“No!” Jacob said, blocking her path. “That gem belongs to my son, and I will take it on his behalf.”
Camellia looked back and forth between us, torn, as war threatened to erupt between the covens. But before she had a chance to speak, the chain snapped, and the amulet was airborne, flying toward Jude’s outstretched hand.
A winged moonshadow flocked against the stones. I heard a cry and looked up as Clay soared over the circle. He snapped up the amulet in his beak, then swooped down and dropped it into my hand. Then, just as suddenly as he entered, he disappeared in the darkening sky.
Fighting to ignore the surrounding chaos, I stared at the tear shaped stones.
My hands shook as the cold jewels flashed in my hands, begging me to piece them together. I flipped them both upside down, backed one into the other and sucked in a breath as the two upside-down jewels fused themselves into one.
The two teardrops formed a heart.
One perfect heart.
Press it to his heart! Iris screamed mentally.
I obeyed her, but it didn’t work. Nothing’s happening!
It will! Don’t let go!
Jacob was closing in, maniacal eyes focused on the conjoined amulet. But then he stopped suddenly, as if he’d struck an invisible wall. Iris was pouring every ounce of her energy into holding him back, while I pressed the gem to Logan’s beautiful chest. I wasn’t sure how long she would last, and I was growing faint from Jude’s spell.
I breathed all my energies into Logan—everything good, everything pure and true that had ever come out of me. It poured out of me and into him. Everything I read in the journal. All of Rose’s first experiences with her warlock: flowing fountains, glittery light, golden butterscotch candelabras floating in a utopian ballroom, top hats and stolen glances and carriages black as night, dancing snowflakes kissing a child’s nose. I gave him silken rose petals and freshly cut grass. And then our memories: grains of star-colored sand, waves on a moonlit beach, an underwater kiss in a sea of kaleidoscope rainbows.
All my memories.
All my dreams.
Our wonderland.
Logan, please.
Please.
A heartbeat. Faint as the wings of a new butterfly fleeing its transformative cocoon, vibrated under my warm cheek. But then, as if it lacked the patience to finish its duty, the necklace slipped through my grasping fingers, and it rose until the brilliant heart-stone floated over us.
A hush fell over the crowd as the amulet revealed itself. Jude stared at it with an expression of pure rage. Iris’ face filled with fear and doom as she struggled to keep Jacob a safe distance from the stone. Camellia just sat there, frozen.
Jacob smiled at it like a rat swiping at a moth.
Don’t look at him, Lily! Iris’ voice sounded desperate.
Mom! What’s happening? Her face was visibly aging.
I had to take back some of my power to protect the amulet, but now you are no longer safe from Jacob’s eyes.
What does that mean? Mom?
Before she could answer, a grotesque sound of a snake shedding its skin diverted everyone’s attention. I followed their eyes across the ring of stones, to where my doppelganger had evaporated into thin air. In her place, in a tangle of grim repose, lay my best friend.
THE END
Acknowledgements
Thanks to the Witch’s Brew fans - eagerly anticipating The Gleaning made it more fun to write! Thanks to my agent Sara Crowe, the generous crew at Coliloquy, and, as always, to my beautiful family, who fill each of my days with genuine magic.
About Coliloquy
Coliloquy is a digital publisher of active fiction, specializing in reader engagement and serial storytelling. We leverage advances in technology to create groundbreaking new forms of electronic books. Our titles are available on Kindle, Fire, NOOK, and other Android-based devices. Coliloquy is based in Palo Alto, CA with offices in San Francisco, CA.
About the Author
Heidi R. Kling is the bestselling author of Witch’s Brew Spellspinners 1 (Coliloquy), Sea (Putnam/Penguin) and more.
Witch’s Brew Spellspinners 1 launched The Spellspinners of Melas County series in January, 2012. A serialized saga of estranged witches and warlocks, set in a modern, but fantastical world and told in an innovative “active fiction” format not unlike the “Choose Your Own Adventure” books we loved as kids--with more magical adventures to follow!
Sea, which launched June 10, 2010, is a bittersweet love story set in the aftermath of the devastating 2004 Indonesian tsunami. Heidi’s first novel, Sea was a finalist for “Northern California Book of the Year”, an IndieNext Pick, Goodreads “Mover and Shaker” and a Gateway Reader’s Award Finalist among other generous accolades.
When not penning novels, Heidi contributes short stories and essays to teen lit aimed anthologies such as Truth And Dare, The First Time, and A Visitor’s Guide To Mystic Falls, and feeds her Thin Mint addiction.
After earning her MFA in Writing for Children from the New School in New York, the former playwright and director returned to her native Californian where she lives with her husband and children, right over the coastal mountains from the sea.
Please visit Heidi on the web at: http://heidirkling.com, on Facebook (Heidi R. Kling) or at her favorite hang-out, Twitter.
Copyright
© 2012 by HEIDI R. KLING/COLILOQUY
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Coliloquy, LLC
www.coliloquy.com
www.twitter.com/coliloquy
First eBook Edition: October 2012
Cover design by Katie Dahlberg.
Katie was the winner of The Gleaning cover contest. Runners-up include: Chris Esler and Meijiao Ashley Chen. Their covers follow respectively.
The Coliloquy name and logo are trademarks of Coliloquy, LLC.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
ISBN: 978-1-937804-10-7
The Gleaning, Spellspinners Series #2 (The Spellspinners of Melas County) Page 17