If the Broom Fits

by Liz Schulte

Selene entered without bothering to knock, looking every bit the fairy queen she was in a fur-lined white cloak that could have been made out of the light of the moon. Nothing like dressing for the human world. Frost rolled her eyes, but the rest of the room hung transfixed on her entrance. Selene as usual was completely oblivious. She grinned at us and hurried over, kissing Sy on the cheek. “Thank you for coming,” she said. “Sorry I’m late. What did I miss?”

  Sy gave her his spot on the sofa and went to stand in front of the door. No more unannounced visitors for us.

  “Just introductions,” Kat said. “We were meeting Frost’s other coven.”

  Selene turned her smile to the strangers in the room, who still hadn’t quite caught up with what was happening. “It’s very fortunate that Frost came home, I guess. Really the timing is eerily good.”

  The other coven looked momentarily confused. “Why is that?” Aisha finally asked.

  Selene paused for a few beats, studying each of them carefully before continuing as if nothing had happened. “Imbolc, of course. It’s less than a month away and that’s the time for initiations, isn’t it? I mean what great luck running into the long lost coven member right before initiations.”

  Aisha nodded slowly. “It would be, except we don’t have to initiate Frost. From the moment she was born she was one of us, but as long as we’re on the topic, I notice your coven isn’t full either.”

  Selene’s question took me aback. I thought we were operating under the idea that the other coven was here to help, but Selene seemed more suspicious than she had let on at the store. I would have given anything to know what was going through her mind.

  “True enough, but we already initiated her,” Selene said with a satisfied smile. “Whose turn is it for introductions?”

  “You’re the only one left,” I said, giving her a look that she ignored.

  “I’m Selene, queen of the fae and practicing witch.”

  Angel choked on the air and Dom patted her roughly on her back.

  “Queen of the fae?” Terrick mouthed at Frost who nodded, but looked like she wanted to stick her head in the oven.

  “By marriage, of course,” Selene said with a wink.

  “And election,” Katrina chimed in.

  “Okay, that’s done. Let’s figure out how to get into the room. Unless you have any pertinent information, Selene?” I said.

  “Where’s the room you can’t get into?” Selene asked, standing up.

  Frost took her to the hallway and Selene looked at the entrance. “It’s protected.” Frost grabbed a piece of chalk off the floor and threw it at the doorway. The chalk immediately disintegrated. “Can you see past the illusion?”

  Selene’s eyes narrowed and she looked closer. “No. I’m not sure it is an illusion. Okay, let me think about the doorway for a while. Show me the other one.”

  Frost agreed.

  “I haven’t seen the other door either,” I said, hopping up and so did everyone else, agreeing none of us had seen it.

  So everyone except Sy and Leslie trekked through the snow to the cellar and climbed down to investigate the door drawn on the stone wall. It probably wasn’t worth the effort. I climbed out first and headed back to the house. There was no need to freeze my ass off. That door could be left to the magical folks.

  Leslie was talking softly with Sy on the couch when I came back inside. Her head shot up with a guilty expression until she saw it was me.

  “Is everyone coming back?”

  “No. They’re still looking at the drawing.”

  “Good,” she said. “As I was saying, I don’t know how she’s doing. She gets really mad and frustrated easily, but all of this has to be hard on her. Her life it’s just been…” She shook her head, sympathy swimming across her face.

  Sy raised an eyebrow. “If she told you about her past, she trusts you more than you think,” he said. “I think it would be good for her to stay here.”

  “Isn’t that up to Frost?” I asked.

  “Of course it is,” Leslie said quickly. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t encourage her.”

  “What about this spirit guide?” Sy said, with an uncharacteristic frown.

  “Orion,” Leslie said. “I don’t know. On one hand I think he’s good for Frost. He’s getting her to open up in more ways than just emotionally. And he got her to come here, but he also brought her here right at the time all of this with Ornias suddenly came up. That worries me. It also worries me that I don’t know what he wants from her. I think it worries her too.”

  Sy crossed his legs. “Orion like in mythology?”

  “Yeah,” Leslie said. “He even gave her a spell so she could contact him anytime, but when we talk to him everything seems perfectly explained and logical. However, once you start to pull the story’s threads, pieces always unravel.”

  “If I was concerned about anyone, it would be this coven that’s trying to claim her,” I said. “I think Selene is concerned too. What’s their motivation? What do they want?”

  “For what it’s worth, I like the other coven,” Sy said. “They have a different point of view and they know how to be witches in the human world. You guys could learn a lot from them. You should think about combining. It would add a lot of strength to the group and cover more of the magical bases.”

  “But how many of them are dark?” I asked.

  “Two, maybe three tops, but they aren’t that dark. They’re more like Frost. They have an affinity toward darker magic which will open a lot more doors for you as a group.” Sy nodded. “As I said, it would add a lot more power to the group. Enough to give you back your magic.” He nodded to me.

  My heart jolted. “You can’t know that. And who’s to say I want it back?” Especially if we had to use dark magic to get it.

  “Of course you do,” Leslie said. “You may be able to lie to yourself, but you can’t lie to me.”

  “And you can’t tell me or Frost what to do. We get to make our own decisions about our lives. As our friend, you should respect that.” I glared at her.

  She sighed noisily. “The two of you are impossible. We’re trying to help you.”

  I shook my head. “How about we worry less about what Frost and I are going to do and more about stopping this guy from killing more girls. How does that sound to you?”

  Sy smiled. “Jess, if you ever want to get into bounty hunting, give me a call.”

  “Yes, a magicless human would last a really long time.”

  He shook his head. “There’s more to bounty hunting than actual hunting. Someone has to work behind the scenes, piecing things together and pulling out the patterns. Obviously you’re good at that. My offer stands.”

  “Collecting more strays, Sy?” Frost’s voice came from behind us as everyone shuffled back in.

  “Just recognizing talent where I see it,” he said, standing up. “Now, I must head back to the Office. You know how to reach me if I’m needed. Good luck, ladies.” He vanished, transporting back to Chicago in an instant.

  When everyone was settled back into their seats, Frost started again. “Okay, Orion said everything we need to banish Ornias back to where he came from is in this house. Leslie and I assumed it was in the room because there isn’t a lot else in the house. Most the witch stuff feels like it’s more for show than real.”

  “That’s because this house gets used as the local haunted house for Halloween,” Dom said. “It was abandoned, but the trust kept it going. We really didn’t know if you were ever coming back, so none of us objected on your behalf.”

  For a moment I thought Frost might yell at him, but instead she laughed. “That makes so much sense. We were so confused when we got here. Why didn’t you go in the baby room?”

  Dom frowned. “There is no baby room.”

  “Yes, there is,” Frost and Leslie said at the same time.

  “Where?” Dom asked. “I worked on this house for years and never saw it.”

  “Upstairs. It’s the secon
d bedroom,” Leslie said while a frown deepened on Frost’s face.

  He shook his head. “There are only two rooms upstairs. The bedroom and a bathroom.” He stood up, took the stairs two at a time to the top, then his heavy steps went down the hall and stopped. “I can’t believe it,” he yelled. “There is another room.”

  Selene’s head shot up. “I know how to get in the room.”

  “How?” Frost said.

  Selene smiled at her. “You just need to walk through the doorway.”

  Frost scrunched her nose as Dom bounded down the stairs. “I’m kind of partial to living,” she said.

  “I don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner,” Selene said, standing back up. “Your mother cast these spells.”

  “Obviously,” Frost said.

  “And then she died, but the spells remain. How is that possible unless—”

  “Unless they are connected to the bloodline,” I said. “That’s makes sense. Both rooms were hidden because the only person she wanted to see them was her daughter. That’s why people can see the baby room now, because you already went inside.”

  Frost looked at Leslie who was nodding. “I should have thought of it, but I didn’t,” she said. “That’s brilliant.”

  Frost stared at us. “And if I blow up?”

  “Then obviously we’re wrong,” Selene said, grinning. “But we’re not, I promise.”

  “I don’t know, man,” Terrick said. “That’s a big oops.”

  Frost looked down, staring hard at the ground, her eyebrows knitted together. I waited for her to say no and something snarky, but she smiled, closing her eyes for a moment. “I’ll do it,” she said softly.

  She went over to the red doorway and we all followed her. She didn’t make a fuss or even hesitate. She squared her shoulders and walked through the door like it was any other. She didn’t blow up, nor did the room change. It was just as big as it appeared from the other side. Certainly big enough to hold both covens and maybe more. Frost somehow looked different, though. The determination she always carried in the stiff, unapproachable way she held herself was gone, leaving something a lot closer to resignation in its wake.

  I made eye contact with Katrina. She nodded, her mouth pinched in a worried bow. Then she whispered something to Selene, who looked at Frost too. Leslie stood across the room, chewing on her lip, staring off into space. Something had changed and we needed to get in front of it before Frost did something she couldn’t take back. Or maybe I was worrying about nothing. I tried to shake off the feeling.

  I refocused on the room. There were cabinets filled with candles and herbs and oils. There were countless books on magic stacked against the walls, and thirteen pillows formed a circle on the floor. Astrological charts hung on the wall, as did the moon phases and maps of lay lines. Anything a witch could possibly need was there.

  “This is where they used to hold their meetings,” Aisha said. “I remember my mother telling me about them, and how they had so many resources that were since lost, but she couldn’t remember where they were. It was here.”

  “What did you find about Ornias?” Frost suddenly broke her silence, seeking out Selene.

  Selene stepped away from the astrological charts on the wall. “He was a fallen angel who was banished to the constellation Aquarius. He is known for killing people with the Aquarius sign because they have an affinity for Virgo women, which seems really strange on the surface. According to legend, he prefers to kill men to women. His touch causes tremendous pain. It looks like he’s seeking a way to stay here permanently.”

  “We think we know how he’s going to do that,” I said. “He only kills during about a month a year. I don’t know where he goes the rest of the time, but I’m willing to bet it’s purgatory or somewhere in the underworld. That’s why he wants Frost. He needs her to pull him out and free him for good. That’s our theory.”

  Selene tucked her hair behind her pointed ears. “That makes sense. I wonder how many people on your list were other necromancers who failed to free him. It also explains why he is looking for Frost. It was her bloodline that brought him here. She would have the strongest connection to him and the best chance of reaching him in the underworld.” She looked back at Frost. “But that also means your blood is the only thing that can send him back to Aquarius so he can never leave. He has probably been searching for you your whole life. If he can get you to free him—or if he can kill you—then he can never be banished again. You are both his means of defeat and the means by which he can get everything he’s ever wanted.”

  “Couldn’t she just keep avoiding him? She lasted this long,” Angel said. “Sounds easy enough to me.”

  “But he’s killing other people as he’s trying to find her,” Katrina said. “If we don’t stop him, no one else will or can. This isn’t something we can ignore and hope goes away. Someone has to do something.”

  “He’s killed at least forty people,” I said. “I’m not walking away from this.” I meant the words with every fiber of my being. None of these people deserved what happened to them. They were victims and no one was looking for justice for them. If we didn’t do it, who would?

  “No, I get what Angel is saying,” Leslie said. “What if we can’t beat a fallen angel? Wouldn’t it be better that he’s only here a month a year? What if we’re wrong about him needing Frost to pull him out? What if he just needs her blood or something? We don’t know anything about what he can or can’t do.”

  “Whatever the case, he shouldn’t go free.” Dom said. “That’s bullshit.”

  “It isn’t like we don’t know people,” Selene said with a meaningful look to the rest of us. “Olivia could probably handle this on her own.”

  Frost shook her head. “We’re not calling her and he’s not going free. I appreciate all the input on the matter, but it’s not your choice. This is something I have to do. My mother started this and his first victim was my father. You may all have opinions, but I don’t really care what they are. I know what I have to do. For the first time in my life, the next step is very clear. We’re going to do this my way. If you don’t like it, leave.”

  No one budged.

  “Okay, let’s get to work. Some of us need to comb through the contents of this room. We need to find an indication of what spell she used and what variations she used. According to my source she opened more than one doorway, trying to undo what she’d done, but things only got worse. All of this,” Frost pointed at the astrological charts on the wall, “leads somewhere. The others need to find a way to call Ornias to us. We know he’s looking for me, but obviously he’s not a good hunter. We have to give him some help, without tipping him off. We can’t summon him or he’ll be ready. He has to think he is finding this house on his own and he has to see me as an easy target.”

  “Is that all?” Terrick said. “What does surprise even matter? No matter how this happens, we lose. This guy is a fallen angel who knows he’s an angel. We’re just witches. There’s no way we can win this fight fairly—or even by cheating. Not even with you on our side. We’ll not only lose, we’ll be lucky if one of us makes it out alive. You can’t control an angel, can you?”

  Frost shook her head. “You don’t need to worry about that. I told you I’d handle it. And I will.”

  And suddenly I knew what her plan was. Frost couldn’t beat an angel, but she could get him back through the door…if she went through first. That was her big play. She was sacrificing herself.

  Her eyes met mine and I shook my head ever so slightly. Her jaw tightened and her chin rose. She was making amends and we could either help her do it or let her try alone. Either way, she wouldn’t be stopped or sidetracked. She’d already said she didn’t care about our opinions.

  But she was mistaken if she thought we’d stand by and let her do this alone. We didn’t let Selene die and they didn’t let me die. I sure as hell wasn’t going to let her die.

  17

  FROST

  The moment hit
me so hard and fast I didn’t feel anything except for a flash of startling clarity. I understood all of my life in the context of what the universe wanted from me, which made it hard to think about anything else as the pieces of the puzzle came together. I began here and I would end here. Everything came back to this place, just like Orion said. Everything I needed to set things right were under this roof: the spell, the door, and the sacrifice—me.

  He had strategically laid it out so I would discover all of it on my own and process it on my own. Had he told me, I would have fought it. The coven and I would have planned to beat the gods and the punishment they wanted to exact on my family for my mother’s actions. We never would’ve accepted that there wasn’t another way. It wasn’t in the coven’s nature to give up, but now there wasn’t time to fight it. Everything was coming to a head and any way I looked at it, it ended the same way. I had to die. Either I let Ornias kill me and free himself from Hell or I sacrificed myself and put him back where he belonged.

  Selene, Katrina, Dom, and Aisha volunteered to find a way to bring Ornias to us, while Leslie, Angel, Jessica, and Terrick worked on finding the spell for the door. I wasn’t really capable of helping with either as the shock of my decision began to wear away and nervous energy took hold. I sat on the floor with a book, and pretended to read as the words swam in front of me.

  Atonement was the point of my life—of necromancers’ lives. No one ever told me that. We were all cursed to be atonement for those who came before us. Most necromancers went insane, became dark, or were killed so they probably never had the opportunity to understand the way I did. Until now, I had avoided all three fates. I had managed to survive long enough to understand that I had always been fighting a losing battle.

  When Orion told me that he let me struggle because I had to be strong for what was coming, it seemed cruel to me, but now I was grateful for my strength. To pull this off I had to be the perfect storm of certain attributes. I had to be removed, unattached, determined, angry, and strong enough to do what scared me most. Without each part of that, I would never be able to set the world right again. My mother meddled with things that shouldn’t be touched. Mortals were never meant to undo the punishments of the gods and in doing so she changed the course of so many lives.