Page 4 of Elora and the Crow

Bren left the store with a wave to Charissa, and Elora joined her behind the counter. Charissa studied her for a moment before smoothing a strand of Elora’s hair down. “Go home, kiddo.”

Elora shook her head. “I still have a half hour left of my shift, and I wanted to finish the inventory for -”

“I’m your boss, and I’m telling you to go home,” Charissa said. “But before you do, I have something for you.” She reached under the counter and brought out a leather book. ‘Spells for Witches’ was embroidered in dull gold thread across the cover, and the leather was creased and worn and - Elora peered closer at it - yup, an animal had definitely chewed on the corner of it.

“Where did you get this?” Elora asked as Charissa flipped open the book to reveal pages as thin and fragile as butterfly wings.

“Never you mind where I got it,” Charissa said before carefully turning the pages. “Here, see this one?”

Elora studied the spell Charissa pointed to. Someone had scrawled the letters across the page with a shaky hand, and the ink was splotched, smudged, and nearly worn away in some parts.

“Holy shit, how old is this book?” Elora asked. “That looks like it was written with a quill for a pen.”

“It’s ancient, so it probably was,” Charissa said. “This spell will free Lilianna.”

“Seriously?” Elora leaned closer, reading the spell in her head.

She turned the page, reading the spell on the next page. It was a spell designed to trick a person into falling in love, and she stared at Charissa as anxiety thrummed in her veins. “Is this a dark magic book?”

“The WWC prohibits some of the spells,” Charissa hedged, “but the one you’re performing isn’t. Not technically, anyway.”

“What do you mean?” Elora asked.

“The less you know, the better,” Charissa said cryptically. “Look, I believe this spell is your only chance to free Lilianna. The longer she’s trapped as a crow, the harder it becomes to break the spell. You know that.”

Elora stared at the ancient spell book. She knew, which is why she’d spent so much time researching, studying, and casting different spells to free Lilianna.

“The time to free her is almost over. You can feel that, can you not?” Charissa said as her aura shifted and shimmered around her.

“Yes,” Elora said.

“If you want to save her, then you need to do this spell. The sooner, the better,” Charissa said.

“Maybe you should do it,” Elora said as she read over the spell again. “My magic isn’t strong enough.”

“It is,” Charissa said confidently. “Besides, the spell will work best for you because you’re closest to Lilianna. She loves you, Elora, and her feelings for you will affect the potency and strength of the spell.”

Charissa was right, but it didn’t stop the shiver of disquiet down Elora’s back when she ran her finger over the words written, and her magic sparked to life. It pulsed and throbbed, feeding off just the words on the page alone.

“It’s a dangerous spell.”

“It is,” Charissa said quietly.

Elora pulled her hand back and closed the book before turning to stare at Lilianna. The crow stared back unblinkingly, and Elora swallowed hard. “I have to try. She deserves to be free.”

CHAPTER2

Elora let herself into Cece’s big, ramshackle house. Cece and her mom and aunt had moved into the house shortly before Cece’s mother died when Cece was twelve. Even though the house was rickety, dilapidated, and basically crumbling around her, Elora doubted she’d ever convince Cece to sell it.

She grunted as she tried to close the front door. It tended to stick and not latch properly, and Lilianna made a disconcerting, almost human-sounding laugh when Elora finally just slammed her body against it to close it. She locked the door and left her bag and her shoes at the front door before wandering through the large foyer to the kitchen at the back of the house.

It was empty, and she frowned, cocking her head and listening. All she could hear was the rasp of Lilianna grooming her feathers as she clung to Elora’s shoulder. “Where is everyone, Lilipad?”

She could see her breath, and goosebumps had already formed on her skin. Heating the house cost a fortune, so Cece spent much of the winter wearing layers or, on particularly cold nights, sleeping on a mattress in the living room in front of the only working fireplace.

Lilianna cawed softly before grooming Elora’s hair. Elora returned to the foyer and started up the grand staircase. She walked down the hallway, some of her unease dissipating when she saw the light coming from Cece’s bedroom.

She stepped into the room, smiling when she was immediately thwacked in the face by the long tendrils of the spider plant on a wall shelf next to the door. She paused for a minute, surveying Cece’s room. She’d been in this room thousands of times but was always just the slightest bit gobsmacked by the sheer volume of plants.

---