Fake Dating a Witch

Chapter 24

SIRONA

The rest of the week goes by much too quickly. I”m swamped at work Thursday and Friday, then spend my evenings with Grant, getting in as much time together as we possibly can. We stay up far too late at night, talking, having sex, then talking some more.

Saturday arrives much too soon. We”re meeting Nana at dusk, in the clearing where we”ve held countless rituals. Which isn”t until after seven. As much as I want every last minute with Grant, it also feels like an eternity of time to fill.

After breakfast, we head to his cabin, where he”s barely spent time the past few weeks. Heart breaking, I help him pack everything he”s accumulated in the months he”s been here, and we load his SUV. Tyler comes by for lunch and I barely say a word as they fill the silence with their own stories.

After Tyler leaves, we sit on the porch with iced tea. Silence stretches out, a gulf between us.

”You want to go for a hike or something?”

”No,” I snap.

I close my eyes and take a moment to ground myself. When I open them, he”s watching me cautiously.

”I”m sorry. I shouldn”t have snapped at you. I”m just...”

”On edge?”

I nod.

”Me too.” He scrubs a hand over his beard. ”I hate this.”

I nod again. ”I understand why sunset is the best time to do the spell. I just wish we could do it now and get it over with.”

”Why is sunset better?”

I know he”s asking to have something to talk about, not because he necessarily cares about the intricacies of witchcraft. But I tell him anyway.

”Witches draw a lot of our power from the moon. And even if it”s visible during the day, it”s more powerful once the energy from the sun isn”t there to interfere.” I take a drink of my tea.

”So wouldn”t, like, midnight be better?”

”Usually it is. But tonight, this spell is going to require me to draw on some energy from the sun as well. Usually lunar energy is enough. We end up doing a lot of big rituals at midnight. But for this, I”ll need more.”

Every spare second I”ve had in the past week, I”ve gone over the spell Nana found. I have it nearly memorized, even though she”ll be doing the incanting. She”s been gathering supplies we”ll need, leaving me to learn what it will ask of me.

It”s going to be a lot. This is the most difficult, powerful spell I”ve ever performed. I”ll be lucky if I”m left with enough energy to have farewell sex with Grant after. It would probably be smart to do that now, but I”m not ready.

”Fair warning, this is going to take a lot out of me too.” And take even more from me. ”I... know that I want more than anything to make love to you tonight.”

He looks startled, eyebrows going up his forehead. ”But you might not be able to?”

I nod.

He reaches between the Adirondack chairs and takes my hand. Laces our fingers together. ”Whatever you need tonight, that”s fine. Of course I want to have sex too, but if you can”t, just being with you, holding you while you recover. That”s enough.”

My chest squeezes and dammit, I”m going to cry again. I clutch his hand like it”s the only thing tethering me to this world.

We end up watching another movie to kill time until dinner. We take our time, lingering over beers and telling stories from our childhoods to make each other laugh. There”s an unspoken agreement that we don”t want to talk about the future. Besides, we both really need to laugh.

Finally his phone beeps, alerting us that it”s time to head out. It”s a little too far from his cabin to walk, so we bike to my house, leave our bikes there, and take the path to the clearing.

Nana is already there, dressed in the dark robes she prefers for spellwork. She”s set up the stone altar with the supplies we”ll need, and used a braided rope to mark off a circle. A dozen white candles burn on the altar, casting flickering light across the clearing. There are also candles set at four points along the circle, one for each cardinal direction.

”Whoa,” Grant whispers as we approach.

I squeeze his hand. ”Yeah, real heavy-duty witchcraft.”

He”s used to the spell I”ve been doing for the pain in his hand, and of course he was there when the curse was broken. But those were nothing compared to what”s going to happen tonight.

Nana looks up from her preparations, where she”s been crushing dried herbs with a mortar and pestle. She”ll be doing the spell reading while I channel the energy, and I know she”ll be tossing the herbs, all ones known for their healing properties, into the air as she speaks.

”Oh, good.” She sets down the pestle. ”How are you feeling, Grant?”

He gives a nervous chuckle. ”I”m honestly not sure what to expect.”

We”re holding hands, and I squeeze his. ”It”s going to be intense. Like nothing you”ve ever experienced.” Hell, it”s going to be like nothing I”ve ever experienced either.

”You two sit there.” She points to the center of the circle.

We sit on the grass, cross-legged, our knees and feet touching. I take his injured hand in my own, running one palm over the back, feeling the scars and the swelling. Testing his energy, homing in on the injury.

”Sirona, you ready to get started?” Nana is standing on the east side of the circle, ready to call the corners and get started.

I look into Grant”s warm but wary brown eyes. My love for him jolts through me, the energy of it sizzling over my body. Energy I draw in and harness in my heart center.

Sadness flits at the edge of my consciousness, but I refuse to engage with it. I can”t. I don”t need that energy right now.

”Ready.” My voice is stronger and steadier than I feel inside.

Nana lights a stick of incense, calling in the element of air from the east, then sets it on the small tray she”s put on the ground there. The faint scent of chamomile blends with the other forest smells around us. She walks to the south side of the circle, lights the candle there, and calls in fire. On the west side of the circle, she holds up a small bowl of water as she calls in the element. Finally, on the north side, she sprinkles salt on the ground, bringing in the element of earth.

Circle cast, she picks up a sprig of lavender and a sprig of rosemary from the altar. She hands them to Grant. ”Hold these in your other hand.”

He takes them with a nod and wraps his left hand around the herbs.

Nana walks back to the altar, robes sweeping around her, and stands where she”s placed the open spellbook. Holding her hands to the sky, she tilts her head up.

I, too, look to the sky, though I don”t release Grant”s hand.

”Gods, goddesses, deities. We call upon you and ask for your assistance in completing this spell. Specifically, we call on you healing deities: Sirona, Brigid, Isis, Apollo, Aceso, Eir, Askitekōjin, and all others who can lend us your healing powers.”

She places her hands on the altar on either side of the old, leather-bound book with yellowing pages. With a nod to me, she starts speaking in Latin. Even though I went over the spell multiple times, my Latin isn”t good enough to translate in my head as she speaks. It”s one of the reasons Nana is doing the incanting. Also, this spell is too big for one person. I”ll supply the bulk of the energy, but I need some from her, too. And from Grant.

With a deep breath, I resume stroking Grant”s hand, my other hand pressed against his palm. I look into his eyes and, drawing strength from the love I feel for him, I begin to gather energy.

I pull from my deepest reserves. I pull from him. I pull from Nana. I pull from the air around me, the trees surrounding us, the earth beneath us. Any and everywhere I can find the smallest bit of energy, I take it. For a moment, it”s all stored in my heart center, filling me in a way I can”t describe. I feel edgy with power, like I might explode if I take in one more atom.

Closing my eyes, I focus everything I have on my hands. On channeling all that stored energy out through my hands and into Grant”s.

The transfer of energy is at once invigorating and painful. I want to leap up and dance around, and at the same time, I want to collapse in sobs.

I can feel my sacrifice, I can feel my love for him being sucked from me, like a barbed wire being drawn through my heart. Everything in me wants to stop this spell, stop this immense transfer of power, and throw myself into his arms. Beg him never to leave me.

Fortunately, my will and discipline are stronger than that urge.

Around us, the wind picks up, carrying Nana”s voice skyward. Her robes billow and her hair whips around her head. My own hair, tied back in a braid, is coming loose, obscuring my vision.

Grant is looking at me in shock and awe. I can almost read the disbelief in his thoughts.

He seems oblivious to the psychic pain I”m in, for which I”m grateful. He doesn”t ever need to know what this spell is costing me.

The energy around us takes shape outside us, a blue field surrounding us. It flows out from my chest, forming a bubble; the field then directs back into Grant”s hand.

I want to ask him if he can feel it, if it”s hurting him in any way. But with the sound of the wind, the crackle of the field around us, and Nana”s rising voice, I don”t think he”d hear me.

His gaze drops to his hand, and I look down too. Surrounded in blue light, his hand has started morphing. Under the surface of the skin, bones, muscles, ligaments, and tendons are rearranging themselves. The result looks like his hand is made of clay that someone is kneading into shape.

”Holy shit,” he says, loud enough I hear it over the noise surrounding us. He looks up at me, eyes wide in shock behind his glasses. He looks back to his hand, back to me, hand, me.

”You”re doing this?” he yells over the noise.

I can”t help a satisfied smile from curling my lips. ”Yep,” I say casually, like this is no big deal. Just tearing my soul from my body, no big. Everyday stuff.

The energy is still moving through me; I”m a conduit for all this magic, even as Nana”s words give it power. But it”s starting to die down. I can”t summon any more, and there”s not much left in me. Grant”s hand is still shifting.

Panic flutters in my throat. What if there”s not enough energy? What if I can”t do this for him? What if I fail him?

With renewed determination, I sit up straighter and use everything I have to drain my surroundings and myself of every last bit of magical power I can.

”I can feel my fingers.” Grant”s voice cuts through my worry.

I almost fall over with relief.

He”s moving his formerly numb fingers over my palm, back and forth, in a slow, soothing rhythm. I look down and the movement in the back of his hand has stilled. The swelling and scars are gone, the only contours now those of skin draped over bone. A match to his other hand.

Around us, the wind is calming. The blue field surrounding us slowly absorbs back into my hands, returning some of my energy to me. Grant is starting at me with so much wonder, it”s uncomfortable.

”You did it.”

I nod, suddenly exhausted. My small energy stores aren”t enough to sustain me at the moment. I need to lie down.

I practically fall over, instead of gracefully lying down, and my shoulder hits the grass with a jarring impact. I make a small noise, and Grant is immediately there, stretched out next to me. He uses the rosemary and lavender still in his hand to tickle my cheek.

”You”re amazing.”

I”m too tired to be modest. ”Thank you,” I whisper.

We”re silent for a moment, and after the previous cacophony, the gentle noises of a forest at night are eerily quiet. I can hear Nana moving around. She thanks the deities and opens the circle, then starts collecting her supplies.

Grant reaches out and trails his fingers, the ones that previously had no feeling, over my cheek. A gentle smile spreads over his face. ”I can feel you.”

I manage a weak smile. ”You can.”

”I—” His voice cracks and he clears his throat. ”I don”t know where to begin to thank you.”

With monstrous effort, I lift my hand to touch his face. His beard tickles my palm. ”You don”t have to. I know.”

We lie like that for a few more minutes, him stroking my cheek, me trying to gather some energy back into my body.

You have tonight. Then you must let him go.

The goddess Sirona”s voice in my head startles me. And the truth in her words, the finality, brings tears to my eyes.

Grant immediately frowns in concern. ”What”s wrong?”

I struggle to sit up. I”ve got a little more energy and flopping on the ground feels a little pathetic. Grant sits up too, faster than I can, and puts a hand on my shoulder to help me up.

”You OK?”

”Yeah,” I lie. ”Just exhaustion.”

And, you know, giving up the only person I”ve ever loved. Not that I didn”t know this was the reality of things. And I should probably be grateful the deities are allowing me this one last night with him, rather than demanding the sacrifice immediately.

But it still fucking sucks. And it hurts so much.

Nana pulls me out of my head by handing me a water bottle and a protein bar from Honey”s cafe. I scarf down the bar in embarrassingly fast fashion, and suck down gulp after gulp of water. Wordlessly, I hold out the bottle to Grant in offering. He shakes his head, so I finish it off.

I think I might even have the strength to stand. Hydration really does do wonders.

Oversized backpack on her back, Nana comes up to us. While it looks like a regular camping backpack, Nana had her magical supply bag made from special enchanted fabric. It keeps her tools protected and charged when she”s not using them.

Grant gets to his feet. I stay where I am, because even if I have the energy to stand, it probably won”t be for very long. And I don”t want to collapse on Grant. I”d rather conserve my energy for when we get back to my house.

”Do you need help getting home?” Grant asks. He starts to reach for Nana”s bag, then pulls his hand back.

She smiles. ”Thank you, but I”m good. I have my bike.” Like me, Nana has an electric tricycle with a nice big basket on the back. ”You just get our girl home and take good care of her tonight.”

I pretend not to hear the innuendo in Nana”s voice, because she”s my grandmother.

”Of course.”

She opens her arms and steps into Grant to hug him. He gives me a mildly surprised look over her shoulder as he hugs her back.

”You take care of yourself, Grant.”

”I will.”

She steps back, then disappears down the trail toward the house she shares with my mom.

Grant sits back down with me, immediately reaching out to touch my face. ”I can”t stop touching you. It... it feels so new. Even though it hasn”t even been a year since my accident.” He cups my cheek.

I put my hand over his and put as much seduction into my gaze as I can muster. ”Take me home, Grant?”

His eyes go lusty and hot as he stands, then scoops me into his arms. ”With pleasure.”