"
"Grandma Vai and Jili easily accepted that Masilda wasn't gonna come back. Not in her physical form anyway, and they're pretty open about it. The Padureani women were strong and brave. Kaven took a little more time to process, he loved his mother so much and no one can blame him. But he's over it now," Lucille paused to let the words sink in. When Rebecca seemed to understand, she continued, "We agreed, instead, to go against The Necromancer and retrieve Masilda's soul."
"How are you gonna do that?"
"We don't know yet, dear. But the plan so far is to free Masilda so she can pass on Jili's right to be the Viewing Room's Mistress, and when that happens, Jili would be able to help you find your past."
"They're willing to do that? I mean, you're all willing to help me?" Rebecca asked.
"Yes. We'll help you find your real body and we'll give you back your life."
"I-I don't know what to say..." Rebecca stammered.
"There is nothing to say. Not until we defeat The Necromancer, free Masilda and set everything right."
"But what about you? If I get back, you'd be alone again..."
Lucille didn't expect Rebecca to even think about her. She was touched by the girl's thoughtfulness. "You don't get to worry about me, Rebecca. I can handle myself."
They hugged tight and Rebecca found a sudden drive inside herself. A purpose to live and do something to set things right. She thanked Lucille for the pep talk.
A soft knock came from the bedroom door and both women turned to see Jili, opening the door slightly. "Hi, Rebecca, Lucille..." she said meekly. "Good morning."
"Come on in, Jili," Rebecca told her. "Thanks for the fragrant bunch. They really helped me feel bette," she tilted her head to regard the herbs on the bedside table. Lucille was happy to hear Rebecca's optimism coming back to her.
"You're welcome," Jili's face lit up a bit, "I actually came up here to call you down for breakfast. But Kaven just found something that might help you with your memories, Rebecca."
The two women looked at each other. "What is it Jili?" Lucille asked as both of them quickly got up and walked with Jili out of the room. Rebecca ran her hands against her pyjamas to straighten the creases, and tied her hair in a loose ponytail.
"Have you heard about a Vision Quest?" Jili said.
***
The Necromancer stood beside a huge cauldron in his underground cavern. He was muttering an incantation and adding vial after vial of his toxic concoctions into the mix bubbling up inside the iron receptacle.
"What are you doing?" asked his shadow, lurking somewhere behind him.
"I'm gonna get Lilian, or should I say 'Rebecca', to come here on her own," The Necromancer replied in his gravelly, coarse voice. He kept his eyes closed.
"Tch," the shadow snorted, "Good luck with that."
"Oh I wouldn't need the luck, the witch and the gypsies would, after I'm done with the power transfer, they'd need all the divine luck they could get to stay alive."
He continued with his ritual, and after a while, when the smoke cleared from the cauldron's rim, an image played on the water's surface like a movie.
"Who is that?" the shadow asked.
"Silence!" The Necromancer bellowed. "I won't be able to do this if you keep interrupting me."
"Well, you've already done it. If you opened your eyes, you'd see the Evil Eye is showing you something."
The Necromancer opened his eyes and watched as images of Rebecca, the real one, played on the water.
"Ah..." The Necromancer whispered. "This is interesting, very interesting..."
"I don't know this girl. I don't get how this is going to -"
"Shut up!" The Necromancer sent a fiery energy ball to the rock formation where the shadow stood.
"Really? How many times do you have to be reminded that you can't rid yourself of me, dumbass?" the shadow mocked. "You know I will not stop asking, so why don't you just save your time and energy and just answer my questions. Jeez."
"Alright, fine," The Necromancer stomped his feet in irritation. "I'm looking at that mortal girl's true identity. What I'm seeing is perfect to break her apart and make her willingly give up the fight."
The shadow looked at the water and watched as images of Rebecca's identity shifted from her being a small girl, to scenes from her teenage years.
"With this information, she'd willingly let me kill her and redo the the Resurrection Spell to call back the correct Lilian."
"Yeah, because who else messes up a Resurrection Ritual this big," the shadow muttered under its breath.
"What did you say?"
"Nothing," the shadow retorted. "Just focus on what you're seeing and make sure you get the correct one this time. You know very well you can't afford to make a mistake again."
The Necromancer growled and was about to hurl another energy ball to the shadow again.
"Oh, please," the shadow had no eyes to speak of, but his voice suggested he was rolling his eyes to The Necromancer and his inability to control his temper.
A/N: I've been working for this for almost a month and I don't know if this is good enough but I HAVE TO POST SOMETHING or else I would never be done with editing! LOL
Also, don't forget to Vote if you like it and talk to me in the comment box! What else do you want to see my witches do? I mean, I'm in the middle of a huge overhauling of the story so I might be able to squeeze in a few requests of witchy magic tricks as much as I could. :)
Thanks for reading and I hope you like this. :)