Chapter 24
Alethea was in a state. The sad realization when she woke up that Brent wouldn’t be coming to the house today hit her harder than she expected. His job was complete, the window installation the very last of it. Her chest felt hollow. She’d never see him again. It didn’t matter, she supposed. She had bungled things with him so badly, there was no way he’d want to see her again, anyway.
The worst part of it was that if Alethea admitted the truth to herself, his suggestion had actually been hard to resist. The thought of living back in her old hometown didn’t freak her out the way it once had, and a life without late nights and weekends stuck behind her computer chasing deadlines was starting to have a strong appeal. She had been so driven over the last decade, so determined to succeed at work but why? Was she actually passionate about advertising campaigns for companies with gazillions of dollars already? She had never felt the way Priya did about cooking or Danica did about yoga, so why did she push herself so hard for something she wasn’t even passionate about in the first place?
After laying with the covers pulled over her head and continuing to feel sorry for herself for a few more minutes, she kicked off the sheets and forced herself out of bed. The locksmith would be here soon. This should have excited her more, the way she had been eagerly anticipating his arrival for days now, but all she could think about was Brent. She had acted like such a jerk. The whole time she had known him he had been doing one incredibly sweet gesture after another, and she had only snubbed his kindness. Who was acting like the entitled fool now? She wanted to text him, to explain and make things right between them, but what would be the point? Maybe it was better things never had a chance to get started between them. Given the chemistry she felt every time he was near, she suspected things might have gotten complicated fast. Better to have a clean exit.
She put on a pair of jeans and a dark gray tee shirt to match her mood. Looking around the small bedroom in the cottage, Alethea processed how much she was going to miss staying here. It was cozy and cheery, so unlike the bedroom in her old apartment in the city, and knowing that her mother had decorated it according to her own tastes gave Alethea some semblance of a connection to a woman she barely knew. In truth, the whole property attached her to her past.
She glanced at the twin bed, the covers all astray, Dandelion perched on top of the quilt that lay in a heap. “Okay Princess, you ready? Time to see what I can do.”
Dandelion’s ears went back and she wasted no time darting off the bed and out into the small living room.
“Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence.” Alethea drew in a deep breath. “Make up the bed!” She moved her hands about in what she hoped was a witch-like gesture, wiggling her fingers for added measure. Nothing happened. She closed her eyes and concentrated. “I wish the bed would make itself up!” She opened her eyes to find several pillowcases twisted up into knots but the bedding still strewn about.
Her shoulders slumped. She had zero clue what she was doing. Why had Brent had so much faith in her abilities? Her thoughts strayed back to his words last night, when he had been convinced that Alethea should try casting the spell. He had a point. It was an awfully strange coincidence that the Sturgeon Moon was tonight and she had just happened to find the spell in time. But was that necessarily a good thing? The spell clearly wasn’t meant for her, it was meant for some Traveler. Messing around with something she had no knowledge about was a scary prospect. She attempted to drive all thoughts about the spell from her mind. It was almost time for the locksmith to arrive and she needed to get over to the house.
Dandelion was exasperated.Why was Alethea bothering to waste her time with this locksmith human? She watched as he pulled out yet another tiny tool from a leather case, as if that would help. Alethea needed to stop dawdling and get this trunk opened. Time was of the essence! Dandelion had thought she had taken care of this already when she had worked for days to stage Operation Mouse Hole. She hadn”t anticipated it taking this much time for Alethea to get it done. She is only human, she reminded herself. It wasn’t her fault that she had limited faculties. Unlike a cat, she simply didn’t know any better.
Alethea wandered aimlesslyaround the house while she waited for the locksmith to work on the trunk, going from room to room to admire the finished product. The house really did look fantastic now. Priya had done an amazing job refreshing the furnishings and decorations, and the freshly polished wood floors gave the rooms a richness that was both stately and inviting. Alethea put her hand on one of the door frames and leaned her head against it. Thank you for a wonderful summer, Queenie. The smell of star anise filled the air and Alethea drew in the comforting scent. The smell of home.
As much as she did feel a tangible pull back to the city, Alethea was finally ready to admit to herself that she didn’t actually want to leave. As she had listed off to Brent the other day, there were so many things she loved about this town. So why did she rail so hard against those feelings? Always insisting that she didn’t belong here, that she was meant for city life. She thought about how she had pushed away her feelings for Brent. Why was she denying herself what she really wanted? Joannie’s words echoed in her mind. Maybe you’re just seeing what you want to see instead of what you need to see. She thought about that for a long while. Was the city actually calling to her or was she just running away from here? She didn’t know anymore.
“Sorry Miss, no luck. I can take the whole latch off no problem but not without risking some damage to the wood and maybe the hardware itself.” The locksmith’s voice boomed loudly against the quiet of the house as he jogged down the staircase.
“No, no, like I said, it’s important that nothing gets damaged.” She thanked him for his time and paid him in cash. He had certainly been very knowledgeable about antique trunks, so her hopes had been high, but sadly it was just another disappointment to add to the list. After she had shown him to the door, Alethea took a seat in her aunt’s favorite wingback chair in the parlor and thought about what to do with the rest of her day. She should be job hunting on her computer, but she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. Priya was busy packing and Danica was going through the zillions of photos they had taken, uploading the best ones to the Airbnb site. They’d be back on the road so soon.
The sound of a “ting, ting, ting” caught her ear and she went to investigate, walking towards the source of the sound. As she neared the stairs, she heard another noise of something small and metallic bouncing down the steps.
“Dandelion! What have you got?” Alethea looked up at the unapologetic feline sticking her head through the banister at the top of the stairs. At the bottom of the steps was a hair tie, a Werther’s Original candy wrapper, a single silver earring stud, and a still rolling painted wooden bead. “Where did you find all this trash?” She asked her cat, stooping down to pick up the trinkets.
“Thunk!” Alethea looked up to see Dandelion use her paw to smack something down the stairs, straight at her. This object was larger and definitely made of metal. Alethea caught the blue tassel with her hand and realized that she was holding the key from her nightstand in the cottage. “How on earth did you get this over here?” Shooing her impetuous cat from her roost at the top of the stairs, she finished picking up the junk, shaking her head and muttering to herself about the joys of being a cat owner. She stuck the key in her pocket and threw the rest in the garbage.
The key made her think back to the hidden room upstairs that she and Brent had discovered together. Before she left, she wanted to take another look around for what the key might unlock, and now was a perfect time. She grabbed a flashlight out of the kitchen drawer on her way to go investigate. Shining the wide beam all around the hallway and small sitting room, she felt the walls with her palm for a hidden switch or panel of any kind, but with no luck. Setting the key down on the writing surface, she looked over the secretary thoroughly, pulling out the other books and objects, but there were no hidden switches. She picked up Brent’s grandmother’s grimoire off the desk and opened it up. For some reason, the secretary had felt like the right place to keep the book. She flipped through the pages, ending up on the recipe for homemade sunscreen again. The hidden words jumped out immediately and coalesced, seeming even darker this time, like someone had gone over them with a black sharpie.
Brent had been certain Alethea should try the spell, but she had refused to let herself believe that she could possibly be cursed. Just like how she had refused to believe that she was a witch. Or how she refused to believe Brent could have feelings for her. She could try and ignore the truth as much as she wanted, but it didn’t change the reality of the situation. In the pit of her stomach, she knew Brent was right. Traveler or no traveler, she had to try performing the spell tonight at midnight. The thought of being outside under the full moon burning scary-sounding herbs in the fire pit, chanting into the darkness, made her stomach twist. Apparently this really was what witches did, it wasn’t just in the movies. Welcome to your new life, she thought wryly.
“Aunt Scarlet if you don’t call me back I’m donating all the Nora Roberts books to Goodwill.” There, that text should let her aunt know that she meant business. Now, it was off to the kitchen to rummage through the cabinets to see if wolfsbane and pennywort were amongst her aunt’s legendary spice collection. Alethea spent the rest of the afternoon gathering all of the tools and ingredients necessary for the ritual. Amazingly, she had managed to find everything she needed so far. She had been in disbelief as she pulled canisters and bags of all the most obscure herbs and spices from the highest cabinet. Alethea hadn’t even heard of most of these ingredients, never mind had expected to find them in her kitchen! A chef’s knife would do for the athame she hoped, after she googled what an athame was and found that it was basically a dagger. There were candles in the pantry and a pushbroom in the hall closet. She had been surprised that witches really did use brooms, as well.
She picked the sage, rosemary and lemon balm from the herb garden and added ginger to make a tea as instructed, sipping on the spicy concoction. Then she added crushed mint to a tub full of warm bathwater, being extra conscious of the temperature of the water this time around. She followed the procedures for the cleansing and protection aspects of the ritual, which were to be completed before starting the actual spell later that night. Brent’s grandmother had written out exactly which herbs to use, how she should spread them onto the bathwater in a clockwise motion, and what words to say to show her intentions. “May the power of Water, through this bath, cleanse me from all that is not for my greatest good. May the power of Mother Earth, through these herbs, protect me from all negative energies. An it harm none, so mote it be.”
She relaxed into the bath and refused to let herself give in to her anxieties. After what had happened last time, she planned on staying very aware of her emotions while she was in the tub. She began to clear her thoughts, which seemed easier to do now, and she focused on the protection ritual, imagining the herbs in the bathwater swirling around her, emitting a white light that formed a sort of shield made from moving threads of energy. Despite what she was going to be undertaking later tonight, she was able to remain calm.
How she wished she hadn’t blown it with Brent! He hadn’t known all that much about witchcraft really, but having someone to talk about it with had truly helped. Alethea didn’t know what she would’ve done if Brent hadn’t been brave enough to approach her about the strange things he had seen. Now, because of her stubborn foolishness, she’d have to navigate through this all alone. She felt her resolve harden. You make your bed, you lie in it. She still had an hour or two before dinner and plenty of time to do the rest of the preparations, so she decided to enjoy the soak in the tub a bit longer.
…
Sir Zachery watchedBrent pace back and forth in the small den through one open eye. Curled up in the perfect spot on the loveseat, he was exquisitely comfortable and had no intention of actually raising his head for a better look. He couldn’t remember ever seeing his human this agitated before. Brent hadn’t slept well the previous night, tossing and turning and muttering to himself, keeping them both awake. Sir Zachery tried to ignore the loud sound of his human’s pacing on the wood floor, hoping Brent would come to his senses soon. The woman he had fallen for belonged to Dandelion the Great, of all the cats in the world! Sir Zachery couldn’t believe his luck, that was until Brent’s current state of behavior had made him worried that his human had blown it with the woman.
Dandelion was a legend here, and all the cats in town had heard stories about her previous exploits. When she suddenly disappeared all those years back, it had become fodder for some of the most outrageous rumors Sir Zachery had ever heard. Now here she was, not only back in town but Sir Zachery had a direct connection to be able to meet her. He opened his other eye and lifted his chin just high enough to see Brent slumped on the couch, his head in his hands. That was, if his human could pull himself together. There was absolutely no way that Sir Zachery was going to let his human ruin his chance of meeting Dandelion!