Eve 2/8

The old lady looked carefully at Eve. “I suppose he said he’d take you through a door to an alternate world.”

“That’s right, I’m very interested in witchcraft and he told me that was the place to go.”

“Know any witches do you?” asked the little old lady with a smile.

Eve made her mind up and decided to take a chance. “Have you heard of Jennifer Jane,” the lady nodded slowly, “well I’m her next door neighbour and although I’m in a different group to hers, I’m a witch myself.”

To her amazement the old lady listened without bursting out laughing. It appeared she was being taken seriously!

“Well dear, my name’s Leah, I used to activate the door for George when he took his parties through to this world. I come through here to pick blackberries when they’re ripe. For some reason they seem to be better than the ones over on the other side. But I have to take the door down whenever I come through; you can’t leave an active door standing in the middle of the path for anyone to wander through. Anyway as you’re a witch, I’ll show you the postholes and where I hide the pieces for the frame and then you can activate it yourself. The witches at the Gate won’t let me open it for any one else; I got into a lot of trouble with them and they made me stop doing it for George.”

Eve thought furiously for a few seconds. If the old lady really was a witch, then she had to play along somehow and find out how to open a door. If her leg was being pulled again then at least she was no worse off than she’d been before.

“I’m afraid my group doesn’t need to use doors so I don’t know how to make them work.”

“Oh well I suppose we all have different needs. It’s pretty simple really, I’ll show you the twiddle and the cancelling spell and leave you to it. Do you really live next door to Jennifer Jane?”

Leah appeared to be very impressed by the fact that Eve knew Jennifer Jane and asked lots of questions. In turn Leah confirmed everything George had told her about the alternate world and witchcraft to be true. She was very convincing.

Eve was even more convinced shortly after she was shown the hiding place for the door posts and where to place them. Leah wiggled her fingers and the door glowed slightly even though it was still daylight. Then she cancelled the spell and made Eve practice the finger movements herself. She looked at Eve’s efforts with a very critical eye.

“For a witch, you’re not very good at twiddles are you?”

Eve explained that magic had to be done secretly in her world and that she didn’t get very many opportunities to practice.

Surprisingly Leah agreed. “I suppose Jennifer Jane is so good because she’s had a lot of lessons at the Witches’ Home!”

At last she was satisfied that Eve was competent at opening doors. “I’ll leave you to it now. Close the door behind you and I’ll go home when I’ve finished picking my blackberries.”

To be honest Eve was quite surprised when her efforts at magic appeared to work and she had walked carefully through the door. Whatever else had happened, the charcoal burners’ clearing had disappeared and the path now went on into the distance.