Page 16 (1/2)

7

I stood in Sarah’s stillrooh the dust on the surface of the avy glass The whole house needed a good airing The stiff brass latch on the sash resisted ave up the fight and therocketed upward, quivering with indignation at the rough treat away and surveying the rooe place, this room where my aunts had spent so much of their time and I so little Sarah left her usual disorderly ways at the threshold In here all was neat and tidy, surfaces clear, mason jars lined up on the shelves, and wooden drawers labeled with their contents

CONEFLOWER, FEVERFEW, MILK THISTLE, SKULLCAP, BONESET, YARROW, MOONWORT

Though the ingredients for Sarah’s craft were not arranged alphabetically, I was sure sooverned their placement, since she was always able to reach instantly for the herb or seed she needed

Sarah had taken the Bishop grimoire with her to Sept-Tours, but noas back where it belonged: resting on what reht in one of Bouckville’s antique shops She and Sarah had sawed off its supporting pillar, and now the lectern sat on the old kitchen table that had cohteenth century One of the table’s legs was markedly shorter than the other--nobody knehy--but the unevenness of the floorboards ly level and solid As a child I’d thought it was ic As an adult I kneas dumb luck

Various old appliances and a battered electrical-outlet strip were strewn around Sarah’s work surface There was an avocado green slow cooker, a venerable coffeerinders, and a blender These were the tools of theblack cauldron by the fireplace for old ti oils and potions, the coffee grinders and blender for preparing incense and pulverizing herbs, and the coffeewhite specied and unused

"Maybe Matthew can find soh-tech for Sarah," I mused aloud A Bunsen burner

A few aleed for Mary Sidney’s well-equipped sixteenth-century laboratory I looked up, half hoping to see the splendid murals of alchemical processes that decorated her walls at Baynard’s Castle

Instead dried herbs and flowers hung fro up between the exposed rafters I could identify so with tiny seeds; prickly-topped ht yelloers that earned them the name of witches’

candles; stalks of fennel Sarah knew every one of theht, touch, taste, and smell With them she cast spells and ray with dust, but I knew better than to disturb theivebut stems

The stillroom had once been the fare fireplace complete with a wide hearth and a pair of ovens Above it was a storage loft accessible by a rickety old ladder I’d spentto the rain patter against the roof Corra was up there now, one eye open in lazy interest

I sighed and set the dust rease--to ain And if ht help us find the Book of Life, this is where I would find it

A soft chiht me how to discern the threads that bound the world and pull on therimoire The threads were around ether, they ed a few strands on ers

Blue and amber--the colors that connected the past to the present and the future I’d seen the creatures wouldn’t be caught in ti as it should in the Bishop house I twisted the blue and amber threads into a knot and tried to push the the air with ret A weaver’s knot wouldn’t fix rong here

My body was dah all I’d done was displace the dust and dirt frootten how hot Madison could be at this tiy water, I pushed against the stillroo the door another inch in hopes of dislodging the cat

Tabitha yowled She refused to join me in the stillroom It was Sarah and Em’s domain, and she considered me an invader

"I’ll set Corra on you," I threatened

Tabitha shifted One paw stretched forward past the crack, then the other as she slipped away

Sarah’s cat had no wish to battle nity forbade a hurried retreat

I pushed open the back door Outside, a drone of insects and an unrelenting pounding filled the air

I flung the dirty water off the deck, and Tabitha shot outside to join Fernando He was standing with a foot propped up on a stu Matthew drive fence posts into the field

"Is he still at it?" I asked, swinging the e on for days: first replacing loose shingles on the roof, then haarden, and nowfences

"Matthew’swith his hands," Fernando said "Carving stone, fighting with his sword, sailing a boat, writing a poe an experi about Benja distractions

Fernando’s cool attention turned to me "The more Matthew thinks about his son, the more he is taken back to a time when he did not like himself or the choices he made"

"Matthew doesn’t often talk about Jerusalee and told iven how much time Matthew must have spent there And such ancient memories weren’t likely to reveal themselves to my witch’s kiss

"Ah Fair Eleanor Her death was another preventable one to the Holy Land the first time, never mind the second The politics and bloodshed were toovae But Philippe needed every weapon at his disposal if he hoped to succeed in Outremer"