Page 72 of Love's a Witch
“You think we’ll be okay to try this… just us?” Nova asked, settling onto the floor in front of the coffee table. She’d stayed at home a lot this past week, aside from her morning runs, after learning about our father, and had spent much of her time drawing. It was Nova’s way of coping with her reactions, and her tattoo designs flourished whenever she was in a mood.
Lyra had baked to the point where I might just be winning over the curmudgeonly neighbor who gave me the two-fingered salute every morning. Granted, he still slammed the door when he saw me coming up the walk, but we’d left a container of treats at his door each day, and this morning I’d even found the empty container back at ours. It was a small step, but maybe, just maybe, we were starting to change a few people’s minds about our presence back in Briarhaven.
“I think it is worth giving it a go, just us, and we’ll see what’s what. I need to feel the magick of this spell. I’ll be able to get a better read on it if we follow it exactly or if the magick requires different needs now,” Broca said.
“Wait, why?” That was interesting. I felt like I was in preschool when it came to magick, our mother having refused to teach us anything of its history, with Broca filling in limited tutorials where she could. It was a large reason why I’d spent so long dismissing all things magickal, while Nova and Lyra had spent far more time delving into our magickal history.
“A spell or ritual that was suitable hundreds of years ago may not be the same now.” Broca smiled at me, her tone gentle, endlessly patient. “Think of it this way. As we learn and grow as people, our needs change. Our understanding of the world changes. For example, words that may have been used fifty or one hundred years ago, which were common vernacular then, are now understood to be slurs. So people stop using them, society adjusts, and collectively we move forward with a better understanding of how to coexist. The same goes for magick. We have technology now. We have quicker ways of doing things. There are some shortcuts we can use that help in our magick, while in other ways the original ritual is best. Witches can adapt to modern times, just like anyone else can. I’d like to just give this ritual a go, see if I can feel if something in particular needs tweaking, and if it does, we’ll call in the Charms and make it a bigger thing. Make sense?”
“Aye, it does at that.” I nibbled my lower lip as I thought about modern-day witches googling how to perform rituals.
Cheese?Blue bumped his head against mine, and my heart warmed. Having the ability to talk with him had strengthened our relationship significantly, even though a large part of our conversations were based around his deep and abiding love for cheese.
“In a bit, buddy. We’re going to do a ritual first.”
Won’t work.
“Why not?” I scratched behind his wings, a spot he struggled to reach with his paws, and his face went delirious with pleasure.
Need Vaila’s family.
“Who is Vaila?”
The witch who cursed you.
My mouth dropped open. To my knowledge, this was the first we’d ever had a name for her, any record of her involvement having been destroyed long ago, or so my mother had told me. Until the people of Briarhaven had been able to make the village a stronghold for witches, long before Knox had made it a coveted destination, there had been a lot of witch hunts and burning of homes.
Which also included books, records, and magickal tools.
Even having a name was a start. This could seriously help us in our search for a way to break the curse. I wasn’t sure why I hadn’t asked Blue more before, but now I leaned back on the cushions and studied my wee familiar.
He grinned up at me, his tongue lolling out.
“What else do you know about Vaila? Do you know her last name?”
I quickly told the others what Blue had said, and Broca leaned forward, excitement in her eyes, while Nova and Lyra crowded close around the coffee table.
No. Just that she had a broken heart. And her family can never love. Not truly.
“He says that Vaila had a broken heart and none of her bloodline can ever truly love someone.”
It’s part of the curse. She hurt others. Which means she hurt herself.
“How do you know this?” I asked Blue.
We get information on our witches before we pick them.
My heart warmed. He’d picked me. Me. It was quite an honor, and I pressed a kiss to his wee forehead.
Blue rolled in my lap and took off across the room, his wings flapping lazily as he lumbered toward the kitchen cabinets to see if any spare cheese had been left on the counter. I repeated what he’d said.
“I’ll get him a wee snack. For being such a good boy.”
The best emberwolf in all the land, Blue corrected from where he perched on the counter, snuffling in the sink.
“Does that mean we’re looking for someone who is single? Never married? How can her bloodline continue if she isn’t in love?” I wondered out loud, and Nova snorted.
“I hate to break this to you, Sloane, but science has proven that babies can be made without the presence of love.”
