My palm begins to tingle and Crystal grips my hand more tightly.
“Iter per tempus. Deducas nobis.”
Although I don’t understand what she’s saying, I take up the chant, repeating the words as best I can along with her. Slowly, the others join in, until we’re all speaking the words in firm, clear voices.
A winds stirs around us, tugging at my jacket, slipping through my hair. Around me, the air seems to thrum with energy. White light fills my vision and I welcome it, knowing it will lead me into the past.
I expect the blackness when it overtakes me; what I don’t expect is the sensation of pressure over my entire body, like I’m being pressed in on all sides. I gasp for air and my lungs begin to burn. Something’s gone wrong. There’s no air here. Wherever we are, it’s not the past. I try to reach out with my hand to grab for Crystal, but nothing is around me. Nothing is under me. I’m suspended in nothingness. My lungs strain and scream for oxygen and a fire starts raging in my head.
When I think I can’t take it for another second, I am assaulted by sensory information: light, the chirping of birds, the sound of children squealing off in the distance, the feeling of grass under my feet—and air. I gulp huge breaths. Crystal stands in front of me, her face alight.
“Wow,” she says, her voice low and reverent.
I survey our surroundings. The stone circle Crystal built is gone, as are Fox, Griffin, Zane, and Bridget. The trees around us look smaller. I feel a surge of excitement course through me. “It worked.”
Crystal grins. “Yeah, it did.”
I start to move but she holds her hand up. After glancing around the clearing, she scurries off and picks up a two-foot-long stick about as thick as my thumb from the tree line. When she returns to my side, she jams it into the ground so it stands up. “So we can find our way back to get home,” she says. “Now, let’s do this.” She starts walking along the river, toward the playground and Main Street beyond.
I follow close on her heels. “What’s the plan?”
“Okay, from what I’ve put together based on what my dad’s told me, what I’ve heard from my grandma, and town rumors, it happened at night. She had the house to herself because my grandma was out of town and my dad and Lexie’s mom didn’t live at home anymore. Now, the story goes she lit candles and fell asleep while they were still burning, and somehow one got knocked over and started the fire. But I don’t think that’s what happened. I think she had her circle over and they were trying a spell and things got out of hand. Maybe the spell’s what made the crystal splinter. Even if it’s not, we know the crystal had to be in the house during the fire—otherwise I wouldn’t have this.” She clutches the pendant around her neck.
“So, what? We just go to your grandma’s house and wait for a fire?”
She shrugs. “It seems the most direct approach. Not that I believe Griffin about messing up the space-time continuum or anything, but I promised to keep my interactions with the environment to a minimum.”
“Okay.” I take in a breath.
We pass by the playground and I’m surprised it’s different. While the structures from our time are made of plastic and rubber, this one is all wood and metal. We make our way to the street and head over the bridge toward downtown. In so many ways, Main Street is exactly the same: The people milling around are nearly indistinguishable from the ones from our time, except perhaps their clothing, and the fact that no one is holding a cell phone.
My breath catches as we draw near Hannah’s Herbs. The shop looks exactly the same, and I almost expect to see Jodi spill out of it, heading down the street to pick up a drink at the coffee shop. Instead, the girl who exits has honey-brown hair and high cheekbones. My stomach clenches and I sigh.
I don’t realize I’ve come to a stop until Crystal tugs at my arm. “Hey, you alright?”
I nod. “Yeah… It’s just…”
“Weird, right?” She bites her lower lip. “You wanna go in?”
I shift forward on the balls of my feet for a moment before catching myself. “No, I can’t.”
“Oh, come on. Just go in, for a second. You don’t have to talk to anyone.”
The idea is appealing. My grandmother died before I was born and my grandfather died when I was just a few years old, and the idea of seeing them makes my heart flutter. Maybe Jodi’s in there. It would be funny to see a young version of my aunt. Or maybe... maybe my dad is in there.
I turn away from the shop, shaking my head. “No, I shouldn’t. It’s a bad idea.”
Crystal rolls her eyes. “You sound like Griffin. What’s it gonna hurt to just take a peek? It’s not like one look will destroy the world. Aren’t you curious?”
“What about your promise to Griffin?” I don’t think he’s right, but I also don’t think poking around in the past too much is a good idea.
When it’s clear I’m not going in the store, Crystal gives up and we start back down the street. The sun beats down on us and I wish I weren’t wearing long sleeves. It must be a different time of year now than in our own time. I’m sweating by the time we finally make it to the old Taylor house. It’s closer to downtown than Jodi’s house, but it was clearly build during the same era. There are no cars in the driveway and I take it as a sign there’s no one home.
“How are we gonna get in?” I ask.
“Around back,” Crystal says, leading the way up the driveway.
I glance around the neighborhood nervously. There are four girls doing cartwheels in a yard down the street, but no one else is in sight.
Crystal ascends the back porch stairs confidently and goes straight for the door. She reaches for the handle and twists, but nothing happens. “It’s locked.”
I nudge my way beside her, reaching for the doorknob. “What do you mean, it’s locked? I didn’t think people locked their doors around here. I’m half-surprised Jodi locks up the shop.”
Crystal shakes her head. “I don’t know. I mean, maybe my grandma doesn’t feel safe since my grandpa died, or maybe Crystal doesn’t feel safe since her mom’s not home.”
“So, what do we do about it? Is there a key hidden somewhere?”
“How would I know that?”
Irritation flares up inside me. “I thought you knew everything about the house. Wasn’t that what you were saying before?”
She ignores me, moving from the back door to a nearby window. She presses at the sill, trying to push it open.
“They lock the door but they’re going to leave the window open?”
“Have you got a better idea?”
I don’t. I glance around the backyard. It’s the middle of the day. If a neighbor comes outside to let out a dog or take out the garbage, they’ll see us and our chance will be blown. I move to the opposite side of the door from Crystal and try another window. It’s stuck tight and I stifle an irritated groan. I was right not to trust that Crystal would be able to get this done. She can’t even get us into the house. Is there another way to get the crystal? Perhaps we could find her aunt somewhere in town and stealthily pickpocket her. I shake my head. That’s no good: first, I don’t know how to pickpocket someone, and second, there’s no promising she has the crystal with her. It might be in the house. Frustrated, I bang on the wooden windowsill, wishing it would budge. A small click sounds and I press on the window again. To my surprise, it slides up easily.
“Psst. Crystal.”
The window is low enough and wide enough that I can climb through with minimal effort. Crystal follows closely behind. I feel a strong wave of déjà vu when I look around. I was just here—only now I am really here. If Crystal Taylor walks into the room now, she’ll see me.
“Where do we hide?”
“This way.” Crystal leads the way to the stairs. We ascend and I tense at the loud creaks they make as our feet touch them. I really hope no one is home. There was no car, but what if Crystal Taylor is just sitting in her room?
Crystal doesn’t seem to share my concern. She walks purpo
sefully toward a room at the top of the stairs and eases open the door, which is already ajar. The hinges creak as it swings open. Crystal grins over her shoulder. “This is her room.” She walks in, her eyes roaming the space.
My heart begins thundering in my chest. I don’t like being out in the open like this. “So, what? We’re just gonna pop out and yell surprise when she gets here?”
It’s a long minute before Crystal turns her attention back to me. “Of course not.” She walks past me, back out into the hall, and to the room next door. “This is my aunt Bonnie’s room. According to my dad, the closets back up against each other and there’s a little trap door. Crystal used to sneak through it when she had nightmares and climb into bed with Bonnie.”
I follow her to the closet and cringe as she begins shoving clothes and shoes out of the way. Once she reveals a square of wood that doesn’t match the rest of the wall, she smiles, settling down in front of it. She pats the spot beside her and after a beat, I sit too.
“How do we know they’re gonna come up here?” I ask, attempting to find a comfortable position.
“Where else would they go for a sleepover?”
“In a giant house when no one else is home?” The folly of our plan lays itself out before me and I can’t believe we’re here without a better idea of how to accomplish our goal. Crystal, on the other hand, seems completely at ease.
“Better settle in. We’re gonna be here for a while.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Heavy footfalls on creaky stairs jar me from my doze. When I open my eyes, it takes a moment for me to remember where I am. When I am. Crystal sits beside me, her eyes bright and alert. I wonder if she’s been like that the whole time. I shift my weight and wince as a pins-and-needles sensation overtakes my left leg.
“Show time,” Crystal whispers to me. She moves closer to the crack in the trap door and I press my lips together, irritated. I wonder what time it is and how long it’ll be before the fire starts. And, more importantly, I wish I had any idea about how time was progressing back in our own reality. Have we been gone for hours? Or when we come back will it be like we never left? My stomach churns as I think about Jodi. How much time does she have left?
Five girls and two guys filter into Crystal Taylor’s bedroom. Crystal shifts so she can get a better look through the crack between the board and the wall, and I jockey for the same position. I’m just as curious as she is, although I figure we’ve got two different ways of thinking about this. For her, this is a chance to learn about the aunt she never knew, the one she idolizes. For me, it’s about saving the aunt I have.
In Crystal Taylor’s room, the group chats idly. A girl with bushy dark blond hair settles atop Crystal’s bed and the blond guy joins her. Crystal and a girl with dark brown hair pull beanbag chairs out of a corner and begin placing them strategically on the floor. A girl with light brown hair moves toward the closet.
Instinctively, Crystal and I both move backward. My heart thunders in my chest. We’ve been found. Everything is ruined.
Seconds tick by and the wood blocking the opening remains firmly in place. The girl doesn’t call out; no one comes running into the room we’re hiding in. Crystal and I lean forward, peering through the crack again.
The girl is back in the main part of the room, setting candles in a circle in the empty space inside of the ring of beanbag chairs. When the last one is in place, she holds her closed fist out by her side. As her hand opens, the wick of each candle ignites.
She turns back toward the closet and I gasp as I catch a glimpse of her face. Jodi. She’s young, probably younger than I am, but there’s no mistaking her.
Crystal looks at me. “Did you know she was here?” she mouths.
I shake my head. I knew Jodi and Crystal were part of the same circle, but I had no idea Jodi was here the night Crystal died.
“Okay, everyone, let’s sit down,” Crystal Taylor says, settling onto one of the beanbag chairs. Jodi sits on the one to her left and, I realize with a pang, Shelly Cole—or Tanner, as she would be called now—sits to her right. I scan the other faces and recognize David Cole and Millie from the coffee shop. The blond guy who was sitting on the bed earlier is Ryan Alcott, who drove up from Ohio to help Jodi. The only one I don’t know is the girl with the bushy blond hair. I recall Millie mentioning another name at the house earlier: Sarah Riddell. This must be her.
“I bet you’re all wondering why I invited you over today,” Crystal says after everyone has taken a seat.
Ryan snorts. “Yeah, since the last time we tried to do a spell it was such a rousing failure.”
Crystal presses her lips together.
Shelly crosses her arms over her chest. “So, maybe that spell was a little advanced for us. It doesn’t mean we should give up on magic all together.” Her eyes flick briefly to Jodi.
“I never said that,” Jodi murmurs. “I just think we should stick with simple spells. You have no idea what the consequences of messing with more complicated magic could be.”
Crystal Taylor’s eyes brighten. “I think we can solve that. When we did the spell before, things got out of hand because we don’t have enough power to control the magic. But I found this spell that’ll help us amplify our abilities.”
An excited murmur rises among the group. Beside me, Crystal Jamison sits at attention.
In the room, only Jodi seems unimpressed by Crystal Taylor’s revelation. “How?”
Crystal turns to her. “Now, before you say no—”
Jodi throws up her hands. “I can’t believe it. The crystal?”
I hold my breath. Are they talking about the same crystal we’ve come for? I scan the room, but it’s nowhere to be seen.
Crystal Taylor shakes her head. “I don’t know what your issue is with it. You sell all different kinds of stones at your parents’ store. How is this rock any different?”
“If it’s not any different than any other rock, then why are you so obsessed with it?” Jodi counters.
“We already know the crystal isn’t just any old hunk of quartz,” Millie says. “We’ve all felt its power. We all know doing magic is easier when you’re holding it.” There’s a hint of bitterness in her voice; maybe Crystal Taylor has trouble sharing.
“That’s the problem,” David says. “There’s only one crystal and there are seven of us. It doesn’t have enough power to go around.”
Crystal leans forward in her beanbag chair. “But what if it does? That’s the spell I want us to try. If we can get it to work, it’ll release the magic from the crystal.”
“Wait—what do you mean, ‘release’ it?” asks Ryan.
“Where’s it gonna go?” asks David.
A chorus of questions rises up and it’s difficult to pick out what the others are saying.
After a few seconds, Crystal is able to restore order. “There’s energy trapped in here, and if we release it, we can channel that energy into us.”
David rubs his hands together. “Okay, when do we get started?”
Jodi presses backward into her chair. “I don’t think this is such a good idea.”
“Oh, come on, Jo. Don’t be chicken.”
Jodi shakes her head at Crystal. “I don’t know how you can be so flip about this. I’ve told you before, you don’t know what you’re messing with here. You find this crystal and your family’s old grimoire and you suddenly think you’re this all-powerful witch or something.”
“Better than not being a witch at all,” Crystal murmurs.
Jodi looks around the room at each member of the circle. “Look, I know the idea of getting more magic sounds good, but I also know more about this stuff than you do. Whatever power’s locked away in that crystal, what if it’s there for a reason?”
Crystal snorts. “Yeah, for us to use!”
Jodi rolls her eyes. “Come on. You can’t be that self-centered to think your family’s been passing this thing down from generation to generation just so you could use all the ma
gic inside it.”
“We,” Shelly says. “So we can use it.”
“You guys are all being stupid,” Jodi says, standing. “If you want to mess with magic beyond what you’re capable of, go for it. I’m out.”
The flame of the candle nearest Jodi shoots up high—almost to waist height. Jodi jumps away from it. “Knock it off, Crystal.”
Crystal stands, but the flame doesn’t change. “If you know so much, why don’t you stop it?”
I take in a breath. Is this how it starts? Is this what causes the fire? I still haven’t seen the crystal. This can’t happen yet.
One by one, the other candle flames jump higher until there’s a wall of fire encircling the two of them.
“We’ve got to move,” I hiss at Crystal.
“Not yet.”
The candle flames extinguish all at once. Jodi’s face is impassive as she looks at Crystal. “Just because I don’t show off doesn’t mean I can’t do all the little parlor tricks you can. But that’s all they are, Crystal. You think these tiny spells you can do mean you’re the master of all magic or something. Believe me, if you’re not careful, it’s gonna master you.” She turns on her heel and moves toward the door.
“If you leave, you’re missing out. You’ll be sorry when we’ve got the magic and you’re still poor little Jodi who can make a tea for any occasion but who can’t do any real spells.”
“I’d rather be exactly who I am—exactly what I am—than get caught up in whatever you think you’re about to do. I promise you, Crystal, nothing good’s going to come of it.”
The door creaks and Jodi’s steps echo through the house. I bite my lower lip. Why is Jodi so against this spell?
Back in the room, Crystal Taylor makes a show of slamming the door after Jodi. “We don’t need her anyway. Good riddance.”
“Crystal... Maybe she’s got a point,” Sarah says, her voice quiet.
Crystal Magic (Clearwater Witches Book 1) Page 22