I opened the pouch and tipped the contents into my hand. There were several dried leaves (agrimony, basil, and a third kind that I couldn’t name), two pieces of polished stone (tiger’s eye and hematite), and a small yellowed skull. The last object made me flinch and I nearly dropped the whole mess.
“Be careful, that’s very delicate.” Heather picked up the skull and cradled it in the palm of her hand.
“Is it real?” I couldn’t help but lean in to get a closer look. It looked mammalian—long with large eye sockets and pointed teeth at the front.
“Yes. It’s from a rat.” Her face softened. “He was a pet of mine when I was little. I had him for two years before he died.”
I frowned at the little bit of bone. “What’s it doing in this charm?” I held up the rest of the things in my hand. “What is all of this supposed to do? Did another witch make it for you?”
“My parents bought it for me.” Heather took the pouch back and put the skull inside. “It’s supposed to keep other kids from teasing me at school and help me make friends.”
I put the handful of leaves and stones into the pouch, too. “It seems kind of weird, carrying around a piece of your dead pet. What does that have to do with ghosts?”
“Well, if we had another charm like this one, it could make me look sort of friendly to the ghosts.” Heather tied the pouch closed and held it up. “Do you think that you could copy it?”
“I don’t use bones like that in my spells,” I said, recoiling from the skull.
But after a moment of thinking about it, I remembered the bracelet I was wearing had several beads of rose quartz. I slipped it off my wrist and broke the thread carefully, so nothing fell off, catching the loose beads in my pocket. Then I looked down at the ground and saw tiny blue flowers: forget-me-not. “These could work. Now, do you have something personal that you wear or carry around with you a lot—not already used in another charm?”
Heather handed me her key ring. “Will this work?”
“Sure.” Leaving two of the rose quartz beads on the thread that had been my bracelet, I tied them onto the key ring, then made another loop and knotted on a sprig of the flowers. What I ended up with wasn’t pretty, but it might work okay. “Alright, be quiet for a minute while I concentrate.”
I closed my eyes and focused on the key ring in my hands. I could feel the energy of the metal, the flowers, the stones—they all had natural properties for certain things. All I had to do was weave my magic around them to bring them together and encourage them to work in the way that I wanted. I’d never done something like this before, but I remembered how it felt when I made other charms in the past, and visualized what should happen this time: the ghosts would see Heather as a friend.
I opened my eyes again and handed the key ring back to her. “I guess we’ll see what that does. Go slow and try not to startle any of the ghosts on the way back.”
We went back the way we came, Heather a step behind me. Soon we were in front of the post office again.
A cold breeze told me that one of the spirits was close. I turned around to look at Heather and saw a ghost hovering just a few feet behind her. “Oh, wow, that was fast.” I pointed. “Turn around slowly.”
Heather turned in place and looked up at the ghost with a smile. “Hello.”
The ghost drifted even closer. I could see now that it was a woman, and when she smiled, she showed her teeth. “Hello there,” she said.
I saw a movement out of the corner of my eye and turned my head. There was another ghost coming down the street, also smiling. “There’s another one.”
Heather smiled and slowly lifted up her camera.
I put out my hand to warn her, but before I could stop her, the ghost smiled even wider and said, “Cheese!”
As I watched, more ghosts approached Heather and posed to have their pictures taken. They began to grow bolder, drifting even closer to her. I saw one reach out and brush her arm.
I took a step back in surprise. I’ve never seen a ghost try to touch a living thing before. I looked up at the sky—and then I saw a crowd of ghosts descending from the sky, far more than I knew lived in this town. They were being drawn here from somewhere else.
I tried not to panic, even though my heart was pounding and I was starting to have trouble breathing. “Heather.” It came out sounding like a squeak, so I cleared my throat and tried again. “Heather, I think the spell is too strong. We should go.”
Heather looked at me over her shoulder. By now she was completely surrounded by ghosts. “I don’t think I can leave. They don’t want to let me go.”
That was bad. I took a step toward her and three ghosts turned their heads to glare at me. I moved back quickly. “Heather, drop the key ring. No, wait—throw it as far away as you can.” I hoped that the ghosts would follow it.
Heather reached down into her pocket and pulled the key ring out. She raised her hand and threw it, hard. I watched it arc through the air and land inside one of the buildings, the old general store.
Some of the ghosts turned and watched the key ring, too, but none of them moved away from Heather. This was really bad.
More of them were reaching out to touch her, brushing their incorporeal hands over her skin. Heather shivered. “I’m very cold.”
“That’s because they’re draining your energy away.” I sidestepped around the crowd of ghosts, keeping my eyes on them the entire time, and inched my way towards the general store.
When I got to the store, I bent over. It was growing dark, and it was hard for me to see. Where was it? There was a pile of rubble on the floor, broken bricks and fallen leaves—I rummaged through it with one hand. No luck. I looked back at Heather; she was starting to look paler than I’d ever seen her before, and the ghosts swarmed so thickly around her that in some places I couldn’t even see through them. She was probably going to die soon if I didn’t do something.
I looked down one more time. There. I saw a glint of light. I reached out—there was the key ring. I held it up and looked at it. How could I break the spell? Did I try to undo what I’d done, or was there something special that I had to do to prevent the magic from going wrong? I tried to concentrate with my magic, and feel the key ring charm in my hands, but I was panicking and I couldn’t get a hold on it. I didn’t know what I could do.
I looked up. “Heather, I’m so sorry. I never thought this would happen.”
Heather gasped, but I couldn’t hear what she said.
As I sat there staring, holding onto the charm that had started all of this trouble, more ghosts started to come towards me. I felt an icy hand brush across the back of my neck. I looked up and saw the sheriff looking down at me with a smile. “Sheriff Baumann, please don’t do this.”
But he didn’t stop.
Then there was a flash of light. The ghosts flew away from me, away from Heather. I saw them swirling away into the woods. I turned my head to the source of the light.
At first, it was so bright in the dark evening that it blinded me. I held up my hand and squinted. Then the light dimmed, and I saw a tall, slender man with pointed ears walking toward me, his pale skin glowing.
He stood over me and smiled. “Hello, witchling.” He held out his hand. “Give me that nasty little thing you made.”
I stared at him in disbelief, but handed him the key ring charm. He squeezed his hand into a fist, and when he opened it again, there was only a little lump of twisted metal. Then he held out his hand again and helped me to my feet.
Only a Fae could use magic as easily as breathing, and this one was familiar to me. “Bob?” I managed to gasp out.
He was an old friend from the Faerie Court. I’d seen him at parties ever since I was a kid, and I trusted him more than almost anyone else. Three years ago, I swore an oath to him after I passed the test to become a witch, which made him my patron—the Fae who granted my powers. But I was surprised to see him, since I’d never seen a Fae outside of the Court before.
He
shook his head. “No, remember, you’re supposed to ask what my name is. I don’t feel like that name today.” He threw back his shoulders. “I think since I just rescued you and your friend, I deserve a more heroic name. Hercules, perhaps?”
His antics usually made me laugh, but right then I was still too shaken up to be amused. “I’ll call you whatever you want. I’m not sure what you’re doing here, but—thank you.”
Hercules wagged his finger at me. “You should know better than to mess with spells that influence other beings. They’re technically illegal.”
I nodded. “I know, I’m sorry.” I looked over at Heather, who was lying on the ground. “Will she be okay?”
“Yes, I think with a good night’s sleep, she’ll recover just fine. Her memory of this evening may be a little hazy.” Hercules clapped me on the shoulder. “You should take her home.”
I nodded. “Yeah.” I looked down at the ground. “I don’t think I could have gotten out of this without you. Thanks again.”
When I looked up, he was gone. I hurried over to shake Heather awake and take her home before any ghosts returned. We would have to have a long talk about what had happened.
When Heather was strong enough to sit up, I brought the broom over to her. I was able to help her stand up just enough to sit in front of me. I wanted to keep my arms around her, just in case she got light-headed and couldn’t keep her balance. Fortunately, Heather was even shorter than me, so I was able to see over and around her head enough that I could still watch where I was flying.
There were no detours or fly-overs of the town this time. I went directly to Heather’s home, flying as fast as I could manage while still holding her up. After a while, Heather’s strength started to come back, and she gripped the front of the broom herself.
It was after dark when I landed in her front yard. As always, the windows of her house were dark, but Heather reassured me that her parents would be home.
“I just don’t want to leave you completely by yourself,” I said. “I think with a good night’s sleep you’ll feel fine again, but someone else should be around to take you to the hospital if you get worse. You’ve already had one close call tonight.”
Heather nodded slowly. “My parents will be awake now, and they’re paranoid about my health. It’s going to be hard to keep them from asking questions. What happened? I must have blacked out.”
I looked down at my feet, trying to figure out how much to tell her. “Well, uh, the spell was broken and the ghosts flew off. I don’t know why it went all weird, though. It was like the ghosts were trying to suck the life out of you.”
“You must have made the spell too strong.”
“Yeah, I guess. I’m really sorry.” I looked up at her sheepishly.
Heather reached out and squeezed my hand. “It’s okay, I know it was an accident. You were just doing what I asked you to do.”
I shook my head. “I shouldn’t have tried to do a spell that I’ve never even heard about before. It was reckless, and you got hurt because of it. I promise that I won’t do something like that again.”
Heather stifled a yawn. “I think I need that sleep now.” She turned to go.
“Hey—” I stopped her before she went up the porch steps. “Are you still coming to that party with me tomorrow?”
Heather hesitated. “Are you sure that I should go? I know the Fae don’t really like vampires.”
I waved my hand dismissively. “Yeah, but that’s just your parents. You’re human. No one will have a problem with you.”
She bit her lower lip. “Those ghosts had a problem with me.”
“We’re never going back to that place again, so don’t even mention it. Seriously, don’t tell anyone, okay?” I doubted that anyone would believe what had happened, or that there were secret Unseelie using the town to exchange messages. I still didn’t believe that part myself.
Heather smiled. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep it a secret.” She looked at me. “Do you really want me to go to that party with you tomorrow?”
I nodded. “It’s bound to be fun.”
Heather’s smile widened. “Then I’ll go. Good night, Rosa.” She turned and went up to the porch.
“Good night! I’ll pick you up tomorrow around six-thirty.” I waved from my broom as she went into the house, and then flew home.
On Friday morning, despite it being a holiday, both of my parents went to work. Before Mom left, she came into my bedroom and woke me up.
“I have the day off from school,” I grumbled into my pillow. “Can’t I sleep in?”
“You’d better get a head start on your homework if you want to go to that party all weekend,” Mom said, pulling the blankets off of me. “It needs to get done before I get home this afternoon, because I need your help repairing that fence in the garden.”
I groaned and pulled the blankets over my head.
“I’m leaving now, Rosamunde. I won’t call you again.”
Eventually I managed to drag myself out of bed and headed downstairs. I found my sister already sitting at the kitchen table with her schoolbooks, but she was scowling at the wall without touching any of them.
I shuffled past her on the way to the refrigerator. “What’s that face for?”
“I got barely any assignments,” she whined. “I wish that I could have gotten extra credit work or something. I’ll have nothing to do all weekend while you’re off partying.”
I repressed a groan and tried to think of something helpful to say. “What about writing an article for the school paper?”
Akasha heaved a loud sigh. “Seventh graders don’t get to write anything. I check facts, or fetch coffee, or whatever other silly errands they need done.”
“Oh. That’s lame.” There was nothing interesting in the refrigerator, so I got cereal instead. I sat down at the table with a bowl of granola. “Why don’t you come to the party, at least for a few hours? You might have fun.”
She grimaced. “I never have fun. Mom never goes with us, even though she’s a witch. Nobody talks to me, I’m not good at any of the games, and last year I got lost.”
My sister was never going to forget about the Midsummer Solstice party when she fell down a rabbit hole into a strange tea party and got lost. We found her a day later, but she was still freaked out about the whole thing.
“That was just the one time,” I said, but I knew it sounded like a weak protest.
I couldn’t think of what else to say, so I tried ignoring her. I ate my granola in silence and put the bowl in the sink. I thought about procrastinating some more, but as much as I would love it, I didn’t know any spells that would make my homework magically complete itself. Might as well get it over with.
I went upstairs and grabbed my bag. It looked like I didn’t have a lot of assignments, so I could probably put a dent in them in the few hours before Mom got home. Whatever I didn’t get done on that day, I could finish on Sunday night after the party.
When I came back down, Akasha flinched and threw down her pen. She slammed a small book shut in front of her. Her schoolbooks were still untouched.
I sat down across from her. “What are you writing?”
She hid the book under the table. “None of your business.”
If she was hiding it, then it was probably a diary. Akasha had kept a diary before, on and off, but she usually only wrote when something was really bothering her. Case in point: when our grandmother died three years ago. We only saw her a few times a year for holidays, but she was a sweet woman and we loved her a lot, and we took it hard, especially Dad. For the year that she was in the hospital, and then for months after her death, Akasha filled up two or three different diaries while she was dealing with her sadness.
I didn’t understand it. I couldn’t write my feelings out literally as if I were doing an essay for school. I wrote poetry, mostly bad.
I looked at my sister, clutching her diary, and said, “Do you want to talk about it?”
She glared at m
e. “You’re never around for me to talk to anymore. I don’t see you at home and I don’t see you at school, even though it’s small.”
I rolled my eyes at her exaggeration. I tried to stay calm and logical. “Yeah, I’ve been busy the past few weeks, but you know how crazy things get when the school year starts. I’m sorry.”
“You don’t even try to make time for me. You make time for your friends.”
I struggled to keep my voice even. “I’m making time for you right now. What do you want to talk about?”
“Nothing!” She stood up and stomped out of the room. I heard her bedroom door slam shut.
I just managed not to keep from chasing after her and yelling back. She wouldn’t be a teenager for months, but she was starting to get the attitude down. It was hard not to be more than a little nostalgic for how close we’d been when we were kids and best friends, but we’d both grown up since then, and maybe grown apart.
That afternoon, Mom came home from her store early and called me out to help her in the garden. There was still a gaping hole where three of the posts had fallen, pulling the wire fence down along with them. Dad would be the one to help her fix it later this weekend. For now, I was going to help her re-cast the spell that went along with it.
I watched her closely as she brought out the array of tools for the spell. I took note of each of the plants that she handed me: blackberry, mint, nasturtium, and catnip. She also had a small bottle of essential oil for each of us and a little baggie of salt. When I sniffed the oil, it smelled grassy and lemony at the same time.
I held out the bottle. “What’s in this?”
“That’s citronella. Insects don’t like it.”
We went along the border where the fence would go; she went east and I went west. Every three steps, I stopped, knelt, and dug a small hole. I placed a bit of each plant into the hole, then a few drops of the oil, and finally a pinch of salt. I tried to visualize the animals being driven away from our yard. They would be able to find plenty of other food in the woods.