Oliver, Abby, Sebastian and Julian had accompanied Victor and Kendra to Chicago. Though Elda encouraged Faustine to go, he wanted to continue sifting through the documents of the Asemaa and believed that Julian would be a better choice for the journey. Abby wondered if he secretly wanted to search for other spells to use on Kanti's bones.
"Greetings, friends in the north," Ezra told them. She wore black yoga pants and a red Chicago Bulls sweatshirt. At barely five feet tall, she should have seemed diminutive, but she exuded a toughness that reminded Abby of a guard dog. Her short hair, dyed turquoise, hung lopsided across her forehead.
"Julian," the older witch told her, extending his hand.
"Ezra," she offered her own.
Julian tilted her arm, looking at a tattoo on her wrist.
"Ganesh," he commented.
"Remover of obstacles," she replied. "Tattoos are to me what espresso is to Kendra."
Abby glanced at the tattoo of the decorated elephant's head.
"Who's Ganesh?" Oliver asked, leaning over to see the tattoo.
"The Hindu god with an elephant's head," Sebastian said, surprising them all. "Why does everyone look at me like that?" he asked, irritated. "I haven't lived my entire life in a cardboard box."
"Nice to see you again, Sebastian," Ezra told him, winking.
"I was into Hindu mythology for a while in my younger years. My mom loved spiritual icons. She had three figures of Ganesh on our fireplace mantel."
Abby grabbed his hand and squeezed. She loved learning new things about Sebastian. In those moments, she knew they had decades of discovering each other ahead, and it made her excited for the rest of their lives.
He grinned at her and shrugged.
"How's your mom, Abby?" Ezra asked.
"No news is good news, I guess. I've been so busy, I haven't had a chance to check in, but Helena has been reaching out to her telepathically and says she seems well."
Dante and Marcus sat on barstools at the kitchen counter. They introduced themselves to Julian and Sebastian. They had already met Abby and Oliver.
"You look familiar," Sebastian told Marcus, trying to place him.
The witch tucked a strand of wavy copper hair behind his ear and nodded.
"I'm amazed that you remember. It was the All Hallow's Ball. I met you by the wishing fountain, but figured after everything that happened..." Marcus trailed off. His silence referred to Sebastian's memory loss at the hands of the witch Dafne. Had it been up to her, he never would have retrieved his memories.
"Okay, yeah," Sebastian agreed. "I think you were doing back handsprings around the room."
"Show-off ," Dante teased, kissing his ear.
Marcus swatted him away playfully.
"The world looks more right when I'm upside down."
Sebastian grinned.
"That makes perfect sense to me."
"Anyway, we've set up the meditation room," Ezra told Victor. "Is everyone participating?"
"I'm not a witch," Sebastian confessed, as if that excluded him.
"You're something," Dante said, eyeing him with interest.
"He's in," Julian added. "It's worth trying," he told Sebastian. "Abby is going to sit out so that she can be present with our bodies."
"Any other reason?" Dante asked, his eyes twinkling.
Abby saw his gaze flick toward her stomach, but he didn't say more. She vaguely remembered Victor mentioning that Dante could read minds. She wondered if he was reading hers or the baby's.
"Actually, there is," she confessed. "I'm pregnant."
"Wow, that's wonderful!" Marcus stood and gave her a long hug.
They retreated to the meditation room, a large square space, enclosed with long colorful tapestries that hung from beams beneath the ceiling. The windows were covered by sheer linen drapes. Round, brightly patterned meditation cushions were arranged in a circle around an altar of flickering candles.
Dante took out a small silver pouch and set it on the floor.
Kendra handed out empty wineglasses. Dante picked up his own glass and filled it with amber liquid from a carafe.
"What is it?" Julian asked.
"Apple cider," Dante told him. "We just need a carrier. Feels like a cider time of year."
Dante took the canvas bag that Julian had brought from Ula. He did not look in the bag, but closed his eyes and felt among the bones with both of his hands. Finally, he removed two shards of bone the size of silver dollars. Holding the bones in his palm, he brought them close to his face and whispered into his hand. Dropping the bones in his glass, he opened the silver pouch and poured a sprinkling of green powder into his goblet.
Julian leaned forward with interest, as if he hoped to hear Dante's incantation. Dante seemed not to notice, but Abby thought he drew his hand a bit closer to his face. The witches passed their glasses to Dante and he filled each with a sip of the fizzing cider.
Abby took a cushion and settled outside of the group, but close to Sebastian. He held his glass up to her and then tilted his head back and drank.
Chapter 25
Sebastian felt an immediate buzz throughout his body. His skin prickled and he started to turn to Abby, but already his consciousness had been ripped from the meditation room.
He felt blindly with his hands. Darkness encased him. A black wall of dirt pressed against his face and his back. It surrounded his legs and arms. He couldn't breathe. He clawed at the dirt and tried to kick his legs. The wall of earth pressed in on him from every direction. Dirt pushed into his eyes and his nose. He started to scream and the dirt moved into his mouth.
****
Abby watched the witches drink and tried to remember the sensation as the potion took hold, but she only recalled spinning very fast. She watched their slack faces and wondered where Kanti's bones had taken them.
Sebastian was the first to move. He began to moan and suddenly tumbled from his cushion. He kicked and tore at the air. His screams echoed through the vacuous room. Abby ran to him and shook his shoulders.
"Sebastian, wake up," she shrieked, panicked. His eyes did not open. She slapped his face, but her touch did not register. He continued to cry out and writhe on the floor.
Abby ran to the kitchen and got a glass of cold water. She hurried back and threw it in Sebastian's face. It did not rouse him.
The others had begun to move as well, though no one had awoken. Kendra lay on her side, whimpering, in the fetal position. Her eyes clenched tight. Julian shook his head from left to right. He struck out at the air and mumbled incoherently. Dante did not struggle, but a stream of white foam had formed on his lips and began to ooze from his mouth.
"Marcus," Abby screamed. The witch, who was also Dante's lover, had been working on an addiction pamphlet for an awareness group and chosen not to participate.
She ran through the loft screaming his name. Finally, bewildered, he stepped from a room, headphones over his ears. At the look on her face, he ripped them off.
"What? What's happening?"
"I don't know, hurry."
They rushed back to the meditation room. Dante continued to foam, and with horror, Abby saw that it had a pinkish hue—blood.
Marcus bent down and pressed his hands on either side of Dante's face.
"He's burning up."
Abby touched Sebastian's face. He felt hot as well.
"Okay, calm down," she said mostly to herself. "We can do this. Marcus, is there any way to break the spell?"
Marcus looked up at her frantically.
"We've never had to."
Abby closed her eyes. She ran through all that she had learned at Ula in the past several months. Elda had taught her an incantation to pull a witch from their astral travel. Abby didn't know if Dante's magic was astral travel, but it had to be similar.
"I need a hook," Abby told him, already running back toward the kitchen.
Marcus followed, though she knew he did not want to leave Dante.
"A fishhook?" he asked, h
is eyes darting in every direction as if one might materialize before him.
"Yes, or an object shaped like one. Something I can use to pull their consciousness back."
"Ezra," Marcus bellowed, eyes lighting up. He sprinted across the loft and Abby continued to search through kitchen drawers and cupboards. She needed salt and water. She found a bottle of sea salt and filled a clear glass bowl with water.
Returning to the room, she sat the bowl in the center of the circle of witches. They continued to move and cry out, but still no one woke. Abby walked a circle outside of the group, sprinkling salt on the floor. Along one of the window ledges, rocks and crystals were arranged on a swath of black cloth. She grabbed a hunk of obsidian.
"Marcus, I need string or yarn," she shouted, not bothering to quiet her voice. Instead, she hoped it might startle one of them awake, but all of their eyes remained closed.
Marcus dashed back into the room holding an apple-shaped pincushion and a sewing box jumbled with items. Abby picked through the box. She found a small roll of green thread.
"Here." She handed it to Marcus. "Tie a piece of string to their ring finger on their right hand. Leave the string long, pull it into the center of the circle and leave it on the floor."
Marcus nodded. He went to Dante first, and Abby saw the desperation on his face as picked up Dante's limp hand.
Abby continued searching through the box. She found needles, safety pins, buttons and jewelry pliers, but no hook. She took out one of the safety pins and, using the pliers, carefully bent the pointed end into a hook. It was rustic, but she thought it would work.
She helped Marcus finish tying the thread and drew the ends of the string toward the center bowl. She tied all the ends around the heavy piece of obsidian that she had plucked from the window ledge and then rested it in the water.
"What can I do?" Marcus asked. He squatted close to Dante, brushing hair back from his face. "Victor looks okay," he said suddenly. "He's the only one not moaning."
Abby looked at Victor, who had slumped forward, but otherwise sat very still. His body did not tremble. Abby went to him and touched his neck.
"He's not hot."
She considered trying to wake him, but shook her head.
"It doesn't matter. We need to do this, now. Join me in the center. I'm going to reach into the astral plane and try to hook them with this." She held up the crude hook. "I need you to sit with me and channel your energy into the water. I'll need all of the power we can conjure."
They sat on opposite sides of the bowl. Abby submerged her hand in the water and grabbed the rock. She felt an immediate sense of ease coupled with a buzzing energy. The blue light, nestled at the base of her spine, came to life.
She closed her eyes and envisioned the water pouring into her body, awakening each cell. The weight of her body grew lighter until she began to feel that she could detach and float away. She focused that lightness into the green string. Her consciousness drifted out beyond the realms of this world. She soared through darkness and starlight. In her body, she lifted the hand with the hook. She did not have an astral body. Only a shimmering geyser of light that encompassed everything and nothing. When she encountered that same light before her, she knew she had found one of her friends. In her body, the hook slipped forward and caught the green string that connected to Sebastian's finger. She felt his light resist her, but then suddenly as if something had snapped, the light drove toward her in a rush. The impact nearly sent her back into her own body, but she fought the urge to get sucked back into the meditation room.
Harnessing the pulsing blue light, she continued. Again and again, she encountered the magnificent light that belonged to one of the other witches. Each time, their energy initially denied her, but then some tether broke and they returned to their bodies.
The last witch that Abby had to pull back was Victor. Though neither of them had bodies in her space, she recognized his energy. Unlike the others, Victor did not resist her. Instead, his energy pulled her. She felt the blue light within her growing dim as her light was absorbed in his.
In her body, she waved the hand with the hook madly and clutched the obsidian. She started to feel that her very essence would be consumed by Victor's light. That once he took her completely into himself, her soul would leave her body and be stuck forever in an astral darkness.
"What's happening?" Sebastian's familiar voice echoed to her from the physical world.
Suddenly another light appeared behind her. A friendly energy that drew her forcefully back. She exploded into her body and started to fall backwards. Sebastian caught her. Slowly her eyes focused on the room. She pressed her hand against her chest and tried to slow and lengthen her short, rapid breaths.
"It's okay," he told her, pulling her fully against him. She turned and buried her face in his neck.
She still felt the terror as Victor's light had begun to absorb her own. Her whole body shook with the tension of trying to escape that overwhelming pull.
She looked into Sebastian's face.
"Are you okay?" She searched his eyes and saw his panic subsiding.
"I was buried alive," he told her. "I thought I had died."
****
Lydie slipped on her cloak and pulled the hood over her face. She carried her satchel down to the lagoon and climbed into a rowboat.
"Wooden oars deft and true
Guide me without guiding you
Swift and strong
We'll move with grace
Now take me to the open space."
She spoke the incantation that Max had taught her to make the boat row on its own. She touched the oars lightly with her fingertips and allowed some of her energy to move into the wood. The boat jerked and then glided smoothly into the lagoon. She turned and waved at the castle, though she doubted that any of the witches watched her leave.
Despite the frosty day, the sun shone brightly in a cloudless blue sky. Oliver and Julian had accompanied Abby and Sebastian to Chicago. Lydie had not been invited. She knew why. She was twelve years old, a child in their eyes. She wondered if they would ever see her as more.
As the boat slid beneath the rock face and into the dark tunnel that left the island, Lydie lit a ball of fire in her palms. It bobbed and swayed with the rocking of the boat. The light cast away the shadows and she allowed the breath that she had been holding to release in a rush. She had never liked the dark shaft through the cliff. It spooked her as a small child. She remembered her father holding her tight and pointing out the tiny bats that lined the ceiling of the cave.
"Bats above and water below," her mother had joked, looking uneasy as well.
Lydie knew that her parents always felt out of sorts at Ula. They loved the witches, but the island itself made them claustrophobic. Whenever they returned home from a visit, her parents insisted they run wild through the woods. Barefoot, Lydie often naked, they weaved through the forest, springing over logs and scurrying up trees like squirrels.
Lydie trailed her fingers in the icy water. She could have conjured her fire energy to stay warm, but she rather enjoyed the bite of the cold. It cleared her mind. As long as she focused on the sting in her fingertips, she didn't have to think about Max, Dafne, her parents and more—so much more.
She pulled her personal Book of Shadows out of her bag. Helena had helped her make the leather-bound book several years before. It included her journal, her experiments with magic and, recently, her dream of the future. Lydie liked words, but she loved pictures.
She flipped to an empty page and took out her charcoal pencil. She drew a house nestled high in a tree—similar to the cabin that the Ula witches had built in her dream room. Tiny rocking chairs sat on the wraparound porch. A swing hung from a branch, more than a hundred feet in the air. She started to draw a spiral staircase wrapping around the huge trunk and then erased it. Too easy for enemies to get in that way. Instead, she created a rope ladder that could be easily pulled in. Birds, chipmunks and raccoons filled the branc
hes and peeked out from thickets of dense leaves. In a large window, she sketched the profile of a man. She imagined a mix of Oliver and Sebastian, but with wild reddish hair like her father had.
She laid her pencil down and studied the drawing. She could do it. She could have that life. She wouldn't be afraid. She would marry a powerful witch and together they would be safe.
She stared out at the choppy waves of Lake Superior. The Coven of Ula did not lie close to any shore. Only water greeted her as she gazed at the horizon.
She leaned over the side and peered into the lake. A speck of black caught her eye, but it disappeared under the boat before she could see it clearly. She conjured a flame and encased it in a bubble shield. Moving to the other side of the boat, she dropped the fire into the water. It illuminated the darkness and she screamed, reeling back into the boat. Dafne, her black hair fanning out, had been staring back at her. She moved back to the side and gripped the boat edge, once again looking into the depths. Lydie saw only her reflection. Any trace of Dafne had vanished.
Chapter 26
The chaos in the room made Abby's head spin. Dante had awakened, but began to choke on the spit and blood in his mouth and lungs. Marcus rolled him onto his side, where he heaved onto the floor.
Julian, still disoriented, went immediately to Dante's aid. He pulled open his eyelids and pressed along his chest and throat. Finally, he pushed Marcus out of the way and lifted Dante up, thrusting his fist into Dante's belly. Dante began to choke and sputter, gasping for air. In a whoosh, he threw up a stream of saliva and dirt. The dirt, turned to mud, poured out of his mouth as Julian carefully lowered him to the ground.
"Get him a glass of water," Julian barked at Marcus, who fled the room looking terrified at what Dante's body had surrendered.
Sebastian looked shocked.
"What is it, what's happened?" Kendra asked, struggling to her feet and swaying woozily. She tried to maintain her balance, but pitched to the side and landed on her elbow with an audible crack. She screamed in pain. Ezra, who watched the fall with a dreamy far-off expression, opened her eyes wide at Kendra's cry. Ezra did not try to stand, but crawled to her friend on hands and knees.
Born of Shadows- Complete Series Page 84