Backwards Moon Read online

“Shoot your spark! Try it.”

  Bracken did, and it was clear and blue.

  “Good,” said Nettle, weak with relief.

  “I think it’s the lead shot,” said Ben, the Witchfriend.

  “I’m all right,” said Bracken weakly. She trudged on.

  chapter seventeen

  “They might not be our mothers,” said Nettle as they neared the cottage. She slowed and stopped. Suddenly she hoped fervently that her real mother was someone else, somewhere else.

  But Bracken shook her head. “Our mothers went looking for the Door. Toadflax told me. And she said the Door was near the Safehouse. So it makes sense that they would be here. And Toadflax said sometimes the Fading turns you to dust, but other times you just live on, without your magic. Forgetting everything.”

  “It’s awful,” said Nettle.

  They reached the door and pushed it open.

  “This is my cousin,” said Nettle quietly. “She can do a remembering spell.”

  “Goodness,” said Dee. She looked at Bracken with surprise. “That nightshade is a powerful herb.”

  “I’m Ben.” He nodded at them. “Ben Niskenen. Witchfriend.”

  “Hello,” said the raccoon cautiously. But Nettle could tell that Dee and Anna couldn’t hear him.

  Bracken looked from one old woman to the other, her face still and anxious. Then she said the remembering spell, said it perfectly. She held up her spark. “Awake, memory.”

  Anna and Dee trembled.

  “We were,” said Dee at last. “We were witches. Long ago, and we left the valley for something. To search for the Door. The Door to another world.”

  Bracken nodded, stricken. “Do you remember who we are?” she asked shakily.

  “It almost seems as though I’ve seen you before,” said Anna. “Or maybe it was just someone who looked like you.”

  Bracken closed her eyes.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Dee.

  Nettle looked to Bracken, and each knew the question the other was thinking. Should they tell? For what good, now, could come of it?

  Then Bracken shook her head, just slightly. “Nothing,” she said quietly. “Not so much, really.”

  “It’s all right,” said Nettle.

  “The Door,” said Bracken. “Tell us everything you know about the Door.”

  “There’s a stone,” said Dee slowly. “We brought it with us. I remember that. And I think the stone has something to do with the Door.”

  “A seeking stone? I have a seeking stone!” said Nettle. She pulled Epigaea’s stone from her pocket. “It was in the Atkinson house.”

  “The one you took from the glass case?” Dee shook her head. “I don’t think that was it,” she said. “I’ve seen that one for years. The stone I’m thinking of was another stone.”

  “It hurts to remember,” said Anna dully. “But there was something about our stone, I do know that.”

  “It was a stone, but it was one we brought ourselves, when we came. I feel sure,” said Dee.

  “Where is it now?” said Bracken. “Think! Where would it be?”

  “We hid it somewhere,” said Dee. “I remember that.”

  “There was a spell, a hiding spell,” said Anna. Tears ran down her cheeks. “It’s hidden somewhere.”

  “Yes,” said Dee. “By a spell. I think it was the last one we ever did.”

  “In the Safehouse? Did you hide it in the Safehouse?” asked Bracken. “Because that would make sense, wouldn’t it? That you would hide it there for another witch to find?”

  “I would think so,” said Dee. She shook her head. “But I really can’t remember.”

  As they soared toward the Atkinson House, Bracken rode behind Nettle, clinging to Nettle’s waist. “We can go through there,” said Nettle, steering toward a small, gabled window at the very top.

  They landed on the sloping roof just below the window. Bracken muttered a spell. Nettle pushed the window and it swung open. They climbed through and stood listening in the silent house.

  Then Bracken began to chant a spell for finding hidden things.

  They walked slowly down the hallway, Bracken leaning on Nettle and chanting all the while. They walked down another hallway, and another.

  “This is an immense house,” said Bracken. “And oh, my leg aches, and my head too! And I think I hear this little whining in my ears.”

  The Fading, thought Nettle. Her stomach lurched.

  “It seems as though it gets worse the longer I chant,” said Bracken.

  “Let me do it.”

  So Bracken told Nettle the spell. Nettle listened, harder than she had in her whole life. She ran down the hallway chanting it, her voice high and shrill in her ears.

  At the end, in an alcove nearly hidden under the stairs, she saw it. “Bracken, I’ve found something!” It was a narrow green door and as she watched, it swung open of its own accord. Bracken came half limping, half running.

  It was a tiny attic room, with one window through which the city lights glared and glittered. A wooden box sat on the floor.

  Nettle darted through and knelt down. “It’s in this box. It must be.”

  Bracken hobbled over and knelt down beside her. They lifted the lid.

  “Oh . . .” sighed Bracken, gazing at the stone. Then, quickly, she reached into the box and picked up the stone with both hands. “The cloth,” she whispered as she lifted out the stone, for there was a Woodfolk cloth beneath it. “Get the cloth too. We’ll wrap it.”

  Nettle whisked out the cloth and Bracken slipped it under the stone.

  “A Woodfolk cloth,” breathed Bracken. “So beautiful . . .” She was tucking in the corners when a mist rose from the stone. It curled toward the low ceiling, twisting in the harsh city light.

  “So,” said a hollow voice. “You found it. You succeeded on your quest.” And out of the mist stepped Toadflax.

  “Give me that stone,” she said. “I know how to use it. You don’t.” She held out a bony hand and smiled. “I know what you need to know to pass through the Door. To safety, where the Fading will never get you.”

  Bracken clutched the stone to her chest.

  Toadflax snorted. “Don’t look like that. I’ll take you with me, of course! Both of you. Hurry. I don’t have long. Give it to me.”

  “But what about the others?” said Bracken.

  “We can’t all go,” said Toadflax. “Surely you realize that? Those old crones back in the village, there’s no way of saving them. It would take forever to get the whole lot of them through. Think about it! They’d be dust before they had a chance.”

  “But you’re older than they are,” said Nettle.

  “Yes, but I’m wiser too. It was I who set everything in motion.” Toadflax smiled, horribly. “I who cast the needed spell.”

  “What spell?” breathed Nettle.

  “Why, the one I cast the night the Veil failed. A black but clever one.” She smiled again. “The magic that would bring me, instantly, as soon as you found the stone that holds the secret to the Door.” She paused, breathing hard. “Now I can get through, and I can take you with me. But we must hurry!”

  “You tricked us,” said Nettle.

  “What does that matter now?” screeched Toadflax. “Take the chance I’m offering you!”

  Bracken didn’t move.

  “Listen to me!” pleaded Toadflax. “Quickly now! We can get through if we hurry. We can succeed where everyone else failed!”

  “And leave everybody else behind?” said Nettle. “Our mothers wouldn’t have done that.”

  Toadflax smiled grimly. “Oh, but they would. They were looking for your fathers! That’s who they cared about.”

  “You’re lying!” cried Nettle. “That isn’t true!”

  “It is,” said Toadflax. “And think about this—your fathers are there, waiting, on the other side of the Door! Don’t you want to see them?” She paused, watching them. “I know the way,” she said. Her voice was sweeter, coaxing. “
All we need is that stone.”

  “That can’t be right,” said Bracken. “Our mothers weren’t like that.”

  “The whole world is like that,” said Toadflax. “This world is ruined, child,” she said softly. “Give me the stone, and I’ll take you to a new one. Hurry!” Already the shimmer on her dress was beginning to dull.

  “The Fading,” said Nettle, staring in horror.

  “Hurry!” shrieked Toadflax. “I don’t have long! Come,” she wheedled. “It was the only way. Don’t you see? There’s a new world, just waiting for you, and all you have to do is give me that stone.”

  “It’s not right, what you say. It can’t be,” said Nettle.

  “Give it to me!” shrieked Toadflax. A spark flared from her finger and shot toward Bracken’s chest.

  “No,” cried Nettle, casting her own spark back.

  The two sparks met, snapping and flaring.

  Then the spark from Toadflax’s finger thinned and grew pale. “Fah!” she spat, as it sputtered and went out. Now her dress was gray as ashes. “Fools,” she cried again and sank into dust.

  Nettle stared at the glittering pile, breathing hard. “I didn’t . . . I didn’t mean for her to die.”

  “The Fading killed her,” said Bracken shakily. “Not you.” She picked up the Woodfolk cloth where it had fallen and wrapped it around the stone. “She had a bad heart. A selfish heart.”

  “Bracken,” said Nettle suddenly. “Did we do the right thing?”

  “We did the right thing,” said Bracken miserably. “To go with her, to leave the others behind, it would have been wrong. It would have been evil.”

  Slowly, Bracken put the stone in her pocket. Nettle walked and Bracken hobbled down the hall to the little window. They climbed through and crouched on the roof. Nettle reached for her broomstick, then stopped, staring down.

  Two men, both dressed alike in blue, were walking toward the house.

  “The police!” said Nettle suddenly. “I think those humans are police!”

  “Police?”

  “They punish people who steal things.”

  The men had lights in their hands and were beaming them back and forth. One man’s light swept across the garden wall and stopped. The door hung open. The two men walked toward it, shining their lights.

  “Bracken,” said Nettle, staring down. “Do you think they might think Dee and Anna stole the stone?”

  “Or Ben,” moaned Bracken. “They might think it was Ben!”

  “Humans put people in prison! If you take things, and they catch you, they lock you away.”

  “Fly!” said Bracken. “Hurry.”

  They swooped down, and even as they landed Bracken was muttering the spell. “Stop!” she cried and at her voice the two men froze, staring right through her.

  “Don’t move,” said Bracken. Her fingers were spread wide, aimed at them. “Calmly, calmly, walk the way.” She twirled as best she could and breathed out the spell. “You will tell all the other police humans that there was nothing at all that you noticed tonight,” she said. “You have NO IDEA who stole anything, anything at all from this house, and you never will. You and all the other police humans will never, ever catch anybody, and no one will ever be locked away for taking things from this house. Do you understand?”

  The men nodded.

  “You will forget this ever happened. Now go!” said Bracken, and the two men turned and walked away.

  “That was hard,” said Bracken, dazed. “Really hard.”

  “Good for you, though. I’m glad you did it,” said Nettle.

  Bracken leaned on her shoulder. They staggered into the garden and pulled the door shut behind them.

  chapter eighteen

  The others were waiting in the little stone house.

  “Did you get it?” cried Ben.

  “Yes, but it was awful,” moaned Nettle. “Awful.” She squeezed her eyes tight shut, willing herself not to cry, but still the tears leaked out. “Toadflax came, this terrible witch. And she said she had the magic to find the Door. She said if we didn’t come with her, we would never get another chance.”

  “She said our fathers were waiting and it was the only way to find them,” said Bracken in a broken voice. “She said all our mothers cared about was them. That our mothers would have gone through the door and just left us behind if the Fading hadn’t gotten them first.”

  Dee patted them both on the shoulders. “Things will be okay,” she said awkwardly. “Really they will.”

  “I’m sure your mothers wouldn’t have done that,” said Anna. “Don’t cry,” she said uncomfortably. “Please don’t cry.”

  But they did cry.

  Dee and Anna and Ben the Witchfriend and the raccoon all stood around and said kind and comforting things. Ben gave them an oil-stained red bandanna to use as a handkerchief, but nothing seemed to help.

  Still, no one can cry forever.

  “There now,” said Ben, when at last they had stopped.

  “And you do have the stone,” said Dee. “Maybe you can get to the other world anyway. On your own.”

  Bracken looked at her in silence. Then she pulled the stone from her pocket. “I wonder,” she said slowly. “I wonder . . . if it’s as hard to do as Toadflax told us it was? Because if a secret is hidden in the stone, who would have hidden it?”

  “Us,” said Dee, nodding slowly.

  Bracken nodded back. “And you wouldn’t have made it a hard spell, would you? Because why would you do that, if you wanted another witch to find it?”

  “We wouldn’t,” said Dee. “We would have made a simple one.”

  Bracken put her palm on the stone. “ ‘Open,’ ” she said.

  And there, deep inside it, was the image of the great oak that grew right outside in the garden.

  “Can you see?” asked Dee, peering into the stone. “Is there anything there?”

  “It’s the oak,” said Nettle. “The great big oak in the garden.”

  “But there’s no Door there,” said Dee, frowning. “Is there?”

  “I think it takes another spell,” said Bracken. She put her hand to her forehead.

  “Are you all right?” asked Dee.

  “My head hurts,” said Bracken. “It hurts more when I do magic. And my leg aches.”

  The Fading, thought Nettle again. But it would not happen to Bracken.

  It couldn’t.

  Bracken took a breath, then murmured some more, her face pale. Trembling, she passed her hand over the stone.

  And deep in the stone, words formed themselves out of mist. Touch the tree, and say this spell, and the Door shall appear. Enter and welcome, seeker. Beneath that, in tiny silver lettering, were the words of a very simple spell.

  “You did it,” said Nettle softly. “Oh, Bracken! You did it!”

  “The others at home,” said Bracken. “We have to take them through the Door too.”

  “But how can we?” asked Nettle. “They’ll never make it to the oak before the Fading gets them.” In her mind she saw a ragged V of witches falling from the city sky, spiraling down in a flutter of black, turning to glittering dust. . . .

  “I have Woodfolk beads,” said Bracken. “If we can fly home, we can wish everybody back here with the beads. We can magic them right to the Door, then hurry them through before they fade.”

  “You have Woodfolk beads?” said Nettle. She had not noticed them before, but now she felt a stab of longing.

  “Toadflax gave them to me. She told me they would give me only three wishes, but there is one wish left.”

  “They’re beautiful.” Nettle thought for a minute. “You could wish us back, and then give the beads to me. Then I could wish us all to the city. With one of my three wishes.”

  Bracken shook her head. “You might not get wishes! Toadflax said three wishes only, three wise wishes. She didn’t say you could lend the necklace to other people and just get as many as you want. Magic has rules, you know it does.”

 
“Still, I might get wishes of my own.” Nettle frowned, thinking. “But it does seem like too big a chance, to wish ourselves back. It would be awful if we got back to the valley and the necklace wouldn’t work because all the wishes were used up.”

  “I have an idea,” said Ben the Witchfriend. “You don’t have to fly all the way back, with Bracken not feeling so well. You could ride back with us. In the truck. The raccoon and I could take you all the way to the mountains, even.”

  “Good idea,” said the raccoon, nodding. “Excellent idea.”

  chapter nineteen

  As Ben drove, Nettle and Bracken rode beside him on the bench seat with the raccoon between them.

  There wasn’t room in the truck for Dee and Anna, so even if they had wanted to go home to the mountains, they couldn’t. Nettle thought about them as the city faded and was left behind. “Were we right not to tell them who we are?” she asked Bracken.

  “I’m not sure,” said Bracken, sighing.

  “Do you think a human could go through the Door?”

  “I doubt it,” said Ben. “Because then your new world would just fill up with humans.”

  “But Dee and Anna aren’t really humans,” said Nettle. “If they could get their magic back, they’d be witches again.”

  “But they can’t get it back,” said Bracken. “That’s what’s so terrible about the Fading.”

  They rode for a while in silence. “I wonder how they discovered where the Door was and found the spell to go through,” said Nettle. “Do you think we’ll ever find out?”

  “I doubt it,” said Bracken. “I think it’s a story we’ll never know.”

  “Some things, you never do find out,” said Ben. “Sometimes life is like that.”

  “At least we know where they are. And that they’re still alive,” said Bracken.

  And that would have to be enough.

  When it was almost light Ben stopped at a gas station and bought them both pink t-shirts that said SOUTH DAKOTA across the front. When the truck was on the road again, Nettle and Bracken took off their hats and put them in their pockets, then put on the t-shirts over their dresses.