by Jasmine Walt
“And something evil would love to tap into that source and steal my power, right?”
“You catch on fast.” He smiled. “And of course, you are their enemy.”
“So even if we find out who’s sending the Pricolici and kill them, someone else will probably come after me.”
“Not probably, definitely,” Sam said, not sounding too sorry about it. I absent-mindedly flipped through the pages of the Book. A page felt thick between my fingers. I looked down, discovering that two pages were stuck together. Using my nail, I gently separated the pages. When I looked down, I gasped.
“Ethan!” I exclaimed. He looked at the page.
“Well, that answers a lot of questions.” Everyone else leaned forward to try to see what was in front of me.
“A Binding Spell,” I read aloud. I knew the handwriting was Aunt Estelle’s. “Is it safe to read this?” I asked Ethan, not wanting to accidentally cast a spell.
“Yeah, since you have no intention of casting.”
I took a deep breath and read the words scrawled on the page. “Out of love and pure affection, I bind your powers for your protection. Destiny’s cruel fate will you never face, a normal life you can now embrace. I bind your powers, I bind your powers, I bind your powers. Anora Paige Benson, I bind your powers.” I looked up at Ethan. He nodded for me to keep reading. “Under that it says to do this spell when the moon is at its fullest and to burn Devil’s Shoestring and High John the Conquer, which I believe promote safety and happiness while at the same time repels evil.”
Ethan nodded. Good, I was right.
“That explains why everything spiraled out of control after she died,” Julia’s voice came from behind me. “The spell was broken.”
“But what about the ghosts? Why didn’t the spell protect me against that, too?” I asked.
I waited while everyone exchanged looks. “I guess it doesn’t fall into what she protected you against. Seeing spirits isn’t really a power,” Ethan offered. He didn’t sound too sure, but I thought it made sense.
This was too much to take in right now. My head was spinning. I put my hands on my elbows and stared at the book until the words became blurry. Suddenly, the walls were closing in on me. Everyone’s energy was pushing against me, hot and suffocating. I wanted to get away.
As if he could read my thoughts, Hunter got up from his nap and stood by the door.
“Hunter needs out,” I said, getting up to grab his leash.
“I’ll come with you,” Ethan offered, and I eagerly agreed.
It had cooled off considerably to the point where I could see my breath when I exhaled. Hunter, Ethan, and I walked slowly down the road.
“You know, it’s not gonna be as bad as they make it sound. Sam and my dad can be really dramatic,” he assured me.
“You’re not saying that to be nice?”
Ethan stopped walking and put his hands on my waist. “Look at me, Annie.” He pulled my hips into his. “I promise you. Things will look for you, and you are definitely at the top of many demons’ shit list, but every day is not going to be life or death.”
“Promise?” I whispered.
“Cross my heart.” I let Hunter’s leash slip out of my hand so I could wrap my arms around Ethan’s muscular torso. He dipped me backwards and kissed me. “See, that wasn’t bad, was it?”
“Hmm, I’m not convinced. Better try again.”
He kissed me again, this time harder and more passionately than before. Ethan loosened his grip around me and took my hand. We slowly walked down the street.
“There’s good and there’s evil,” Ethan explained. “And there are humans, caught somewhere in the middle of a constant cosmic battle. You can choose to fight, or you can choose not to.”
“But I don’t really have a choice, do I?”
Ethan stopped abruptly, his shoes skidding on loose pavement. “There is always a choice,” he said roughly. “No matter what the situation, you have the power to act or to not act.” He started forward again. “Yes, you are caught in the crossfire more than the average person, but you still have a choice.”
We turned around in silence, walking just as slowly back to the house.
“I choose to fight,” I said, looking at Ethan.
He smiled. “Good, because I do too.”
We came to a standstill again. I stepped close to Ethan, welcoming his arms around my waist. I tangled myself around him and leaned up to kiss him.
“So how do you know Julia and Sam?” I picked up Hunter’s leash, ready to go back inside.
“They’re longtime family friends. Their parents were killed by demons years ago, and they’ve lived with us ever since. Julia is a psychic; she has visions every once in a while. But what she sees is usually pretty irrelevant. Her mother, I’ve been told, was a very reliable psychic, though.”
“So being psychic doesn’t make you a witch, right?”
“Right. But most the time, people with gifts like that—and being a medium—are witches to begin with.”
“Are only females witches?” We stepped into the house.
“Technically the term ‘witch’ is female. I guess males with power would be called wizards then.”
“Not warlocks?”
“Not unless they’re evil.”
I nodded and went back into the house.
“So what exactly is a demon?” I asked and took off my coat.
“The term is actually misused,” David stated. He was still sitting at the kitchen table, flipping through the Book of Shadows. “Let’s hope to God we never have to face a true Demon. True Demons are direct traces of the Devil himself. In all actuality, it is hard for them to materialize in our world. They appear as shadows, whispers, influential feelings… Anyway, anything evil can be called demons. Kappas, Wendigos, the Pricolici of course, could all be called demons.”
“Things we kill,” Ethan simplified.
“And I’m guessing that they all have to be killed differently,” I said.
Ethan nodded. “Though you’d be surprised how effective cutting of the head can be.” He smiled. “Works almost every time. Well, if the thing is corporeal, that is. If not, that’s an entirely different story.”
I sat on the edge of Ethan’s bed, waiting for him to get out of the shower. Hunter was sleeping on a folded blanket on the floor. I texted Laney, having almost forgotten, to let her know that my cover for tonight was that Hunter and I were at her house—in case my mom called. When the pipes rattled through out the room as the shower shut off, nerves fluttered through me.
I wasn’t nervous to be with Ethan. Pretty much from the start, I felt comfortable around him. And now that all of our dirty secrets were out on the table, there was nothing to hide. I could be myself, my real self.
I had never spent the night with a boyfriend before. That was what made me nervous. When Ethan came into the room with wet hair and nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist, the nerves turned into something else.
I didn’t mean to lick my lips as I gazed over his muscular body. My eyes lingered on his tattoo. I blinked and diverted my eyes to the ground. He was my boyfriend. I was entitled to look. I brought my eyes back up.
“I forgot my clothes,” he said. “I’m not used to having someone in my room while I shower.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Oh, I don’t mind. Not one bit.”
Ethan smiled and pulled a pair of boxers from his dresser. “I usually sleep naked.”
“Still don’t mind.”
He wiggled his eyebrows and grinned, carefully stepping into his boxers. I was tempted to test my powers and make his towel fall before he pulled them up.
“Tired?” he asked and tossed the towel on the ground.
“Yeah,” I said. “It’s been a long day.”
Ethan sank down on the mattress. His arms automatically went around me. We lay down, situated so my head was resting on Ethan’s chest. He turned on the TV, and a reality show about ghost hunting was on. I looked
at him and burst into laughter.
Ethan flipped through the channels while running a hand through my hair. I wanted to stay awake and enjoy being alone and in bed with my boyfriend. With everything that happened that day, I couldn’t do it. Nestled next to Ethan, listening to his steady heartbeat, I felt content and safer than I had in a long time.
16
I spent every waking minute possible with Ethan the rest of the weekend. We were afraid of retaliation; whoever sent the Pricolici would probably be really pissed two had been killed. Since Ethan picked me up from school every day, I rode with Harrison in the mornings.
The following Monday, Harrison told me that we needed to get to school fifteen minutes early. He had to meet with one of his teachers about a bad grade he got on a test. I rushed to get out the door. Instead of setting my alarm a few minutes earlier, I decided to forgo doing my makeup and put my hair in a messy braid.
Harrison was really quiet the whole way to school. He must have done really badly on that test. But instead of going the opposite way down the hall to his locker, he followed me to mine. Laney was already there. Uh…what was going on?
“Hey Laney. You sure are here early,” I said brightly. She gave me a weak smile and looked at Harrison. I opened my locker and threw my coat inside. They stood on either side of me, blocking me in.
“Annie,” Laney began. “You know we love you, and that is why we’re doing this. Please don’t be mad.”
“And don’t even try to deny anything,” Harrison said sternly.
“Guys, what is this?” I looked from my brother to my best friend.
“An intervention,” they said in unison.
“What?” I raised my eyebrows and looked at my best friend. Her face was set. “This is ridiculous. I don’t need an intervention.”
“Come on, Annie,” Laney pleaded. “You haven’t hung out with me in like a month, you stopped dressing up, you never wear makeup anymore, and when I do see you, you barely talk to me and you seem so distracted. You’ve even cut down on your barn time.”
“And don’t think I don’t hear you at night. You’ve been up till two AM almost every night for the last few weeks muttering to yourself or Hunter,” Harrison added.
I didn’t say anything, because it was all true.
“Please.” Laney sounded close to tears. “What’s going on?”
I leaned back against my locker and slid down onto my butt. “You guys might want to sit down for this.” I debated what to say in my head. “I know this is going to sound crazy…” I hesitated. “Oh God, please don’t think I’m insane. But, I’m a witch.” Harrison and Laney stared at me without blinking. To my surprise, it was Harrison who spoke first.
“Like a Wiccan witch or…”
I knew what he meant. “Like the other kind.”
He nodded. Laney was looking above me, her face muddled with confusion. “What?”
“A witch,” I repeated. I knew how it sounded. I would have a hard time believing it too, unless— “I can show you.” I looked around for something I could use. “Give me your coffee,” I instructed to Laney. She slowly slid her half-empty coffee cup in front of me. “It’s cold, right?”
She looked at Harrison, hoping to get an answer from him. He mirrored her bewilderment.
“Wait and you’ll see,” I said. “But both of you, feel the temperature.” I made them touch the cup to prove my point. Carefully I popped off the lid and put my hands over the cup. Within seconds, the coffee started to steam. A few seconds more and it was boiling.
“Holy shit!” Harrison exclaimed so loudly that he got a stern look from a passing teacher.
“H-how did you do that?” Laney stammered.
I swallowed my pounding heart. “Magic.” Neither of them said anything, or even moved for that matter, for several seconds.
“What else can you do?” Harrison asked eagerly.
“I don’t really know,” I answered. “I guess anything, as long as I have what I need.”
“How long?” Laney whispered, eyebrows pushing together. “How long have you been a witch? Have you been lying to me for years?”
“No! I promise. I just found out. I guess I’ve been a witch my whole life, but I didn’t know I could actually do magic until recently.”
“So that’s what you’ve been doing at night,” Harrison said, and I nodded.
“Yeah,” I started.
“Hey guys,” Marie called from down the hall. I quickly put the lid back on Laney’s coffee. I shook my head, silently telling them I didn’t want Marie to know. Not yet, at least. “What are you all doing here already?”
“Not telling secrets, that’s for sure!” Laney said with a horrible attempt at a fake laugh. With wide eyes, I looked at Harrison.
“I was asking them for some girl advice. But neither of them were too helpful. Good thing you came, ‘cuz you’re the better one to ask.”
I mouthed, “Thank you,” to Harrison as he stood to ask Marie a made-up question. I turned back to Laney. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I really wanted to, but I wasn’t sure how.”
“It’s okay. I thought you were mad at me or something. This is the longest we’ve gone without hanging out.” She frowned.
“Hey, I know. Why don’t you and Josh come over for dinner tonight? Ethan’s coming over, and you’ve never really had a chance to talk to him. You’ll like him, I’m sure. He’s not at all like you’d think either, he’s surprisingly deep and sensitive.”
“We’d love to!” She beamed. Her face got serious. “Does he know?” she asked in a hushed voice. I nodded.
“He’s had some past experiences with this kind of stuff.” I left it at that. It was his secret to tell, not mine.
I looked around the table. We rarely ate in the dining room unless it was a holiday. Though today was a regular Monday night, the three extra guests warranted Mom busting out the good dishes and Dad cooking a four-course meal.
I cast a sideways glance at Ethan. This was the first time he met my mother…and the first time he sat down with my dad…and came over for a family dinner. Maybe I shouldn’t have invited Laney and Josh.
But everyone was getting along really well. Ethan was talking to Mom about a research project he did his senior year at the University of Chicago. He lost me when he said “mitotic kinases.” Dad, Josh, and Harrison were talking football. I turned to Laney and smiled, asking when she wanted to ride together.
After dinner, Laney, Josh, Ethan, and I went down into the basement to watch TV. We settled on the couch and Laney lazily flipped through channels until we found something we could agree on. I cuddled next to Ethan, looking forward to spending some alone time with him later that night, although I was tired.
He draped his arm around me, and I was hit with instant sleep. My eyelids closed on their own accord, and suddenly, I was dreaming. I was back in the Victorian. Shattered glass crunched under my feet, and my heart thumped in my ears. My breath clouded around me as I made my way to the basement.
Candlelight flickered against brick walls, and whispers of faint chanting echoed in the darkness. Carefully, I moved off the last step. Three figures huddled around an altar, wearing dark brown hooded robes. One of the hooded figures picked something up from a box nearby and set it on the altar. The one in the middle picked up a decorative knife, and the other grabbed a goblet. Out of the darkness, someone screamed as the hooded creature raised the knife above its head.
“No!” I protested. My heart raced. White fear raced through my body. All three turned to me and let out evil hisses. I screamed in fear. Instead of hands, they had twisted talons. In place of a nose, they each had a sharp beak, black and pointed like a raven’s. Their eyes were sunken inside their heads. The one with the knife ran at me. I stumbled backwards on the stairs, about to get stabbed.
I shot up, wide-awake. Ethan looked startled. “You okay?” he asked quietly. I shook my head. I ran a shaky hand over my face.
“Dream,” I said, just as q
uietly. He nodded and wrapped his arms tightly around me, kissing the top of my head.
As soon as Josh and Laney left, Ethan and I went up to my room so I could fill Ethan in on the dream.
“You’ve never been to that house before you inherited it, right?” he asked, sitting on my bed.
“Never. I’ve never even been to Indiana until a few weeks ago.” I rested my head against his shoulder.
“Then it might be a weird dream.”
“I’ve had a very similar dream before,” I said, causing Ethan’s concern to double. “It was a while ago, like a few days after I got back, I think. You were in this dream actually. I followed you into the basement, but you disappeared and a ram-headed guy took your place.”
“We need to go through your Book of Shadows and see if we can find anything about that. Maybe it’s all tied to the house somehow.”
“Can we do that tomorrow? I want to lay down with you,” I sighed. That dream zapped my remaining energy.
“Well, when you put it that way…” Ethan grinned and lay down, bringing me with him. I kissed his neck and breathed in the smell of his cologne. Everything about him was so alluring. When his lips touched mine, I suddenly felt wide-awake.
17
“What’s taking so long?” Ethan asked impatiently.
“I need to fix my makeup. I look like a hooker.”
“Isn’t that the point of tonight?”
“No,” I said, sticking my head out of the bathroom to look at him. “Well, maybe for some people. But an Elven warrior is not a hooker. They are very important mythical creatures.”
“If you say so. But hurry up!”
“Oh, be patient. I’m almost done.” I inspected my reflection; I thought I got the right amount of black eyeliner this time. I flipped my head over and choked myself on all the hairspray I used. I fluffed my wavy locks and stepped out of the bathroom.