"No!" I spoke calmly as blue glowing energy burst forth from me, past the forms of the men protecting Cora and me, and straight into Max and the line of shadow demons.
All of them fell. Every single shadow demon, as well as Max, collapsed to their knees in horrible pain, writhing and screaming as if they were being slowly ripped inside out. The gut-wrenching sounds were horrible to hear but a song to my soul for an inexplicable reason.
Justice.
Von turned immediately around to face me with a look of shock and fear as I looked up at him and spoke again.
"No, never again."
The room burst with a blue glow and the world went black as I heard fierce yelling from the men surrounding me. I was not afraid.
29
The dream had been intense and overwhelming. I had been swept forward through my memories as if my thoughts and life were on fast-forward. Everything I had been looking forward to...every moment of being a mother, wife and queen flashed before my eyes like I was sifting through the movie of my life. But it seemed so quick that it felt like a teaser trailer.
There were brief moments of motherhood: holding my baby, cuddling her, watching her sleeping and cooing to her as she giggled in my arms. Cora was a beautiful baby, and she had a cherubic smile and giggle. The entire family doted on her.
The men were the best fathers in the world. They each took turns caring for her and providing little moments of total happiness in her life. It was just a flash, though, and brief. For a dream, it was a wicked thing, and I wanted to cry when the next scene burst forth.
Cora was now a toddler. She was walking, talking and running around like a whirlwind on two legs. She was everywhere and in everyone's arms. She was bounced, tickled and carried around by the men like she was a trophy. They fought over the time that they would spend with her, and I found myself having to put my foot down about a schedule. All of the men stepped into line, though, knowing that mine was the final word about Cora. It was a blur. Time was slipping away in my little dream.
I turned around in the dream and realized that Cora was a ten-year-old girl, running around with her hair dangling behind her, chatting about her schooling and her studies. She was worried that she wasn't learning how to hold her bow correctly. She also shared her concerns about what Gabriel was going to make her do the next time that he quizzed her. It made my head spin, how much all of the men expected her to know.
Leo appeared in one vision, holding Cora's hand and promising her that he was going to give her a taste at shooting guns. I frowned at him as he turned his eyes to me knowingly in the dream. It was like he knew everything that I was thinking, but he was calm and patient with me. I heard myself laugh as my dream-self nodded and allowed the two of them to run off chatting about everything that they were going to destroy. The dream shifted.
I was standing on a hilltop staring down at a huge castle overlooking the ocean. It was a familiar location, very much where I remembered seeing Gull Cottage. In fact, when my eyes were cast down towards the shoreline, I was able to see the stone staircase that snaked its way to the beach. My heart ached as I realized that my beloved Gull Cottage had been removed to make way for my hideously large castle. Was this really where I lived? Was I really a queen and the ruler of a kingdom filled with mythical creatures?
When I heard my name called, I turned to see Solomon's gorgeous eyes smiling down at me. The dream felt so very real as Solomon swept me into his arms and pressed his cool lips against mine, helping me to remember that this truly was a dream.
The dream shifted again and I was standing in a garden, holding the head of a hydrangea bloom in the palm of my hands as I felt a warm hand on my shoulder. I turned to see Cora's now adult face shining down on me, knowingly. NO!
A sudden, sharp fear hit me right between the eyes as my head swelled and my emotions swirled around me. Cora was grown up in my dream, and I had missed her young life—missed everything that I had been dreaming of experiencing with her. My heart sank as Cora laughed at me with a twinkle in her eyes. Her lips moved, but I couldn't hear a word that she was saying. My ears were filled with a buzzing that was almost impossible to ignore—it drowned out everything else around me as I began to feel my knees buckle, and Cora's face immediately displayed her distress as she reached around me and grasped my arms.
"Mother!" Cora's voice rang through my ears. "Mother, are you alright?! Dad! Mother is ill!" I heard Cora's voice right above my ear. The buzzing was finally gone. It had obviously faded away when I wasn't paying attention, because now I could hear everything clearly.
Solomon was instantly at my side, grasping me under the arm and reaching down below my knees to swoop me up into his strong embrace. "Celeste," he breathed down on me, blowing his cool scent over my face, causing me to swoon from the smell of him. "Are you okay, my love?" His voice sounded frightened.
"I...I think I am." I swallowed as I eyed Cora hovering near us. "How long have I been out?" I shook my head, trying to clear my mind. I have got to still be dreaming. This is a dream! I shook my head again, closing my eyes and wishing that I would wake up back in Leo's castle. This has got to be a dream.
Cora cast a glance over at Solomon. "Dad, I'm so worried. Mother is acting strangely—she hasn't blacked out at all." Her eyebrows bunched together with concern. She was absolutely gorgeous, with her hazel eyes and long brown hair.
Solomon flicked his chin towards the castle walls to signal Cora. "Run and find Mortisha, please, Cora. Tell her that your mother is ill."
Cora nodded and flew away from our position in the garden.
Solomon looked down at me with his rich blue-green eyes as I listened to the ocean crash on the shore in the far distance.
"Are you ill, my love? I will take you back to the castle." He began to walk steadily towards the back of the castle as my eyes fell on the path that he was following. I cast my eyes up towards the castle and finally saw everything. The building was in the style of a medieval castle made of stone and mortar. There were vines climbing on all sides, huge turrets of stone towering above, as well as glass windows that faced the ocean's splendor.
I shivered and Solomon pulled me in closer in response.
"I don't understand." My head swam with the images from my dreams. "I...I was just dreaming."
"Dreaming of what?" Solomon smiled down at me as if he figured that my dreams always held him in a starring role.
"Of...the future...the past...everything." My heart ached. I'm dreaming. I'm dreaming right now. This is a dream.
Solomon cocked his head to the side as he paused on his path toward the castle. He looked down at my eyes, trying to read my expression, but I was positive that all he would see was fear and confusion. He nodded down at me and then began walking along his determined way again.
"What do you mean, my love?" His tone was cautious.
I relaxed my head against his chest as I closed my eyes and focused on the sound of the ocean in the background. Just then I heard Tisha's voice in the distance.
"Celeste, Cora says that you are ill. What has happened?" I opened my eyes and saw Tisha standing before me in an emerald green dress, scraping the ground. She had her long blond hair pulled back, the tips of her ears clearly more than human, giving an impish look to her beautiful face.
"Tisha, I...I..." I burst into tears as my arms reached out for Tisha and she ran to grasp my hands. Solomon set my feet on the ground and I threw myself into an embrace with her. "Tisha! I'm dreaming! I have to be dreaming!" I shook with emotions that were beyond my comprehension. Every bit of my apprehension and fear was poured into my voice. "Tisha, I don't remember any of this! I don't remember coming here! How did we get here?" My voice shook as I began to waver and Solomon swept me back up into his arms again. My chest heaved with a stifling cry as the tears poured forward, releasing all of my emotions in a furious torrent.
Tisha looked up at Solomon and spoke firmly. "Take her to the castle. She must rest. She is in a delicate frame of mind.
"
"What could be wrong with her?" Solomon whispered as if I wasn't going to hear him. My tears continued to flow as I shivered in his arms. "I'm concerned that something has attacked her. What could have happened out here in the garden?" His eyes darted around like he had just barely considered that there could have been an attacker.
"Nothing has happened to her here." Tisha rested her tiny hand on Solomon's bulging bicep. "She has had a flash—I'm positive." She waved backwards as she turned to run in the opposite direction. "Do as I say and take her to her bed. She must lie down. I will be there shortly with my tools." She disappeared in a flash and Solomon looked down at me as if he didn't know what to do. He was at a loss, and so was I.
——————————
I was soon lying in my bed in a huge room with beach colors scattered throughout. The room looked like it belonged in my dear Gull Cottage. It wasn't like Gull Cottage could have housed a room this size, but it contained the same color scheme and the same style of decor. I was breathing slowly and trying to calm myself with the thoughts of how much I adored my new room and the memories of my dear little beach house. I looked up from my huge bed to look at the canopy above me, covered with a flowing fabric meant to mimic the sky over the ocean.
Solomon was pacing back and forth by the bed, and it only served to make me feel anxious. He would pause sometimes to smile down at me, pat me on the hand, and then he would take his pacing back up to wear a path in the stone floor. My eyes followed his pacing, and it stimulated my active mind again. Solomon was here, with me, and he still loved me. There was nothing wrong with that. Nothing at all.
The door opened slowly and Solomon snapped to attention next to the bed, sighing deeply as Tisha entered, her hands full of books. I eyed the books suspiciously as she walked closer towards us, nodding at me like she knew exactly what was wrong with me. I wanted to sigh too, until my eyes scanned the books in her arms—they were photo albums. My heart skipped a beat as she set them beside me on the bed and took a seat next to them. She leaned forward and laid her hand on my forehead like she was taking my temperature. Happy with what she felt, she sat back and laid her hands formally in her lap.
Looking down at the albums she asked, "What do you remember, Celeste?"
My heart sped up as I realized what she was asking. "Do you mean my dream?"
Tisha shook her head and looked me square in the eyes, searching deeply in my left eye like she was always known to do. She was looking for the truth, and she was always able to drag it up by looking in the one eye. She was absolutely unique that way, but I was accustomed to her little quirks and it didn't bother me. She leaned backwards and asked again, "What do you remember last? Not your dreams."
I licked my lips and shrugged. "I remember being at Leo's castle and being attacked by Maximilian and his shadow demons."
Solomon hissed as if he was in pain, but I refused to look away from Tisha. She smiled encouragingly at me as if it weren't a big deal, and I should ignore Solomon's little outburst.
"Go on." She smiled reassuringly.
"I remember Camela dying and my anger getting the best of me." I was beginning to worry that Tisha was judging me for my actions. "I remember attacking the shadow demons and Maximilian." Tisha nodded again, pushing me on to confide in her. "And I remember thinking that I needed to get us out of there, away from the shadow demons that were trying to attack and hurt Cora and me. I had to protect all of us." I looked down at my hands guiltily. I felt like I had brought this all down on myself.
"Okay." Tisha nodded as she grasped one of the photo albums. "This is going to be strange. Please look at these pictures and tell me if you recollect any of these events." She pushed the album towards me slowly and I looked at it as if it were poisonous. My eyes darted up to Tisha and she winked confidently, with a tilt of her head added for effect. "You can do this."
I looked down at the leather cover that read "Family Photos" and reached out to it with a quivering hand. Laying my hand flat on the cover, my fingers slowly wrapped around the edges of the album. The leather felt cold and the edges sharp. My mind was imagining that this was a dangerous piece of torture equipment. It may not have been too far off of the mark.
Closing my eyes, I flipped the cover open and looked down at pictures that I didn't and couldn't remember. Cora in Leo's arms as a baby with him beaming out at the camera, Cora with Gabriel as he held her stiffly and looked uncomfortable, Cora in a beautiful little frilly dress as a baby, Cora on the back of a horse as a toddler. I didn't recall any of these pictures. I turned the page to see more images of Cora with each father in different phases and points in her life. I flipped page after page, slowly at first and then frantically at the end. Nothing! I shook my head as I looked up at Tisha with tears in my eyes.
"That's okay." Tisha smiled at me sweetly. "What about these?" She pushed a new album towards me and I opened it up to see pictures of Cora and me smiling back at the camera. I was beaming with motherly love down at Cora wrapped up as a baby in my arms. Another was of me holding Cora around nine months old on my knee, trying to feed her a bottle. Another was of Cora taking her first steps towards me, Solomon standing in the background, grinning down like a sap. I flipped the page and saw more images, heartbreakingly sweet memories that I had no recollection of. Cora running into my arms, Cora walking on the beach as she held my hand around four years old, Cora posing in a ballerina outfit leaning against my leg as I had my hand gently on her shoulder and smiled down at her as lovingly as possible. This can't be happening!
Tears welled up in my eyes again, which was a fearsome thing since I was positive that I had cried as much as I ever could in one day.
"What does it mean?" My shoulders shook with the emotions filling my soul. "What could this possibly mean?!" I threw my head back and yelled up at the canopy over my bed, "WHY?!"
Tisha was making gentle shushing noises as she pushed the photo albums to the end of the bed, throwing her arms around me. "Shhhh, it's okay, it's okay..." Her voice was firm and her arms wrapped around me in comfort.
My body continued to shake with my sobs. I didn't know when or how I was going to stop crying.
"Mortisha, what in the world is wrong? What has happened?" Solomon's voice washed over me with concern. I knew he was staring at my back, which was now turned away from him. I could feel his eyes drilling into me, trying to find a way to fix me as if I were something mechanical that he had a chance of repairing.
"I suspected that this day would come." Tisha spoke over my head as my wailing continued to fill the air. "It appears, and I only suspected that this may be the case, that Celeste has been shifting through time."
My breath caught in my throat as if my sobs had been stopped up by a cork. I gasped for breath as my head spun and I pulled away from Tisha with a look of shock in my eyes. I couldn't think, and therefore I was forgetting to breathe.
Tisha leaned in closer to me with a look of concern, narrowing her eyes on my frozen expression. Pulling back her arm in a wide arc, Tisha brought it back to my cheek in a fierce SLAP!
"Breathe, dammit!" Tisha barked at me as I gasped loudly, my lungs kicking back into gear with a sharp gasp. Tisha's eyes went wide before she laid her now red palm against her own chest. "Good. Breathing is good." She sighed exasperatedly at me. Well, no duh!
I narrowed my eyes at her. "You slapped me!" I yelled. I couldn't believe that my best friend in the world had just slapped me!
"You weren't breathing!" She snapped back at me. I blinked at her wildly. Okay, she had me there. Breathing was good.
Solomon coughed and it cleared my mind, bringing me back to the subject at hand.
"Tell me what you suspected, Tish. What did you suspect? How did you suspect it?" I leaned backwards, away from her reach, and felt Solomon right behind me, pulling me into him. It was comforting to feel his strong arms around me.
Tisha brushed her hair over her shoulder and gave me an apologetic smile.
"When I h
eard about the spell that you had cast, I was first clued in that this may be the case. Not even Von understood what you had done to transport all of you to your castle, to this time. He tried his best to explain all of the nuances of the spell, the power, what you said, but it was far beyond his comprehension. I have heard of it only being done once before, and that was eons ago, by a very powerful wizard." She rolled her lips as she shifted on the bed, pulling her legs up on top, and crossing them underneath herself. "There are stories of what the wizard went through. He would experience memories, moments in time. A whole lifetime whizzed before his eyes like a dream, and then he came to, in the middle of a lifetime that he wasn't aware that he had been living. He was confused for a bit until he was caught up to speed. He knew what had passed, but it had only felt like a dream to him. In the end, he had lost thirty years in the dream, and he was shaken by the entire experience." She looked at me with concern in her eyes.
"What happened to the wizard?" Solomon prodded her to continue with the story.
Tisha cast her eyes up to Solomon and then back down to me. She hesitated and then replied. "He simply went mad." She looked down at my hands which were now grasping the comforter in front of me. "But that is not going to happen to you." Tisha set her determined eyes on mine, demanding that I acknowledge her words.
I swallowed so loudly that it made a sharp gulping noise. "Okay." I knew that she was going to do everything that she could to ensure that I would keep my sanity.
"He was nowhere as strong as you, Celeste. The wizard hadn't experienced what you have, been cast into the past, pushed into the future, hurled through time and space. His body and mind couldn't handle it." She looked at me again, drilling into my left eye again for answers. She leaned back and smiled broadly with a twinkle in her eye. "But you, my dear, are the queen of witches, warlocks, vampires, werewolves, and all magical beings on this half of North America." Her voice rang through the room with as much conviction as she could muster. "And you will prevail." Her smile covered her face and I knew that she meant what she said.
Ritual Magic Page 28