Page 3 of In the Care of Magic

She attempted to brush through her long, red hair, but it was too knotted and looked like a bird’s nest. Jillian grimaced at the sight as she moved the mirror to open the cupboard behind it. All of her bath herbs, salts and powders were still there, perfectly intact and fresh. Something shining in the corner of her eyes caught her attention and her hand immediately grabbed it, content that she didn’t have to search around the house.

She closed the cupboard and brought the scissors to her hair, chopping without hesitation nor care for mistakes. It soon became evident that she didn’t have much experience, so after her first clumsy attempt, she charmed the scissors to cut away the strands into a straighter line, right under her chin. It was a big change, but the way the hair framed her round face actually looked pretty. Plus, this new cut made the black strand of hair—her strange birthmark—pop out even more.

Satisfied with the cut, she filled her bathtub and added salts to the water and a few dried rose petals to make it prettier. When she entered the comfortably large bathtub—which perfectly fit her plus size body and then some—all the strength from her body left, and she immediately relaxed at the feeling of the warm water. Jillian rested at first, leaning her head against the tub and closing her eyes to enjoy the peaceful moment. It had been way too long since the last time she hadn’t needed to do something in a hurry.

When Jillian nearly fell asleep again—the feeling of calmness and warmth way too tempting—she finally scrubbed all the dirt and accumulated stress off her body, taking her time with it. Then she meticulously washed her hair, disentangling the few remaining knots that were left.

She didn’t bother covering herself up when leaving the tub, cleaning after herself as she let her body and hair dry themselves naturally. She released a satisfied sigh when she looked back at the bathroom, spotless once more and now smelling of flowers.

Clean and with a lighter head—physically and metaphorically—she was ready to officially start her vacation. However, she didn’t really knowhowto relax by doing nothing. Instead, she decided to busy herself with cleaning the garden, working until her lower back hurt again. After all, one hot bath was not enough for her body to actually recover from years of stress and overwork.

She needed to remove the weeds, then turn the soil and water it in preparation for planting seeds she brought from town. With such a big and pretty garden at her disposal, how could she not take advantage of it and grow things for herself?

For a few days, that’s what the witch’s routine was like: regular, simple, and calm. She slept early and woke up mid-morning. Now that she didn’t have to wake up early every day, she let herself enjoy sleeping in. Her body still felt tired at the end of the day, but manual tasks mixed with relaxing time brought her joy. She spent her time taking care of the garden, cooking, cleaning the house, reading, and taking walks around the woods. Since the house was so far from civilization, Jillian had the pleasure of meeting a few deer—including their fawns—, as well as occasional squirrels and bunnies. She even met a pack of wolves, and brought them offerings to keep them friendly.

With a newfound desire to practice her cooking skills, Jillian headed to the library of her cottage to search for a cook book. Noticing the books scattered everywhere—even on the furniture under the windows—she decided to reorganize them. It was interesting to go through them, she had to admit. She had never opened some of these books before, and others she never knew existed in the first place. It felt like a treasure hunt.

She was cataloging the books when one caught her attention. Though it had the same dark brown leather cover, its embossed title made her stop and read twice.A Guide to Pleasure, the text said.

“Pleasure?” Jillian whispered to herself. “It can’t be what I think it is, can it?”

She opened it slowly, at a random page, almost scared to learn if she was right or wrong. But then her eyes landed on the explicit illustration, a group of naked people twisting into odd positions, inserting body parts into each other, and Jillian rushed to close the book.

“No, not reading that right now,” she quickly mumbled, body tensing up. “Nope.”

She shoved the book away and returned to cataloging the others, trying to forget about the explicit illustrations, but it felt as if the object had grown eyes of its own, looking straight at her despite its hidden position.

Forgetting the book for the rest of the day had been exhausting, but somehow she had managed busying herself and forcing her mind on other things at all times. Once Jillian went to bed that night, however, her brain gave up the task of ignoring the book’s existence.

Any time she closed her eyes, she saw the illustration. If she tried to imagine any other image in her head, her brain would immediately create another explicit image to pair it with. She thought about her garden, and then she’d imagine two figures: one of them pressed against a tree as the other thrust into them. She imagined the beach and the unruly waves of the sea, but then she saw a woman laying down on the rocks with her legs open, Jillian’s body only half out of the water as she went down on her.

Jillian tossed and turned in her bed, but no matter her efforts, she couldn’t stop thinking about sex.

With a frustrated groan, she opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling. It had been too long since she had been physical with another person and her job took up too much time to meet new people. It had been a while since she pleasured herself, too. Working so much had always left her exhausted, which had annihilated her libido almost completely as a result. She had been so exhausted that she hadn’t eventhoughtabout sex in so long.

But she wasn’t busy anymore, and thanks to her relaxing routine from the previous couple days, she felt rested and light. And now that something reminded her of sex, her body was awake again, actively reminding her that she had neglected her own pleasure for way too long.

THREE

the first night

In the end, curiosity got the best of her.

After hours of tossing and turning and groaning in frustration, Jillian left her bedroom in search of the book that started it all. Unburying it from its hiding spot, she sat on the library’s old sofa and stared at the cover for a few minutes, still deciding if it was a good idea to open it. She eventually gave in, opening to the first page.

She didn’t read it carefully, skimming through it to find out what kind of content it had, surprised to find out how detailed and informative it actually was. The guide began with a few chapters explaining the different body parts and their sensitive spots. Then it explained the various ways a person could touch or play with themselves to maximize pleasure. After that, the book continued by introducing shared sexual intimacy, and the different ways to explore someone else’s body. It explained the positive and negative sides of different positions and rhythms, of how sex with people with the same body parts as each other could differ from sex between people with different parts. And every piece of information was accompanied by illustrations, leavingnothingto the imagination. A part of her felt like she was intruding in someone else’s sex life, but she was also enjoying the information and, especially, the drawings. Even just skimming through the pages was making Jillian wet, her thighs pressing together in an attempt to calm her desire.

She stopped in surprise at the next page, having to read the chapter title twice to make sure she was not imagining it. Considering howhumanthe entire book had felt until now, she hadn’t expected to find magic in it. But in a way, it made sense. There had to be other reasons why it was found in a witch’s house.

The chapter that caught her attention was a guide to summoning sex demons. Apparently, they originally seduced humans to take advantage of them, but over time, they changed to simply replying to people calling for them, granting great pleasure to both the summoner and themselves. Sometimes they asked for favors in exchange, sometimes they simply did their job and then disappeared, but at least in the last few centuries the stories of bad experiences seemed to be rare.

Jillian read the instructions carefully, her interest piqued. If she tried to touch herself right now, it would surely help her feel better, but if there was a chance for her to feeleven better, should she just let it pass? It had been a very long time since someone else touched her, after all.

When her thighs subconsciously pressed together one more time, she knew her answer.

She swiftly left the library, book in her hand, and walked to the living room. The first step of the summoning spell required a big space, so she moved all the furniture to the side of the room.

Then, she read the list of ingredients carefully, thankful that it accepted variations depending on what one could find in their region. She scanned the shelves in her storage room, trying to look for the right ingredients. She collected someAncylobothrys Capensis— wild apricots— and ginger roots, then headed straight to the kitchen.

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