Spellbound (21 page)

“Lily, can you hear her? What is she saying?” Eden came up to Lily and placed a hand on her waist and another around her shoulder. In this manner, she guided her gently back to a sitting position. Everyone rearranged their seats and Elizabeth, Logan and I gathered around them. Everyone else strained around the table to hear. “I did. But she’s stopped now.” Lily cocked her head to the side and closed her eyes, intent on listening to the silence. She shook her head and tears started to fall from her eyes. They pooled at first at the corners, then fell in big, fat, droplets down her cheeks and right into her lap. She stared up at all of us. “Can you believe this? She told me she’s all right. She and Sully were out of it for a while, but she wanted me, and all of us to know, that they are okay.

They’re not harmed, they’re being fed, given water, and they’re okay. And she wanted to know about Sage.” At the mention of her name, the fluffy-‐-haired dog jerked up her head and barked.

‘I hope it’s not a trick, Eden.” She stared again at Eden, hopeful for words of encouragement. “I know what the Council is capable of. I know this could be a trick.”

Eden addressed Logan’s mother with great thought. “I’m sure it’s not a trick, Lily. It’s your daughter’s voice. You alone would know if something were wrong. You could tell if something were there. You’d sense it. And you didn’t, did you?”

“No,” Lily answered, more confident of it now, “I didn’t.

That was her alright. Worrying about Sage? That was definitely my Jadie.” She sent her gaze around the table, stopping at Tabitha.

Reassuring, now. “Yes, that was her.”

“Absolutely it was. And if she reached out to you once, she will do it again. This means either they are not keeping a close eye on her, or they are purposely allowing her to mindjump. Perhaps this is a sign that their next contact with us is imminent?”

Incredibly, she addressed me. Oh my, they were all looking at me.

“Yes,” I replied, in a voice full of strength I didn’t know I had. “Yes, the next sign will come soon. We need to gather the full coven together tonight.”

“It will be perfect, too, Serena,” broke in Eve, the elegant coven sister I had worked with for my astral projection training.

“Tonight is the full moon, and soon we will be close to the Spring Equinox. I suddenly feel strongly that the Council is planning something to coincide with that special and magical time of year.”

Everyone in the group seemed to agree. Nods of agreement and murmurs of assent all around followed.

The dinner hour ended and we all began to disperse. Lily grew weary from her encounter with Jade. Elizabeth escorted her upstairs to rest for a little while before we gathered again later.

Logan, too, seemed exhausted. The events of the afternoon and his drive had caught up with him and he appeared visibly fatigued. I walked him to the door and kissed him goodnight with the promise of more time together tomorrow. We agreed to meet early for a private breakfast. Logan headed out with Charlie and Sage obediently trotting after him. I watched him go and for the billionth time that I could remember I thought again of how much I loved him and how no matter how crazy everything seemed to be or could get, how much more I knew I would love him still. His face was engraved on my heart.

Chapter Twenty-‐-Two

SERENA

I woke up from a nice nap feeling rested and energized and ready for the evening. I missed Logan already and luxuriated in the fact that I could still smell a faint odor of his soapy, fresh Logan-‐-

smell on my sweater. I wrapped the sweater around myself, hugging myself with his scent. I lay there just a few minutes more before I reluctantly got up and headed downstairs.

I found most everyone in the kitchen, congregating around the counter, sipping coffee and tea, and chatting. A few were out on the back patio, Tabitha and Elizabeth were still out in the dining room with Lily, playing with Zena and River and watching the cats chase around plastic balls with bells in them. I peeked out the French doors into the crisp, night air. Someone, the twins likely, had lit the fire pit as they had on previous nights, and a nice fire burned, warming the whole conversation area surrounding the pit.

We had candles too, and hanging lanterns, and the chairs had all been arranged to accommodate all of us later tonight. The whole area was warm and inviting and belied the true intention of its purpose. It made for a great place to have a late night wine tasting, not a gathering of thirteen witches bent on intense preparation for the confrontation of their lives. Once again, it reminded me of how looks could be so deceiving.

As I stood admiring our outside patio, it served as a cue to the others, and they all began to drift outside to join me. Eden, Cordelia, and Finola came out first. They were followed by the twins, Aisling and Echo, laughing and bringing a youthful air along with them. Trailing behind them, the sisters of flight, Rochelle and Libby eased through the doors and took places around the fire ring. Prudence and Raven were next, talking animatedly about potions and spells and my sister quickly joined them and Lily, looking brighter and rested like me. They had all the dogs with them as well. Charlie and Sage were together, Charlie seeming to comfort Sage, who appeared lost without Jade. Zena and River were chasing each other and scampered around the patio, weaving in and out of chair and witch legs easily. I took a quick head count and realized we were all here. We were thirteen strong.

Logan and I had spoken earlier, so I knew he wouldn’t be coming over tonight. I peered around the fire pit at Eden’s coven sisters, now my coven sisters and felt a welling of pride and satisfaction to be considered part of such an empowered and enlightened group of women. I reached out to grab the hands of the witches standing next to me and said, “Let us begin.”

My coven sisters and I all joined hands and began to harness our collective powers. In order to fight the powers of evil that will be unleashed on us by the Council, we will fight back with our best powers. Because we are good witches, our best powers are organic in nature, drawn from the beauty and the bounty of that which our world has given us. Our spells are derived from natural sources, our potions come from things found in nature, and everything we are about is unmarred by the chemical hand, untreated by the crude refinements of modern times. We have learned to work with the harmonies of the natural world and in that way, we would fight the evils of the Council. As Eden had taught me, we first needed to control the four elements, Earth, Wind, Fire and Water. We would begin with Earth.

The thirteen of us closed our eyes and began to call in our minds for the elements of Earth to come to our aid. In response, the wind picked up and the leaves on the ground around us began to swirl and dance. The trees began to sway and the air became electric. A wide patch of dirt in the back of the garden started to skitter and dust up and as we all opened our eyes, I watched the dirt form and take shape. A flat soil monster arose from the ground in a swirl of dirt, and leaves and debris. When it finished its transformation, it remained there, appearing to await commands from the gathered witches. I dropped my hands from Libby’s and Eve’s and waved them forcefully in the direction of the dirt creature. At once, the flat soil creature began to whirl faster and faster, rocks, dirt and debris whirling with it. As a test, I tossed a large rock into the swirling mass and everyone watched as it got pulverized into dust by the power of the dirt creature.

I rejoined hands with Libby and Eve and we all raised our hands high, to the heavens. Several trees uprooted themselves and, while whirling in the air, chiseled themselves down in the shapes of spears. Completed with the transformation, they sailed through the air and landed, blade side down, in the ground, behind each of the assembled witches in my coven, thirteen spears for thirteen witches.

Now, for Wind. Collectively, we called upon the winds to gather and be a force for us. Before my eyes, a cyclone formed and rose high up in the sky. Several funnel clouds rose alongside it and danced and shimmied around the backyard. I’d watched enough television to know the power a cyclone had. We watched as it ripped through a stand of trees at the edge of the forest and in the blink of an eye, cut a swath through them by chipping away at the wood and bark in nanoseconds. Pieces of the trees flew in all directions and became caught up in the tornado, making it larger and wider and more dangerous. As the collective force of our powers caused the cyclone to rise and fall, I could understand how controlling the massive force of the wind would work to our advantage in the future. Satisfied by the display, I allowed the cyclonic force to quiet and quell, until it became no more than a whisper, and the debris twirled near the ground, lower and lower until it came to a final resting place.

Water followed as the next element I wanted us to practice taming. I scanned the faces of my coven sisters and nodded. In agreement, we closed our eyes and concentrated our minds together to call upon the massive force of Water for a demonstrative show of our collective talent. At once, the air became dense, and then moist. I could feel a fine mist shower us and I opened my eyes to discover the origin. What I witnessed stole my words. An enormous funnel of water spiraled on its side, undulating and writhing around us. I telepathically encouraged my coven sisters to open their eyes and we watched in wonder at what our power had created. As we watched it, the water funnel lengthened and widened and stretched behind our circle, until it became a wall of water in back of us, rising far up into the dark night. I reached out and touched the watery shield and found I could not put my hand through it. Although made of transparent liquid, it wasn’t penetrable. It would protect us. With my coven sisters encouraging me, I clapped my hands together and in one move, the wall fell to the ground in one gigantic splash. My coven sisters applauded.

Eden silenced everyone with her hands and raised one finger to me. I had one final element to test. Fire. I nodded and reached again for Libby and Rochelle’s hands. My coven sisters reached for each other’s hands again and waited for my lead.

Slowly, holding hands with my sister witches, I raised our arms till they were pointing toward the fire pit in the middle of our circle. In response, the flames in the brick circle began to raise higher, the tips of the orange glow flicking and curling as if in a dance. Several of the sparks snapped off and jumped into the spring sky, rapidly churning and becoming fireballs, spinning madly in place. I raised my hands and suddenly, my hair began to fly as the heat rose to an intense temperature. I opened my eyes and noticed the same thing happening to everyone gathered with me. The hot wind had blown away hair fixtures and ties, undone braids and buns and now witch hair flowed freely in the heated, humid breeze. I gazed around our circle and saw beautiful, natural, flushed women in the peak of their powers, watching fireballs race around them with awe and wonderment. At the same moment, and by my psychic command, we released our hands and waved them, thirteen pairs of elegant hands and fingers, at the fireballs, and we became flame-‐-throwers, launching our firebombs at the unsuspecting foliage.

Without warning the forest went up in a sheet of fire, as the thirteen whirling fire-‐-cyclones found their target and landed. Quick as a blink of an eye, Aisling, Echo, Prudence and I, whirled where we stood and brought our hands down and then up and the wall of water resurrected itself. I twisted my hands left and then right, then pretended to throw something toward the blazing forest. A blanket of water sailed over our heads and smothered the engulfed trees and in a matter of seconds, they were smoldering instead of burning, and in seconds after that, they were simply charred and blackened instead of smoking.

I leaned forward and grabbed the bricks of the fire pit panting heavily. The flames decreased and soon they were only a tiny puff of smoke.

Eden stepped forward with an announcement.

“Serena, tonight’s demonstrations have been a revelation.

Your powers have grown, and leading us as the primary of this coven, we all grow stronger still. But for tonight, I think we shall rest.” As soon as she said it, I couldn’t have agreed more. I felt exhausted but exhilarated. I spun around and sat on the edge of the brick pit and glanced around. I could tell my coven sisters agreed as well. Aisling and Echo were flushed and literally leaning on one another. My sister Elizabeth came to sit down next to me. She put her arm around the back of my shoulder and gave me a wink, but she appeared weary and tired as well. Lily sat grinning at me like a proud mother. I blushed. Libby and Rochelle, who had been on either side of me, came up and each squeezed one of my hands.

Raven went one better. She came up to me and hugged me fiercely.

“I’m not usually like this, but shoot girl, I could feel the power from all of us just coursing through my veins. Talk about intense!”

Eve echoed her sentiment.

“Yes, dear. You are clearly developing your talents much faster than any one of us would have thought possible.” Even in her beautifully lilting accent, her excitement over the progress couldn’t have been more evident.

Rochelle, so overwhelmed by the events of the gathering, levitated right from her spot in the circle and hovered over to me.

“Serena, darling Serena! Amazing! I used to believe flying equaled the most electrifying thing ever, but this has changed my mind. The way you had us joining forces and mating our powers?

Just unbelievable! It makes me want to just soar!” And she did, grabbing her broom and dipping and swooping all over the backyard in a joyous quick flight.

“Everyone, please. This truly became a group effort. I couldn’t have done any of it without you.” I called out to everyone.

I was as pleased with the demonstration as they were, but I wanted to make sure they understood, much more practicing needed to be done. I just didn’t feel we were ready. Eden must have been reading my mind, knowing her, literally.

“We must not get ahead of ourselves, Sisters,” she began.

“There is so much more work to be done. We must work harder, and longer. We must not falter.”