"We'll have to separate and isolate the different components," Bridget explained.
"You know how to do that?"
"We've been around a long time," Elda replied. "It's hard for me to even imagine everything we've learned."
"Abby, we've also been talking about your mother," Helena mentioned.
Abby had told Helena and Elda about the event with her mother over Christmas. She had been reluctant to confide the experience, but at Oliver's urging had done so in the hopes that they might offer their insights.
"It's not safe to bring her to Ula, unfortunately," Elda said.
"But we can take the healing to her," Helena chimed in. "Faustine has a very special crystal that I am able to utilize with my sight. Hopefully I can discern what sort of energy or experience is plaguing your mother, and then it's only a matter of performing the proper magic to rid her of it."
"That sounds great. I'm just not sure how to present it to her so that she willingly participates."
Abby didn't mention her other concern. After a lifetime of observing her mother's mood swings, she didn't feel confident that even magic could help her.
"Don't you give it another thought," Helena told her. "We're working that part out."
After they collected the blood, Elda encouraged Abby to soak in the healing waters of the bathtub. They would wait until morning to do Helena's transfusion.
Abby stripped out of her clothes and stepped into the steaming water. Oils floated on the surface and reflected the glow from the flickering candles. She settled onto a stone bench and closed her eyes as the water lapped against her chest and the base of her neck. She would only stay for a few minutes, having read that hot water submersions were contraindicated for pregnancy. She pressed a hand on her belly and imagined the tiny person already forming within her.
"The size of a poppy seed," she said out loud, thinking about the book she had been reading about baby development in utero. As she marveled at the awesomeness of the physical body, an image of Kanti rose in her mind. She saw Kanti holding her own baby in the snowy cabin, a baby that she hated.
"She won't hurt you," Abby spoke to her unborn child. "I promise."
Chapter 20
Abby stood on the stone slab, shivering. She pulled her cloak tighter and tucked her face beneath the hood to protect her chapped lips.
Elda and Faustine stood on either side of her. They both swayed and murmured. Elda had created a cone of water that rose out of the lagoon. Faustine had conjured a cone of sand that emerged from the beach. The two witches brought their energies together. The cyclone of sand and water swirled faster, and then with a thunderous clap it exploded into the slab beneath Abby's feet. She felt the jolt as the energy traveled through the rock and into her body. It burst through her fingertips and the top of her head. She stumbled and Faustine caught her around the waist before she plummeted off the slab.
She pressed her hand to her belly and looked wildly at Elda, afraid that the energetic blast had hurt the baby.
"Don't worry, honey," Elda told her quickly, helping her into the wooden chair that sat on the slab. "It will shield the baby. It didn't hurt her."
Elda lifted the hood on Abby's cloak so that it covered her red-rimmed ears.
"I can sense you sensing her," Elda confided. "And I sense her a bit too, though she's just a tiny little light right now. Though that energy is getting bigger every day."
"Do you think she will be a witch?" Abby asked, feeling for the child and smiling when the flutter responded.
"Unlike the sex of the baby, it's much harder to tell if she will be a witch. Do you want her to be?"
Abby considered.
"I don't know. There's a part of me that believes the human world is safer, but I know that's naive. How do I hide my true identity if she's not a witch? How do I protect her if I don't hide it?"
"Those are some of the hardest questions we face in the witches' life. And the reason that many witches do not have children. They are not a burden, no—if anything, it is our gift that can sometimes feel burdensome—but they change our reality. They make us vulnerable in a way that we never imagined possible."
"Did you have children, Elda?" Abby asked, noticing a tremor in the older witch's voice.
She looked at Abby and shook her head.
"I wanted to and it broke my heart to turn away from that part of myself, but Ula needed me and I needed her. If I would have chosen the mother's life, I could not have stayed here on the island. It doesn't support a child and a family."
"Why not? I feel like Helena and Bridget would love a baby to look after."
"Now it is time to activate your light body," Faustine said briskly, closing the conversation.
Elda looked at him. Abby thought she saw hurt behind Elda's gray eyes, but the older witch hid the expression.
"My light body?" Abby asked, shifting back and forth on her feet. The initial magic had warmed her up, but now she felt the cold again through her cloak.
"I'm sorry you're cold, honey," Elda told her. "We can't do any additional magic that might interfere, but I promise, I'll warm you up before we return to the castle."
"Oh, it's okay, Elda," Abby reassured her. "It's strangely energizing. I've been so tired lately, it's nice to want to hop up and down."
"Your light body transcends the physical world. It is woven into the collective light of the universe," Faustine explained.
"I like to call it harnessing the power of the stars," Elda added romantically.
"Close your eyes, Abby," Faustine directed. "Focus on the chakras, beginning with the space just above the crown of your head. As you guide your vision down the center of your body, feel the wheels of energy begin to spin."
Eyes closed, Abby directed her attention toward her subtle energy body. When she first learned of her powers, the subtle body had felt like a concept that she might never grasp, let alone truly experience. Now she found the space easily. As she kept her attention there, she sensed the vortices of energy, like orbs of light, pulsing through her body.
Elda's soft cool hands took hold of her forearms. She felt Faustine's bony, and surprisingly strong, hands settle on her shoulders.
"Allow an opening at the crown of your head. Feel the beaming white light, the whole of the universe, traveling through those waves, coursing into your body," Faustine spoke with vigor.
"Now beneath your feet an opening," Elda continued. "As if the world is breaking apart to let you in. Another beam of light, golden, sparkling. It moves into your feet."
"Connect the beams of light," Faustine and Elda spoke together.
Abby felt her body growing warmer. She began to vibrate, but Faustine and Elda held her firmly in place. The beams of light grew brighter, larger, until she couldn't feel her body at all. She felt as if she had swallowed the sun. A billion rays of light burst from every cell in her body. She lost connection to Faustine, Elda, the stone beneath her feet, the sense of skin or hair or limbs.
Energy, vibrant and hot and heavenly, coursed in every direction. She might have been a glowing waterfall cascading down a mountain ravine or a geyser spitting into the sky. Time dissolved. She knew only the sweet oblivion of oneness with all that existed.
When it ended, Abby felt the earth drive up to meet her. She fell forward into Elda's strong embrace. The cold moved into her like an avalanche and sucked the breath from her body.
An uncontrollable sob rose up from the depths of her belly. The sorrow at the loss of the light, at the return to her aloneness, overwhelmed her. She pressed her face into Elda's shoulder and cried. Behind her, Faustine continued to grasp her shoulders. He squeezed firmly and she heard him whisper an incantation. Elda too murmured, and soon the weight of grief softened and then slid away.
Abby lifted her head up, raw now as the cold bit her wet cheeks.
"Pretty amazing, huh?" Elda asked, smiling.
****
"It's truly unbelievable," Helena announced, striding into the oratory wi
th a spin. Her red and yellow dress fanned out in a cascade of fabric as she twirled. "I feel like a new witch."
Elda laughed and clapped, standing and hugging her old friend.
"Thank the Goddess," she said, holding Helena at arm's length. "You look like a new witch."
Helena laughed and spun again before settling into a chair.
"The question now is how to utilize Abby's blood to the greatest benefit."
"We have to be back in the hospitals," Helena urged.
Elda shook her head and frowned.
"I don't think so. They've become overrun by power and money. I'm not sure that anyone is getting healed anymore. We would be met with suspicion and perhaps outright persecution. Victor mentioned a free clinic that they created in Chicago."
"Oh yes, please, I am so ready to be back in the world."
Elda smiled, but as so often lately, her eyes looked troubled.
"We performed the shielding spell on Abby and the child," Elda changed the subject.
"Oh how lovely. Did she enjoy her light body?"
"Immensely."
Elda returned to the pages before her.
"From New Orleans?" Helena asked.
Elda nodded.
"Yes. I keep thinking if I read them enough times, the author and book title will miraculously appear."
****
Sebastian scanned the titles in the library. The books shined as if each had been dusted and polished. Titles in gold and black cursive shone in the candlelight.
He took out a title called The Life Beyond, flipped through it quickly and returned it to the shelf. He tried two more, but didn't find what he searched for. Finally, he picked a thin, tattered book, nearly swallowed by the ornate volumes surrounding it, and sat down.
Fifty-two pages of tiny cursive writing. Sebastian's eyes ached before he finished the introduction.
"And I told her that I would bring her back. I would find a way and I did. A decade of searching, experimenting. The dead will rise again," he read.
The door to the library creaked open and Sebastian stuffed the book into the back of his jeans.
Oliver stepped into the room, not seeing him at first. He moved toward the fireplace and then stopped, noticing Sebastian.
"Insomnia following you as well tonight?" Oliver asked, plopping into a sunken chair.
"Yeah." Sebastian tried to conceal the tremor in his voice. He felt criminal, as if he'd nearly been caught looking at pornography instead of a book in Ula's own library.
"Tried Helena's tinctures, some yin yoga, I even read half a book on the uses for compost, but here I am. Walking the halls like a cat."
Sebastian faked a yawn and stood from his chair.
"Probably better give sleep another shot," he mumbled, making his way to the door.
As he stepped into the hallway, the book fell from the back of his pants. It hit the wood floor with a thud and he saw Oliver's eyes wander to the cover. Sebastian stooped and grabbed it, pressing it against his chest.
"Goodnight," he added.
As the door to the library swung closed, Sebastian saw Oliver watching him uncertainly.
****
The next day, Abby stepped out of the castle. She pulled her dark cloak tighter around her body. The wind whipped and howled. A storm was coming. She moved down the steps slowly, carefully avoiding patches of ice. From the window, she had glimpsed Sebastian near the lagoon. She searched for him along the water's edge, but saw no one.
As she took the path that wound through the cherry trees, shrunken in winter, she spotted him. He stood on a faraway bluff with Julian. Even her keen senses could not decipher their words, but Julian's hands flew as he spoke and he looked angry. Abby watched for several minutes until Julian grabbed Sebastian's arm and pulled him out of sight.
She returned to the castle, wandering the rooms until she found Oliver in the dining room. He sat at a small table reading a paperback and eating a bowl of something that smelled like curry.
"Hey Abby pants," he called and held up his book. "Ever read Eckhart Tolle? He's my man!"
She smiled and shook her head no, pulling out the chair next to him.
"I have a question for you."
"Shoot," he said.
"What's Julian like?"
"Julian?" Oliver studied her face. "Can I preface your question with a question? How come you're asking?"
She sighed and picked up his book, glancing at the words without really seeing them.
"I get a funny feeling maybe, and I'm curious. Tell me about him."
Seemingly satisfied with her ambiguous answer, Oliver leaned back in his chair.
"He's awesome. He's a witch who does what it takes. Faustine once told me Julian lives by his own set of rules. He believes in the witches' oath and he follows the laws of the universe impeccably, but he also has his own reasons for what he does and he adheres to those as well."
"Do you trust him?"
"With my life. He's different, that's true enough, but I get him. He's good to the marrow of his bones, Abby. I don't know what he was like before his wife died. Helena mentioned a few times that her death changed him, which is no big surprise."
"But he was reckless as your teacher, wasn't he? When you first arrived at Ula?" Oliver had mentioned a couple of experiences with Julian that had given Abby pause, including forcing him to eat nutmeg until he hallucinated.
"Unconventional," Oliver corrected. "Not reckless in my mind, though Elda and Faustine might have viewed his methods that way. He pushed me, he challenged me. With Julian, I learned what I could do. That training proved invaluable. Do you know how many Vepars would have killed me by now if not for Julian?"
"Well probably only one," Abby teased.
He laughed.
"True enough, but the point is Julian understood that life isn't a dress rehearsal. If I wanted to hunt Vepars then I had to stare down death and live to tell the tale. Elda, Helena and even Faustine live in a different kind of reality. They don't face the enemy head-on, they cast spells, they collaborate and plot. I thought of Julian's tactics as military style. He prepares you for what lies ahead and he reminds you of what's at stake. So, tell me about your funny feeling."
Abby looked toward the window, unsure of how much to say. She imagined the dark look on Julian's face as he spoke to Sebastian.
"I get the feeling he and Sebastian have a relationship that I'm not aware of. I saw them arguing outside just now."
Oliver nodded, considering.
"Julian found him in France. Maybe he finally got a change to chew his ass for blowing them off in New York."
Abby hadn't considered that. Julian had probably been very angry when Sebastian disappeared from the hotel in New York. In the chaos of everything else that had happened, that detail had seemed inconsequential. She wanted to believe Oliver's theory, but something in Julian's expression revealed a deeper quarrel between him and Sebastian.
Chapter 21
A week later, Abby's mom checked into the spa.
Ezra guided her to a room and instructed her to get undressed and lie on the massage table. Specially designed purification candles lit the room and a blend of oils, created by Helena, wafted from a diffuser. Even the music was magic. A creation of Dante's that incorporated beats meant to train the mind combined with the sounds of a magical flute that when played lulled the listener into a trancelike state.
"Ready for me?" Ezra asked, slipping into the room and closing the door.
Becky lay on the table in the candlelit room, a linen sheet covering her body. Facedown, Ezra saw only the back of Becky's head and the birdlike bones of her shoulders and back.
"Mmm-hmmm," Becky murmured.
The spa weekend had been Helena's idea. As a healer, she knew how much progress could be made in a weekend of healing touch and, more importantly, it offered them access to Becky's mind and body. Any other option would have created suspicion, but when Abby told her mother that she had booked her a weekend at the sp
a, Becky accepted.
Helena had not met Ezra, but Victor insisted she would be the perfect addition. Ezra, a nurse and a healer by nature, had also studied massage.
Ezra knew a space in Chicago they could rent for the weekend. They equipped the Spa Bed and Breakfast with massage rooms and an array of elixirs, both magic and not, for use in divining the source of Becky's continued unraveling.
Ezra rubbed a blend of almond oil and lavender on her hands. The oil sat in a stone basin filled with raw amethyst. The gem assisted in sleep and also clearing negative energy.
Resting her palms on Becky's back, she felt the woman stiffen beneath her touch.
"Try to focus on your breath. Take a big inhale through your nose, hold it, and release through your mouth to a count of six. Great, and one more time."
As Becky's breath grew deeper, Ezra felt her muscles begin to release. Gradually her body softened. Ezra massaged her back, pressing into the knots of muscle. She felt a chaos of energy swirling through the woman. Sorrow and fear flowed from her in bursts that tingled through Ezra's hands and arms. Despite the protective barriers Ezra had placed around herself before the massage, touching Abby's mother still drained her. When an hour had passed, she placed her hands on the back of Becky's head.
"Helena will join you now for the cranial sacral massage," Ezra told her, leaving the room. Becky did not stir.
Helena sat on a chair in the hallway. She had pulled her long auburn hair into a bun and she wore a simple white shirt with black pants.
"How'd it go?" she whispered, cocking her head toward the door.
Ezra yawned and gently massaged her shoulder. She would need a massage now too.
"She's got a lot pent up in that little body," Ezra explained. "A lot of fear that has wound itself tight."
"Any visions?" Helena asked.
"No, but I've never been prone to visions. I did feel her energy though, and it's stuck all over the place," Ezra explained.
"Okay, thanks, Ezra." Helena touched Ezra's hands, allowing a bit of her energy to flow into the other witch.
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