“What if we can’t invoke her?”
“We won’t know if we can or can’t if we don’t try,” Steven said. “And Shay has dozens of spell books in her room. I’m sure we can find something in there to help us.”
“True,” Jodi said slowly.
“C’mon, I’m sure her parents will let us in,” Steven said. He pushed to his feet, pulling Jodi’s hand.
They pried open the trapdoor and made their way down the twisting rungs of wood my dad affixed to the aged tree over ten years ago. My mom was at the back door by the time they hit the ground, a small smile on her lips. When they asked her if it would be okay for them to visit my room, she looked at them with eyes shimmering with unshed tears. She just nodded and stepped aside to let them pass.
The image in the looking glass followed them through the house, never letting them out of sight as long as I kept concentrating on them. My room was dark when they opened the door, and when Steven flicked the light switch, I saw that, after however many weeks it had been, my parents still hadn’t touched a single thing in the room. Except my mom had obviously made my bed because it was made neater than I had ever bothered to make it in life, and there wasn’t so much a speck of dust anywhere. My mother must’ve been keeping it clean since I’d passed. Like a shrine.
Steven and Jodi went straight for my bookcase. I kept my books on spells and magic on the bottom two shelves, where they were least conspicuous. Obviously most people who came into my room were people I trusted, but I wasn’t open about my magic and abilities to the whole world, not even everyone in my family knew about it, so I tried to keep things inconspicuous. I didn’t want anyone’s negative reaction leaving that kind of energy residue on my spelling supplies.
Jodi picked up my wand, a gift she’d given me when we were thirteen years old and thought things like that were necessary to successfully perform spells. It was a smooth piece of light wood with different precious stones glued to it, set apart so that my fingers would slip between them when I grasped it. At the ends were two pointy, clear quartz stones. Jodi ran her fingers over the cool stones, her eyes hooded, hiding her thoughts. Steven was quiet, letting her have a moment, while he browsed the titles. There were many volumes neither of them had ever touched because the magic was difficult and time-consuming and things I hadn’t thought we were ready to try yet. I always thought there would be plenty of time to get around to things like that. I guess we always think that.
Steven pulled a couple of books off of a shelf and laid them on the bed before he crawled up and laid on his stomach. Jodi set my wand back on the shelf, being very careful to put it exactly the way it was before she picked it up. She shook herself and reached for two other books, careful not to touch anything else. When she scooted back to put her back against the bed under Steven, I saw her wipe her face with the back of her hand and sniff quietly. She opened the first book, dipping her head to hide her face as she read.
After a while, my mom came in with a couple of sodas and sandwiches, insisting they had to eat something since they’d missed dinner.
“How do you think they’re doing?” Steven whispered to Jodi after my mother had pulled the door mostly closed behind her, leaving it ajar out of habit since they were a boy and a girl alone in the room.
“As best as they could be, I guess,” Jodi whispered back. They both stared at the slightly open door, holding their sandwiches, neither taking a bite yet. Steven recovered first, his forgotten hunger rearing its ugly head with a particularly loud grumble from his stomach.
“Okay,” he said around a mouthful of turkey sandwich, “so, do you think we can do this on our own?”
“What? You think we need more people?” Jodi swiveled until she faced the bed.
“Well, if we still had all our powers, no,” he said, “but as weak as we are now? I mean, this is high magic, you know?”
“Yeah, I know.”
“I don’t like the idea of doing magic with other people either, but we may not have a choice.”
“Deb?”
“That’s what I was thinking,” Steven said, popping the last bit of the half sandwich in his mouth.
“Suppose they won’t help?” Jodi glanced at Steven over the rim of the soda can.
“Dude, what is it with you? ‘What if we can’t?’ ‘Suppose they won’t?’ Where the hell is Tinkerbell? Can we please have some positive thoughts right now?” Steven demanded, though there wasn’t much force in his voice.
“I’m just saying, don’t get your hopes up. Deb doesn’t like it when we try to meddle with things that would put the natural order out of balance or things she thinks we’re not ready for,” Jodi said. “And trust me, this is something she’ll think will put the natural order out of balance. I mean, remember? She only helped us with the nymphs on a technicality.”
“But…” Steven paused. “But she’ll want Shay back too, right?”
“Of course, but that doesn’t mean she’d do something like this, let alone ask her coven to help us with it,” Jodi replied.
“Maybe if I tell her Shay was still hanging around, but I banished her…” His voice trailed off as he heard how it sounded out loud. He knew it wouldn’t do much to sway Deb’s decision.
“All we can do is ask,” Jodi said. “I mean, we can tell her we think Shay hadn’t moved on, so we want to help her come back, but…” She trailed off as well, ending her statement with a shrug.
“Don’t get my hopes up, right,” Steven finished for her.
They finished their dinner of sandwiches and chips mostly in silence while they continued to page through the books. Jodi grabbed a pad of sticky notes and a pen from my table to make some notes and mark some pages with the hot pink squares. On their way out, after they had slipped their chosen books into Steven’s messenger bag, Steven grabbed the braided bracelet he’d given me and tucked it into his pocket.
Steven insisted on doing the dishes before they left. While Jodi helped with a forced smile, she obviously would’ve rather let my mom do them when my mom said not to bother. Standing outside Steven’s car, they discussed the merits of calling Deb right then versus waiting until the morning. Finally they agreed since this was such a big deal, talking to her in private rather than in a store full of people, even if they were in the private room in back, might be best.
“Right,” Jodi said, “because if she reacts the way I think she will, that door isn’t going to be enough to keep everyone in the store from hearing her scream.”
“Shut up,” Steven hissed as he pulled out his cell and called Deb.
Chapter 13
“Hey, Deb!” Steven said brightly into the phone, sounding more like his old self than he had since I died. He went on to tell her that he and Jodi had something important they needed to ask her, but they shouldn’t talk about it over the phone. Deb seemed to agree to them coming over without much hesitation.
When Steven and Jodi got into his car, the vision in the looking glass became foggy and difficult to follow. I squeezed my eyes shut, gripping the handle of the looking glass hard enough to mottle my fingers, and concentrated on Jodi and Steven’s images until I felt a small prick of pain behind my eyes. I peeked with one eye, a wave of relief crashing through me when I saw Deb’s house materialize in the black glass.
It looked as though every light in the house was on, illuminating it against the dark neighborhood street. Deb stood on the porch, a black shawl wrapped around her shoulders, waiting for Jodi and Steven when they pulled up. Deb’s long brown hair tumbled past her shoulders, down around her waist, the curling tips fluttering behind her when she hurried down the steps to greet them as they got out of the car.
They all hugged and took a moment in greeting before Deb waved them up the walk and followed them, the hem of her floor length grey dress snapping around her heels as she went. Following them into the house took more concentration than it had earlier, but soon the familiar, warm toned living room materialized as I watched. Bookshelves overflowing with
books, crystals, and charms lined the walls. An overstuffed couch covered in pillows was along one wall with little Trisity curled up asleep, and a rocking recliner that I usually sat in was cocked in the corner. At Christmastime, Deb would have a beautiful Christmas tree in front of the huge picture window facing the street.
“We didn’t know you had company,” Steven whispered, not wanting to wake Trisity.
“It’s fine,” Deb whispered back. “Come into the kitchen.”
When they entered the kitchen, they found Jane, Trisity’s mom, and Jane’s sister, Sherry, leaning against opposite counters with steaming cups of tea in their hands. Jane looked up first, her heart shaped face brightening when she recognized Steven and Jodi.
“Hello, kids,” she said in a soft voice, setting her cup down before holding her arms out for a hug. Steven moved forward quickly to accept the hug. Not much for hugging people she hardly knew, Jodi slipped into a chair at the kitchen table tucked into the corner. She was a lot like me in that regard. Steven on the other hand didn’t mind displays of affection from most anyone. Sherry gave Jodi a sympathetic smile and a small wave, which she returned.
Deb offered Steven and Jodi tea, going to make it before they had a chance to accept or reject it. Steven glanced at Jodi when he took a seat next to her. If they could still speak mind-to-mind, I knew they would be arguing vehemently back and forth about who should start the conversation. One of them, probably Jodi, would insist it was a bad idea with Jane and Sherry there now. The other, probably Steven, would insist they might help them sway Deb to see it their way.
When Deb set the tea in front of them, they whipped their heads around, forcing smiles, as if they hadn’t just been in a silent argument. Deb stepped back, tilting her head to the side as she watched them; she knew she had missed something.
“What is it?” she asked, her hands going to her hips.
Jodi started to say, “Oh, nothing,” but stopped when Steven kicked her under the table, making her yelp.
“It’s not nothing,” he said, but then Jodi kicked him back, harder than he’d kicked her.
Jodi snapped, “Don’t kick me, damn it!” Steven bent awkwardly, rubbing the spot on his leg.
“All right, all right,” Deb said, pulling out a chair and sitting down. “Spill it.”
“Well,” Steven said, wincing as he sat up straight in his chair, “we had a thought.”
“You had a thought,” Jodi grumbled into her tea cup.
“We had a thought,” Steven repeated through gritted teeth, “about Shayna.” Jane and Sherry made quiet, sympathetic noises from their end of the kitchen at the sound of my name, but Steven pressed on. “See, she was haunting me.”
“She was haunting you?” Deb repeated, drawing her brows together. “Shay wouldn’t do that.”
“Well, she did,” he insisted. “But I didn’t realize it was her, I just thought it was a poltergeist or something, and I banished her.”
“Wait,” Jane said, pushing away from the counter, forgetting her cup. “How did you know it was Shay?” With a dramatic sigh, Steven explained the events that led him to banishing me and then hearing me scream out his name as I was rushed unceremoniously out of Anthony’s apartment.
“That doesn’t necessarily mean it was Shay,” Jane said, but Steven stopped her with a wave of his hand.
“I know that, but I believe it was Shay, with all my heart.” His voice went soft at the end, his eyes dropping to the murky brown depths of his tea, and he let the women stare at him while they weighed his words.
“I know it was Shay too,” Jodi said after a few moments. She reached under the table and took one of Steven’s hands, giving it a squeeze. He lifted his honey brown eyes to her steely blue and smiled at her.
“All right,” Deb said, drawing everyone’s attention to her. “Let’s just agree it was Shayna and go from there. Steven?”
“Right, so I banished her, accidentally on purpose.” He cleared his throat and took a breath, as if to steel his courage against the next thing he would say.
“It’s okay, Steven,” Jodi said with another squeeze.
“I thought,” Steven paused, glancing at Jodi, “we thought, maybe we could reach her, bring her back.” The room went still, Steven’s words hanging in the air around them as the three witches stared at Jodi and Steven, blinking in a mixture of horror and confusion.
“Jodi, Steven,” Deb said, “you don’t know what you’re asking. That kind of magic…” Deb trailed off, shaking her head.
“It’s an abomination,” Jane finished for her.
“No, no,” Jodi said quickly, waving her free hand in front of her. “That’s not what he meant; we know that!”
“No,” Steven jumped in, “no, I mean we were thinking of trying to invoke the Spirit, but with Shay as the focus.” Time seemed to speed up suddenly, the world righting itself as the women understood them, relief plain on their faces. Sherry even let out a nervous laugh, pressing her hand to her chest.
“Right,” Jodi continued, “we know what evil it is to bring someone back from the dead. That isn’t what we want; we want Shay back, not some monster.”
“Yeah,” Steven said, inching forward on his chair, “but if we do an invocation focused on Shay, then we can bring her spirit back, the real Shay.”
“Kids,” Deb said softly, turning her deep brown eyes on them, “I know it’s hard to let her go, believe me I do. We just lost a sister last week. She was hit by a car.” Deb’s words nearly pulled me out of the trance, disturbing the surface of the looking glass as my concentration wavered. I remembered seeing Death looming over one of Deb’s coven sisters, seeing her step off that curb while searching through her purse.
Gritting my teeth, I forced my mind to concentrate on the looking glass. At least I now knew how much time had passed on Earth while I’d been the Outlands.
When I came back to the vision, they were exchanging words of condolences and the empty things people say when death comes to the young. As if there is ever a right time for someone to die, suddenly or otherwise. At least it explained why the three witches were all dressed in dark, somber colors. I didn’t think they would still be in mourning for me, maybe Deb, but not the others.
“But, Deb,” Steven said, bringing mine and everyone else’s attention back to him, “Shay shouldn’t have died, and I don’t mean in the sense that no one should die. Shay just shouldn’t have.”
“Why?” Sherry asked even though Steven had been talking to Deb.
“Because she was warned,” Jodi said. When the three women looked at her like she’d grown a second head, she continued, “Shayna got her prophetic powers from her mother, and just before the fire, Shayna’s mom had a vision of Shayna…” Still she couldn’t manage that one word.
“Oh.” Sherry saved Jodi from finishing her sentence.
“That still doesn’t mean…” Jane started to say, but Steven cut her off.
“Yes, it does.” His voice pitched and he had to stop himself from yelling. “What was the point of her and her mother having these dreams if they weren’t warnings to save her? Can you tell me that?” No one replied, and when Steven fixed them with his angry stare, each woman dropped her eyes.
“I think he’s right,” Jodi said, earning a look of pure love from Steven. “Shay’s mom doesn’t have prophetic dreams, so I can’t understand why she would suddenly have one so vivid and accurate if it wasn’t to warn Shayna off.”
“Warn, yes,” Deb said, “but not save. Shayna chose to go into that house knowing the risk.”
“So what?” Steven demanded, not watching his volume this time. “She went in there to save me and a total stranger; doesn’t that give her a second chance?”
“But you said you wanted to invoke her spirit, not bring her back. You understand there is a difference, right?” Jane asked.
“Yes, we do,” Jodi answered for both of them.
“Usually, when one invokes the Spirit,” Sherry said, stepping forward
, “they intend to draw the power of the Spirit into them. It doesn’t sound like that’s what you’re planning.”
“No, it’s not,” Jodi said.
“I banished her,” Steven said, his voice breaking. “She was trying to make contact with me, and I banished her to who knows where. I want to try to help her get back here so we can figure out what she was trying to tell me.”
The kitchen went quiet then. Steven and Jodi held hands hard enough to make even Steven’s golden skin run white. The three witches glanced back and forth between each of them.
“I have a question,” Sherry said, breaking the silence.
“Okay,” Steven said, nodding toward her.
“Why are you even asking us? I mean, you guys have always been able to do magic on your own. Why do you need our help this time?”
“They needed our help over the summer,” Jane reminded Sherry.
“Sure, one time out of what?” She glanced back at Jodi and Steven, shrugging her shoulders. “A hundred?”
“Well…” Steven started, pausing to lick his lips before glancing sidelong at Jodi, who was staring at their intertwined hands.
“Yes?” Deb asked, but something in her face told me she had an idea what was wrong.
“Since Shay,” Steven paused on the word only briefly, nodding his head to the side before continuing after a beat, “Jodi and I have lost most of our powers.”
“Really?” Sherry said, curiosity getting the best of her. After another moment, she had the grace to look embarrassed, heat rushing to her cheeks before she whispered an apology.
Jodi snapped, “Yes, really. We still have some powers, but not like it was.”
“I don’t understand,” Deb said, her voice soft and soothing as she leaned toward them. “You three have always had power, not just when you came together in your little triumvirate. Why would losing Shay change that?”
“Jodi?” Steven prompted her.
“Takotsubo cardiomyopathy,” Jodi said flatly.
“Broken heart syndrome?” Sherry asked, surprising us all. “I’m a psychiatrist,” she explained when Jodi and Steven stared at her.
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