"He understands the workings of the portal," she added. "We must believe him."
I nodded, releasing my skepticism and joining them completely.
"What do we need to do?" I asked.
She looked to the others, and then to Shane and me.
"We must act now, before Samhain."
I hadn't realized how unprepared I was, until this moment.
Leaping through the portal again, so soon, terrified me. I had no idea what three more days could have achieved, but at least it would have been three more days.
I trembled at the thought of returning to old Lakefield—to the middle of a colonial-day witch hunt. But if it was the only way to save my friends, then it had to be done.
"So, what first?" I glanced at each member of our coven, wondering what had already been decided before Shane and I arrived.
Ms. Kelly took a deep breath. "We bring Tommy to the clearing...."
"What? No!" I blasted. "We can't bring him anywhere near the Dark Witch's territory. He'll..."
"It's okay, Brynn. We'll keep hold of him on this side," Ms. Kelly assured me. "We have the luxury of knowing of her existence this time, and her desire to keep him as her own." She squeezed his hand as he lay quietly on the altar. "She understands his power and wants it for herself."
"Time travel?" I asked.
"No," she stated, clearing her throat. "Immortality."
My mouth fell open as I forgot how to breathe.
I just nodded my head, hoping someone else would chime in.
"So, we go to the clearing, Tommy takes us to the portal, we launch through...." Shane's voice was cut short by another.
"Who launches through?" Blake interjected with eyes bugging out of his head.
Shane glanced around the altar.
"We do," I said, reaching for Shane's hand. "We know our way around."
Shane exhaled with a huff.
"Will you have any power from this side of the portal?" Shane asked the women. "You know, with the book, and your, your skills?" He stumbled on his words, not wanting to offend anyone.
Ms. Reed reached for a blue candle and lifted it. The glow reflected off her eyes, making them appear like pools of dancing flames.
"Some," she said. "We'll be able to open the portal again for you on the eve of Samhain. The power of the full moon will be needed to complete the task."
I swallowed hard. "So, we'll be in the past for three days?"
"Yes," the three women spoke together.
I rubbed my eyes and murmured, "What will I tell my mother?"
Ms. Harrison added, "We'll take care of that." And she patted the spellbook.
Oh my God. Were they planning on casting a spell on Mom? Jeez, maybe they could add a little hex to make her care, make her a better mother. There had to be a charm or a... I stopped myself. It was a foolish wish. But at least the magic would be useful in our absence.
Poorva shook her head. "I'm afraid," she whimpered. "What if they're not able to get back? What if something bad happens to them while they are there?"
"You must have faith in all of our skills, Poorva," Ms. Kelly said. "You must believe in everything we can accomplish."
Poorva looked at me with fear-filled eyes. I pulled away before her fear had a chance to take root in my own soul. I couldn't allow that to happen. This was my chance at saving Shane, reconnecting him to his soul, making him whole again.
I couldn't let fear stop me now.
I turned my attention to the group and stated, "I'm ready to go."
Chapter 14
The three higher-order witches of our coven gathered items off the altar, including crystals, candles, and the wooden wheel, and placed them into a leather satchel. Tommy sat on the edge of the altar, watching the activity with tired eyes and slumped shoulders.
As I calculated my approach to the portal, attempting to plan how things would go, Shane took my arm and moved me to the side of the secret chamber.
"I have a bad feeling," he whispered. "This feels too rushed."
I turned my head from him, deflecting his apprehension.
"Brynn." He kept his grip on my arm. "Don't make plans without me. We need to work together if this is going to end well."
I nodded. "Okay. I feel like it's moving too fast, too. But I trust Ms. Kelly. And with Tommy, we have even more power."
"I guess," he murmured. "But honestly, I can only focus on what I have control over, myself. And I believe in you as well. It's the two of us, Brynn. Anything else they can help with is great. But it's you and me. We're the ones going through the portal."
I closed my eyes, absorbing his words.
I'd already known them to be true, but hearing them only made it more real.
It would be up to us.
"The spellbook will be vulnerable out in the open, but it's our best chance at making all the pieces come together," Ms. Kelly said as she placed it into its wooden box. "We'll need everyone's gift in line as well, at the ready."
We moved out of the hidden room, and Ms. Reed sealed the door behind us.
Leaving the church, we decided to hide Shane and Poorva's cars around back, and Ms. Kelly made two trips to drop us all to the trailhead at the woods. Having our vehicles seen at the woods would stir unwanted attention to our location, but it wouldn't be considered odd for Ms. Kelly's car to be there. People would respectfully give her space to mourn the loss of her son, considering the public hadn't heard of his return yet.
Four of us, the UMAs, sat on the benches, waiting for the second wave of our coven to arrive.
"I feel like I should open our collective consciousness," Blake said. "Reading thoughts is my strongest gift, and without it, I feel useless."
Shane stood and paced. "Maybe," he agreed. "But let's wait until the last minute, to be sure we don't tip off Laney or the Dark Witch."
“I’m half-thinking it was Laney who opened the portal too early,” Poorva grumbled.
My eyes darted to hers. “Don’t even say that,” I whispered. “Her interference is the last thing we need right now.” I returned my attention to Blake. “Maybe you could use your mind-reading in a more focused way, like not collectively, but just on us.”
Blake shrugged. “I don’t know if it’s possible. But maybe, while you're through the portal, I might be able to tap into your thoughts in some way."
My eyes widened, thinking of what Shane and I had accomplished earlier with our minds.
"Blake, it's worth a shot," I beamed. "Any connection to home while we're crossed over will surely help us get back."
He nodded in agreement. "I'll pass it by the Trifecta."
I smirked at his nickname for the higher-order witches.
"I think the more contact we have with all of you, while we're in the abyss, the better," Shane added. "I had a strange sense last time that we could easily forget about our present lives and stay where we were, in ignorance, for good."
"Exactly," I added. "With only small flashbacks of our current lives, like fleeting dreams."
Poorva gasped. "It's like an explanation for deja vu."
"The feeling like you've been somewhere before, but you know you haven't," Shane said. "Please don't let that happen to us."
Blake stood. "We won't. I promise. We'll bring you back. One way or another."
Shane reached his palm out, and Blake swung his toward him. Their hands smacked together to seal the deal, and as they gripped hands together, Shane pulled Blake in and embraced him. With a solid pat on his back, he stepped away and said, "Thanks, man. It means a lot."
Poorva turned to me. "I've got your back, too," she said. "I just don't know how yet. But I swear, I got you."
I smiled and leaned into her as she reached for me. Together on the bench, we hugged, allowing our fears to pass along to each other, making them more tolerable.
The sound of tires on gravel pulled our attention to Ms. Kelly's car.
In no time, the rest of our group joined us, and we huddled together
in a circle.
Ms. Kelly said, "These woods are cursed. Let's not forget that. Keep your wits about you at all times. Don't let your mind play tricks on you. Fall for nothing." She took a deep breath. "Are we ready?"
She held the box with the spellbook in the center of the circle, and we reached for it, each placing a hand on top.
As one voice, we agreed, "Ready."
With the sun already setting, the gloominess of the trail grew darker. Ms. Reed lit candles for each of us, and we traveled along the path following the ethereal glow of their light. The flickering illumination felt more natural than the glare of our phone flashlights, but I was glad to have those as our back up plan, just in case.
As we reached the gate that blocked the trail, the three women scaled over first, as if well acquainted with its structure. I knew Ms. Kelly was more than familiar with the hurdle, but it definitely surprised me that Ms. Harrison and Ms. Reed had also anticipated and crossed the barrier with such ease.
They'd been here before.
Their familiarity was a reminder that our experiences of these woods were not the only events of its history. It was clear that the UMAs were the newest addition to the mystical happenings that had been occurring here for centuries. We still had so much to learn and so much to understand.
Continuing down the dark trail, I gazed into the woods on either side, half expecting to see a hiding child, or a wooden teepee structure lurking in the shadows of the bare pine trunks. My heartbeat quickened and throbbed in my ears, reminding me that we were never alone here.
Shane pulled up beside me, and his arm brushed against mine as we approached the brighter glow of twilight in the clearing. The bluish-gray hue invited us out of the darkness of the woods, and we gathered at the edge of the meadow.
Ms. Harrison fumbled with her leather satchel and pulled out a large white crystal. She stared into its foggy center and then held it up toward the moonlight. The tremble in her hands caused the crystal to shake, and she pulled it protectively into her chest.
"I sense a presence here." Her voice stuck in her throat.
"No shit," Shane whispered in my ear.
I elbowed him in the ribs.
Ms. Reed glanced at us, then took a few steps farther into the clearing. "We must clean off the altar and set up for our ritual."
At first, my eyes threatened to roll up with cynicism, considering we hadn't needed rituals before to access the portal. But instead, I decided to go along with it, keeping an open mind. Maybe their extra steps of mysticism would help us in some way.
I kept an eye on Tommy, knowing he was the key to finding the open portal. He'd had premonitions on it earlier, as well as personal experience traveling through it—probably numerous times.
As I watched him, I noted his hard swallows and twitching eyes. He jumped at every sound or motion. My eyes fell as I worried for him, knowing that returning here was likely his most terrifying nightmare.
Ms. Kelly's too.
Losing her son again would be unbearable, and I prayed they would both be safe.
I realized their profound sacrifice at coming here.
I understood there must be more at stake than what I was aware of. Their level of risk proved that the entire balance of the coven and the world as we knew it was in danger.
All I could do was focus on my part—saving my friends and recovering Shane's soul. The rest, the unknown, would fall to the rest of my coven.
"This way," Ms. Reed called to us.
We stumbled over a slab of granite, covered in years of overgrown moss. It was the location of the private executions that occurred hundreds of years ago. We saw it when we had traveled back to the Dawson homestead. But now, as Ms. Reed pulled grass away, exposing the stone, I realized it was used as an altar as well.
Ms. Harrison joined her, pulling overgrowth off the massive stone slab. Poorva brushed at chunks of dirt with her feet.
Within minutes, a large expanse of smooth granite was exposed, and the women placed their items around it in a similar configuration to what they’d created in the secret chamber.
Candles, crystals, round wooden chips with unusual symbols, and the Wheel of the Year—each item was placed in a precise location, and then some moved to create a perfect assembly.
We sat in a circle around the altar, and Ms. Kelly placed the spellbook in the center. Ms. Reed reached for it and opened the cover. Flipping through a few pages, she found what she was looking for and pressed the book open, revealing colorful illustrations, hand-scrawled print, and intricately designed borders.
She lifted her hands, palms up, and began reciting the words from the page.
"Troubled blood with sleep's unease, remove the cause of this disease. Remove the chains of time and space. Let these mortal arms embrace."
I glanced around us, certain that spirits would be whirling and dancing around our magical circle.
She continued her chant as Ms. Kelly and Ms. Harrison joined in. The chorus of their voices brought the level of power higher, and as they began the third round, the rest of us joined in.
The resonation of our voices filled the clearing and generated a swirl of energy around us. My gaze followed the spiraling mist as it rose above us like the center of a tornado.
Our voices grew louder as our chanting created a channel to the universe.
My mind expanded beyond its limits as the words beat out of me, and I felt the sensation of leaving my body.
Just as I attempted to step out of myself, Tommy shot up and screamed.
His voice halted our chanting instantly, and we stared at him as he pointed to the far edge of the woods.
I followed his line of focus, certain we’d conjured the Dark Witch, and my breath held tight in my chest.
My eyes searched for the flap of her cloak or her hollow eyes but found no movement. Instead, my focus landed on a solid shape at the edge of the trees. Its familiar framework sent my adrenaline pumping.
The triangular wooden structure of the portal stood in the mist with an unnatural glow shining out from within.
My eyes widened in terror as I stared at the open portal. With my heart in my throat, I reached for Shane's hand.
His energy surged into me, clearing my mind of everything but our mission. With our hands clasped, our focus narrowed on one thing only.
And together, we ran for it.
The others froze around the altar, staring as we broke away from them. Ms. Reed resumed the chant, generating more sorcerous energy through my entire soul.
Shane and I ran as fast as our legs would carry us, and his hand held tight to mine with every step. I grasped on to him with no intention of ever letting go.
"Now!" he yelled as we reached the portal. "Jump!"
We launched into the air, entering the mouth of the wooden teepee, as Blake's voice cried out to us.
"Stop!" he screamed.
But it was too late.
We were already in mid-flight, determined in our mission.
"I hear Laney! It’s a trap...." Blake's voice trailed off behind us.
Before his words of warning could sink in, we sailed into the tempest of the portal. Blasted by powerful wind from every direction, we pulled together tight to shelter from the assault.
Sound and light grew to an atomic level as if we were in the center of a nuclear detonation. Spinning uncontrollably, we flew through tunnels of iridescence, and then landed with a thud into shocking silence.
I blew out my held breath and remained motionless, eyes shut.
Blake’s cautionary words returned to my ears, reminding me of the last message we’d heard.
Shane reached for my face and brushed my hair away from it.
"Are you okay?" he whispered.
I nodded, still unable to speak. Opening my eyes slowly, I focused on his concerned gaze.
"I think we're here," he muttered. "But don't move. Not until I'm sure it's safe out there."
Clearly, Blake’s words resounded in his min
d as well.
It wouldn’t be safe out there if Laney had any involvement in our leap. My thoughts traveled back to school this morning, recalling her absence, and my gut twisted.
I reached for Shane’s arm and stopped him. "No. We go together."
He exhaled, clenching his jaw.
"Shane," I whispered. "We're all each other has."
He ran his hand over his eyes, pressing on his temples.
"You're right." He nodded with reluctance.
I moved toward the opening of the portal, not knowing what we might find.
"First thing we need to do is check our surroundings,” I said. “We need to determine the moment in time we're in, and then plan from there."
"Agreed," he said, brushing debris from his clothing.
Shane picked a twig out of my hair. "I wouldn't want anyone else watching my back," he said. "You're fearless, Brynn Douglas."
I shook my head. "I wouldn't say that. I'm actually crapping my pants right now."
"Yeah, me too."
Taking my hand, we connected as one and stepped out of the portal.
Instantly, our senses revolted from the putrid smell of rancid smoke.
Something was wrong.
Every nerve in my body reacted to the foul stink, causing my face to grimace.
We turned toward the thick stench and twitched from the recognition of our location in the woods.
We were at the outskirts of the Dawson homestead.
Chapter 15
With my heart pounding in my ears, I kept my eyes focused in the direction of the Dawson farm. Shane and I ran through the dense overgrowth of the woods, pushing through junglelike branches and vines. Smoke thickened within the untamed trees as we got closer to the homestead, and the strong smell sickened my stomach.
"They must be burning the house," Shane panted. "Driving them out."
My throat tightened as I prayed for it not to be true.
If the villagers burned the Dawson home, the outcast sisters would be doomed.
"Where will they go?" I gasped, sucking the reeking air for oxygen.
Urban Mystic Academy: Third Project (A Supernatural Academy Series Book 3) Page 12
