Chapter 12

Sarah sat up in bed with a start, not sure if she had fallen asleep. Her mind was strangely foggy, her thoughts and memories a blur, but there was one clear thought. Tom was still beside her, fast asleep, and she looked at him with a smile. It was one of the few times she had seen him peaceful and she hated to disturb him.

Moving carefully off the bed she hoped he would continue to sleep, what she had to do would be hard but this time his presence wouldn’t make it easier. Tip-toeing silently across the room she opened the door a crack and peered out into the dimly lit hallway. She was afraid. Still, there were some things she needed to know and there was only one man that would be able to answer her questions. She only hoped he would.

As she made her way to the stairs, she wondered what would happen if any of the creatures saw her. Was she still protected by Thaddeus? Was she magic now and therefore one of them? She didn’t think that they would leave her alone simply because she had helped save them from the banshees and the powerless fate they had planned for them.

Making her way downstairs she was grateful to see that the area was surprisingly empty for once. A few creatures were sitting or standing around in the corners of the great room but there was no sign of the mob that was usually gathered. None of the creatures made a move towards her as she descended, most barely looking in her direction. She wondered if they were hurt or weakened from the fighting.

Thinking of the battle brought back memories of the all-consuming fear she had felt, a fear that she had been able to suppress until now. Entering the room she remembered the screams, both of the banshees and their victims and the horror that she had witnessed in the short time she had been downstairs. It chilled her to remember. She knew the fighting would have become far worse before she had been able to read from the book and felt sorry for the victims.

There was nothing to indicate that there had been a battle there recently. The room was the same as every other time she had entered it, the dark mustiness uninviting but not out of place. Everything had been put back to normal quickly, and she wondered if they had used a spell or if some of the creatures were just good at housework. She might consider giving them a job cleaning her house if that were the case.

Forcing her errant mind back to the job at hand she was relieved to see the giant leech, Elinor, at her desk. Sarah made her way over to it carefully. As she moved past a few monsters she noticed that up close her appearance was causing curious glances but thankfully the gazes lacked the usual lust-filled hunger and she wasn’t inciting a commotion. No one paid her much attention for once.

The leech didn’t look up from her work as Sarah approached. Sighing, she realised that things hadn’t changed as much as she had thought. Summoning up her nerve she pressed on anyway, ignoring the voice in her head that was telling her that this was a bad idea. For some reason, that voice of sanity sounded very small and very far away.

‘Where can I find Thaddeus?’ Sarah asked without preamble.

Elinor glanced up at her arrogantly, obviously appalled by the distraction to her seemingly never-ending paperwork. Sarah tried not to notice the skinniness of the leech, ignoring the hunger that was written in the creature’s body language. Elinor looked back at her work without answering and Sarah was about to ask again, unwilling to be put off when the other woman pointed with her pen in the rough direction of the wall. Looking at it in confusion Sarah noticed a doorway that she was sure hadn’t been there before.

Moving over to it she hesitated at the door. She knew Thaddeus didn’t like her and she didn’t want to upset him more with rudeness but if she knocked first would he deny her permission to enter? Her mind felt fuzzy with confusion but she thought etiquette would matter to the sorcerer. Grasping the door handle and taking a deep breath she turned it quickly, knowing that if he hadn’t wanted her to visit she probably wouldn’t have been able to find the door in the first place.

Thaddeus was sitting at a large desk in the middle of a normal-looking home office. Well, normal-looking if you considered gothic tones and the absence of any modern technology normal. There were thick books on the shelves though and she couldn’t resist looking at their spines for the titles, surprised to see they were all blank. There was something odd about the office, it seemed covered in a haze of magic. She had a strange feeling that it had been set up for their discussion as a way to intimidate her but how could he have known she was coming?

‘Feeling better?’ Thaddeus asked as if he had expected her to walk into his office uninvited. Remembering that it was his house, and even his realm, she supposed there probably wasn’t much that went on in it that he didn’t know about.

‘Yes, thank you,’ Sarah answered politely, still awed by the power rolling off the man towards her. ‘I’m just still a bit weak from the … magic …’ the word on her tongue sounded strange.

Thaddeus nodded sagely as if her comment made perfect sense and she supposed to him it would. Still, she wasn’t buying into his concerned act and the condescending expression he wore wasn’t helping her nerves. Remembering his insistence to get rid of her she hoped he wasn’t thinking of kicking her out of his house now that the fight was over. She wasn’t about to wait to find out and was quick to reassure him.

‘And I will be heading home soon. Tom has already told me that he will take me home straight away now that the danger is over. But he’s sleeping now,’ she was rambling in her nervousness and bit down on her tongue to stop the words.

‘I suppose that is why you’re here, to talk about Tom?’ Thaddeus questioned with a raised eyebrow.

‘No,’ Sarah took a deep breath to calm her nerves before continuing. ‘I want to know about Catherine.’

She gave him a moment to regain his composure while she moved to sit uninvited in the chair opposite him. The feeling of déjà vu she experienced as she regarded him over the wooden desk made her realise she had probably been correct about their meeting place being intentionally picked to intimidate her. She could feel the same overwhelming surge of his power flowing over the narrow desk towards her and her fear wasn’t helped by the strict, formal setting. This time she was the one wanting information though.

‘What makes you think I would talk to you about Catherine?’ his tone was terrifying in its harshness but Sarah found the answer falling off her tongue without much thought.

‘I didn’t think you would … but I hoped you would.’

Thaddeus paused, looking at her across the table and she didn’t wait to be invited to ask her questions.

‘Catherine brought me here, didn’t she?’

She watched carefully as Thaddeus leaned back in his chair slowly. He seemed to contemplate her question, his eyes never leaving hers during the pause. Sarah allowed herself to be drawn in but only a little, she could control it better now.

He nodded. ‘I originally wove my spell on the portals of this realm so that Tom’s mother and I were the only ones that could say who entered.’

‘But she was mortal how could she use magic?’

‘Once my spell was woven over the portals she didn’t need to use magic to access them or to allow others to access them. But that’s not what you are asking is it?’

Sarah shook her head. The fog was returning and she was having a hard time marshalling her thoughts into questions, let alone sorting out his answers. She gripped the arms of the chair tightly as she suddenly felt dizzy in the small room. Remembering Tom in the nice soft bed she knew she should have been resting still but instead she had thought she was strong enough to take on Thaddeus. She shook her head again but this time it was at herself.

Suddenly she felt some of the fog ease inside her mind and she was sure some of the awesome power surrounding her eased as well. Looking at the man sitting opposite her in confusion she received no sign that he had given her the reprieve.

‘Catherine is now a ghost,’ Thaddeus explained as if nothing had changed in the room around them. She focused on his words intently. ‘Much like the ghosts you encountered on your first night here, she now has some powers because of her current state.’

Sarah wondered how he knew about the ghosts that had attacked her but she didn’t want to ask and get off-topic. Still, she felt violated that he knew so much about her time in his house.

‘Why did she choose me? Am I magic?’ Sarah half expected to be laughed at. Instead, the serious expression that faced her scared her for a moment. After the experience she’d had with the book she was sure she didn’t want to touch magic again.

‘No.’ the finality in his tone was stern but to her the word was comforting. ‘Before you came here you had no claim to magic. But you were touched by magic while reading the book and you could be more sensitive towards it now.’

Sarah could hear something in his tone that the sensible part of her brain was begging her to pay attention to and she wondered what his message could mean. Still, she didn’t think it would matter once she had returned to her normal non-magical life so she disregarded the message, focusing instead on the information she had come for.

‘I don’t know why she chose you,’ Thaddeus continued. ‘Maybe you were just in the right place at the right time, or maybe there was something about you that appealed to her. In some ways, you remind me of her.’ The last was said almost wistfully and she felt goose-bumps rise on her arms in reply. She didn’t think she was anything like the ghost she had encountered and didn’t want to encourage Thaddeus to look for any imagined similarities between them.

‘But why did she bring me here, was it so I could read that book?’ Sarah’s exasperation was showing in her questions. The answers she had received weren’t making her feel any better about why she had been brought to this realm. She now knew where Tom got his evasive answering techniques from.

‘Possibly.’ The cryptic response nearly drove her mad but she found she had more pressing things to worry about as the fog started to consume her thoughts once again. It was stronger this time as it overpowered her and wormed its way into every corner of her brain while she was unable to stop it. The power increased in the room as well until it was a palpable thing, hot against her clammy skin as it pressed in on her.

Thaddeus leaned forward in his chair as he continued, his voice softer and more melodious than before and somehow it made the consuming fog increase with each word. ‘Maybe she knew from the start that the answers would be in the book and that she would need someone to speak the words for her. Or maybe she kept you around just in case. She might have needed someone to fight in a battle, someone expendable, a human. She brought you here, kept you safe and used you when the time was right. She might even have picked you hoping that you would be someone our son would keep safe for her.’

Suddenly Sarah recognised the fog for what it was; a compelling. Thaddeus had manipulated her into coming to him, letting her believe that it had been her idea and that she had been in control of the situation when she had just been his puppet. She found little contentment in the fact that he hadn’t been able to control the object of her questions, which had been obvious by his reaction when she had mentioned Catherine. She wondered why he had bothered talking with her instead of just making her do whatever it was that he had summoned her for. Then she remembered his comment that she might be sensitive to magic now and realised he had been using the time to test how useful she could be to him.

She knew that proving useful to Thaddeus wouldn’t be such a great idea. His comment about Catherine keeping her around to be used when the time was right rang a little too loudly in her ears and she heard his intent. She didn’t want to think about what he could do to her while he was waiting for the right time to use her. Sarah knew she should leave if she could but she had a terrible feeling that she wouldn’t get far if she could even get out of the chair.

Instead of attempting an escape, she focused her energy on words, there was one more question she had to ask. ‘Why doesn’t Tom know his mother’s still here?’ each word came out in a halting croak but the message must have shocked Thaddeus a little as she felt the fog inside and outside of her ease slightly.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Sarah knew she couldn’t keep Catherine’s presence from Tom. She didn’t understand or like the secret that could cause him so much pain and she didn’t want to be a part of it. If she was ever allowed to see him again, she would have to tell him. He needed to know about his mother’s involvement in her time in this realm.

‘I need to tell him …’ she echoed her thoughts aloud but the words dried up in her throat, replaced with a burning, painful sensation.

Closing her mouth, she glared at Thaddeus with the little strength she had left, knowing she wouldn’t be able to offer any resistance to the powerful man. He hadn’t moved at all but she knew he was the source of her pain. His immensely full eyes blazed into hers as he stared at her angrily. The burning intensified until she was unsure if she would ever be able to speak again.

As her world began to condense with the pain, abruptly the powerful sensation was cut off and the fog mysteriously dispersed at the same time. Sarah swallowed as she turned to the figure standing in the doorway. Tears began to form in her eyes as she looked at Tom gratefully.

‘Sarah, what are you doing here?’ Tom’s voice wasn’t a reproach but it was heavily tinted with suspicion as he glanced from her to his father.

She worked her throat as she tried to answer but Thaddeus spoke first.

‘I was just thanking Sarah for her help,’ his answer was so smooth that she didn’t know how to start to counter it. ‘She had some questions about magic but I told her there would be no lasting damage … this time.’

She opened her mouth to try to speak but the words wouldn’t come. Thankfully by the look on Tom’s face, he wasn’t believing his father’s innocent act. Tom opened the door wider and gestured for her to follow. After she unsteadily rose to her feet, they left the room wordlessly.

As they moved away from Thaddeus the overwhelming feelings subsided but not the memory of them and Sarah knew that she would have to be very careful if her path ever crossed his again. It was something she hoped would never happen as she felt sure she wouldn’t survive the experience, or if she did survive she definitely wouldn’t come out of it the same. Still, she couldn’t help wondering what Thaddeus had been like thirty-odd years ago when he was in love with a human woman and planning a family. The thought of Catherine made her wonder again why he would go to such lengths to cover her existence from his son.

They had only moved a few steps from the office door before Sarah found herself once again in her bedroom. There was no sickening lurch this time or feelings of disorientation and she knew that Tom had teleported them, mid-step and without her knowledge. He dropped her hand as soon as they were safely ensconced in her room and she hoped he wasn’t too angry at her for sneaking out. The performer’s mask was back on his face, making it hard to tell.

‘Tom, I’m sorry,’ she croaked, her voice still raw from the strangling she had endured.

He nodded distractedly. ‘Grab your things we have to leave now.’

Knowing he was right, still, she allowed herself a few moments as she fully accepted the situation. She was finally leaving. This was the ending of a small but meaningful section in her life, the end of her horrific adventure and the end of her association with paranormal beings; including Tom.

‘Thank you, Tom,’ she said quietly, hoping to convey all that she meant in the few words. She knew that going back to her normal life would come with some sacrifices.

As she looked around the room, she quickly realised that there was nothing there for her to pack. She had arrived at the building with only the bridesmaid dress she had been wearing and that no longer existed. The pile of clothing from the vampire could stay for the next visitor to the room. She thought sadly about her lost and damaged possessions realising that it didn’t matter, everything could be replaced. Getting home alive was all that was important.

Sarah only wished that she could take Tom with her. She wished she could take him away from this strange realm with its monsters and evil sorcerers and wondered again how staying would affect him. Surely it wouldn’t be long before his father tried to control him. Remembering Tom being compelled to come to this realm in the first place she knew his father had the power and the willingness to do it. She didn’t think Thaddeus would be upfront about anything if he didn’t want to be, his love of playing games went too deeply within him.

She thought again about the secret Thaddeus was keeping from his son and recklessly turned to Tom. ‘There’s something I have to tell you …’ her words were cut off quickly but this time it wasn’t due to a restriction in her throat but rather from a discreet knock on her door.

Tom had looked at her with surprise at her comment but the look quickly vanished as he turned and moved towards the door, opening it a crack. She wasn’t surprised by the interruption but had been startled to see Tom move as if he had been expecting it as well. Sarah could hear the tense conversation but wasn’t able to make out any of the words spoken, although she should have been close enough to hear. With the door mostly closed she couldn’t see who was on the other side but could tell by Tom’s firm stance and clipped tones that he was intent on resisting the intruder’s entrance into her room.

Noticing Tom’s expression as he closed the door, with the visitor still outside, she didn’t have to be told who it was he had been talking to and realised she might have been a bit hasty earlier to celebrate their reconciliation. She hadn’t needed to hear the words that accompanied those tones to know that Tom hadn’t wanted Thaddeus in the room with them. Although he had spoken of a willingness to work with his father it was going to take a lot of work before they were on friendly terms.

Sarah eyed Tom carefully as he moved deeper into the room. She wasn’t afraid of him but suddenly found herself awkward around him, overcome by a state of awe. Of the two men, Thaddeus had always been the stronger one, Tom was weakened by his half-human side, and there should have been no way that Tom could have stopped his father from entering the bedroom if he had wanted to. A flicker of hope rose in her, unable to smother the awe, as she realised that maybe Tom would be alright around Thaddeus after all.

As he turned to her, she expected some form of explanation about his father’s visit but none was forthcoming.

‘We have to go,’ he said again but this time there was more urgency in his tone.

Sarah followed him wordlessly out the door and towards the stairs. She didn’t see Thaddeus in the hall but hadn’t expected him to hang around once his message had been imparted, whatever it had been. She was glad that Tom hadn’t told her, there was only so much she could take and all she knew now was that Tom was once again trying to keep her safe. She trusted him.

She was glad when he took her hand as they quickly descended towards the gathered crowd, although she knew instinctively that they wouldn’t give her any trouble. There were more of the creatures in the room this time but as they moved amongst them the creatures looked at her and Tom with something akin to reverence. She didn’t know how much they knew of what had happened but it was clear to everyone in the room that something had changed. The monsters stood silently as they moved passed, staring at her with their soulless dark eyes but there wasn’t a trace of the passionate hunger they had always displayed in her presence.

Sarah wondered if she didn’t attract them anymore. Thaddeus had said that she was different from being touched by magic and she wondered if the magic she had used had made her unappealing to the creatures, the same way they weren’t attracted to Tom. Or maybe it was Tom that had them all frozen in their places. All the creatures had shown fear and awe of Thaddeus and his power, maybe Tom now had that same aura. She didn’t want to waste any time finding out.

She could see a few faces she recognised as she walked past. Delia was once again with her group of vampires and Sarah was pleased to see that the undead woman looked unhurt. Next, she picked out the young man that had helped to rescue her and Tom and had then inappropriately offered to turn her into a werewolf, and although she could see the effects of the fight on him, she was sure he would recover quickly. Her eyes scanned the room for the young changeling child and she breathed a sigh of relief at finding him in one piece. She wondered when she had started to care about monsters.

Sarah wondered why Tom hadn’t just teleported them from her room but as she approached the front door she figured it out. He wanted the monsters to know that she was leaving with him … for good this time. For once she was glad to be walking past the creatures, it was a fitting end to her time in the horrific building and an opportunity to prove how far she had come. Still, she was glad when they reached the front door and she was able to cross the threshold into freedom.

Stepping out of the dim, musty house Sarah felt reborn in the warm sun. There was no sign of clouds or mist in the clear sky and she smiled at the thought of not having to worry about monsters that hid in clouds ever again. Looking back at the dark mansion she wished fleetingly that she could see Catherine, maybe staring out at her from one of the windows, as she still would have liked to find out why Tom’s mother had picked her to enter this strange realm. Maybe one last look at the spirit might give her a clue, but she was disappointed as the blank façade of the building stared back at her.

Turning away from the building she felt elated to be leaving but still could not shake the tinge of sadness about the man she was leaving behind. He turned to her now.

‘Ready?’ he asked quietly.

Sarah nodded knowing he was about to teleport her to the portal. The brief sensation was something she savoured as she wondered if she would ever experience it again after she was safely back home. Now that the fear was gone, she was able to enjoy his magic and even see the fun and beauty in it.

Within seconds it was over and they stood together beside his car. After quickly retrieving her bags, Tom walked with her towards the edge of the realm. Sarah looked around for any sign that there was a portal in front of them, wondering if she could see it now that she had been “touched by magic” but she couldn’t see anything unusual in the environment around her. There wasn’t even a shimmer of light to tell her that her realm was only a step away.

‘Where to?’ Tom asked her and she remembered that this portal could take her wherever she wanted as long as she was with him.

‘I just want to go home,’ she answered with finality, amazed at the relief those few words gave her. She had been on an adventure that she had never asked for and now nothing sounded more wonderful than to be back in her nice quiet little home and returning to her normal life.

Tom nodded and they stepped through the portal together. She clung to his free hand with both of hers as they moved forward, not wanting to get separated and end up in an entirely different realm, this time without his help. As they arrived on the other side, she noticed that things looked remarkably the same as the realm they had been in. She wondered if there had been a problem with the portal again but there was something deep within her that told her she had returned to her home. She didn’t recognise the area and had no idea where she was but she knew it was her realm.

Without comment, Tom magically transported them again and Sarah suddenly found herself outside her simple house in her quiet street. She had never been so happy to see a building before in her life. Wordlessly she walked towards her front door, still holding Tom’s hand so he had no choice but to follow her, and as she approached, she noticed the door open as if of its own accord. She smiled at Tom and the magic he used so simply, if he stuck around, she would never have to worry about losing her keys again.

Entering the house, she felt a profound flash of relief course through her body and realised that it was the first time she had been able to fully relax in days. Seeing the bright sun beaming in through her open curtains, flooding the rooms with light, made a smile of pure joy spring to her lips. Turning to Tom she wanted to share the moment but as she looked at him her words stilled as the complexity of her emotions overcame her. She wanted to thank him for keeping her safe in those impossible situations, tell him that the experiences they had shared mattered to her and ask if she would ever see him again, but in the reality of her home and of her realm she knew there were no words.

Instead, she reached up and kissed him, hoping to impart all that she felt, and was pleased when his arms encircled her as he kissed her. Slowly the kiss deepened and gradually she became aware of pleasant tiredness overcoming her. It was as if her body and mind were completely relaxing to a state of absolute bliss. As he broke away, she felt herself falling lightly into a peaceful state of sleep.

Tom gently caught Sarah as she fell asleep in his arms. Picking her up, he made his way to the bedroom, tucking her into the modest-sized bed in the brightly lit room. He paused for a moment, looking down at her as she rested peacefully before silently removing himself from her bedroom. He hesitated before leaving the house, taking some time to place a warding spell around the building to keep her safe although he knew that she wasn’t in danger anymore. As Tom teleported back to the portal he smiled.

Sarah awoke unsure of the time, the date or even what day it was but there was one thing she knew instantly; she was home. Looking around her cheerful bedroom, white furniture with splashes of colour here and there, she smiled to herself and wiggled her toes playfully against the light bedding she was tucked up into. She had woken from a dream filled with monsters and scary buildings and seeing the normality of her room made her feel safe. She reminded herself that it had only been a dream.

As she arose, she noticed her suitcase placed near the door and thought she must have left it there after returning from the airport. Moving over to her bag she noticed the mobile phone she had recently purchased sitting innocently on top, complete and intact. A quick search produced more items that her confused mind told her should have been broken, damaged or missing altogether. There was a fog over her memories that she couldn’t shift, the dream and reality blurring together.

Sarah thought about her recent trip. She couldn’t be entirely sure that she had made it to the hotel after her sister’s wedding but she couldn’t remember exactly what had happened instead. She thought she had made her flight and arrived safely back home, with nothing more exciting happening than being stopped for a bag check at the airport, but other memories claimed otherwise. Still, she could almost believe that nothing unusual had happened on her trip. She could almost believe it. Almost!

It was better than her mind being full of hazy, odd memories that in the harshness of reality seemed impossible and made her feel foolish for even contemplating as real.

Making her way into the kitchen for a cup of coffee, hoping the caffeine would help clear some of the fogginess left-over from her wild dreams and would help her put the finishing touches on the story she was trying to convince herself was real, Sarah suddenly noticed something out of place on her dining table. Walking over she smiled with resigned joy as she recognised the worn cards, stark against the dark wood of her tabletop. She ran her fingertips gently over the fanned-out deck, not disturbing any, as she noticed that they were all lying face down except one. Her smile deepened as she retrieved the only card that faced her; the queen of hearts.

Sarah ran her thumb over the picture on the card, knowing that it didn’t matter how crazy the past few days had been she would never forget or be able to convince herself that it had never happened. The story she had been trying to construct vanished. An illusion that was broken as the reality, however impossible, took firm roots in her mind. It had been real. As Sarah looked again at the cards, she knew that her reality would never again be the same and that her life would never be without magic.

The End