Each of the ladies climbed onto their brooms, and then Khat and Hildy both chose ones nearly as sleek as the one Carol had chosen. They seemed comfortable with their brooms, so I suspected they were brooms they often rode. It made me feel a little like I’d joined a class for horseback riding, only to discover I was the only newcomer. But they said I couldn’t fall off unless cursed, so I hoped I’d be okay.
With my stomach jumping, I swung my foot over the handle of my broom and looked at my friends, feeling uncertain. “Um…”
“Jump!” Deva yelled as she did exactly as she said. As she rose into the air, Carol followed quickly behind as our hosts hovered near the ground. Hildy was riding in a way that was essentially sidesaddle, so the broom didn’t push up her skirt. For some reason I hadn’t expected her to care.
I stood for a long minute studying them hovering in the air. None of them looked the least bit scared. In fact, they looked excited. And that alone was enough to ease a bit of my anxiety. Surely if this was terrifying, they wouldn’t be so quick to do it again, right?
“You ready?” Beth asked.
Psyching myself up, I did a countdown in my head, squealed as I squatted down, and then jumped into the air. The hard, wooden handle took my weight right between my legs. It didn’t hurt, but it wasn’t exactly pleasant either. I had a moment of wondering if riding sidesaddle was more comfortable. I was far too nervous about rapidly rising into the air to fully notice if straddling a broom was going to end up painful after a few minutes, but I guess I’d jump that hurdle when I came to it. I felt more like I was holding my breath, trying to decide at which height I should start freaking the heck out.
I followed my friends and the two witch hosts over an expanse of trees. None of us were going too high, just above the trees, and… it felt amazing. The wind was whipping all around me, like when I would unroll all my car windows and drive down a slowly winding road. Only, this was even better. Part of me wanted to stick and arm out and roll one of my hands through the air, like I did with the car window. It was like I could taste the cleanest air imaginable, like I was actually some kind of fantastical creature that had grown wings and taken off into the sky.
It was truly incredible, so when I pointed the tip of the broom down and I started to slide, I didn’t expect it. Screaming out, I gripped the broom as hard as I could and squawked for my friends. “Beth!”
She pulled up on her broom handle and chuckled. “You won’t fall off!”
I wasn’t so sure about that, but I was not pointing my broom down for a while. And the pleasant experience I was having just a minute ago? The feeling had all but disappeared. Now, I was just tightly gripping the broom and hoping like mad we reached wherever we were going as soon as possible.
After a few minutes, Hildy waved toward the ground, and all the women pointed their brooms down and started to descend. For a minute, I didn’t do anything. I just stared down at the trees and remembered that feeling, like I was falling.
“You can’t stay up here forever,” Carol said, with a laugh.
Deva looked back at me and gave a reassuring smile. “You’ll be okay. I promise.”
I took a deep breath and just slightly tilted the handle down. This time, the descent didn’t feel quite as much like I was going to fly off and fall to my death. So, with my sweaty hands tightly gripping the wooden handle, I gritted my teeth and focused on the little clearing, which seemed to be our goal. The wind plucked at me a bit, making my descent not nearly as smooth as my flight, but I just kept focusing. Hoping and praying jumping on a broom and flying wouldn’t be the last adventure I ever had.
After what felt like forever, I landed beside Deva with my hair no doubt frazzled and flying everywhere. I dropped the broom on the ground and stepped back from it like it was a snake, before wiping my sweaty palms on my pants and trying to fix my crazy hair.
“Don’t worry, you look… nice,” Deva said, noticing my struggles.
I glared at her and her short, perfect hair. “Next time, I’m cutting my hair first.”
“Oh, I know the perfect person to do your hair!” she said, far too excited.
I lifted a brow. “Uh, do you not like my hair?”
She shrugs. “I like it. But you’ve been wearing it that way since we were kids. Maybe it’s time for a change.”
She had a point there. Breathing deeply, more like I’d run to the woods instead of flying, I realized that the other ladies had all gone to sit in the grass in a circle. So, I hurried forward to sit beside Khat and Hildy. After all, we weren’t here to learn about witches and brooms, we were here to protect Beth. I couldn’t forget that.
“What do I do?” I whispered as Beth completed the circle.
“Nothing,” Hildy said. “Just join hands. I will complete the spell and draw power from you if I need it.”
“Draw power from me? Will that hurt?”
She lifted a brow, and her eyes seemed to twinkle. “No. It never hurts. But for someone as powerful as you? It shouldn’t even make you tired.”
“How do you know I’m powerful?”
“I know a lot of things,” she said mysteriously, then stretched out one of her hands toward me and the other to Khat who sat on Hildy’s other side.
Okay. So, this wasn’t going to hurt, and I just had to hold her hand? I could do that. I flew on a damn broom, challenged sirens, and raised a son. Holding hands with a weird witch? Easy enough. Could’ve been a lot worse.
Hildy sucked in a deep breath and she looked like she was completely in her element. Her flowing skirt was spreading out around her, and her blonde hair fell wildly around her shoulders, but in a way that was pretty, versus my hair, which probably looked like it was attacked by a weed whacker. What’s more, she just seemed… peaceful. I imagined that she never felt more like herself than when she was with nature. Kind of how I felt when I was in my parent’s house.
“Great Mother Earth,” she began. “We call upon you in an hour of need, to reveal the secrets of our world. Secrets that could be dangerous. We call upon you to help channel our powers and show us what we need to know.”
I looked at Beth, about to mutter something about this whole thing being weird, but her gaze was locked on Hildy, so I shut up and looked back at the witch. For a long time, nothing happened, we just sat in silence, and then I felt something, like a tingle, moving through my hand where I was connected to Hildy. At first, I wasn’t sure if it was connected to all of this, but then the tingly feeling increased until it was almost uncomfortable.
A strange sense, that we were all connected, rushed over me. I swore I could hear all their heartbeats beating in tune with mine, and our breaths were all measured and controlled together. It wasn’t like I was sliding into their bodies, but more so that we were connected in a way I could never imagine. And then, that feeling grew, and suddenly I was overwhelmed by the scents of the forest. Pine filled my nostrils, and the wind seemed to wrap around my skin. I could feel each tree gently moving with the breeze, and all the plants bending under its force. It even felt like I was aware of every single animal in the woods around us.
And then, for one terrible moment, it was like I was that in tune with the whole world. With every living person. With every plant and creature. I was lost for a minute, no longer a person, but a vessel.
I almost said it was too much, that I couldn’t handle anymore, when it abruptly ended.
This time… I felt alone. So alone that tears filled my eyes, and my chest felt heavy with a need to sob and sob into the sky, to reach out for all the living things that I was briefly connected to.
But Hildy fell over, drawing me back to reality in an instant. Her friend, Khat, lurched forward and tried to help, but Hildy’s eyes rolled up in her head and she twitched. It was as if whatever spell she’d created was too much for her body, and it scared me. Was this supposed to happen? Or had something gone wrong?
I looked at the others. They all seemed worried, which told me that this wasn’t norm
al. And that deep sense of worry grew deeper inside of me. This seemed like the best choice to discover who was after Beth, but what if we’d hurt someone for the information? I wasn’t sure I could forgive myself.
“What’s wrong with her?” I gasped.
Deva yanked something out of her pocket. “Here.” She handed Khat a little piece of candy. “That will give her strength.”
Khat stuffed the candy in Hildy’s mouth and looked back at Deva with uncertainty, but Deva nodded her on as she said, “Massage her throat.”
A few seconds later, Hildy calmed down and blinked at us as she struggled to sit up. “Oh, my,” she whispered. “That was intense.”
Intense? Okay, so none of this was normal, but she seemed okay now. So, what did she mean by intense?
She breathed deep and took another piece of candy from Deva, who apparently had a whole stash in her pocket. “Thank you, dear. Your candy really helped me break away.”
“Away from what?” I squeaked.
Hildy looked at Beth with grave eyes. “The force that held me… it must be destroyed, or I fear it will destroy you.”
Uh oh.
Beth’s cheeks paled as she absorbed Hildy’s words.
“Can we find the source?” Deva asked, and even though she was hard to rattle, she seemed shaken, almost scared.
Actually, the whole group seemed upset. So, what did all this mean?
Khat held Hildy’s hands as the witch nodded. “I believe we can find the source and save Beth, but the cost may be great.”
15
Emma
The night air was cold, and the wind carried with it the scents of the forest, of green life and nature, but there was also another scent, one that felt like magic. Or, maybe, I was only imagining the sweet and spicy something that whispered that it was supernatural. Yet, every time I took a deep breath, I couldn’t shake the sense that this night held the possibility of incredible things.
In front of me, a bonfire blazed. The dancing flames illuminated the trees in a way that was some mix of frightening and liberating. Kind of like how every day had been since becoming Karma. With each leap of the flames, the shadows danced around us, and it made it feel like the man who attacked us could be feet from us, and we’d never even know. Sometimes I even imagined eyes watching me from the dark, but I tried to push away the silly fear. Instead, I focused on the fire, but I couldn’t shake free of what I was about to do. In a lot of ways, it was the most terrifying thing I’ve done since coming back to Mystic Hollow.
Which was silly. I’d been through so much craziness. And yet, it didn’t change the way I felt.
Gulping, I did everything I could to calm my heart rate. Breathing evenly, I wiggled my toes in the grass, enjoying the feel of the dampness of the soil. I was safe. I had no reason to be so terrified. And I was a logical person. Wasn’t I?
A hand on my back gently pushed me forward. As I stepped lightly over the grass, I looked back at Beth’s smiling face. She winked at me from under her hooded robe. I wore one just like it, as did Deva and Carol, and a whole bunch of nameless witches from the coven. To them, all of this was normal. But to me, it was like standing up in front of a crowd and singing, with my awful singing voice. Or, maybe, diving off the edge of a cliff and just hoping I don’t come down on a rock… or two inches of water.
What was coming made my stomach churn. But I simply had to do it. I had to help Beth figure out what was going on before she was hurt by all this insanity. And they had all assured me this was the only way. So, this would just be the next thing that the “new” me would do. I just hoped no one else could tell just how nervous I was.
Without warning, someone pulled on my robe, yanking it off my back.
A small squeak left my lips, and my hands flew to cover my most important parts. I spun back to see Carol behind me, looking pleased with herself.
Then, all my friends dropped their robes too, along with the other witches. And, yeah, we were all standing around naked. This wasn’t even like when I had to get naked in the locker room in high school. As embarrassed as I had been then, my boobs weren’t pancakes back then, my butt round and low, and my belly covered in stretch marks. Now, I had something to be self-conscious about.
“There ya’ go,” Carol finally said with laughter in her voice. “The first time is the hardest.”
Someone began singing, an old song, acapella, as the women from the coven began to dance. And it was strange. Suddenly, I realized that no one was staring at me. No one was whispering behind their hands about old pancake boobs. They were just… dancing. Dancing as if no one was watching. Dancing, their arms waving above their bodies, and their hips swinging like there wasn’t a thing in the world wrong about dancing naked in the woods.
I had the strangest moment when all of this felt normal.
It was official. I’m losing my mind.
“Come on,” Deva whispered as she took my hand. “Just focus on the magic and the stars. You’ll forget you’re naked soon.”
I tried to do as she said and to my utter shock, she was right. As easy as it had been to see the other women looking so free, it quickly became easy for me too. Soon I was humming along, the tune quickly becoming a part of me, pounding through my blood and heart as my magic pulsed out of me and joined the collective magic of the group.
Because that was exactly what was happening now. Our magic was dancing together. Each of us radiated a different color, a light that was more subtle than the light from the flames, but the colors lifted above our heads, moving above us like smoke with a mind of its own. The colors began to swirl together, joining, and the cloud group bigger. My own color, to my surprise, was a lovely purple, like lavender. And as I stared at it, spinning around, my heart swelled. Lavender. It was a good color. A color I was proud of.
Carol’s magic seemed to be a subtle mix of colors, unlike most of the other women. Her colors reminded me of her knitting projects. Even the thought made me smile. Beth’s was a bright pink, no surprise there. It reminded me of her personality. She’d always had the best smile. The biggest personality. She was bright pink, inside, and out. Deva’s, on the other hand, was a soft blue. No less beautiful than the pink, but it captured her in a way that made tears gather in my eyes.
There were so many colors. So much magic gathered together. It made me feel this deep sense that every person in the world had a color, like their aura, or their soul, and that every color was beautiful in its own way.
My gaze met with Beth’s, and there were tears in her eyes. I wondered, since she wasn’t allowed to join the coven, if she was just overwhelmed by emotions too. Or if it was because she was afraid of what she might learn tonight.
Unable to help myself, I went and snagged her hands. We spun together like children, and she smiled, even as her tears finally escaped and rolled down her cheeks. I felt myself crying too, but it was like my soul was just that happy.
The clearing began to feel heavy. Like a roof filling with steam. I glanced up at the cloud above us, and it almost blocked out the sky. Only the moon still peeked through the rainbow of dancing colors. I held my breath, feeling like we were on the edge of something powerful.
Suddenly, a harsh voice filled the clearing. We stopped dancing and whirled around to find Hildy standing with her arms spread in the air.
My heart raced. A coldness I didn’t understand rolled down my spine, and I felt the mood of the women around me change. The colors above us exploded out, and cold wind rushed toward us, nearly putting out the bonfire. A few tiny flames and embers remained, but otherwise, we were swallowed in darkness.
Everyone seemed to be holding their breaths.
Hildy walked over the hot coals and came to stand in the middle of them, not even wincing. Her gaze was focused above her, at the moon, and her arms remained spread wide. Her body jerked a couple of times, and then she crumbled to her knees, and the remaining flames were quenched, as embers rose up around the witch. “The missing man has returned,
” Hildy said, her voice guttural and hard to understand. “He’s no longer human.”
Beth gasped, and my chest felt tight. I stepped back and put my arm around her shoulders, not even caring that we were both naked. The missing man wasn’t human? That couldn’t be good.
Hildy continued as all the embers fell and disappeared, “The only way to stop him is to find the person who did the first spell. He or she must undo it, or Beth will never be free.”
“Who did the spell?” Deva called, sounding upset.
With her eyes closed, Hildy looked at Deva. Creepy. “They are not of our coven. They are rogue.”
A rogue witch? Was that common? Was that something my friends would know how to handle?
Hildy fell on her side, and a couple witches rushed forward and drew her from the ash. They wrapped her in a robe, and then everyone began to dress. A somberness had fallen over us all. Apparently, as amazing as it was to connect my magic with other women, the truth has a way of destroying that feeling of happiness inside of me.
My friends and I grabbed our robes and covered up. I could barely see them in the darkness, but I could sense their grim moods. Smoke hung in the air, hung over us all, blocking out the scents of nature and of fresh air. It was as if a switch had been flipped and everything was different.
Clearly, the night was done. The magic had disbursed, and now we knew. The danger for Beth had become a concrete thing. A concrete person we had to find, in order to keep her safe. And whatever we had to do, we had to do it soon.
Or we could lose Beth. And I wouldn’t lose her, no matter what it cost me.
Karma's Shift (Magical Midlife in Mystic Hollow Book 2) Page 9