Elements of Power (Council of the Harvest Moon Book 1)

by Kate Stoessel

  “Dido Kantwell,” she said inspecting me closely. “You look familiar…” she began. “Have I met you before?”

  “I don’t think so,” I sighed. “Where are you from, Dido?” My mother taught me long ago that a great way to avoid answering too many questions was to simply keep people busy talking about themselves.

  “A small town on the coast of Washington state.” Her purple eyes narrowed under lashes that had obviously been magically elongated. She was about to ask another question when a short wizard with jet black hair and bright silver eyes walked in.

  “Ariston Chan,” he greeted, shaking our hands. I couldn’t help but notice his nervous energy. His eyes darted from person to person and then all around the room as if he was taking everything in and making mental notes. “First year. New Jersey,” he added in short spurts. Ariston was certainly quirky, but he seemed nice enough.

  The last member of our gardening cohort walked in just as Ariston, Dido and I were getting settled at tables. She was a bit taller than me with fire-engine red hair cut short in a bob, piercings in her nose and eyebrow, and a sleeve of tattoos on her right arm. “I made it,” she said as she popped into the room. “I was worried I was going to be late!” She grabbed the last remaining lab desk, which was right behind me, and plopped down. She quickly introduced herself as Neasa Gorgon, a first year from Madison, Wisconsin.

  Time ticked away on the clock and we all looked at each other and our schedules.

  “Does your schedule say 11 am in the gardening classroom?” Neasa whispered to me.

  “Great,” Dido complained, getting up and flicking the plants. “Not only are we banished to Maine, but the teachers aren’t even going to turn up to teach classes.”

  “It’s only been five minutes. Maybe she is preparing something.”

  Dido, obviously not used to being disagreed with, looked at me with a renewed interest. “What was your name again?”

  “Khlorie.” I said, looking her right in the eye.

  “Khlorie what?” I knew then that she knew exactly who I was.

  “Lethestone.” I wasn’t going to let anyone make me ashamed of my family name. Neasa and Ariston gasped.

  “Are you related to Morrigan Lethestone,” he asked. “She is my idol. I wanted to go to school for potions so badly, but well…” he trailed off disappointment evident in his voice.

  “She is my mother.”

  “So, what is the deal with her then?” Dido asked intrusively.

  “What do you mean? She’s the ACC’s Head Potioneer,” I responded tersely.

  Ariston was nodding in agreement. “Her work on the Impenetrable Skin Potion has effectively rendered body armor unnecessary. She completely deserved that ACC Innovator of the Year Award. In fact, she has deserved all five of her Innovator of the Year awards.”

  “Yeah, she was proud of that one,” I replied rummaging through my purse to get out my notebook and a pen. Naively, I hoped that would be a signal that I didn’t want to talk about this anymore. Dido was not going to be deterred, however. There was something about this witch that I did not like...

  “They have been asking her to run to be the head of the Massachusetts coven for years. Haven’t they?” She asked as she walked closer to me.

  “I suppose so,” I spit out, my body tensing.

  Dido smiled like a predator about to close in on its prey. “She never does it.” She paused dramatically, moving closer. “I heard that she could even be the Luminary Witch if she wanted. She is certainly more well liked than that troll Pruitt.” Circling me like a shark, she continued. “My mother says that she must have one hell of a secret to keep turning down power.” Her red lips curved into a vicious smile. “Well, I guess we all know what that secret is now…”

  “What do you mean?”

  Dido laughed at my question and I felt confused, like there was something essential I was missing.

  “Whatever you’re going on about, can you please take it somewhere else,” Neasa said, getting between Dido and me. “There is no reason to be so toxic.”

  Dido looked like she was going to say something, but just at that moment, the door from the garden swung open and Professor Hyacinth entered.

  “Class!!!!!! Welcome to Magical Gardening. Excuse me for my lateness, I was singing to some blooms to help them get ready to blossom.” I heard Dido snort and Professor Hyacinth threw her hands up dramatically causing the bell sleeves on her crocheted green shirt to flutter with the movement. Professor Hyacinth was an eclectic witch to be sure. Her hair was lilac purple and pinned up with butterfly clips. Her skin was tan from her time spent in the garden and the bottom of her black skirt was caked with dewy morning grass. “My name is Professor Edna Hyacinth. Please call me ‘Ed.’ Everyone does,” she said warmly. “This will be my fifteenth-year teaching at Spindlewick, and I love learning with each one of you.” She looked around, making eye contact with each one of us. With a wave of her hand, name tags were set up on each one of our lab tables. Ed inspected them. “Ok. Ariston, Dido, Neasa, and Khlorie. All here, fabulous.”

  The door from the garden opened and Perry walked in. His dark brown hair was neatly combed, and his blue eyes sparkled like sapphires in the light. Perry dwarfed Ed as he walked over to her side to greet her. He was quite tall, I noticed appreciatively. Today he was wearing a red and black plaid shirt with the uniform black slacks and boots.

  “Well, hel-lo,” Dido flirted from her lab chair. I was glad when he didn’t look at her. Whether he didn’t hear her or wasn’t engaging, was unclear.

  You certainly think highly of yourself , I thought, jealously. The logical part of me knew I had no right to be jealous. I had barely spoken to this guy. It didn’t mean that I wanted Dido to be with him, though. I watched Professor Hyacinth slap him on the back heartily. It was obvious there was a lot of mutual respect and comfort between the two of them.

  “Oh Perry! So glad you are here!” She turned towards the lab tables. “Friends, this is Perry Prentice. He is my teaching assistant this semester. He will have office hours after each class and be here to help me as we embrace this gardening journey together! We are very lucky to have a wizard with such a green thumb with us!” Perry smiled shyly, obviously feeling uncomfortable being the center of attention. Ed turned back to him. “We were just finishing introductions and I am about to set the first assignment.” She clapped her hands together. “Exciting. Exciting.”

  Perry waved his hands and enchanted tablets and styluses appeared on each lab desk. The tablets were blank at the moment, but I had used them before at the Gables Academy. I knew the minute the assignment started some question or symbol would appear on the blank white space.

  “Thank you my dear,” Ed said to her assistant. “I want to see what each of you already knows about botany! This will give me a better idea of how to tailor the class.” She walked around the room as she spoke. “Every great magical gardener knows that there is magic in every plant, especially the culinary plants we use every day.” She paused. “Your challenge is to identify every one of the culinary plants in the room. You walk up to a plant and wait for its picture to appear on your tablet. Then, you write the name of the herb under the picture. If you are correct, the tablet will turn green. If you are incorrect, the tablet will turn red. Either way, you only get one guess per plant. There are 100 plants in the room, some more common than others. The person who identifies the most correctly by using your observational skills and knowledge of botany will win a fabulous prize!” She motioned to a large board that had appeared in the front of the room. Along the top were all four of our names and under each name was a zero. Ed smiled and announced that it was time for us to get started. I smiled to myself. I knew that I was going to win this prize and put Dido in her place.

  Ever since I can remember, I have been able to touch a plant and know exactly what it is called and how it can be used. My mother always said it was a witch’s intuition kicking in, but now I wondered if it was something else. I
thought back to what President Sager had said about my innate connection to elements. Perhaps my elemental powers could come in handy after all. Across the room, Dido was trying desperately to catch Perry’s eye.

  This was not even going to be close. I was going to demolish her.

  When Ed called out, “Begin,” I took off like a rocket. This was just what I needed to feel like myself. I moved quickly from plant to plant. I touched and smelled each one and every time the information I needed came to me.

  Rosemary. Magical Properties: Healing, Love, Protection. Culinary uses- Use dried or fresh as seasoning on lamb or poultry. Harvest- Cut leaves before flowering.

  Anise. Magical Properties- Boost divination abilities, Ward off evil, happiness. Culinary Uses- Tastes like licorice. Can be used in baked goods, with meats, or in salads. Harvest- Use leaves when fresh, seed pods can be dried and stored.

  Within a minute, I had two points on the board. I moved briskly ahead touching each plant and writing their names on my tablet with the stylus. Again and again, my tablet flashed green while red lights peppered my peripheral vision.

  “How are we supposed to know any of these?” I heard Dido ask. “We have not even had one class.”

  I laughed to myself. This was going to be easier than I thought.

  Ariston was rocking back and forth hunched over his tablet, afraid to make a mistake. Neasa seemed comfortable enough and was almost keeping up to my pace. Could I have a real competitor? I focused back in on my task.

  Marjoram. Magical Properties- dissipating negativity, strengthening love, cleansing and purification. Culinary Uses- leaves used fresh or dried for meat seasoning. Harvest- Clip before flowers

  Lemon Verbena. Magical Properties- Boost effectiveness of herbal tinctures, used to attract a partner or to increase attractiveness. Culinary Uses- Used to give a lemon flavor to drinks and food. Harvest- Cut leaves individually before the plant blooms.

  Totally focused, I ran my hands on the leaves of each plant. I was completely unaware of what was going on around me as I correctly identified one after another.

  Oregano. Magical Properties- Strength and joy. Culinary Uses- Leaves dried or fresh as a seasoning, common in Italian and Greek food. Harvest- Clip before flowers

  When I finished up the last plant and the tablet turned green, I smiled to myself.

  “How is she doing this?” The voice of Dido reminded me that I was not alone. When I turned, Ed, Perry, and my classmates were all watching me work. I glanced at the board behind them.

  “Khlorie,” Ed cried. “Were you planning to go to Alder and Sage to specialize in Gardening before you got invited to Spindlewick? This is extraordinary work.”

  “Spell Writing at Shade,” I replied.

  “What a waste that would have been. I have never had anyone get every plant right on the first day” Professor Hyacinth shouted. She turned to Perry. “Not even you! How many did you get?”

  “92,” Perry replied, smiling.

  Ed looked positively thrilled and walked over to slap me heartily on the back with congratulations. “You may select any 4 plants from the garden and Perry will get you clippings so that you may grow them in your cottage garden!”

  “Thank you, “I replied gleefully. That was a fabulous prize. Itzel and I are going to have the most amazing garden. My glee was short lived, however.

  “If you weren’t specializing in gardening, how did you know all of the answers,” Dido asked suspiciously, blocking my path. Across the room, Ariston, Neasa, and Perry eyed me with a similar interest, but less malice. They were wondering the same thing. The honest answer was at the tip of my tongue, but I heard my mother’s words and decided to be discreet.

  “I used to help my mother collect ingredients for her potions,” I answered. Dido eyed me suspiciously.

  “Does your mother use a lot of parsley in her potion making?” Dido asked. She knew there was more to the story.

  Ed, sensing the tension in the room, asked us to come back to our seats and led a short lesson on how planting according to the moon phase impacts magical properties. I listened carefully and took notes in a green, leather-bound notebook that I brought from home. After Ed stopped speaking and asked us to lay out a plan for fall planting according to our lunar phase charts, a little note was spelled onto my desk. I sat up a bit startled and looked around the room. Perry was eyeing me. My heart leapt at the thought that the note might be from the teaching assistant. I didn’t notice Dido glaring at me from her lab desk.

  Liar. Liar.

  Would Perry really send me such a note? I snapped my head up, searching the room. Perry was looking, but it was with interest. I figured that he had seen the note appear and he was curious or concerned. In my hand, the little piece of paper vibrated, and I watched as the words disappeared and reformed.

  Put anyone’s life at risk today? Destroy any school property?

  A panic rose in me as I looked around the room. I assumed people would know about the dock, of course. But I hoped not everyone would know it was me or that they would be understanding if they did. It was fixed by the time I walked to Coventry Hall this morning and no one had been injured. My face flushed, and I felt sick to my stomach. Maybe I was not going to fit in at Spindlewick, after all. I glanced around the room and saw that Ed was happily chatting about New Moon planting theories with Neasa. Ariston was furiously trying to capture everything Ed said in the lecture in his notes and had grabbed Perry to ask clarifying questions. Out of the corner of his eye, though, Perry was eyeing me. I looked up at him and he knit his brows questioningly. He wanted to know what was going on.

  The paper vibrated again, and I started. Just as before, the words disappeared, and new ones took their place.

  Morrigan will never be able to go into politics now. She wouldn’t want everyone to know that her daughter's a dangerous freak. Her fascist friends will never accept it.

  Now I knew for sure that Dido was writing these awful notes. I stood up in a fury and turned on her. I slammed the note paper down on her desk with the eyes of Ed and the class on me.

  “Keep your thoughts to yourself,” I roared. “Some of us are in this class because we are interested in gardening.”

  Obviously surprised that I would confront her so publicly, Dido’s face flashed with defiance. It was quickly replaced, however, with a syrupy sweet smile that I wanted to smack off of her face.

  “Oh, Khlorie! Are you alright?” she said. “That paper is totally blank. I was just sitting here taking notes. Maybe you should go see Healer Miyako. I mean,” she paused. “After what you went through yesterday, you could be suffering from post-traumatic stress or something.”

  “Dido,” Perry’s warning voice cut through the room.

  “Oh Perry,” she crowed, her voice dripping with mock concern. “You saw the wave. It could have destroyed this entire island.” She looked at me cruelly. “Who in their right mind would have done that?” She paused for dramatic effect. “Now she is accusing me of...what exactly, Khlorie?” She held up the blank paper as proof that she had done nothing wrong. She knew that a blank piece of paper proved nothing in a room full of sorcerers. However, that wasn’t her real plan. She wanted to cause a distraction and call attention to my mishap. It worked.

  “The wave was you, Khlorie?” Ariston asked, backing away from me. Even Neasa did a double take and leaned more towards the door.

  Tears were welling up in my eyes, but I didn’t want Dido to get the pleasure of seeing me upset. She couldn’t win. I plopped back into my seat, closed my eyes, and tried taking deep breaths. I could feel the magical properties of all of the plants around me.

  You need to calm down. Everything is going to be alright if you stay calm.

  The plants called to me. I took another deep breath, and I could smell the aromatic herbs so strongly. Still fighting anger and hurt, I decided to tap into the plants around the room for their relaxation properties. It was something my father taught me to do to calm down from a tan
trum when I was very little, and it just stuck with me. Taking a deep breath in, I reached out with my mind to the lavender to help calm me down. My power branched off and found its mark, and immediately the scent of lavender filled my nostrils. I called for the Sage to help me be wise. I called on the Rosemary to help me purify the room from Dido’s negative energy. Each time, my power soared through the air connecting with its mark and carrying the scent of the herb back to me. My Dad called it supercharged aromatherapy. Taking deep breaths, the tension in my body began to release. My mind cleared and my body felt weightless. It was pure bliss.

  “Khlorie,” I heard someone shout from far away. “Khlorie, listen to me. I need you to open your eyes. Open your eyes Khlorie.” The voice faded like a whisper, as if it was background noise in a dream.

  No, I don’t think I will. I ignored the pleas and called for the thyme. I loved the smell of thyme.

  “Khlorie,” the voice called again. “Ed, get everyone out of the room. I can help her.” The deep male voice felt closer now.

  Help who? I thought. Is someone in trouble? Just as quickly as the thought came to me, it left, replaced with the comforting smell of thyme embracing me. I felt so calm now with my eyes closed and the plants sending me their magical energy. This is nice.

  “Perry, you need to leave. She’s out of control,” cried a voice.

  “You have done enough Dido. Just go!”

  Dido. Anger flared briefly inside of me. As if responding to the tension, my connection to the plants flared again and got stronger. It was like my magic was prescribing me with a larger dose and I didn’t mind. It felt lovely.

  “Khlorie, can you hear me?” The male voice returned and, this time, I felt his hands on my shoulders. He traced the line of my neck up to my face. With two palms now cupping my cheeks I heard, “Khlorie open your eyes. Can you do that for me?” The warmth of the hands on my cheek added to my sense of comfort. I opened my eyes to see Perry’s face so close to mine, his thumbs rubbing back and forth on the sides of my face.