Demetrius rolled his eyes in exasperation and looked at Elda, who only grinned and shook her head.
"Here, let me try something," Bridget offered.
Since returning to Ula, Bridget's previously restrained demeanor had shifted. Eager to take the initiative, she participated in nearly every new spell placed on the coven. Additionally, she offered her suggestions to Elda and Faustine about how to rebuild the coven as a thriving community and refused to return to the status quo.
Bridget took a handful of the sand and whispered into it. Then she went to the case of elixirs sitting on the floor and pulled out a large bottle filled with dark green powder. She sprinkled the powder into the sand and then flung it into the dune that ascended to the ceiling of one of the tower rooms. Previously the vacuous space had held only stone slabs and crystals for purification and divining. Faustine had offered it as a special place for Lydie.
Demetrius had enchanted the tower to mimic Lydie's childhood home. The sand dune was real sand that Lydie could run up and down and sink her toes into. Holographic trees, like those at the Coven of Sorciére, rained colorful flowers onto the floor. A huge, living oak tree grew out of the stone floor. The branches extended and disappeared into the ceiling and the castle walls. Nestled within the branches was a duplicate of Lydie's childhood home as it had been before the forest took it back. Except this version was a tree house with a wooden spiral staircase for entrance. The room's floor was enchanted with real grass and hordes of tiny yellow flowers.
"Yes, perfect," Helena chimed, sinking her hands into the sand.
Helena had not made a full recovery from the attack at Ula more than three weeks before. Her body still ached and she had strange ghoulish visions that sometimes made her woozy and filled with panic. She often used a tall wooden cane that Faustine had carved for her. He had formed the top into a beautiful wolf with two shimmering emerald eyes. Though Helena loved the beautiful cane, it upset her every time she wrapped her fingers around it, and more so when she had to put her weight against it because her legs could not seem to hold her up.
Elda pushed open the heavy castle door and gasped when she saw the room.
"Oh my." She took her hand to her throat and shook her head in disbelief. "It's amazing."
"Isn't it?" Demetrius asked, grinning. "And that cloud up there is a door."
He pointed to the space above the sand dune where the wall looked like a blue summer sky.
They had cast a spell so that the ceiling reflected the weather outside the castle. A fluffy white cloud was placed exactly at a door that opened out of the castle, where they had continued the sand dune all the way to the lagoon. Helena imagined Lydie flinging open the door and tumbling to the lagoon edge to swim in the summer.
"It's absolutely breathtaking," Elda continued. She laughed as Garfield, Lydie's fuzzy orange cat, poked his head from a bushel of leaves far up in the oak tree.
"We thought it might be time to bring more animals into the castle," Bridget said, calling to the cat who immediately began a laborious descent to get his ears scratched. "They sense things after all, and frankly, I miss them."
Helena nodded vigorously. "I fully intend to move from this wolf," she held up the cane, "to a real one very soon."
"Of course," Elda replied. "It is not as though I banished pets from Ula."
And that was true. After the great tragedy of 1908, which they now understood as part of the curse linking Dafne and the Vepar Tobias, many of their pets were dead. Some of the animals were killed the night of the attack, and others had died of old age long after the incident occurred. However, no one at the coven had brought another animal in since Kissy, the fat gray tabby that Oliver had found abandoned during a Vepar hunt.
"Animals are powerful," Demetrius agreed. "Galla's parrot foretold of a sinister stranger visiting Sorciére and less than a month later, a dark witch from Galla's past appeared on our doorstep."
"Yes, animals have also communicated great dangers to us here at Ula," Elda agreed and Helena gave her a sad smile, both remembering another time.
As if on cue, the fat orange kitten dove from the tree and sailed right through a holographic butterfly at Helena's elbow.
****
"Back to Ula," Lydie commented absently as they walked the enchanted dock into the icy waters of Lake Superior.
The witches of Ula had built the dock a week before, bewitched so that it only appeared if a witch of the Coven of Ula called for it. Oliver had spoken to the lake and the dock had gradually materialized.
"Just think, Lyds, Bridget has probably whipped up some crazy chocolate thing that will give us a stomachache for days," Oliver teased, hugging her.
"Hey, there's Victor and Kendra," Abby announced as they stepped from the woods where they had parked their car. Abby waved at them.
"Damn it's cold," Victor bellowed, walking down the dock and blowing into his gloved hands.
"Victor and Kendra, this is Lydie and Sebastian," Abby told them.
"The infamous Sebastian." Victor grinned, shaking his hand.
"Good to meet you, man," Sebastian offered. He gave Kendra a quick hug. "Abby has said you're her new best friends."
"Excuse me?" Oliver joked, poking Abby in the sides.
"I have many best friends," Abby promised.
"Nice to meet you," Lydie told them, watching the distant form of a boat moving toward them.
Faustine picked the six of them up in a large steel, military-style boat. He ushered them into the cockpit where the glass was reinforced, and an array of weapons hung from one wall. Abby introduced him to Victor and Kendra.
"A corvette, huh?" Oliver asked.
"Yes," Faustine said seriously. "Can't be too careful."
"Isn't a corvette a car?" Lydie asked, settling onto a wooden bench and hugging an orange life preserver against her chest.
"Yes," Faustine told her. "But a corvette is also a fast military warship, and that's what you're riding in now."
"A warship?" she asked, and her voice trembled.
Oliver sat next to her and pulled her against him.
"Just for extra safeness, Lyds, but those Vepars aren't stupid enough to attack us out here. We're way better swimmers."
Lydie didn't respond, but her eyes darted back toward the trees as they pulled away from the mainland.
In the sleek and fast ship, the trip, to the island, passed in a blur.
As they entered the black tunnel that bore them into the lagoon outside the castle, Abby noticed that the passage seemed quite a bit larger than the first time she had sailed through it.
"We had to blast it out," Faustine commented, "make it larger for the new boats, but don't worry, we have a whole new security system at Ula. The devil himself couldn't get past our cliffs."
Chapter 2
The castle had changed. The main hallway held new rugs in bright reds and yellows. The candle sconces were gone, replaced by huge orbs with stained glass reflecting the light within. Garlands, twisted with tiny white lights, weaved down the walls and along the floor perimeter, and pictures hung where previously the walls had been bare. Abby saw images of rainbows and huge, heavy flowers in full bloom. She saw watercolor fantasies depicting spring rains and lovers dancing beneath the full moon.
The library too boasted new, plush white carpeting and pillows strewn in enormous piles, surrounded by soft, sunken chairs and giant round ottomans. Bohemian tapestries in a hundred different colors bundled together in the center of the ceiling and cascaded out and down to the floor. The astrological mural was hidden beneath the fabric. Only the books remained the same, but those too appeared brighter, as if the dust and age had been blown off them. The fireplace roared and on the mantel, the old pictures of Ula were gone. The space now held vases of fresh flowers and animal figures carved from rose quartz.
"Wow, how could you possibly do this in four weeks?" Sebastian asked Faustine, marveling at the room.
"With a lot of help and lot of magic," Helena b
roke in, appearing from behind a golden tapestry and carrying a giant tray of pastries and teacups.
"Give me that," Oliver snapped, taking the tray quickly from Helena and pecking her on the cheek.
"Well hello to you too," she said, smiling. She settled into one of the overstuffed chairs and exhaustion showed in her eyes. "Come give me a hug, Lydie."
She beckoned to Lydie, who went and hugged her and then pulled up a pillow near her feet.
"It's all so different," Lydie whispered.
"We thought we were due for a big change," Faustine told them. Though something betrayed another emotion behind his words, sadness perhaps. Faustine was largely a creature of habit, and changing the castle so dramatically had left him slightly uneasy.
"I think it looks great," Abby said and sat on a pile of pillows next to Sebastian. She rested her hands on her belly and then quickly moved them to her knees. For the previous two weeks, she had worked on concealment spells around the baby. It had taken much of her energy and garnered more than a few awkward questions from Sebastian, but she appeased him by claiming she merely created protection spells for their new home.
****
"It sure has been lonely without you and Lydie Bug," Bridget told Oliver, giving him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. "But I don't blame you for needing a break from this place." She winked at him and returned to the stove to stir one of the seven steaming pots. Two of the pots stirred themselves and another made a sound like giggling as it boiled.
"That's dessert," she told him. "I thought we all needed a little mirth with our meal tonight."
Oliver grinned and surveyed the kitchen.
"No big remodel in here, Bridget?"
She looked at him sideways.
"It has taken me fifty years to get this kitchen just the way I like it. I'm not starting over now."
Oliver laughed. He peeked in at the roasting turkey and glass baking dishes filled with yams and green beans.
"Are we feeding an army?"
"You could say that," Bridget said slyly, but Oliver heard the serious edge in her voice.
"All the change doesn't make it go away, does it? These last few months have left their mark."
"Yes, and I admit, I'm racked with guilt that I wasn't here when Helena and Lydie were attacked. What bad timing I chose for a trip south. But the truth is Ula feels unsafe right now. I know that it shouldn't. The most powerful witches of Sorciére combined with our own have rebuilt the spells and created new ones that are a thousand times stronger than those we used before. But still..."
"It feels different being here," Oliver admitted. "I knew it would, and I won't pretend that our minds aren't part of the enemy. Everyone is scared. I almost thought Lydie would refuse to get on the boat to come back. She was so tense in the car on our drive up, I thought she might light the car engine on fire."
Bridget shook her head sadly and walked to the window that looked out on Lake Superior far below.
"Lydie will never be the same, and what's really sad is she experienced so much loss when her parents were killed. She faced death earlier than any of us and I'd like to say she made it out unscathed, but we all know better. Losing Max is going to stay with her."
"Do you think it's wrong for us to come back here, Bridget? I've wondered about that. If maybe I shouldn't buy a little house on the mainland too and keep Lydie with me."
"I don't think so, Oliver. The truth is that we're all afraid for Abby and Sebastian over there. They're alone, there's no fortress protecting them from an evil that has clearly grown in strength. When this is all over, that might be nice for you and Lydie, but right now...I think right now you both belong here at Ula."
****
Faustine stood at the head of the table. His cheeks glowed rosy from the wine and he was in rare form, with a smile on his face that went all the way to his eyes.
"Gratitude, my friends. I am grateful for this table filled with food and surrounded by witches and friends. I am grateful for our lives, for our health, for the intelligent universe that strives always to support us. I am grateful for each of you."
They held their glasses high and drank. Sweet cherry wine, spiced cider and the dark craft beer that Oliver insisted on bringing from the mainland. They drank and ate and talked.
Abby had second helpings of mashed yams and baked cauliflower. She watched Sebastian and Bridget excitedly discussing his new kitchen. Abby looked around the room at the smiling faces awash in candlelight.
I want to remember this moment, she thought and touched her fingers to the moonstone on her ring finger.
"You did it?" Helena suddenly gushed, grabbing Sebastian in a hug.
He laughed, and a blush rose up his face as the din in the room quieted and the other witches turned toward him.
Abby gave him a questioning look and he nodded toward her hand.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Helena gasped, covering her face. "My big mouth."
"No, it's okay," Sebastian reassured her.
He moved to Abby and took her hand. She stood with him.
"I asked Abby to marry me," he announced, and Abby felt a stiffness in his body as if he expected the witches of Ula to disapprove.
Instead, Elda began to clap and Lydie hooted. Helena did a little twirl and then looked sick and quickly took her chair. Abby glanced at Oliver, who gave her a forced smile. The other witches clapped as well and offered their congratulations. As Sebastian relaxed beside her, Abby returned to her earlier reverie. She wanted to stay in the moment forever, hearing the laughter of the witches and watching the moon rise, slow and white, into the dark sky.
Faustine cleared his throat.
"I am sorry to turn our attention to darker pursuits, but I believe it is time that we talk about the curse."
****
They gathered in the library after dinner, the witches of Ula and the small coven of Chicago. Everyone talked excitedly, drunk on food and wine and wanting to share their own secrets and adventures.
Abby chose a sunken red love seat next to the fireplace and pulled her legs to her chest, resting her head against the cushion behind her. The warmth dulled her senses and soon she felt her eyelids grow heavy.
Kanti had fought hard the day she was taken. Her fingers were bloodied, and her fingernails mostly ripped away. The giant had pulled out a hunk of her hair. Her skull, at the base of her neck, throbbed. She lay on the bed of dirty blankets and refused the tears and the panic that swirled in her abdomen. She could hear the giant and the white man outside the tent whispering together in their language that she did not speak. The white man scared her more than the giant. Though half his size, his eyes were black like a devil's eyes and when he looked at her, she felt lust and violence pour out of him. He had slapped her once, hard in the face, and made her mouth bleed. Then he had licked the blood off and cast her into the tent with no food or drink. Only a pile of soiled blankets awaited her, and she shivered in the frigid night air.
She could see the crackling flames through the opening in the tent and she wanted to go to the fire. The fire meant warmth, but more, she could communicate with Rowtag, the shaman of her tribe and her own teacher. Rowtag heard messages in the flames, and he had begun to teach listening to Kanti and her brother Nepi. Kanti took to the flames faster than Nepi, who was a spirit of the water and would likely seek his visions through the streams and lakes.
She moved onto her hands and knees, wondering instead if she might simply run. Break out of the tent as a whisper and steal into the dark forest at night. Before she could stand, the white man pulled back the flap in the tent. He walked inside and growled something in his language and then he laughed. She tried to stand anyway, and he shoved her back and pointed his finger in her face. He removed the leather strap from his pants and she thought he meant to hit her with it, but he merely cast it aside. She started to cry as she understood what he meant to do. He took his pants down and moved toward her.
Abby woke with a gasp and returned to the buzz of the
library. She feared all the witches' eyes had cast toward her, but they continued to talk, lost in their individual conversations. Only Sebastian had tuned in to her. He sat on the love seat beside her, holding her hand and, she realized, pinching her skin slightly.
"I'm sorry," he said, patting the tiny red welt he'd left behind. "I could tell it was a bad dream."
Abby blinked a few times to clear the images.
"It was," she sighed, continuing to feel Kanti's fear as she realized the horrors in store for her. Abby had been having the dreams for weeks. Sometimes she saw new visions, such as the one she'd just had, and other times snippets of Kanti's original abduction. Each one left her sick and scared.
"Okay everyone," Faustine's voice boomed over the chatter. "Though I'm sure we could spend all evening idly socializing, I think it is time we get down to business."
He walked to the fireplace and stood before the flames, creating a long ghoulish shadow on the floor before him. Abby shuddered as the man from Kanti's memory drifted into her thoughts.
"I would like to formally welcome Victor and Kendra to the Coven of Ula. We are honored to have you here to celebrate, and we are grateful for all you have done to help Abby and Oliver."
Victor held up his glass of wine and nodded in response. He and Kendra lived in Chicago and had never visited the Coven of Ula. Although they were witches, they did not live as part of a traditional coven.
"I wish we'd met under more pleasant circumstances, and I have faith that one day we will sit here together and celebrate without the dark cloud that hangs over us. Tonight, however, we must discuss the curse that appears to be plaguing several of the witches of Ula."
Abby shifted, suddenly self conscious. She was, after all, the primary target of the curse that Faustine spoke of.
"The Vepars," Faustine continued, "our greatest enemy, are using this curse to their own advantage. Thanks to the Asemaa and to your Aunt Sydney in particular, Abby, we have documentation that reveals this curse; however, the volume of material spans hundreds of years and we have barely scratched the surface.
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