Poison Orchid

Chapter 8

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When suddenly the music stopped and the door slammed close, the room grew colder and Isis’s breath started coming out in mists. Immediately she knew that some one from the other realm had invaded her room. She had to do something about this. But again she also needed to know how to help these girls.

Her visitor was Naomi once more. Her spirit had faded a bit more. Isis remembered reading in the book that Grandma Brassia had given her that more the spirit remains tethered to this world, the more they get bound to it which makes them earth bound forever. If they pass 21 days after their death on earth then their spirit will lose their corporeal form and have to remain on earth for eternity. And that was a fate which was far more worse than death.

And Isis did not want that fate for the girls. They already had suffered enough at the hands of those bloody bastards and now they did not need this. Isis said,”Naomi, listen to me, you need to cross over to the other realm as soon as possible and you need to take the other girls with you too.”

“Can’t,”a single word dropped from her lips.

“What do you mean by can’t? Do you know what is happening to you right now and what will happen to you if you do not move to the other world?”

“Revenge,” said Naomi.

“I understand your need for revenge Naomi. But how will it help you? You are not of this world anymore,” Isis tried to reason with her.

“You. Help.”

“I know that I have to help you Naomi. You want your mother to see you the last time, and dress you up in princess clothes and bury with your favourite poem on your headstone. And I promise I will help you. But you have to cross over to the other world.”

“Help me to cross.”

“You don’t know how to?” asked Isis. Naomi nodded her head saying No.

“Okay. I get it. Give me sometime and I shall help you guys cross tomorrow night.”

“Revenge. You take,” said Naomi with fire in her ghostly eyes.

“Me? How can I take revenge?” asked Isis with astonishment in her eyes.

“Only you can,” she said before flowing out of the window.

“I am bored and tired with this cryptic messages. Heaven knows what will happen. I really want to know what is the cure. And for that I need to read the books that Grandma gave me,” she muttered to herself.

Isis found out the portion she needed to read and marked out what what things she would need for making the charm and help the girls in crossing over. Now the bigger problem was that she did not know how to get all the materials which were required for the spell. Probably she needed to raid the basement, but again Gandma Brassia was there. Okay now how about asking Grandma Brassia for help?

But Isis was not sure that Grandma Brassia would allow her to do something reckless like helping the girls or rather the ghosts of the girls but it was worth a try. But before that she did that it was very necessary to learn how to unlock doors and fall down from a height without getting hurt or caught.

Another thing she found in the Charms book was that Necromancers were the only witches who could raise and keep several creatures as their pets which helps them to get warned about any kind of danger from beforehand.

It is a common knowledge that witches are very partial to cats and have kept them as pets since long ago but Isis was never a feline lover, she had no soft corner towards any cats or such kind of creatures but she always was a dog-lover. Her aunt hated dogs that is the reason why she could never bring any dog to home. So many times she visited the rescue shelter and found dogs. She fed them at least thrice a week. Now she had a chance to keep a pet and her aunt could not even see him or her. It would be cool. But that too had a problem, where would she find the spirit of a dead dog. People give news about the death of their loved ones but those were of humans, would someone post a news about the death of their pet dog?? It was rather unbelievable but was worth a try.

Isis went downstairs to bring the newspaper and found her aunt cooking something which smelled really good.

“What is it you’re cooking Aunty?”

“Oh Isis!! When did you come down? This is a special recipe for lasagna. I have added some herbs of mine,” said Aunt Rossetta. Taking up some of the broth in the wooden spoon she forwarded it to Isis and said,” Blow on it twice and then taste.”

Doing that, it felt that all the taste buds of Isis had flared up alive. It was so different in taste and was so good at the same time. ”MMMMM Aunty.. It is delicious. I can’t wait to eat your lasagna.”

Rossetta was stunned for a few seconds because the lasagna had ham in it and Isis did not even flinch at the taste or try to throw up. What was happening to the girl was an absolute mystery. When she had come back at night from her store, she had spoken to Brassia once. Brassia had told her that Isis had mastered a skill which other witches took months to master. And her physiology was changing at a very fast pace in order to cope up with the changes that were happening to her. Maybe liking for meat was the newest change that was happening. When Rossetta went to the basement, the deadbody of the lizard was still there, and when Brassia told her that Isis had sucked out the life force of the creature she had sat down for a few moments. After that they had a long and very careful discussion about Isis, rather in Brassia’s terms---Parlay

“The girl is insanely powerful,” said Brassia .

“How come it has then these powers never come to the forefront?” asked Rossetta.

“Oh Rosa!!! I had always considered you far more intelligent than that stupid grit your sister was. I had always wanted you to be the one bearing dark curse but even though you were powerful enough to bear it you were the one who got the powers of light. The dark curse stays hidden as long as it can in the blood of the witch because the moment it comes to the forefront they would be chucked out of refuge and persecuted by others.”

“But Isis never ever had that kind of risk, she would not lose her refuge ever with me,” protested Rossetta.

“Oh Dear!!! You don’t understand.. That girl came into her powers the moment she found her mother murdered in front of her own eyes. It was you who had led her to bury her powers inside her for so long.”

“But Grandma, I had no idea how to take out that child from that trauma. Why could not have been her buried?”

“Because Fates have something different planned for her Rosa. Do you think the Fates would allow such he amount of power to go waste staying buried? It was unearthed by you yourself.”

“How so? I did not do anything of that sort.”

“The moment she saw her mother’s picture the door which you had locked was unlocked and all her powers which she should have learnt from the time she started to toddle, started slamming into her as psychic blows.”

“Is that the reason why the ghosts are coming to her?”

“Yes, they will be attracted faster to her because they want to alleviate their immense pain which led to their death, and her power calls to them like moths being drawn to flame.”

“I told her to lock her mind so that…”

“Rosa, now I know that I had done a very good deed by not having children. Because I can see it very well that it is your love for that girl which muddles your decision making capabilities. Don’t try to do that again..”

“But Grandma, you should have seen her condition when the ghost had left the possession of her body. She was broken.”

“Do you know at this moment when we speak there is another ghost in her room speaking to her?”

“I shall go immediately and..”

“You will do no such thing Rosa. I’m preparing her for her ordeals and trust me she needs to go through every experience at the moment she can. You don’t understand that she is catching up with twelve years of experience in a matter of few days.”

“But what will happen to her? If something happens to her I would be never be able to forgive myself.”

“A normal child would have never survived the poison you made her drink for so many years, what did you think she was? Did you not know then that she was a witch?”

“I thought she was a null.”

“Right now Rosa, I need you to just do only one thing that don’t hinder her from anything that is going to do. Don’t stop her from doing what you think foolish. Because where you are hardwired to protect, she is hardwired to take risks.. Let her do what she needs to..”

“Are you sure no harm would befall on her?”

“Yes I am sure Rosa dear. Her path to salvation and glory will be definitely bloody, that you need to be prepared for and I shall prepare her for battle. Now before you go, anything more I need to be aware about Isis?”

“She is an Empath.”

“What????????”

“Yes, she is an Empath to Spirits.”

“Has Heaven and our Mother Goddess left no single thing unplanned for this girl? Empath of Spirits? Do you have any idea Rosa how rare quality that is? Probably she is the First witch in our bloodline to have such powers.”

“I find a typical symmetry and balance in her dark powers. This must be probably because of her father.”

“Is it necessary to speak of that worthless piece of scum? I might not have liked Cattaleya, but never forget she was my prodigy. I shall never forget the man who caused her death.”

“Even I never did. Probably I never can, my twin was a part of my soul. But I cannot also deny the fact that it was the result of that unholy communion that made Isis so very strong and”

“I get your point. And Rosa dear, make sure that Isis gets meat in her food. Yes, yes, I know that she is a vegetarian but trust me, she needs meat at this point of time. Her body needs to cope.”

Rossetta kept a close eye on what Isis was doing. When she took the newspaper from the table and went back to her room Rossetta could not even have guessed her intentions.

Isis opened the page where obituaries were published and to her astonishment she found that a pair of Black Labradors had died the day before from an unknown virus infection. They lived with a widow of a war veteran who was heart broken at the death of her children. One was a male and the other was a female named Gruffy and Fluffy. They were buried in the town cemetery just beside her husband on the other side of the wall of the cemetery because Christian burial grounds does not allow the burial of animals. They were the perfect choice for Isis, because the dogs were trained, were natural sniffers and were protective and possessive about their masters.

Just after midnight, Isis lipped out of her home in order to go to the cemetery taking her sling bag with her and wearing a black frock. In her bag were a piece of red cloth, two lemons, a sprig of rosemary, two bones, and two obsidian stones. Isis walked fast to reach the cemetery and started chanting the message that was written in the book while she placed the articles on the respective graves of Fluffy and Gruffy. Not even !0 seconds had passed when she found that both the dogs were sitting on the tops of there graves.

Isis asked in English, ”Do you understand me?” She heard a whine and a growl in answer.

“Gruffy and Fluffy…. I ask your hands in hands of eternal friendship and bonding. Do you accept my hand to be my friend, companion and love me till death does us part?”

The one whom she guessed to be Fluffy came to her and started licking her face, wagging her tail, while Gruffy stood back sagely nodding its head in answer. She understood that she had found her friends for lifetime. She took the stuff she had placed on the grave, returned it back to the sling bag and beckoned them to come home with her. After all it as a school night…