After the Summerland (The Witches of Spring Hill Book 1)

by Patricia Proctor

  They separate and go to their own classes, only to meet up at lunch to find out that they haven’t really talked to anyone else and haven’t heard anything about Rowan, Chloe, or Kaiden Alexander. Reluctantly, they separate again and head off toward their afternoon classes, more annoyed than ever that their aunt made a point of putting them in separate classes.

  At the end of the school day, Selene’s was the first car parked in the long line of parents waiting to pick up their kids. It seemed ominous since it meant she got to the school early enough to have gotten the first spot, which meant she had been waiting for them for a while. “She knows the Alexanders weren’t in school today,” Xavier says worriedly to Cian and Brianna. They both look at him with surprise when they hear the worry in his voice.

  “And why does that worry you, Xavier?” Cian asks. “Was something supposed to happen today?”

  Xavier looks at his brother and before he can stop himself, he blurts, “You know she has no patience when it comes to the Alexanders. This morning she told me that if we don’t provide her with some information about them today, then she is going to make the next move, and we all know what that means for all of us.”

  “It means that she is going to start openly using magic to get the answers that she wants,” Cian says.

  Brianna shudders visibly when she thinks of the spells her aunt has cast in the past and the chaos that ensued afterwards.

  Just after their mom died, when Aunt Selene first moved in, she loudly accused the woman across the street of hitting on their dad, her brother, and cast a spell against her, out loud, for the entire neighborhood to hear. The spell may have been disregarded had the woman’s life continued as normal, but within one month the woman lost her job, her car was repossessed, she gained 50 pounds, and she started losing her hair. Shortly thereafter the woman sold her home, at a loss, and moved back east, never speaking to anyone in the neighborhood again.

  Of course, this all brought great joy to Selene who loved watching the trampy woman’s life unravel, but to everyone else in the neighborhood, even the kids’ friends, the damage was done, and everyone started avoiding the Silvans. They were forced to sell the house that they grew up in and move farther south in California, somewhere where Selene was not suspected of being a witch.

  Most recently, on the drive from California to North Carolina, they stopped at a small family run hotel outside of Santa Fe and although not one of them saw or heard anything out of the ordinary, Selene insisted that the innkeeper refused to rent them a room because she ‘knew’ Selene was a witch. Selene cast a spell of misfortune to “show her” how to do business.

  When they stopped at a different hotel a few exits away, they learned that there had been a fire at the other hotel. Miraculously no one was injured, but the hotel was required to close because of severe smoke damage. The story got worse when it was discovered that the woman did not have insurance and could not afford to repair any damage done by the fire, therefore, forced to close the family business that had been open for more than 50 years.

  When Selene saw the news report she smiled at the woman’s misfortune and said, “Well, I guess it’s a good thing we didn’t stay at that hotel.” And without acknowledging her own part in the disaster, she left to go pick up dinner. When she was gone for more than an hour they all agreed that it was likely she went back to the hotel to see the poor woman’s misery in person.

  “So, what the hell do we do now?” Cian asks Xavier.

  “Just leave it to me for now, but you have to know…” Xavier starts, but stops when his aunt gets out of the car and glares at the three of them with a look that can only be described as pure evil.

  Brianna slows enough to step behind Xavier and says, “Stop talking with us for now. You know how she hates it when we all get along. We’ll figure out a plan later… when she isn’t watching every little thing. We need you, Xavier. We need you a hell of a lot more than she does.”

  Cian nods his head slightly so only his brother and sister can see it. Not for the first time since his dad died, Xavier feels like he is stuck between a rock and a hard place.

  Selene is fuming when she sees the kids walking out together all chummy. Well, isn’t that nice? she thinks to herself. What the hell do they have to be so happy about anyway? Pulling herself together before they see her fury, she thinks how glad she is that she took the time to come up with a plan for the evening, which will definitely wipe away those chummy smiles.

  Chapter 16

  Chloe, Kaiden, and Rowan can barely wait for Liam to get home to practice casting spells. As soon as they hear the jeep pull in they run out the door to meet him in the driveway.

  “Hey Dad, we want to practice some spells in the clearing,” Kaiden says enthusiastically.

  Maybe a little too enthusiastically, Chloe thinks to herself. Since she already has some experience with spells and Rowan is… well, Rowan, they agreed beforehand that Kaiden should be the one to enthusiastically suggest it, but he went a bit overboard with his enthusiasm, which might make their dad suspicious.

  “I brought dinner… and pie,” Liam says, hoping that he can sway them to stay and talk to him about their day, and if he is being totally honest with himself, he is also hoping to deter them from casting spells so soon.

  “Oooh, what’s for dinner? And what kind of pie?” Kaiden asks, quickly losing his focus on casting spells when dinner is right in front of him.

  Rowan and Chloe look at each other, willing each other to speak up, until finally Chloe says, “Well, I think we should go to the clearing first, before nightfall, which at this time of year is early. We can have dinner as soon as we are done. We’ll probably work up an appetite anyway.” She looks pointedly at Kaiden, hoping he’ll stop thinking about his stomach for a minute.

  “Alright,” Liam agrees. “But let me put all of this away first,” he says while holding up the familiar Lucky Diner take-out bags, “and then I’ll come back there with you.”

  “Dad, we can go ahead without you and then you can meet us back there after you eat… if you want,” Rowan says, knowing that Liam is just as obsessed with food as Kaiden. She grabs the backpack with everything they need for the spell that they are going to cast tonight and hands it to Kaiden to carry.

  He shoulders the bag, and taking the hint, starts walking toward the clearing. Rowan and Chloe follow close behind and almost bump into him when he stops suddenly, turns around, and says, “And Dad, save some pie for me.”

  “You don’t even know what kind I bought,” Liam replies as he watches his kids move farther away from him.

  Kaiden turns around and throws up his arms, “Does it matter?” he asks with a big smile.

  Liam knows they need their space and decides to take his time eating dinner and changing out of his uniform. They’re good kids and I should probably be more thankful that they waited until I got home before casting spells, he thinks. He can only imagine what they are thinking, what they have learned, and what they will discover about themselves in the next couple of hours.

  Rowan sneezes loudly, sending a flock of birds flying from their perches above. “Ugh, I don’t know why we couldn’t do our first spell a little closer to home, or even in the kitchen where we had to gather this stuff anyway,” she complains.

  “Ro, you are going to have to get used to the great outdoors,” Chloe calls back to her sister. “In fact, maybe you should consider casting a spell that makes you enjoy it more,” she says teasingly as she breaks into a run.

  Rowan, feeling inspired by Chloe’s carefree attitude, sprints to catch up with her. Not worrying about anything, she focuses on how she feels and for the first time in a long time, she feels good.

  Not to be outdone by his energetic sisters, Kaiden jogs happily behind them, happy about this new connection that they have with each other. He can feel Chloe’s joy, he can feel Rowan’s relief, and he senses his own need to understand himself in a way that he never has before.

  Chloe slows dow
n enough for Rowan and Kaiden to catch up to her and when they do, she spins around with her arms open to the world. Smiling, she says, “Do you guys feel that? This electricity all around us?” She giggles before setting off again on a path that only she sees through a thicket of trees and rocks that make up the dense woods.

  When she gets to the entrance of the clearing Chloe waits for Rowan and Kaiden so they can all go through the boulders together and enter the clearing at the same time. She has been here enough times by herself that she knows that something profound happens each time she steps through. Now that she knows of their abilities, she is sure that when they all walk through together with the intention of casting spells, the energy will become electric.

  “What are you waiting for, Chloe?” Kaiden asks, and before Chloe can answer him, he and Rowan step past her and into the clearing.

  Chloe watches their reactions. By the widening of their eyes, she knows they have experienced the awareness of the something “other” nearby, followed by the intense need to brush away the goose bumps that crawl along the skin from head to toe.

  The air inside the clearing smells faintly of decay and a stronger musty, earthy, smoky smell that has one conjuring up images of the people who used this land for their ancient ceremonies.

  Just as the smells are identified and memories acknowledged, the wind picks up and clears the air, as if the spirits of those present have accepted the newcomers presence and cleared the air of the smells of the past. That same wind rustles the leaves overhead and causes the tall pines to sway and creak, reminding them of their place within the clearing, their place on the earth, and their connection to all of the elements.

  Kaiden quickly drops the backpack and rubs his arms while Rowan wraps her arms tightly around herself, as if protecting herself from whatever is causing this invasion of her senses. Chloe bows her head as she always does when entering the clearing as she has always recognized the sacredness of the space. She has always felt an affinity to the clearing, which she knows is rooted in her love for all things earthy — gardening, planting, growing, and harvesting.

  She walks over to the backpack that Kaiden dropped and begins taking out the items that they are going to use for spell casting.

  Rather than casting three different spells, they decided earlier that together they would focus on casting the circle and then cast a spell of protection. Although the Silvans have not done anything to imply harm to them, Rowan, Kaiden, and Chloe agreed that casting a protection spell should hopefully prevent anything from happening while they begin their investigation of the Silvans.

  Kaiden grabs the newspaper and matches out of the backpack and heads over to the hearth to start a fire.

  “Chloe, are you sure it’s safe to start a fire in this thing?” he asks, as he tries to look up past the dense foliage to see where the smoke will exit.

  “Yes, Kaiden. I’ve had fires up here before and you’ve never noticed the smoke, have you?” Chloe responds.

  “I wasn’t looking for it,” Kaiden mutters while arranging a pile of twigs, newspaper, and dried leaves inside the fireplace. “And you are lucky Dad never knew you were lighting fires up here by yourself. You could’ve burned down all of these woods and the house.”

  “He knew,” Chloe responds and watches the surprise on both Kaiden and Rowan’s faces.

  “What?” she asks. “When I saw the hearth I told him sometimes I get cold when I’m up here and I asked to use the fireplace. He told me it was fine as long as I never left it burning when I was done and as long as I was always careful.”

  “Well, I guess we’re good to light it now then,” Rowan says, surprised at how understanding and easygoing their dad seems to be, especially when someone is direct and honest. It makes it even harder to keep secrets from him, but she knows he won’t always be cool about everything.

  Chloe sets the altar to face east and then when she is satisfied with its positioning, opens it and pulls out the items inside. First she lays down the altar cloth with the pentagram at the base of the altar. She arranges it the same way she saw her gramps had it laid out on the night of their disclosure.

  Next, she pulls out the four candles; green for north, yellow for east, red for south, and blue for west; the athamé, the correct name of the silver dagger; the iron cauldron; salt; the gold chalice; the incense burner with incense; brown, blue, red, and green stones to represent the elements; and finally, the wooden wand that will be used to cast the protection spell.

  Once she has carefully pulled everything out of the box, she closes it and reverently traces her fingers over the two pentagram symbols burned into the wood. In the center of the altar is a mounted pentagram that was carved and burned by her grandfather. On each side of the altar, distinct symbols are carved. One is of two crescent moons surrounding a full moon, the same as the metal piece on the porch, which she learned earlier represents the Goddess. The other carved symbol is a crescent moon atop a full moon, the symbol for God.

  She arranges the candles to correspond with their appropriate direction, starting north and following a sunwise or clockwise direction. She then places everything else as it was in the diagram she studied earlier. Once finished, she is satisfied that it looks just like her grandfather’s altar she observed last night.

  Rowan watches her sister place every item in its correct place and admires her sister’s ability to recreate the altar from memory. She grabs the box of matches from Kaiden, who is fanning the fire, and hands it to her sister to light the candles and incense.

  “Thanks, Rowan.” Wanting to include her sister, she asks her, “Will you help me to clean out the circle? Let’s brush away these leaves, twigs, and pine needles.”

  Usually not inclined to help or clean, Rowan agrees because she is simply glad to be included in the preparations. Since they have both been preparing things, she has been left standing around doing nothing, which only makes her feel useless and uncomfortable.

  She grabs a handful of twigs and pine needles and tosses them onto the fire that Kaiden started. She smells the sap burning and warms her hands by the fire. She hasn’t been able to get warm since they walked into the clearing and she knows that no amount of heat from this fire is going to change that.

  After what seems like forever, Chloe finally says, “I think we’re ready.”

  Kaiden and Rowan move closer to their sister and watch as she pours salt into the cauldron and pours water from a bottle into the chalice. She strikes a match against the box and begins lighting the candles and incense. The circle fills with light eliminating any remaining shadows and the scent of musk fills the air.

  Chloe pulls out the grimoire with the incantation needed to cast the circle. She takes the athamé and touches it lightly to the water within the chalice and says, “I consecrate and cleanse this water to purify it.” She then touches the athamé to the salt, and says, “I consecrate and cleanse this salt to purify it.”

  She faces north, lifts the athamé to waist level, and begins walking around the circle drawing on her own energy, the energy of her sister and brother, and the energy that is already present within the circle. She waves the athamé above her head and all around her, while saying, “Here is the boundary within this circle of stones. Nothing but love shall enter and nothing but love shall come forth. Make this be by your strength and power, Spirits of the Land.”

  Once back at the beginning of the circle, she reverently places the athamé back on the altar and takes the bowl of salt, sprinkling it generously around the circle. At the beginning of the circle she sets down the salt, lifts the red candle, walks around the circle, and then, finally, seals the circle with the water from the chalice.

  Once the circle has been drawn, Chloe closes her eyes and visualizes the colors and directions of the elements by using the stones representative of them. She says, “Spirit of the North stone, symbol of Earth, I call upon you to be present in this circle. Spirit of the East stone, symbol of Air, I call upon you to be present in this
circle. Spirit of the South stone, symbol of Fire, I call upon you to be present in this circle. Spirit of the West stone, symbol of Water, I call upon you to be present in this circle. Make this be by your powers, Spirits of the land.”

  Chloe removes the wooden wand from the altar. Drawing on all the energy that she can feel within the circle, she begins the protection spell. She takes a deep breath, closes her eyes and draws a pentagram in the air while saying “Keeper of the Spirits, light of our lives, guard our bodies, and give us the sight. Let us see those who mean us harm, while protecting us from their evil charms. Make this be by your powers, Spirits of the Land.”

  Chloe opens her eyes and looks to her brother and sister. Rowan and Kaiden exhale at the same time, letting go of a breath that neither of them realized they were holding.

  Although they can’t immediately tell if the spell actually worked, they know something definitely happened by the way their skin is crawling and the way it feels as if the world has stopped spinning on its axis. Together they close the circle, put out the fire, pack up their backpack, and head back to the house before nightfall.

  Chapter 17

  “I cannot believe we are doing this,” Brianna whispers to Cian as they fall farther behind their aunt Selene and Xavier. “What are we even doing out here?”

  “I don’t know, but tromping through the woods, which by the way, is illegal since the signs posted at the road clearly stated ‘Private Property’, is probably not a smart way to deal with the Alexanders,” Cian whispers back.

  “Is it bad that I hope we get caught?” Brianna responds. “They won’t do anything to us, but maybe Aunt Selene will go to jail.”