by M.E. Timmons
Chapter 11
Selene was woken the next morning by her mother, who stood over her and gently shook her shoulder. Selene groaned and tried to push her hand away, but it kept coming back. Her mother was being persistent.
“Selene, it’s time to get up. I’m sure you’re tired, but there’s a lot to do and I need your help,” Frieda said. She stopped shaking her daughters shoulder, but she continued to stand over her until she opened her eyes.
Selene blinked a few times as her eyes adjusted to the bright morning light coming from the window. “I feel like I haven’t slept properly in days,” She complained, sitting up slowly. She felt stiff and drowsy, and she would have loved to sleep in a little longer.
“Well, maybe you shouldn’t have gotten up so early yesterday. Why you wanted to go for a walk in the rain in the early morning is beyond my understanding.”
Selene grinned at that but didn’t respond. She stretched and yawned, and then she got up. “Is everyone else up?”
“Yes. Henry started working today, and Dahlia is out gathering flowers and herbs, and she’s going to go to the shops later to get the rest of what we need. Your father has been off at work since before the sun rose, and I’ve been up for an hour. I started one potion, but I’m still missing ingredients for the second. I need you to look after the cauldron and add the appropriate ingredients while I go perform a spell.”
Selene sighed and rubbed her eyes. “Fine. I’m going to get dressed and cleaned up first, and then I will be out.”
“Thank you, darling. I’ll watch the cauldron until you’re ready, and then I’ll be leaving.”
Selene hurried to get dressed in an old blue gown and then she went outside to the cauldron. She sat on the stool next to it underneath the shelter, which was attached to the side of the house. Her mother pointed out the recipe in her potion book and added one last ingredient before she said goodbye and headed out. The bubbling mixture in the pot was the start of a Strength Master Potion, which gave its drinker super strength for about an hour a cup. It smelled oddly like skunk, though that would change by the time it was finished.
Unfortunately the potion was fairly involved, so Selene couldn’t really leave it. She sat by it and flipped through her mother’s potion book, adding the occasional item to the cauldron. There were a lot of oak leaves to add, as well as ants. Selene didn’t like killing them, but the ones she was using were already dead. Then she had to add ox blood, which had an unpleasant odour, though it actually made the potion smell better. It turned a bright shade of blue for a moment before becoming muddy green. Selene muttered the appropriate incantation and added a drop of lemon juice.
While she was sitting there, Selene ended up thinking about her father. She had hardly seen him at all lately, and she was starting to miss him. He was always working, and he looked tired whenever she saw him, though he tried not to show it. She was grateful for the sacrifices he made for their family, but she also wished he was home more. They used to be so close, and now Selene felt like she hadn’t talked to him in weeks.
Selene tried to imagine what life would be like if her brothers lived at home. Would they ease their father’s burden and help the family grow? Would they get along with their parents? Would they all have a bigger house and a happier life? Selene couldn’t quite picture having beasts around at home, even though she wanted that to happen. It had just never happened before.
Then she imagined what it would be like if her brothers weren’t beasts. Perhaps Max and Domino would be married already. Andy would be running around making everyone smile, as he already did. Maybe they would even have magic and be able to perform spells and make potions, which would help not only their family but also the whole village. They would probably get into all kinds of mischief, and yet they would all have fun together. They would be a real family; one without holes. Selene wouldn’t see her mother cry sometimes at night when she didn’t think anyone was watching. They would be complete.
Selene wondered if her brothers ever imagined such a life. She knew they wanted to experience life outside the forest, but did they dream about it? What aspect of this life would they treasure the most? Would it be their freedom, their looks, or their family? Perhaps they would enjoy the wide open spaces of the valley, or being around females.
Selene added a crystal of quartz to the cauldron. It was only there during the brewing process and would be removed before the potion was drunk, but its essence would seep into the mixture. She stirred three times in a counter clockwise direction and then added a log to the fire under the cauldron.
When that was done Selene sat back and watched the potion turn colours, but then she was distracted when something fell to the ground in front of her, just out of the shade of the shelter. She kneeled down in the grass and saw that it was a butterfly with a broken wing. It was trying to fly, but it kept falling.
Selene hated seeing the beautiful creature suffer, so she took out her spell book. She remembered performing a spell to fix a moth’s wing when she was little. Indeed, she found the spell near the beginning of the book.
Spirits of nature hear my words,
For a struggle is at least a try,
I cannot stand to watch so still,
As this creature attempts to fly.
Please end this struggle,
And let it reach the sky,
For surely if it doesn’t,
It will only die.
A small white light sprouted directly from Selene’s chest, and it sparkled with energy as it passed over and engulfed the broken butterfly. It disappeared, and the butterfly spread its wings and took off, dancing around in circles through the air in a display of joy that made Selene smile. She wished that healing people was quite so easy.
She thought about the curse. The transformation from beast to man was alike to that of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. She wished she could find the spell to end the curse, but the search was proving to be fruitless. In the years she had been trying she had tried every spell that could possibly have any effect, and had even tried to make one up. Most of the ones she invented herself either didn’t do anything at all or didn’t do what they were supposed to do. She had created a new spell that made cows fatter in the process, which was actually quite useful, though not in the way she wanted.
Curses tended to be the most complex spells in existence. One had to weave their words carefully for the desired effect, and it could take almost an hour to complete. Selene had never done one herself, but she had seen her grandmother perform one once when she was still alive. Curses always had counter spells, but only the witch who created the curse would know it. Often there was another way to break a curse, like someone saying certain words or coming to a specific realization or, as was most popular, true love’s first kiss. Selene knew that the beasts falling in love served that purpose, though it didn’t get rid of the curse for everyone. It was an entirely frustrating problem.
Frieda arrived back home not long after, and she was pleased with the potion’s progress. She took over while she waited for Dahlia to get back with the materials she needed for the second potion, and Selene left to do a few spells for people herself.
By late afternoon the second potion was started and the first finished, and Dahlia had left again to get more supplies. Selene was back at home by the cauldron while her mother cooked supper. Her stomach felt like it was tied in knots as she worried about what the next day would bring.
She was scared. She couldn’t deny that. She wasn’t as worried about herself as she was about the beasts, who would be in a lot of danger. The penalty for them leaving the forest was death, but Selene was fairly confident that there would be enough of them to overpower any opposing physical force. It was the verbal reactions that would be the biggest problem. She had no idea what people would think.
Velkan and Henry both managed to get home in time for supper that night, so
they all ate together. Selene watched her father closely, and saw that he did look tired, and yet he seemed happy as well. He smiled quite a bit and talked more than he might normally. He mostly talked to Henry, who was sitting next to him. Dahlia was thrilled that they were getting along so well.
Selene didn’t talk or eat much, but no one noticed. Her stomach was still twisted, and she felt like she’d throw up if she ate more than a couple bites of the chicken stew her mother had cooked. By the time the meal was over, her heart felt like it was in her throat, but not because she was worried about the beasts. She was worried about her family.
No matter what happened, things would change. This would be the last night like this for her, and she knew it. The peace and quiet calm of the evening would be gone before the sun rose, and things would become either better or worse. Her family might not ever see her the same way again. She hated that she couldn’t predict what would happen, but visions of the future came to seers, not witches, and there were no seers in Spring Meadow.
Selene couldn’t get away that evening to go to the forest. She desperately wanted to go, if only to see her friends one last time before the uncertainty of tomorrow. She had to stay at home help her mother with the potion, and it wasn’t finished until late. By then she knew it was best to get some sleep, since she would be up very early in the morning.
The whole house went to bed early. Selene said goodnight to her family before they went upstairs, and then she settled down onto the couch. It was a warm evening with a clear sky, so when she looked out the window she could see the stars sparkling brightly and the waning crescent of the moon.
Selene tried to sleep. She really did. Her heart continued to pound in her chest, and she felt fluttery all over. She had never been so nervous before about anything, and it kept her awake late into the night until she finally fell into a fitful sleep.
Sleep, however, did not bring her peace. She was plagued by strange dreams in which Amber started shooting arrows at Brisham and Edgar, Dahlia became a beast, and her parents danced around the meadow while the mayor laughed at them from the edge of the forest. Jenson ran off with a female beast, and Andy floated up into the sky and became the sun. Jill Springdale danced with Max beneath a set of gallows, and Tornado scolded Selene for wearing the wrong dress.
In the last part of her dream, a strange woman appeared in the village square and she started singing a garbled song that made no sense. Then spiders started pouring from her mouth, and she began to laugh. It wasn’t a happy laugh, but one best suited to a madwoman. The spiders that came from her started crawling on top of each other, until they formed a wiggling and clicking fence between Selene and Tornado. She tried to reach him, but when she stuck her hand through the spiders they started to bite her, and when she pulled her arm away they didn’t stop. They crawled onto her faster than she could brush them off, and suddenly they were over her eyes and she couldn’t see, though she could still hear the woman laughing and Tornado’s shouts as he tried to reach her. She started to scream, but the spiders entered her mouth, choking her. That was when she sat up on the couch, covered in sweat and struggling to breathe.