When I looked outside, I marveled at the sight of newly grown flowers that weren’t there before. The thyme crept all around the bases of the trees. Rocket larkspur shot up all around the house in pink, blue, purple, and yellow. It was as if my mother’s presence made the foliage come alive. The little storefront was surrounded by lilies of the valley, along with the flowering pots Ophelia had tended while Gwen was gone. It looked magical. Almost spiritual.
“Spirit,” I said to myself as I gazed out the window.
To the left of the house, down the driveway, I could see my grandfather pacing alone. Hank gave up following him and sat, content to watch his movements. I wondered what he was doing out there. Not so much that I would have wandered through the crowded downstairs to join him. If there was a back exit to the house, I hadn’t found it yet. So, I stood and watched.
When I decided it was time to stop hiding out, night had fallen. I made my way downstairs as the smell of food drifted to me. My stomach growled so loud, I thought everyone could hear it with each step I took.
“You okay?” Chad asked me as he strode over to my side. He had stayed away most days to give me time to think. I didn’t need time away from him necessarily but being alone helped me keep my mind on task.
I gave a quick nod and pointed in the direction of the kitchen. “I’m starving.”
“Well then, let’s get you something to eat.” He pulled me through the crowd.
Crystal and Matt lay on the plush green rug. They were nose deep into a movie. The Hunchback of Notre Dame, from what I could see. Clara sat on the sofa. Her knees were drawn up to her chest as she and Chester moved pieces across the board between them. Alistair slept in the recliner, Hank by his side. Michelle and Peter were nowhere to be seen, and as far as I could tell, everyone else had finally left. Supplies were getting low with so many mouths to feed.
I guessed that I would find Ophelia in the kitchen, since she rarely let anyone else cook. When I stumbled through the doorway, I noticed she, Gwen, and Silas were talking with Finis a great deal. Their voices were hushed, and my father looked like he was going to shoot daggers through his eyes at any moment.
“She did what?” I heard him yell, and the others behind me all stiffened.
“Just what I said.” Ophelia turned and saw Chad and I standing in the doorway. “Sorry, I felt it was time to update them on everything going on. Certainly, all that Elle has done.” She looked to the floor and turned her attention to the stove and the vast amounts of food she was cooking. “I hope you’re hungry. Food will be done shortly.”
“I am, Ophelia, thank you,” I said and sat next to my mother.
“You didn’t say.” Gwen looked at me accusingly.
“I didn’t have much time to think about it,” I told her. I felt my anger bubbling again and looked to Chad. He stood behind me and grabbed my hand. “I have been a bit preoccupied with your rescue, warding off Sabina and her golems, and figuring out the new powers I have. I didn’t give much thought to what Elle did to us. I sent her to Sabina with misinformation and that was the end of it, until Xoras showed up with the news of Finis’s part in it.”
“She has not tried to come here?” Silas asked. I could see he was worried about Gwen. Elle had been her best friend growing up, and she had betrayed her. She almost got my best friend to betray me.
Crystal and I were able to talk about the things her mother did, having the stone pull magic from me. Since she never retrieved them, it didn’t much matter. Then the kidnapping, which she swore she knew nothing about. That would mean there was someone else helping Elle, or Sabina herself was with Elle that day in the woods. But would she have concealed herself? I thought she rather liked it when I knew she was behind something.
“Not that I know of,” I answered after I thought about it. I told them everything I knew about what Elle had done. Most of it was the same as Ophelia’s information. When I was done explaining how she manipulated Crystal into helping her, Gwen turned to me.
“Are you sure her daughter can be trusted?” It was Gwen’s tone that had me snapping in my head. I guess she had a valid point, but to accuse her after we had already spoken about what happened…well, I thought it was a touch too much protectiveness.
I clenched my teeth and repeated what I already said. “She was manipulated by her mother. We’ve spoken. She didn’t know what she was being asked to do, or why. The matter is handled.”
“I just want to make sure she isn’t here as a spy for her mother, or my sister,” Gwen pushed, speaking low enough so only the four of us could hear.
The clear night sky began to change. It started to resemble the murky waters of a swamp infested with leaches and dead fish. The stars had all disappeared behind dark clouds and let loose large drops of water, which pelted against the tiny house. The sound resembled rocks being thrown on a tin roof.
“E,” Chad said as soothing as he could, squeezing my hand.
Silas, Gwen, and Ophelia moved to the windows in the tiny kitchen as a bolt of lightning streaked across the dark sky.
“E!” Chad yelled more forcefully.
Silas whipped around. “You’re doing this?” He had to yell over the sound of raindrops against the cabin’s windows and walls. The look he gave me was a mixture of pride and astonishment. I didn’t know if either were a good thing.
Clara bound into the room with Crystal on her tail. “E, what’s the matter?” she asked from the doorway.
I couldn’t really tell what was wrong. Just that I was angry. I was more than that. I was pissed. I looked around at the faces that stared at me. They all looked more concerned than anything, which made my temper calm. As it did, the drops started to shrink in size. The sky cleared up, leaving a light sprinkle to continue on. Stars twinkled bright, unmasked by the clouds.
“That’s the best I can do.” I put my face in my hands. I had felt an overwhelming need to cry for hours…days even. I just couldn’t say why.
All of my friends were with me. I had my parents back. I should have been happy, but for some reason, I just wasn’t. I stood and ran for the door, through Spirit, and headed straight for the circle. The drizzle of rain continued but seemed to fall short around me. When I got to the circle, I thought about light and the candles blazed, illuminating the air around me. I was still dry. The drops never came close, although I wished they would. I felt the need to drown in my own sorrow.
The snap of a twig off in the distance made me stop and stare. I thought I could see two red lights moving toward me, but they stopped just inside the line of trees. Pushing my senses away from me, I felt her, and twisted around to make sure nobody had followed me. I lifted my hands and raised the flame of the candles surrounding me as I squared my shoulders.
The anger. I realized it wasn’t my anger I had been feeling. It was hers. Raw, unadulterated anger. It was seeping from her–out of her pores, her eyes; her mouth. The nostrils of her nose. It pulsed out of her skin.
The lights I saw were the irises of her eyes. It was the only thing of her face I could see. She had a robe draped over her body. Black. The hood obscured her face from view, but her eyes, tainted red, bled through.
“You’ve taken it! Where is it?” she screamed from within the trees.
“Taken what?” I spoke low, not wanting to alert anyone else to her being there.
“Don’t play coy with me, brat. You know very well what I’m talking about!” Her voice sounded like a crazed hyena. She screeched at me. “I knew where it was hidden. By plane and helicopter, it’s only a short-day trip.” She looked like she was contemplating moving closer to me but decided against it.
The rain stopped, but in the distance, I could hear the rolls of thunder. She looked up, raised both of her arms, and then flung them in my direction. A bolt of lightning landed at my feet, missing me by a fraction of an inch.
The snake on my arm hissed. Letting my magic take control, I lifted my left hand. The glow of red encased it, but the ball of fire didn’t g
row. I pointed my palm at her, intending to strike with my own lightning, but stopped short when Alistair appeared between us.
“Grandfather, what are you doing?”
“Yes, father. What do you think you’re going to do?” She laughed shrilly into the night. She was starting to remind me of the Wicked Witch of the West from Oz. All she needed was some green paint and a mole.
“Sabina, stop this nonsense. You have lost the battle. You’re out of moves, child.” He held up his cane at her.
“Oh daddy, you gonna whip me?” She used the voice of a pouting child. “Throw me over your knee? Ground me to my room?” She stopped short when he shot a bolt of electricity at her. “Oh, you wanna play.”
I tried to run. Tried to yell. Tried to push the magic through my hands as she lifted her hands together, high above her head and down at him. I failed all of the above. I heard the snap of lightning and the gasps from behind me. The night lit up around us, and when it subsided, Alistair lay heavy on the ground.
My mother screamed and broke the trance I was in. I filled both hands. Red and blue. Pulled magic from the mother goddess and shot back at my aunt with everything I had. When it struck, I left it to burn the spot she had stood in. The tree caught fire and soon, hands were wrapped around my shoulders. I could hear someone off in the distance yelling at me to stop. She was gone.
The laughter came again from the right. I pulled away from the hands that grounded me and set off after her. She laughed again and I moved towards the sound. A bolt of lightning missed my feet by inches. I looked around inside the trees, but she was draped in black.
The eyes. I looked for her eyes. Red orbs dancing around inside the line of trees. I saw her, high above. I summoned the strength I knew I had and pulled electricity from the sky. That time, it was mine to command. I shot it at her and she gasped.
The red orbs of light disappeared for a moment, and then she was in full view of me. “You don’t possess that power!” she yelled.
“What is it with you and power? I possess whatever the Immortal One gave me to defeat you!” I shot another stream of red flames at her. She jumped backwards. Missed her again.
Sabina swung from limb to limb. The trees seemed to moan at her touch. It was too dark. I couldn’t find her fast enough as she moved. I pulled the fire from the candles. The flames raised overhead and joined in a circle. I sent it closer to the line of trees, careful not to get too close.
“You’ll never defeat me.” I heard her before she stepped into the light. Her face was stark white, eyes red. The ends of her nails were pointed and black as night. She looked feral. Like a crazed animal. The short-haired, perky aunt I first met last fall was nowhere to be seen. Something had changed her. She held my gaze a moment longer and with a blink, she was gone.
I pulled the magic back to me and let it slither away. The flames returned to the candles. Running to Alistair, my right hand glowed with a blue iridescent light.
“E, what are you doing? No!” Chad yelled as my hand connected with Alistair’s chest.
His body jumped, as if I’d touched him with defibrillator paddles. At first, the area I touched glowed blue, then it spread to cover his entire body. I couldn’t tell them what I was doing, but I knew it was important that I do it. My instincts had never steered me off course before. The blue glow grew brighter and then faded to nothing.
The rain stopped. The night grew quiet. All I could hear were the sobs of my mother; the calming voice of my father as he whispered in her ear. I watched as he held her. I could hear Chad ask me over and over what I had done. Then Chester telling him it was okay. It would all be okay.
Would it be okay? Would this world ever hold happiness in it for me ever again? Would I sink in the despair of the night? Wither away, basking in the sorrow that had become my life?
I couldn’t say. I couldn’t guess. I could only sit there, hand pressed as the magic flowed into the man I had come to love as family. Wondering. Hoping. My body went numb. I closed myself off to the emotions around me. Moved my hand from Alistair’s chest and sat back on my heels.
And then…we saw the gentle rise and fall of his chest.
About the Author
S.L. Perrine is a wife to a mechanic and mother of four crazy teenagers (3 are boys) who eat her out of house and home. While raising her children, she has obtained three degrees; Associates in Art and Criminal Justice is among them. S.L. is a native of Schenectady and Saratoga Springs, New York, having spent equal time growing up in both cities. Writing full-time is a dream she thought she would never reach, but is happily doing so.
About the Publisher
Burning Willow Press is an independent publisher of science fiction, fantasy and horror, with genres blended into other formats as well. Located in South Carolina, in the US, BWP has published more than seventy dreams with the interests of the authors at heart since 2015, and that gentle reader will double by 2020. Be sure to check us out on our Facebook page, Twitter: @Burningwillow, and on Instagram: @BWPLLC for updates and news on releases.
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The Crawford Witch Chronicles:
Book One
Power Surge Page 21
