Magic on Changeling Mountain

Carolyn drove home carefully and found Cindy in her goat form waiting on her porch when she arrived. Cindy transformed as Carolyn got out of her jeep and came around to where she was standing, shivering. “Cindy! My word, girl, what are you doing here? How long have you been waiting? You must be frozen. Come on inside and get warmed up.”

“Oh, Carolyn. I hate to keep imposing on you but do you think I can crash here tonight? I’m due to leave for school in the morning and my dad is being a real jerk tonight. I just couldn’t stay there and put up with it for a minute longer. I’ve been on your porch for about an hour. I’ve got my stuff down at the clinic and I started to just sleep there tonight but since you’ve had it closed, the heat hasn’t been on and it’s really cold in there.” Cindy said, through chattering teeth as she waited for Carolyn to unlock the door.

“You should have used the spare key and let yourself in. You know where it is, don’t you?” She quickly wrapped the throw she kept on the back of her sofa around Cindy and urged her to sit down. “I’ll make you some cocoa to warm you up.”

“Thanks. I didn’t know what else to do. I caught the bus up here and have to wait till the station opens in the morning to get one back to school. My car has been acting up and I was afraid to chance it in this weather.” Cindy said.

“So what set your dad off this time?” Carolyn asked. “If you don’t mind telling me?”

“I was packing what little stuff I have left, getting ready to go back to school and he just got angry and started in about how I should wait until after they got settled in a new place before going back to school. My mom tried to argue with him but he just wouldn’t listen. Even Ralph stood up for me which surprised the hell out of me. He usually stays out of it. I just couldn’t stay there. I told my mom where I was going and she cried and apologized but she understands.”

“I don’t mean to speak ill of your father but no wonder none of you kids want to stay once you are old enough to leave. Did you manage to save all of your books and school things?”

“I didn’t bring much with me, so it’s all safe at school. Only the clothes I brought with me got damaged and most of it was new stuff I had bought while I was there. Luckily, the thrift store is close to campus and has some really good deals but I sure am going to miss the things I bought.”

“Well, here. I didn’t give you anything for your birthday or Christmas, so you can buy yourself something from me when you get back.” Carolyn said and handed Cindy forty dollars, which was all the cash she had in her wallet.

“Oh, no, Carolyn. I can’t take your money. Just having a place to stay tonight is enough.” Cindy protested.

“Now you are going to hurt my feelings if you don’t take this money. It’s my belated birthday/Christmas present to you.” Carolyn said.

“Ok. Thank you!” Cindy said, as she accepted the cash. Carolyn handed her a big mug of hot chocolate and poured one for herself. They sat on the sofa and visited a little while but when the clock struck 10 pm, Cindy finally said. “Well, I’d better get to bed. The bus gets in at 8 am and I definitely don’t want to miss it.”

“Wake me up when you get up and I’ll take you down to the station.” Carolyn offered.

“Oh, no need to. Ralph is going to come and get me at 6:30 but thanks for the offer. I’ll be sure to lock the door behind me when I leave.” Cindy said as she stood up to rinse her cup in the kitchen sink. “And thanks again for letting me crash here tonight. I just hope my father figures out that if he doesn’t change his ways soon, none of us are going to want to ever come back to the mountain again.”

“We can only hope. Good night, Cindy and sweet dreams.”

Carolyn remembered then to call Tammy and let her know that she had made it home safely.

“I was getting worried. I was about to call Colin and ask him to go check on you.” Tammy said, with a giggle.

“I found Cindy on my front porch when I got here and she was about half frozen. Her father is not taking her going back to school well at all. I swear if that old goat doesn’t change his attitude, he’s going to chase all of his children away permanently.”

“Sounds like she’s in my boat. But that would be so sad. And Cindy is such a sweet person. Is she staying with you tonight?”

“Yeah, she just went to bed. Her brother is going to come get her and take her to the bus station in the morning.”

“Well, I’d better go and let you get to sleep. I have to get up and go down to my office in the morning and check on things.” Tammy said.

“Ok. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” Carolyn said and then hung up. She looked out the kitchen window after she hung up the phone and the moon was almost full, making it very bright outside. The snow covered woods looked beautiful in the moonlight.

She was tempted to do a late patrol but since she had partially run one on her way home from her parents’ house and it looked so cold outside, she decided to just go get ready for bed. She took a long leisurely bath, shaved her legs and washed her hair, taking her time. She blew her hair dry and stood looking in the mirror.

It had been a while since she had been to the beauty parlor and started thinking about how she would like to wear her hair for the wedding. She noticed her eyebrows needed attention so she grabbed her tweezers and a small mirror and went to sit in the middle of her bed while she quickly shaped her eyebrows and then gave herself a pedicure and manicure. She swept the clippings into her hand and dumped them into the small trash bin that sat next to her nightstand and laid back on the pillows.

She looked around at her bedroom and wondered if Colin would be happy in here. It suited her fine because it wasn’t overly feminine. It was a large room with a generous space to walk around the bed. Her dresser was positioned between the two windows that faced west and there was plenty of room for Colin to bring in a dresser for his clothes. Her walk-in closet also had ample room for him to hang his uniforms and dressier clothes. When she stopped to think about it, she had never seen him really dress up except for the rented tuxes for dances in high school and she wondered if he even owned a suit. He had worn new looking slacks and a button down shirt the day he had taken her to Asheville on their date but had topped it with his down coat instead of a suit coat. Any other time, he normally wore jeans and t-shirts or his uniform, mostly his uniform.

She finally climbed under the covers but sat with her back propped up with pillows as she looked over the list she had made with her mother. She wished it wasn’t so late because she would like to call and talk to Colin about what they had discussed but at glance at the clock told her that it was almost midnight. She clicked off her bedside light and snuggled down under the covers. She fell asleep with a big smile on her face, thinking about her wedding day.

The next morning the phone woke her and she hurriedly stumbled into the kitchen. A glance at the clock on the stove told her it was 7:42 and she wondered who was calling her house so early.

“Hello?” she answered sleepily.

“Carolyn? It’s Amelia. I need you to get to Tammy and tell her to come back here, to our house as quickly as you can.”

“What? What’s wrong?” Carolyn said, coming fully awake instantly.

“Just do it and as fast as you can.” Amelia said and hung up the phone.

Carolyn raced back into her bedroom and quickly got dressed. She wondered what was going on and picked up her cell phone. She found Tammy’s number in her contacts and hit the call button as she shoved her feet into her loafers and grabbed her coat out of the closet. She snagged her purse as she ran for the front door and Tammy finally answered her phone.

“Hello?” Tammy answered, sounding out of breath and slightly irritated.

“Tammy get dressed. I’ll be there in 10 minutes.” She said and hung up. She didn’t know what to tell her so she decided to do the same that Amelia had done to her as she made sure the door was locked behind her. She ran to her jeep and got inside. As she waited for the vehicle to warm up, she called her parents to let them know what little she knew.

“Take care, Carolyn. Keep in touch with us.” Her father said.

“I will, Daddy. I’ll call and let you know what’s going on as soon as I find out myself.

As she pulled onto the road leading to the back way to Tammy’s apartment building, she called Colin and told him as well.

“Do you want me to go with you?” Colin asked. “I’ve got a few days off built up and I can take an emergency leave.”

“No. I hope there’s no need for that. Amelia and Lucinda might be panicking over nothing and I don’t know what’s going on yet. But I didn’t want to leave without letting you know I was going. I don’t know if we will even be going anywhere yet. But if we do, I’ll call you when I get there and find out what’s going on.”

“Ok. Well, be safe and call if you need me.” Colin said and then added “I love you, Carolyn.”

“I love you too and I will.” Carolyn hung up just as she pulled into the parking area to find Tammy waiting for her.

“What the hell is going on?” Tammy demanded but Carolyn grabbed her arm and pulled her back inside the building.

“Come on back inside. We can’t apparate out here.” Carolyn whispered.

“Apparate to where?” Tammy started to dig her heels in but quickly realized she wasn’t going to find out anything by being stubborn with Carolyn. She followed her back into her apartment and closed the door.

“Come on, take us to Amelia and Lucinda’s.” Carolyn said, holding out her hand and taking a deep breath.

Tammy didn’t say anything more but took Carolyn’s hand and pulled out her wand. She said the incantation as Carolyn squeezed her eyes shut and held her breath.

A few minutes later, they appeared on Lucinda and Amelia’s front porch. The door was opened almost instantly by Lucinda.

“Lucinda! It’s good to see you again but what in the world is going on? What’s the emergency?” Carolyn wanted to know.

“Come in, come in. Go on into the kitchen and get some coffee and get warmed up.” Lucinda said as she closed the door behind them, shutting out the freezing cold. There was at least 3 feet of snow on the ground all around the house but inside was nice and toasty warm.

They entered the kitchen to find Amelia sitting at the table with Tammy’s parents. Her mother stood and rushed to Tammy as soon as she entered the room.

“Oh, thank goodness you are alright. We were so worried that they were going to get to you before we could get you out of there.”

“Who? What are you talking about?” Tammy demanded.

“The coven that we thought had disbanded and drifted apart is coming back together. They heard that we are back and that we have had contact with you. They are older now and their powers are fading but together they pose a threat to a single witch alone. Especially someone who is not yet fully trained.” Amelia explained, she directed the last part towards Tammy’s parents.

“We thought you would continue her training, teach her how to protect herself and to fight off the dark side.” Amelia accused them. “You have no idea how powerful she could be if she’s trained right. You have wasted valuable time and left her almost defenseless.”

“We were hoping that we could hide her from it if we just kept our magic down to a minimum and tried to live like humans. We hoped they wouldn’t realize it was us. We don’t look anything like we did back then. And how would they know what Tammy looked like? She wasn’t even born when we left here. Pretending to be non-magical and live as the humans do is basically how we’ve been surviving for the past 27 years.” Jacob Mason said, in a defeated voice.

“Seems like it was all for nothing since here we are again. About to run in fear of them again but this time we want Tammy to come with us. We don’t want to lose contact with you again, my daughter.” He said as he stood and put his arm around Tammy, hugging her warmly.

“But Dad! I can’t just take off and run like that! I’ve got a business to run, a boyfriend who I care very much for and my best friend is going to be getting married in a few months and I’m going to be her maid of honor. Why are you so afraid of them?” Tammy said as she hugged him back but then moved out of the embrace of his arm, standing to face her parents with her hands on her hips. “Tell me the full story, or I’m not going anywhere.”

Jacob and Julia looked at each other and Amelia said “She has a right to know it all. She’s not a child anymore.”

Julia finally nodded and Jacob sat down and took Julia’s hand in his. “Go ahead, Julia. Tell her.”

“Come sit down, please.” Julia said.

They all gathered around the table and Julia took Tammy’s hand as she began to tell the story.

“My sister, Trisha, and I were in college in Maryland. That’s where I met your father. Your Aunt Trisha met a warlock by the name of Garret that we didn’t know at the time was not a good person. He was so charming and likable. He had us all fooled. There were six couples that he convinced to become a coven. It seemed so natural at first. His family had money and land and a huge estate on an island at the edge of town. It’s a beautiful place and very secluded. We would meet there most weekends and practice our magic. Slowly, several of them began dabbling in dark magic. It was all in fun at first but then some of them began to get heavily involved in it. Your father and I tried to leave but their rule was that once you were in, you were in for life.

We tried to convince Trisha to come with us but she was so in love with him that she followed him blindly, did whatever he wanted. Another couple tried to leave and they cursed them horribly. Garret turned Darryl into a gargoyle and Gina is stuck in a mirror that hangs in his house. Darryl’s stuck as a stone monster on the outside of the house during the day and made to hunt others that try to oppose them at night. He controls Darryl by threatening to smash Gina’s mirror if he doesn’t do as he’s told.”

“When they began doing sacrifices, first with small animals, rabbits, chickens and the like, we stopped going. They made our lives a living hell. They started spreading rumors about us with our non-magic friends and the teachers and staff at school. And they would “fix” our exams so that we would get lower grades and would have eventually failed all of our classes, if we had stayed, so we left. Your mother’s family is from Seattle and we thought they would help us.” Jacob added.

“But even your Aunt Trisha had turned on me. She had contacted both of our families and convinced them that we were the ones dabbling in dark magic. No one would help us. We had an old van that we lived out of for a while and zig zagged all over the country, usually just a few steps ahead of them.

Then I got pregnant and we did not want you to be born out of wedlock so we got married at that little church in Salem where we left you a little over a year later. We ran and ran, never staying in one place for more than a few days. We’d make money anyway we could, washing dishes for our meals and cleaning rooms for a place to stay for the night. And always looking over our shoulders.

Then I started having issues with my pregnancy, pain in my groin like I was going into early labor and spotty bleeding. We had to find a place to stay for a while where I could get medical attention. I was undernourished and needed vitamins and good food to eat and we needed a place to rest. I was so afraid I was going to miscarry.

We had been living in North Carolina and I rarely ever left the house but when I was about 6 months pregnant, they found us and we had to start running again. We put a spell on ourselves, changing our looks, we changed our names, even our accents and first we went south, towards New Orleans but they followed us. There is so much black magic there that we never felt safe.

We decided to go north again but the van finally gave up on us about 100 miles outside of Nashville and we had to rely on hitch hiking or the bus. We stayed in Nashville for a little while and your father worked at a bar there. He was making good money in tips so we managed to scrape together enough money for two bus fares and it took us over two weeks to get back to the Salem area.

My time was getting close and we were so terrified of them finding us but we had to stop running for a while, at least until I had you and we were praying we would be safe in Canada where medical is free but I went into labor early. You were born in a small clinic on the outskirts of Salem, where the bus had stopped for the night.

Luckily the clinic was an outreach clinic for the church. It sat on sacred land and they couldn’t get to me. The minister let your dad stay at the church while I was in the clinic with you. I was so weak and totally terrified that they were going to find us.

You were such a beautiful baby and we managed to keep you for about 8 months. But we were constantly on the run and it was getting too dangerous. It seemed like no matter where we went, they soon found us and we had to run again. About the time you turned 9 months old, we found ourselves back in Salem and took shelter at that church again.

It nearly tore my heart out to have to leave you there but when we realized you were a pure white witch, we knew they would do everything they could to get to you and we would not be able to hide you forever. We barely made it to the church that night. Darryl was almost right on top of us when we ran up the steps of the church. We hid in the church until almost dawn trying to decide what to do. At daylight, Darryl would turn to stone and we would have a chance to escape but there were other witches watching by then.

We couldn’t apparate with you, it was too dangerous and we thought our only options were to cast a spell on you that would hide your magic, even from yourself until you were old enough to handle it. We wrapped you in the blanket with your name on it and left a note inside your clothes explaining that we were in danger and just wanted to be sure that you were safe and that we would be back for you. We wrapped some of our clothes in a spare baby blanket and as soon as the sun came up, we ran. We hoped it would fool them into following us and it worked.

We had hoped to be back with you as soon as we could lose them again but we didn’t know the church would not keep you and that you would end up in the foster system.

When we went back for you a couple of weeks later, the minister at the church said he had not found the note and because it was the church’s policy to call the child welfare services of the state and to surrender you to their care. So that’s what they had done.

If we had known that, we never would have left you. We tried to contact child welfare but they would not tell us anything. They called us irresponsible and unworthy to be parents and they would not give us any information about where to find you. We searched and searched but could never find any trace of you.

The spell we had cast on you was hiding you too well but we knew it would not last forever. Once you hit puberty, it would begin to wear off. And then you would be vulnerable again. Until then, we had to stay under the radar and pray that they would eventually stop looking for us.

We headed as far away from the area as we could get. We apparated to Europe and spent several years living there. We worked in whatever jobs we could get, mostly restaurants and hotels.

That allowed us to be able to keep an eye on people as they came and went. Being that we were Americans, our employers did not question too much about where we came from or why we ran away when we had to disappear again. We moved back to the states about 4 months ago when we got word that Jacob’s mother had passed away. We finally managed to convince his family that we had not been practicing black magic and thankfully they helped us but no one knew where to find you. Jacob inherited his parents’ house, the place we were living when you came to stay with us.”

“Randolph was the one that alerted us. He said there was some strange activity going on and that he had spotted several new faces in town that reeked of black magic. The nose on that man is amazing. Anyway, he said the day after you went back to the east coast, suddenly all of the strangers disappeared. We think they have picked up on your trail. That’s why the emergency call. We had to get you out of there as quickly as possible and now we need to come up with a plan!” Amelia said.

Suddenly Carolyn jumped up from the table, furious. “You mean you took away the only defense that my family and the people that we care about will have if they find out where Tammy has been living?”

“Relax, Carolyn. Just listen for a minute.”

“No, Carolyn is right. My apartment has a spell on it to protect it but the mountain doesn’t and there are magical creatures there that might attract attention. The centaurs, the fairies and the trolls, not to mention a mountain full of changelings.” Tammy said standing up next to Carolyn. “Look, mom and dad. I understand now why you did what you did and I forgive you for it but I can’t leave Carolyn’s family defenseless. They have been good to me and are the only family I have ever really known.”

“Then sit down and let us tell you how to protect them.” Lucinda said sternly. “We seriously doubt that anyone there is in danger. It’s Tammy they are after, not any of the other magical creatures there.”

“But they might try to use them to get to her.” Carolyn reasoned, trying to remain calm. Panicking now would do no one any good but she was scared.

“Ok, so be quick about it. Tell me what I need to do.” Tammy demanded.

“Well, first of all we are all going to go back with you. We are going to fortify the mountain so that no dark magical being can ever step foot on its soil again.”

“And just how are we going to do that?” Tammy wanted to know.

Lucinda and Amelia laid out a plan to protect the mountain and to rid Tammy and her parents of the dark witches forever……………..hopefully.

“What do you mean “hopefully”? Carolyn wanted to know.

“There are no guarantees that this will last forever. For now, the best we can do is protect it long enough for the dark witches to either die out or to lose their powers from old age. Dark magic ages you faster than good magic. Your sister, Trisha, is an old woman now. She’s weak and has to rely on potions to do her magic. In case you haven’t realized it yet, the woman in Randolph’s shop that day was your Aunt Trisha.”

“So Trisha is living in this area again. What of the warlock, Garret?”

“I don’t know where he is but if he’s still alive, he’s still the head of that coven and he controls them. He is the one we need to get to. Kill him and the coven dissolves. I’m hoping that because Trisha is back here, it means he’s already dead but we can’t take any chances without proof and unfortunately we have no way of knowing without asking her outright.”

“Oh, Lucinda. You have no idea who you are going up against. He and his family are truly evil. He and his brother, Armand revel in making………”

“Did you say Armand? His brother was Armand?” Lucinda gasped. “We killed Armand last year. He tried to kill me because I would not bow to his wishes and become his mate.”

“Then perhaps, Trisha is no longer under his spell? Maybe she’s not practicing dark magic anymore?” Julia said hopefully.

“I’m sorry to crush your hopes for your sister, Julia, but she is definitely still a black witch. Randolph said she buys the ingredients for black magic when she comes into his shop. I’ve never heard of a black witch returning to the light once they have actively practiced for even a short time and your sister has been a black witch for many years.” Amelia said sadly.

Julia had big tears in her eyes but she quickly wiped them away and said “Keeping Tammy safe is the most important thing right now. We will do whatever it takes to make sure she can have a full and happy life.”

“OK. So we all agree that we need to go back to the mountain. Can we leave now?” Carolyn asked. She was very anxious to get back to her family and make sure everything was OK.

“Just let us gather up some things we might need and then we will be on our way.” Amelia said as she and Lucinda stood up and began rushing around finding talismans and a few books that they wanted to take with them.

They all gathered in the living room and two by two, they apparated back to Tammy’s apartment.