9.
November 1, 2013. The Underland.
Cerise tried to keep her eyes on Moira as they walked. All around her she could hear groans of agony, but didn’t dare look to her left or right. Every story she had ever been told about the Underland since she was a tiny child had prepared her with one simple rule: keep your eye on the prize. When you got distracted, you were lost.
“Try to keep up,” Moira said as she began scaling a flight of narrow stairs.
Cerise frowned, looking up at it. The whole construction look shoddy and the old copper of the stairs looked so rusty and green that she felt certain it would collapse under her. Still, she refused to be diverted. She put one foot forward and started up. The stairs groaned once, but Moira was still climbing. She followed. “You’re older than me. Don’t lie.”
“When you’re immortal, age is much less of a concern,” Moira admitted with a low, sardonic laugh. “I figured your little shade would have informed you of all this.”
“I’ve asked you before not to talk about Jack.”
Moira stopped walking. She turned back to face Cerise, taking in a slow, plodding scan of her face. “You really loved him, didn’t you?”
“You think I would have put up with the confines of that relationship if I hadn’t loved him?” The thought was ridiculous. It rankled Cerise right to her core. Of course she had loved Jack. He had been a very hard man to love, but that didn’t change the truth.
“Good,” Moira replied, turning again. “I was afraid it was just the girl.”
“Just the girl?!” Cerise practically roared. “That girl is my daughter. There is nothing just about Jaclyn.”
“Right...”
Cerise wanted to race up the stairs and straight past this Moira woman. The only thing that stayed her was the knowledge that she had no way out of here without Moira. “I suppose you immortals wouldn’t understand.” She rolled her voice over the word immortal so that the sarcasm could not possibly be missed.
“Don’t act like you’re so different just because you don’t know who you are,” Moira replied. Cerise supposed it was meant to sound wise and cryptic, but it just came off as petulant to her.
“How much further do we have to go?”
“Just up the stairs down the tunnel and through to the gate. Don’t worry. You won’t have to put up with me much longer.”
The pair continued in silence. Part of Cerise wanted to ask her about Raymond, find out exactly what was going on there. Growing up she had been hard on him for who he dated. She regretted it now. She stayed quiet though. The other part of her didn’t want to know whether or not Moira was being good to her brother. She didn’t want to have to be the one to deliver that news.
Moira spoke first. “You Moorelands are a really shut off bunch, aren’t you?”
“Just keep walking.”
“I can talk while I’m walking.”
Cerise shook her head, focusing hard on the path in front of her. She could see the top of the stairs now.
“It’s just weird. I’m good at memories. I can jump in and trigger a thought in just about anyone. Damn, there was this vengeance spirit in Detroit awhile back and I was able to get into her head. I can work my powers on a vengeance spirit, but I can’t read you or your mother for all I’ve got. I wonder why that is.”
Still, Cerise would not answer her out loud. She merely shrugged in response.
“Your brother puts a memory potion in the pie at his restaurant. That’s Underland magic right there...messing with memories. I should know.”
Cerise bit hard into her lip. They crested the stairs and walked on into a dark, narrowing tunnel. She didn’t want to hear what sorts of weird dark magic this woman had gotten her brother mixed up with.
“I didn’t give it to him, if that’s what you’re thinking. He’d already been using it awhile when I came along. Of course, he had no idea what it was. Didn't even know it was a potion til I told him, but still...”
“What do you want me to say?” Cerise spat, unable to hold her tongue any longer.
Moira stopped walking and leaned against the tunnel wall. The area around them was so dark that she practically faded back into the shadows. “I want you to admit what you are, Harvest witch.”
Cerise’s fist clenched involuntarily. “Take me to Jaclyn or I’m going without you.”
“This whole thing started long before she got here, you know.”
But Cerise wasn’t listening. She pushed past Moira and made her way down the tunnel alone. Surely, if she found Jaclyn, she would have a way out. Putting up with Moira was only serving to raise her blood pressure. It didn’t help anyone.
As she walked, the tunnel grew narrower. Eventually, she had to stoop to keep going, then, even, drop to her knees and crawl. A distinct Alice In Wonderland feeling began to overtake her just as she reached the end and the tunnel opened up into a wide corridor. Just as Moira had mentioned, on the other side stood a pair of bronze doors.
Cerise raced forward and grabbed the handle of each door. They were heavy, but she pulled hard, throwing them open wide.
“NO!” A man’s voice behind her screamed. She turned to see a thin man in overalls carrying an apple, but behind him stood someone immensely more important. Behind him, stood Jack.
# # # #
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
You can find her online at https://amystilgenbauer.wordpress.com/ and on twitter @Rosainverno
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And, be sure to read the other parts in the Season of the Witch series:
DAUGHTER OF DETROIT (coming in April 2015)
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