Bone Witch

by D. N. Hoxa

  “Just some tea to numb the pain,” she said. “There. You’re as good as new.”

  Whatever the “tea” she’d given me was, it worked perfectly. I hardly felt the pain, but now that it was wearing off, the stinging in my arm began again. Not only that, but a headache was developing fast in the back of my head. I could barely keep my eyes open.

  “Do you mind if I put up another shield around the house? Blood magic is very strong when laced with Bone,” Julian asked as he wiped his hands with the kitchen towel. The tea must have been working still because he looked like a damn angel to me, even covered in blood like that.

  Amelia bit her lip and thought about it for a second. “If Winter can walk,” she finally said.

  “I can.” I sat up on the counter, and the kitchen began to spin really fast. It should have been a red flag, but I tried to jump to my feet anyway. The black and white tiles of the kitchen began to get closer and closer to my face, but a hand wrapped around my waist before I touched it. Julian was by my side, holding me upright.

  “Give it a second,” he said, smiling like this was so damn funny. Not fair.

  “I can handle this.” I put my hand on the counter to keep my balance. My arm barely even hurt, or maybe it was the heat coming from Julian’s body. When he let go of me, I instantly felt colder.

  “You can grab my jacket,” Amelia mumbled. She folded the plastic cover from the counter. A lot of blood was on it. Had it come from me?

  “Come on, I’ll help you.” Julian offered me his arm. Maybe I could walk on my own and maybe I couldn’t, but I accepted the invitation anyway. It felt good when he was close.

  He put my aunt’s jacket on my shoulders before we walked outside. It was colder than I remembered and unusually dark. The witches in Bloomsberg seemed to have a real problem with lights. Even the lampposts were extremely dim.

  “Got one of those knives?” Julian asked me. Reluctantly, I gave him one. I only had four left, and I had no idea how I was going to get more. On the bright side, I still had the gun I’d taken from the werewolf’s hand. Now, all I needed was bullets for it.

  “You still have the dragon blood, don’t you?” I whispered, looking back to make sure Amelia wasn’t behind us. I did not want her freaking out.

  “Of course.” Julian touched his chest. That’s when I noticed that there was something beneath his shirt held by a thick chain around his neck.

  “Don’t tell my aunt about it. My reaction was nothing compared to what hers will be.” There was a chance that I was wrong about this, too, but I wasn’t taking any chances.

  “What changed?” Julian asked. We were by the fence gate when he stepped away from me, raised his arm then cut a straight line through his palm.

  “What are you doing?” I hissed. Blood dripped from the knife and to the concrete path, a second before it disappeared. Or maybe it was too dark to see…

  “Blood magic,” Julian said, and continued to whisper under his breath.

  When he stepped right on the grass of Amelia’s yard, I thought she was going to come out and yell at him to get off it. When she didn’t, I followed, and watched as Julian squeezed his palm every few steps until three drops of his blood hit the ground.

  “So, what changed?” he asked again.

  I rolled my eyes. I appreciated that he didn’t want to make me feel uncomfortable for the way I now looked, but there was a limit.

  “Everything, as you can see. And stop acting like this isn’t a big deal.” It was. Anyone could tell you that.

  “You don’t get to choose who you are, Winter.” Julian whispered some more.

  We were in front of Amelia’s garden and the fence was attached to the plastic, so we needed to go back and around the other side of the house.

  “Besides, being a fairy isn’t as bad as everyone thinks.”

  “I’m not a fairy,” I lied. I was such a hypocrite for being offended by his words, but I was. “And it is. It’s as bad as it gets. If I had to choose between a fucking troll and a fairy, I’d choose the troll every time.”

  Julian laughed. My toes curled inside my boots.

  “What have fairies ever done to you?” he asked as he cut his palm deeper because no more blood was coming out. He didn’t even flinch, which was beyond me.

  “They did enough to our world when they were here,” I mumbled.

  Technically, the only contact I’d ever had with a fairy was when I hunted one to bring back to Finn. He’d stolen some spell stones from a witch and was using them to steal from human shops. It worked well for the guy for a couple of months because the human police couldn’t get witnesses to even give a proper description of the events, but when the ECU found out, they hired Finn right away.

  Fairies didn’t do anything to me specifically, but a hundred years ago when they came and went as they pleased, they harmed enough humans and paranormals for a millennia.

  “Don’t believe everything you hear,” Julian whispered. “Not every story is true.”

  “What does that mean?” We weren’t talking about a story. This was history.

  “I’m done,” he said when the three drops of blood from his hand hit the ground. “The spell is in place.” Then he turned around and walked to the house.

  My aunt even let him take a shower in her bathroom. Julian didn’t take more than five minutes, but even wearing the same dirty, bloody clothes, he looked a thousand times better. Wet hair really suited him, damn it.

  Amelia’s basement was a far cry from the one in Alexandra’s house. A single light bulb hung on the ceiling, and it barely made any light. Lots of cardboard boxes were in there, all unlabeled. A washing machine and a dryer were at one corner, and a mattress was on the ground in the other. Amelia dropped some sheets on top of it, and if the lighting had been better, I’m sure we’d have seen the dust floating.

  I wanted to ask her to give Julian the living room couch to sleep on because this was below any standard, but I held my tongue. It was enough that she was letting him stay, and I’d been the one to suggest the basement. I’d done so because I thought she’d at least put a proper bed down there, but what was done was done. And most importantly, Julian didn’t seem to mind at all.

  “No loud noises allowed,” Amelia said. “I’ve put the shield down here so you can use spells, but only what you need for work. If I catch you use anything fishy, you’re out.”

  “I won’t,” Julian said. “But I’d like to use some of your tools. Some herbs, a cauldron, some jars, and an empty notebook, if you have it. I’ll pay for it.”

  Amelia raised a brow. “What kind of spells are you going to stir?”

  “Nothing too big.” Julian looked at me. “Nothing more than I need.”

  She raised her hands, shaking her head. “You have two days. That’s all I’m willing to endure.” She turned around and walked out of the basement.

  “I think you should rest as much as you can while we’re here. Not much you can do without your lab, anyway.” The equipment he’d had in there were much more sophisticated than a cauldron and some herbs. “Once we’re fully healed, we need to leave. I’m not going to put her in danger any longer than is necessary.”

  “Absolutely. But while I rest, I can do some tests. I don’t need much for that.” He began to put the sheets on the mattress, and I felt horrible all over again.

  “How long do you think it’s going to take you?” I’d been afraid of that answer for long enough. All I had was one month until Amelia prepared for the reverse spell.

  “I’m not sure. Not too long,” Julian said.

  “I don’t have more than a month,” I said, and he only nodded. “And I have a favor to ask from you.”

  “A favor,” he repeated, turning to face me.

  “There is a pretty big spell we’re going to try to do. We need strong witches to help us. I’m not sure if it will even work since you’re a Bloodie, but if we do need you…” I didn’t even know how to finish the sentence when he looked at me lik
e that, like I was the only being in the universe.

  “Then I’ll be there,” he said with a curt nod.

  “Okay.” Well, that had been easy. Too easy. And to make me even more uncomfortable, he didn’t even ask what the spell was.

  “Okay.”

  Amelia’s footsteps broke the silence in the basement. She brought Julian everything he asked for, including the notebook and a pretty pink pen. She also informed him that he could use the washing machine and drier for his clothes overnight, which was very generous of her. This time, when she turned to leave, I followed. Being alone with Julian was doing strange things to my head, and I didn’t like it.

  “Goodnight,” Amelia said, but I only nodded.

  “See you in the morning.”

  When Amelia took me to the guest room, a pile of clean clothes was folded neatly by the bed, and a nightgown was laying on it. For some reason, that made me feel ashamed and very, very guilty. This was definitely not the person I remembered the few times I saw her growing up. She’d barely even spoken to me, and now, she was taking care of me.

  “Be careful with your arm when you shower,” she said. “And put the bandage right back when you’re done.”

  “I will,” I said, looking down at the floor. “And thank you.”

  Amelia looked surprised. “You’re welcome, Winter. Now, get some rest. I’m going to need your help tomorrow.”

  “Anything you need.” Whatever it was, I doubted it could repay all the favors she was doing me.

  In the shower, I barely washed my hair because I didn’t want to touch my ears. They only served to make me feel smaller than I ever felt before. Julian’s words ran through my head as I washed the dirt and sweat off me—and the blood. He was full of shit. No way did he really think I looked beautiful with those ears and eyes.

  But when I finally went to bed and kept wondering what he was doing down in the basement, I pretended I believed him, just for a second. The weight of the world dropped from my shoulders and I slept right away.

  Fifteen

  “Fairies are natural botanists,” Amelia said. She either didn’t see my flinch, or she didn’t care. “I’ve wanted to grow some plants forever, but it’s impossible for earth magic. I think you can help.”

  My eyes almost left my sockets. She wanted me to use my fairy magic? She couldn’t be serious.

  “I can’t.”

  It was bad enough to even think about something like that, and all of a sudden, I wanted to run back into the house and shut myself in the guest room. The garden around me looked pure evil that morning.

  “We’re about to find out,” Amelia said. “Wait here.”

  She left me by the cherry tree and ran all the way to the end of her garden. My hands shook as I watched her. She really was expecting me to do magic—fairy magic.

  It was really hard to breathe, and the few people walking down the street only helped feed my paranoia. Amelia said nobody could see inside because the cover was spelled—and she also informed me how much it had cost her to buy said spell—but that didn’t make me feel any better.

  When she came back, her yellow gloves were full of dirt, and she put all of it on the white bench. I hugged myself as I watched her, half of me still hoping that she was just kidding.

  “These are what we call Hentry seeds. They grow on magic alone. Once they create their own source, they can sustain themselves, but to do that, they need to be soaked in magic. Nothing better than a fairy to do it.”

  She moved the dirt around with her fingers until five tear-shaped seeds were visible. I’d never seen my aunt so excited before.

  “So hire a fairy to do it. I really don’t want anything to do with this magic, unless it’s a life or death situation.” My voice shook. That alone should have made her stop, but it didn’t.

  “No earth fairy has enough magic to do this. They get their powers from their realm. You know this.”

  She narrowed her brows like she couldn’t believe what I was saying. I did know that. The fairies that got stuck on earth after the portal closed were useless. A few of them barely had enough power to activate spell stones, and word on the street was that some had even started to age. Without their immortality, they’re going to be extinct soon.

  “I’m an earth fairy!” I hissed, pissed that she’d made me say it. If other fairies were weak, I was weaker.

  “But you’re also a witch,” Amelia said, a shadow of a smile playing on her lips.

  “Please don’t make me do this,” I breathed, so scared, I was instinctively searching for escape routes. “You don’t even need these for the reverse spell.” The name of the plant had been Morgan something, not Hentry. I remembered.

  “I don’t, but Hentry flowers cost very, very much. If I sell them, I’ll be able to pay some of the strongest witches in Pennsylvania to help us. The more power we have, the better the odds of the spell working.”

  My mouth opened and closed a few times, but no words came out. I had no idea if she was saying this just to get me to do it, or if that really was the case. Cursing under my breath, I fell on the bench. It was barely eight in the morning, and I already hated the day.

  “I don’t even know how to do it!”

  Tapping into magic was supposed to be second nature to a witch. It never really was that way for me, but that was normal without my getting my powers from my mother. Now, the few times I’d used my magic, I’d done so in situations where I was high on adrenaline, and I didn’t even have time to think. Not to mention that I was pretty sure that consuming that magic would make reversing it harder.

  Try telling that to my aunt, though. The way she looked at me, eyes wide and filled with hope, I knew she would never take no for an answer.

  “Sure you do. You’re a witch.” She sat next to me. “Just release magic and these seeds will suck it up all by themselves. They’re already a bit filled because I’ve been trying to grow them myself, so it should be a bit easier.”

  “You’re talking to a witch who didn’t have powers just days ago. I don’t know how to release magic!” I complained, feeling like a little girl. “It’s not going to work.”

  “But you can try, can’t you?”

  For the first time in my life, I saw my aunt grin. She looked so much younger that way. Biting my lip, I refrained from saying anything else because I’d said the same thing to her about the reverse spell. For her sake, and for my own, I made myself swallow hard and try.

  Taking the small seeds into my hands made me want to cry. Once I did this, there would be no going back. Half of me was sure that I would fail, but the other half brought images in front of my eyes, images of a werewolf trying to break my shield with his claws and failing. I’d conjured that shield, and it was stronger than any other I’d ever had to deal with.

  “Just close your eyes and tap into your magic. Call to it like you do when you conjure a spell. It’s easier than you might think.”

  For once, I listened without saying a word. I closed my eyes tightly and fisted my palm.

  Tapping into my magic was like reaching deep inside my stomach. It was almost like an emotion that made your stomach tie up in knots. Kind of like the way it felt when Julian smiled. That was exactly what I tried to do this time, only when I did, a whole new world opened for me.

  Before, my magic was focused in a single point inside me, right under my rib cage. But now, as I began to search for it, I felt it all over my body. I let go of my held breath and allowed myself a second to feel it. It was there at the tips of my toes, too, and in my mind, it burned brightly like flames. No witch ever spoke about how magic felt to them because normally, everybody had their full strength by the time they turned eighteen. I’d never thought to ask, just like I’d never asked anyone how it felt to be happy or sad; everybody was just supposed to know. But now, I was dying to find out if magic really felt like this. If other witches saw their magic’s aura the way I could see mine. It was an amazing feeling, and once I got back to my senses, that sc
ared me.

  What if this wasn’t how magic really felt? What if I was this way because I was a fairy, too?

  The bright orange light either began to dim, or I could no longer see it. My inner vision was clouded by confusion, fear, regret.

  “How could she never tell me?” I whispered with my eyes still closed. I didn’t dare look at my aunt’s face from fear of the pity I’d see in her eyes.

  “She didn’t want you to feel like you are feeling now,” Amelia said. I heard the pity in her voice anyway.

  “She had no right to keep this from me. If I’d known, if I’d been just a little bit prepared…” Then what?

  “My sister did what she thought was the best for you. I held that against her for so long, but it wasn’t my place to judge her. It’s not your place, either. We all do what we think is best, Winter. Others might not understand it, but that’s all anyone can ask for,” she said.

  My heart broke all over again because Amelia was right. And I understood my mother perfectly. I would have never wanted her to feel the way I did, so worthless, and if that had meant keeping a secret from her, I would have done it. I did it, in fact. I never told her the cancer had spread to her other breast when the doctors told me. It might not have been the same thing, but it helped me understand. Still, that didn’t mean I liked it, or that I was willing to forgive her for it. Not yet.

  The sound of life going on around us, of people walking somewhere in the distance and cars passing by the house, helped me relax. No matter what had happened, I was here now, and I was going to do everything in my power to change what life had given me. I was going to do my best, and like my aunt said, that was all anyone could ask of me.

  “The seeds are magic, too. You can feel them if you try.”

  My eyes popped open at the sound of Julian’s voice. He was right in front of me, looking down at my hands with longing.

  “It isn’t working. I said it wouldn’t,” I mumbled to keep myself from asking how long he’d been there, looking at me.

  “Give it time,” he said. “Growing life takes a lot of it.”