“You haven’t talked to him?”
“Not yet.”
“Jacob, I think your dad will believe you. He’s probably under a lot of pressure right now, so don’t judge him by his first reaction, okay?”
“I took your advice about changing my look. My mom about died. She said she hasn’t seen me wearing this many colors at one time in years. It’s an exaggeration. I’m just wearing blue jeans and a white shirt. At least she was happy with me this morning. By now they probably both hate me.”
“I doubt it. They’re probably angrier with Montgomery. Your dad won’t like having his opponent pick on his family. In the meantime, I’m going to see if I can hunt down some other people from the coven. But I’m getting near deadline, so I’d better run. Are you going to be okay?”
“Yeah, sure.”
I gave him my home number and told him to call me if he needed someone to talk to later. It wasn’t going to be easy for him to face his family. I felt my resentment for this kind of campaign tactic rising.
For a moment or two, I sat there reminding myself that I had to stay more neutral. I left the office.
Something within me made me sit in my car for a while before I went into Rhiannon. Was it some childhood fear of witches? Or did my Catholic upbringing rebel at the thought of an encounter with this other belief system? No, I thought, I didn’t feel that uneasiness about Islam or Judaism or Taoism. This was something different.
If I hadn’t been up against a deadline, I might have driven off. Instead, I forced myself to get out of the car. The exterior of the store was painted black, which was no real surprise. In the display window were books, tarot cards, candles, and various other objects, some of which I didn’t recognize. Crystals — raw quartz and amethyst — were suspended in the window.
“Double, double, boil and trouble,” I said to myself, and pushed the door open.
11
THE FIRST THING I noticed was an overpowering sweet fragrance; some kind of spice or incense. It made me think of high school, when many of my classmates and I burned patchouli or sandalwood incense in our bedrooms, driving our parents crazy. After some time away from the smell of incense, I could see why it took a little getting used to.
Some sort of underwater bell-and-flute soundtrack was playing in the background. I had to admit it was soothing, but smiled remembering a musician friend of mine who once pooh-poohed all “new-age” music as “hippie noodling.”
Apparently a new shipment of herbs had just arrived. Boxes were piled in stacks here and there in the aisles. The walls were filled with shelves, the shelves filled with jars, the jars filled with all manner of things. I didn’t look around for any fillet of fenny snake; it was clear that all the potions and remedies were from the plant kingdom or the earth itself. Through the middle of the store there was a sort of self-service set of small bins, each holding stones or crystals that were carefully labeled for effect: this one for inner peace, this one for easing menstrual cramps, this for sleeping better at night. A large black cat with bright yellow eyes stared at me from the counter where the cash register was, as if guarding against shoplifting. For an amused moment, I wondered if it was going to transform itself into human form.
“Hecate, it’s not polite to stare.” The voice came from a back room, and I realized that someone had watched me enter from behind a thin curtain. Soon a large woman dressed in a flamboyant purple gown came out to greet me with a warm smile. If this was a witch, I had been needlessly frightened as a child. “Hello,” she said. “Your first time here, isn’t it? Don’t tell me, don’t tell me…”
I had no idea what it was I wasn’t supposed to tell, so I obeyed.
“Capricorn!”
“Ah, no. I’m a—”
“Don’t tell me, don’t tell me!” She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Aries!”
She was wrong again, but rather than standing there watching my deadline time get whittled down by the zodiac, I said, “Incredible! How could you know?”
She smiled a little smile of success and shrugged modestly.
“Your ad said you have books,” I said, knowing I couldn’t just ask for a directory of local covens.
“Yes, this way, this way. Anything in particular?”
“Well, a friend of mine is getting involved in learning more about the ancient ways,” I said, getting this last phrase off the spine of a book in the “A” section. “She tells me there is a big difference between witchcraft and Satanism. Is that true?”
“Oh, yes! There most certainly is. Witchcraft is known by many different names in many countries, and has its own varied forms, but it is essentially a spirituality that respects the earth and her creatures. It is not destructive; it is in harmony with the natural world. Satanism is quite different. First of all, to worship a devil, you have to believe in devils. Satanism is a perversion of Christianity, not the paganism of your early ancestors.”
“Yes, but aren’t there people who combine the two?”
She sighed. “You can find people who will do anything, I suppose. There are always going to be people who use whatever power they have of whatever kind it may be to do evil. But there is no evil incarnate or devil in witchcraft. I would think of people who tried to combine them as Satanists trying to abuse witchcraft in the same way they abuse Christianity. I would not call such a person a witch.”
I considered what she had told me, and decided to be straightforward with her. She was watching me, and maybe because of the atmosphere or my own uneasiness, I felt like I wouldn’t get away with a lie. The zodiac business was bad enough.
“Have you seen this?” I handed her the Montgomery flyer.
She groaned. “Sweet Goddess, I’m going to have the Nazarenes picketing me again.”
“My name is Irene Kelly. I’m a reporter for the
