Tess S03E09: The Eye of Carly’s Hope: Chapter Two

Millie was about to step into a strange world where her idea of time would be altered. In the world she was leaving behind, her mum, Tess, was watching the clock tick over. She was on the roof of the coven, desperately trying to reach into herself to find the gift Æther had said she possessed. With Tess left to her own devices, she was also worried about Sandra, who, for all she knew, was dying. Her daughter, Millie, was traversing a place no witch had gone before. In fact, Tess was so distressed, her body was humming with power. Her power stemmed from her emotions and right then she feared her daughters would disappear into the ether and she’d never see them again.

Tess looked at her watch, it was just after 7-am.

“Gotta check on Sandra,” she said to herself. “Maybe get a cuppa? Yeah. A cuppa might help.”

She’d just reached the bottom of the stairs when the front door flung open. Without thinking. Without saying a word. Her eyes turned to pools of white mist. Her power gathered from around her and she raised both hands. Cupped them, and her power collected within them.

Tess threw a translucent energy ball at whoever, whatever, had just flung open the door. Someone went flying out of the house, and Tess stood for a moment as though in a trance. The honk of a car horn. The screech of tyres and the screams of someone outside pulled her out of it.

The witches in the casting room rushed out to see what all the commotion was about. When they reached the front door, Tess was picking Rhianna up off the road.

“What happened?” Susan asked.

“Help her inside,” Tess said. “I need to talk with you, Susan… I’m so sorry, Rhianna.”

“It’s alright, Tess,” Rhianna said, but had a full body shake going on.

“Give her some tea,” Susan said. “What happened, Tess?”

“Think I’ve found my power, and I’m not sure how to control it,” Tess said, “or how to use it.”

“You used it on Rhianna?” Susan asked.

“Yeah.”

Susan put an arm around Tess’s shoulders and took her into the casting room for some privacy. Once the latch clicked, and they were shut off from the others, Tess said, “I did, but didn’t mean to. It was… I don’t know? Instinct maybe?”

“But why would you attack one of our own?” Susan asked.

“I didn’t know Rhianna was there,” Tess said. “I would never—”

“I’m not accusing you,” Susan said. She could feel the power growing around Tess and didn’t want to get thrown through a wall or worse. “Though you need to find a way to control it. Would you like—”

“Me,” Rhianna said from the door. “You need me, Tess.”

“You?” Tess asked. “Why you?”

“Mill’s sent me back to help—”

“And me,” Sam said. “We’re here because we’re not as young as you think we are, and you’ve got a gift that Rhianna and I’ve come up against before.”

Tess sat in shock. Rhianna said, “Tea,” and surprised all but Sam, when a cup of tea appeared in her hand out of thin air.

“What’s going on?” Susan asked.

Susan couldn’t wrap her head around what was happening.

They’re older than we think? Susan thought, what does that mean? And how can Rhianna make things appear out of thin air?

“Here,” Rhianna said, “drink this, then we’ll get started.”

“Sorry ladies,” Sam said, “but we need the casting room.”

“But,” Susan said, “what’s going on? Tess?”

“Gotcha covered,” Sam said, and waved her hand. “Just soundproofed Mark’s flat for ya. You gotta go now.”

Before Susan could say another word, Sam waved her hand again, lifted her off the floor, and shifted her out of the room and she couldn’t fight it. The door to the casting room slammed shut leaving, not just Susan, but everyone looking on, stunned.

“Did you know, Marcy?” Susan asked, “Kerri?”

“No,” they said.

“Let’s go up,” Susan said and telepathically, fearing Rhianna or Sam would hear her, and figure out what’s going on.

***

The casting witches left, and it wasn’t until the girls heard the door to the flat shut, that Rhianna sealed the room with a spell.

“What’s going on?” Tess asked.

“We’re going to pull that power out of you,” Sam said, and vines rose up from the floor and bound her to the chair. “We’re going to make sure you’ve got complete control over it—”

“Before we take it from you,” Rhianna said.

“What?” Tess asked and tried to stand, but couldn’t move a muscle. “What’s going on?”

“But before we do that,” Sam said, ignoring Tess’s question, “where’s Millie? Where’s the Eye of Carly’s Hope?”

Tess took a moment. Tried stretching her thoughts to her sisters upstairs, but when they mentioned the Eye, it threw her. Tess was in that moment so pleased she didn’t know where the Eye was.

“May I have something to drink?” Tess asked.

“You want a drink?” Sam asked and sat on Tess’s lap.

She grabbed her by her long black hair, pulled her head back and smashed the cup into Tess’s face. Rhianna was laughing manically, and the pain was excruciating. Tess knew it cut deep, but refused to make a noise. She grit her teeth and squinted her eyes until the pain eased off. Tess refused give them the reaction they desperately wanted, full prepared to die for her girls.

“May I?” Rhianna asked.

“You may,” Sam said, climbing off Tess’s lap.

“Listen up, Tess,” Rhianna began, “we’re more powerful than anyone here and what do we do? We make the tea. Not anymore. We’re taking over and we want the jewel young Millie’s been sent to get.”

“We can wait… if we have to,” Sam said.

“But we’re not very patient,” Rhianna continued. “So… what shall we do while we wait?”

Rhianna stopped to take a breath. Tess could taste her own blood as it dripped into her mouth from a deep cut just above her top lip from the teacup incident.

“Yeah,” Sam said, “an’ no one’s coming to save you.”

“What do you want from me?” Tess asked again, then she recalled everything Millie had told them all that morning, The bones? She thought, then asked, “What did you do?”

“We, dear meek Tess, took the bones of dead gods,” Rhianna said.

“And gave the hobgoblin permission to live inside poor Sandra—” Sam said, pushing her lower lip forward into a pout.

“She was always the weak one,” Rhianna said. “Just like your mother.”

“Then you came back to the fold,” Sam growled. “You and your daughters come into our coven with more power than anyone. How’s that fair!”

“It’s not my fault,” Tess said. “Maybe the gods just blessed me—”

Sam smacked her across the face and Tess’s blood-spattered outwards to spray all over Sam’s white shirt. Rhianna began laughing again and it was a cackle of the worst kind.

“Look what you did,” Sam raged, and Tess took that moment to get a message to her sister.

Mill’s? They want the Eye, she sent telepathically, and it got through, but all Mill’s heard was her name and felt Tess’s fear.

Tess wasn’t sure if Mill’s heard, but while the two witches raged at each other, she tried to free herself. That’s when she noticed something in the room that Sam and Rhianna my have forgotten about. There was a fireplace in the wall that opened into the flat upstairs.

I wonder? Susan? She called, and saw air ripples move towards the fireplace. They smashed against the brick surround. Was that me?

All of a sudden the room became silent. Sam and Rhianna had focused back on Tess, All Tess could hope for was that Mill’s, even Susan, heard her pleas.

“This is all your fault,” Sam said, then smacked Tess across the face again.

“Don’t make her mad,” Rhianna said.

“Why? Might make her pull out that power that belongs to me, faster,” Sam sneered.

“Your power?” Rhianna growled and her face took on a deep red heated glow.

“Our power. Okay?” Sam said, fearing obviously Rhianna’s retribution.

“And don’t bother trying to shift into a dragonfly,” Sam said. “We’ve spelled that too.”

“Yeah,” Rhianna said, shaking off the rage she was barely controlling, “not getting out of here ‘til we’ve got your power.”

Tess was taking in everything they were saying. Watching their tells. Seeing what she could use to make them fight to give her time to escape their magic binds. She thought about using her mind to attack them, but worried that in doing so, she’d be giving them what they wanted.

Her power.

Instead, Tess took their blows. She listened to them spew their hate into the room, and tried to find out how they intend to take her power? Tess was worried for Sandra sleeping in the next room, possibly being devoured by the hobgoblin. Then there was Millie, Alone in the Tasmanian wilderness somewhere… possibly, and in some sort of cave looking for something no-one had ever seen before. Gods, Tess thought. What if the cave’s unstable?

Sam and Rhianna’s arguing drew Tess out of her revelry. She needed to take control of the situation without them knowing it.

“What happened to you, Rhianna?” Tess asked. “You were such a lovely—”

“I ain’t lovely,” she grated, “just a good actor, and we’ve been around for a very long time.”

“How long?”

“Who do you think introduced the hobgoblin to your mother?” Sam asked.

“You? You made her what she was?” Tess asked.

“Kinda,” Rhianna said.

“Yeah,” Sam said, “she had no power... just like Sandra, an’ we were good with that, but then she had Mill’s and you.”

“Yeah,” Rhianna said. “Two little witches with power oozing off them. The moment we saw Mill’s, we wanted her power. So we gave Meryl what she wanted most, the power of the hobgoblin.”

“Then you came along, with more power than even Mill’s,” Sam said.

“So we thought, why take it from one when we could take it from you both,” Rhianna said.

“Had a hells of a time gettin’ you alone,” Sam said, “but all good things come to those who wait.”

They really were insane, and that was more terrifying than anything else.