Bane

by Trish Milburn

  “Possibly.” She indicates a pad of paper and pen on the countertop.

  I fold back a grocery list in progress and draw the double spiral. When I’m finished, I turn the notepad so it faces Fiona.

  “That’s also a symbol of balance. Where did you see it?”

  “My mother gave me a belt buckle and earrings with that symbol. And then the other day I saw it on a bracelet Sarah Davenport was wearing.”

  “Could be just a coincidence. Celtic symbols are popular even among people who have no Celtic ancestry.”

  I look down at the symbol. “I’m not a big believer in coincidences.”

  “Perhaps it’s not. We did come across that passage about a balance in nature. Then there are the dark and light sides to you, to all of us really. Maybe you’re the one who will find that perfect balance within yourself or be the one to bring balance.”

  Suddenly, the idea of having that much responsibility makes me exhausted. But there is still plenty of work to be done. If there’s an answer in the basement about how the Bane and white witches are connected, I intend to find it.

  Fiona pats my cheek. “You’ll figure it out, sweetie.”

  I follow her back downstairs. When I reach the basement, Egan meets my eyes then looks behind me.

  “Where’s Toni?” he asks.

  “She went outside for a bit.”

  “Alone?” There was no disguising the concern.

  “Yes, and I think she wants to keep it that way for a while. She’s right outside.”

  Egan is on the verge of bolting when Fiona steps behind him and places her hands on his shoulders. “Give her some time. You’ll know the right moment to tell her how you feel.”

  Egan opens his mouth, but no protest comes out. Has he finally decided to give in and stop holding Toni at arm’s length? My hope that this is the case increases an hour later when Egan asks if anyone wants anything to drink and heads for the stairs. This after he’s looked at the stairs at least two dozen times in the past hour.

  Everyone passes on his offer, and I smile as I watch him bound up the stairs.

  I glance back at all the material we still have to sift through, frustrated that I’ve found no more references to the Bane or white witches. When I realize we’ve covered way more than we have left, that’s exciting but also worrisome. Why can’t a big, blinking, neon sign show up in the sky pointing me toward what I need? Answers about the Bane and what exactly being a white witch means. Toward the missing page of the Beginning Book and whatever mystery it holds. If I go through the rest of this and find nothing, I fully intend to hunt down Sarah Davenport and tell her she has no choice but to tell me everything.

  “Do you think he’s finally tired of being a jackass?” Keller asks as he looks toward the door at the top of the stairs.

  “Guess we’re about to find out.” I refocus on the text in front of me.

  We all jump when the door at the top of the stairs bangs open. Power springs to life at my fingertips as I push back my chair and stand in one motion. It’s Egan, but he looks panicked. “She’s gone,” he says.

  “What?” Keller says, instantly alert.

  But Egan has already left the empty doorway in his wake. I race up the stairs with Keller on my heels and everyone else following. I find Egan outside, scanning the area surrounding the shop.

  Egan points at me, and his eyes go dark. “You left Toni alone, and now she’s gone.”

  My heart drops a moment before my own power leaps to attention, turning me into a living, breathing electrical storm. I’ve got to find Toni. And then I’ll kill whoever took her.

  Chapter Ten

  “Jax, Egan, calm down,” Keller says as he reaches a hand out to both of us.

  The voice inside my head is yelling so loudly that I can barely hear him. And I definitely don’t want to heed his urging to calm down.

  She’s gone, and it’s your fault.

  Keller takes a step toward me, and I spin toward him with my hand outstretched to blast him. I stop myself just in time. He’s not successful in hiding his fear before I see it. What am I doing? With great effort, I quell my power enough to stop the charges arcing at my fingertips. I can’t, however, purge myself of the guilt. Why hadn’t I come out here with Toni? Told her she needed to stay inside?

  “What’s going on, guys?”

  I spin and look behind me on the sidewalk. Toni stands there with a takeout coffee cup in one hand and a bag from the pharmacy in the other.

  Egan stalks past me but pulls himself up short before he gets to her. He takes a moment to shut down his power surge, but his anger doesn’t lessen one bit. “Where the hell have you been?”

  She gives him an annoyed eye roll. “To get coffee and some hair color, not that it’s any of your business,” she says.

  “It is my business!”

  “I fail to see why.” She takes a sip of her coffee, which only seems to fuel Egan’s anger.

  “We thought you’d been taken,” he says.

  “I was a block up the street. It’s not like I’m stupid enough to go off somewhere by myself.”

  Fiona pats Toni’s shoulder. “We’re glad you’re okay, honey.” Then she and Adele go back inside.

  Toni glances at Egan. “You look like you’ve got an uncomfortable bunch in your drawers.”

  Egan makes a growling sound of frustration. “You make me crazy.”

  “I could have sworn you didn’t think about me at all.”

  “Oh, my God, woman, you are so dense. I think about you all the time.”

  Toni stops lifting her coffee cup to her mouth for another drink, a mixture of hope and doubt reflected in her eyes. “You do? Why?”

  I feel the barriers fall inside Egan. “Because I love you, damn it.” He stalks forward and pulls Toni into his arms. She drops the paper cup on the path and wraps her arms around his neck.

  The dark aspects of Egan’s power recede, proof that Toni’s touch has the same effect on him that Keller’s does on me. That’s something else I need to ask Sarah about if she ever deigns to show her face to me again.

  They kiss for so long and with so much passion that I grow embarrassed. When I glance at Keller, he smiles then laughs under his breath. “I’m thinking I want to be elsewhere. How about you?”

  “Lead the way.”

  We return to the basement and go back to work. Adele and Fiona stay on the main level, preparing stock for the busy Christmas shopping season. Tired of sitting, I grab the book I was scanning and read some more while pacing around the room. A few minutes go by before Rule says, “Finally.”

  I look up and see him smiling. “Tell me you found something useful.”

  “Only the names of Penelope’s missing friends.”

  “Really?” I drop my book and rush forward to stand behind him. I look at his surprisingly pretty handwriting. Who has pretty handwriting anymore?

  “In a book of New England legends of all things. It seems that beginning soon after the girls disappeared, the legends began that they were all dead and haunting the woods around Salem. Over time, it turned into a story meant to scare kids on camping trips. ‘Be good or the dead witches will get you.’”

  I stare at the names—Jane Burkes, Elizabeth Woodley, and Vera Dewey. I reach past Rule’s shoulder and point toward Vera’s name. “I think I saw a Dewey in the cemetery where Penelope’s crypt is.”

  “Let’s go see if it’s her, and if the others are there. Determine if their graves are spelled, too.”

  “I could stand doing something else for a while,” Keller says.

  Rule stands. “Let me get my coat. Oh, and don’t mention where we’re going to my grandmother or mom. They’ve been getting weirdly protective the past couple of days.”

  I share a glance with Keller. Are they getting the feeling that time is running out, too? That before long we are going to be facing off with more witches than we can count whether we have an effective defense or not?

  I nod and we all head
upstairs.

  “Where are you all off to?” Fiona asks, sounding a bit too curious for our liking.

  “Over to the cottage,” Rule says as he grabs his coat from a hook on the wall.

  “Okay, don’t stay out too late.”

  “I won’t,” Rule says.

  “And be careful.”

  I meet Fiona’s gaze and I detect her meaning, that I’m supposed to protect her only grandchild from any harm. I give her a slight nod then follow Keller and Rule out of the shop.

  Keller drives a tick below the speed limit so we don’t draw attention. When he reaches the lane that leads to the cemetery, he switches off his headlights.

  I find I’m holding my breath until we see that no other vehicles are here. Why I thought we’d roll up on Sarah out here in the dark, I can’t say.

  Keller retrieves three apocalypse-strength flashlights, the kind that can be used as a weapon as much as a way to light up the night. I guess when you’re in the hunting evil business you can’t risk your life on a crappy flashlight.

  We approach the cemetery slowly, as if we’re afraid the bogeyman is going to jump out and scare the life right out of us.

  “You know, I might have a lot of power at my beck and call, but this place gives me the creeps,” I say.

  Rule pokes me in the side. I jump and scream like some twit in a horror movie. I swat him on the shoulder. “Not good to scare a coven witch.”

  Rule sobers. “Sorry.”

  We each take a row and examine the names that are still legible. I’m halfway down my row when I find what I’m looking for. “Here it is.” I squat in front of the simple old stone. I reach out to touch the etched letters but hesitate with my fingers just an inch from the word “Dewey.” What if this stone blasts me the way the crypt did? I survived that jolt, but it wasn’t what you’d call pleasant.

  Keller says my name just as I touch the stone. I sigh in relief when nothing happens. It feels like nothing more than the cold slab of stone that it is. I let my fingers drift over Vera’s name. That’s when I notice the small Celtic double spiral etched under her name.

  “Look familiar?” I ask as I look up at Keller.

  “Sarah’s bracelet.”

  “And the belt buckle and earrings my mother gave me. This isn’t a coincidence. It means something, a connection between us.”

  “I found Jane Burkes,” Rule says from a couple rows back. “And Elizabeth Woodley is here, too.”

  My heart rate kicks up when I see the same Celtic symbol etched into their headstones. “Fiona said it’s a symbol of balance.”

  “Seems to be a running theme,” Rule says. “Was there one on the crypt?”

  “I didn’t see one, but maybe it’s so small I missed it.”

  Rule heads toward the back of the cemetery. “Let’s check it again.”

  “Be careful. My last inspection didn’t end well,” I say.

  He turns toward me, though I can’t make out his expression with only the faint glow of his flashlight. “We know you can’t touch it,” he says. “But what about us?”

  “No, it’s too dangerous.” I hurry toward him. “If it burned my fingers, I don’t like the idea of what it might do to you.” I glance over at Keller, who has followed me. “Either of you.”

  “How likely do you think it is that the magic is going to work on normal humans?” Rule asks. “Don’t you think someone would have touched it during all these years and noticed when it knocked them flat on their butt?”

  “We should both try,” Keller says.

  I meet his gaze. “You’re not helping.”

  He walks past me. “Maybe I am. If it doesn’t affect either of us, we’ll know it’s spelled to keep away coven witches.”

  “We still won’t know why,” I say.

  “One less question is one less question,” Keller says.

  I sigh in defeat. Short of using my power to physically stop them, I know it’s no use. They’re going to do exactly what they want to, no matter what I say.

  As we approach the crypt, the hairs on my arms stand on end. Whoever spelled Penelope’s final resting place had powerful magic, like nothing I’ve seen outside of the covens. My stomach twists in knots, and I can’t tell if it’s the darkness stirring or simply my nerves. I stop several feet away from the crypt.

  “I’ll go first,” Keller says. “Pretty sure no one in my family has ever been a witch.”

  I grow more anxious and a touch nauseated as Keller walks toward the crypt. All three of us shine our flashlights toward the front where the ornate sun provides the only adornment other than the Davenport name. In the dark, it looks more like tendrils or maybe the snakes undulating off Medusa’s head.

  “Well, here goes nothing,” Keller says and quickly places his palm next to the sun.

  Nothing happens, and I’m so relieved that I laugh.

  “Guess it’s my turn,” Rule says. “Let’s see if it likes a smidge of witch.”

  “Smidge, I like it,” Keller says. “I think I’ll call you that from now on.”

  Rule gives him a dirty look, which just makes Keller laugh. The laughter fades, however, as Rule steps close to the crypt. He must be at least a little worried because he takes a deep breath before lifting his hand and stretching his fingers. He looks back at me. “If this knocks me silly, you have to come up with a good story, or my mom’s going to kill me.”

  “I’m sure we can come up with something interesting.” Keller sounds like he’s on the verge of laughing at whatever scenario is floating through his head.

  “Just when I was beginning to like you,” Rule says with a shake of his head. With another deep breath, he places his hand on the stone. Nothing happens.

  “Shucks,” Keller says.

  Rule punches him playfully in the shoulder.

  “Guess that shows exactly who isn’t supposed to be messing with this crypt,” I say.

  Rule shines his light around the front edges. “You think it’s to keep dark witches from bothering Penelope’s body since she defected from them?”

  I shrug. “Makes sense. I can totally see a dark witch taking revenge even after someone’s dead. But why just Penelope? Why are the other women’s graves not spelled?”

  “Good question,” Rule says.

  “What kind of magic is this?” Keller asks.

  “All I know is it’s powerful, like coven powerful. And it tells me the Bane members do have power because I think this type of magic has to be renewed every so often. I doubt a protection spell would last more than three hundred years without some recharging.”

  Keller shines his flashlight at the sun emblem on the front of the crypt then steps closer to it. “That symbol is on here, too, small and worked into the design of the sun so you have to be looking to see it.”

  I try to step closer to see it, but as soon as I do the darkness inside me goes on full alert and all of the hair on my arms stands on end. My long hair even starts to lift away from my scalp. Frustration pulses within me and next to it a powerful urge to do damage to the crypt, to demand entry. I’m still aware enough to know that last part isn’t me. It’s whatever has taken up residence inside me.

  I clench my fists and teeth as I take a step back, trying to calm my reactions. Keller grips my hand, taking the edge off the darkest part of me.

  “Here’s what I don’t understand,” Rule says. “If Jax is a white witch, why is the spell repelling her?”

  “Because she hasn’t accessed her full powers.”

  We all spin toward the new voice. Power is already sizzling at my fingertips when I recognize Sarah Davenport stepping into the faint light shed by our flashlights.

  Sarah stops a few feet away and meets my eyes. “If you have the potential to become a white witch, it’s buried beneath what you’ve always been, a dark witch brought up within the confines of a dark coven.”

  “How do I access the white witch powers?”

  “Determination. Think of it as a war within you, the
darkness as your foe. There will be battles every day, victories, but also losses. You’ll take ground only to lose it. But eventually one side will have to win. They cannot live side by side forever.”

  I fight an enormous wave of exhaustion, physical and mental. I’m not at all certain I have what it takes to fight this fight day after day.

  As if he knows what I’m feeling, Keller takes my hand again and gives it a reassuring squeeze. I appreciate the effort, but it does little to bolster my confidence.

  “How does she make sure she wins?” Rule asks.

  Sarah glances toward him before returning her gaze to me. “By making sure that every decision she makes is not influenced by the darkness. The more she follows the path of the light, the closer she’ll be to winning the war for supremacy inside her.”

  “She’s already on that path,” Keller says. “She left her coven, has protected her friends.”

  “She’s also attacked those same friends.” Sarah again glances at Rule. “She’s lied. She’s used magic to take over the minds of others.”

  I’m stunned that her investigation into my past has revealed so much, including the fact I used my power of influence to get a tourist to play my mother back in North Carolina so I could enroll in school.

  “But she’s not truly hurt anyone,” Keller insists.

  “It’s not just the big decisions that matter. All the little decisions, no matter how small, add up.” Sarah stares straight at me. “They are as much a part of who you are and who you will eventually become as life-and-death decisions.”

  Sarah takes a couple of steps, but I notice she stops at about the same distance from the crypt that I’ve chosen. “I can’t touch it either. None of the Bane can.”

  “What’s inside?” I ask.

  “I don’t know. All we know is that the Bane have been charged with keeping the spell in place since it was built.”

  I glance at the crypt. “Aren’t you tempted to let the spell fade away and get a peek inside?”