After the Summerland (The Witches of Spring Hill Book 1)

by Patricia Proctor

  Considering everything they learned tonight about themselves, they had a fairly normal evening. Grandpa Marcus and GG Peter stayed for dinner and then Chloe, Kaiden, and Rowan each went to their rooms to work on homework. At dinner, they talked about pulling down the box this weekend and going through everything then, but Chloe doesn’t want to wait. She hopes to have more information before she sees Cian Saturday at the library.

  Kaiden popped in her room after dinner and told her not to say anything about Cian just yet. “Especially since we were just told to stay away from them,” he added. “He seemed alright to me today, and even told me that you guys were meeting this weekend, but I still think we need to be cautious.”

  She smiles, grateful that he is on her side, “I feel like I can trust him, Kaiden, but I can’t help but wonder if he was using magic to make me feel that way,” Chloe says honestly.

  “It didn’t feel strange talking to him like it did when I saw Xavier in the hall or when we first saw them,” Kaiden says. “By the way, I definitely don’t trust him and would not be okay with you going anywhere alone with him.”

  “Don’t trust who?” Rowan asks as she walks into the room.

  “Xavier Silvan,” Kaiden replies, making room for her on the window seat. “Something about him just isn’t quite… right. And, did you see the way he looked at his mom when she was talking to dad? He looked pissed…”

  “She’s not their mom,” Chloe says. “She’s their aunt and Cian told me that she has only been around for about five years, since their mom died. He also told me that she has… issues.”

  “I wonder just what kind of issues,” Kaiden asks aloud, while thinking back to the way she was looking at their dad.

  “I don’t know, but I agree with you both that there is something weird about all of them,” Rowan says, adding “but I must say that Xavier is totally hot and more than just a little intriguing.”

  “Rowan, what are you thinking?” Chloe asks, looking at her sister suspiciously. “You look like you’re working on some kind of evil plan.”

  “I’m just thinking of getting to know him a little bit better,” she says. “I just want to see what’s going on in that handsome head of his. I think I can get him to talk — just give me a day or two. Today he was just about following me around trying to get my attention, and at one point, I swear he looked like a devoted little puppy,” she says sweetly.

  “So both of you are going to spend time with the Silvans, even though Dad told us to stay away from them, is that right?” Kaiden asks.

  Rowan and Chloe look at each other and then at Kaiden who smiles wide. “Well then, I guess I’ll just have to see what I can find out from Miss Brianna Silvan.”

  “Since I’m already meeting Cian at the library on Saturday, why don’t you guys meet Xavier and Brianna there too? That way, we are all together if we need each other,” Chloe suggests.

  Kaiden and Rowan agree and decide to work out the details later. They also agree not to say anything to Liam, though they each promise to always tell each other everything and decide together what, if anything, to tell Liam.

  It won’t be easy to convince Kaiden and Rowan to stay home tomorrow, Chloe thinks, as she remembers how excited they both were to make contact with the Silvans. Once I explain that knowing more about our own abilities will make it easier to deal with them, I’m sure they’ll consider it. And if that doesn’t work, I’ll beg them, she decides as she starts to nod off.

  The last thing she thinks about before falling asleep is Cian Silvan and the way he seemed to look directly into her soul. He knows, she thinks. He knows I’m a witch. And, instead of being worried, she feels deeply comforted and finally drifts off to sleep.

  Chapter 14

  The next morning, the house is quieter than usual. Rather than waking up to the sounds of arguing, the slamming of doors, hair dryers, or dishes clattering, Liam hears nothing. He looks over at the clock and realizes that it’s almost 7:00. He jumps out of bed and is about to wake the kids when he hears them talking softly downstairs. He goes downstairs and finds them sitting in the family room in their pajamas going through the box that he brought down late last night. Even though they said they would look at it this weekend, he pulled it out of the attic — just in case they found time before then. He knows if he were just told he was a witch, and there was a box of books that would teach him everything he needed to know, he would want to look at everything right away.

  “Hey, Dad,” Rowan says, as she gets up to get what smells like a cup of coffee.

  “Rowan? Are you drinking coffee?” Liam asks, surprised.

  “Dad, please. I’m a witch. I think I can handle a little coffee this morning.” She rolls her eyes as she stalks off into the kitchen.

  How can I argue with that logic? Liam thinks to himself. “So? No school today? Maybe a holiday I don’t know about?”

  Chloe gets up and walks over to hug him good morning. This is a ritual they have had since she was little and although he expected it to end when she became a teenager, she still does it every single morning.

  “Dad, we thought we should avoid the Silvans until we have a better idea of our own abilities,” she explains. “I know that we will have to face them soon enough, but it was all so much last night and we really don’t want to wait until the weekend to start reading through all of this stuff. Oh, and thanks for pulling it down last night.”

  “It will take us the rest of the week just to get through it all,” Kaiden chimes in.

  “I see your point and I agree. I’ll call the school and let them know that you won’t be there today and I’ll clear my schedule so I can work from home,” Liam says.

  “Dad, you don’t have to stay home. We can go through all of this ourselves,” Rowan says as she comes back in the room with three mugs full of steaming coffee.

  Liam can’t remember the last time he saw Rowan do anything for anyone other than herself so he is a little taken aback by her actions.

  “Um… I guess I can go in for a little bit. But you know you can call me, Grandpa Marcus, or GG Peter if you have any questions,” Liam says.

  “Or,” Rowan replies, “we do know how to look things up online, Dad,” again rolling her eyes at him.

  And she’s back, Liam thinks to himself. Feeling much more familiar with this Rowan, he says, “And I don’t care if you are witches, you don’t need to drink any more coffee after those mugs. Try some herbal tea if you are looking for something warm.”

  Rowan reluctantly agrees and grabs the book sitting closest to her and starts flipping through the pages until Liam goes back upstairs to get ready for work. “Let’s wait to start talking until after he leaves,” she says. “I know he wants to help but I feel like we need to figure some of this out on our own — without parental guidance.”

  Kaiden and Chloe agree and start pulling out some of the books and papers inside the box.

  “Look at all this stuff,” Chloe says excitedly. Picking up one of the books she reads, “Recordings, Recollections, and Recommendations, and look, the last update was 16 years ago by A. Scott. That must be Abigail Scott who lived here before us,” she says, wondering if that used to be her own name, her own curvy handwriting.

  Kaiden and Rowan look over at the book Chloe is holding. Just like all the other books, everything is handwritten, except this one is especially unique in that it has several styles of handwriting indicating that several people have contributed to this book over the years.

  “All the entries are dated and signed, and the very first entry dates back to 1647 by an A. Young,” Chloe says. “I wonder who she was…”

  Kaiden grabs his iPad and pulls up Google. “Let me see if I can find anything,” he says, always up to challenge ‘The Google.’ “Oh my God! You are not going to believe this!”

  “What? What did you find?” Chloe asks, thrilled by her brother’s excitement.

  Just then Liam comes back downstairs. Kaiden powers down his iPad and Chloe grabs a l
oose paper out of the box using it to mark her place before closing the book.

  “Well, I’m off. I called the school and you are clear for the day, but you have to go back tomorrow. When you get hungry you can make yourselves a sandwich and…”

  “Dad! We’ve got this,” Rowan says, clearly annoyed. “We’re not babies! We know how to feed and bathe ourselves.”

  Chloe, who always feels protective of her dad when Rowan acts this way, cheerfully says, “Thanks, Dad! We’ll call you if we have any questions.” She puts up two fingers and crosses her heart, “We promise!”

  Kaiden does the same motion and finally after what seems like five full minutes, Rowan rolls her eyes and follows suit. “Promise!” they say at the same time. Ever since they were little they made this vow to each other so that the other person would know for sure that whatever was being said was the truth. Kaiden and Chloe still do it, mostly to make Liam happy, but when Rowan turned 12 she insisted that she was too grown up to play silly games and refused to make the sign.

  “OK, OK, I’m leaving. Just one more thing. Be careful if you try casting spells today. Remember the land will make anything you do more powerful — in fact, just don’t cast any circles or try any spells today at all. It will make me feel better if you all agree to that.”

  They all nod and agree to no spell casting on their first day of being witches, well their first day of knowing that they are witches. They watch as he walks toward the side door and after they hear the door close and the jeep start up, Kaiden turns his iPad back on and reads, “A. Young, born in 1600 and died in 1667. And guess how she died?” Kaiden asks looking at both his sisters.

  “She was obviously a witch, Kaiden, so stop dragging this out and tell us,” Rowan says annoyed.

  “Yes, Rowan, she was a witch,” Kaiden says matching her tone, “but she was also the first person to be executed for witchcraft in America,” he reads.

  “She lived in the original thirteen colonies — Connecticut to be exact — and she was hanged, though it doesn’t say what for. I guess being suspected of witchcraft was enough,” he says. He wonders how people would react if they knew they were all witches.

  “I can’t believe you actually found something about A. Young online, and I can’t believe this book has an entry by her.” Chloe says, noticing that something dark just crossed his mind. “Do you think this is her handwriting?” Chloe asks, holding the book up for him to look at more closely.

  Kaiden carefully takes the old book from Chloe’s hands realizing that all the books and papers in this box have been passed down for thousands of years. And, now here he is learning all about it because he, himself, is a witch.

  It seems surreal, but he can feel something deep inside of him come to life as he holds the book. He realizes that times are much different than the 1600s and nowadays of course they would not be hanged for witchcraft. Besides, he has no intention of telling anyone, ever, that he is a witch.

  For the rest of the day, pausing only to have lunch, Rowan, Kaiden, and Chloe look at all of the books in the box, specifically the grimoires. Chloe pulls out and sets aside several recipes that she wants to try, Rowan saves a spell that she found to make someone love you, and Kaiden holds onto the book that Chloe gave him earlier.

  They all agreed that he should be the recorder of anything that they discover during their lifetimes. Rowan didn’t want anything to do with work of any sort, and even though Chloe wanted to do it, she knows that it will be good for Kaiden if he has a specific role to fulfill. She saw his face change from troubled to peaceful when he held the book in his hands and she suspects he isn’t totally comfortable with being a male witch.

  They learned that the land is sacred and magic is more powerful here because of the space known to them as the clearing. One of the books described the clearing and the land immediately surrounding it as an ancient Indian ceremonial site. The property originally belonged to the Tuscarora tribe, who discovered that the area had strong spiritual properties. Over time, various ceremonies were performed and the land became more fertile as time went on. Even when Indian rituals and ceremonies had long since stopped, more spirits were added during the Civil War when blood from both sides was spilled on the sacred land.

  After the Civil War, the spirits of the land were kept alive by the generations of witches practicing rituals and casting spells. This ensured that the magic was even more powerful and that the land remained sacred. For these reasons, the land is now so powerful that supernatural abilities become stronger, while any dormant abilities awaken.

  They read several grimoires on how to cast circles, how to cast spells, what herbs to use, how to position the candles and objects correctly within the circle, and how to make amulets. Even though they are anxious to cast a circle of their own and practice casting a spell, they stay true to their promise to Liam. They each put aside a couple of spells they are most excited about and plan to go out to the clearing later once Liam is back home.

  “He was right, you know,” Rowan says. “Everything we read today seemed familiar. I felt like just reading it made the information part of me. I don’t know how to explain it, but I actually feel… whole… for the first time in a long time.”

  Both Kaiden and Chloe look at her and nod, knowing exactly what she means because they feel the same way. Of everything they read, they all agree that one of the most important things they learned was how to block spells cast by other witches.

  Rowan reads aloud while Kaiden and Chloe listen intently. “This says that the most important part of blocking and protecting oneself is by diverting the dark magic by focusing our mind on positive energy so as to not feed the dark energy with our fear. It says that holding a charm such as an amulet, crystal, or quartz will aid in blocking the energy used by the spell caster.”

  “OK, the mind thing I can handle, but where are we going to get an amulet, crystal, or quartz?” Kaiden asks.

  “Wait! I’ve got it,” Chloe says as she jumps up and runs up the stairs leaving Kaiden and Rowan watching her curiously.

  She comes back down holding three necklaces. “Last week I was digging in the garden and I found these planted deep in the soil. Of course I recognized the star as a pentagram and knew what it meant, but look here — in the center,” she hands each of them one of the necklaces. The cord is made of black leather and the silver pendant has a pentagram inside a circle with a stone in the middle.

  “The stone is exactly what the book calls a quartz stone,” Rowan says excitedly.

  “So, I have to wear this thing all the time?” Kaiden asks, not liking to wear any kind of jewelry, anytime, and especially when he plays sports.

  “No, I think you can just keep it in your pocket, Kaiden. You don’t have to wear it, but I’m wearing mine,” Chloe says as she slips the cord over her head and around her neck. It immediately blends in with all the other leather cords and necklaces she wears all the time.

  “Well easy for you, Chloe,” Rowan says, “you already have so many necklaces around your neck that no one will pay attention to another one, but I don’t want everyone knowing I’m a witch and this necklace screams, WITCH!” she says as she holds it out away from her.

  “Well then just make sure to keep it near you, especially if you are going to be around the Silvans,” Chloe warns. “Keep in mind that this amulet is only part of the protection, you still have to focus your mind on blocking. Maybe we can find a different way for you both to carry a crystal or quartz. Maybe earrings or an ankle bracelet, Rowan, and Kaiden, maybe you can put it in your shoe or something?”

  Kaiden looks at Chloe like she’s crazy, “Yeah, ‘cause that’ll be comfortable, sis,” he says sarcastically. “For now, I think I’ll just carry it in my pocket.”

  “I can’t help but wonder what the Silvans are thinking right now,” Chloe says.

  Rowan and Kaiden smile and admit that, they, too are thinking about the Silvans and are cautiously looking forward to whatever the future may hold. They a
ll agree that having more knowledge about their past and understanding what they are makes them feel more confident. It also makes them feel stronger about preparing to defend what is theirs.

  Chapter 15

  As soon as the Silvans arrived at school they knew the Alexanders weren’t going to be there. The throngs of kids waiting outside yesterday are nowhere to be seen and everyone seems to be in a bad mood. It’s almost as if the Alexanders’ energy is the only thing that keeps the school functioning properly. And they don’t even know they’re witches, Xavier thinks, shaking his head.

  Cian was secretly relieved that the Alexanders called off today. He suspected that whatever kept them from school had something to do with their arrival into town. While he’ll do whatever he can to protect them, they also have to be prepared.

  He was hoping that when he met with Chloe this weekend he would not have to be the one to tell her that she is a witch. Mostly because she may not have believed him, but also because that kind of news should come from someone closer to her than someone she just met. While he is disheartened that he won’t see Chloe today, he isn’t as disappointed or as angry as his sister and brother appear to be.

  Brianna is disappointed that she won’t see Kaiden today, especially since she took extra time curling her hair and applying her makeup this morning. Her aunt walked by the bathroom while she was getting ready and smiled knowingly at her, which only makes her feel worse about herself now that she is all dressed up for nobody. When am I going to learn to stop doing this? she asks herself. I wish I could just do things for myself rather than trying to impress someone all the time. She feels herself sinking deeper into a dark mood and will just be glad when this day is over.

  Xavier is seething mad. This was not supposed to happen today. He knows his aunt has a short fuse and the longer she has to wait for results, the more she will take out her frustration on them, and especially Brianna. This morning she made a point of telling him that if he doesn’t bring information home today, she will visit Liam Alexander at the police station tomorrow. She knows exactly what buttons to push with him and although she is his aunt, he hates her. He hates her for who she is and he hates her for what she has done to his family.