by Lizzy Prince
He gave me an encouraging look. “You’ll be fine. Mari won’t let you mess it up too much.”
I pushed his shoulder, making him laugh, and the normalcy of the moment comforted me for a few seconds before everything that had happened came crashing back in stark reality. My smile faded, and I stepped back and nodded. Munro’s smile disappeared from his face and was replaced with a knowing resignation.
But he didn't leave. He stayed to help. Starting with identifying herbs when Mari called for them and then showing me how to determine what the different plants were and how to differentiate between them by look and smell. Mari told me which plants were deadly to ingest and which, in small quantities, could be helpful for a variety of ailments. I knew I would never remember everything they told me, but I found it all fascinating and tried to store away as much information as I could.
Mari had a huge pot of herbs boiling on the stove, and it smelled like a spa in the kitchen. Theo came rumbling down the stairs, and I wondered if he ever found Lola or if she’d chased him off the moment he got in her personal space.
“Mmm, smells like the spa in hell down here,” he said with a deep inhale. “Come for the facial, stay for the annihilation of evil incarnate.”
He flopped down on one of the stools beside Munro as Mari rolled her eyes. “Seriously, I don’t know how I raised such a sarcastic little turd.” Theo just chuckled like this wasn’t the first time they’d had this conversation.
“Okay Annie, I need you for this last little bit.” Mari motioned me over to the pot, and I had to admit, it did smell really good. If I didn’t know what we were going to use it for, I might have wanted to bottle it up.
“What do you need me to do?” I asked.
“I need a drop of blood,” she said, looking apologetic.
“Okay.” I nodded, not understanding how all of this worked, but trusting in Mari and the rest to know. She held a small sharp needle in one hand and held out her other hand toward me.
“It’s best if we use your ring finger.” She instructed.
“Why?” I asked, curious what the rationale was.
Mari shrugged. “It was believed that there was a direct line to your heart from the fourth finger on your left hand. It’s said that magic bound from the blood of this finger is stronger because of it. It’s just one of those traditions we don’t mess with.” Mari smiled and gave a swift jab of the needle, stinging my flesh and causing a small bead of blood to rise in a perfectly round drop.
I held it over the pot where it wobbled on the tip of my finger for a moment before it dropped in. There was an enormous bang, and a pulse of magic swelled from the pot and spread across the room like a violent wind, causing my hair to whip around my head as if I were in a tornado. The cabinet doors banged opened, and glasses and plates came tumbling from the shelves and shattered on the ground.
It was over within seconds, and the entire room stood still in shocked silence.
“What. The. Fuck. Was. That?” Theo ground out. Looking as shocked as I felt.
“Language, Theodore Logan!” Mari hissed at him.
I was standing with my mouth wide open, gaping in shock. I was with Theo, what the fuck was that? Mari cleared her throat and shuffled to a pantry door and to grab a broom to start sweeping up the mess. I looked over my shoulder at Munro, my eyes wide and slightly panicked. He moved off of the stool, coming to stand next to me.
“It’s okay.” He said softly as he searched my face to make sure I was okay.
“What just happened?” I whispered. I only really wanted to have this conversation with Munro and not everyone else.
“Your magic is really powerful and so is the spell that Mari was working on. It’s kind of like adding fuel to a powder keg. Although, I’m not sure Mari realized it was going to be that powerful.”
Mari must have heard that last bit, because she swept by with her broom, picking up the chunks of smashed dishes and looked at me with an apologetic grimace.
“Sorry kiddo, I didn’t think it would be that, ah, potent.”
“It’s okay. I’m just sorry about the…” I waved my hand around the room, indicating the mess I’d made. “I told you I tend to make things explode.” I quirked an eyebrow trying to appear unaffected, but I don’t think she bought it.
“It’s okay, Annie. This was my mistake.”
I turned to look at Munro again. “Does this mean my magic isn’t bound any longer?”
Munro shook his head in response. “No, that magic was in the blood, you don’t have to call it forth as you do with the elements. It’s just a part of who you are.”
“So, my magic is in my blood even though it’s bound?”
Munro’s face was a mask as he contemplated telling me something, but he was hesitating as if unsure he should. I raised my brows. “What aren’t you telling me? I can see there’s something you want to say.”
“It’s just another option if we can’t get your magic unblocked. But I don’t even want to mention it until you and Mari try to connect with your magic,” he said, shaking his head as if he was frustrated at himself for even bringing it up. It was clear that he was done talking about it.
With a resigned sigh, I looked back over at Mari and Theo. They were picking up the biggest pieces of broken dishes and seeing the mess I’d created made me realize I had to stop hiding behind my fears and get control of my magic. That meant I had to figure out a way to unlock it.
“Mari, can you come with me? I want to see if we can access my magic?”
“Boys, finish picking up this mess,” Mari said with authority as she handed Theo the broom and Munro the dustpan.
I followed Mari upstairs to the guest room where she’d been staying. The house was an odd mix of modern comfort and the original Victorian style. I was pretty sure that Ryan and Munro had brought in some of their own furniture for the main rooms of the house, at least the ones they mainly lived it. But the rest of the house must have come furnished with old four-poster beds and ornate Persian rugs.
Mari’s room had a dark, cherry wood, four-poster bed complete with heavy brocade draperies that were a deep burgundy. The bedding was fresh, but the rest of the room could have used some updating. The oil paintings hung in ornate frames and depicted scenes of hounds on a hunt and ducks over water. There was a small desk and chair in one corner, and Mari waved me in that direction while she went to sit on the bed.
I fiddled with a pen and pad of paper sitting on the desk, doodling small circles and shapes nervously while Mari settled in. After a few moments, she rubbed her hands on her thighs like she was warming them up.
“Okay Annie, tell me, have you tried to access your magic since the other day?”
I drew a little truck on the paper. “Yeah, Munro and I tried last night, and nothing happened.”
Mari tilted her head as if she was considered my response. “Okay, well. Let’s you and I give it a try.”
I felt slightly off balance because I’d never attempted to do magic with anyone other than Munro. Was it the same for everyone, or did each witch have their own process for accessing their magic? Mari presented me with a slightly pitying half-smile as she reasoned out why I was hesitating.
“I’m an earth user, so I’d say we should find some dirt to play in, but it’s too cold outside.” She winked at me. “I’ve been doing magic for so long it’s almost instinct to connect to it, but here’s what I think we should do. Let’s lay down and relax and try to work on focus.”
Mari hopped off the bed and lay down on the thick rug on the floor, using her thumb to indicate she wanted me to join her. Sliding off the chair, I sat on the floor and lay back to stare up at the ceiling with Mari on my left side.
“Just take a few deep breaths and find a spot to focus on. Look, there’s a very nice crack in the plaster, that looks like a good point to pick,” she said, pointing at a fissure in the old decorative swirls of the plaster ceiling.
“Got it,” I said, releasing a long breath and t
rying to exhale some of the tension in my body.
“Focus on it while you breathe in and out,” Mari continued, her voice soft and calming. “Think about the air around you and the earth below us, try to feel the elements surrounding us.”
I focused on my breathing and tried to sense the elements and how my body was connected to them. With each inhaled breath, I thought about the air filling my lungs and how my body was taking in all of the elements that surrounded us. I tried to reach that place inside of me where I could sense my magic was hidden. It was deep in the depths of my soul, and as I took in each breath I approached that place like a thief, slowly trying to approach undetected. I could feel the dull thrum of magic pulsing inside of me, but it was as though it’s encased in ice, frozen and immobile.
I didn’t even notice when the room around me disappeared, and it took a few moments for me to understand that I was lost inside my own mind. It was as though I was standing in a dark cavern with endless corridors. It should have been frightening, but it felt strangely comforting because this place belonged to me, a safe haven that I had created to hide the most precious parts of me.
As I approached the center, I was taken aback by the appearance of a giant iced-over wall. The massive size indicated that it had been there forever, or rather, as long as I’d been alive. It soared up so high that I couldn’t see its end and went on in either direction to infinity. It was so thick that I doubted I could chip away at it with an ax. The color reminded of me of those giant glaciers that are so crystal blue that it looks like a trick of the eye, and it was packed so densely that the color sparkled like a gemstone.
Reaching out my hand, I slid the tips of my fingers over the ice but pulled them back when the cold began to burn my skin. I could sense that my magic was on the other side, I just didn’t understand how to get to it. With a frustrated sigh, I walked along the wall, inspecting it for any weak spots or holes, but I found nothing. Until I heard one tiny drip, echoing in the vast chamber. I ran toward the sound and saw a giant icicle hanging down the side of the wall. Water was slowly trickling down to the icicle’s point, and it dripped to the ground, splashing into a small puddle that had formed.
This one small melt was the only weak spot I could see in the giant barrier between me and my magic, and it was melting at the pace of a snail. I had the urge to kick at the wall, but before I got the chance to take out my rage on an inanimate object that was most likely a figment of my imagination, I was pulled back into Mari’s room by the touch of her hand.
“Annie?” She was sitting up and looked worried.
“I’m okay. I’m fine,” I said even though I was feeling anything but fine.
“What happened? Where did you go? You were just laying here completely still. I said your name a few times and you didn’t even respond.” She was biting her lip as she fretted over me.
Sitting up, I touched her knee to reassure her. “I think I went to wherever my magic lives inside of me.”
“Oh!” was Mari’s surprised response. “And?”
I licked my lips, wishing I had something carbonated to drink. My mouth and throat felt dry and gummy and fizzy bubbles scratching at my throat sounded so good. “There was a giant iced wall. I couldn’t get through it.”
“Hmpf.”
“Hmpf. That’s it? Any other sage advice?” I asked with a quirk of my eyebrow.
“I’m sorry sweetie. I really don’t know,” Mari said with a little shake of her head before she disappeared into her thoughts.
“Mari, can I ask you something else?” I asked, breaking through the quiet and jolting her out of her reverie.
“Anything.”
“When I touch Munro, there is this spark of electricity. I thought it was because we could both use magic, but it only happens when I touch him.”
Mari’s brow crinkled in thought. “I’ve not heard of that before.” Her eyes roamed over my face, and a blush started to creep over my cheeks, making her smile.
“Okay, thanks,” I responded, effectively shutting down any other conversation on that topic before she got a chance to ask anything about it. I hopped up off the ground and walked backward to the door.
“Thanks for trying to help Mari,” I said with a little wave, escaping her room before she said another word.
Chapter 14
When I left Munro’s, Theo was in watching Hattie who was looking a little ripe. I had no desire to talk to her or see her more than necessary, but Mari had taken her out for a bathroom break just as I happened to walk down the hall. I had an odd dichotomy of feelings about the whole situation. Hattie was a murderer and had harmed a lot of people, but she was also a human being, and it felt wrong to have someone tied up and at the mercy of others.
Mari’s binding stew, as I’d nicknamed it, had to brew for eight hours at least. The plan was for everyone to gather in the morning to do the spell. Strength in numbers would help boost the spell’s efficacy. For now, I was determined to snuggle up on the couch with Maggie and Sara to watch cheesy Hallmark Christmas romance stories. Even before I’d come to live with them, it had been a tradition. Sara would make every cookie ever known to man and then we would proceed to stuff our faces while we binged on the movies. I needed this little bit of normalcy before I had to face the morning and whatever binding Hattie’s magic meant for us.
“Let’s watch the one with the prince who’s keeping his identity hidden and ends up in a sleepy little town with the failing entrepreneur and they fall in love and live happily ever after,” Maggie spouted out the ridiculous plot while stacking an assortment of cookies in her hand.
“Which one?” I joked, stealing one of the peanut butter cookies topped with a Hershey’s kiss from her stack, I shove the whole thing in my mouth in two bites.
“Mmm so good,” I mumbled around a mouthful while Sara went back out to the kitchen to get another batch of cookies out of the oven and to put the next trays in.
Maggie grabbed a stack of chocolate chip cookies and settled back on the couch, looking at me instead of the television. She chewed deliberately while keeping her eyes settled on me. I turned my head toward her slowly, raising my eyebrows as I did.
“Yes?”
Maggie took another bite of her cookie and shrugged her shoulders.
“You obviously want to say something, so just come out with it,” I kept my voice monotone, leaning forward to grab another cookie off the tray.
She pushed the last of her cookie into her mouth and took her time chewing before she finally responded, “How are things going with you and Munro?”
My face scrunched up into a pouty scowl. “I don’t know. It’s confusing.”
“Things didn’t look too confusing when you were tending to his wounds.”
“Oh my God, you make it sound so… so…” But I was stuck. I wasn’t sure how it sounded, and it was exactly what had happened.
“Annie, you are allowed to forgive him and try to move past what happened.”
“I know!” I grumbled. “At least in theory. I know that what he did to me at the warehouse was outside his control.”
Maggie nodded, picking crumbs off her shirt. “I saw that truck driver’s face after he hit us, Annie. There were no lights on upstairs. He was not in control of his faculties.”
I licked my lips, wishing I’d poured a glass of milk to go with all of my cookies. The sugar was sitting in my mouth and starting to turn sour.
“I know. And I agree, but it wasn’t just that. He’s lied to me more than a few times. I can’t just get over it like that,” I snapped my fingers.
“Devil’s advocate here,” Maggie said, holding up a hand to stay my response. “If you’d known Hattie was his mother, would you have trusted him initially? And, didn’t they have to keep the fact that they’d bound your magic from you so that it wouldn’t break the binding?” Maggie was whispering to keep Sara from hearing us, and her eyes occasionally shifted toward the kitchen to make sure we weren’t being overheard.
&nbs
p; “Fine, I’ll give you the binding and maybe you’re a little bit right about the first thing. But I have no way of knowing how I would have reacted because I wasn’t given the chance.” I felt like I was arguing with myself and doing a piss-poor job while I was at it.
Maggie just gave me an uncomfortable smile that looked more like a cringe. “I’m not trying to point out the error of your ways. I’m just trying to help you see both sides of the story.”
I sighed. “I know. Thanks. I guess.”
Maggie snorted and grabbed another cookie off the table and handed it to me as a peace offering. Sara came back in from the kitchen, and we settled in for our super cheesy holiday romance binge-fest. We were barely twenty minutes into the movie when a knock sounded on the door.
“Not it!” Maggie and Sara both shouted offhandedly.
“Turds. Fine, I’ll go see,” I said, grabbing another cookie as I moved to the door.
This time of year, there were always a ton of packages being delivered, and I assumed that it was the FedEx guy knocking. But as I approached the front door I could see the shape of someone standing on our porch through the beveled glass.
Losing my appetite, I set the cookie down on the table at the front entry. Through the frosted glass, I could see Munro and nervous energy started jumping around in my stomach. I wasn’t sure why he would be at my house. He’d only dropped me off a few hours before, and we hadn’t discussed him coming back until the morning to get me.
Opening the door I looked out at him with confusion plain on my face.
“Munro?” The question of why he was there obvious in my voice.
“Annie, hey.” He was looking at me, but his eyes kept darting to the sides of the house as if he was searching for something.
“Do you want to come in?” I asked, not wanting to leave the front door open. It was too cold to keep letting in the frigid air.
