“Can I add some herbs to the draw water?” Jancie asked.
“What might you be thinkin’ of? Thistle? It’s a good hex-breaker.” Vika’s word ‘hex-breaker’ rebounded in my mind.
I lifted my head and shoulders and pulled the thermometer out. “I’ve been hexed?” My eyes opened wide, in a desperate attempt to see through the blackness.
Someone accepted the thermometer.
“I’m afraid so, Aggie,” Vika touched my good leg. “That cat’s actin’ on his own, apart from his mistress. Most likely guided by someone other than her. I’ve known Shireen for decades. She’d never harm no one.”
“A hundred two,” Jancie announced. “Too high, considering you had ice water and an ice pack on your head. Logan, keep up both of those, while I help Vika. I’d like to use wintergreen in the draw.”
“That’s a hex-breaker, but isn’t it opposing her powers?” the elderly witch asked.” All’s I know’s the two are aligned different. Mint with air and wintergreen with water. But that sure sounds wrong to me, using a water element on a sun witch.”
“But thistle’s a fire herb, from what my mother taught me,” Jancie said. “We definitely can’t use that. Her fever will soar and be dangerous. My hunch is since Aggie’s a sun witch, she responds to elements of illumination. The moon can help her fight the hex without building more heat.”
“Like a synergist?” Logan asked.
“Exactly.” Jancie touched my shoulder. “Aggie, how does moonlight affect your powers?”
“If I’m upset or angry, I like to take walks in the moonlight. It calms me down. Helps me focus.”
“Clarity and focus, just what you need now, child.” Vika patted my good knee. “Jancie, I’ve got wintergreen berries, oil, and dried leaves. Take your pick.”
“Oil now and leaves later for tea. Siddie, will you show me where your mistress keeps those?” Jancie’s request was answered by a throaty rumble. “Let’s get the draw water ready. Hopefully, Rowe will show up soon. I’d feel better knowing more about whatever powers Shireen’s familiar put into Aggie before we treat her with more magic.”
Against a background of distant rumbling, Vika and Logan talked to me as they applied ice packs to my body. A large bag placed on my stomach, which churned with hot acid, eased a lot of my agitation.
A door opened and let in a cool breeze. “I came as fast as I could,” another male voice said in a lower tone than Logan’s. “How’s she doing?”
“A high fever, a hundred two, even with ice packs.” Logan’s voice became more distant. “Aggie, Rowe’s here. He’s a healer, too. Her vision’s affected.”
As sleeves brushed my good arm, I smelled Rowe’s pine cologne. “Aggie, it’s Rowe, I’m going to pass my hands over your body, concentrating on your organs. If anything I do hurts, let me know.” His fingers grazed my arms, lingering above the scratched right hand. He briefly pressed his palms over my heart, head, and spots along my torso.
“What’re you finding?” Vika asked.
Not answering, he cupped my skull with spread fingers. Seconds later, the throb in my head quieted. “Better?”
“Yes. Much.” The details of faces hovering around me became visible. “My vision’s returning, but still blurry.” I blinked to clear away a film.
“Replace the ice pack,” Rowe directed and moved his healing hands to my ribs, while Logan reapplied the ice. Sweat beaded along Rowe’s upper lip.
He did the same across my abdomen. “Aggie, your organs were under extreme stress with the high fever.” He shot Jancie a curious glance.
“Her own sun energy’s fighting the familiar’s hex.” Jancie lifted a bowl, her hazel eyes fixed on me. “We’ve prepared a drawing solution with wintergreen to use the moon’s light as a synergist to Aggie’s powers. Do you know the alignment of Shireen’s powers? What her familiar might’ve used in the hex? I don’t want to promote that—”
“Shireen’s a creationist, a bit like your abilities as an animator,” Vika added before he could answer.
Rowe touched his fingertips to the nape of my neck. “Her powers, like mine, are largely inherited, but can be slightly influenced by nature’s elements. The creative arts of a creationist would be aligned with air.” His forehead creased, and he barked, “There’s new damage to places I just healed. Do the draw!” He moved his hands in a rotation over my torso and head.
Jancie and Vika looked at each other for a second, before the old witch ordered, “Siddie, fetch me the peppermint oil right quick.”
The tawny, spotted back of the oversized cat-like animal darted from behind her.
“Likes dissolve likes.” A corner of Vika’s thin lips lifted.
Jancie’s brows lifted. “With the air alignment of the mint?”
“Yes, indeedy.” The senior witch nodded, and wiry white hair floated about her head. “That, along with your New Wish notion of expanding her fighting methods, should do the best I know how.”
“Injury’s happening as fast as I can heal. Do the draw now!” Rowe ordered.
A blur of pointed ears and amber eyes rimmed in white appeared at Vika’s knee, a brown bottle in the animal’s mouth.
I reached a hand to rub my eyes, attempting without success to clear my worsening vision.
“Thank you, Siddie,” Vika accepted the delivery and Jancie thrust out the bowl to receive the addition. “Logan, Aggie will need you.”
With Rowe at my head and Jancie at my feet, Logan placed his hands on my injured left leg on either side of the knee. He faced Jancie.
While Vika held the bowl, Jancie soaked a cloth, and rung it out. She nodded to Logan. “Aggie, I’m going to do the draw. It’ll hurt until the foreign magic starts to come out.”
The pungent odor of strong mint bit my nose, and I grimaced.
Logan turned toward me, and his warm voice drew my attention. “Aggie, keep focused on me. It’ll be easier for you.”
A sharp stab cut through my injury. Jerking against his hold, I tried to focus past him on what felt like a frozen knife.
He pressed hard on my thigh. As he rearranged his hands, I caught a glimpse of my leg, swollen to three times and purple like a day-old bruise.
Extreme cold tortured every nerve ending and spread through my knee and thigh, swallowing my own internal fire. “That hurts like hell!” I screamed and flinched.
“Try to keep still, Aggie,” Vika said. “The worst is near over.” She glanced at Rowe. “How’s her innards?”
“Fluctuating a bit, but more or less stable compared to before,” he replied.
My sun fire surged to meet the attack. I gritted my teeth and panted to stay still. A boiling heat met ice moving into my hip. I cried out. My vision failed. Sharp mint stung my eyes, nose, and throat. I waved my good hand in the air for something to hold.
A strong grip of a man’s hand clasped mine, and I heard Logan’s strong voice. “Aggie, hold onto me.”
I dug my fingers into his palm, and he continued talking to me in a reassuring tone, although the words didn’t register as my consciousness slipped away.
***
“Aggie, we’re done with the draw.” Jancie’ s clear voice spoke next to my ear. “You did great. Your leg looks much better. Your vitals and organs are stable and healthy.”
I blinked several times. Moisture seeped from my eyes. “Can I have a tissue?”
I felt one in my hand, and I patted enough film away to see recognizable forms. Her light red hair brushed my arm, hanging from one side of her graceful, swan-like neck. I wiggled my toes, and when I realized my whole leg moved, I grinned at her.
Logan’s face appeared above me from behind where I lay on a couch. His blonde curls hung in ringlets darkened with sweat. His hands massaged my shoulders. “You were a trooper. Feel better?”
“Yes. Lots.” I tried to sit up, but my arms wouldn’t hold me, and I flopped back down. “Still weak though.”
“You’ve been through a lot, child.” Vika leaned closer
and patted my good leg. Wet stains streaked the front of her white pinafore apron which covered her long, full skirt and cotton peasant blouse. “Your system’s outta kilter.”
“I’d like to see my leg,” I croaked against a sore throat.
Logan shot Vika a questioning glance.
“You sure can.” She turned, looking down. “Siddie, my sweet girl. Thank you.” She bent and accepted a throw pillow from the bobcat’s mouth.
The cat sped away in a flash to return seconds later with another.
Logan helped me sit up, while Vika propped me with the pillows.
At my elbow, Siddie lifted her front paws onto the edge of the antique, pink brocade couch. Her action seemed to cause the roses on the wallpaper behind me to scurry to other walls in the front parlor, as if to escape the big cat. Eclectic, old furniture with dark wood and heavily-loved upholstery filled the room.
I glanced between the bobcat and any possible threat from the possessed wallpaper. Considering the flowers were absent, I chose to lean into the back of the couch to examine my lower leg. Running a cautious finger over the scrapes and bites, I found a lot had healed. The extreme swelling had reduced to tender puffiness. Only places of broken skin remained painful. “It’s amazing! I’ve seen people use draws before, but not for anything like this. My calf was puffed larger than my thigh. Familiars are dangerous.”
“No. Most aren’t,” Siddie said with a guttural meowing.
Vika rubbed a hand along the length the bobcat’s spotty spine and ruffled the long ears. “This here’s my familiar, Siddie, and I couldn’t hardly live without her. Not long ago, she died fighting to protect me. I thought I’d lost her, but my old girl promised to take on a new physical body. She was a Maine Coon and now’s a bobcat, but still my same Siddie’s spirit to a tee.”
“What do familiars do?” I asked. “I only know one witch in New Wish who has one. It’s a crow, real mean and scary. The witch isn’t exactly part of the coven. She lives by herself in a secluded house deep in the woods. We have a lot of free folk and flower children, but she’s more like a wild animal, and said to be just as unpredictable. We kids would dare each other to see how close we could get to her property. Her crow’d always chase us off, pecking at the heads and backs of whoever got closest.”
“Land sakes. I’d be scared, too.” Vika chuckled so much, her eyeglasses slipped to the end of her beaked nose.
I grinned, happy my story brought some laughs. “That witch—her name’s Fia—sometimes came out and laughed while her crow chased us.”
“Fia Tabard?” Jancie’s face lit, and she sat at the far end of my couch. She pulled at the creeping hem of her mini-skirt with one hand, while the other held a white glass jar and a roll of bandages.
I studied her modern clothes and made a mental note to ask how she was permitted to dress that way. “People said she was from here in Coon Hollow, but she didn’t ever seem to have family visit, so I don’t know if that’s true.”
Jancie laughed. “Yes, she’s from here. The estranged sister of the former high priestess Adara Tabard. I met Fia just a couple of weeks ago, at the last full moon. I can see why you’d be afraid of her with that tangled black hair and her burlap dresses. She’s intimidating, but she helped me and all of us here.”
Rowe perched on the wooden couch arm and rested a hand on Jancie’s shoulder. “She sure did, but I never would’ve had the courage to trust that one like you did, Jancie.” Strands of brown hair had escaped his ponytail.
Vika sat on a threadbare loveseat, which was partly camouflaged with an afghan, and Siddie curled at her feet. “Answerin’ your question, familiars are more than pets. They’re partners in our practice of magic and believed to be more sensitive to vibrations from the unseen world. They show the presence of negative energy by their behaviors. Good familiars, who’re truly attuned to both their witch and the spirit world, can add energy to magic workings—spells, charms, divinations, and whatnot. As for Shireen’s familiar, I can’t believe she was the one who guided him to do this to you.”
“I wouldn’t think so.” Logan shook his head. “In my work with the coven’s elderly, I’ve taken enough ladies to visit Shireen’s shop to know that she’s always professional and welcoming, even with some of the fussiest old women.”
“The scratches and bites aren’t healed as completely as we’d hoped. While you rested, Vika and I made a wintergreen salve to dress your wounds.” Jancie opened the jar she held, applied the minty white cream, and wrapped both my hand and leg with layers of gauze. “That’ll help you fight the hex infection without overdoing fever from your sun energy. I’ll send these supplies home with you and some wintergreen leaves for tea to boost your moon energy a bit more.”
“Thanks lots.” I lifted the jar and took a whiff. “Not too bad. Not anywhere like the smell of that draw.”
“No peppermint.” She nodded as she tied ends of the gauze in neat knots around my left calf. “We applied the draw over and over, and that’s all the hex we could remove. Not much remains, but it’s up to you to fight it.” She gave me an encouraging grin and looked in my eyes. “You can do it. You’re a strong witch.”
“How?” I asked.
“Be sure to change the dressings daily. And even more important, get plenty of exposure to both sunlight and moonlight. Wintergreen’s aligned with the moon. Any way to get some of that energy means you’ll have a second way to fight other than just using your internal fire. As we saw, that alone can be dangerous.”
Logan motioned toward Jancie and Rowe. “Do you think that’s what the witch who guided Tiber intended? Black magic? For Aggie to be seriously harmed, or worse, trying to fight the hex inside her?”
“My guess is yes.” Rowe rubbed the dark stubble along his chin. “The old school council members are used to having their way, even if it means using the dark arts.”
“Whoever it is needs to be horse-whipped.” Vika wadded a corner of her apron inside one fist.” We all need to keep our eyes peeled, and that familiar needs to be found and watched for signs of alliance other than to Shireen.”
Logan nodded. “Shireen’s on that. I’ll check with her and help if needed. The cat will be caught. I’ll see to that.” He faced me. “Be assured you’ll be safe at work.”
I shivered. “Why do they want me gone?” I scanned their concerned faces.
Muscles in Logan’s jaw clenched. “I don’t know, but as the priest of Coon Hollow Coven, I’m going to find out.”
“Aggie, I’ll be glad to make you more salve anytime.” Vika sat forward and opened a worn leather-bound book on the inlaid coffee table. “While you rested, I looked in my book of shadows for things I’ve tried and learned through the years that might help you gather moonlight. It’s hard to be outside as much at night as you can during the daytime.” She pulled out a crisp white sheet stuck among the yellowed pages. “A moon brew you can make to bathe or warsh with. Midnight chants. Moon meditations.” Her finger moved down the page, and she gestured to Jancie.
“My mother was a New Wish witch, and her magic may connect better for you,” Jancie said. “I had Vika include a new moon purification I remember my mother doing.”
Vika shrugged and handed me a list. “I did, even though a new moon’s more than three weeks away. Let’s hope you conquer this hex well before then. But just in case, since some hexes seem to hang on. If I think up any more, I’ll let you know.”
“Thanks.” I skimmed the spells.
Jancie patted my good leg. “Everyone’s phone numbers are also on that page. Call any one of us if you need help. Also, keep your sun powers strong. You might feel a drain on that, more than usual.”
I glanced at the window. “I think I should get started on that now while the sun’s still up.” I swung my feet to the floor and sat up. A burst of pain shot from leg to stomach, but I hid my reaction as best I could. It eased as suddenly as it came, and I pushed to stand. “I’m planning to move into my new home tomorrow, so I don’t h
ave to miss work. Which way’s the porch?”
Chapter Seven: The Waxing Crescent
As soon as Logan’s car stopped in Cerise’s driveway, she hurried out of the enclosed back porch and opened my door.
“I’m all right,” I said before she started talking, hoping to diffuse some of the concern I detected in the lines between her brows.
She clamped onto my arm and secured my waist to her side. “From what Jancie described, I don’t know how.”
Logan raced around the car and braced my other side. As though the two were vying to support me, my feet barely skimmed the ground.
“Stop this!” I cried.
They both loosened their grips and froze. In that suspended moment, my haptics revealed their confusion. His tinged with frustration and hers, desperation. “But Aggie,” she pleaded, “you’ve been hurt and still have that nasty hex in you.”
“I took time to sit in the sunshine. My strength’s returning.” I loosened their arms. “I want to test the leg.”
Cerise shrugged and moved a foot away, arms poised to grab hold.
Logan’s eyes remained riveted on me, and his arms encircled the back of my waist as close as possible without directly touching.
I tentatively shifted weight onto the injured left leg. A jab of pain shot upward but didn’t reach my hip like before. Strengthening my sun energy must’ve prevented that. Certain I was better empowered to fight the hex, I took a single, quick step. Albeit more of a limp, I was pleased, and took three more with Logan hovering at my side. I paused for a breath. “I’m okay. The leg’s tender. I’d like to soak up more sun for a while now.”
“Of course. And get some moonlight tonight also.” Cerise pointed to a stack of metal lawn chairs. “I’m sorry. Toby has these ready to put into storage in the shed for winter. Logan, can you lift off a few?”
“Sure thing.” He took a half step from me, then turned back. “Are you okay by yourself?”
I scowled at him, and he moved to the stack, jerked three chairs free, and set them in a sunny patch of the backyard.
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