by Amelia Shaw
I’d watched movies and read human books about waking up after a hang-over, and with their descriptions in mind, I began to catalogue my symptoms.
Pounding headache. Check.
Dry mouth, inability to swallow. Check.
Will to live... yeah, not high.
I grunted. I forced myself to sit up, though it took some rolling, some groaning, and some overall embarrassing behavior. I felt like a fish, flopping on the deck of a ship. I was surprised not to hear Courtney laughing at my struggle. That only reiterated how pathetic I really was, if Courtney herself couldn’t even tease me.
By the time I was sitting at the edge of my bed, sweat had popped on my brow and my heart pounded like I’d run a marathon. I wanted to wipe the sweat away, but my hands were shaking and I didn’t want my sisters to notice.
I opened my eyes and then blinked. My sisters were gone. Had I imagined them being there in the first place? What was wrong with me?
At that moment, my door opened and Bella walked in, holding a large mug out in front of her. I could smell the tea, even from where I sat, and the scent of chamomile tea made me feel so much better.
“How are you doing?” Bella asked.
I waved at her, not sure I could talk yet. My eyelids were as heavy as boulders.
“Here,” she said, holding the mug out in front of me.
I didn’t ask what was in it. I just drank.
“I could only moan as the sweet, honeyed flavors flowed over my tongue, coating my throat and somehow lifting my headache. I began to think more clearly now. Bits and pieces started to return to me: how Bella cast a spell that branded me to help with protection, how it had been an incredibly painful experience. How I never wanted to go through anything like it again.
By the time I’d finished my tea, I was halfway back to feeling normal. I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath. I didn’t know how much time had passed since I’d fallen into a magical coma. Part of me didn’t particularly care. At least I was capable of thought again. The fogginess of my mind had cleared and I could finally open my eyes without pain.
I sighed and handed the mug back. “Thank you so much,” I told her, meaning every word. “I’m not sure what else was in that besides the tea, but whatever it was, I needed it.”
She shrugged.
“I figured you’d wake up feeling pretty terrible, so this is kind of my cure all,” she said, which didn’t actually tell me what that was.
I’d let it go. For now.
“Well, it was perfect,” I said. “Cleared up my headache quick smart.”
I peered out the window, trying to judge the time of day.
From what I was starting to remember, we’d done the spell midafternoon, after lunch. And I was still in my underwear... damn.
“What time is it?” I asked.
Her lips quivered into a smile. “It’s about two o’clock.”
“What, in the afternoon?” Had I seriously been asleep only an hour?
She nodded.
I blew out a breath and struggled to stand so I could dress again. I held onto the bed, just in case my legs weren’t as strong as I expected them to be.
“Wow, I thought it would be way later than that,” I said.
Bella laughed.
I frowned.
“What’s funny?” I asked. I probably looked weird, holding onto the bed, keeling over, but Bella had never been the type to poke fun at someone feeling unwell, not even me.
“I performed the spell yesterday,” she said. “You’ve been asleep a whole twenty-four hours, and Courtney’s still out for the count.”
I stopped. I was glad I was holding onto the bed because I would have fallen over right there. I had forgotten that Courtney was going to do her protection spell right after mine. What I hadn’t expected was that it would take us this long to recover.
I stared at her with my mouth hanging open. “Woah.”
She giggled. “Yep.”
“The house must have been quiet without us,” I said.
“You have no idea,” she agreed. “I was able to do more reading, that’s for sure.”
I glanced down at the clothes I’d worn yesterday, laying over a seat next to the bed.
“Then I suppose I should have a shower,” I said.
To be honest, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d showered, except when I thought Tavlor saw me as nothing more than a job. But that had to have been around a week ago. I was sure I showered after Courtney and I trained.
I lifted up my armpit and took a deep inhale, just to see.
I started coughing and dropped my arm.
“Exactly,” Bella teased. “But check out that awesome tattoo on your belly.”
A moan sounded from a nearby room. Bella backed towards the door.
“I’ve gotta help Court, but see you after your shower,” she said.
She turned and bolted down the hall, probably to grab another one of those awesome drinks.
I trudged to the bathroom to check out my new acquirement in the mirror above the sink. The lingering scent of black tea filled my nostrils and made me wrinkle my nose. I wasn’t a fan of black tea. Not like Courtney was.
I looked in the mirror and my eyes went wide.
“Cool!” I stared at my reflection. A large tattoo wrapped around my belly button. It looked like a strangely ancient sun, pointing out in all directions, with fiery reds and oranges blasting from its center. It was prominent enough to notice, but it wasn’t tacky.
“Very cool,” I said as I flicked on the shower and took a sniff of myself once more. “Oh... yep, definitely need a shower.”
I must have been sweating all night because I stunk.
I stepped beneath the water and let the spray wash over my hair, my face, and down my body. The water at my feet turned brown, so I knew I had accumulated some dirt from my last shower until now. I wondered if the water would affect the tattoo in a negative way, but Bella seemed to approve of the shower. I was sure she would have said something if it wasn’t safe for me to do so.
A tingle quivered through me that I couldn’t quite decipher. Something new, something foreign.
Something different.
I couldn’t be sure if it was a good different or not.
There was a sort of strength inside me, like a lightning bolt straight to my core.
Was the spell Bella had worked, some sort of Fae magic? Because that was how I envisioned their magic to be. Wound around the earth, the trees, the energy of this world and the next. Like I was one with nature, with spirit, with my physical body all at the same time.
By the time I’d washed, dried, and dressed in clean clothes, I was buzzing with energy. I practically skipped out of the bathroom. It was like my body was reeling from untampered, pure joy.
Bella hadn’t said that feeling invincible was a side effect of the spell. I hoped to never be rid of it I had never experienced this before, and I didn’t want it to end.
I walked out my door, stepped up to Courtney’s door, and knocked. “Hey Court,” I all but sang. I bounced between feet, like there was some song stick in my head that I couldn’t help but dance to. “You in there?”
“Yeah, just dressing,” she called.
A pause.
I tried to determine if she was having that same sensation but couldn’t tell just yet.
“Come on in,” she said.
I took a moment, and then pushed the door open as Courtney tugged on a pair of boots over her leggings and funky top. She always had the best fashion sense between the three of us.
I would never say that out loud, of course. I didn’t want to add to her inflated ego.
A grin spread over my face as I looked her over, trying to figure out where on her body the tattoo decided to show up. “So, where’s yours?”
Her grin was as big as mine as she pulled up her top. “Same place as yours, I think.”
She flashed me her bellybutton and I dropped my gaze to check it out. Her tattoo was similar to mine
, but smaller and with more orange than red. It flickered with magic in a different way. Did that mean anything? Perhaps the protection was different based on the person.
“That is very cool!” I said and then lifted my top. “Here’s mine.”
Courtney gasped. “Now that is hot!” she said, then wiggled her eyebrows. “I wonder what Tavlor’s going to say when he sees it.”
I laughed. “Oh, my goodness, I don’t even know.” My face turned red. “Anyway, you were right about it being hot.” I crossed my arms over my stomach. “Felt like my insides were on fire!”
Courtney groaned, swiping at some hair in her face. “I know! I almost chickened out after I saw you go through with it, but I knew I had to. If you could do it, and you were willing to be first for my sake—don’t deny it, Ava, I know you too well—then I could do it too. So, I just marched quickly to my room and made Bella do me too. Don’t remember much after that though.” She shrugged. “I think I passed out pretty quickly.”
I put a hand on my hip. “I don’t think it’s a sign of weakness or anything,” I said. “From the testing done on me, they said my magic is pretty powerful, and I passed out. And I’ve always thought you were at least as powerful as I was, so maybe it’s a reflection of that strength? Our own power interweaving with the spell?”
I wasn’t true if that was true, but it made sense.
She shrugged. “Maybe, but either way, it’s done now.”
She rolled her shoulders back, seemingly relieved.
“For you guys, maybe,” Bella said from the doorway.
I swiveled around to where she stood, holding the ancient book. Her lips were pinched and her skin was pale.
“You okay, Bella?” I tilted my head, hair falling over my shoulder. “You look so worried.”
A weird laugh quivered from her lips. “Well, I’ve been alone for twenty-four hours, watching you both sleep.” She rubbed her fingers against the spine of the book. It seemed like she was trying to comfort herself. “I tried to wake you up, but I couldn’t. I, uh, thought... Well, the only thing stopping me from thinking the worst was the fact that I could see you breathing.” She swallowed hard, her throat working. “At first, I thought I’d killed you.”
My heart ached at the sadness on her face. Poor thing. She’d gone out on a limb, offered a spell that she hadn’t tried, watched us go through immeasurable pain, then had to sit in the house alone, in silence, for a whole day.
Must have felt like an eternity.
I rushed forward to pull her into a hug. “You’re amazing, Bella,” I told her. “I can’t even imagine what that would have been like for you.”
I squeezed her as hard as I could. I wanted her to feel me, to know that I was really here with her, that I was unharmed.
When I pulled back, she had tears in her eyes.
“Well, now it’s my turn to feel the same way!” I said. “You ready to get it done too?”
She nodded and dashed away the tears that fell on her cheeks, a giggle bubbling up through the mask of a sob. “Yes.”
She turned and walked across the hall to her room. I followed, though my stomach churned. I’d never thought of having to do this sort of spell on my sisters. Knocking them on their asses occasionally in a play fight was one thing, but intentionally causing them massive amounts of pain? No wonder Bella was traumatized.
I just reminded myself that this was for the best. That she needed to experience a short amount of pain.
I wasn’t going to be around forever, and I would never live with myself if I had an opportunity to give Bella protection and squandered it because I was scared. I wouldn’t be selfish.
Bella had to do it to both me and Court. I only had to do it to her.
I would not fail her now.
Bella stripped off her dress and leggings, standing in the middle of her library style bedroom with a grim look on her face.
It was clear she didn’t trust me. I didn’t blame her. I could attack and my defenses were coming along nicely. But protection spells?
“I hope this doesn’t hurt as bad as it looked,” she said, grimacing.
I cleared my throat. I wasn’t exactly sure what to say to that. I didn’t want to baby her, but I also wanted to reassure her that she could handle it. If I could, if Courtney could, there was no reason why she couldn’t.
Instead of replying, I put out my hand for the book. She hesitated, and then handed it over.
“It’s open to the right spell,” she said, though I could tell she resisted the urge to take the book back from me.
I glanced over the spell.
It wasn’t difficult, neither the language, nor the power required. I was surprised that it wasn’t more complex. I thought that, especially with it being ancient, it would be harder to cast.
However, there was something hairy about the warnings that sandwiched the spell, as though people who didn’t deserve the protection, wouldn’t receive it. I frowned. The wording was difficult to understand.
I glanced up at Bella. “Did you read this caveat? About only receiving the gift if your soul was pure?”
She nodded. “Yep, I wasn’t worried,” she said. She seemed confident, speaking on our innocence than the actual spell and the effects it might have on the three of us. “Thanks to Mother, we’re all as pure as the driven snow.”
Her lips quirked up, but she stood as if bracing for impact.
I rolled my eyes. “I don’t think that’s what it means.”
She laughed. It almost sounded maniacal.
I probably should do the spell and get this over with. It seemed like she wasn’t particularly comfortable waiting.
“I know,” she said, “but I still wasn’t worried. Worst case scenario, it wouldn’t work. Best case... we all receive a gift that most witches don’t even know exists.”
I cocked my head on the side. “Why not?” I asked. “Isn’t this book a commonly published one? I know it looks old, but still. Certainly, most magic users have access to it in some form or another.”
Bella shook her head. “No.” Her voice seemed calmer than she had been, which was good to hear. “It’s handwritten, and from what I’ve read, I’m pretty sure it’s one of Mother’s relations that wrote it, which means it belongs in our family and our family alone.”
I looked down at the book. I marveled at the detail. I didn’t know why I didn’t notice it before. The paper was thicker and more brittle than most spell books. I was almost afraid to touch it, as though it would shatter with even the lightest of caresses. My fingers itched to trace the printing on the parchment. It was obvious it had been done with ink and a quill. The lettering was perfect and slanted to the right slightly. Strange notes in a different hand cropped up in corners and under incantations. These looked more recent.
“Wow,” I murmured to myself. I lifted my eyes to Bella. “You’re right.”
“I know,” she said with the confidence only my bookworm had.
I laughed, rolling my eyes. I was glad to know that she wasn’t just throwing herself into this, that she had taken the time to do her research. Then again, I would expect nothing less from Bella.
“Now that that’s settled, let’s get to it then,” I said.
I crossed the room to stand in front of her. She stared up at me, waiting, as I mouthed the words before I spoke them out loud. The last thing I wanted was to say something wrong and for her to come out of this with a second head.
When I was confident I had the right words, I began to read the enchantment aloud. Without warning, wind filled the room and whipped around me. Strands of hair slapped my face and tickled my eye lashes but I was too afraid I would lose my place in the book to brush them away.
I got to the end of the reading and it said to repeat.
I inwardly cursed, making sure not even to mouth the bad word. I wasn’t sure what to expect if I had.
Regardless, I repeated the incantation. I was more confident with the words once I’d finished the second time
, that I was ready to go a third time if the spell required it.
The magic swirled harder, stronger, but the glow in the end of my wand had not begun.
When it said to repeat again, I did. I kept doing it, just as the text stated. Apparently, it was completely subjective. I would repeat the incantation until it was time to release. Once I felt it was ready, I would stop. It was a strange spell. I wasn’t sure how I felt about using my intuition to guide me along. I preferred it when someone told me what to do rather than relying on myself to help me along.
I began to speak the words again, focusing on my sister, what she wanted, and let the power flow through me. Something warm trickled through my chest. It started right where my heart was and swirled through my blood. It flowed through my body, soaring through my senses until I felt the light burning so bright inside of me.
The light appeared on my fingers. It went from bright, like the sun, to a glowing pink. My eyes widened. It was only when a prickle teased my fingertips that I shook myself from the daze and remembered what I was doing and why I was doing it.
I kept going, repeating the spell over and over until as the light shifted to a deep, rich ruby. It was as if the colors were bleeding into each other.
My gut tightened and I knew this was it. This was the moment when I was supposed to let go.
I finished the spell for the sixth time and pointed my index finger at Bella with the final word of the enchantment. I let out a slow breath and felt a release inside of me. All the magic that had been building up in me, all the warmth and tingly feelings that kept me buzzed with energy, gathered at my chest and began to seep from my fingertip.
The ruby light shot across the room like a shooting star, bright and beautiful and hard to look away from, straight into her belly. She stumbled back.
She began to shake and collapsed onto the bed. I dropped the book and raced to her bathroom to get a towel.
I shoved it into the sink and ran cold water over the towel until it was soaked. I knew how I felt yesterday—and hot was an understatement.
When I hurried back into the room, Courtney was hanging over Bella, looking deathly white and worried. Her eyes shot to me, and without words, pleaded with me to do something. I didn’t know what I could do other than to offer her comfort.
