Page 65 of Witchbane

The women began chanting. Concentrating on the chant and our purpose to rid the house of malice, I joined in.

‘By the light of this candle and powers of the flame,

Dark forces be banished to whence you came,

Take your evil and set this house free,

Never to return, so mote it be.’

We repeated the chant over and over, and as I spoke I willed us to be rid of the evil intent invading our lives more each day.

I was vaguely aware of the wind picking up, then the light dimmed. The sun must have slipped behind clouds. The air cooled around us and a chill wafted across my neck. Something was amiss, but what? Was this change in the attic’s atmosphere due to the threatening energy we were attempting to banish preparing to leave? I hoped so.

Encouraged, and desperate for the spell to work, I intensified my efforts, feeling the women clasping my hands tighter as I did theirs.

I heard whispering. Clarice’s hand gripped mine even tighter, but I wasn’t sure why. Then I detected the unmistakable scent of roses and lavender wafting into the room and my memory transported me back in time to lying on my mother’s bed as she brushed her hair at her dressing table.

I heard a gasp. It was my aunt. I opened my eyes without thinking. My breath caught in my throat. An apparition floated several inches above the floorboards in the middle of our circle. It was faint but wore what looked like a chemise and was without doubt a woman. I would have let go of Clarice and Iris’s hands but they kept hold of mine, so as not to break the circle.

‘Martha?’ My grandmother’s voice was barely above a whisper and filled with emotion.

The vision in front of me wavered, and for a moment I expected her to disappear. My mother was in front of me. My eyes clouded briefly and my legs threatened to give way. Horrified at the thought of fainting, I tensed and pressed my lips together, forcing myself to be strong. If this was indeed my mother I had no intention of missing anything she would share with us.

A small cry escaped my grandmother’s lips. I looked at her, willing her too to be strong, though in fact she was the most powerful woman I had ever known, both in her witchcraft and in her determination to bring me up to become the woman she believed my mother would have wanted me to be. But this was her much-missed daughter, and I understood why her eyes brimmed with unshed tears. I felt her pain and, at the same time, joy that my mother was with us in some form.

My mother pointed at me. Her mouth moved but I couldn’t hear what she was saying. I struggled to think what to do.

‘Tell us what you need us to hear, Martha,’ my grandmother pleaded. ‘Take your time.’

I listened, willing my mother’s spirit to find the strength to speak. Again I saw her mouth move but there was no sound.

Come on, I willed, wishing I could help her.

Her mouth moved again, and just when I was about to cry with frustration, I heard my name.

‘Rue.’ She was silent, then spoke again. ‘Rue. Danger follows you. Do not to trust those who will let you down.’

I wasn’t sure what she meant. ‘Mama, who should I be wary of?’

She didn’t seem to hear. ‘Beware of false promises. Be strong. Don’t let him do to you what he did to me.’

She meant the Witchfinder. I hoped she knew I would never trust that man, so I assumed she must mean someone else. But who? Theo? No, not him; I was already watching him for signs of betrayal.

I tried to think of someone else but, apart from the person who had made the accusation against me, Theo seemed to be the only person I didn’t know well enough to trust. My heart ached as it dawned on me that my feelings for him had changed and I had begun to care for him. I focused on my mother again, not wanting to miss a moment. Could she mean my father? Surely not.

‘Ask her about the mould,’ my aunt whispered.

‘Mama, did you cause the creeping mould to gain our attention so we might cast this spell?’

There was a breath that filled the air, more like a heavy sigh of relief. I knew instantly that’s what she had done.

‘You opened the way for me to come to you,’ she said. ‘I love you, my darling girl, and I’m proud of the woman you’ve become.’

She seemed less visible but that could have been because my eyes were filling with tears. I squeezed them shut to release them, sensing we were losing her again.

‘Please don’t go yet,’ I begged, trying to pull my hands from the other women’s.

‘No,’ Iris said. ‘Don’t break the circle.’