by Nicole Marsh
A short hmm leaves her lips and I remain waiting at the front of the room, creating reasons for my secrecy. “I believe you,” she finally says, to my disbelief.
“You do?” I ask.
She nods her head. “Of course, I do. Why would you lie about something like this?”
I shrug my shoulders, at a loss for words. I don’t deserve a friend like Sylvia. While sending up a quick thank you, for putting Sylvia in my life, to anyone that may be listening, she begins to speak again, “I want to help. What’s next?”
23
The Portal
Mirabella
After she gets home from the disastrous meeting with our parents, Sylvia immediately starts a group chat in the new messenger app we recently downloaded. Somehow, she already acquired Alex and Marc’s phone number. I don’t bother to ask her methods, she’s just resourceful like that.
Sylvia titles the new group “Canada Crew” and immediately starts sending out a barrage of messages. I read the first message she sends and Vlad’s response, then put my phone down with a chuckle.
BA Witch S: Hey, is it cold in Canada in the summer? Should I pack cold weather gear?
Wolf Boy: Why don’t you use your phone and check the weather app?
Apparently, the person who starts the group chat can choose the name that appears for each person they add. As I continue to pack, my phone starts to blow up with messages. I let the dinging continue while I flip through the hangers in my closet.
BA Witch S: I didn’t have the zip code to look it up.
Fake Marc: I would bring, at the very least, one pair of jeans and one sweater. The evenings may get a bit colder in Canada than they have been here. The days will probably be warmer than the nights.
Fake Marc: Why can’t I be in the group text as Alex? …Since it’s my name.
BA Witch S: You faked being a man named Marc for months and now it’s URGENT we call you Alex? Okay.
Marc: HAHAHAHA
When I finally finish packing enough outfits for a week or so, I pick my phone back up and read through the messages. I roll my eyes at Sylvia’s antics before adding my own message for the group.
BA Witch M: Let’s meet at my grandmother’s house in an hour.
Responses flood in, but I ignore them to look around my room one final time. I want to make sure I don’t forget anything important for my trip to the Canadian coven. A thought pops into my head and I reach into my closet to grab the first witch book my mom gave me, the one from my birthday. Then I add the three books from Leif into my duffel bag, the ones that describe the magical elements and their properties.
I rush out of my room, to the bookcase hiding my parent’s witching chamber. Carefully plucking my way down the steps, I head straight to a shelf of books. I grab the legacy book that Leif showed me, then a potions manual, just in case. Bringing my haul back upstairs, I dump them into my duffel.
As I’m tugging the zipper closed, a slightly out of breath Jacob appears in my doorway. “Miss Love,” he whispers in an urgent tone.
I abandon my duffel to face him, concerned by the strangeness of his actions. “What’s going on, Jacob?”
“Miss Love,” he repeats then shifts his eyes to the hall behind him. “We need to get you out of here, right away. Esmerelda Fink and a few others from the coven are downstairs in the kitchen with your parents, they’re delaying them for as long as possible, but we don’t have much time.”
“Esmerelda Fink?” I ask, my brain slow to interpret his words. “What is she doing here?”
“They’re here for you. Somehow she found out that you shared the information about the Shifters and the Council.” Jacob steps through my open door and yanks the zipper on my duffle. Once its closed, he places it over his shoulder, then puts a firm, but gentle, hand on my shoulder and steers me towards the stairs. “Go out the back and run to your car. Drive to Molly’s as quickly as you can. She’ll know what to do.”
He leads me to the back door and quietly slides it open. I follow his instructions, sprinting to my car. Jumping in, I immediately start my Prius and begin to back down the driveway while using one of my hands to jab at my Stereo. A call rings out once, then Sylvia’s voice is coming out through my speakers. “Hello.”
“I need you to come outside immediately,” I say frantically, spotting my parent’s door open and Esmerelda’s stormy face peering outside. “Plans changed; I’m picking you up right now. We need to head to my grandma’s, quickly. Tell the others.”
Sylvia reaches in front of her to place a hand against the dash, emitting a small “eek”, as I whip my car into the empty spot next to the Sieves brothers’ truck. We both hurry to pull our luggage out of the backseat and sprint to my grandmother’s red door. It opens the second my foot hits the bottom step, my grandma’s gray hair peeking out.
A look of relief crosses her face at the sight of us and she ushers both of us forward. “The boys are already inside, hurry dearies.”
The door firmly shuts behind Sylvia and I, but my gaze is focused on the couches in the living room where Alex, Marc, and Vlad are already waiting for us. Vlad rises to his feet, taking in my flushed and panicked appearance, and letting out an angry growl.
He strides across the room in three steps and yanks me against him. His thick arms cross my back, holding me tightly against his broad form. I can feel his inhale as he buries his face into my hair and takes a deep breath. Something about my scent reassures him and he loosens his hold incrementally.
“What happened?” He asks finally, his voice rumbling through me.
His hold, and the fact that my crew is safe, has the tension slowly draining from my body. “Esmerelda Fink, the head of the coven, is after me. She came to my house.”
“What did she want?” Marc, or maybe Alex, asks from across the room.
“She found out I shared information about the shifters after she told me not to,” I reply muffled by Vlad’s chest.
My grandma gasps, but it’s Sylvia that voices the thought that’s been running through my mind since Jacob helped me escape. “Who told her? How did she find out?”
“I’m not sure,” I reply hesitantly. I don’t want to be suspicious of anyone close to me, but those are the only people I’ve talked to since the summons. I step back, out of Vlad’s hold, and push the thoughts of betrayal to the back of mind. Instead, I address a more pressing matter. “How are we going to get out of here before she finds me? We haven’t even had a chance to make our travel plans yet.”
I scan the room until I land on my grandma’s twinkling eyes. “You’ll use magic, of course.” She walks through the living room, pausing in the opening connecting to the kitchen. I widen my stance, settling in for her lengthy explanation I know will come next.
She takes me by surprise when she doesn’t explain any further, just motions us to follow after her, then continues towards the back of the house. I’m startled and the five of us stare after her before she calls out “Come, come”. The words spur our group into motion.
Making our way through the house, we follow her down a hallway of closed doors. She opens the final door on the right and steps inside. I look at the group behind me for a brief second, then the five of us file in behind her.
The room is devoid of windows and completely bare, except for an empty door frame sitting in the exact middle of the space. “What is this?” I ask quizzically, after my brief inspection.
“This is a portal, dear,” my grandmother replies, like this fact should be obvious.
“A portal?” Sylvia asks, her voice sounding reverent, like she’s heard the word before and it’s something to be admired.
Vlad looks from my grandma, to Sylvia, then to the empty frame, like he’s missed something. After a few beats, he asks, “What does it do?”
Mentally I second his question and wonder if Alex and Marc have ever heard of a portal before.
My grandmother pulls a vial of black liquid from her ruby colored robes and steps forward. She
upturns the vial and pours its contents on the floor, directly underneath the doorless door frame. The second the liquid touches the floor; she begins to murmur a string of words too low to hear.
I watch in wonder as the once empty frame fills with a shimmery silver substance. It creates a semi-sheer element that looks like a cross between water and gas. The silvery shimmer completes the door within the frame and fluctuates in random, swirling patterns as if it’s a living creation.
With the frame full, my grandma turns back to the group. “You’ll each step through the portal and it will transport you to the Canadian coven.”
My eyes widen, and I step closer to examine the portal. It continues to move, shimmering in the light from the ceiling. “Why didn’t you use this to travel to the Canadian coven before?” I ask, recalling how my grandma drove when she went to ask for help on the town’s behalf.
“It was on the fritz,” my grandma replies simply. “Leif fixed it for me while he was staying here, he said it was the least he could do to repay my hospitality. He’s a very kind and helpful young man,” she finishes with a small smile.
“What if he did something to sabotage it?” Sylvia questions in a low tone, her eyes meeting mine.
I have the same fear, but I don’t voice the words aloud.
“We don’t have any other options. All we can do is hope that he didn’t,” I respond with the truth. “I will do everything in my power to cure this curse, but if you’re not sure you want to commit, I won’t be upset if you don’t accompany me.” I meet the eyes of each person present, then step through the portal.
24
The City
Mirabella
My grandma didn’t prepare us for the landing, at all. A tangle of limbs and bags, the five of us hit the cobbled ground, hard, landing in a massive heap. I groan as someone’s backpack nails me in the gut the same second my hip hits the ground.
“Shouldn’t that be spelled so we land gently?” I mutter trying to untangle myself enough to stand.
“Maybe we should’ve taken a float potion before we jumped through a random portal door,” Alex’s voice groans back, slightly muffled.
Looking to my side I see Alex is half under Sylvia, her abdomen covering his head. She’s splayed out like she’s pretending to be Superman flying through the air and the tips of her fingers are touching Vlad’s calves. Vlad is half on a suitcase, and under two duffle bags. Marc is right next to him, their hips touching and a backpack slightly overlapping their bellies. Strangely, I landed by myself a few feet away, instead of in the pile my friends and our luggage created.
Despite the twinge of pain from our landing, a chuckle leaves my lips. I half sit-up, resting on my elbows to inspect our rag tag group after our awful landing. A chorus of light groans meets my amused chuckle and I force myself the rest of the way up. Stepping over to the group, I offer my hand first to Sylvia, lifting her off Alex. From there we help the others up, stretching tender muscles and righting our luggage to obtain a more presentable front.
A whirring noise catches my attention and my eyes raise to the sky in time to see a teenager floating through the air above our heads. His feet are planted firmly, hip-width apart on a shimmery blue disc. My eyes widen at the sight and I point out the kid to the rest of the group.
“What is that?” Vlad asks, his voice rumbling in a quiet half-whisper.
The five of us spin in a circle, silently absorbing our surroundings. Tall, thin, pink buildings glisten in the hazy sun, as if they’re made of a gem like material. We appear to be surrounded by shops, but the writing on the signs is strange. Made of squiggly lines that don’t appear to be letters, I squeeze my eyes shut then reopen them to try to bring the markings into focus.
It doesn’t work.
Shaking my head, I continue examining the area, noting the cobbled road and the paved sidewalks filled with people. Some of them eye our group curiously, but no one approaches us. Their reactions make me wonder if groups of people and baggage falling out of the sky and landing on this part of the road, are a frequent occurrence.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Alex lean over and poke at the cobbled road with a single finger. He straightens up and then gazes around, taking in the pink structures.
“What is this place?” Sylvia whispers, in a tone tinged with awe.
My eyes do another sweep of our surroundings, taking in the tall pink buildings, pausing on a castle-like building directly down the road. Somehow, I hadn’t noticed the structure previously, despite the tall, white, skinny turrets extending high into the air, differentiating it from the other buildings nearby.
Dragging my eyes away from the mysterious building, I continue my sweep of the area. My eyebrows raise as my eyes encounter a sign written in an old English style font.
“It looks like it’s a witching city called ‘Haven’,” I respond in a hushed tone, pointing to the sign off to the side.
As a group, we wordlessly wander towards the sign, dragging our luggage along behind us. The closer we get to the sign; the more words become visible. We stop directly in front of the slightly weathered wood, our eyes scanning the words. “Haven. The City of Witches. All are welcome here.” Underneath the words is a counter that appears to be fluctuating as people fly in and out of the town on their floating blue discs. It finally registers that the number is a counter that reflects the amount of people in the city. While staring at the sign, the number has hovered steadily around five-thousand.
Five-thousand witches, all in one place I think to myself, in awe of how large this city must actually be. I turn my head towards Vlad to talk about this place, but I’m interrupted before the words are able to escape my lips.
“Ahh, Mira Love.” A voice calls out from the cobbled road behind us. I recognize the slightly accented words, having heard them often in over the past month. They belong to someone I was hoping to be able to avoid during this trip, as unlikely as it seemed. The voice continues, “I wasn’t expecting to see you again, so soon.”
As a unit, the five of us turn from the sign to face the city once more. Standing on the street before us is a small crowd of witches, some clad in robes, and others dressed more casually. In the front of the group stands three figures in a line.
In the center is distinguished man with light brown hair and piercing blue eyes, clad in a set of black robes. I immediately recognize his face from my Foogle searches, however, he’s not able to hold my attention.
My eyes flit to his right and see a willowy girl with flowing blonde hair and Archibald’s piercing blue eyes. She gives me a look that I assume is supposed to be a smile, but looks more like she’s baring her teeth at me.
My eyes leave her face, drifting to the left. It’s there that I finally spot the owner of the voice.
“Leif,” I say simply.
To be continued…
Acknowledgments
Thank you so much for continuing to read Mira’s story. I love each and every review, email, and comment that I receive on her behalf. It makes writing so much more enjoyable, knowing readers appreciate your words.
I also want to give a shout to my new editor Christina P. She’s kept me in line, and my sentences grammatically correct. Also if you find any errors, I am now a blameless party. Just saying.
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Books by Nicole Marsh
Vice Series (Romantic Thrillers)
Vice
Wrath
Pain (Spring 2020)
Hospital Series (Short Romance Reads)
Sleeping With My Surgeon
The Curse Trilogy (Paranormal Romance)
Cursed
Bound
Shattered (Spring 2020)
Reviews
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, Bound (The Curse Trilogy Book 2)