by TJ Green
“Have you been anywhere odd, or done something different recently?” Avery asked, suddenly suspicious.
The woman frowned. “Why are you asking that?”
“Just humour me,” she said gently.
“I went to a party on the weekend in a pub. It was a birthday party for a friend, and lots of people were there that I didn’t know.”
“Was it a good friend?”
“A friend of a friend, really. It was a good party though!” She smiled weakly. “Lots of drinks and fun. There was a punch too, very fruity.”
Avery tried not to show her concern, but what if something had happened that night? Some kind of love spell, possibly. If it was a spell, had it been directed just at this woman, or lots of people? And if so, how many others could be affected? Love spells could be dangerous, like any spell that endangered free will.
“Nothing else unusual?” Avery asked.
“No, just work,” the woman answered, sniffling into the tissue.
Avery frowned. She couldn’t cancel the spell—if it even was one—but she could soften the effects. “Maybe it’s just the party that has you feeling like that. Let me give you a hug.”
“Yes, please,” the woman said, tears once more pouring down her face.
As Avery pulled her close, she whispered a spell to calm the mind and soothe the senses. Within seconds, she felt the woman relax.
Avery pulled away. “I have just the thing to cheer you up.” She headed to the shelves where she kept a selection of coloured candles, picked up a blue one and gave it to the woman. “This is a present from me. Light it when you get home, and leave it burning all evening. It will cheer you up.”
She looked surprised. “Oh no, I can’t just take it!”
“Yes, you can. Promise me you’ll light it!”
She smiled. “Yes, of course. I feel better already. Maybe talking to someone helped.”
“It always does,” Avery reassured her, as she walked her to the door. “What pub did you go to?”
“The Flying Fish. You know, the one on the road that leads out of town, overlooking the sea.”
Avery nodded. It was one of the pubs they had investigated for mermaids the year before. “I know it. It’s big, isn’t it?”
“Very! The party was in the room on the first floor, with the balcony.” She smiled shyly. “Anyway, I must go. Thanks for the candle.”
With a jingle of bells the woman headed outside, leaving Avery wondering if someone was casting love spells, or if it was just the season of Beltane.
2
When Avery arrived at The Wayward Son, Alex’s pub that was close to the harbour, it was already busy with people dropping in for after-work drinks.
As she sat down on a stool at the far end of the bar, Alex headed to her, a broad smile on his face. His long, dark hair was loose, and as usual stubble grazed his cheeks and chin.
“Hey, gorgeous.” He leaned over and kissed her, and quickly poured her a glass of wine, sliding it in front of her. “How was your day?”
“A bit weird, actually. How was yours?”
He frowned. “Just the usual for me. What happened?”
She sipped her drink appreciatively, and then told him about the woman in the shop who had burst into tears. “I’m pretty sure I detected a spell on her.”
“Really?” Alex looked puzzled, and he leaned across the counter, lowering his voice. “That sounds odd. I mean, who would do that? None of the Cornwall Coven, surely?”
The Cornwall Coven comprised of thirteen different covens from across Cornwall. As far as they knew, there were no other witches in White Haven. There was a coven in Harecombe, the town closest to them, headed by Caspian Faversham, and it comprised of other members of his family. The next closest town with a coven was Mevagissey, and there were only two members, Oswald and Ulysses, neither of whom would be casting love spells.
Avery shook her head. “I doubt it. Maybe someone has been dabbling in magic, or perhaps it’s just Beltane?”
“I guess either is possible,” Alex said thoughtfully. “Let’s face it, anyone could try to cast spells...there are enough spell books around. Have you sold any recently?”
Avery had an occult section in her shop that included books about magic and the arcane, but White Haven was filled with occult and new age shops, and lots of other people sold books about magic, too. “I’m always selling that type of book, but tarot books are my biggest seller.”
Alex shrugged. “Maybe that woman really was a bit lonely. I think it’s more likely to be the Beltane spirit. Emotions are pretty heightened right now.”
“I’m pretty sure I didn’t imagine that whiff of magic, Alex. Although, I know what you mean. The festival is enough to make anyone who’s single feel alone.”
“I can feel him again, can you?” Alex asked, smiling softly. “The plants in the courtyard garden are going nuts!”
“I feel him everywhere. But if I’m honest, he never really left.”
Alex laughed, but he looked worried. “True, but earth energies are rising. Things could get a little weird around here—weirder than normal, I mean! I must admit, I’ve been having some odd dreams.” He paused, thinking, and then said, “They’re quite intense, actually—almost visionary.”
Avery’s mouth fell open in shock. “What? You haven’t said anything!”
He shrugged. “I know. I just thought that with all the Beltane build up over the last week or so that it was just playing on my mind, but now I’m not so sure.”
A few months before Alex’s visions had been threatening to overwhelm him. With the aid of Nate, a witch who lived in St Ives and whose mother had the gift of sight, he had managed to control them.
She voiced her worries. “Are you losing control of your psychic abilities?”
“I don’t think so. They don’t appear at any moment, like they used to—you’d surely see that happening! But I think they’re finding another way to manifest, in my dreams. And like I said, I think it’s just the recent circumstances.”
“Go on, then,” Avery prompted. “What did you see?”
“Just a jumble of images, really. I see Ravens’ Wood a lot—well, ancient trees and forests, it could be anywhere. The vegetation is thick and strong and it tangles around me, so that I can’t see where I’m going. I feel lost, confused, and a bit scared. And then I see people arguing, dressed in old-fashioned clothes—just glimpses of them in the trees. The air is thick with tension. And passion.” He nodded to himself. “Yes, I feel passion, power, lust—not me, you understand—but around me.” He focussed suddenly on Avery again. “And then I get jumbled images of White Haven, suffocating beneath a tangle of branches and vines, and the feeling of wildness and uncontrollable chaos.”
“Wow.” She sipped her wine, lost for words for a moment, and then said, “That sounds pretty intense. How often have you dreamt that?”
“Three or four times over the last week or so. But you know how it is with dreams...they become something else, and don’t make sense.”
“But dreams don’t usually repeat like that, not really,” she pointed out.
“No, they don’t.” He leaned on the bar, looking into space again, and it was clear that since he’d voiced his dreams, he was worried.
“Maybe you should start writing them down,” Avery suggested. “You might be forgetting important details.”
“True, I will. Remind me to put a notebook by the bed tonight.”
She nodded, her thoughts now flying to Briar. She felt the Green Man’s energy more than anyone else, especially after allowing him to possess her on the night they defeated the Empusa. “I wonder how Briar’s feeling.”
“You can ask her yourself. She’s here.”
Avery looked toward the pub’s entrance and saw Briar arrive, with El and Reuben behind her. Avery waved, and they made their way to her side, pulling stools close together.
“Wow, Briar, what’s going on with you?” Avery exclaimed. There was someth
ing more primal about her, an uncanny wildness.
Briar ran her hands through her thick, dark hair, smiling ruefully. “I look a little wild, don’t I?”
El winked. “I think you look cool. You’ve got this amazing vibe going on! It suits you.”
“That’s good, because I can’t do anything about it!” She lowered her voice. “My hair is growing thicker than ever, and my magic feels like it’s bubbling up like a well. Now that spring is really here, I can feel the earth so strongly! I only have to reach for its energy, and it’s there.” She looked confused as she looked at their bemused faces. “You must feel it, too?”
“I do,” Avery agreed, “but not like you, I’m sure. The ring of green around your irises has got stronger!” The colour had appeared just after they had defeated the Empusa.
“I know! And I can’t control that, either!”
“I agree with El,” Reuben said, raising his pint in salute. “You look awesome! I can feel you crackling with magic.”
“I’m trying to subdue it,” Briar told them, “because I’m getting a few strange looks. I think some people do detect something, but they don’t know what it is.” She sighed. “It’s not easy.”
Alex smiled sympathetically at her. “Me and Avery were just saying that the Green Man feels stronger in White Haven in general.”
Briar raised an eyebrow. “I really didn’t think he’d get any stronger than after Imbolc, but that was stupid of me. Of course he’ll be stronger at Beltane. It’s when he joins with the Goddess. And she is most definitely here, too!” She looked around to make sure they weren’t being overheard. “As you know, Eli is very popular with the women in White Haven. They flock like birds around him, and he loves it! But it’s getting worse now, and not in a good way.”
Avery felt a rumble of disquiet. “Why, what’s happening?”
“There are little spats between the women who visit the shop. You know, petty jealousies, put-downs, and snarky comments. Gaggles of women are in and out of the shop all day, and while I’m selling lots of stuff—because let’s face it, it’s a good excuse to be there—I feel I’m working in a harem!”
“Lucky bugger,” Reuben exclaimed. “All that female adoration.”
El smacked his arm playfully. “Er, you have me!”
“Well, of course, but it’s nice to be admired by many.”
Briar shook her head. “It’s really not. Eli looked amused at first, but not anymore. He’s trying to keep them all happy, but he’s failing. I’ve put a calming spell on the shop, which is helping, slightly.”
“The energies of the Green Man and the Goddess are too strong,” Avery acknowledged with a frown. “That must be what I felt earlier, rather than a spell.”
Briar’s eyes widened with surprise. “Has something happened to you, too?”
“Not to me exactly,” she explained, and went on to tell them about the woman in her shop. “She was so upset! I was sure I felt magic around her, but maybe it wasn’t a spell. Maybe it was just Beltane magic.”
The witches glanced at each other nervously, and El suggested, “Maybe it’s a bit of both?”
“Oh shit,” Reuben said, looking sheepish. “I did tell Avery I’d enhanced the hanging baskets and tubs with a few mild love spells. Do you think that was me causing her to be upset?”
Briar shook her head. “I doubt it, Reuben. I’ve walked past your plants on the way here and couldn’t feel anything too strong.”
“But that’s not the case with all love spells,” Alex said. “They can be dangerous. They subvert normal willpower and play havoc with relationships. And people can get crazy, jealous, and violent!”
“Or depressed and tearful!” Avery reminded them.
“Crap!” El started playing with her rings, turning them around on her finger. “I’m starting to get a bad feeling about this. I haven’t seen anything odd yet, but I’ll keep watch.”
“We all should,” Reuben said, looking reassured that it wasn’t his fault. “Even if it’s just the Green Man’s magic, it could get dangerous enough.”
“I’ve been having weird dreams, too,” Alex told them. “I’m beginning to think they’re visions—or at least a psychic awareness manifesting in my dreams.”
He told them what he’d been experiencing, and the witches glanced nervously at each other.
“That’s never a good sign,” Reuben said. “I trust your visions.”
“Thanks,” Alex told him. “I do, too.”
Avery sipped her drink. “I wonder whether it might be worth visiting The Flying Fish, the pub where the party was.”
Alex nodded in agreement. “Let’s go for a meal there tomorrow night, Avery. I’m not working in the evening.”
“Great,” she said, pleased to be doing something practical.
“Anyway,” Alex glanced down the bar to where some patrons where waiting, “I better go and serve some customers before my staff get overwhelmed.”
“And I should go home,” Avery said, finishing her wine. “I can’t wait to start reading my grimoires.”
“Has anyone seen Shadow recently?” El asked, still with half a pint of beer in her glass. “I wonder what she’s making of our rising earth magic problem.”
“Not for a few days,” Briar told her. “Haven’t you?”
“About the same. She’s been busy since that business at Old Haven Cemetery with the zombies and the fey necromancer,” El admitted. “She told me that she and the Nephilim have had an interesting proposition from the Orphic Guild. I think it’s keeping them all busy, actually.”
“Really?” Avery felt like she’d missed something. “I wondered why she hadn’t been in the shop recently. What kind of proposition?”
El leaned forward conspiratorially. “I’m not sure, but it concerns the Nephilim’s past—I think.”
Reuben grimaced. “She’s being very cagey, which makes me more intrigued.” He looked at Briar. “Has Eli said anything?”
She shook her head. “No, other than saying his brothers are busy.”
“Mmm, interesting! Ash says the same.”
Ash was another Nephilim, and he worked for Reuben at Greenlane Nurseries.
“I thought he was cutting down his hours?” Avery asked.
“He has, but I still see him regularly. We’ve been flat-out lately—you know, with spring gardening and preparing the plants for Beltane—and he’s been great.” He looked pleased. “He’s a good laugh, actually. Not anywhere near as quiet as he used to be. Quite the gamer, I gather. Loves to tease Shadow!”
“I’ll invite Shadow for dinner,” El said, brightly. “With Gabe! Sound good? We can ask about the Green Man and the Orphic Guild.”
“Sounds great,” Avery said, sliding off her bar stool and gathering her bag. “Do you think we should tell Newton about our concerns?”
Briar groaned. “Not yet! What’s to tell? He’ll only get all grumpy and shouty.”
“He’s not that bad!” Avery said, laughing.
“You know what I mean!”
“Let’s hope the festival cheers him up,” Avery said, laughing. “Is Hunter coming to visit soon?”
Briar smiled shyly. “End of the week.”
“Oh, goodie!” Reuben said, with a cheeky grin. “Let’s see what some wild Beltane magic does to the shifter. You could be in for a good weekend, Briar!”
Briar just looked at him. “Is your mind always in the gutter?”
“I watched a large, phallic symbol being erected in the town square today. That’s where my mind is naturally going to be for the next couple of weeks. You may as well get used to it!”
***
When Avery arrived back at her flat above Happenstance Books, she passed through her open-plan living and dining room that were on the first floor, and headed to the kitchen to collect some cheese, crackers, and a glass of wine before heading to the attic on the floor above, her favourite room.
The attic stretched the length of the house. A third of it compri
sed her bedroom and en suite bathroom that she now shared with Alex, separated from the rest of the space by a fireplace that was set into the thick wall. The rest of the attic was a spell room, and now that Alex had moved his magic equipment in too, they used the space together.
The evening was already chilly and it was growing dark, so Avery lit a fire before doing anything else, and spelled her lamps and candles on with a flick of her magic. Her cats, Circe and Medea, came to greet her, stretching from where they had been sleeping in the throws on the sofa.
Avery stroked their soft fur and then headed to the table, pulling her grimoires towards her and greeting them like old friends. She sat for a moment in quiet contemplation, pondering the events of the day. Magic was rising in White Haven. All the witches could feel it, and that was troubling. It hadn’t felt like this last year, but that was before they had found their old grimoires and released the magic of their ancestors across White Haven. And, of course, before the Green Man had arrived with the Crossroads Circus and never left.
Avery pulled Helena’s grimoire towards her, her hand sliding over the still soft leather cover, and she opened the pages reverently. Helena was her witch ancestor who’d been burned at the stake, and her ghost remained in Avery’s flat, appearing at unexpected moments. She was generally a force for good, but Avery remained wary of her—not enough to banish her though.
Avery turned the pages, scanning the spidery handwriting that was difficult to read. These spells were arcane and powerful, and just looking at them made Avery feel connected to her magical roots. There were spells in here she hadn’t seen anywhere else, and some she wouldn’t dream of using. They were cruel and dark, and she wondered what her ancestors had been thinking. She hoped they were spells that were recorded but rarely used. The other witches had expressed the same concerns about their old family grimoires, too.
The other important thing about this grimoire were the notes her ancestors had written in the margins of old ceremonies and Sabbats, and she knew there were pages of information about Beltane in here, spread through the book, recorded by many different witches over time. But that wasn’t what she was looking for right now. She needed spells to use on the whole town, to bewitch some calm and peace—if they had to.
