Of Time & Spells

by Jennifer Snyder

  “What the hell?” Jasper asked from somewhere behind me. My muscles loosened at the sound of his voice. The waiting was over. We could leave or fight. The decision was in his hands. “What’s going on here, Piper?” He’d stepped to my side, carrying two bags of food. The spicy scent made its way to my nose, causing my stomach to growl even though there were more pressing issues than eating.

  “I don’t know.” I didn’t look at him. My eyes remained on the woman. “We thought it might be a good idea to cover the mirror in case any Vodun supporters were lurking around who might spot it, but then we noticed everyone staring at us.”

  “Why didn’t you come get me?” Jasper growled.

  “Splitting up or leaving the mirror didn’t seem like the best idea,” Tristan insisted. “So we opted to stay together and wait.”

  “Have they moved at all? They look like they’re stuck in a trance,” Jasper said in a hushed whisper. I shook my head no to answer his question. “Then both of you back away slowly and get in the truck. We need to get this mirror to Kalisa.”

  I held my breath as I took a step back and then paused. When the woman I was having the stare down with didn’t move, and neither did anyone else, I continued backward toward my brother’s truck at a slow pace. Once I reached the passenger door I gripped the handle and pulled. The instant I was safe in the cab with the door closed, my eyes darted to the woman’s reflection in the side mirror. She stood in the same spot, her eyes hard, and her face still expressionless. My heart thundered as Jasper climbed behind the wheel and cranked the engine to his truck. Tristan slipped in the back and my brother wasted no time shifting into reverse. He gunned it out of the parking lot, sending dust flying behind us. Everyone’s heads turned as their eyes followed our truck, but no one stepped forward to chase us. It was like something out of the creepy movie.

  I leaned my head back against the seat and let all the air whoosh from my lungs. “That was crazy.”

  “No, that was creepy,” Tristan said.

  “That too.” I agreed.

  My gaze drifted back to the side mirror. No one seemed to be following us, which was good because we needed to get this mirror to Kalia without issue. It was time for all this hoopla to be over with.

  As soon as we parked in front of Kalisa’s shop, Jasper sent inside to make sure she was there. The shop windows were dark, making the place appear closed. I paused once I reached the door and craned my neck to look in the windows. Soft candlelight illuminated the place, but not enough for me to believe it was open. I reached for the knob, but before my hand could grip it, the door opened by itself. A gasp pushed past my lips.

  “Come in, child.” Kalisa’s voice floated to my ears. “Have you retrieved the mirror?”

  I dropped my hand to my side and stepped inside, before closing the door behind me. There was a sense of safety and security inside I hadn’t expected to feel. It wrapped around me, coaxing me further into the eclectic shop. “Yes.”

  “Are you ready for what is to come next?”

  “Yeah.” I swallowed hard, hoping she couldn’t tell I was lying.

  “Then why stop for food you didn’t even eat?”

  My brows furrowed as my heart slammed against my rib cage. She’d been watching us somehow.

  “We were hungry, but when we stopped there were these people. They were staring at us. I think they’re somehow connected to the Vodun and they want the mirror back. I don’t know if they followed us, but I think they—”

  “Shh, child.” The old woman hushed me. Her eyes never lifted from the flickering flame of the candle in front of her. Her fingertips skimmed the flame a dozen times, but she didn’t seem to feel any pain. “Take a breath and tell me what you want from me.”

  As if her words held within them strange magic, my lungs pulled in a deep breath and then exhaled. The tension in my shoulders eased and a sense of calm flowed over me. “For you to help us get the dragon magic out of the mirror and into Tristan and his tribe. For you to tell us what to do and to be the bridge. Anna said we would need a bridge.” The thought of Anna had me searching the shop for her body. What had the old woman done with her?

  “She is somewhere safe. No harm has come to her body while you were gone, but her soul has traveled on.” The woman’s words were too cold and distant. They sent shivers slipping along my spine, but I did my best to ignore the sensation.

  “Thank you.” The words were twofold. I wanted to thank her for keeping Anna’s body safe while we battled against the Vodun and their magic, but I also said them because Anna had wanted me to. “For everything.”

  The old woman’s eyes lifted to mine. They were dark enough that they reflected the candlelight in their depths. Emotion lived in them. It danced alongside the soft glow of the candlelight. My words had meant something to her.

  “You’re welcome, child,” she whispered. Her tongue darted out to moisten her lips before she spoke again. “Tell the gentlemen to bring the mirror to me.”

  Weight pressed against my chest at the thought of having to help carry the beast of a thing inside. I hoped the guys had recharged enough to do it on their own. I was down for holding the door open, but didn’t think I could handle much else. My pride wouldn’t let me admit it though.

  I exited through the shop door and spotted Jasper and Tristan standing beside the truck, scanning the street. I knew who they were looking for and was thankful none of them seemed to be in view.

  “Bring the mirror inside,” I yelled.

  Jasper glanced over his shoulder at me. “Did she agree to help?”

  “She said to bring the mirror inside,” I repeated, hoping it would be a good enough answer for my brother, because Kalisa hadn’t elaborated, which meant I couldn’t either.

  “I was hoping she’d be able to do whatever she needed to out here,” Tristan complained. “I don’t know if I can move that thing again.”

  “Suck it up,” Jasper insisted. “Piper, hold the door open for us.”

  Thank you, Jesus!

  I backtracked to the entrance and faced them, waiting for them to get close. Jasper let the tailgate of his truck down and reached around the side of the mirror, grabbing hold on as much of the rug as he could. Tristan followed suit.

  “On three,” Jasper announced.

  Tristan nodded as he widened his stance. His shoulder muscles tensed in preparation, and I instantly felt bad for standing along the sidelines. They had to be as sore as I was. I started forward, hoping to get a grip and help carry the massive mirror, but the sight of familiar faces across the street captured my attention.

  The woman and her followers from outside the restaurant had found us.

  “Umm, Jasper, I think we have company. You’d better hurry.”

  He didn’t glance around. Instead he started counting to three like he’d said he would. Once he reached three, they heaved the large mirror up and out of the truck as though it weighed nothing. My eyes widened at the power of their strength. It was so much more than what I’d witnessed while back at the Vodun house. I spun to get the door for them and spotted Kalisa.

  She stood in the threshold of her shop with her hands outstretched in front of her and her fingers tense and stiff, as though she was holding the mirror up by herself.

  Chapter 22

  Kalisa bent and twisted her fingers. Her eyes closed as she whispered words I couldn’t make out under her breath. Watching her, I became aware of two things: One, she was more powerful than I’d ever imagined. And two, she was helping us when she didn’t have to.

  “Piper, you got the door?” Jasper startled me with his close proximity, snapping my eyes to him. “We’re coming in strong and fast.”

  “It’s open,” I said, unsure if I should ask Kalisa to move or tell my brother to watch out for her.

  When I glanced back at the door, Kalisa was gone.

  I shuffled back a step or two as Jasper and Tristan slipped past me, carrying the mirror. Where had the old woman gone? One second she�
��d been there, and the next she’d disappeared. A flush of adrenaline surged through me. Had I whiteness a form of astral projection?

  “Close the door, Piper,” Jasper insisted. Panic laced his words, jolting me back to reality. I gripped the door knob, but happened to peek outside before slamming the door shut. The same woman from earlier stood a few feet away. The same dazed look was plastered on her face. I scanned those congregating around her. There had to be at least twenty. Fear burned through me.

  “We need to hurry.” I slung the door shut and backed away.

  “They won’t come in.” Kalisa’s voice was devoid of worry or panic. She stood where I’d last seen her, behind the counter toying with the flame of a candle before her. For a moment, her words soothed me, but only for a moment because then my brother started talking.

  “What are you talking about? They will come in,” he reasoned with her. “They’ll come in because we have what they want.”

  “No, child.” The old woman shook her head, but didn’t meet his stare. “They’re in shock. They know not what they’re doing yet.”

  “Shock?” I asked. It didn’t seem like the right word choice. I would have used pissed. We’d taken something they wanted. Something they’d strived hard to keep.

  “Yes.” Kalisa continued to wave her hand above the orange flame. Her eyes sought mine out. When they latched on, I was suffocated by their wisdom. “What happens when you crumble an ant hill?”

  I didn’t have to think hard. I knew this answer. Everyone did. “They become angry.”

  “No, child. It’s not that they become angry; it’s that they become lost. Shocked. Panicked. They no longer know what to do because their life as they knew it has been ruined. They take time to gather themselves, and then they rebuild.”

  “I still don’t understand.” Where was she going with this?

  “The Vodun followers are stunned. They no longer know what to do. You have erased life as they knew it.”

  “Then what are they doing here?” Tristan asked.

  “Did they follow the mirror like lost puppies or something?” Jasper made a strange scoffing noise in the back of his throat, making it clear he didn’t believe what the old witch was saying.

  “Listen to me, child.” She narrowed her dark eyes on him. “They will not remain dazed for long. Just like the ants, they’ll rebuild something bigger and better the moment they gather themselves. They want what this mirror holds, and they will do anything to get it.”

  “So, what do we do?” I believed her. So far, she’d given me no reason not to. All she had done was try to help us when she didn’t have to. Maybe the woman wasn’t as bad as everyone made her out to be after all.

  Kalisa’s lips twisted into a smirk. “We pull the magic from the mirror before they come to their senses.”

  “How?” Tristan was quick to ask.

  “Let me handle that.” She flashed him a toothy grin that turned my stomach. “Uncover the mirror.”

  Tristan and Jasper moved to do as she asked without hesitation. Once the mirror was visible, Kalisa blew out the candle she’d been toying with, casting us in complete darkness.

  Suddenly, I was back in the pitch black foyer trapped inside the Vodun house. My heart beat wildly as icicles of panic shot through my chest. I waited for a glimmer of light to appear, or something horrible to happen to me before it could.

  The sound of fingers snapping echoed through the darkness, stemming from everywhere and nowhere all at once. Flames danced between the old woman’s thumb and index finger, casting the shop in an eerier light. I zeroed in on them. Blue, then orange, and then white. The flame shifted through the colors slowly. I was mesmerized by not only its color, but also the way it danced across her skin.

  “Each of you sit at one corner of the mirror,” she insisted as she stepped to the top of it. Her knees didn’t creak like I’d expected they would when she folded into a sitting position with the rest of us. Instead, she appeared graceful in her movements. Young. “Place your fingertips of one hand on the mirror, Tristan.”

  While he did as he was told, Jasper and I stared at one another from across the mirror. The question reflected in my brother’s eyes I understood well. He wanted to know why we had been told to sit near the mirror when we weren’t dragons, and there was nothing inside it for us. We’d done our part and we both knew it, but neither of us argued with the old woman.

  “Place your thumb and index finger on your opposite hand to mine.” She extended the hand with fire bellowing from her fingertips toward him, waiting. “Go on,” she coaxed when Tristan neglected to move.

  I watched in silence as his fingertips neared hers, and then winced once they passed through the fire to connect with hers. He didn’t flinch. He didn’t make a sound. Instead Tristan stared at the area where their fingertips connected, dumbfounded.

  “It doesn’t hurt,” he said after a few seconds had ticked away. “It should hurt. I should feel something, but I don’t.”

  “Not everything is as it seems,” the old woman whispered. Her eyes shifted to look at my brother and me. “No matter what you see. No matter what you hear. Do not break the connection between the boy and me, and under no circumstances should you break the connection between the mirror and us. Understood?”

  “Understood,” Jasper said.

  I nodded but couldn’t find my voice to speak. Fear had mangled my vocal cords. If she was telling us not to break their connection with each other or to the mirror, this wasn’t going to be something I enjoyed witnessing.

  My eyes shifted to Tristan, having felt his gaze on me. While there was a smile on his face, fear was reflected in his eyes. He was as afraid as I was for what was to come, and I felt guilty because I had no way of comforting him. My lips couldn’t even form a halfhearted smile. In my peripheral vison I noticed Kalisa press the tips of her fingers to the mirror. The distinct sound of glass shattering roared to my ears.

  The mirror had broken upon her touch.

  It burst into a million tiny pieces, sending shards flying through the air. My arms lifted to block the fragments as they flew past my face. My arms and hands were nicked and marred as I found myself caught in a red tornado of magic spiraling free. It swirled upward from the center of the mirror and danced in place. The shards of glass floating through the air became glitter, reflecting what little light filtered into the room as the dragon magic continued to swirl. It looked angry, as though it didn’t enjoy being woken from its slumber. Tiny wisps broke off and dispersed around the room. A few brushed against my skin, burning me with their touch before moving on to my brother. It wasn’t until they found Tristan that they seemed content. The strands of magic caressed his skin without causing him any discomfort.

  Tristan’s eyes brightened as he watched them. They seemed as though they were showering him with their attention and affection.

  Until they spotted Kalisa.

  Chapter 23

  The old woman’s eyes were still closed as she continued to whisper words I couldn’t make out. The vibe of the room took on a darker tone, and I knew it stemmed from her and whatever magic she was wielding. The wisps of red dragon magic floated around her, having abandoned Tristan. Why though? Was she calling them to her? I didn’t have much time to think about it, because the old woman’s mouth opened and the dragon magic rushed inside her.

  Kalisa swallowed it.

  Every ounce.

  My mouth opened and closed as I debated on whether to say something. This wasn’t right. It couldn’t be. The dragon magic should be reaching out to Tristan and the other dragons, not her.

  As I thought this, the old woman’s eyes lips pressed together, having swallowed every tiny wisp of magic in the air. A curve of a smile twisted her lips. She was happy.

  My stomach filled with rocks. Had consuming the dragon magic been what she’d intended to do all along? If that was the case, we were screwed. This woman was powerful enough with her own magic; she didn’t need to add anyone else
’s to it for me to fear her.

  Tristan stirred beside her, causing my attention to shift to him. His face had taken on an ashen color, and sweat beaded across his brow. A gasp squeezed past my lips at the sight of him, and an intrusive feeling centralized inside my chest, confirming what I’d already suspected—something wasn’t right.

  Red in my peripheral vision captured my attention. My eyes drifted to it. The red magic Kalisa had consumed oozed out of her pores and into the air. It gathered in a cloud above her head, rolling in on itself to remain afloat. A charged sensation filled the air, and I knew something big was about to happen.

  When Kalisa’s head snapped back and her mouth opened, I flinched. Dragon magic billowed from her exactly like with the Vodun sister, Seraphina. The only difference between now and then was this time the magic didn’t stay around to linger. Instead, it shot away from Kalisa in all directions, searching for a way out of the eccentric shop. Only a small fraction remained in the room.

  Tristan’s magic.

  It danced before him, as though teasing him with its beauty and seducing him with its possibilities. He watched it, appearing mesmerized by the sway of its movements. It floated closer to him until it hovered in front of his face, a tiny tornado of power. It’s rippling motion ceased seconds later, revealing the shape of a miniature dragon.

  Even though it was no taller than a coffee mug and no wider than a ruler, the magic pulsing through the little thing could be felt throughout the room. In the span of a heartbeat, Tristan opened his mouth and the magic flew inside. I didn’t have time to question whether it was instinct, or if the magic had told him to open his mouth, because in the next instant, his entire body convulsed.

  Tristan’s eyes rolled back into his head, and his mouth dropped open as he continued to shake violently. The rhythm of his body slamming against the floor was in sync with my heart pounding inside my chest. Internal alarms fired off inside me. Something was seriously wrong. I lurched from where I’d been sitting, knowing I needed to get to him. Weren’t you supposed to flip someone who was having a seizure onto their side? Jasper stiff-armed me before I could get close to Tristan. I jerked to a pause.