The Witches of BlackBrook (8 page)

Wood splintered against the cave wall. “Damn that witch!” He grabbed his cauldron and threw all the shards of wood and glass into it that had gathered as a result of his anger. “I will not be thwarted.” Mixing the potion had required three days, but now as the liquid boiled black, he was ready to cast his most powerful spell yet. “Dark as night, blinded be, seeping into each of thee. Cut their tie, bind their will, sacrifice the one that’s nil.” Black smoke filled the cave, churning and twisting into something very much alive. His maniacal laughter echoed off the stone as the caustic tendrils drifted into the night sky.

Caris and Trin finished their meal then traveled the eleven minutes down High Street to Argilla Rd, climbing the beautiful hill to reach the Crane Estate. The Castle itself, now a Tudor Revival, boasted twenty-one outbuildings, one of which served as the Inn.

Trin gazed out the car window, awestruck by the opulence that surrounded her. The mansion and landscape had changed so much since her last true visit, and she couldn’t wait to explore the infamous Rose and Italian Gardens with their fountains, statues, and columns, even under the winter chill.

“Oh, Caris. This is so beautiful. I wish we had more time to spend here.”

“We can always come back, you know,” Caris offered.

Trin looked at her friend, “You’re right of course, and next time we’ll bring Jason and Kit. It would be so much fun exploring together.”

“Let’s get checked in, then we can light a fire and order some late tea.”

“That sounds perfect,” Trin beamed. Being back on her native soil was doing wonders for her mood. She couldn’t wait to return when it was warmer and sink her feet back into the sand upon which she played as a child. The now public beaches were private back then, but that didn’t stop a few determined children. Trin chuckled internally at the thought of she, Kara, and Kenna splashing in the waves as they each made a wish upon a seashell, spelling them to glow as they skipped over the water’s surface.

Check-in was quick and easy and their room was quaint and comfortable. “I can’t believe what a joy this little day trip has turned out to be.” Trin turned towards Caris. “Thank you, again, for bringing me here.”

“It’s always heartwarming to come home,” Caris winked with a gleam in her eye.

Trin’s curiosity at the innuendo was on the rise when Caris’s cell phone rang from within her pocket.

“Hey, cuz. What’s up?” Caris asked.

“What? Oh my god, Jason, are you all right?”

Trin sat on the bed, waiting for the news as Caris paced the room.

“Where were you when it attacked?” Caris demanded, her voice rising and full of panic.

Attacked?
Oh no. This did not sound good. Trin’s first thought was an accident relating to his job as a police officer, but something in her gut told her that was not the case. This was magical and Trin could feel it in her bones.

Darkness speckled her vision, and the room began to spin as Trin fell backwards onto the bed. Her eyelids fluttering as images overtook her.

Jason was walking back to the house from the shed, when he was suddenly surrounded by a thick, black fog. Fingers coalesced from the mist then closed around his throat. He dropped to his knees, fighting to stay coherent as the life was being choked from his body. Dropping a hand to the ground, he spotted a jagged piece of tourmaline. Digging through the snow with his bare fingers he retrieved the shard and impaled the “hand” that was crushing his windpipe.

Trin snapped to when Caris cried out. “We’re coming home right now. Stay in the house and we’ll be there as soon as we can.”

Trin only nodded when Caris finally looked at her.

Luckily, they were able to explain the emergency to the innkeeper and didn’t have to pay for the brief visit. They were out the door and on the road within minutes.

“I’m so sorry, Trin.”

“Don’t you dare apologize. Jason thought something was after him at the pond, and now, with this...we need to get back.”

Caris drove in silence while Trin spent the next few hours lost in her own head. She was worried about Jason, of course, but suddenly she began to question why she felt invested in something that was happening with people she had only just met? She supposed it could be chalked up to the connection they felt through their magical energy, but Trin now wondered if she wouldn’t be better off distancing herself from the entire situation. Demons, magical curses, and phantom attacks weren’t something she needed to add to her plate.

Four hours later, resolved, Trin backpedaled and asked Caris to drop her off at her house first, making the excuse of wanting to give the two of them their privacy. Waving goodbye, she unlocked the door and exhaled a sigh of relief when she was safely within the confines of her own home.

Casting a finger at the fireplace, Trin moved to make herself a much needed drink. No tea tonight, whiskey was called for and very much appreciated once it flowed down her throat and warmed her belly. She slipped into a deep meditation, grounding and re-centering herself while she waited for Kit’s return.

“Tell me everything,” Caris snapped.

Jason sat on the couch, staring into the fire with a drink in his hand. “I’d just finished another seeking spell and was returning to the house when a thick, black fog crept out from the edge of the woods.” Jason shivered. “I could feel something evil writhing within it. By the time I’d cast my protection outward, it had me surrounded.”

“If it was fog, why couldn’t you simply brush past it and run into the house?”

Jason gave Caris an exasperated look. “Don’t you think I would have done that if I could? Didn’t you hear me say it was laced with evil? The damn thing turned solid and grabbed me around the throat.”

“Oh my god. Like, the whole thing was solid, like a person?”

“No, it was like part of the mist
became
a hand.”

Caris pulled her knees to her chest and hugged herself tight. “What did you do?”

“I was gasping for breath and fell to my knees. Luckily, I saw a piece of the tourmaline we’d used in our protection spell lying on the ground, so I grabbed it and stabbed it into the hand. A strange wailing sound filled the air, then the whole damn thing just disappeared.”

“My god.”

Jason nodded. “You were right...I think this means we’re finally close.”

“God, I hope so.”

IPSWICH, MASSACHUSETTS

1693

Karina began to kick and scream again, trying to fight her way free from the hands that gripped her. “Here! The devil’s mark.” Danforth spat. Without further ado, the small crowd of men loaded her onto a wagon, securing her hands and feet roughly with ropes.

Karina met Kenna’s eyes from behind her cloaked position and shook her head.
“Do nothing, little one. I will take care of this,”
Karina whispered into her mind as the wagon jerked. Karina closed her eyes as she cast the same warning to the absent Kara, “
Do nothing. I will be fine.”

Her insides were jostled and jumbled by the bumps in the road, so much so, that Karina found comfort in being removed from the wagon and thrown into jail where she would await her “trial.” She knew there was no escaping after Deputy Governor Danforth himself had witnessed her magic. She assumed he was hiding in the bushes when she blessed the contents of Mrs. Bishop’s basket, probably tipped off by the young Mrs. Putnam, whom she’d recently helped.

Karina shook her head. Assumptions weren’t going to help her, nor would anger or blame. She needed to figure out what to do and when would be the most prudent time to act.

Rats scampered over Karina’s feet as she tried to sleep on the cold stone floor, dragging pieces of water-soaked bread through the bars and back to their babies. She couldn’t fault them for taking care of their families, and after a night of contemplation, she’d be doing the same. She wouldn’t use her magic to break free or to alter the weak-minded prosecutor’s thoughts, no, she couldn’t risk the fall-out, knowing her sister’s would be the next pair on the pyre or hung from the nearest tree. She would stand at the stake and brave their
justice
, proud and free.

The metal door creaked open and in walked Jeremiah. This she had not counted on and it weakened her resolve. “Why did you come?”

“How could I not? I love you, Karina. So be it if I get caught using my magic to reach you. If you’re going to burn, I’ll burn with you.” Jeremiah enveloped her in his arms, holding her close as she sobbed into his chest. “We’ll figure a way out of this, I promise,” he swore.

“No, we won’t. Nothing I do will keep me from the stake. I’ve accepted it and so should you.’

“I can’t let them hurt you.” Jeremiah kissed her hair, pulling her tight.

“You don’t have a choice. But what I do need is your promise. Swear to me that you’ll always look after my sisters. Protect them when I’m gone.”

“I swear it.”

Karina placed a soft kiss on Jeremiah’s lips and pulled herself together. “They’ll be here soon, you must go.”

Jeremiah kissed his beloved again, looking back one last time as the metal door clanked shut just before he disappeared.

Ripped from the memory, Trin folded the sheets and placed the hot stones back in their basin as her timer beeped. “That concludes our session, Ms. Thompson, I’ll meet you outside with some water when you’re ready.”

Trin escorted her last client of the day out of the Wellness Center then quickly tidied her room, anxious to get home. Kit confirmed that she should be there no later than three o’clock and it was nearly two-thirty now. Trin had several practiced conversations already laid out in her head, hopeful that Kit’s reaction would be one of urgency. If there was a time they needed their full magic returned, it was now.

Caris had reported that Jason was recuperating just fine, and that they were setting more protections in place. She asked if Trin would like to join them in their castings, but fortunately she had to work and was able to kindly decline. The idea of working magic with anyone but Kit wasn’t sitting right with her. Maybe it was Lillian’s wild tale, or the fact that all her readings indicated there were influences present that couldn’t be trusted, but until Trin had a clearer understanding of what they were facing, she would follow her gut and hunker down at home.

Kit had the fire lit and two glasses of wine poured when Trin walked through the door. “Welcome home!” Kit joyously announced. “We’re celebrating.”

Trin laughed and picked up her glass from the table. “Celebrating what?”

“I sold three paintings this week. It was a huge commission.”

“Congratulations, Kit! I’m so proud of you.”

“Thanks. Now come sit and tell me what I missed.”

Trin set her glass on the coffee table, removed her coat and shoes, then snuggled into her favorite oversized chair. Ten minutes later, Trin had relayed all that transpired on her visit to Ipswich.

“That’s quite a story.” Kit sipped her wine.

“I know, right? I couldn’t do any soul searching while Caris was there, so I couldn’t verify if Lillian was truly from our time or not, but have you ever heard of anything like this during our other lives?”

“No. This is definitely a first.” The look on Kit’s face confirmed the news upset her as much as it had Trin.

“Do you think we should take a trip to Ipswich together and see what we can find out?”

“Possibly, but not yet. Let’s just continue to look for Kara, because whatever evil or demon that’s being cited, won’t stand a chance against the three of us once we’re reunited.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” Trin raised her glass then downed the rest of her wine.

“I’m beat from my trip, so how about we start in the morning?” Kit suggested.

“That’s perfectly fine with me. I’ll whip up something for dinner and then we can both hit the hay early. Clear minds and all. How about some chicken parm?”

“Sure. Sounds great.” Kit followed Trin into the kitchen and set her wine glass in the sink.

“Can you grab me the baking dish from down there?” Trin pointed to where she kept all the pans.

Kit opened the cabinet door and retrieved the dish, almost dropping it when its weight proved too heavy for only one hand.

“Whoa. You got it?” Trin asked.

“Yes. Here you go,” Kit awkwardly offered Trin the dish, balancing it against her stomach and pushing it onto the counter.

“What’s wrong with your other hand?” Trin asked, just now noticing Kit was nursing her left.

Kit cast Trin a weary look, then pulled her hand from beneath the sleeve of her sweater. The glamour Kit placed on it had disappeared with the pain, revealing a mass of black and blue. “I smashed it the gallery. I was helping to pack up the painting and caught myself with a hammer.”

“Oh my god, Kit! Why would you hide this from me?” Trin grabbed Kit’s injured hand and began to chant healing words in an effort to ease her pain.

“With everything that’s been going on, I didn’t want to worry you.”

Trin looked into Kit’s eyes and saw the unshed tears starting to build.

“Well, it’s not broken, but it is badly bruised and is obviously going to be super sore for a while.”

Kit slowly pulled out of Trin’s grasp. “Thanks. I’ll be fine.”

Trin’s skeptical glance had Kit raising her eyebrow in response. Whether it be in this life or their previous ones, Kenna had always been stubborn, a trait Trin appreciated but hated all the same.

“Wrap it up and put some salve on it before bed,” Trin instructed.

“I will. Now what else do you need help with?”

Trin shook her head and smiled. “Nothing. Just pour us another drink and have a seat. This will be ready in no time.”

Kit did as she was told, which meant her pain must be more than she was letting on. Trin continued to prepare their meal, enjoying her sister’s company as she did.

“So, tell me. What’s going on with the handsome Officer Hardy?” Kit asked.

“Nothing at the moment. He and Caris have been dealing with a few things of their own.”

“Like what?” Kit tossed an olive into her mouth.

“Nothing I want to discuss.” Trin winked. “He and Caris are great, but for some reason, I feel like I need to keep my distance for the time being. We’ll see how things play out.”

“But you like him, right?”

“Yes, Kit, I like him. But I’m in no rush to start a relationship, especially when we’re so close to finding Kara. The need to be with both my sisters is consuming me. We need our power back.”