by Tanya Milne
Dear Witch,
The first step to becoming a witch is to learn the earth elements of witchcraft, which are represented as one of the five points in the pentagram star. You may have been told this, and therefore it will come as no surprise. Or this may be new to you. If this is the case, please let me explain.
There are many steps to becoming a witch, and each step must be learned properly before the next step can be taken. Your first step is to learn earth magic – in other words, using herbs, plants and flowers from the earth in the creation of magic.
A word of warning – you should not be tempted to take any more steps until you have mastered this step. Doing so would be dangerous, perhaps even catastrophic.
Why earth magic? The skills you will learn here are the foundation for becoming a witch. Without this foundation, you cannot add, you cannot build. Whatever you do will be fraught with trials and troubles.
You will need patience, not only to resist the temptation to look further into this book and try to speed up the process, but also to master earth magic – this essential skill. Ideally, you will have another witch to mentor you in your learning, but for this first skill, it is not essential.
Earth magic may sound a tad boring even, but let me assure you, it is not. Earth magic will, I guarantee you, be difficult and frustrating, but if you persevere, you will master an essential and fascinating part of magic.
My last advice to you is to follow your nose. Your nose always knows, so learn to trust yourself.
Ethel
I raised my head, my mind spinning. This was far different from anything I’d expected. I loved plants and adored flowers. We’d grown up on a large property, and our parents had taught both Elijah and me the names – even botanical names – and special properties of hundreds of plants and flowers, but I’d never imagined they had magical properties as well.
All of those years as we explored the fields and riverbeds, searching for our favourites and the near-impossible to find, we’d never known what our parents had kept secret from us. A wide chasm opened inside me and deep-seated anger flooded in. The critical information that should have been passed onto Elijah and me in its natural state, mouth to ear, had been kept from us.
In its place was a secret that denied us what we should know. Now, all I had was Ethel – my only teacher.
The curtains ruffled against the open window and in blew cool autumn winds, carrying the promise of winter. Pearl raised her head from her slumber and looked over to the windows and then back at me, issuing her silent request as gracefully as she always did.
‘Okay, bossy boots,’ I said quietly, putting on my slippers and then walking across the old floorboards that groaned under my feet.
One by one, I pulled the windows shut. I was about to turn away when I noticed the black police car parked across the street, in front of Violet’s house. A surge of heat rose through me as I looked to Violet’s house, but every light there was switched off. I looked back at the car and as my eyes adjusted to the darkness outside, I saw there was a single person sitting inside, their face turned towards me.
I dropped the curtain and jumped back from the window, heat pulsing through me. Jet was right – Orpheus Blackthorn was keeping an eye on me. He had his lackeys, probably Max, sitting outside our house right now, to keep tabs on me. I felt sick, sick to the core.
The reality of what I was getting involved in, the danger I was already in, became real, and I hadn’t even started to learn anything. I walked back to my bed, where the witchcraft book sat, open and ready.
Was I ready? Was I ready to learn? Was I ready to keep my own secret? Was I ready to put myself and my family at more risk than we were already?
I sank down on my bed and patted Pearl, who purred under my hand. I had to admit, part of me was ready. But the truth was, I would never be totally ready. This decision wasn’t about being ready; it was about taking a leap of faith.
The image of the police harassing Violet, the sweet and wise lady from across the street, filled my mind. If we all did nothing – if I did nothing – then nothing would change. What would our futures hold then?
I let out a long sigh and picked up the book again, its weight filling my hands and my whole being. The lamp next to my bed flickered as I turned the page.
My mouth dropped open as I turned page after page, recognising each and every plant, herb and flower that had been meticulously drawn on the pages – thyme, aloe vera, baby’s breath, daffodils. On and on they went. At the base of each page were both the botanical and magical properties of each plant. I stopped at the picture of a forget-me-not.
A dormant memory sprang to life, and I remembered a beautiful spring morning when the sun was rising against the pale-blue sky. I was about five and held onto my mother’s hand as we ran and laughed our way down the gentle slope of the hill towards the river. My mum led me to the edge of the river where forget-me-not flowers had sprung from the thawing earth. We sat beside them, touching their delicate purple-and-yellow petals while my mum told me everything there was to know – or so I thought at the time.
I pictured my mum’s pretty face, her eyes as she gazed into mine, how sad she appeared. I remembered asking her, ‘Mama, what’s the matter?’
She smiled at me, but her smile never quite reached her eyes. ‘One day, Eva, if your true love brings you a forget-me-not flower, you will know that they are the one you are destined for.’
‘But why, Mama?’ I had asked.
‘Because in our language, forget-me-nots mean true love, my darling girl, that’s why,’ she’d said, kissing my cheek and sitting back, raising her face to the sky.
I blinked and came back from the magical memory into my room, where Pearl lay snug against my leg. My mum’s words, ‘in our language,’ hadn’t seemed strange or out of place at the time, but now I knew what she really meant – in witches’ language. Is that why she was sad? Because she wasn’t telling me the whole truth? Had she wanted to?
I hadn’t considered that she’d wanted to tell me the truth, that it was hard for her to keep quiet and not share what was such a natural part of her. What else didn’t I know? The anger that was swirling inside me left me, and the edges of sadness now filled its void. What could have been? What would I be like now, as a witch?
I looked down at the book. How much did I already know of the words in these pages? All of a sudden, the book felt too heavy and my eyes felt as though an invisible cord were pulling them closed. I wanted to keep looking, to learn, but the day had caught up with me.
I put my book away, back in its home beneath my floor, before climbing into bed and switching out the light. Sleep was ready, and it pulled me down into its darkness, where the edges of my fears and demons were, swilling around, waiting for me.
Chapter Twenty
I scowled in the direction of the shiny black police car that sat opposite my house before I made my way inside. After four days of it sitting outside the house morning and night, the sight of it no longer sent an arrow of fear into my heart like it did my parents and Elijah. But boy, was it getting under my skin.
I’d promised my parents not to go and give them hell, but I didn’t know how much longer I could keep my promise. I put down my school bag and strained to listen. The house was still and quiet, the only sound coming from the distant hum of the fridge. I raced upstairs and quickly changed out of my school uniform and slipped on my tracksuit
The butterflies that had sat in the pit of my stomach took flight. I was actually going into the woods to start collecting what I needed for my first spell. The thought still seemed surreal, as though I’d slipped inside the pages of a book. Yet here I was, ready to get started.
I grabbed my old leather satchel, a present from my aunt Olive when I was just a little girl. I’d always loved the bag, and I’d taken it everywhere with me – only now realising I was, in fact, carrying a medicine bag or talisman as my witch’s book explained.
I ran my hand over its thick brown l
eather and hand stitching, seeing it in a whole new light, and finally understood my mother’s (failed) attempts at replacing the old bag with newer, more modern, pretty ones. She knew exactly what it was and now, so did I.
I slipped on my runners and was ready. I knew from the hours I’d spent poring over my book the flowers and plants I was going to search for, but I had no idea where to find a sacred space to perform my first magic spell. All I knew was that I had to try.
I quickly made my way back down the stairs and left my note, explaining that I was at the library and would be home late. I forced the lie out of my pen, tried my best to ignore the pang of guilt. When I was finished, I grabbed a piece of fruit and left the house by the back door.
Scanning our backyard, I strode down the stairs towards the back fence and snuck through the small door leading into the park behind our house. The moment I was through, the gusty autumn winds that had kept the park empty pummelled me. I tried to ignore how creepy the swings looked as they were moved back and forth by the winds, as though being ridden by invisible children.
I pulled the hood of my tracksuit jumper over my head and walked down a few streets before leaving civilisation and entering what was locally referred to as ‘the woods.’ We’d hiked in the woods as a family several times. While our town was small and quiet, it was surrounded by forests, rivers and woodlands that were far from tame. Out there, life pulsed to its own beat.
As I made my way into the trees that towered above me and obstructed the fading light, my skin prickled. I’d studied maps of the area and taken my compass, but still, even with all the hiking I’d done through my childhood, I’d need to be careful. Not one person knew where I really was.
I pressed on, heading in the direction of the river where I knew most of the plants on my list would be. My eyes scanned continually as I walked, taking in every tree, every plant, every flower. It was the way I’d been taught to walk in nature, and now, finally, I was getting to use at least one of the skills that belonged to me.
Every now and then I stopped and cut some plant or flower using Elijah’s sharp knife. No, correction, his boline – a knife infused with magic that he thought was just a pocketknife. It was a gift from Uncle Bob, a gift I hoped he wouldn’t miss from his drawer.
By the time I made it to the river, I felt warm. As I looked at the wide and majestic blue river that sat still and accepting, a feeling of peace settled on me – something I hadn’t felt for the longest time.
A fresh gust of wind brought me back into the moment. In the golden light I smiled and whistled to myself as I scampered up and down the banks of the river, collecting what I’d need for my potion.
I remembered flicking through the hundreds of potions in the book, my mind boggling. It had taken a while to settle on my first potion: a memory-altering drink that would make the drinker forget any witches they’d met and all of their interactions with them as well. I’d been hoping to find a spell that would make the drinker forget that witches even existed, but no such luck.
After I’d collected my last herb, I looked up to see that the sun was hovering on the horizon, and the pink clouds that sat high and wispy in the sky were fading. I wanted to find a sacred space where I could practice making my potion, but my time was running out. I closed my bag and hurried back up the riverbank and walked along the river, scanning the trees for a suitable site.
I was about to turn back towards home when I saw something flicker in the bushes. I looked around quickly to see where I was and left the path. The trees grew thick and dense in this part of the bush and the shadows long. Soon, everything started to look the same. Taking a settling breath, I continued to search for the light.
Before long, I found myself face-to-face with trees so densely packed they formed a wall. I took a left and walked around the trees that formed the shape of a large circle. I was nearly back to the beginning when something sparkled above my head. I looked up and there was an illuminated firefly.
I stood breathless, watching the tiny sparkling firefly in the haze of the blue early-evening light until it disappeared between a little gap in the trees. I followed it and found myself in a large round clearing where literally thousands of fireflies were buzzing in the dying light.
For a few moments, I stood mesmerised by the beautiful sight, but then I walked forward, my arms raised, feeling as though I were floating amongst the stars. After several minutes, the fireflies flew up and away, leaving me alone in the darkness.
I came back into myself with a thud and realised it was dark and I was a very long way from home. I turned around in a circle and saw I was totally surrounded by a wall of trees that looked exactly the same.
My pulse quickened as I looked for the opening, but I couldn’t see a thing. Wrapping my arms around me, I started walking towards the trees, then came across an enormous tree trunk that had been cut off, leaving a perfect tabletop about the height of my waist.
An altar! My sacred space!
It was as though I’d received an electric shock. Here I was, deep in the woods at night, and I’d found the perfect place to perform my spells. I lay my hands on top of the exposed tree trunk, which was still warm from the sun. I felt the energy of the tree move into my hands, and for the first time in my life, I let myself respond and release the energy that had always sat, stagnant and repressed.
I closed my eyes, cleared my mind and let my body take over. My hands grew warm, then hotter and hotter until they pulsed with heat that filled me and overflowed into the tree and down across the grass and into the circle of trees. Everything inside me was exactly right, and for the first time in my life I felt truly strong and powerful.
I opened my eyes and saw that rivers of red light spread across the ground of the forest, like blood through veins of the trees, then rose high in the sky to form a five-pointed star – the witch’s star.
It was in that moment I knew there was no turning back; there was only one path for me and that was forward. I was now a witch.
I yanked my hands away from the tree, and the lights dimmed and then disappeared. I was left alone in the darkness, breathless and more alive than I’d ever felt in my life. It took me a few minutes to remember that I was lost and all alone.
The moonlight sprinkled through the trees that twisted together in a canopy above my head. The panic that had risen inside me for the last hour as I’d wandered around lost, looking for town, threatened to overwhelm me. I took a steadying breath. If I could find my way out through a wall of trees in the darkness, I could find my way out of the woods.
I switched on my phone’s light, ignoring the fact that I had no service, and looked down at my compass. I was still heading due east. I quietened all the screaming doubts in my head and firmly told myself that it was only a matter of time before I hit the town.
What about the panthers?
The moment the thought was in my head, my skin prickled. Panthers were not supposed to live in this part of the world, yet every now and then there were sightings –
the last only weeks ago. Their sleek black bodies, as dark as the night, would be impossible to see. It would only be their eyes, those yellow orbs, that would give them away.
Probably the last thing I would ever see!
The wind picked up and weaved its way through the trees, making them creak and moan as they rubbed together. I flicked off my light, zipped up my jacket and started to move again, faster this time. It was slow going in the darkness, and every now and then my foot caught a tree root and I’d go flying. Before long, I slowed down and my mouth was parched dry.
I started to mentally prepare myself to spend the night in the woods when, from behind me, came the sound of a twig snapping that made every hair on my body stand on end. Slowly I turned and there, several metres from where I stood, was the silvery outline of something – or someone, whose eyes glowed like balls of luminescence in the darkness.
Chapter Twenty-One
I wanted to run. I wanted to scream. But my fe
et felt glued to the ground, and I could only manage to stumble backwards and trip over them, landing on my back and crying out.
‘Geez! Are you all right?’ came the somewhat familiar voice of someone I tried to avoid at all costs.
‘Jet, is that you?’ I croaked, sitting up on my elbows.
‘The one and only,’ he said, walking forward so that I could just see him. ‘But what the heck, Eva?’
‘I could say the same thing to you.’ I ignored his outstretched hand and jumped to my unsteady feet, then attempted to get the leaves out of my hair.
‘Well, I’m here to check out the strange thing I just saw.’
Oh crap – he saw my sign. My witch’s sign.
‘What do you mean?’ I said, my voice low and even.
He cocked his head to the side. ‘Why don’t you tell me.’
My body felt as though flames danced on my skin.
‘I mean, there I was, walking the streets when I saw a witch’s mark light up the goddam sky out here, in the woods. Then low and behold, here you are, all on your own.’
A single bead of sweat trickled down my back.
‘I’m one for coincidences, but this seems a little more than that,’ he said.
I heard my breath enter and leave my body.
‘Something you want to tell me, Eva?’
Think, Eva, think.
‘I think you have an overactive imagination. I came out here to get away from…people like you, and then got lost.’
‘Is that so?’
‘Look, while you might find this amusing, I need to get home. I’ve been out here for hours, and my family–’
‘I get it. Contrary to what you might think of me, I’m not a complete idiot,’ he said, taking off his backpack and pulling out his water bottle. ‘Drink?’
