Page 35 of Witch Please

Not even for love.

Maybe it was too soon even to be thinking of the L word, but her magic seemed to think that Titus Winnaker was her Waterloo, judging by the way it was fritzing. Danica exhaled in a shuddering breath as Priya kissed the top of her head and gave her a last squeeze. Kerry was less physically demonstrative than her partner, but she patted Danica’s arm as she settled on the other side.

“I hear you’re in crisis mode,” Kerry said.

Clem took the chair closest to Danica, setting the book in the center of the table. “I’m glad you’re both here. I’ve never seen her like this.”

Part of her feared opening the book. It was a gorgeous artifact, power glimmering from the dark-leather cover. Every other time when she’d checked, the pages had been blank. Supposedly, the first spells wouldn’t appear until she truly needed them. Today was likely that day. In her heart, she suspected she was facing the first major challenge of her life, and the course she charted going forward would decide…everything.

Whether she lived as a witch or mundane.

“What are you waiting for?” Priya asked. “We’re here. You know we’ll back you up.”

Taking a deep breath, Danica flipped the grimoire cover open, and it settled on the first page on its own. Magical energy crackled around her, a corona of light visible even to the naked eye. Across the table Kerry’s hair lifted, fanning out around her head. Priya took a seat on her other side, and the four joined hands. Without even speaking, they fell into a strong partnership, and the edges of their power slid together like interlocking puzzle pieces. Two vivimancers, two technomancers, a closed circuit.

The spellbook buzzed, a low rumble streaming from it. And on the formerly pristine page, shapes and sigils appeared: instructions on how to cast “The Right Path.” She had never seen anything quite like this spell; it would be a powerful working.

“It’s there,” she whispered.

Kerry leaned closer. “That’s odd. I don’t see anything.”

Baffled, Danica glanced at her cousin for confirmation. “Do you?”

Clem shook her head. “You’re the only one who can use this.”

Damn.She’d known that Gram was a powerful witch before the investiture of this grimoire, but this was some next-level shit. It took incredible skill to craft customized spells, intended only for one practitioner. Her heart ached over how much time her grandmother must have devoted to this. And guilt percolated through her over the way she tended to blow the old woman off, ignoring her messages for days at a time because she didn’t want to go on Bindr dates.

I’ll spend more time with her while she’s here for the summer.

“Uh-oh,” Priya said. “I know that look. We’ve got a four-alarm remorse conflagration. Someone call the fire department!”

“Very funny,” Danica muttered.

While she tried to center herself—because casting when she was emotional was almost as bad as doing it when she was drunk or hungover—Clem bustled around setting up the various implements for a working. Knife, candles, bowl of water. Her cousin paused to ask, “Do you need anything else? Special ingredients?”

Danica skimmed the spell again, then shook her head. “No, this seems to be mostly ritual gestures and verbal intonation, though I’ll need the candles and the knife to shape a few sigils.”

She read the words again.A spell to guide you onto the Right Path and eliminate detours.Titus certainly qualified as the latter, but…this wouldn’t hurt him, would it? While witches didn’t take a vow against harm, she never practiced malicious magic. Neither did Gram, so far as she knew, but her grandmother could also be a bit callous about the fate of mundanes.Look at how they’ve treated us,the old woman would say.Do you know how many witches they’ve drowned, hung, and burned? To say nothing of innocent mundane women who were only guilty of being a bit odd.If Gram started on the witch hunters, the rant could go on for days.

“Are you ready?” Priya asked.

While Danica was ruminating, Clem completed the prep work, down to the salt circle that should theoretically protect everyone. Inside, there were four white candles lit, one in front of each witch. Danica nodded and took up the knife. Here, a mundane would expect some blood to be spilled, but instead, she cut only the air, shaping the sigils according to the symbols listed in the spell—alchemical representations of fire, water, earth, and air. In her mind’s eye, she saw the lingering shapes, burned into the ether. Triangle for fire, inverted triangle for water. Triangle bisected by a line for air, inverted triangle bisected at the bottom for earth. Energy gathered within her, a comforting hum when she’d feared that she might be losing her power.

No, it’s still here. It’s not too late. I can fix this.

She focused her will and spoke the words. “By the powers of east and west…” Danica pointed her knife in each direction, offering respect to the witches who occupied each cardinal point. “North and south…” At the last, she angled the blade in her own direction, as she was anchoring one of the loci. “Aradia, I invoke your blessings. Please protect and guide me to the proper path.”

Danica’s magic flared, a wild and uncontrollable spike that knocked the candles in all directions; one slammed into the window, and the curtains caught fire.

***

Of all the damn luck, Titus got a call on what was supposed to be his day off.

But he’d become a volunteer firefighter to give back to the community, so he grabbed his gear and suited up. St. Claire didn’t have a large paid fire department, so smaller issues were often delegated to volunteers like him. So far, he’d never fought an actual fire. Usually, he dealt with minor medical situations like dog bites or bee stings and lockouts. Sometimes he literally rescued cats from trees or cleared debris from the highway after a crash. But the address dispatch had given him seemed oddly familiar…

When he turned down the tree-lined street, he realized he was headed for Danica’s house. He slammed his foot down on the gas pedal, suddenly scared to death, but the Leaf responded slowly. For the first time since he was a kid, he wished for a fast car, one that could rocket him down the block to make sure she was okay.

If it weren’t so dangerous, he’d already be texting or calling her.Why didn’t I connect to the car before setting out?As it was, he had to be patient and he barely kept his shit together long enough to grab everything out of his car. He’d done extensive training in his first year of service, and now he was even trained as an EMT. He feared what he might find when he ran up the walk to her porch. Smelling smoke, he pounded on the front door with both hands.

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