Chapter 23

For the first time I actually had to find my own way back to Tilda's house after my morning walk. When I strode into the kitchen I found Tilda and Maude seated around the table, talking intently.

"What the...?" Tilda glanced at her grandmother and rethought her choice of words. "What happened to you?"

I dragged myself into a chair and winced as I sat down. "Last night, I went for a walk and ended up being attacked by a golem."

Both their jaws dropped. From their reactions I was assuming that was one of the last scenarios they were expecting.

"Are you sure?" asked Tilda.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that a golem threw me around and then tried to strangle me."

"How did you know it was a golem?" Maude asked, suspicion coloring her tone.

"I'm a quick study."

"I'm trying very hard to believe what you're saying," Maude said with a healthy dose of skepticism. "The problem is that you're saying that a golem attacked you, but you got away."

"Yes."

"Well, unless you've got some superpowers that you have neglected to share with the rest of the group, and I am going to remind you that it was only a few days ago that you were taken down by two women slightly past their prime, it would have been impossible for you to escape from a golem."

"Something came out of the forest and created a diversion." That was as close to the truth as I was going to get. "And you know the worst thing, despite the fact I was attacked and despite the fact that I hurt on every level, I still have this aching need to go back up there." I looked over at Tilda and Maude. "That's not normal, is it?"

"Did you see Flora last night?" Maude asked with a sudden shift in the conversation.

I sobered a bit as I remembered how Flora had been and the discussion we'd had. In light of that conversation I wondered if I was being foolish trusting these women.

"How is she holding up?" asked Tilda.

"She's strong." I decided that until I had more information, our theory about someone within the coven trying to hurt her was going to stay just between me and Flora.

"Did she have anything more to say?" asked Maude shrewdly. I could tell from the way she was looking at me that she knew I was holding things back. I lifted my head and looked her square in the eyes. "She thinks I need to find out what the golem was protecting."

"Oh, that doesn't sound like a good idea."

I couldn't agree more with Tilda on that one. "I don't see any other options."

"I think you're right," said Maude as she stood up abruptly.

"You mean, now?" Tilda's whining didn't really fit with the whole witch persona.

Maude took pity on her. "You can stay here. You don't have to come."

Tilda crossed her arms and snorted. "Sure, because letting my grandmother go traipsing through the forest when there's a golem running around loose is something that I'm going to do."

Maude pulled herself up to her full height. "I have been taking care of myself far longer than you have been alive, young lady." With that she swept out of the room.

"Great," groaned Tilda. "As if today wasn't going to be a bad day already. She's going to be impossible now."

I really didn't want to get into the family dynamics. "Should we follow her?"

Tilda stood up, a resigned expression on her face. "She won't go without us. We need you to point us in the right direction. Just wait here for a minute."

"Why?"

"I'll get you another protection amulet. You should be wearing one every time you leave the house."

I touched the bruising on my throat. I had a horrible feeling that no protection amulet would have saved me.

* * *

By the time we reached the spot I had been the previous night, I was feeling slightly better. That could have partly been because I could still see the pieces of clay strewn about the clearing. I'm pretty sure there was a part of me that thought the golem might have pulled itself together during the night.

Maude shivered despite the warmth of the morning. "You can tell something evil happened here."

I looked at her curiously. "So, golems are dark magic?"

"The creation of a mindless, soulless slave who will do anything that its master tells it to do regardless of the morality of the act. You bet your sweet patootie it's dark magic." Her eyes narrowed as she focused on the pieces of clay. "That's impossible," she muttered as she stepped closer, finally stopping when she reached the head. She wrapped the scarf she was wearing around her hand and pushed the head into an upright position.

She stepped back suddenly and strode purposefully over to me, her hand grabbed my arm and held on tight.

"What's wrong?" I asked, a little frightened by the expression on her face.

"Grandma," Tilda said, the warning clear in her voice.

Maude looked up into my eyes and it felt like she was peering into my soul. "This is important, Sadie. I need you to be totally honest with me."

"Of course," I said as I prepared to lie my head off. I may not know the sheriff well, but he had saved my life. If lying protected him, then I was going to do it.

"Did you destroy this thing?"

I breathed a little easier. That question I could answer with complete honesty. "No, I swear, I did not do this."

"Then we may have more to worry about here than someone who can create a golem."

"What do you mean?"

Maude looked meaningfully at the various pieces of clay scattered around us. "Whatever destroyed this thing is dangerous."

I knew he was dangerous. I'd seen the sheriff tear this thing apart with his bare hands...and teeth. Big, scary teeth. I don't think that was all she was talking about though.

"What do you mean?"

"Physical strength wouldn't have done this alone. It would have taken a strong kind of magic to pull apart a golem." She let go of my arm and started wandering around the clearing, touching pieces of the golem, but always making sure her hand was wrapped as if that would give her protection against the dark magic.

"She looks upset," I remarked to Tilda as we both sat on a boulder and watched the older woman kicking over pieces of clay while muttering to herself.

Tilda laughed tonelessly. "A curse on Flora, a golem running around, and then something that could kill that golem, and we have no clue what it is. I'm pretty sure this is all of Grandma's nightmares rolled into one."

"Is this kind of thing normal for Walker Bay." I was suddenly curious. "Is there usually so much...?" I waved my hand in the air.

"Drama," supplied Tilda.

"Yeah."

"Definitely not. Usually the worst thing we have to deal with is a pack of werewolves going nuts on a full moon."

Maude called Tilda over and started pointing to various things on the ground. I could tell the presence of the golem was disturbing her, only to be made worse by the fact something had managed to destroy it. She kept looking over at me. I knew she was going to start asking other questions and I was going to have to lie to her. I didn't want to do that, but I didn't have a choice. When the golem had his hands around my neck, I knew I was going to die. The sheriff saved my life. For that alone, he deserved my loyalty in this matter.

I rubbed the back of my neck and winced at the pain. I could still feel those misshapen fingers wrapped around my throat. That's when I saw it, hidden in the corner of the clearing, leading into the forest. It was like a strip of darkness that wound through the undergrowth like a pathway. I watched as the blackness twisted around on itself. My stomach clenched and I felt sweat dripping down my face. I looked over to where Tilda and Maude were having an intense whispered discussion. If I wanted to, I could slip away now and they wouldn't realize. That would be what I'd do if I was a cute co-ed who'd just made out with her boyfriend in a horror film. Fortunately, I wasn't.

"I think we need to go that way," I said, pointing towards the blackness.

Maude looked in the direction I was pointing. "Why do we need to go there?" she asked, a quizzical look on her face.

I guess that answered the question whether they were able to see what I could see. I had a feeling that if I described the soul sucking darkness that was leading deeper into the forest, that I would have a whole new set of problems. It seemed everyone in this town played things close to the vest. I was going to stick with that.

"The golem came from that direction last night when it came out of the forest."

That sounded reasonable to me, although Maude looked slightly skeptical. Of course, her world view had been thrown off course over the last few days.

"Are you sure?"

I wasn't even close to sure, but that feeling inside of me that had compelled me to climb up to this clearing the night before was now telling me that I had to follow the darkness.

"As sure as I can be," I muttered and headed for the pathway.

Maude and Tilda fell in behind me. I followed the darkness, ensuring that no part of me touched it.

"Careful," I barked at Tilda as she was about to step into the middle of it. I yanked on her arm and pulled her behind me. "Just follow in my footsteps."

"You're being really weird," Tilda said, her eyes wide.

I took a moment to appreciate the irony of that statement coming from a witch. "Just trust me, please."

The two women nodded. I was hoping they'd attribute my strange behavior to the various injuries I now sported, thanks to my unwilling expedition into the world of the paranormal, because I was not yet willing to explain any of it. The pathway opened into another small clearing and the darkness led straight into the mouth of a cave. Well, that was just great.

"Please tell me we don't have to go in there." Tilda said, her voice quavering.

If it came down to a vote, I really wanted to vote no. "If I had to guess I would say that the golem was protecting something in there." I said. "If we want to find out what it was, we need to go in."

"We need a light." Trust Maude to cut right through the fear and land on the practical.

Tilda help up her phone. "I've got a light app."

I burst out laughing, I couldn't help it. Of all the surreal moments I had been through, this one topped them all. I had followed a path of darkness to a cave that had been protected by a golem with two witches at my back. This was the moment somebody was supposed to produce a flaming torch and we'd boldly go forth on our quest. The phone lighting the way just didn't seem to quite fit the scenario.

"Are you quite done?" I could tell I was pushing the limits of Maude's patience.

I wiped the tears from my eyes. "Yes, I'm good. Just had a moment there, it's over now."

Maude took the phone from Tilda. "I'll go first." She put up a hand to stop the argument she could see coming. "I may be old, but I'm still the strongest out of all of us."

Tilda and I looked at each other. Unfortunately, she wasn't wrong. We followed Maude as she carefully made her way into the darkness. As Maude swung the phone around, I could see that this cave, unlike the library one, was small with a lot of dark corners.

"Well, that's disappointing," said Tilda as she swung her eyes around the cave. "It doesn't look like there is anything here."

"Maybe we're missing something," muttered Maude as she squinted at the shadows.

I stood silently in the middle of the cave, my eyes fixed to an area where it looked like a pile of black worms were squirming over the top of what seemed to be a small wooden chest. I had to ask the question. "Do either of you see something over there?"

Tilda and Maude crowded around me. "I think I see something now that you've pointed it out. Is that a box?" Maude went to step forward.

"Wait a minute," I said as I grabbed her arm.

Maude looked pointedly at my hand and I dropped it quickly.

"Could you just take my word that we need to approach that thing carefully." I didn't want to tell them what I saw, but I also didn't want them to unknowingly touch something that could hurt them.

Maude gestured to the box and I knelt next to it. Pulling my jacket sleeve down until it covered my hand I swiped at the black tendrils until they moved away from the catch. With shaking hands, I opened the lid. I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't a flat rock. I could make out some scratches on it but, to be honest, I'd been hoping for a grimoire which would answer all our questions.

"It's just a rock," I said, the disappointment clear in my voice.

I heard Maude gasp and looked up to find her hand pressed against her mouth, her face drawn with fear.

"I'm thinking that things just got worse," I sighed.

Maude shook her head, her shoulders bowed as if she had taken one knock too many. "A curse tablet," she whispered. "I can't believe I'm looking at a curse tablet."

"From your reaction, I'm assuming that's bad."

"Curse tablets are the worst kind of dark magic. Their use was outlawed centuries ago."

Because this situation wasn't already as bad as it could get.

"Do you want to take it?" I asked, looking up at her.

"I can't."

I slammed the chest shut and held out my hand. "I need your scarf."

Maude handed it to me wordlessly and I wrapped it around the box. I had no idea whether that would contain the evil I could feel dripping from the piece of stone, but it made me feel better about carrying it.

"We better get this home, it could help us save Flora," I said, a rare feeling of hope surging through me..

"Or it could open up a whole new level of problems," Maude muttered, a bleak expression on her face.

I really hoped she was wrong.