by RM Walker
Josh crashed to his knees in front of her, and he knocked her hands to the side as he grabbed at the strings and pulled. Jake grabbed her from behind as black spots danced in her vision. No matter how much Josh was pulling there was still more pouring out.
Josh was wrenched away, and Jonas caught her hands. Drew’s hand clamped onto the top of her head as he shoved Jake away from her. They pushed her onto her back and she arched upwards in panic. Jonas held her down as Drew pushed two fingers into her mouth. It was too much, it was making it worse, and she tried to fight him.
Her hands were gripped and held to the side, stopping her from clawing at Drew. His mouth was moving, but she heard nothing over the rushing in her ears. Her lungs were bursting, her head was spinning. She couldn’t hold on. The black spots covered her vision and took her under where there was no more pain.
Magic
Her eyes flew open as she sucked air into her abused lungs.
“That’s it, just breathe,” Matt whispered from beside her.
“Oh god, oh god, I couldn’t breathe, Matt, I couldn’t breathe, did I die?” She grabbed for him. “What was that stuff?”
“It would appear your magic has more sense than you.” Drew’s voice was tight with anger. “You told me you wouldn’t take any more tablets. Damn it, Lily, you nearly died. How could you do that?”
She got to her feet, clinging to Matt. “I haven’t. I wasn’t...I was just trying to stop you. You were shouting, and don’t you see? That was what I saw at the pool. You’re so busy fighting each other it will be too late.” She lifted a hand and massaged her sore throat. She felt awful, she’d had enough, and she wanted to go home.
“What did you try to do?” Nate moved to stand in front of her, taking her face in his hands. She gripped his wrists, jerking back when she saw her hands.
“I’m covered in—what is this? It’s disgusting.”
Nate caught her attention. “What did you try to do?”
“I called up wind to get you to stop, or at least I tried, nothing happened. I tried fire, nothing worked. Something popped in my head, it hurt so much, but then it went and all this blood and then the black—”
He stroked her cheeks. His touch calmed her, chased away the panic trying to creep back in.
“Your magic was trying to expel the suppressant on it. If you’d carried on much longer with them last time this would have happened already,” Drew stated.
“Why did it happen this time?” Nate demanded.
“And you only took the one?” Drew ignored Nate, holding her gaze.
The boys looked at her in confusion. She’d never told them, never had the right moment, and she’d forgotten it.
“Tablets? You’re taking the tablets again?” Nate kept his tone level, but she saw the flash of disappointment and worry in his eyes.
“I only took one, it was after I threw him across the room and I realised she was right, saying I’m dangerous.”
“Threw him across the room?” Nate frowned at her.
“That’s not important. We need to figure out how it got into you.” Drew caught their attention. “And cleaning you up. You stink.”
“Sorry, babe, but you do stink,” Matt admitted.
Warmth washed over her; the black gunk mixed with blood vanished from her hands, clothes, and the carpet. She lifted her hair and sniffed; it smelt freshly washed. “Thanks, Dad.”
“You’re welcome. Sorry I jumped to conclusions. I should’ve known she wouldn’t just agree. She must be putting it into your food somewhere, and lots of it for you to reject it so strongly.”
Lily’s heart sank, and she closed her eyes. She’d been stupid to think her mum would just let it go. That she’d respect her wishes not to cover it. Instead, she’d made certain Lily had those tablets, come what may. And it’d almost killed her.
Josh touched her shoulder. “Babe?”
“Porridge. It’s the only thing it can be hidden in that I eat regularly. She’s made certain I eat it. Even made a point of telling me to eat it when she was away. I thought it was because she was worried I wouldn’t eat.” She clenched her teeth against the pain, refusing to cry. She’d cried enough tears for her mother.
“I’m going to kill her,” Drew muttered. He crossed to the desk, banged his fist down and then snatched up a stack of papers. “Okay, here’s the deal. You and me, Lily, we’ll do this together. We’ll get the curse off, we’ll find out if we need to worry about the Council. You’ll go camping, we’ll go to Glastonbury together, and when we get back here you’re going to move every bit of your things into my place. I’ll clear out the spare room.”
“Move into—I can’t just—”
Jonas made a pained noise, scribbling on his pad and lifting it for them to read.
Get this off me, argue later.
He was right, they needed to get the curse removed and then sort things out. Everything really depended on what he’d say anyway.
See, watch, listen
“Ring it with salt,” Drew instructed Nate. “No gaps, no breaks, just outside the chalk circle.” He placed his hands on his thighs as he knelt opposite Lily inside the protective circle.
They’d pushed the sofa back, creating more space in the living room. The coffee table had been relegated to the hallway, along with Mysty, much to her disgust. The rugs had been rolled back, and Drew had drawn a sigil in chalk. He’d then ringed it with chalk, leaving enough space for them to sit inside the circle without touching the sigil.
Brown unlit candles sat on the four cardinal points, and a small bowl of Jonas’s blood sat on top of the chalk drawn eye in the middle. Dried leaves of mugwort lay by the four ordinal points, and Lily held strands of Jonas’s hair in her palms.
She couldn’t look when they’d taken blood from his tongue and pulled several strands of hair from his head. But without it they couldn’t complete the spell.
“No gaps, Nate,” Drew repeated as Nate ringed the circle behind Lily, dropping a kiss on top of her head as he passed her. “Any opening and it’ll be harder for me to anchor her here. If anything happens to my daughter because you were careless, I’ll kill you.”
Nate finished the circle and straightened. “She’s our girlfriend. Keep her safe or die trying, because if she gets hurt, we’ll kill you.”
Lily resisted an eye roll knowing the level of male protectiveness was because they loved her. She just wished they’d realise they were all on the same side and stop with the pissing contest.
“Are you comfortable?” Drew caught her attention.
“Yeah, it’s quite exciting. I feel like a real witch now.” Lily watched as he lit the mugwort bundles with a conventional match.
“And calling up fire doesn’t?” Drew laughed.
“Well, I’d feel much more magical if I was waving a wand when I did it.”
“Jesus, Lily, please. Keep your mind off Disney and concentrate on what you’re supposed to be doing here. If something happens to you...” Josh faded out.
He was leaning against the door with Jake. They were pressed together as usual, arms around each other’s neck. Matt sat on the chair opposite Jonas, with Nate perched on the arm now he’d finished ringing the circle.
“I’ll be careful, I promise.” She looked around at each of them and drew a deep breath. “Okay. Let’s do this.”
“Boys, don’t forget, once the circle is charged you cannot cross it. No matter what you see or hear.” He looked over at Jonas. “Keep them away, Jonas, or she could get lost.”
“We know,” Nate snapped. “Just be careful with her.”
Drew put out the flames on the mugwort and set them down with the smoking ends pointing outwards. She wrinkled her nose as the smoke curled upwards. It was an odd smell, not unpleasant, but not the best scent ever either.
“Circumda nos.” Drew spoke softly, and a spark of electric blue flickered into life, spreading around the salt in a way that reminded her of the gas hob in their kitchen.
Th
e atmosphere changed the moment the ring was sealed. The candlewicks caught alight, the unwavering flames straight, and she knew it wasn’t Drew who’d lit them. Something shifted inside her; like a great dragon uncoiling itself. It slid through her veins, wrapped around every nerve, every muscle, stretching until it filled her. Now she knew, now she understood.
She was magic, and magic was her.
Apprehension, nerves, doubts, and fears dropped away as she allowed magic to settle into its rightful place.
“I’ll keep you stable and connected, but I won’t be there.” Drew’s voice brought her attention to him. “Keep your ears and eyes open. Remember, they can’t see you or hear you.”
He lifted his palms, and she rested the backs of her hands on them. He guided her hands, turning them to let the hair fall into the bowl. The moment they touched the blood they curled as if alive.
“Videre, vigilate, audite, ignis, a sanguine.”
The flames from the candles bent at right angles until they met in the middle of the sigil, over the bowl of blood.
“See, watch, listen, by fire, by blood,” she echoed his words in English.
Smoke filled her eyes, nose, and for one horrifying moment she thought she was going to sneeze. It swirled around her, the sneeze passed, and her body relaxed until she was weightless. The floor beneath her was soft, like marshmallows, and that made her sway and rock. Drew’s hold on her hands was keeping her from sinking through the floor.
Until he let go and she fell.
OPPRESSIVE DARK WOOD panelling lined the walls of the long corridor. The floor was stone flagged, worn from the travel of thousands of feet over the years. Her trainers made no noise. She looked down and a gasp left her lips. There were no windows, the only light coming from gas lamps at intervals along the walls. Pictures hung each side, alternating with the lamps and stuffed animal heads. Intense melancholy and despair washed over her as she walked. These weren’t stags, or tigers, or any animal she knew. These were creatures she’d once thought myth: A man’s head but with the muzzle of a wolf; long dried blood stained the beautiful grey fur covering his lower face. A wood nymph was frozen, mouth open in an eternal silent scream. A mortal woman, no, not completely mortal, her eyes had vertical pupils, like a cat, or snake, and the coloured iris was a beautiful purple. Her grey hair was long, but Lily could see the edges of pointed ears poking through the strands. She looked away, heartsore at the loss of life so callously displayed, no matter the reason for their death.
The heavy gilt framed pictures were like paintings she’d seen in antique shops and museums, but unlike the ones of long dead dukes and lords, all these held were blank canvases. Gold plagues underneath revealed disturbing titles, and she was glad she couldn’t see the images.
“Whipped twice around the May Pole, 1349”
“Torture reveals truth. Date unknown.”
“Beheading of the Bellamy sisters. March 1905”
“Triumph at Tanglemyre: The last Satyr slain. 1999”
“Burning of Hazel Mayberry. Date unknown.”
She could take no more and she kept her gaze fixed on the gloomy corridor ahead. Some people hunted wild animals and then mounted the heads as a trophy of their kill, but she had the feeling these heads weren’t trophies, but warnings of what would happen if the Council was crossed.
She reached a line of medieval suits of armour. She wasn’t a huge fan of the empty blackness behind the visors, or at least she hoped the helmets were empty.
A murmur of voices came from behind a curtained off door at the end of the corridor, too far to make out. She crept forward side-eyeing the armour, but thankfully, they remained on silent vigil. She stopped by the curtain and a female voice rang out.
“Don’t try and fool us.”
“I passed your tests, didn’t I? Haven’t I done enough to prove myself for you?” The deep slow voice was unmistakably Jonas’s.
“This is for the Reformation, you know this.” The female’s voice sent a chill down Lily’s back and her teeth on edge; it was worse than fingernails down a blackboard.
She knew she could go in, but she was scared now she was here. What if they saw her? What if they could hurt her?
You can do this, Lilith. Use me.
Drew’s voice echoed in her head. She took a deep breath, and drawing on his strength, she went into the room. She held her breath, waiting for the commotion when they saw her. But it didn’t come. They couldn’t see her, but she could see them.
A heavy wooden desk sat in front of French doors that led out to a balcony. One of the doors was ajar, and the gauze curtains covering them shimmered in the breeze. It was summer time, if the glimpse of blue skies and flower beds beyond were anything to go by.
A black-haired man sat on a chair in front of the desk, his back to Lily. In front of him, on the business side of the desk, sat a woman. She had shoulder length glossy brown hair. Lily couldn’t tell how old she was, but she reminded her of an old-fashioned school mistress, with her high collared white blouse. A gold necklace hung around her throat, the coiling gold of the Ouroborus lay between her breasts. She gave nothing away of her thoughts as she studied Jonas.
Lily stepped forward tentatively but grew bolder when they gave no reaction to her.
“I find it hard to believe in a family line that strong.” She clasped her hands together, the green eyes of the Ouroborus ring flashing as her fingers moved.
“So did I,” Jonas remarked, crossing his legs. “Four of them, related by blood and the moon?”
“And two on the Samhain.” She arched a perfectly formed eyebrow.
“My thoughts exactly. I was expecting at least one of them to be either a witch or a fae. Both run in the family, but well, I guess it happens, Hestia. We can’t control magic, any more than it can control us.”
“That may as well be.” She set her hands flat on the polished wood of the desk and tapped long nails. “You don’t need me to tell you what will happen if it was discovered you’d made—let’s call it a mistake. Are you absolutely certain?”
“One hundred percent. No magical abilities at all, none in the parents, no mention of anything remotely odd, no response to magical tests, nothing.”
“And the parents?”
“I wiped their memories.”
“Good, no need to alarm the rank and file.”
“Is there anything else before I leave?”
“Oh, yes, you sail on the morning tide, don’t you? Where are you headed again?”
“The Outer Hebrides. Norse mythology. They say that—”
“Yes, yes, Timothy. I’m sure it’s very fascinating, but I really don’t have time. You know what has to happen now, don’t you?”
“I took an oath when I joined the Reformation. I will stand by that till I die.”
“They’re just words. We can’t take the risk. You’re never coming back here, so what does it matter if this is placed upon you? Come now, don’t be such a baby. There’s nothing you’re keeping from us, is there?” She blinked, and for a few seconds her eyes were sibilant, evil, terrifying.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake. Let’s get it over and done with, Hestia. I have a dinner reservation for seven at the Seville.”
“For two?” she inquired, an unpleasant smile tugging her thin lips.
Jonas said nothing, just lifted a shoulder in a nonchalant manner.
She stood up and muttering something under her breath, she waved her hand in an odd pattern.
Jonas jerked, and Lily covered her mouth in horror. Skin grew over his eyes, sealing them shut. Eyebrows, lashes, not even his eye sockets remained. His ears were the same; lumps of skin hanging on the side of his head. She heard the arms of the chair crack under the tightness of his grip. An agonized sound left his throat and tears ran down her face. Helpless to free him, or take the pain away, she lifted her hand to his back, but her fingers passed straight through.
A grating noise came from the wall, and part of the bookshelf moved, and she
realised it was a hidden door. It opened, revealing a man with a shock of ginger hair coming silently into the room. He bowed to the woman and then came straight towards her. She skipped to the side, and he stopped directly where she’d been standing. He flicked his fingers and shackles appeared around Jonas’s wrists and ankles, pinning him to the chair.
He gripped Jonas’s chin, opening his mouth and taking hold of his tongue. Lily covered her face with her hands childishly. She peeked through her fingers, knowing she had to watch everything that happened, no matter how much she wanted to run and never look back.
He lifted the knife and Lily’s vision wavered as her body went limp, she was going to faint. She grabbed for the desk, but her hand went through. Power slid through her, wrapping around her elbows, holding her up, and she knew it was Drew. She concentrated on the support and strength it gave her. She couldn’t miss anything that happened. She looked over and dry-heaved, the man held Jonas’s severed tongue in his fingers.
“Silent tongue shall tell no one.
Words, like a knife, will end your life”
The man muttered the words repeatedly as he pressed the flesh back into the bloody mess that was Jonas’s mouth. Nothing happened for a few seconds, and then she saw his tongue start to slowly reattach itself and heal, until finally there was no indication of the torture inflicted on him. The man turned to Hestia, bowed and left the room the same way he’d come in. The door shut, and the books were in secret alignment once more.
Hestia waved her hand; the skin fell from his eyes and ears, and the blood that had been copious was gone. He gasped, falling forward in the chair, and just managing to stay seated. He was still shaking, his body twitching with remembered pain.
Lily wanted to launch herself across the desk and kill Hestia for what she had so callously inflicted on Jonas. She felt her magic rising, uncoiling again as Jonas braced himself and then stood. He tugged down the thick multi-coloured jumper he wore, and put a hand through his hair as if to smooth the strands.