by J L Collins
The truth was that I didn’t want to leave him the next afternoon, but I knew everyone was waiting for us back in Spell Haven. He tried to act like it wasn’t a big deal that I had to go back to work (I didn’t), but I knew he was hoping there’d be more uninterrupted time with me. I was flip-flopping between staying or going.
Fiona-Leigh on the other hand, was ready to go back. And made sure that we were sticking to that plan.
“Are you really going to mope the rest of the time we’re here?” she asked, watching me with a frown as we hiked toward the road from the gateway into Spell Haven.
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not moping.”
“If I have to hear you sigh dramatically one more time, Mom…”
“I’m sorry, okay?” I said through my teeth as I pulled out my wand to summon the carriage transporter. “I just really wish we could spend the rest of the vacation with him. Can you blame me?”
She adjusted her backpack, heavy with fresh clothes and the books she hadn’t finished reading from her Solstice haul just yet. “No. And I’ve tried to tell you this can all be avoided if you just—”
“No,” I cut her off before she had the chance to finish her sentence. “It’s not happening so you can just stop it right there. You know the rules, Fi. Just because Sully is my boyfriend doesn’t mean I can break them for him.”
There was no way I could go through that again… he’d taken it way too well and it had caused too much of a bubble of hope to expand inside me.
She blew a strand of hair out of her face exasperatedly. “Fine! Have it your way. I just think it’s short-sighted to not at least consider it…”
I had way too many other things to worry about without my boyfriend getting dragged into the Other Realm and its magic.
My wand sparked to life as I drew up a fire message. “Hey, we’re here at the gateway. Can you send us the transporter? Thanks,” I spoke into it, the flames quickly dying out as the message sealed itself shut, off to pop up in front of Aunt Ginevra wherever she was.
“Can I be real with you?” Fi kicked at the melting snow, finding a spot where the deadened grass underneath it was peeking through just a bit.
“When are you not?”
“I heard you guys’ last night.”
The blood drained from my face in an instant. “Uh, um. What?”
“What you said. You said you were in love with him.”
Relief flooded through me just as quickly. “Oh. Okay. Well, I am.” And hopefully she was okay with that because it wasn’t like I could just turn it off.
“I know. I mean, I already figured you did. And that’s great—I’m seriously happy for you. I just want you to know that.” Her dark blue eyes were sincere as she dropped her backpack down into the space she just cleared.
There was something else waiting in her words, though. “But…?”
Fi sighed. “How are you going to do this with him? How are you going to keep such a huge part of yourself from him? Eventually, he’s going to figure something is weird. I don’t know how, but it’s pretty much inevitable.”
I tapped my toes impatiently. “Honey.”
“I know. It’s not really my business what you do, and I can’t tell you what to do. I’m not trying to, believe me. I just want you to think about this for a minute. When he does figure it out on his own, how do you think he’ll react?”
“I don’t know. It’s not something I sit around getting all worked up over,” I said, giving her a pointed look.
“Right. But you know how he’d react if you told him the truth—you witnessed it yourself a few months ago. He was okay with it. Which would you rather have? Take a chance on the unknown, knowing he would also have the right to be angry about you keeping everything from him after being with him for so long? Or telling him about this place, about our family now and see where the truth takes you?”
Instead of leading with everything I was already about to say, I stopped and actually thought about it for a moment. That shimmer of hope ballooned bigger in that small space and I stood uneasy, imagining what it could be like if Sully understood the real me.
What was holding me back? Or was I already being too quick to be lax with the rules again? That had happened once… and I still wasn’t sure if I ever forgave myself for it.
The carriage transport came sliding into view on its skis as soon as I opened my mouth. I wasn’t really sure of what to say to her, especially when she was looking at me as if she expected something profound to come out of my mouth. When would that girl learn?
“Our ride’s here,” I announced, deciding to go with ignoring the matter. “I don’t know about you but I’m ready for a cup of Aunt Bee’s tea.” Not to mention I really wanted to dig back in and reassess my plan with looking for Delaney. That had been pinging at the back of my mind the entirety of our little trip back home.
I thought about Sully on Christmas night, and the cute plaid pajama pants he wore that I couldn’t take my eyes off of. Okay… maybe I hadn’t been thinking about finding her the entire time we were gone…
Fiona-Leigh mumbled something under her breath, but I didn’t quite catch it. Whatever it was, I probably didn’t want to hear anyway, and I yanked the door open to get into the transporter once it was idled in front of us.
Inside, it was nice and toasty—just the perfect temperature for the ride back to the manor house. We pulled off down the road and for most of the time, Fi refused to make eye contact with me.
I sighed, relegating myself to playing with my keys in my pocket—now with the extra addition of Sully’s house key. I couldn’t help but smile thinking about it.
“What the?” Fiona-Leigh managed to get out before the transporter suddenly lurched to an eerie standstill. “What’s going on?”
I leaned over to look at the holoscope attached to the center console. It was completely blank.
“I don’t know…” I said, tapping at the screen. “This is weird. I’ve never seen a holoscope go out like that. Maybe it needs some extra juice?” I pulled my wand back out and tapped it, but nothing happened. I frowned as I felt for the usual humming of the wand against my palm and fingers, confused when all I could feel was the cold piece of wood in my hands.
My wand was never cold.
“What is it?” she asked, seeing the worried look on my face.
“My wand doesn’t seem to want to work. Maybe I should get out and see if there’s some kind of interference out there. You stay put.”
“Um… Mama?” Fi was already halfway out the darn thing before I could fuss at her, her gaze upward toward the sky. “Is the sky supposed to look like that in the middle of the day?”
I looked up to see a green haze that seemed to hang between the sky and the treetops around us and the mountains in the distance. It sort of reminded me of the Aurora Borealis, the way the green danced along its edges. But all at once, it disappeared, the sky returning to its normal color again.
Weird.
I tried my wand again, but it was no use. Nothing seemed to want to work on the transporter. I groaned, leaning up against the side of it. “This stupid thing. It’s messed up my wand somehow and now I can’t—”
A shrill scream echoed around us. We both jumped, our eyes wide as I sought out the source of the scream. It didn’t take long.
In the neighborhood we were passing by, a Witch was standing outside her house in her nightgown, reaching for something out of view. I couldn’t quite make out what it was, but from the looks of it she was trying to summon whatever it was into her hands. She screamed again, looking flustered. “I can’t do it!” she shouted, “it won’t move!”
“What is she talking about?” Fi whispered, glancing around as several other neighbors poured out into the street.
“Her magic. She’s having trouble using it I think… she’s a Siren, no wand…I think.”
The noisy crowd really started gathering, some of the Witches trying to yell out to neighbors across the way, all of them s
ounding just as panicked as the feeling in my chest was starting to become.
“Fi… I think we need to hightail it back to the manor house, stat. Something’s wrong. Something is really wrong.”
12
All Spell Breaks Loose
The whole realm seemed to be losing its mind.
Every which way we turned, people were outside, scratching their heads, talking in hushed whispers, keeping their eyes on one another.
We overheard several Witches along the road to the manor house—it wasn’t just the carriage transporter, and it wasn’t just my wand. None of them had access to any of their magic.
“Has this ever happened before?” Fiona-Leigh whispered as we passed by a couple who were stuck on the side of the road in their transporter. The guy kicked at the side of the vehicle, swearing at it while the girl sat inside of it, shivering.
I shook my head. “Not that I know of. Believe me, that would’ve been on plenty of my history tests in school if that were the case.”
“But I don’t understand. Isn’t magical energy just like, there? For anyone to use? Is it gone or is everyone’s ability hoard to wield it gone?”
There was no time to worry about that—all I knew was that my daughter did not need to be around a horde of Witch townsfolk all freaking out about not having magic. Hysteria did funny things to people, from what I knew of the Witch Trials in the Human Realm. I didn’t need the reverse to happen here in Spell Haven.
“Come on, we need to hurry,” I said, yanking at her elbow.
When the spire of the manor’s library turret poked into view down the road, I picked up the pace, a new kind of panic welling up inside me. What was going on back home? How was everyone reacting?
“Mom, you’re going to pull my arm of the socket,” Fi hissed, still keeping up with me as I dropped her arm.
“Sorry, honey.”
I nearly did the splits as the roadway became icier under my feet all of the sudden. Fi let out a strangled yell as she tumbled down to her knees, catching herself before she face-planted.
“What the heck is happening?” she huffed as I struggled to help her back up.
“The enchantment on the road—it keeps the road from freezing over under the snow. It must have worn off… Let’s get off the road. We’re almost there.”
When we finally did make it to the manor house, I nearly smacked right into the front gate. Of course. With the town’s magic going all haywire, the gate wasn’t going to open on its own. I shook at it, the wrought iron freezing under my touch. It creaked and groaned as it opened, luckily for us it wasn’t locked.
She followed after me and I was careful to shut the gate, anxiety still pulsing through me.
I banged on the front door the moment I realized it was locked, nervous at the sound of escalating voices coming from inside. “Please open up, please,” I mumbled to myself.
The heavy door cracked open just enough for me to make out Aunt Ginevra’s warm eyes, before she threw it open all the way, practically yanking the both of us inside before quickly slamming the door shut behind us all.
“Sorry, lass, I wanted to make sure…oh my word. Children! Move away!”
A screech echoed through the house, followed by a huge thudding crash. It came from the sitting room.
I pushed right past everyone else, stopping only for a moment to take in the scene in front of me. Reaghan and Dromythyus were at the edge of the room, Reaghan on the floor and Dromythyus collapsing down to her level, his eyes wide in fear.
Her eyes fluttered opened and she carefully sat up, blinking. The floor was strewn with the remnants of the dozens of colored eternal candles that must have fallen from the ceiling.
“Oh my stars, are you okay?” I asked, rushing to Reaghan’s side. “What happened?”
She shook her head, swallowing hard. “I-I don’t know. I was standing there arguing with Dromythyus when it was like the whole roof caved in,” she said, her lip quavering. “They all fell to the floor and I was nearly knocked out by one.”
“Did it hit you?”
She nodded, wincing as she lifted her left shoulder. “My shoulder.”
“If it were another inch to the left, it could have done much worse,” Dromythyus said, leaning his head against her. “Come on, Rea. Let me help you up. I’ll go make you an ice pack for that.”
“How? The freezing chamber won’t be working without magic,” she said softly, groaning as she stood.
He smiled. “We’ve got plenty of snow outside and I know where the cloths are in the kitchen. I’ll make it work.”
I stood up with them, frowning. “He’s right though. Why don’t you go have a seat over there? I think we’re in the clear from any falling objects now.” I surveyed the ceiling and the walls though, just in case.
Everyone came flooding into the room, stepping over the obliterated candles. Her kids practically flew at her, checking to make sure she was okay. Declan refused to leave her side and instead sat on her lap.
Both my aunts were busy hurrying everyone into the sitting room. While Aunt Ginevra hoarsely begged everyone to pay attention, Aunt Bedelia clapped her hands as loud as she could, calling on everyone to shut up and listen. The room went quiet almost immediately.
“We can panic, or we can put our heads together and think. There’s already plenty of the first going on outside these walls, so I suggest we sit here and think of what we need to do for this… temporary situation we find ourselves in. Isobel? Please bring me the candles from inside the credenza in the parlor. We’ll need plenty of them to keep this place lit throughout the night if this continues.”
Isobel nodded and rushed out of the room, leaving a worried-looking Lyanna sitting down next to Lyra. Sean was busy pacing the floor behind them.
“Sean, would you be a dear and put that energy into good use by throwing some firewood into the hearth for me? I’ve got to find those darn matches… we must have some somewhere…”
“I’ll look for them,” Aunt Ginevra said, her long skirt whisking behind her as she stalked off toward the kitchen.
“Where’s Erie? And Uncle Gardner?” I asked, suddenly realizing they were missing from the room.
“She just left,” Lyra said, wrapping a shawl tighter around her shoulders as Fiona-Leigh went to stand by her. “She was worried about the creatures at the Menagerie.”
Of course she was. I sighed, wishing I had a way of checking in with her. Short of sending a homing pigeon her way, I was out of luck.
“She’ll be fine, lass,” Aunt Bedelia said, glancing my way. “Yes, I still have my ability. That’s an innate part of me so I don’t think it’s exactly the same thing.”
Well, that was good to know.
“Father is upstairs in his office,” Reaghan said, her voice wavering. It had been a long time since I last saw her this visibly upset over something. “I think he’s getting ready to go to the MARC.”
“I wouldn’t doubt it,” I said, frowning in the direction of the library where his study sat above it. “I’m surprised he’s still here.”
“So does anyone have a clue about what’s going on?” Ciara piped up from the corner of the room closest to Reaghan, standing by the huge puddle that used to be a pile of enchanted snow.
We all looked to one another. Apparently not.
“We saw… we saw something weird outside,” Fiona-Leigh said, speaking louder. “The sky. It was this really weird hazy green. Sort of like transparent smoke, or green steam or something. Does anyone know what that might mean?”
“Green haze?” Aunt Bedelia murmured, an even more worried look lining her face. She pushed her glasses back up her nose. “Is it still there?”
Fi shook her head. “No. It only lasted for a few moments before it disappeared.”
“We were on our way here in Aunt Ginny’s transporter,” I explained, stepping into the middle of the room. “And it stalled completely. The holoscope wouldn’t come on. And… my wand wouldn’t work. We had to walk
the rest of the way here.”
“So it’s not just here in the house after all…” Aunt Bedelia said, more to herself than to me. “Gardner was right.”
I nodded. “It’s pretty bad out there. People are really worried.”
“And for good reason.” Uncle Gardner hobbled along with his cane helping him more so than usual, wincing as he made his way into the room. “Without our energy source, Spell Haven is already descending into absolute chaos. I could see from my window in my study where people are already filling the streets, angry, confused. And most of all, scared.”
Everyone sat in silence, mulling those words over.
Aunt Ginevra came back into the room, a small matchbox in her hand. “I found them. We should go ahead and start the fire. Without our magic, the house will lose its warmth quickly.”
While they took care of the fireplace, I pulled Uncle Gardner aside, trying to read the concern in his eyes. It was worse than I thought.
“Sir, do you have any idea what’s going on out there? What could have caused this?” I asked, hoping that maybe he knew something he just didn’t want to share in front of everyone else. But he shook his head.
“You know about as much as I do. I’m leaving to go to the MARC—they need me there. And I need you here,” he quickly added, cutting me off. “You keep a cool head and know how to handle the pressure in situations like this. My sister and Ginny will need help keeping everyone calm. We’re going to be in for a rocky time while we figure all of this out and I need to know my family is safe in the meantime. Can you do that for me, Gwendolyn?”
A heaviness sunk into the pit of my chest because I knew already I couldn’t just leave, and it felt silly to even entertain the idea of going along with him. “Of course,” I answered softly. “Yes, sir.”