by Rose Pressey
As I moved closer toward the river, I lost my footing and fell to the ground. The rain still poured down on me. Lightning flashed and crackled again, then a boom of thunder. The rain soaked me as if I’d stepped into the shower. No one was around, so this whole pursuit was pointless. I needed go back inside in the warmth and dry off.
Somehow I managed to get myself up from the ground. Now that my clothing was completely soaked, I hurried toward the back door, trying not to fall again. A strange feeling that someone was watching me sent a shiver down my spine. I rushed through the door and quickly closed it behind me. Now that I was safely inside, I turned around and took a peek outside again, but still no one was out there. Releasing a deep breath, I slipped my shoes off so that I wouldn’t get the floor wet. Thank goodness I was back inside again. Now I needed to get dry clothes.
When I reached the foyer, footsteps came from behind me. I spun around and found Arthur standing right behind me. My expression probably gave away my astonishment. Where had he been that I hadn’t seen him? This guy was being too creepy, always popping up in unexpected places and sneaking around.
“You were caught in the storm,” he said, studying my face.
Arthur wore all black, pants and a t-shirt. He was wet just like me.
I pushed the hair out of my eyes. “Yes, I was.”
I wasn’t in the mood for a conversation. But confronting him was definitely in order. He wouldn’t get away without offering an explanation for this.
I stared at him. “I suppose you want to know why I was outside in the rain?”
He shrugged. “It’s none of my business.”
“I thought I saw people casting a spell and I wanted to find out what they were doing. Cora isn’t allowed to do spells.”
“Yes, she told me about what happened,” he said.
“They were wearing caped hoods. Do you know who that may have been?” I asked.
He glanced down. “I don’t know.”
“So you’re saying it wasn’t you?”
He frowned. “What makes you think it was me?”
“I don’t know. I’m trying to find out what’s going on around here.” I watched his face for a reaction.
“It certainly wasn’t me,” he said without even a blink of the eye. “I had a very nice time with your friend Annabelle tonight.”
As much as I wanted to know what had happened, I wasn’t going to let him change the subject. “That’s nice to hear, but now I want to go back to the people doing the spells.”
He leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Did you ever stop to think that maybe it’s Cora?”
I studied his face. “What makes you say that?” Of course I thought this, but I wanted to hear his thoughts.
He moved closer. “Well, she was the one giving potions to everyone.”
I moved back a couple steps. “Giving potions maybe, but did she make them?”
“You’re so cute. You want to believe everyone is innocent, don’t you?”
“Should I believe that of you?” I asked.
“You can believe whatever you’d like,” he said with a click of his tongue.
“I assume you took my best friend home safely?” I glared at him.
“Of course,” he said. “I’m a gentleman.”
Just then the room started to spin and my head felt a little fuzzy. I thought that he was trying to talk to me, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying. The walls closed in on me. Dizziness took over my mind and I hoped that I didn’t pass out. The likelihood of remaining awake was becoming less and less. I had no idea what was coming over me. All I remembered was Arthur reaching out for me and then I hit the floor.
Chapter 21
The next morning I woke on my bed. I had no idea how I’d gotten there. I was still fully clothed. I must have gotten up here somehow. Had I passed out on the bed before getting into my pajamas? How could I have climbed all the steps and not remembered? The most important question was what had happened to me. Nothing seemed wrong with me now, although I remembered feeling woozy last night. My thoughts immediately turned to suspicion.
Someone had cast a spell and was trying to do something to me, at least I suspected that was what happened. I remembered talking to Arthur last, so of course my suspicions were on him. I wasn’t going to rule anyone out, especially not Cora. Whoever had done this to me was of little relevance actually. I was super mad at whoever was responsible. They were going to suffer the consequences. I’d already told Cora she couldn’t do magic, but apparently she wasn’t listening.
Once at the bathroom sink, I splashed water on my face to wake myself up. My hair was messed up and mascara had run down my face. Great. I’d talked to Arthur looking like this. I remembered being wet last night. Apparently I’d slept in my clothing. That was something I would never do. I hated wet clothing. After changing my clothes, I hurried downstairs. Someone had a lot of explaining to do.
Before confronting anyone, I needed energy. Breakfast would give me fuel. Plus my guests would be hungry too. Moving through the house, I headed toward the kitchen. Not a peep echoed through the manor. I wondered if any of the guests were still even here. To be honest, I wouldn’t care if they had taken off. They had definitely caused more trouble than I had ever imagined. As I came closer to the kitchen, I thought I heard someone talking. So much for the guests leaving. I’d have to confront them sooner than I had anticipated.
When I reached the kitchen, the voice was clearer. I pushed through the door and saw Cora standing by the cauldron. Her arms were stretched out over the bubbling water, as if she’d just dropped something in.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I yelled. “I told you no more magic.”
She whipped around and looked at me. I rushed over and looked into the cauldron. There was water in there and she had placed herbs.
“You’re doing a spell,” I said, placing my hands on my hips.
She just stared at me for a moment and then she finally said, “It was only a little one.”
I waved my hands. “I don’t care if it’s the biggest and best spell in Enchantment Pointe. I told you no more magic.”
There had to be a way to stop her. I had to get strict with her. Just warning Cora obviously wasn’t working.
She stomped over to the door and then turned to me. “You can’t tell me what to do.”
“The heck I can’t,” I snapped.
She glared and then stormed out of the room. I would have to call an emergency meeting with the coven members on what to do next. I dialed Nicolas’ number. He was on his way over anyway, but I couldn’t wait. This was something that we needed to get started on right away. He could call all of the coven members and have them here hopefully by lunchtime.
“Is everything all right?” he asked when he picked up.
Actually, I couldn’t even pretend that everything was all right this time. “We have a problem and I need all the coven members here as soon as possible.” I hated to worry him like that, but this was serious.
“I’ll take care of it. We’ll be there soon,” Nicolas said.
We ended the call. Now it was time for me to bring out the Book of Mystics. Since my powers had improved, I hadn’t even needed a glance at the book. But for this, I wanted a little bit of guidance. I’d never taken anyone’s spells away before.
The book was locked away in my room in a secret hiding place. I’d had a safe installed and no one was getting into that thing. The door to my bedroom remained locked at all times. I even kept the key on a necklace around my neck.
Quiet still filled the manor as I made my way up the stairs. As I walked down the second-floor hallway, I glanced over at Cora’s door. It was still closed. I was suspicious. She might still be asleep, but I knew she’d be up to something soon. I opened my bedroom door, went over to the safe,and turned the lock.
I pulled the big leather-bound book from the safe. A gold scroll pattern decorated the front cover. Ener
gy zinged through my fingertips and up my arms as I touched the book. I clutched it close to my chest.
Suddenly, a presence filled the room. When I whipped around I discovered Cora standing behind me. A devilish smile spread across her face. Sure, she looked sweet in her blue floral-pattern dress, but I knew otherwise.
“What are you doing in here?” I asked.
It looked as if I was going to have to ask Cora to leave LaVeau Manor.
“I just came to ask for more towels,” she said innocently.
Oh, now I felt really bad if that was the truth. “Sorry, Cora, I’ll get you more towels.”
The doorbell rang. It must be the coven members starting to arrive.
“Cora, if it’s all right with you I need you to come with me downstairs for a few minutes.” I motioned with a wave of my hand.
She looked at me suspiciously. “What for?”
If I told her right now she probably wouldn’t come. “It’s a surprise,” I said.
Technically that wasn’t a lie. It would be a surprise for her.
Cora reluctantly descended the stairs with me. When I answered the door, I found Nicolas there with three other coven members. Jules, Deborah, and Linda were three of the most skilled witches in the coven. The women wore jeans and the same black t-shirts.
“I took them away from their bowling league,” Nicolas said with a shrug.
“Sorry about that. Thanks for coming, everyone.” I motioned for them to enter.
I needed to speak with them alone first before telling Cora what was about to happen.
“Cora, I have some cupcakes in the kitchen for you if you’d like refreshments.” I gestured toward the kitchen.
“I thought you needed to surprise me with something. Is a cupcake the surprise?” Cora asked with enthusiasm.
“No, I just need to talk to these people for a moment and then I’ll come get you, okay?”
She frowned, but then walked toward the kitchen. The coven members followed me into the parlor. When I thought she was gone and not listening to us, I filled everyone in on what we needed to do.
When I suggested taking away Cora’s magic with a spell, they agreed it had to be done. “You could cast a spell over the entire manor,” Deborah said.
“Yes, but then I wouldn’t be able to do my magic correctly,” I said.
“Okay, so we just need to cast the spell so that she can’t do magic,” Jules said.
I folded my hands in my lap. “We can do the spell out back by the river. There’s more energy to draw off from out there. That will stop Cora.”
“Did I hear you mention my name?”
When I looked back Cora was standing in the doorway. How long had she been watching and listening to us? I pushed to my feet and closed the distance between us, wrapping my arm around Cora’s shoulders. She shrugged me off and stepped away.
“Cora, please come in. You might as well hear what I have to say now.” I tapped the chair for her to have a seat.
As she inched across the room, she eyed me suspiciously, as if I was a wild animal that would lunge and bite her.
“You can have a seat if you’d like,” I said, motioning toward the chair again.
She shook her head and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “No, I’d rather stand, thank you.”
“You leave us no choice but to cast a spell that won’t allow you to do magic for a short time. Just until we can figure out what’s going on.” I rushed my words.
“What?” she barked. Fury flamed in her eyes. “You can’t do that.”
“Yes, I can.” I placed my hands on my hips. “I’m the leader of the Underworld and I have the authority if I think it’s warranted. I’m being more than fair, considering everything that’s happened.”
“You’ll be sorry you did this,” she said with a wave of her finger.
I knew that was a threat. She glared at me for a few seconds longer and then spun on her heel and stormed out of the room.
“Well, that didn’t go well,” Jules said.
“Do you think she’ll try something?” Deborah asked.
“She’d be wise not to mess with Hallie,” Jules added.
The witches had such confidence in me now considering they’d never had that in the past. I wouldn’t hold that against anyone. They’d had a right to feel that way since my magic had been so bad.
“Don’t worry, everyone, I’m sure that she’ll get over it.” I was worried that I didn’t have a lot of confidence in my voice. Did I really believe what I’d said or was I just trying to make the situation better?
A door slammed upstairs. It was like living with a teenager. Again, I needed to take control of the situation… I was the one in charge now. Sadly, I had no idea what I was doing. Sure, I had called the members here, but it looked as if I was just winging it. I supposed that was because I was winging it.
“Okay, right now we need to focus on casting the spell so that Cora can no longer practice magic until I figure out what is going on around here.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
“We can all go outside now. I have all of the items gathered in the kitchen. Just grab something and follow me,” I said.
They followed me through the house to the kitchen and collected the things. We headed outside on a mission. At least it had stopped raining now.
As we moved into a circle, I didn’t have to tell everyone what to do. We were all witches, but the spell were kind of complicated so I’d need to be explain.
After instructing the witches on the spell, we all gathered around, holding hands as we stood by the river. A breeze drifted in off the water. The energy in the nature that surrounded us would help. It would be the key to increasing the power. The longer we held hands, the more power we felt. It zipped from my fingertips, through my arms, and down my body until it tingled in my toes.
When I looked over at Nicolas, he smiled and gave my hand a reassuring squeeze. Out of everyone’s confidence, his mattered the most.
We placed the herbs around the yard, calling to the North, South, East, West, and then to Fire, Earth, Water and Wind. We recited the words that I hoped would bind Cora from doing any more magic until I released her.
It was fantastic to have the other witches here to make this spell more powerful. Had my magic improved so much that I wouldn’t have even needed them? I wasn’t willing to chance it. But my doubts had come back, making me wonder if I had caused all the problems with my bad magic.
Maybe it was me who was the problem all along. Maybe I was the one who needed my magic bound. They should have revoked my witch card a long time ago.
We finished the spell and I happened to glance over at the manor. Cora stood by the side of the house. She was even angrier now than a few moments ago, if that was possible. I knew she was glaring at us, even though I couldn’t focus on her eyes completely. She stood there for a moment and then turned and hurried away. At least I knew that Cora couldn’t cast any spells to get back at us this time.
Cora had barely left the side of the house when I saw the creature flapping around in circles. It was the bat. I didn’t know if it was the same one, but I had my suspicions that it was. Surely I didn’t have more than one around. If so, I would really freak out. I needed a bat cage or something. Garlic? No, Nicolas probably wouldn’t like that.
“Do you see that?” I asked.
Nicolas followed my pointing finger. “See what?”
“It’s the bat I told you about.” It felt as if the wind had been knocked out of me.
“The one from the attic?”
The bat swooped away from the house and looped through the air. It was headed right toward us. The coven members shrieked when they spotted the creature coming at us. It flew in circles around our heads. The squeaking sounded as if it was right in our ears.
It was almost as if the bat knew exactly what it was doing. Was that possible? I suppose anything was possible. Could someone have created the bat as a way to seek revenge? Like
Cora? After all, I had seen the bat some time ago. Maybe it was her little pet. It would be just like her to have that creepy creature around. The bat circled around a few more times and then finally fluttered away.
“I think that the bat was doing that on purpose.” He watched the sky.
I nodded. “Yes, I think it was too.”
I would have to get over my fear of bats quickly.
“Well, at least it’s gone now.” He wrapped his arms around me.
“I hope the thing doesn’t come back,” Linda said, wrapping her arms in front of her chest.
If the bat had wanted to stop us from casting a spell, then it hadn’t worked. As far as I could tell the spell had been a success. After all, Cora had walked away without doing anything.
“I guess we should go back inside before that thing comes back.” I rubbed my arms to fight off the chill.
“Have you seen a lot of bats around here?” Linda asked as she peered up at the sky.
“Just the one in the attic,” I said with a wave of my hand.
“Oh, is that all?” Jules pinched her eyebrows together.
We went back into the parlor to discuss my apparent bat problem. Thank goodness Nicolas was trying to assure everyone that it wasn’t a problem. I’d had no idea they would be so interested in this. Finally, he ushered everyone toward the door. I was grateful for the help, but glad to be alone so that I could work through some of the problems.
“Thanks for coming, everyone,” Nicolas said as he waved them off.
They peered up at the sky for the bat as they walked to their cars.
“Wow, they were really interested in that bat,” I said when he closed the door.
“I’m not sure why.” He ran his hand through his hair.
“Maybe they just think it’s a creepy creature.” I knew that was my thought.
Chapter 22
Nicolas pulled me toward his hard chest and wrapped me in his warm and strong embrace. “You’ve been too stressed. I’m taking you out tonight.” He pushed the hair away from my eyes. “You need to get away from the manor.”