by T J Green
But then, rather than the spell, there was a note written by Helena.
“It is with great trepidation and sorrow that we make this spell. We have lived in White Haven for years, healing, making charms, protecting the poor and rich alike. We seek to do no harm, only good, and we have promised ourselves that we will not bend from our task. And yet, circumstances have made us change our decision.
“And it is my fault. So here I make my confession, for it is because of me that this spell has come to pass. Before I met my husband, when I was young and foolish, I lay with Thaddeus Faversham, and before long found that I bore his child. He promised me everything, but in the end, gave me nothing. I could have got rid of the child, it is in my power to do so, but I could not, and so to conceal my shame, I married my husband, cast a spell to delay the birth, and then lied to say it was not full term. And he knew nothing.
“My daughter, Ava, is now eight, and is a great joy, and a sweet sister to Louisa. But recently my dear husband Edward died, and Octavia Faversham has decided that Ava must live with them now. She and Thaddeus have finally acknowledged (privately) that she is a Faversham, and is arrogant enough to believe that I do not deserve to raise my own daughter. Ava already shows signs of power well before one would expect it, and I believe it is her power rather than blood that motivates Octavia. And Octavia is powerful enough to steal her, too, and nobody would know or remember.
“I will not countenance it. I am furious, and have devised a plan to silence her forever. She will never rest until she has what is mine, and neither will Thaddeus. They think I am alone and vulnerable without my husband, but they are wrong. My power has never been stronger, and the other four families will stand with me. We will banish Octavia forever, locked within the earth with her pet demon she threatens to unleash. Thaddeus will think twice before he threatens me again.
”But it shall come at a cost. With great spells come real sacrifice, and I am sacrificing my power to keep my daughter. It will weaken all of us, and it may be that the others will live to regret it. But they are also now being threatened by the Favershams, and so they must do this to protect themselves, too. A life without magic—or very little, at least—will be like a life half-lived. It may well be that it takes my daughter’s power, too.
“It is my intention to break this spell, when the time is right. I have no idea when that will be, but if not in my lifetime, maybe by the hand and tongue of some ancestor I shall never know. I have therefore written the spell that will bind Octavia, and also the spell to break it, and the exact orders of these incantations are described below. This grimoire is the key to all.
“The spell has been split into five parts, and all five witches must be present to cast it, and all five to break it. It encompasses White Haven itself, bound within the very earth of the town, cast in the heart of it. My part is written here, the other parts are hidden in the other grimoires.
“I have no idea of the repercussions it may cause. It may be that this spell echoes through the years, and I would beg forgiveness of anyone who reads this.
“But a warning to those who choose to break it—the power that is bound within the spell will be unleashed. If you are my descendant, your powers will grow, and your rightful inheritance will be replenished. And I encourage you to do so. You will claim your place within the world, as will all the other witches who stand with you.
“I wish you luck, for once the spell is broken, Octavia will also return. Beware her demon.”
Below the note was the spell, complex and layered, with half a dozen ingredients, and then below that, a final word.
“It is done, and I am left weaker than I ever imagined. I fear I have cursed White Haven forever, and our enmity with the Favershams will be sealed down the years. And now I hear the Witchfinder comes, and I must hide the grimoire forever.
Forgive me,
Helena”
Avery felt tears pricking her eyes again. Poor Helena. To have had a child with Thaddeus, and for him to abandon her was awful in itself, especially at that time, but to then threaten to take her was even worse. No wonder Helena had chosen to perform the spell. No wonder either that she could not fight back when she had been accused by the Witchfinder—Thaddeus would have known her powers were almost gone. He must have hated her to condemn her to such a death.
And Avery’s true powers—hers and Helena’s, now one in the same—were bound beneath White Haven, as were Alex’s, El’s, Reuben’s and Briar’s. Did this mean that the powers they had now were a fraction of what they could have? Did it still apply? Or had their powers eventually returned over the centuries?
Avery flopped back on the pillow, her head spinning. Helena said the powers would be unleashed. What did that mean? Would they flood through them like a tidal wave—would it flood the town? Or was all this just a fairy tale? A tale of long ago that had no power over them now, other than with words?
But then she thought of the Favershams. Why would they attack with demons if they didn’t think the threat was real? She laughed. No wonder Sebastian had gone along with their conversation the other day. He didn’t give a crap about Octavia’s soul. He just didn’t want them to get their powers back. Why, though? It wasn’t as if they would attack the Favershams. They could co-exist as much as they had for years.
So many questions. Avery needed to speak to the others. One thing was certain, however. She knew she wanted to release their powers, regardless of crazy Octavia and her demon. It was their birthright, and she wanted it back. And that meant getting Reuben’s grimoire back, as well.
Avery pulled the book to her chest and settled in for the night. She was going to study this book from cover to cover, in case there were more hidden secrets yet to be revealed.
18
Avery entered the shop with gritty eyes and a head full of questions. Sally took one look at her and plonked a coffee down in front of her.
“Here you go. Another late night?”
Avery nodded, sipping the hot drink with relish. “Yes, just catching up on some reading.”
Sally smirked. “Really? Because I saw you heading into The Startled Hare last night, with Alex.”
Avery met her eyes slowly. “We had a meal and went to the pub. And then I went home—alone.”
“So it’s official, then? Rather than this, ‘oh, we’re just friends doing some research...’” Sally said, adopting a sing-song voice.
“We’re seeing how things go,” Avery said, itching to spell Sally into silence, but feeling that would be way too mean.
A grin split Sally’s face. “Excellent. I’ve always liked Alex. He’s good for you.”
Avery spluttered. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m going to open the shop.”
Avery took her coffee with her, feeling her cheeks growing hot even as she walked away. She lit a few incense sticks on her way through the shop, and reinforced the spell that helped customers find the book they never knew they wanted.
All day she felt her mind was barely on the job, and she went through the motions as if she was in a trance, pacing out the day until she went to Alex’s. He’d texted mid-morning to say he’d invited the others over that evening, and that they’d all accepted. She hoped Newton had some idea of how they were going to get the Jackson grimoire back.
By late afternoon, Avery was tidying the shelves in the far corner of the shop, which housed the esoteric section, when she felt something behind her. She swung around, alarmed, and found Caspian Faversham blocking her from the rest of the shop. His face was white and pinched, and he looked even worse than he had yesterday when they had attacked Kernow Shipping.
“Get out of my shop,” she hissed, her hands balling with energy.
“I’m here to talk.”
“You cannot possibly have anything to say that I’d want to hear.”
“My father suggests a deal.”
She was about to push past him, when she stopped and looked at him suspiciously. “What deal?”
“Hand over
the grimoires, and no one else dies.”
“You can stick your threats up your arse, Caspian. And you can tell your self-righteous wanker of a father to do the same. They’re our books. Do you think we’d let Gil die in vain? You murderer,” she spat at him.
She could feel wind whipping up around her, and the chimes hanging in the window alcove started to tinkle. She tried to subdue her annoyance, not wanting to attract attention.
Caspian’s dark eyes felt as if they could pin her to the wall. “I didn’t mean to kill Gil.”
“Liar! I presume you didn’t try to kill Reuben, either, at Old Haven Church. Your powers got away from you, did they? And Alicia wasn’t trying to kill Reuben when she summoned demons in his own house? And what about the two people killed by the demons here in White Haven? Innocent people. Oh, that’s right, you said normal people didn’t count,” she recounted, remembering their conversation on the beach.
“We started badly, I admit. We suggest a truce,” he said, remaining solidly in her way.
She took a step back. “What’s going on? Why would you suggest a truce now? Your father set a dragon on us for suggesting this very thing!”
“You shocked him about Alicia. We now believe you, and he wishes to compromise.”
Something felt very wrong. She tried to see over his shoulder. Sally. She was ‘innocent people.’ “Where’s Sally?”
A slow smile crept up Caspian’s face. “She’ll be fine. So long as you give us the grimoires.”
White-hot anger spread through her, as did ice-cold fear. “Don’t you dare hurt her, or I swear, I will kill you.”
“You’re not the one in the position of power here are you, Avery?”
“Neither are you, without those grimoires. You see, I now know why you want them, and it has nothing to do with poor old Octavia’s trapped soul.”
Caspian’s eyes flashed with a hint of doubt.
She continued, “It’s about the increased power we’ll have when we unleash the binding spell. And believe me, we’ll do it.”
Caspian’s menace increased as he stepped towards her and she felt his power pressing on her like a wall. “Not without Reuben’s grimoire, you won’t. And you will never find it. Five spells, five witches. You can’t possibly do it without that portion. Give it up now, and let Sally come home. She has two children, doesn’t she? It would be a shame to see them grow up motherless.”
Avery knew he was goading her, and she wanted to let her power fly, to rip off his face and shred his smile to pieces. But then she smelled violets on the air again and felt a presence close to her, filling her with warmth and strength. Helena. And then she suddenly knew how they could break the spell.
She took a deep breath and stepped back from Caspian, careful not to give anything away. He must think she was scared and powerless, so she dropped her shoulders and looked defeated. “I need to speak to the others.”
“Do it quickly—you’re running out of time.”
He couldn’t possibly know she had found Helena’s book. She needed to lie, really well. Witches were good at detecting lies. “But I haven’t found Helena’s book yet. We can’t deliver them.”
“But you have a map,” he said, slightly annoyed.
“And zero clue as to what it’s a map of!”
“Well, you had better work quickly. You have until midnight to deliver them to my father’s home.”
“It’s not long enough—I’ve been looking for weeks,” she said, panic-stricken. “And what do I tell Sally’s husband?”
“That’s your problem.” Caspian’s smug smile of superiority returned. “I look forward to seeing you later.”
He turned, walked around the corner of the shelving, and disappeared.
Avery raced across the shop, hoping he’d merely been frightening her. “Sally? Sally!”
One of the locals, an elderly man with grey hair, turned and answered. “She headed to the back, love, with a young lady.”
Avery now felt sick with fear. They really had taken her. She ran through the door into the back of the shop and found Sally’s hex bag on the floor, the contents scattered.
Sally was gone.
***
“They’ve taken Sally? Your employee?” Newton was seething. “That’s kidnapping. I’ll arrest every single one of them.”
“She’s my friend. And you know you can’t,” Avery reasoned, biting back her annoyance. “We have to break the binding spell. That’s our only hope. Then we’ll have the power to fight the Favershams and rescue Sally. And get the grimoire back. And we only have until midnight to do it.”
“Midnight! Tonight?” Alex exclaimed, his eyes wide.
“Yes. I’m sorry,” Avery said, looking at all of them.
She stood in the centre of Alex’s flat, dressed for battle. She was wearing her black skinny jeans, a fitted tee, low-heeled ankle boots, and her slim fitting leather jacket.
The lights were low and the mood was grim. Reuben was still distraught about Alicia and Gil’s death; his mood had also taken its toll on El. She sat next to Reuben on the sofa, and she looked as bad as he did. The good thing was that they had arrived together and appeared to have settled their differences. Newton was still in pain after his encounter with the demons. He held himself stiffly, and Avery could see bandages around his arm and adding bulk under his t-shirt. They were all weaker than they should be, but they had to act now.
“What have you told her family?” Newton asked.
Avery hesitated, embarrassed. “I told Sam, her husband, that we were doing a late night stock take, and I threw in a little spell to help. It wasn’t hard, but it felt horrible.”
Avery then told them what she found in her grimoire, and what she and Alex had discovered about the pentagram over White Haven and the centre where the spell had been performed.
“That’s where you’re confusing me,” El cut in. “How can we break the binding spell when we don’t have part of the spell—the portion for water?”
“Because we have Helena.”
A chorus of “What?” echoed around the room.
“She’s here with me now. I can feel her. She smells of violets, and she wants us to do this. She made the spell. She knows the spell. She doesn’t need a grimoire to recite it.”
“So that’s what I can sense,” Alex said thoughtfully. “I thought I was imagining it.”
Newton looked spooked. “She’s here? Now?” He looked around, as if she would materialise next to him.
“I can’t see her, Newton,” Avery said, trying to reassure him. “It’s her presence, her spirit. I feel her.”
Alex interrupted, “Avery, you know I trust you, I do, and I believe you. But she’s a spirit. She has no corporeal body. How can she take part in a spell?”
“Because, Alex, you control the essence of spirit. You have the grimoire. You said yourself it has spells to summon spirits. But she’s already here. You must know a spell to allow her to enter my body, and then I’ll have her knowledge to perform the spell. Reuben can perform the air part of the spell, my part, and I’ll do his.”
Briar answered first. “That sounds incredibly dangerous, Avery.”
“It’s Helena, she won’t hurt me. Alex?”
For a second he didn’t speak, and just stared at her. “Briar’s right. It is dangerous. And it won’t work like that. If she enters your body, your mind will be pushed out of the way—she’ll control you!”
Avery faltered for a second. That sounded unpleasant, but … “It will be fine. I trust her.”
Alex persisted. “What if you can’t get rid of her, what if she sends you mad?”
“It won’t. She won’t. I feel her. She’s gentle and fair—she won’t hurt me.”
“You don’t know her, Avery, so you don’t know that. And what if the spell goes wrong?”
“So there is one?”
He sighed. “Yes, there is. You would need to surrender your spirit to hers, to allow her in. But I’m scared she would take
over, smother you. Then you’d be lost. Forever. I don’t want that to happen.”
It felt as if they were the only two in the room. She felt the others watching them, but she didn’t care. “I promise I’ll come back.”
“You better.” He finally broke his gaze and turned to his grimoire on the floor in front of him.
“So it’s decided, then.” Briar said, her tone even, but her face tense. “I need to prepare my ingredients. My part requires a lot of herbs. What about everyone else’s?”
“Mine requires half a dozen,” Avery said. “I’ve already brought them with me. Reuben’s, El’s and Alex’s are incantations only. As my grimoire is the key to the spell, it describes the preparation of the space, too. It seems to be the usual circle of protection. It also describes the order of the incantations to break the spell. It’s precise. You need to be familiar with it.”
“I presume we’re doing this now?” El asked.
“We have to,” Avery said. She checked her watch. “It’s already past six—that only gives us six hours in which to break the spell and get to Faversham’s place.”
“How?” Reuben asked, looking around at them all. Dark circles were under his eyes, and it looked as if he hadn’t slept in days. “You say the centre of the pentagram is where the Church of All Souls is. But where in the Church? How do we find it?”
“You’re happy to help, then?” El asked him curiously.
“Of course I am. I’m grieving, not useless,” he said brusquely.
El flinched, but then he reached out his hand and placed it on hers in apology.
“Right,” Avery said, feeling like she needed to get things moving. “Let’s check the spells and all the ingredients, and start preparing them here. We’ll have to cast the spell that allows Helena in later, at the place where we break the binding. I better go and find it.”
“So,” Newton said, “what can I do?”
“You can help me find the place.”
“Yes, good, I can do that,” he agreed, eager to be doing something practical.
“But then what?” Reuben persisted. “Say we’re successful, and we break the spell. A demon and a vengeful sprit will then be released. Have we a plan for that?”
