“We?” I asked.
“You said you’d follow me to hell and back. I’d do the same for my sister.”
“Me too,” Ruth Anne added.
Eve looked at Paul. “I’m sorry. That’s my nephew in there. I’m going.”
“Well, you know I’m going,” Michael said. “Even if I have to fight the devil himself.”
“Nearly a full Council,” Dora counted, one eye turning towards Paul. “Ya’ve got six, but seven is a magickal number.”
“Me?” Paul looked around, his eyes finally resting on Eve. “Nova will be here in a few days.”
I scissored my hands. “No! None of you are coming except Shane and Michael. Merry––you have to be here for June Bug. Eve––you have Paul and Nova to think about. And Ruth Anne, well, this isn’t your problem.”
“As I see it, little Monty is my problem. He’s family, and that makes him my problem.”
I smiled weakly, nodding.
Merry grabbed my hand. “Maggie, we’re with you. We are sisters.” She made a muscle. “And with these guns, we’ll be back in no time.”
“You can’t stop me either,” Eve said. “Paul, tell Nova I love her.”
Paul inhaled deeply. “Tell her yourself when she gets here. I’m going with you. I’ll tell her mother I’ll send for her as soon as I can.”
If I had any tears left, I would have shed them then. “Thank you all,” I said, humbled.
Jillian’s eyes rolled to the back of her head, her lashes fluttering, as if entranced.
“The Road to Eagle Mountain is not as it seems,” she said, her voice guttural and ominous. “Illusions. Lies. Danger. This is the Netherworld. Keep close to one another and guard your secrets well, or they will be used against you.” She shook her head, shivering as she emerged from her daze. “Dora and I can’t go. We are too weakened to survive the journey. But we’ll be watching over you from afar.”
“Aye,” my aunt agreed.
The sun was lowering into the trees. I watched it disappear, wondering if this would be the last time I’d ever see a sunset. I wasn’t sure what awaited me in the Netherworld, but I’d seen glimpses of it. Brightly lit tunnels with beautiful gardens waited on some paths, dark skulking shadows crowded others. But somewhere in that endless labyrinth my baby cried for me and I would never stop until I brought him home.
“Look,” Eve said, pointing to the ground. A white asphodel bloomed in the otherwise parched earth. The area’s magick was returning.
Jillian draped her arms around me, wetting my shirt with her tears. It was a bittersweet irony to finally have my real mother in my life, only to immediately leave her. When she stepped out of our embrace, her eyes fell to my wrist. “Maggie, remember that you no longer have your crystal bracelet. The Circle was your protection.”
I rubbed my bare arm. It had aided me in the past, but its absence would not change my decision.
Shane stepped forward, taking my left hand in his. He stared deeply into my eyes, licking his lips before he spoke. “I told you that marriage was more than just a document. It carries a magickal protection with it. Marry me, please. You lost one Circle, but I’ll give you another.”
He reached into his pocket and produced a gold ring, slipping it onto my finger. The ring from our dream world. The ring I had buried and then lost.
“You found it!”
“Finding things is what I do.” He pressed my hand to his lips, holding it there. “Please be my wife, Maggie Mae.”
“As soon as we get back, Shane.”
“No, marry me now. Michael’s a minister and can perform the ceremony, right?”
We all turned to Michael, whose grief was plastered over his weary face. He couldn’t be expected to do this, not now, not when he had already lost so much.
He ran his hands through his hair, locking eyes with mine. Between us, we reached a silent understanding. There was love there––love forged through time, parental duties, and even friendship. But that was all it would ever be.
“I’ll marry you two,” he said softly. “I owe it to Maggie.”
We got married in the back yard of Harvest Home, in a one-minute ceremony, as the sun set on the day of my son’s disappearance. Michael’s voice cracked as he spoke, barely able to pronounce us man and wife. He looked away as Shane returned the ring to my finger then kissed me on the lips.
“I just want you to be happy, Maggie,” Michael whispered in my ear, before wandering off to a solo corner of the yard. I knew in that moment he loved me unconditionally, misguided as it was.
Shane and I held hands and I felt the hum of our joined energy. I caressed my ring, sensing the new protection it offered.
“Thank you for going with me,” I said as the fireflies gathered round us, the last light in the waning sky.
“I’ve already been dead, once,” he joked somberly. “I hear the second time is easier.”
Everything I’d learned had prepared me for this journey. There was darkness ahead, but there was also light. As long as I kept love and family and faith, I knew things would be okay. They had to be.
Neither Larinda nor her minions were a match for us. The Council of Seven had been reformed. Heaven help the witch who kept my son from me.
None slept that night. We were all consumed with our private fears and secret hopes, each of us wondering what awaited us in the Netherworld.
I tossed and turned all night through, trying to ignore Jillian’s ominous words.
“Keep close to one another, and guard your secrets well, or they will be used against you.”
Lightning crashed, splitting a limb from the oak where a raven sat watching me. There was not a cloud in sight.
* * *
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THE DAUGHTERS OF DARK ROOT SERIES
Four sisters try their hands at love, life, and magick in this paranormal fantasy series.
Book One: The Witches of Dark Root ~ When Maggie Maddock is called back to her hometown of Dark Root, Oregon, she is expected to take over the family coven. Will Maggie embrace her birthright as Leader of The Council, or will she run from her responsibilities once again?
Book Two: The Magick of Dark Root ~ Maggie Maddock and her sisters are back, training under their coven-leading mother Miss Sasha Shantay to take over as the new leaders of The Council. But life isn’t as smooth as Maggie had hoped it would be. Harvest Home’s taxes have come due, and her mother’s illness has returned, stronger than ever. Desperate, Maggie and Eve devise a scheme to make money through witchcraft. And that’s when things go terribly wrong.
Book Three: The Curse of Dark Root (Part I) ~ In this third installment of the Daughters of Dark Root series, Maggie's life is endangered by a terrible curse from an unknown source. Her only chance at saving herself, and her unborn child, is to reveal the memories kept within a set of crystal globes. They alone hold the key to Dark Root’s secret past, and who she really is.
FOR MORE ABOUT APRIL AASHEIM
VISIT HER WEBSITE
BOOK LIST
The Daughters of Dark Root Series:
The Witches of Dark Root––http://amzn.com/B00D6OUDDG
The Magick of Dark Root––http://amzn.com/B00KRQ2KAK
The Curse of Dark Root: Part One––http://amzn.com/B00UQVGUF2
The Curse of Dark Root: Part Two
The Shadows of Dark Root (Coming 2017)
The Children of Dark Root (Coming 2018)
Dark Root Companion Novellas:
The Council of Dark Root: Armand (A Daughters of Dark Root companion novella)––http://amzn.com/B00PQXVP0A
A Dark Root Christmas: Merry’s Gift - http://amzn.com/B017TFU7KQ
Oth
er Books by April Aasheim
The Universe is a Very Big Place (A quirky rom-com) – http://amzn.com/B008QSTLQ2
The Good Girl’s Guide to Being a Demon – (A New Adult Urban Fantasy) http://amzn.com/B016NZTP4C
Touch of Light: A Baylee Scott Paranormal Mystery (Coming Fall 2016)
Nymph No More (Coming Winter 2016)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
April Aasheim learned to love magic at an early age. Her mother was a fortune teller who always had books on magic and the occult in the house, which April devoured. April fell so in love with the paranormal world, in fact, that at age eight she declared herself a witch and wore a pointed hat for nearly an entire summer. It was at that time that she also discovered books (written for kids) about witches and April hunted them out in libraries and supermarkets. Her favorites were always the ones where witches and ghosts ‘could be real’.
April continued her love of the supernatural into her adult life, studying the occult, spirituality, and world religion. She also loved writing but never thought of combining her two pastimes, until the day she accidentally wrote the sentence “If I were a real witch…” and The Daughters of Dark Root series was born.
April currently lives with her husband and family in Portland, Oregon. When not writing she enjoys dancing, reading, hiking, crafting, and binge netflixing. Get in touch with April on Facebook or visit her website at: www.aprilaasheimwriter.com.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thank you to all my readers, who have shared their love of Dark Root with me and the world. You all truly inspire me to keep going. Love deeply. Live fully. And keep the light.
DARK ROOT
PRESS
2016
THE CURSE OF DARK ROOT: PART II
(Daughters of Dark Root Book 4)
Copyright © 2016 by April Aasheim
Published by Dark Root Press
Cover Art & Design by Jennifer Munswami at
J.M. Rising Horse Creations
www.facebook.com/RisingHorseCreations
2015
Link with me at: www.aprilaasheimwriter.com.
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
Table of Contents
SYNOPSIS
PROLOGUE: I Put a Spell On You
ONE: Mr. Tambourine Man
TWO: Son of a Preacher Man
THREE: Happy Together
FOUR: Time of the Season
FIVE: Break On Through (To the Other Side)
SIX: It’s My Party
SEVEN: Proud Mary
EIGHT: Daydream Believer
NINE: Tossin’ and Turnin’
TEN: Born Under a Bad Sign
ELEVEN: Hello, Goodbye
TWELVE: Let the Sunshine In
THIRTEEN: Good Vibrations
FOURTEEN: Born to be Wild
FIFTEEN: Travelin’ Man
SIXTEEN: Heard it Through the Grapevine
SEVENTEEN: A Hard Day’s Night
EIGHTEEN: Hit the Road Jack
NINETEEN: You Lost That Loving Feeling
TWENTY: Blowin’ in the Wind
TWENTY-ONE: Do You Want to Know a Secret
TWENTY-TWO: Respect
TWENTY-THREE: Let it Be
TWENTY-FOUR: Chain of Fools
TWENTY-FIVE: My Boyfriend’s Back
TWENTY-SIX: I’m a Believer
TWENTY-SEVEN: Love Child
TWENTY-EIGHT: God Only Knows
TWENTY-NINE: Touch Me
THIRTY: You Keep Me Hanging On
THIRTY-ONE: Down on the Corner
THIRTY-TWO: What Becomes of the Broken Hearted
THIRTY-THREE: A Wonderful World
THIRTY-FOUR: Midnight Confessions
THIRTY-FIVE: Hang On Sloopy
THIRTY-SIX: Stand by Me
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
CREDITS
The Curse of Dark Root: Part Two (Daughters of Dark Root Book 4) Page 30
