This is where the damsel dies. Every time.
Once again, Jared surprised me. I was not prepared for the level of normalcy inside the walls of his establishment. His storeroom wasn’t stocked with supplies or torture devices of my imagination. No, it was a workshop every witch dreamed of owning. Copper spelling pots hung from culinary racks fastened into the ceiling. Herbs hung upside down from drying racks. Wooden countertops lined the room with a large island in the center, complete with a drop-down gas range.
Color me green with envy.
My shoddy potions and gris-gris bags might actually be worth something if I had a space like his. Without waiting for an invitation, I gave myself the grand tour of his workspace, stopping to peruse the jars lined neatly along the wall on the far-left countertop. Chills ran down my spine when I saw both wet and dry specimens inside the sealed glass containers. Everything I expected and feared I would find inside a black magic shop was there in plain view. Jared didn’t try to hide who or what he was.
Eager to get his help and get the hell out of there, I turned my attention away from his spelling supplies and back to where it should have been – with Pru. “So, my sister—what do you need to find her?”
“I’m not going to find her, Ellie. You are. Go stand over there.” Jared pointed to the center of the room and tossed a piece of chalk he grabbed off the counter in my direction.
I was supposed to catch it. I missed. Shards of broken chalk littered the floor.
A lopsided grin softened his features as he raked a hand through his hair. “It’s just magnetic chalk. It won’t bite.”
“I know that. You caught me off guard.” That wasn’t even a half truth and he knew it as well as I did. The truth? I didn’t trust Jared. It didn’t matter what he threw at me, I wasn’t going to catch it.
He picked up a new piece of chalk, tucked it in the pocket of his shirt and walked over to where I was standing. He swept the remnants of the first piece out of the way with his foot, took me by the hand and led – or dragged, depending on who you asked – me to the center of the room.
“Draw a circle.” He offered me the new piece of chalk. “Honestly, Ellie. It’s rudimentary stuff. I use this with my younger students to help them focus.”
“People let you teach their kids?” My eyes widened to the size of silver dollars when I realized I said that out loud.
He was gracious enough to laugh off the slight. “Contrary to popular belief, black magic isn’t about sacrificing children. You can blame the Grimm brothers for starting that rumor.”
There was a slight tremble in my hand as I took the chalk. After a deep breath, I gauged the size of the circle I wanted. “You’re not going to be in it, right?” When he shook his head, I waved him back a few steps. “Okay, give me some room.”
With the tip of the chalk pressed against the concrete floor, I started on my right and made one complete rotation. I stood up to admire my work. Geometrically speaking, calling my drawing a circle was a stretch of the imagination. It was closer to an oval with wobbly edges.
Pru was in trouble and I was already failing Witching 101. Relying on magic – my magic – was a mistake.
Jared recognized the disappointment on my face and offered a few words of encouragement. “It’s fine, Ellie. It doesn’t have to be perfect, just round... Or, mostly round.” One corner of his mouth crooked up in a smile as he winked at me. “Connected is really the key, as long as there are no breaks in the circle, you’re fine.”
I slipped the chalk in my pocket and wiped my hands on the front of my jeans, leaving white trails on my thighs. “Now what?”
“Close your eyes.” Jared returned my stare with a frustrated glare. “A little trust would be nice. I haven’t given you a reason not to.”
Not yet anyway. Trust and faith went out the window when I went out on the street. The only exception was Pru. She was the reason I stood inside a wonky circle in the middle of Jared’s workspace so I forced myself to close my eyes. “Now what?”
“I want you to concentrate and open your third eye.” I heard him move to the edge of the circle in front of me, the sweet smell of peppermint on his breath wafting toward me a few seconds later.
“My third eye is legally blind, so....” I opened my eyes and shrugged. I was only half joking.
“Focus.” Jared snapped. “If you want to find your sister—.”
“It’s hard to focus on anything other than what a monumental waste of time this is. I’m going to find Prudence with or without my busted magic.” Anger and frustration over my ineptitude sparked a flare up of energy.
The overhead lights flickered before exploding. Tiny pieces of glass rained down, blanketing the floor like winter frost. Jared rushed to the counter on the left, grabbed a spelling pot off the hot plate, and tossed its contents at me. My arms instinctively went up to block my face from scalding water as I stepped backward and broke the circle.
“Are you crazy?” I shouted, only slightly relieved as tepid – not boiling - salt water doused me from head to toe.
“If by ‘crazy’ you mean wanting to stay alive, then yeah, I’m crazy.” The spelling pot clattered against the floor when Jared dropped it. Arms akimbo with his palms facing out, he dipped his chin toward his chest. He looked at me through half lidded eyes as he muttered something that sounded a lot like Latin, but not.
He cast a spell.
I backed up, smearing what remained of the chalk circle. “Jared? What are you doing?” My voice cracked, exposing the fear gripping my heart.
His magic answered for him. A warm blast of air hit me. Within seconds, my clothes and hair were dry.
“Not all the spells I know are dark magic, Ellie.” Jared bent down and picked up the pot, setting it back on the counter.
“Well, how was I supposed to....” I stopped the defensive quip midstream. As much as it physically pained me to admit it, he was right. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have assumed the worst.”
“You have a tendency to do that where I’m concerned.” Jared wasn’t wrong but I had the decency to look chagrined when he said it.
I raked my fingers through my hair as I choked on another apology, expecting them to snag in tangles at the end. When they didn’t, I eyed Jared with suspicion. A mirror hung from two hooks beneath a shelf above the counter. Nudging past Jared, I used the witch’s glass to check my reflection.
“You dried my clothes and gave me the best blowout of my life.”
“I feel like there’s a joke there but I’ll let it slide.” Jared’s playful wink matched his smile. He leaned in and my heart skipped a beat – not from fear but something else. The intoxicating smell of magic still swirled around him as he reached around me. It was a heady mix of all the elements—a camp fire in the fall, crisp winter air before the first snowfall, freshly tilled soil ripe for planting in the spring and the whiff of ozone before the sky is electrified in a summer storm. It was intoxicating and I couldn’t resist the urge to breath him in. He broke the spell he’d unwittingly spun by shoving an old tattered tome in my hands. “Here, when we’re not working on your magic or looking for Prudence, I want you studying this.”
“You’re a lot different than I imagined.” Careful not to stress the weakened spine, I flipped the worn book open to the table of contents.
“So, you have been thinking about me.” Jared’s smile widened. “I knew it.”
“Your ego is big enough. I’m not feeding it.” I traced a handwritten note on the page with my finger. Scrawled in the margins beside chapter headings were the words “Property of Jared Adams. If found, please return – or else.” Now THAT is the Jared I imagined.
“I don’t suppose you have something of your sister’s—.” Jared’s phone rang. He pulled his cell from his pocket and looked at the number. “I have to take this.”
I started to protest about the personal belongings and their no doubt intended uses in black magic but he cupped the phone in his hand and whispered, “Hold on,”
before going back to his argument over fake artifacts with an apparently unhappy customer. It sounded like everything was not on the up and up at Cauldron Crafts.
Color me surprised.
“We’re not summoning Prudence like she’s some sort of demon.” I pushed off the counter, grabbed my messenger bag off the floor, and slung it over my shoulder. “This is a waste of time. I’ll see you around, Adams.”
I made it as far as the front door before Jared evoked the charm he made from my hair. Yet another reason I wouldn’t give him Pru’s, even if I had had some.
“We made a deal, Ellie.” He mumbled something in the same strange language as before and immediately my body ignored all commands from my brain and moved on its own accord – well, technically Jared’s, stopping me in my tracks. The spell also rendered me speechless – there’s a first time for everything – but if looks could kill, he’d be dead on the floor.
“You need my help as much as Prudence needs yours.” Something in his voice, a hint of desperation so small I almost missed it, said he needed my help, too.
Jared Adam had ulterior motives. Hell, his ulterior motives had ulterior motives. If I wanted to survive my partnership with Jared and find my sister, I needed to uncover them.
And fast.
Chapter Five
“If I let you go, do you promise to behave and stick to our agreement?” Jared dialed back the spell enough for me to move my mouth but not my limbs.
Smart man.
A slew of expletives pronounced my struggle against the charm. Every cell in my body burned as I battled to regain control of my arms and legs. My muscles knotted into pretzels, torn between Jared’s charm and my sheer determination. My clothes clung to the fine dew of sweat coating my body. Seconds dragged into minutes of excruciating pain before I lost the battle of magic and wills against Jared.
“Fine.” I ground out between clenched teeth. “I’ll behave.”
Jared snapped his fingers and I collapsed into a heap on the floor. “When you’re ready, meet me in the back. We’ll pick up where we left off.”
“We’re not summoning my sister.” I panted as a wave of exhaustion hit me.
“There you go again. Assuming the worst.” Jared left me on the floor and went in the back room.
“I deserved that.” I muttered to myself. Still too tired to move from my spot on the cold tile floor, sleep claimed me.
It was anything but restful. Prudence ran laps in the recesses of my subconscious, calling out for help. Calling my name. I tried to catch up to her, to let her know I was looking for her, but I couldn’t gain any ground. The harder I ran, the further away she was. I woke in a fit with her name on my lips and Jared kneeling over me.
“We’ll find her, Ellie.” He brushed a wayward strand of hair out of my face. “We’ll find your sister. Here, drink this.”
My mouth felt like the Sahara. My throat was raw enough from screaming Prudence’s name that I didn’t question what was in the cup Jared handed me. That was a mistake. Bitter and acidic, the tonic triggered every gag reflex I had but I managed to force it down. It hit my stomach with the same vengeance, threatening to come back up. I belched in a very unladylike fashion. I clamped a hand over my mouth and swallowed hard, praying it didn’t find its way out my nose. Between failing at my first magical test, losing to Jared’s charm, and collapsing on the floor, my pride had taken enough hits. I didn’t need to add projectile vomiting to my list of humiliating events. “What was in that?”
Jared grimaced. “Sometimes things get worse before they get better. That tonic, for example. You’ll feel sick as a dog for a couple minutes but if you get past the nausea without actually throwing up, you’ll feel better.”
I managed a thumbs up with the hand that wasn’t covering my mouth.
“Come on.” Jared hooked his arms under mine and hoisted me up off the floor. He held on, to ensure my legs were steady as we walked to the back of the store.
The spring was back in my step before we were in his workshop. Jared had an annoying habit of being right. He also had an annoying habit of being accidentally helpful and charming. I untangled myself from his side and stood on my own two feet before I got caught up in his intoxicating scent again.
“Take a look at chapter three.” Jared held out the tattered tome I’d tossed on the counter when I’d attempted to bail on our agreement.
Focusing Objects
Focus is the key to any spell. Concentrating on the target while maintaining control over one’s magic can be difficult for the rudimentary witch. A focus object can be a useful tool until the student advances to more complicated crafting. Depending on the desired results, personal items or physical totems such as four-leaf clovers for luck or a coin for wealth can be very effective.
The heaping slice of humble pie I was about to serve myself was harder to swallow than Jared’s tonic.
“So, you don’t want to summon Prudence?” I asked, an apologetic smile plastered on my face.
“It might make things easier if were possible but it’s not.” Jared patted his hand against his pocket where the charm binding my free will to his resided. “Unless you have one of these.” Before I could utter an aha!, he held up his hands. “Kidding, I’m kidding. You can only summon demons.”
I did a quick mental inventory of everything in my truck. “I don’t have anything of Pru’s. I could call Barbara. She might be—.”
“Absolutely not.” Jared’s voice iced over, matching look in his eyes at the mention of my former foster mother. “You’re only making one call to that woman and that’s when we find Prudence.”
“Have you met my foster mother?” I couldn’t imagine a scenario where their paths would have crossed but he seemed to share in my dislike of her.
“No, and I don’t need to. Her hate and fear put you on the street. A household of bigots, high on the hill.” He shook his head. “Prudence excluded, of course. You should count yourself lucky to be rid of them.”
“I do.” And I meant it, but that didn’t make being shunned hurt any less. I cleared my throat and wiped away the tear threatening to slip out from the corner of my eye. “Without a focus object, where does that leave us?”
“Well, it doesn’t make things any easier, but I’ve got a few spells up my sleeves.” He ran his fingers through his cropped hair. “You burned through enough of the Harris’s Benjamins. Let’s see what it got you.”
I shook my head. “Not a thing. Unless a receipt for bath-bombs and belladonna is helpful.”
“Did Prudence have trouble sleeping?”
“Can you please stop referring to her in past tense?” Dust plumed from the worn pages as I slammed the book shut. “She’s alive. I know it.”
“I just meant in the past.” Jared’s words and his hands held up in a placating gesture said he believed me – Pru was still alive – but his eyes told another story. Jared promised we’d find my sister. He just didn’t promise what condition we’d find her in.
I’d know if she were dead.
Like I should have known from the start? Doubt crept in but I pushed it back. I didn’t sense she was in trouble. I couldn’t change that but... I would sense it if she were dead. I would.
“Hey.” Jared snapped his fingers. “Hello? Earth to Ellie.”
“Sorry.” I pulled myself back from my fritzy magic and lack of warnings and thought about what he asked me. “No, no insomnia or anything like that. In fact....” I paused, thinking back on all the years we shared a room. “She slept like the dead. She always remembered her dreams when she woke up and kept a journal in the top drawer of the nightstand by her bed. I never remembered mine. I always envied her that when we were growing up.”
Jared went from piqued to captivated. “Belladonna can intensify visions.”
“She has vivid dreams. Not visions.” I tapped him on the shoulder when he brushed off my response. “Are you listening?”
“I’m totally listening.” Except he wasn’t. He ransac
ked the shelves, knocking two large wooden stirring spoons from their hooks on the chef’s rack overhead in the process. “Visions.”
“That is the exact opposite of what I said.” I grabbed hold of one of his hands to slow the fury of flying books, only to jump back three steps when he exclaimed, “Found it!”
“Here, look at this.” Jared set down another written relic in worse condition than the last. What pages weren’t missing were blackened on the edges, the cover half-burnt. But through the cracked and crisp exterior, the original silver embossing was still legible.
Dreamwalkers.
“What does this have to do with Prudence?” I asked, completely confused with the direction our conversation was headed.
“Everything.” He carefully opened the book and turned to one of the few intact pages, tapping a finger by the title. “Belladonna.”
“That’s fascinating, really. Except Prudence isn’t a dreamwalker. She’s just every day ordinary Prudence.” I cringed at my choice of words. Prudence didn’t need magic to be magical and she was anything but ordinary. But she wasn’t a witch or a dreamwalker.
Jared reached into his pocket and pulled out the charm whose main ingredient was a lock of my hair and set it on the countertop between us. “I’m willing to bet she is.”
“That’s a bold move.” The charm mocked me from its place on the counter. He wouldn’t risk losing a powerful trinket if he wasn’t confident in his assumption.
“If I’m wrong, I destroy the charm.” He hesitated, waiting to see if I’d prompt him for the other half of the wager. After a moment, he continued. “If I’m right, you stay on another month without it.”
“So either way the charm’s gone?” I’ll admit, I was tempted by the offer.
Trust Jared not to abuse the charm while we searched for Pru when I hadn’t uncovered his ulterior motives? Or keep working with him beyond our initial agreement and keep my free will?
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