“While the boys run off like a couple of dramatics, we should keep talking here.” Reg crossed her legs and leaned forward. “It’s no good to leave things hanging without a solution.”
I nodded. “I know, Reg. Emotions are high right now.” I looked in the direction Jasper had gone and sighed. Reg was right. Jasper would cool off with the help of Joel. I had to stay focused and get our discussions moving toward a promising conclusion. “What I was saying is that I found out with the trio that Lou is an ancient creature; he has been here before and tried the same thing. He was called the Witch Killer then, and he still is now.”
“How was he stopped before?” Tracey sat forward.
I shrugged. “No one knows really how. He was only sent away—not destroyed, obviously but he has been gone for some 200 years.” I averted my eyes. I hated lying to her. I couldn’t tell my family that the only way was for me to destroy Lou and to then sacrifice myself. They would do anything in their powers to prevent that.
It had to happen.
“Tracey, we will have to set our sights on records for that time period. Whatever they did seemed to have been a strong solution, two hundred years is a long time to banish someone. We may be able to strengthen what it is the witches did back then. We can’t let him pop up in another two hundred years and begin this again with another coven.” Hayden remarked.
“Yes, exactly, Hayden.” I nodded. Tracey began taking notes.
“We all have unique skills.” Piper’s wheels were turning, I could tell by the wideness of her eyes. “We need to keep coming at him from different angles, nonstop, and give him no time to recover. Tracey can throw up blockades somehow. Joel can fight him with the swords that Duke and Theo make, and then when we are winning, Jasper can boom!” Piper’s arms flung out in the air and a cluster of dragonflies flew out. “Hit him with the fire!” Piper suddenly noticed the dragonflies and blushed.
This was good. A good start, strategy-wise.
“It’s not enough though, Piper,” Hayden said gently. “He is very strong, and we still do not know the full potential of his evil powers. Have we found out anything more about him? Strengths, weaknesses, more about his heritage even?” We all looked at Tracey.
“There are some very old texts I’ve found. The illustrations suggest it is written about someone with Lou’s characteristics, but I can’t be sure until I fully translate it.” Tracey seemed haunted and looked at me quickly before her eyes darted away. My heart fluttered. Had she found out about the Lightning Witch already? About the great battle? I couldn’t ask her now, in front of everyone. Only time would tell. I didn’t add any information here from my visit with Agnes. I didn’t want to worry everyone and give away what I ultimately planned to do.
“Okay,” Hayden said slowly, catching Tracey’s strange demeanor. “I have been studying ways to defend ourselves from what we know he is capable of. For example, the deep sleep he seems to enjoy using. If we mix and burn certain rocks and herbs I wrote down, leaving them smouldering all throughout the property, he can’t affect us with the sleep spell.”
Tracey leaned over and eyed the list Hayden produced. “That mixture will also give him a hard time getting onto the property. I will add a few more things to the recipe to strengthen the blockade. It won’t stop him, but it will take some of his power to get through it, which may help to weaken him slightly,” Tracey added.
“Awesome job, guys!” I clapped. That in itself was a huge defence, since Lou seemed to love using that spell, and anything that could slow him down would prove beneficial.
“We have been creating tools—er…um…weapons would be more accurate—with traces of nickel and silver.” Theo stood and was rubbing his hands together as he spoke. “I am playing off your earlier insight, Nicole, about Lou being allergic, so to speak, of coins of that sort of metal.” He sat back down and bowed his head.
Duke stood up then. “And I, miss Nicky, will pummel the bastard with said tools.” He sat down with a thump, then stood right back up. “That is, the said weapons. That is, the said—the weapons—I shall pummel—”
I laughed. “It’s okay, Duke; we get it.”
He nodded and sat back down, harder this time, and Theo fell to the side. Duke reached over and picked him up with ease by his suspenders and sat him in his chair. Theo glared at him with red cheeks.
Joel and Jasper came back. Jasper sat down next to me, the glow gone from his face and body. He took one of my hands and laced our fingers together. He brought the back of my hand to his mouth and kissed it. HIs breath was hot. He felt bad for storming off. I looked at him and smiled, shaking my head. It was all good. There was nothing to forgive.
“Are we making any headway?” Jasper asked the group.
“Totally! We have a plan.” Piper was nodding and grinning like a jack-o’-lantern.
“Well, the start of one, anyhow,” Reg chimed in.
“Okay…” Jasper looked unconvinced. “How about you fill me in; let me know what you’ve got so far.”
We dove into this conversation with the premise that no idea was a bad idea, which made for some pretty off-the-hook ideas. Duke wanted to hide in a tree and jump on him in surprise. Piper wanted to mystify him with her butterflies and birds. Joel wanted to know everything he could about him and even suggested using Lou’s own spells against him. But it would not help anything to become what we hated most.
I kept losing focus, thinking about my sacrifice. What would it be? I prayed I had the strength to let go of whatever the Lightning wanted in return for destroying Lou. All I had to do was look at my family and my beloved Jasper to know that I would give anything to take this evil away from them and reconcile for what I did.
Nonetheless, I had to prepare myself for what would become of me.
Too soon, it seemed, the sun was rising and kissing the horizon. The birds were now awake and softly tweeting in the treetops. We had hunkered down and conversed over every detail, every tactic, defence, or offence, and now as we all looked weary with the weight of the war, we had completed our plan.
“So this is it; this is our plan.” Joel looked down at the table. He was gritting his teeth. “Are we all prepared to do this? There will be no turning back; some of us will most likely get hurt.” Joel looked at Tracey with a depth of worry in his eyes. Strider went and wrapped herself around Tracey’s chair at the sudden change of energy, forever protecting her mistress. Tracey smiled and patted her head and leaned over to kiss Joel on the cheek.
I sent him a silent promise. I won’t let anything happen to her, Joel.
Joel would not look away from Tracey, but I caught the slightest nod from him. He was worried; good God, we all were! This was dangerous and insane, what we were planning on doing! We had to be diligent. We had to look out for everyone, and we had to win. We had zero room for error.
I looked around at us, and everyone seemed to nod in agreement to Joel’s question, except for Joel himself, who was now muttering slight profanity under his breath at his distaste with Lou.
I rolled my eyes in good humour to lighten the mood. I looked at my girlfriends and felt an old, familiar fear creep up my spine. If Lou had ever tried to hurt any of them like he had me…well, I couldn’t stand the thought. I brushed it away like something vile. I spoke up to distract myself from such horrid thoughts. “We need to stand together; we need to protect one another and use the best of our abilities and strengths. We cannot do this alone, one by one, or by not giving it our all.”
As I turned and hugged Jasper with relief and solidarity, I thought to myself, Yes, Lou is powerful; no doubt about that. The most powerful person—demon—I have ever met. I knew this to my bones; we all did. After all, look what he had done to me and made me do; he had made me become my own worst nightmare in the grasp of his friendship, for crying out loud. Not to mention the violent battle between him and the last Lightning Witch on the hill. He was capable of extreme horrors. Now I could only imagine what he would be capable of with all
of us as his enemies banding together. I had to shake off that fear and reassure myself with the training and knowledge I’d learned from being with the trio. He had to be stopped, and we had to do it.
Would I die or lose everything at his hand as the legends of my kind stated? I hoped, with all of my heart, that there would be some divine reckoning, some unthought-of solution to all of this, but other than Lupa’s and Laura’s assurances that I could survive the battle, I had no other clues to support their theory.
I had to let that premonition go. I had to focus on the task at hand; we had so much work to do. I couldn’t muddle my thoughts or my power with my fear of my own death or what the sacrifice may be. I had to be strong for everyone.
I released myself from Jasper’s embrace to walk hand in hand instead to the end of the veranda. The sun was rising fully now and glowing with the beauty of heaven behind it. Gold and peach light lit up the sky from east to west. It was a tapestry of changing colours, and it felt like it was performing just for us. I rested my head against Jasper’s chest. He was warm and smelled like cedar and bonfire. Hunter and Betty trotted out next to us. Hunter lay down over our feet while Betty ran onto the grass like a jaguar, chasing behind Theo as he slowly returned to the workshop. Trying to sneak up on him, I surmised. When Betty disappeared inside and we heard Theo’s scream, we knew her plan had worked. Jasper laughed softly and shook his head. Hunter sat up for a moment, looking toward the workshop, but thought better of it and lay back down.
We can do this, I thought. I believed it through to my core. Whatever the outcome, Autumn Moors and everyone in it had to survive. My courage was now gathered as I watched our family move off into their sleeping quarters, and I looked to our beautiful land. There would be no other way. The evil threatening us would be the only thing to be destroyed. Lou would have to lose.
In the very least, surely he could be made to go away.
If not, we would find out if he could be made to bleed.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Over the next few days, we were all hands on deck making preparations. Hayden was stockpiling and inventorying healing medications as well as setting up a proper station for treating injuries in one of the greenhouse rooms inside of the house. Duke and Theo were busy bustling out new weapons made from silver and nickel. Every now and then we would hear a small explosion or a yelp in pain. We all decided to stay as far away from their workshop as possible.
Jasper and Joel continued to train day and at night in combat. At night, Jasper and I would go to the farthest corners of Autumn Moors to practice controlling Fire with the advice I’d had from Anna Belle. I loved the coolness of the evenings and being alone with Jasper and our elements. We would laugh and play like we used to before all of this mess had begun. Every day we grew stronger in our love. I looked at Jasper with absolute admiration that he’d forgiven me. Forgiveness was such a beautiful thing on both sides.
Tracey was studying, always studying. Constantly pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose, or pulling up a knee-high stocking when it began to slip as pages flipped over and over. Piper tried to be of service but always ended up getting in her way or distracting her. Piper ended up mostly practicing with Betty while she shape-shifted into whatever fantasy creature flew from Piper’s emotions.
Reg was not seen often. She needed absolute quiet to tap into her visions. Every night she would call us for dinner, trying to fulfill the role of mom to us all, looking defeated that she hadn’t made contact about Lou or found out anything of use.
So for the time being, none of us had any inclination of when he would show up and the battle would begin.
All we could do was keep preparing. Strider walked the perimeter of Autumn Moors day and night. Hunter helped her as much as his old body would allow. Often we would see Strider catching Hunter snoozing, and she would growl at him, startling him awake.
As for myself? I was busy day after day out in my gardens, creating more barricades. I moved rocks and bent trees. I raised walls of brick and influenced the plants and trees to grow and spread. I created secret passages in ivy that I would explain to my family to use if they got in a tight spot. If you didn’t know they were there, you would never find them. Piper would come around after me and spread the concoction Hayden and Tracey had made to ban sleeping spells and keep evil out. Tracey also figured out that when Lou did make it through the barricades, he would get a nasty sting from the blend of ingredients.
Anything and everything would help.
But would it all be enough?
The conversation at dinner that first night home when we’d planned our attack and defence was weighing heavily on me still. I had left out the part where this battle would be futile to me in some way. I didn’t want that knowledge weighing on my friends, especially Jasper. They had to stay focused; they couldn’t be held back trying to protect me.
What would the sacrifice be?
It was pretty much driving me crazy now. I was beyond worried about it, and one question haunted me: Would I be able to pay it?
I heard a scream coming from the main house. I let the stones fall that I had been moving and ran to the patio door. I ran inside the house and ran into everyone else, coming also to find the source of the scream.
It was Tracey in the library. She was holding open a book and stood with an excited look on her face.
“Tracey, what on earth—”
I stopped short. She was holding the writings that appeared to be about Lou and the last Lightning Witch. Or Laura, in other words.
“Guys, I think I found our answer! I know how he has been defeated before.” Her eyes were wild and her mouth agape. She was so happy. “Has anyone ever heard of the Lighting Witch?”
Everyone moved in closer to her to see the book.
Oh, no.
I walked fast out into the far gardens amid the sculptures of the Three Graces, all whimsical and moving onto each other, and another of an Inuksuk that towered so high it blocked the sun. Everything still had a tinge of black from the fire Lou had started. I would be hidden here to deal with my emotions and think. I had to think! I was keeping secrets again. I was still worried, which was any woman’s prerogative. I was stressed out and feeling like I had lost precious time, and now I was worried about Tracey figuring this all out and then in turn worrying everyone else. Then I got mad.
I was mad that this had to happen. I was mad at Lou with such a vicious rage that I began to seethe inwardly. I stalked around the garden cursing Lou. I was mad that I couldn’t defeat him without a sacrifice. It wasn’t enough to be who I was. I wasn’t enough to end this evil!
My plants and even the trees shrank back from me. Wind began to pick up and whip around my feet and legs. I felt heat rising from my skin, and it began to burn, which made me even angrier.
“Use it, Nicole, but not like this.”
I stopped in my tracks and turned. Tracey was standing, feet apart, with a cautious hand raised. I smiled sheepishly, and the environment, including my skin, returned to normal. I moved over to her and plopped myself down on a bench.
Damn. This is it; here we go.
“I’m sorry you had to see that,” I murmured. She smiled and sat next to me. We sat quietly for a few moments.
“So are you ever going to tell me what happened on your journey? I know the trio helped you. I know you found some things out, but so far we are all in the dark about it.”
I looked into her big blue eyes peeping out from behind her glasses and dark bangs. Tracey was so talented, and now she had insight that rivalled Reg.
I took a breath. “You’re right. I know I should tell you all, but at the same time, I need to work it out for myself. I feel like I’m still digesting it all in a way.” I threw my hands up.
“It’s just that the last time you weren’t honest with us, things got really out of control.”
I looked at her, feeling as if I had been slapped. I guess I deserved it.
She softened a bit. “Nic
, you can’t blame me for worrying when something is obviously going on.”
I settled down. She was absolutely right.
Tracey appeared to be rolling something over in her mind. “Why did you run out here after I told you I found something in the book?”
I sighed. I couldn’t keep this from Tracey. I would come clean. “It’s me, Trace—the Lightning Witch.”
Tracey did not express shock. She stared at me as she accepted it, and then looked off to the Three Graces sculptures that seemed to have focused right on us then. “So why couldn’t you tell me that? Why couldn’t you tell any of us? Nic, this is a vital piece of information. I mean, I’ve noticed your powers have strengthened—even a few new spells here and there—but the Lightning Witch?”
I stood and took a few steps to get some air into our conversation. “It’s not that; it’s what comes with it. I will defeat Lou. I mean, I hope I will live up to what those before me have done and defeat him, but it’s not that simple.” Tracey looked at me, perplexed, as if I were being dramatic.
“The gift comes with a curse. I cannot be the Lightning Witch and defeat Lou without having to give something back. A sacrifice will be made.”
“Well, that is nothing new to our craft, to our world as we know it. Every time you point a finger, three are always pointing back.” She made the motion with her hand. It was something my mother used to always say also. It was true.
I had been mad at my gift and cursing my curse, but in reality, that was the way it had always been in every facet of a witch’s life. You could not receive without giving out and vice versa. “I realize that.”
“Well, how do you know all this? The trio?” Tracey asked. Forever the fact checker.
“I met the last Lightning Witch,” I breathed.
Tracey’s eyes bugged out from behind her glasses. “You what?” She was incredulous. I had to laugh.
The Lightning Witch (Elements Book 2) Page 14
