by TJ Green
“I have never been more pleased to see you two,” she said, stumbling to sit next to them on shaking legs.
El and Reuben were sitting close together, El leaning against Reuben. They weren’t normally a demonstrative couple, so Avery immediately thought it odd, especially as El looked solemn. “Have you had a really odd few hours?” El asked Avery.
“Yes.” Avery rubbed her face as if to clear her mind. “The absolute weirdest night I’ve ever had, and that’s saying something after the night at the crossroads. What about you?”
“Well, best sex I’ve had in years,” Reuben said, “but I could have done without seeing the satyrs.”
“You saw them, too?”
“What?” Alex asked, looking between them, clearly confused. “Do you mean in your dreams?”
“Nope. I mean right here,” Reuben answered, gesturing around him.
“Did you dream about them, Alex?” Avery asked. She hadn’t stopped to talk to Alex once she had woken him, feeling it was more important to return to the safety of their friends.
“I dreamt about satyrs, dryads, blood, passion, revenge, Tristan, Iseult, and King Mark, and all sorts of other weird as shit things.”
Reuben nodded, as he watched his friend with concern. “Please tell me you at least had great sex before that happened.”
Avery couldn’t help but laugh as Alex said, “Yes, don’t worry. We did.”
“Do you have any idea of the time?” Avery asked them. “Or where Briar and Hunter are?”
El checked her watch. “It’s close to three in the morning. And I have no idea where they are, but I’m hoping they’ll be here soon.”
Reuben stood, picked up the picnic basket, and carried it back to the fire. “I was going to wait for everyone, but I’m starving, and I’m sure Briar won’t mind.” He lifted the lid and started laying out the cold cuts of meat and cheese that Briar had packed.
El was watching Avery. “You’re covered in scratches, and if I’m honest, you look shell-shocked. What happened?”
Avery didn’t speak for a moment, wondering how to explain what she’d experienced. “I’m not entirely sure it was real. It felt like I was hallucinating.” She took a deep breath and then explained about the clearing in the forest.
For a second, no one said anything, and then El sighed. “An hour ago, I’d have said you were dreaming, but not now. I don’t know quite what’s happening here, but I believe you. Reuben wasn’t joking—we really did see a satyr striding through the forest, and well, I don’t know what the other things were—shadows that seemed alive.”
“Have we crossed a boundary somehow?” Alex asked. He was looking better now that he was eating and drinking. He was sitting close to the fire, wrapped in a blanket, and his eyes were once again bright and focussed.
“I wondered that,” Avery told them. “But I don’t think we have, I think they have—those Otherworldly creatures. Maybe the Goddess brought them here.”
Reuben frowned. “What do you think would have happened if you had stepped inside that clearing?”
“Honestly? I think I’d have gone mad. I could feel her power—her Otherness. And her utter disregard for me. Seeing Hecate at the crossroads was a powerful moment, but this felt completely different.” Avery paused as she thought through her feelings. “With Hecate I felt acknowledged as a person, and a witch. But back there...I felt I was nothing to her.”
“I guess you had stumbled upon something you weren’t meant to see,” Reuben reasoned.
“In that case, why be here at all?” Avery asked. She looked around at the safe space of the circle they were sitting in. Even though they had opened it, it still felt a haven. Beyond seemed wild and unpredictable. “I don’t think I want to leave here until dawn.”
“I’m with you there, sister,” El said softly. “I just hope Briar is okay.”
***
It was close to five in the morning when Briar finally returned with Hunter. He loped into the clearing, Briar walking next to him, and both of them had twigs and leaves caught in hair and fur, and Briar was smeared with dirt. Hunter changed back to his human form straight away, and for a moment it looked as if he’d forgotten he was naked as he went to sit next to the fire, but then he shook his head as if to clear it and pulled his jeans on. Both of them looked dazed.
“We’ve been very worried about you two,” El said, rising swiftly to hug Briar. “Where have you been?”
Briar sat down, warming her hands over the flames. “I honestly have no idea. I feel like we travelled for miles, and yet we couldn’t possibly have! This forest isn’t that big!”
Hunter helped himself to some food and then sat next to her. “I scented things in here I have never smelt before. I also lost my way—and I never do that! It was exhilarating and terrifying, all at the same time.”
“We saw the Goddess, too,” Briar said, staring into the fire.
“So did I!” Avery told her, thankful to find she hadn’t lost her mind. “In the clearing?”
Briar looked at her, and Avery could see that her pupils were huge, as if she’d been drugged. “We saw the Great Wedding.”
“Of the Goddess and the Green Man?” Reuben asked, almost spitting his drink out.
“Yes. Can you believe that? It was an accident—we just stumbled on it, almost into it, before Hunter realised what was happening.” She bit her bottom lip and then grinned. “It was amazing. We hid in the trees at the edge of the clearing, but the Green Man saw me. He just looked straight at me, as if he recognised me, and I felt him—in here.” Briar clutched her hand to her chest. “And he told me to run—so we did. And then we got lost again. I’m pretty pleased to be back here, to be honest.”
“I think we all are,” Avery said softly. “We thought we’d wait until dawn to leave. I’m not walking through there in the dark again!”
Alex nodded. “Not long now—I can feel it coming, and the birds do, too.”
He was right. Avery felt the change in the air and detected the almost imperceptible rising of the daylight. “I can honestly say this has felt like the longest night of my life.”
“No time for sleep though, Ave,” Reuben said. “We have to stop Kit’s spell. Have we got any ideas?”
“Yes and no,” Avery said, thinking about her research from the day before. “Yesterday afternoon I searched through the grimoires again, and something Alex said stuck in my head.”
“It did?” Alex asked, looking hopeful.
“Yes. We were talking about how everything feeds into each other—how the spell continually reinforces itself. It’s circular. Those are the spells I looked for, and I found some. They’re called Hring spells in my grimoire.”
“I don’t think I’ve heard of those,” El said, puzzled.
“From what I can gather, they’re not common because they’re so complex, and that makes them very effective. Each part strengthens the next, so in theory we need to break one part to weaken the rest. That’s why the sigils are so complex on the front cover.”
“Like toppling a house of cards,” Alex said, nodding. “But that’s going to be impossible. Breaking another witch’s spell is hard, and I don’t think there are any weak spots.”
“I know.” Avery grimaced as she finally admitted to herself what had been niggling her all day. “We can’t break it. It is impossible. That’s why Kit is so damn pleased with himself, too.”
“Why didn’t you mention this last night?” Alex asked. He looked slightly resentful, which was reasonable. Normally, she would share something like this immediately.
“I’ve been mulling it over, and of course I wanted to celebrate Beltane and get it out of my mind for a while.” Avery laughed shakily. “That certainly happened—and not in the way I expected.”
“I know what you mean,” Briar said, shivering, and she whispered a spell, sending the fire blazing again. Avery wasn’t sure if Briar was cold or if it was the dark eyes of the forest around them that made her nervous, but lookin
g satisfied with her handiwork, Briar turned to Avery. “Where does this leave us? There must be something we can do!”
“I have had an idea,” Avery said tentatively. “This spell breeds negativity, obsession, and revenge, and it has spread through the cast and into the town. We need to cleanse it.”
“By ‘it’ do you mean the town or the cast?” El asked.
They were all watching her intently, and Avery swallowed nervously. “I mean everything—and we can do that with fire. Tomorrow night a huge Beltane fire will be burning on Spriggan Beach. And there’ll be fire jugglers and dancers—”
“And they’ve got iron braziers lining the streets, so there’ll be small fires all down the high street, too,” Reuben said, nodding as he realised what she intended. “We can use the fires to cleanse the town.”
“Yes.”
“Holy crap, Avery,” Briar said, reaching forward to fill a plate with food, “that’s a big ask!”
“I know.” Avery looked around at her coven’s anxious expressions. “But if we can’t break the spell, and the hold it has on the leads in particular, then cleansing the town and them will burn away the enchantment...I hope.”
Alex nodded, a smile of appreciation starting to spread across his face. “So we burn the scripts as we discussed, but tie it to something bigger.”
She grinned. “Much bigger!”
“What about Kit?” Reuben asked.
“Good question,” Alex said. “If we cleanse the town of the spell’s negative energy and burn the scripts, I doubt it will banish Kit. He’s too strong. I’ll tackle him separately.” Alex paused for a moment to chew some cheese thoughtfully, his gaze distant. “I think the only way to be sure is to do everything simultaneously. While the bewitched copies of the play burn and the cleansing spell sweeps across White Haven, I will summon his spirit and banish him.”
Briar looked worried. “But by tomorrow night, the production will be over—the final performance is Saturday afternoon. That means the spell will be at its strongest already. We could be putting the cast in grave danger by letting it run its course. And it will be here, on the edge of the Ravens’ Wood. I know it will be daytime, but what if the wood’s magic exacerbates things? That could be disastrous!”
Avery felt lightheaded with tiredness, and she could feel a headache starting to buzz insistently, but she ignored it. “We need to be here for the final performance. We need to keep them safe. Alex’s dream visions keep showing a wood and people in costume—”
“And blood,” Alex reminded them. “Anger and betrayal are the overriding emotions. And tonight they were even more vivid. Something will happen here tomorrow afternoon, I’m sure.”
Reuben nodded. “That sounds like a good plan. And didn’t you find the potion bottle and steal it? Surely that will help.”
“We did,” Alex confirmed. “But we weren’t sure if Kit could curse another one. He’s strong enough to.”
“Then we need to find out. If he hasn’t, we might have an advantage. And if he has, we need to destroy it before they can use it in the final performance. That’s one thing we can influence, surely, and it should help reduce the risk.”
Hunter stirred from where he had been lying next to the fire. “So we have to be here tomorrow afternoon, then. Someone needs to be close enough to the stage to stop Emma and Josh seconds before they drink it. That’s the only way to be sure.”
“We also need to be spread out through the town tomorrow night,” El said. “I’m the most skilled with elemental fire. I should be by the bonfire.”
“And I need to be in the theatre,” Alex reminded them. “That’s where Kit’s spirit will be strongest, and therefore it’s the best place to banish him.”
Reuben shuffled on the log, trying to make himself more comfortable. “That’s going to spread us very thin.”
“It is, but we’re strong enough,” Alex reasoned. He looked up and his grim expression lifted. “And look, it’s dawn now. Light enough to leave.”
Avery had been so focussed on their discussion that she hadn’t really looked around, but she did so now, and realised she could see the pale dawn light filtering through the thick leafy branches, and spotted the path through the trees.
“Let’s go and get some sleep,” Alex continued. “We can meet again later today. I don’t see any point in going to the play tonight, but we can plan for tomorrow.”
“Leave the fire spell to me,” El said, rising to her feet and stretching. “I think I might have just the thing.”
Avery stood up too and started to collect their things together, feeling almost giddy with tiredness, and also drained from the strange emotions and experiences that Ravens’ Wood had brought. “Guys, I just want to say thank you for an awesome Beltane celebration, but next year, maybe we should go somewhere else.”
25
Happenstance Books was very busy. Customers trailed in and out with a chatter of questions about Beltane and witches, and there was an air of general excitement about the celebrations. A few people had gathered in the square at dawn to watch the Morris dancers welcome May Day, and the dancers were still in the town. Avery could hear the jingle of their bells as they walked the streets.
Avery, however, was finding it hard to share their enthusiasm. As soon as she and Alex returned home, she tried to sleep, and for a few hours she did. But it was only a light sleep, full of strange dreams, and she woke in the late morning feeling terrible. She was trying her best to be bright and breezy, but it was taking its toll.
Dan pushed her onto the stool behind the counter and gave her a coffee and biscuits. “Bloody hell, Avery, sit down for a minute and take a breather. You’ll scare off the customers.”
Avery grimaced, and tried to look at her reflection in the window. “Do I look that bad?”
“Worse. What on Earth did you get up to last night?”
She lowered her voice. “We celebrated Beltane in Ravens’ Wood, but it all got very weird.” She sipped her coffee, and then thinking it tasted like the best coffee she’d ever had, drank another few sips, trying not to scald her tongue.
“Aha! I thought so. Sally and I were talking about it earlier. You haven’t seen the news again, have you?”
“No. Why?”
He took a bite of biscuit, and through a mouthful of crumbs, said, “You didn’t really think you’d be the only ones in the wood last night, did you?”
“Well, no, of course not,” she said, fearing Dan was about to tell her something bad. “We did see a few people when we arrived, but then no one—well, no one normal at least.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Normal? So what did you see?”
Avery looked at him suspiciously. “You first. What have you heard?”
“Well, there were a few wild moments last night in the wood—some people even got lost and called the police in a panic. And,” he smirked, “quite a few couples headed there for their own private celebrations, if you know what I mean.”
Avery met his eyes and felt her cheeks flush. She knew exactly what that meant, and she thought of the absolute abandonment that came over her and Alex once they left the circle.
Dan smirked again. “Oh! So you, too! Apparently, the police turned a blind eye on ‘lewd behaviour’ because there was so much of it happening. And besides, they were too busy calming down the people who were freaking out.”
Had the magic been so strong last night that anyone could see the Otherness in the wood? “Freaking out how?”
“One woman swore she saw the devil.” Dan watched her carefully. “She said she saw a cloven-hoofed creature with yellow eyes and thought she was going to die.”
“Oh, shit!”
Dan narrowed his eyes. “I presume it wasn’t the devil?”
“Of course it wasn’t the bloody devil,” Avery said, exasperated.
“Good old Sarah Rutherford suggested hi-jinks and pranks on Beltane—like at Samhain up at Old Haven Church, but we both know that wasn’t a joke, so—”
<
br /> A young woman bustled up to the counter with half a dozen books, and Dan scooted behind the till to ring up the order. As soon as she’d paid, he turned again to Avery, looking expectant.
Avery rubbed her face, feeling a headache starting again, and wished she’d made herself a detox tea instead.
“So?” Dan repeated, clearly not about to let her off the hook.
“Ravens’ Wood seemed to have let the Otherworld in last night. I saw things that shouldn’t exist here—satyrs, for example.”
Dan almost inhaled his biscuit in shock and Avery slapped him on the back. When he eventually finished coughing, he wheezed out a stunned, “Wow! Hence why that woman thought she’d seen the devil, I presume?”
“I guess. They were huge and very odd looking.” She shook her head at the memory. “It was surreal. I’d love to know what Shadow made of it—if she was even there.” She filled him in on what they had experienced, and what they decided to do about the play. “How’s Harry, by the way?”
“I called him yesterday—I’ve been making a point of it, actually. He still sounds intense...and cranky. He’s got a real thing about one of the guys who plays a Baron. It’s so unlike him.” He brushed a few crumbs off his shirt, and then said, “I think I should be there tomorrow afternoon. I know Harry. If things get really weird, I can help!”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Dan.”
“It might not be, but Harry’s my mate, and I don’t want him hurt. He has a family, Avery!”
“But we can’t leave Sally on her own—and I have to be there, too!”
He threw back his shoulders and looked her resolutely in the eye. “I’ll be there, and you won’t talk me out of it.”
She had to admire his resolve; that was the great thing about Dan. He didn’t shy away from anything. “All right, you win. We’ll close the shop at lunch tomorrow.”
***
Avery glared at Reuben as he glanced around the table at her, Alex, El, Briar, and Hunter, an amused look on his face. “How’s everyone feeling?”
It was Friday evening, and they were at The Wayward Son discussing their progress. Reuben looked annoyingly refreshed and energetic, while she still felt awful. “Crap,” she admitted grumpily. “You, however, look fine!”
