Sun Kissed Innsmouth
Part 103
The next morning found Felecia awake in the cave with its two small rooms, still in the bed they shared. They shared nearly everything there. Felecia didn’t have to play it up or take a moment to point out the obvious. She stood up and fished under the bed for one of the yellow cloth strips before turning away to push it into her underclothes. She dreaded the idea of Jacqueline making mention of postponing her solo trip for mushrooms.
“I’ll see if I can find some willow bark or valerian while I’m out.”
Felecia knew better than to leap into exaltation, nothing about their conjoined existence merited that sort of outburst. She needed to play it cool but she didn’t want to. She already felt awful playing Jacqueline and being deceptive with her intentions.
“This time feels about the same as the last few. The tea you have for it should be enough.”
Jacqueline nodded and walked over to the craft table, going about the process of gathering materials for the trek ahead. The last time they went foraging they were gone in the morning and back in the dead of night. Jacqueline didn’t find nearly half of what she wanted to haul in before the seasons changed and she already mentioned how they would have to travel further down the coast the next time.
A full day then, two? Felecia couldn’t risk being obvious, not with Jacqueline finalizing for the trip. She knew how to get to the ancient oak in the swamp, knew how to walk to the meadow by the beach from there, after that it was only a guess how quick she could trapse through the forest until she stumbled upon Phillip’s cabin, or the village proper. She would have to wait until dark, steal in, and then make the entire journey again, only in reverse, and in the dark no less. Half a day to get there, half a day waiting around until the servants all fell asleep and the grounds of the big house were empty. Even if she got as lucky as she had ever been in her whole life, it would still be half a day back to the cave again, most certainly longer as she tracked north until she hit the beach and likely had to follow the coast until it got swampy.
“I know you’re still showing me the rest formula, but I’d like to get the thrive one under my belt before the raw ingredients get scarce with the heat.”
Jacqueline scowled, looking more like Nana than she ever had before then. “Must be nice having a list of wants without doing the hard work.”
Felecia was ready for a response like that. “I’ll be right here preparing and perfecting the rest formula, not to mention finding the best time to add the mushrooms to breakfast.”
The old witch didn’t nod or have any pithy call backs, she finished her preparations instead and got her pack slung and moved outside to the small clearing. Felecia followed and gathered water for the house so that Jacqueline could more easily fill a number of water skins for the trip ahead.
The old witch pulled her filthy poncho over her clothes and her pack and fixed her odd wooden mask down over her face before she looked to Felecia waiting expectantly at the cave entrance.
See you tomorrow, or, watch the planters for me, would have been obvious final utterances coming from Jacqueline. Perhaps the old witch was feeling melancholy or was worried about the cave itself, perhaps she might have blurted out something about Felicia minding her chores or practicing her craft. Make the moss and worms in the small patch do the dance before I get back, or, finish the sea logs I gave for you to read, the ones left by my father.
Felecia felt herself ready for anything the old witch had to say until the words finally fell out of the old woman’s mouth.
“If you ever respected me, or like me, take Nelly with you. Shit, even if all you feel is sorry for me, take that old hen with you on your ridiculous journey back to my sister. Leave her in the meadow where she belongs, don’t leave her to die in this cave while I’m away.”
Felecia felt her jaw drop, she felt it lay there open for the flies to circle and congregate around until Jacqueline chuckled in an awful and knowing way. “I know you, girl, and what you think you have to do, and what you have to prove. Go ahead. Go dig furrows along your arms and face the brambles on your way to whatever you imagine is waiting for you. Get caught by Yacob’s get or not, get caught by someone even worse. Then again, maybe you don’t get caught at all by the villagers, maybe you bring your big idea back here and get my home destroyed or both of us killed for the trouble. So be it, just take that poor hen back to her home.”
I’ll do nothing of the kind. I’ll be right here, studying what you’ve taught me and resting due to my condition.
Those were the words to be said, not just because they sounded right but because Felecia truly felt them, if for only that moment in time. When the time came to answer Felecia choked on every variation of the truth. When the time came, she had nothing to offer or share.
Chocked off responses and worthless lies were the only thing Felecia had on offer as Jacqueline shook her head and finished affixing her gear. “If you don’t have something better to do, then save that poor hen the misery and both of us the time. Stay and nurse your womanly wounds. Otherwise, please, take the hen with you and leave her where she belongs. Please.”
The old woman’s gaze was unbearable, so long and deep and dark and unwavering that it required some signature of response.
Felecia finally managed a version of the truth. Not something to placate the old witch, more something to say out loud so Felecia could steal herself for what she prepared to do.
“That thing is not a god, it doesn’t deserve to rule over us!”
Jacqueline didn’t whisper, she never had before at least, she was hard of hearing and tended to shout so she could hear herself when she spoke. The old witch in the woodman mask whispered just above the wind so that Felecia had to strain to hear her. “That thing is hungry and our suffering is the menu. That thing isn’t even out in the water, its inside us all.”