Chapter Eight

 Night fell over the large homestead Thomas and Mary were staying at, and the older version of her mother went about her day and night duties quietly.

As the two sat outside, watching the long shadows catch the trees and pull across the hilly property, they talked.

“I don’t think we’re safe here.” Thomas whispered.

“Particularly you.” she replied.

“Yeah. What was that thing she did to me? A spell? The closer she got to me, the less sure I was about myself, who I was, why I was here… I could feel myself - how can I put this? - coming apart in my head.”

“No, not a spell.” she shook her head, “I’ve seen mother do something like that before, and it’s not fun to watch.” she glanced over her shoulder at the older Diane, then back to Thomas, “And that’s not my mother; it’s a version of her, but it’s not her. She’s not acting like my mother. And she’d never level a rifle at me - ever.”

“Wouldn’t she?” he asked, “Are you sure she didn’t level it me and not you?”

“Yeah, it was at me, because I thought I was going to shit myself.” she nodded, “Shit myself, then throw up at the same time.”

He nodded, “What if she’s not who we think she is?”

Mary frowned, “What?”

Standing, he remembered something about shape-shifting which caught his attention at Billy, Bob & Sons; something which he was ordered to not take any notice of. Rubbing the fingertips of his right hand over his forehead, Thomas tried to remember exactly where and what he had seen. After a moment, he snapped his fingers, “Ah! I remember now! An Old Crone and vanish at will - which your mother has done - and somebody of greater power can take on their form to protect the Old Crone’s powers if needs be.”

“And the reason why this Diane didn’t recognise me was because she’s not who we think she is - she may not even be a woman.” she turned to see the older woman walking around the kitchen, cooking something over the stove, then walking over to the work bench and taking up a bowl, “Advice for tonight: don’t eat what she’s cooking up.”

“Why?”

“She just grabbed something from her work bench and is adding it to the stuff on the stove.” she said.

“Oh, okay. Can you cook?” he asked.

“Of course… I’ll cook you anything you want. But we need our own stove, our own food, our own everything.” she said.

Thomas stood again, “How about I conjure something for us to eat. I can do that.”

“With me around? I blow up things - and that’s just me getting nervous.”

Kneeling next to her, he touched her hand, “I may be working for a demonic force, but it doesn’t mean I’m evil.” sighing, he shook his head and let go of her hand, “Hey, that came out really badly didn’t it?”

“No, you were being honest. And I did ask you to never lie to me.” she smiled, “At least my influence is still working on you.”

“That’s just it. It’s not.” he stood, “Since we’ve been here in this, whatever this world is, your influence doesn’t work on me. It’s not a world of your making; besides, you don’t have the juice to make a world like this - your mother does.”

Mary stood and walked to the railing of the verandah and looked out over the now-darkened property, “I wonder where she is now. And I’m also wondering who the hell that is inside. I guess we’ll find out in due time.” he put his arm around her shoulders, not knowing what to do for her, wishing he had all the answers - but he really had none.

 

Her form wasn’t going to hold for much longer; and that young demon knew something was up about her - or really him - but Diane was going to see how long they were going to be here for first before they left.

If they left, that is.

Mary had grown so much since the last time he had seen her - and that was when she was a toddler. But he didn’t want to shock the poor kid when she was told by Diane Wilson that they didn’t have any family around the ridges.

No, he had to take his time.

Looking down at the spell book, he worked on the potion more, “This has to work this time to get that kid away from my niece.” Diane muttered, “But I’ll put it in the gravy of the roast, and make him eat it.”

 

Dinner wasn’t what he thought it was going to be. Diane went upstairs to get change, and change she did. She stood in the bedroom of Diane Wilson, zipping up a dress of an older generation woman when the spell wore off and in a pinkish puff of smoke, Frank saw himself in a woman’s lavender dress for a split second before it tore at all the seams and fell to the floor, “Dammit!” he snapped before he could stop himself, “Now what?”

 

Mary was cooking madly as Thomas kept an eye on the three rooms upstairs. As he turned to see what she was cooking, he heard a cosmic change in the structure of the house - and it was something only he could feel and hear - and his eyes snapped back up to the second storey of the house.

“Something just happened which has changed this whole night.” he said, “I’ll be right back.” he took off upstairs before Mary could say anything and heard a male voice swearing from behind one of the doors. He didn’t wait to knock on the door, and just opened it, to find a man standing in the middle of room with the remains of a lavender coloured dress on the floor around his ankles, “Oh! I knew it! I knew! You shape-shifter! You think I’m a demonic thing, well, you guys are born so damned wrong it’s not funny! I work for a demonic force - but I’m Human deep down inside!” he backed out of the room, slamming the door, “Mary! Run!”

Frank yanked the door open, and he was still in his boxers and singlet, “No, I’m Mary’s Uncle Frank. I was told to stay here and to protect the property and Mary when she arrived - but I wasn’t expecting you.”

“Sure! Why don’t you appear on any of the records in her life at Billy, Bob & Sons?” he asked.

“Because of this rip in time and this little other-dimensional world where you’re currently staying. I went into hiding over a decade ago when Mary was a youngster.”

“Get dressed - in ordinary clothes - because you’ve got some explaining to do, mate! And there’s the explaining of why you tried to do away with me as well. I’d love to hear about your reasons behind that!” Thomas turned and went back downstairs to find Mary standing at the bottom of them, “You didn’t run?”

“Where to? There’s darkness, darkness and - oh yeah - darkness.” she said, “I didn’t like my odds of finding my way back here once I ran away from this place.”

He chuckled, “Good point.”

“So, you panicked?”

Thomas looked over his shoulder at the door he just left and smiled, “Diane isn’t Diane, and no, your mother isn’t here.”

“So, who is that?”

“Dinner isn’t burning?”

“I turned off the stove. It’s fried rice, how bad can it be?” she smiled.

“There’s roast chook in the oven, but don’t eat the gravy in the pot on the stove.” A robust man said at the top of the stairs dressed in jeans and a blue work shirt said, “Finally, I can wear something comfortable.”

“Who are you?” she asked.

Thomas smirked, “You know how we were saying Diane was probably a shape-shifter?” she nodded, and he nodded, “Well, this is your Uncle Frank. He’s been in hiding since you were around three years old; and this is his world - or maybe your mother’s world and he’s protecting it.”

Frank walked past him: “The latter, Thomas, and Mary, you’ve grown so much in the past decade or so, I didn’t recognise you. I’m sorry about the rifle - I’m sure you nearly cleared your guts earlier.” he walked into the kitchen, “Who made the fried rice?”

Mary smiled, “I did. I thought you were trying to kill us.”

Frank’s ruddy face looked around the corner, “Well, not you, hun, just him. But, let’s eat some of the chook and the fried rice and we’ll chat. I’ll dismember the potion in the gravy or it’ll destroy the pot.”

“So, you’re a warlock?” she asked.

“Yep. You’re from a big family of witches, warlocks and mages going back as far as time lets us.” he added a few herbs to the gravy pot on the stove and a puff of black smoke in the shape of bats floated towards the ceiling.

“Impressive imagery you’ve made there.” Thomas smiled.

Frank regarded the young man, “Actually the potion was supposed to make you think you had bats growing in your head… you know, it would have worked a treat too.”

Concern crossed the young man’s face: “Oh… sending me mad. Great. Remind me to never piss you off.”

The older man stirred the gravy pot and the smoke settled down, then he put the lid on it, “We still can’t eat it. So, we’ll tear up the chicken and have that fried rice.”

 

After a delicious meal of roast chicken and fried rice, Frank, Mary and Thomas sat in the large lounge room and talked through the night about Diane.

“So, you’ve been looking for your mother for over three days and still can’t find her?” he asked, “She told me that if anything was to happen to her you’d be able to find her, with or without the help of the lawyers.” he glanced at Thomas, “It looks like you needed help from the lawyers.”

“Actually, my boss, Balthazar came into play just for his own good. He told me to look after her and protect her. Then, when Mary was staying at my folks’ house at Sandgate, my Dad told me that my boss had tried to buy him off for information about Mary.”

“He what? You never told me about this!” Mary snapped.

Thomas frowned, “No, I didn’t. I don’t know why I am now.” he looked at Frank, then to Mary, “And I should have told you at Preeces when we were drinking our coffee, “But we were in a hurry to get out of town.” He stood, “You bastard, that gravy was just a show. It was the chicken.”

Frank made a downward gesture with this hand, “Sit down.”

With a loud flop, Thomas landed on his butt in the lounge chair, which then took on a life of its own as it strapped him in with the straps and tendrils of the chair itself - tightening and strangling him as Frank’s eyes glimmered, as he smiled, enjoying his own style of torture.

“Let him go!” Mary shouted, “You let him go! Now!”

The older man laughed, “Oh Mary, you don’t have any old over me in this place. I can - and will - do anything I want. And if I want to torture this demon, who says he’s protecting you, and you’re stupid enough to believe him, well, I will.”

Thomas swallowed thickly, talking between clenched teeth, “I really wouldn’t make her angry.”

Frank leaned forward, slowly clenching his right hand into a fist, and the chair began to fold the young man into it, “Shut. Up.”

She couldn’t stand it anymore. Standing, Mary screamed, “Stop it!” and all the light bulps exploded in the living room. The bottles around the work bench imploded on themselves, dribbling their contents all over the place and Frank ducked at large battle ax above the fireplace unhooked from its place there and spun across the room aimed at his head. As he hit the floor, the top of the lounge chair he was in was cleaved off completely by the ax. Because his concentration was disturbed, the chair Thomas was in unfolded itself, releasing him from his prison. Frank stared around at Mary in shock, “Holy crap!”

Thomas stood again, checking himself for any broken bones, then straightening out his clothes, “Okay, when I say ‘I wouldn’t make her angry’, I mean it.”

“You destroyed my work area… my bench! My chair!” Frank pulled himself off the floor.

“Well, gee I think it’s more like: you decided to torture the only person who’s kept me alive until now.” Mary said, “And oh yeah, where is my mother?”

Picking the ax up off the floor, he turned, “How do you know she’s here?”

“The witch’s marker at the peacock letter box.” she said, “Gave it away.”

With the ax in one hand, Frank pinched his nose with the other, “Okay, she’s here. I’ve been protecting her from Balthazar. He wants her soul.”

“And the gargoyles?” Thomas asked, “They seem to like Mary.”

Frank looked up at him, “Gargoyles? How many?”

“Three.” the both said.

“Where did you first see them?”

“Why?” Mary asked.

Frank put the ax up on its hooks above the fireplace again, and walked over to his work bench. With a wave of his hand, it was all cleaned up and he searched his bookcase, pulling one down, “Gargoyles and the Human Realm.” he read for a moment before spinning the book around to the two of them, pointing to a page, “There you go. They weren’t here to kill you, you summoned them here to protect you.”