by Sara Stone
"Elements of the earth, elements of the day, please come my way. Powers of the goddess Hekate, I pray you to look blessed upon me. Infuse these stones with your salt and sand, take their protection, and add to it with your helping hand. I chant it three times three, so mote it be."
The stones in the bowl vibrated before hovering and twisting in the center. Each one slowly started to cast an eerie green glow before the spell was complete. I was afraid to pick them up, thinking that maybe they were hot. I carefully reached in and was surprised to find that the stones were cool.
I pulled the chain over my head and let the stones sit against my chest. Touching them, I could feel a slight buzz run through each before I dropped them back against my skin. It must have worked. I whispered a thank you before blowing out the candles and cleaning up my mess. Now I had to figure out another spell to keep whoever or whatever the voice was out of my house.
I couldn't find a specific spell, so I took one of the home protections and added in some words precisely to include the spying, whether it was magical or not. It took me a long time to find the words, but Ulric said it was more intention than the spell itself. I knew the wards we placed were layered for protection, but obviously, it was more to protect the house from the outside, not the inside.
It wasn't one that I sat in the circle for. I had to bless salt before sprinkling it in every room, every window, and every doorway. I wondered as I worked if the protection would stay even if the salt got cleaned up by accident. Being on the safe side, I decided I would put it where it could remain without being disturbed. I placed a bowl on the desk and sprinkled in a generous amount of salt. I put in dashes of nettle, mullen, frankincense with cumin, and a heavy-handed pinch of angelica root. Each one had properties for protection. Some warding off evil, some focused on keeping out black sorcery.
Once I had mixed everything up, I walked from room to room as instructed. I sprinkled the salt into the window seal and on top of the door jams. When I got to the living room, I also sprinkled some on the fireplace mantle where it wouldn't get disturbed under the wood frame and near the bricks. I added a bit more to every room near the closets as well, just to make sure I was thoroughly cleansing and protecting everything.
"As this salt I sprinkle about, to keep the evil spies out, Let no danger enter in, any opening herein, don't let them watch, don't allow them to listen, to the original spell hear my addition, I now invoke the law of three, this is my will, so mote it be."
I said this spell every time I sprinkled the salt, hoping that the way I changed it wouldn't stop the magic from working. I had no idea how I was being spied on, but I wasn't willing to let my home feel unsafe. As soon as the last doorway was complete, it all snapped into place with a burst of air.
I took a deep breath and felt a weight lift off me. It was as if I had been holding my breath since last night and was finally able to breathe normally. I don't know how I knew that the spell had worked, but it just settled over me with calming ease that felt like someone had wrapped a homemade blanket around me. While in the kitchen, I made up a bagel, which I ate with too much enthusiasm and not enough cream cheese. I gave myself instant indigestion. After burning off dinner with the fight, and then the all-night adventure, I was starving. I then had skipped breakfast when I drank my weight in coffee. Once this food hit my stomach, I fell back onto the couch, closing my eyes.
I awoke with a start. I had been in such a deep sleep that I was disoriented for a few moments, wondering why I was on the couch. Something just felt off. I couldn't remember dreaming, but it felt like a nightmare was lingering. I walked into the kitchen for water and saw I had slept over eight hours. When I passed out, it was only around ten am, and now it was well into the evening. I needed the sleep, but now my routine was way off. My stomach was knotting like an anxiety attack was coming. I tried to push it out of my mind by brushing out my hair and changing into some clothes. I stood there looking into the mirror when I realized that my arm no longer had the lightning bolt burn on it.
It could have happened with all the healing herbs I took the last couple of days or when I put my protection amulet on, but at least it was gone, and my belly wasn't sore anymore. I tried to relax with the thought of being completely fine, but I was still fighting my muscles from bunching up with the tension rolling over me in waves. I walked around, wondering if it was the house or just my nerves. I couldn't place the feeling or where it was coming from. Out of nowhere, I heard a voice calling my name. I looked all over to the place to find where it was coming from. It started softly like the wind whistling around the house, but the air was still when I checked outside. I stood in my kitchen asking the voice who was there. I felt crazy talking to an imaginary voice.
"Who are you?" I called out.
The voice came louder, in a haunting, echoing tone, making goosebumps pop up all over my arms.
"Who's there?" I called again.
It came and went as I ran through the house, checking all the rooms, walking out to the porch, and circling the house. I couldn't find anyone. The voice started to get louder and louder before I realized it was Hattie's voice calling for me. I grabbed my cell and called her, getting no answer. I left a message and rushed out a text that she needed to call me asap. I sat down at my table, my leg bouncing with my nerves, and I drummed my fingers on the table. How was I hearing her? The voice had stopped, and it made my heart race. Whatever was happening, I didn't like that she had stopped calling.
I grabbed a map and ran upstairs to find a spell that would help me locate her. I didn't have a pendulum and started to freak out before realizing I could use my amulet for one. I didn't have time to go searching through all the books to find a spell. Whatever was happening to her, there was a reason she stopped calling me.
I held the chain in my hand, hovering the stones over the map. I wasn't sure where she could be, so I kept it above a broad location, hoping to narrow it down. I muttered a spell I pulled right out of my brain, hoping that my witch's intuition would guide me.
"Mother of the witches, someone's in trouble, show me her location on the double, I invoke this spell three times three, by your power, so mote it be." I knew how ridiculous that sounded, but I wasn't in the mood to make an intricate spell. Something was wrong with my friend, and I had no time to waste in finding her.
My necklace circled, picking up speed. I held my breath as the circles got smaller and smaller until it stopped. Not on a specific point, but just stopped spinning, hovering over a blank space on the map. Now was not the time for a ridiculous mishap. I tried it again—same results. I snatched up the map and ran for my car keys.
I made it to my car after stumbling down the porch steps into my driveway. I threw everything but my cellphone onto my passenger seat. I called Ulric. Of course, when I needed someone to help, it went to voicemail...again. I took a deep, steadying breath and called Judson. It rang once, then clicked over to voicemail like he had ignored my call. Jerk! Rose, she was my last resort.
I realized I had no idea where to drive to, so I pulled over and called.
"Hello Lia, how are you?" Rose asked casually.
"Rose! Hattie! Something is wrong! I keep hearing her voice calling for me. I tried a spell, and it didn't work. I don't know what to do!"
"Okay, calm down. I will meet you at your place in five minutes. I am just up the street."
"Thank you!" I hung up the phone and made an illegal U-turn speeding off back to my house. Five minutes could be a long time if she were hurt. I pulled into the driveway, almost colliding with the house. I snatched up all the stuff and ran in to set it up. I wasn't sure what else Rose would need, but at least this was ready.
She flew into my house in a rush. Her blouse flapping behind her in her haste. Even rushing to help Hattie, she looked so put together. I, on the other hand, looked like I had just woken up from a twenty-day nap with my hair pulled up in a haphazard bun and some torn jeans topped with a faded shirt.
She grabbed up m
y amulet as she gave me a side look of approval before muttering under her breath and holding it over the map. It slowly started to turn, making small lazy circles. The stones picked up momentum, swinging around so hard they were almost wrapping the chain around her fingers holding it. She slowly moved her hand around the map of our town and the surrounding areas before it went stock still, pointing straight down like it was replaced with a rod.
She was five miles to the east of us. We both hopped into my car and sped out of the neighborhood. We were both leaning forward in our seats, anxious to find her. I watched my odometer closely for the five-mile point to stop. Once I reached it, Rose tried again. This time we were almost right on top of where we needed to be. There was a big park to the left of us, but there was too much land to go running around frantically without drawing unwanted attention. It needed to be a more specific spot. Rose chanted to herself again, holding my stones close to her face in her cupped hands. They started glowing with white light. I pulled into the parking lot, and we got out.
Rose was following the amulet. It was pointing like a dowsing rod but playing hot and cold. It would stay still the father we got from her location and then start swinging slightly when we headed in the other direction. As she was watching the amulet, I kept calling out to Hattie. Random joggers openly stared at us as we went.
We went up a slight hill that leads into some trees. The necklace was spinning like crazy now. I looked along the tree line but couldn't see anything. Rose turned left, and it slowed, so we headed back to the right, onto a walking path. I could see bright pink running shoes sticking out of the bushes.
"Hattie!"
I ran over to her and pulled her into my lap. I couldn't believe someone had done this to her. Her face was bloodied and bruised. I kept talking to her, and the only response I was getting was her eyelids fluttering a bit.
Rose called Ulric to meet us at my house and we tried to get her to wake up. When she didn't respond, Rose ran her hands along her face, gently chanting something. I was too worried about Hattie to pay attention to what she was saying. She was still limp and not responding. I thought we should get her to the hospital, but Rose said Ulric could heal her faster. The logical part of me felt she needed an ambulance and was fighting with the side of me that had been healed by magic. Rose grabbed a small bag that was lying near her. I'm guessing it was Hattie's purse.
Seeing her sprawled in the dirt, all banged up, made me feel completely helpless. She was one of my only friends, and I took too long figuring out how to find her. If I had been thinking, I would have called Rose first, and I could have gotten to Hattie sooner. My hands were shaking as I stroked her hair out of her face. Her blonde hair was stained with splatters of blood, and I wanted to wash it away. The small spots taunted me. Tears threatened to fall, but I tried my hardest to hold them back. I needed to be strong. If not for me, then for her.
We wrapped her arms around our necks and walked the slow trek back to my car as she hung limply between us with her feet dragging. We got a few people asking if she was alright, but we didn't stop and chat. We laid her in the backseat. Rose went around and lifted her head gently into her lap to continue to chant over her while we drove.
When we got to my house, both Judson and Ulric were inside. I must have left it open in our haste to go find her. Ulric was ready with his medical bag or magical bag as it were. Ulric went to work dabbing cream on her bruises and cuts, running his healing hands along over her face. Judson was trying to ask me what was going on, but I just held up my hand to stop him. I needed to focus on getting Hattie to wake up.
After all her bruises and cuts were cleaned up and mostly healed, we laid her gently on the floor. Rose had me go upstairs to find healing herbs to cast a spell. She had me looking for a few things I wasn't sure I had. She needs plantain, lobelia, and wolfsbane. I found a tiny bit of each leftover in some jars pushed to the back of the top shelf. She had me grab any red candles I had as well, saying she needed strength.
When I brought them all down, she had us set up in a small circle around Hattie while Rose led the spell. She sprinkled the herbs into the bowl and lit it. The smoke swirled around Hattie as if it were magnetized to her. It didn't touch the rest of us. As Rose chanted, I focused on doing what I had done with Ulric. I needed to lend my magic in enforcing the power behind the spell. I felt my magic flowing and ebbing as I sent small pieces of it at a time, the tingling in my hands coming and going.
I watched as the white smoked stopped swirling and was slowly being soaked into Hattie's body until there was no trace of it. We all stood there silently, wishing for it to work. Just when I started to have doubts about the spell, she took a deep breath, and her eyes fluttered open.
Chapter Ten
"Hattie!" I said as I dropped Rose and Ulric's hands. I sat on the floor and pulled her into a hug. The tears I kept back fell as I held her. We sat there for a long time, both too afraid to let go.
Finally, after a moment, I got up to collect myself and left Ulric to finish his work on her. She still needed to drink that Christmas junk to make sure her insides were okay. I went looking in the kitchen for something for her to drink. She needed a chaser to get the taste out of her mouth, I sadly knew from experience. I found a lonesome can of soda in the door and rushed back to her. They had put her on the couch, and she was holding her head.
"Here you will want this," I said, putting it into her other hand. Ulric pulled out the drink and made sure she drank it all on top of taking some extra healing herbs. Within a few minutes, her demeanor changed.
"Wow, those things pack a punch," she said, her voice came out raspy. That's when I noticed the fading bruises on her neck in the form of fingerprints. After the beating, they had tried to strangle her. My stomach dropped. Had she passed out before that happened or was, she aware she was so close to death?
We all waited for an explanation from her without bringing it up first and risk upsetting her. She sat sipping the soda as we tried hard for nonchalance, but I could see that each one of us was having an issue trying not to fuss over her. Rose was making herself busy by picking up as Judson acted like there was something important on his phone. Ulric was searching through his bag for an unknown item.
A phone beeped, and I couldn't figure out whose it was. The alert went off twice, breaking up the silence. Hattie started looking around with a dazed look on her face.
"That's my phone. Where's my purse?"
"Here it is," Rose said, handing it to her.
Hattie checked her messages and instantly turned pale, making the lingering bruises stand out more. She stared at her phone a long time before she handed it to me like it was a deadly snake. Her shaking hands fumbled it like it was going to bite her. Whatever it was, I was sure I wasn't going to like it.
There was a text from a private number highlighting the screen. I didn't even know it was possible to do that.
"This wouldn't have happened if she weren't your friend, Lia. You put her in harm's way when you thought you could find me; instead, you found your friend with my message. Hope it was loud and clear. Next time she won't survive."
I instantly dropped the phone and ran for the kitchen, heaving up the bile that rose in my throat. It burned my nose, and my eyes watered as I struggled to catch my breath. It had been like a punch to the gut. It was my fault. I was the target, and everyone around me was in trouble. I ran the water and rinsed out my mouth and washed my face. I had no idea how to look at her now. It was right there for everyone to see that I was why she got hurt. Somehow an apology didn't seem like it was enough.
I walked back out, and everyone looked up at me but didn't say a word. I was avoiding all eye contact. I felt one hundred percent at fault and didn't have the guts to really face anyone, but they were all here, so I didn't have a choice. I sat back down on the couch next to Hattie, hoping she didn't hate me. If I were in her shoes, I would hate me.
Hattie scooted over on the couch and leaned on me. I put my arm around h
er shoulders and felt a huge sigh of relief. She whispered only to me that it wasn't my fault. The weight that had settled over me lifted a little. I knew she was genuine, but I was scared for them or anyone I encountered. It wasn't going to go away. It just seemed to escalate, and I was no closer to finding out who was behind it.
"Is anyone going to tell me what happened?" Judson asked. I rolled my eyes before looking at Rose and then Hattie, who had sat up. She was visibly upset, looking down into her lap, picking at a stray piece of dirt with shaking hands. He wanted to rehash it all right there with no respect for her. I wanted to jump in and tell him to go someplace warm when Hattie spoke up.
"I was walking the trail that I always take when I get time to walk. I got to about where you found me..." she stopped and swallowed while closing her eyes. I wasn't sure I was ready to hear all this. Rose sat down and took the hand I wasn't already holding.
"It's okay. If you don't want to talk about it, then you don't have to," I said, trying to comfort her but having a hard time myself.
"Yes, she does. We need to figure out what the hell is going on, and we cannot do that if she doesn't tell us," he said through gritted teeth. His hands were clenched as his arms draped over his legs while he leaned forward out of his chair.
"Damn it, Judson! Let her take a breath before you grill her," I said. I was pissed. I couldn't imagine what she went through, and there he was, not letting her relax before making her relive it all. As much as we needed to figure it all out, she needed to be okay first and foremost. Knowing what happened wasn't the priority.
"I am fine. I can tell you," Hattie said, trying her best to look confident even though the uncertainty crossed her face. Most women use the term to say they are anything but fine. Being a woman and having used the same phrase, I wasn't buying it.
"Are you sure?" I asked. I tried looking into her eyes, but she was avoiding it. My heart clenched in my chest. Being personally responsible for her attack, I wanted to keep her from hurting more.