Chapter XIX
The world flipped and spun in several directions. A kaleidoscope centering in on the small clearing in the woods. Silas held onto Gwen’s hand. The other held Elle’s. On Gwen’s left was Chester, then Marcus. A funeral Pyre for Crystal Tanner. The coroner keeping her body held hostage while they investigated all the possible ways her death could or could not have been suicide, but in the end, that's what they labeled it. The broken heart of a teenage girl. Marcus was at a loss. He hadn’t known what was in his twin sister’s heart anymore. Not since Daniel.
Once they placed her in a pine box and agreed to sign her over to her family, Gwen insisted she be allowed to perform a proper Wiccan funeral. The Tanner’s agreed, only if it was not held on the Crawford farm.
Silas looked out in the woods behind the Blackwood Manor. It too was in the back country of the town they lived in. Their only neighbor was an old farmer with bad eyesight and a worse memory. The clearing being used was the one they’d occupied many times for circles. Though, Silas had to admit they hadn't had as many as they should have.
The wind blew. Turning the smoke of the candle in front of them toward Gwen. She breathed it in and whispered the words she needed to say before closing her circle. As she spoke, white wisps of smoke exhaled through her nostrils.
“Take this soul back into your grace. Gaia, we plead with you. She deserves to be at peace.”
She was answered when the smoke she exhaled rose above her head in a circle. It grew until it was as large as the pine box on top of the large pile of wood. Birch and maple trees were torn down by the storm, serving as the foundation for the Pyre. The ring moved over Crystal’s hidden form and lowered as if it were hugging her. Then it dissipated.
“What was that?” Silas heard Liana ask some of the other onlookers.
Gwen squared her shoulders and continued as if no one spoke out. “Our sister is forgiven. Now, we must say goodbye. Her soul will be reunited with her love, and in time with her family. We grieve those who have been taken from us, much too soon. Our ancestors will keep them safe until we all meet again.”
Silas could see the tears filling her eyes. He wished he could take her in his arms and comfort her. Even though she was planning to abandon this part of who she was, he knew it was important to her to fill the role while she could.
“Remember to appreciate the love the sun shines on us each new day as it rises. Through the phases of the moon, we remember the phases of life. Birth, growth, death, and rebirth. That is the nature of all things. So, mote it be.”
Gwen nodded to Barnaby who held onto their little brother as he had at Daniel’s funeral, and they each held the tip of a blazing torch to the wood beneath the plain pine box. It engulfed in flames before anyone had a chance to let out a breath.
Wyatt and Liana, Crystal and Marcus’ parents, held each other in the front row. Liana clutched her husband in one hand and sobbed into tissues in the other. Her blonde hair was unkempt. She wore a long shift dress under her cloak, but no shoes on her feet. Her skin was pale, and though she was sitting straight, Silas thought it was more likely her husband was holding her up. He looked more put together. More stable.
It was customary for everyone to stay until the pyre burnt to the ground and nothing remained. However, many began to leave once the circle was closed and the ceremony was complete. Silas looked around in disgust. He could feel it radiating off Gwen as well, but something more lingered nearby.
“You feel that?”
“I do. I think they all do.”
She took one step forward and stopped. The trees began to bleed. Silas trembled. His dream was becoming a reality. “We need to leave.”
“We cannot. I won’t abandon her.”
“Gwen, this is crazy. You can’t seriously be thinking we should stick around.” Elle’s eyes darted around the woods.
The blood flowed down to pool, black ichor staining the ground. Steam rising from the puddles as they settled.
Gwen looked around the woods. Searching for something nobody could see. Then Silas spotted what he was looking for. Red eyes darted back at them from beneath a dark hood. The figured was covered from head to toe. Nothing identifiable lay out to be seen. Then one arm extended, single sharp nail protruded from beneath the sleeve to pierce the bark of a willow tree. It dried up from the point of contact and webbed until the entire tree stood devoid of life.
“Birth, growth, death,” the hooded figure spoke. “Despair and repeat. That is all that awaits you, Gwendolyn Crawford. Death and despair.”
Gwen lifted a hand, but Silas never found out what it was she would do. The hooded figure spun on a heel and turned to smoke. When it cleared, nothing remained.
“My heart is beating a mile a minute. Can we please get the hell outta here?” Elle shouted holding tightly to Marshal’s arm.
“Gwen?” Silas grabbed her hand, but she pulled free of his reach.
“You can go. I will remain.”
“You can’t stay here.” Her eldest brother looked her over. “Think of the baby. You should leave. That was a threat, Gwen.”
“Come on, sis. We gotta get you outta here.” Cinnabar pulled on his sister’s hand to lead her to the cars in the Blackwood’s driveway. His small form almost toppled over when his hand slipped from hers.
She kept her gaze on the spot where the red eyes had appeared, but allowed her brothers to pull her toward safety.
Silas moved to her, cupped her face to make her turn to look at him. “Look at me. I saw this. Just this morning. I don’t know if it has anything to do with the other, but if not…”
She finished for him, her eyes wide, her expression blank. “It means we have more than one threat against us.”
He nodded. Eyes stared at them all around. Those who stayed and witness the ugly scene were still gasping over the change in woods around them. Of course, Silas should have foreseen what she would do.
“We need to cleanse it. Or it will spread.” She looked around at the ash falling from the sky. The leaves, just as in his dream were dying. The evil was spreading like wild fire.
Silas took one look at Derek Blackwood, Marshal’s father who nodded and disappeared with Ophelia into the back of the house. When they emerged, they had two salt shakers with a small bell in each. Two bowls filled with sea salt, basil, powdered clove, and a ground lemon peel. They placed the bowls in front of Gwen who added the contents of both to a mortar. She held the pestle and ground the ingredients to a fine powder. Then filled the salt shakers with it.
Gwen handed one shaker to Ophelia who began the chant. “Clean and cleanse, banish this evil,” she repeated the chant as they walked around the still burning pyre clockwise, careful to allow just enough to spread it evenly.
Gwen stopped when her shaker was empty. Silas watched her as she looked up at the woods farther away to where the rot had spread. He sensed her and felt as she moved not thinking about what she was doing, and she lifted her right hand. It engulfed in blue, a flame so vibrant everyone around her had to shield their eyes. It burned like the flame on a candle, yet there was no heat. She studied it for a moment, and the realization hit them both. That power was not hers, and she had no control over it.
Silas was going to move to her, but before he could, Chester was at her side. One hand on her extended arm and the other on her shoulder. He whispered something to her and she flinched.
“It’s ok,” Silas heard her say. She looked back at him, his pulse quickened. Her features changed for just a minute. Her eyes rimmed gold, as he’d come to expect whenever she wielded her magic. Freckles showed on her cheeks and across her nose, then faded. Her smile turned mischievous, not like herself at all, then as if it were a glamour it was gone.
“Heal what has been laid to waste.” The blue moved from her hand and into the forest. The red eyes never returned, though she looked at the spot where they’d been all the while she worked.
The trees filled with life and the bark began to shudder.
A blue haze surrounded everything that had been dying just moments before. Buds sprouted on the branches until full grown leaves filled them so hardly any branch could be seen between the green.
When her hand moved down to her side, her body started to collapse with it. Silas moved at breaking speed, but only made it in time to remove her from Chester’s waiting arms. He gave Silas a shamed look.
“You were closer.” Silas nodded at Chester and picked Gwen up, cradling her in his arms.
Chapter XX
“What was that?”
“How did she do that?”
“Why won’t she wake up?”
“Why can’t you heal her?”
“People,” Silas yelled to the room. “I don’t know, but you need to give Ophelia some room to work.”
Gwen’s family hovered nearby. They had taken her up to the Blackwood house and placed her in one of the spare rooms. Floral accents decorated the border of the creamed colored walls. Her raven hair spread over the white duvet cover on the queen-sized bed. Alistair leaned in behind Ophelia. The man looked like a giant compared to the small girl.
“Mr. Crawford, please. I need you all to move back and stay quiet.” Ophelia placed her hands at Gwen’s temples. She closed her eyes and let out a long breath.
In the darkness, a bright light twinkled before spreading. Ophelia walked through an empty space. There was no ceiling or sky, no floor or ground. The space was devoid of matter. “Hello? Gwen?” She stepped once to the left, then back and to the right looking around.
A small doll appeared. It sat in midair, rocking back and forth until a wooden rocking chair materialized under it. “Gwen?”
“She’s not here.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m not sure yet.”
“Are you keeping Gwen away?”
“No, she doesn’t feel good. She used too much.”
“Too much?”
“Healing.” The chair stopped rocking, the doll’s head turned to stare Ophelia in the eye. “It’s dangerous. It’s not hers, she must not use it.”
“How do you know?”
“Margaret told me.”
Ophelia blinked her eyes breaking contact with the vision. Alistair leered over her, Barnaby glared at her from the other side of the bed. Silas had been pushed back to the doorway.
“What happened?” Alistair asked.
“She’s regressed. Something or someone else is in there.”
Silas pushed off the doorframe. “Is it the baby?”
“I think it might be.”
“What did she say?” He moved toward the bed pushing past Gwen’s brothers. He placed a hand on her stomach and looked at her as she slept.
“She said Margaret told her about the gift Gwen used.”
“Margaret?” Alistair scratched his head and rubbed against his neck. “What about her?”
“That’s all she said. Do you know what it could mean?” Ophelia looked between Alistair and his son’s and then to Silas.
Alistair rubbed the top of his hand and turned to exit the room. Silas looked at his brother-in-law, who shrugged his shoulders and followed his father out of the room.
Cinnabar gave Silas a quick squeeze of the hand. “I’ll find out for you.” He followed his father and brother from the room. His little legs working overtime to catch up with the other two.
Silas stayed by Gwen’s side. He moved between the bed and the window, silently begging Gaia to bring his wife back to him. The color was slowly returning to her face. Occasionally he noticed her eyes move behind closed lids. When they began to flutter he sat on the bed beside her and held her hand in his.
Her lips moved. She squeezed his hand and he let out a long sigh. Her eyes opened and he smiled. Touching his forehead to hers he gave a silent thank you to the earth goddess.
“How do you feel?”
“I’m okay. Just really tired.”
“What happened?”
“I think I tapped into the baby’s powers.” She moved to sit up. Silas placed a hand on her back to support her.
“You healed the entire forest.”
“Really? I don’t know how I did it. I just know I was sad and angry. Do we know who attacked us? Did anyone see?”
“No. Whoever it was got away before we had the chance. The important thing is you’re okay.”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
Silas moved his hands to cup her face and kissed her. Her lips were ice cold. Her eyes were dark. When he pulled away they rolled back in her head and closed.
“Gwen?” He rubbed her face and clutched her to him as she slumped.
Silas became frantic, checking her wrist for a pulse. When he found it, he fought to slow his quickening heart rate. He rubbed her shoulder and pulled the blanket to her chin. Remembering himself, he held on to her and closed his eyes. It hadn’t worked the first time, but he had to try.
Heat rushed from his palms into Gwen. Silas held his eyes shut, picturing the energy pulsing from within him into her. It spread to her chest then moved outward. Reaching from the tips of her toes to the top of her head. When he opened his eyes, she was staring at him.
“So, that’s what that feels like.”
Relief set in and he pulled her close. “You have got to stop scaring me like that.”
“Lucky for you, you’re a healer, and our daughter is too.”
“She helped?”
“Yes, I think so. It was magnificent. I’ve never felt the healing powers before. It felt like being wrapped up in a blanket of love and warmth.”
“Well, I pray to the goddess you never get to feel it again.”
Chapter XXI
Marcus and Elle led the search for the mysterious figure in the woods. They opted to be proactive while everyone else waited for Gwen to wake. They followed the trail left by Gwen’s magic, which led to an abandoned building on the far side of the county. It looked as if no one had been there in years.
The windows lacked glass in each of the panes. The front door had been boarded over, but those inside the house were hanging by one hinge or lying on the floor, which resembled Swiss cheese. Holes in the wood floors showed a crumbling foundation, but no cellar. Shingles from the roof laid in a pile on the ground. A tree limb had broken through and grew inside filling the upper floor.
The magic trail died inside the building, but neither Elle nor Marcus saw it fit to go inside. Whoever it had been was long gone. There was no evidence, other than the magic residue to show that anyone had been inside. The dust lay undisturbed throughout the small house as far as they could see.
“We should go back.” Marcus moved to the trail they followed to return to the Blackwood property, but Elle looked straight ahead.
“You go. I’m going to look some more.”
“Suit yourself.”
Marcus took off at a sprint, leaving Elle to wander the woods alone. She pulled at her long blonde ponytail as she moved forward. She veered around the house and headed west. If she didn’t find anything, she figured she would at least be close to town.
When it looked like she had run out of woods, she let her shoulders relax. Realizing she’d be able to make it home on foot, she wouldn’t have to return to Gwen and Silas. Elle wasn’t fond of the couple. She’d only filled in as a coven leader because of her brother’s death. She had no use for magic spells and all the fighting back and forth.
“You must be lost or very brave if you’re out here by yourself.”
Elle caught the glimpse of short raven hair before she disappeared behind a large tree.
“Sabina? What are you doing out here? Do your folks know where you are?”
“Do yours?”
“Not that you’d care, but your sister was attacked. We all were.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “I was looking for a trail.”
“And your trail led to me. How funny is that?”
“A coincidence, obviously.” Elle watched as Sabina started to swing on and around the smaller tree t
runks. Letting one-foot point up into the air as if she were dancing with them. Multiple partners for the star.
“Or is it?” She stopped and looked at Elle. Her eyes glowed gold, but then with the reflection of the light, they looked red. She blinked and it was gone. “Oh well, I suppose I should go see if my dear sister is ok.”
“She’s fine.”
Elle started to walk off, but the girl moved and grabbed her by the arm. “Don’t let them turn you into something you’re not. My grandmother told me that. She told me a lot of useful things. Want me to share them with you.”
“Like what?”
“You’ll have to leave the Shadows to find out.” She let Elle’s arm go and skipped her way through the woods heading north toward the Crawford house.
“Gwen’s sister is a little creepy,” Elle said to herself.
Home was only a few blocks away once she exited the wood. She opened the front door as quietly as possible and snuck up the stairs to her room. Her mother was probably in the kitchen watching a Hallmark channel movie. Not that she would notice her daughter was in the house, but Elle didn’t want to take that chance. Her father was still at the office. The evidence of which was his missing vehicle in the driveway.
Since Daniel’s death, neither of them paid very much attention to her, and that was just as she liked it.
She moved through the upstairs, past her brother’s room without a glance, and slipped into her own. She didn’t have to look inside to know everything was as it had been before he died. Most of his belongings were in boxes. Anything he had in his dorm room. Her parents couldn’t bring themselves to do it, so she had gone and packed up everything and carted them back to the house. Her father took the boxes from her car and shoved them into his bedroom closet.
The sun was dipping down behind the tops of the trees. The glare of the rays as they snuck between buildings and tree branches caught her momentarily by surprise. She hissed and moved to the window to close the blinds, and pushed the curtains to keep the light out.
Turning the Stone Page 12