Dangerous Illusions

Chapter 2

“Of course…and please call me Rachel. My husband is still on duty so we can talk, because he clearly does not believe in anything of this nonsense, in his language,” said Rachel and continued,” don’t take it otherwise please.”

“Oh no…not at all…that is the normal reaction we face everywhere but someone believing or not believing really does not affect the forces at work. Do you have eggs at your home Rachel?”

The older woman looked a bit surprised at the question and nodded her head.

“I would like to have to two eggs please…and if you could start at the beginning from when the unnatural things started happening,” said Leila as she stepped forward in the kitchen.

Rachel took out two eggs and handed them to Leila who smelled to see if they were fresh and kept them on the counter. What Rachel said could be summarized into this that her son Donald was a very bright student and was currently pre-med till the last month until he suddenly came two months back and said that he was not going to med school and would take up arts. His parents were flabbergasted at his decision but they decided to support him in hopes that he would change his mind after some time but then he stopped going to his classes altogether, stopped playing his guitar which was his life, did not speak with anyone at all, and then last week he overdosed on sleeping pills but thankfully Rachel who was a para-medic had stepped up to the plate and that had fortunately saved his life.

“So when did you exactly understand that there is something magical related to this? Who told you so?” asked Leila as Rachel sipped from her mug.

“My grand-aunt. She has been always considered a weird woman but I have loved her always and trusting her has been one of the best choices of my life, not once, but since childhood. When she came to visit Don at the hospital, well, you know she is blind and I was holding her hand but the moment she entered the room she gasped out loud and rushed out without any word. I followed her to the reception when she said that there was nothing medically wrong with Don. But whatever was there would not stop until it took the life out of my baby,” said Rachel whose voice was now quivering as she spoke the words.

Leila knew that she had to do something very soon if she had to convince the woman. She took one of the eggs and came close to Rachel who was sniffling now.

“Okay Rachel…This is one of the eggs you have given me and I did not bring it with me. So you are sure that no trick is involved here, correct?” asked Leila, prompting her to tell exactly what she needed to know.

Rachel nodded and Leila blew on the egg softly before she started moving it around Rachel’s head in the anti-clockwise direction for seven times and muttered a normal check-up spell as she did so. Rachel stood there transfixed carefully looking at what she was doing. Finally when she was done Leila handed over the egg to Rachel and asked her to break open the egg in a bowl. Rachel did so and immediately let out a cry. Leila clocked her head towards the bowl and gave her a tight-lipped smile. The colour was not sunny yellow as it should be but a hazy mottled brown film covering the yellow.

“This does not indicate that you are cursed Rachel. It is just that simply you are weakening yourself every hour with anxiety and worry and your body is fighting hard against it. It has simply gone a bit cloudy, nothing more. Just eat up and drink lots of water and no alcohol, you will be okay within a week,” said Leila as Rachel looked at her with her eyes wide with panic.

“I think you need to see Don as soon as possible, this is actually working…How on earth did you know that I was drinking more alcohol than usual since Don had been admitted?” asked Rachel as she led Leila with the other egg in her hand towards a bedroom.

“To be honest, that was not my doing, your body itself reflected whatever you are inflicting upon it and I have just interpreted it,” said Leila as she followed Rachel inside a room which was considerably dark, with the blinds still drawn and there was a monitor with lights and numbers beeping on it and a figure lying on the bed probably connected to the tubes.

“Please open the blinds and always keep this room in light as much possible,” said Leila as she stood close to the bed. As Rachel drew the blinds Leila hoped Don to flinch from the light but nothing of that sort happened. He lay there unconscious with his eyes closed. Donald was a fairly good-looking boy, with a boyish charm etched on his face which would make girls normally swoon over him, thought Leila.

Rachel stood at the head of the bed placing a hand lightly on his head. Leila took the egg and repeated the same procedure as earlier and said,” It needs to be broken by his hand only. Can he wake up even for a little?”

Rachel nodded and softly called Don who fluttered his eyes open and looked groggily and Leila smiled and placed the egg in his hand and then made him break open it in the bowl she had brought from the kitchen. And it was just as she had hoped against hope, that it not be but that was not to happen.

She walked out of the room and Rachel followed her in the kitchen where she showed her the contents of the bowl. Rachel shrieked looking at it.

It was blood red. The yolk was a carmine thick red and the albumin was like blood dripped on it.

“Well it seems that your Grand-aunt was not wrong. Someone has done blood magic on your child and looking at the extent of it, it is not going to stop until he is killed or he kills himself. He has been hexed,” said Leila, with a grimace on her face and ring of finality in her voice.

“Tell me you can do something…how can I allow this to happen as a mother?” asked Rachel, who was badly scared at everything she saw.

“There is something which can be done but it is not the course of action we normally suggest or even follow ourselves. What you are dealing with here is fairly dark magic and the hex has been placed upon him by someone who has a grudge against Don or your family. Blood magic is not easy to come by and warding it off is even more difficult, but I would suggest that you disconnect him from the tubes and monitors and start feeding him soups and food with plenty of rock salt in it. His body has to develop some immunity even if the magic has to be drained from him and that is pretty serious matter,” said Leila as she rummaged in her bag for a few leaves of sage and a sprig of peppermint leaves.

Rachel ran to one end of the room and came back with an envelope in hand. Leila looked at her when she said,” Take this, it is your consultation fee. And I would really like to retain your services for doing whatever it needs to save my child. Please tell me you can save him in some way.”

This was the point where she would be saying that it was akin to impossible and would charge exorbitantly like a leech sucking off from its unaware victims but her Grandmother would have her hide if she ever came to know about something of this sort. And Leila knew that she would not be able to say anything to her defense. She had come to the city but had not allowed the city to come inside her, probably, never would.

She took the envelope and gave her the sage and peppermint sprigs saying,” Burn a single leaf of sage in the middle of his room when the sun goes down, and place the peppermint in a glass of water near his head and don’t displace it under any circumstances. I am placing a protection charm around this shell, make him wear it as early as possible…Look Rachel, let me be candid with you. The magic placed on Don is strong and I need to make some preparations for this, I shall let you know when I am ready.. Hopefully tomorrow night would be a good time since it is new moon. I shall tell you the price of my services after Donald is healthy, alright?”

Rachel looked at her with such gratitude in her eyes that it made Leila cringe inwardly. From her school days she had been always shunned because of her family’s history and the powers that her Grandmother held, she had only one friend and today, a mother is grateful because of the powers she had always detested but could not ignore.

“You can never ignore your responsibility, with powers like ours…it might seem like a curse to you but it is a gift and one day you will understand that,” her Grandmother had said, recalled Leila as she descended the stairs, which was the day she had left home. She came on the road and started walking to her place of work. The sidewalk for most of the part was still concrete but with litter and dirt scattered hither and thither. Tram wires strung from metallic green posts dangled from two-storey height, beyond their daily regard of their pedestrians who were walking heads down to their destinations like any other day, oblivious to the slow death of a boy over their heads.

The rest of the day passed by in a blur with Leila moving in automaton mode. Once over she went to the antique-store round the corner to purchase some things she needed for the next day. A thin chain of sterling silver, five candles, a small crystal ball which was cracked. The woman asked if she needed an Ouija board as well but Leila decided against it. She was a witch, for heaven’s sake, not a ghost-buster.

The next evening was her day off at the bar. Leila wore a red shirt and black jeans and took her last year’s Halloween robes with her as she walked to Rachel’s apartment. Whatever was plaguing them should be over by this night.

Leila rang the bell after her climb of the steps and Rachel immediately opened the door. They both walked inside the apartment as Leila nodded at the arrangement of the furniture which had been removed to create space for her ritual.

Leila opened her shoes at one corner and took out the small pouch out of her tote. It was a mixture of white sand and salt and she started making a pentagram out of it. Rachel brought out Donald from his room supporting him. Leila gestured to the cushions she had placed on her opposite end as if saying to take a seat there.

“I would need a family picture or three different photos would also do,” said Leila as she burnt the candles on the five ends of the pentagram. Donald slumped on the cushion looking at her weakly while she made everything perfect to the tiniest detail. Rachel returned back with three individual pictures and a family photo as well. Leila placed them at the centre of the pentagram and closed her eyes and took a deep breath muttering a short prayer of protection for herself.

She put on her robe and asked Rachel to switch off the lights of the room.