Chapter 23 #3
Hand-in-hand, they left the room, grinning. The other witches erupted into cheers and applause. Victoria and Duke shared a knowing smile.
“You successfully completed your mission and restored peace to our community!” Duke announced to the group.
“The preloaded capture spell proved to be a powerful tool in our fight against the rogue sorceress,” Victoria said.
“I think we should all feel a sense of relief and accomplishment. But you did more than any of us, Duke. I was honestly afraid that at least one of us wouldn’t come out of this alive.
Why do you think the sorceress paid the price instead of one of us? ” she asked.
“Merlin was a powerful Druid. He and others like him were feared by those who didn’t understand their form of justice. As frightening as they might have appeared, they were committed to righting wrongs and keeping balance in the world.”
From the outside, it may have seemed like a simple capture of a rogue witch, but for Victoria, it was a reminder of the strength and unity of their coven, and the importance of using their powers for good.
“What should we do with this cabin?” Joell asked.
“I think we need to demolish it, just in case there’s residual magic that could harm curious kids,” Magda offered.
Rosa stepped forward and tapped Victoria on her shoulder. “You might find your precious 1920s dress in there.”
She leaned back and studied the dry cleaner. Seeing only sincerity in her eyes, she said, “What makes you say that?”
“Because I loaned it to her. She admired it, and I traded the amulet for it.”
“So, she didn’t just let you use the talisman as a thank you for finding it?”
“That too, but she saw the dress and asked to see it up close. That’s when she told me what the talisman could do, and she wanted to borrow the dress while I borrowed the talisman. It seemed like an equal trade—at the time.”
“Why didn’t you tell us that while you were under a truth spell?”
“You didn’t ask.”
Victoria rolled her eyes. “Well, I didn’t see any clothes in there; just pots and bottles of tinctures and potions.”
Meanwhile, Duke had been studying the runes around the doors and windows of the cabin. “Let me research the sigils and figure out if they are deactivated with the death of the one who cast them. Then we can demolish the place.”
Without warning, the crone that Victoria and Duke had met in the mountains of Tennessee appeared. “I can tell you that… It is safe to take it apart and bury the pieces in Mother Earth, asking her to purify any negative effects.”
“Who are you?” Sahara asked.
She smiled as she looked around at each witch in turn. “I’m Bas,” she finally said.
“Bas? As in our High Priestess? The one who went to Europe to train another coven?”
“The very same.”
“Why do you look so different?” Lioness asked.
“I didn’t want to interfere. I just wanted to see if you could cope without me.” She whirled in place, and her black robe turned green, her gray hair turned white, and her famous emerald eyes sparkled with pride.
“How did you know where we were?” Victoria asked.
“I know a lot of things… Like the Kaleidoscope plant I sent you to find in Central America would have replaced all the other incredibly rare plants you went after, to undo the body-switching spell.”
“WHAT?” Victoria screeched. She jammed her hands on her hips and leaned toward Bas. “You mean to tell me we had the one ingredient we needed all along? Don’t you dare tell me that I wouldn’t have believed you, unless I went on that wild goose chase. Who are you? Glinda?”
Bas smiled. “No, you would have believed me, and been glad of the shortcut, but you and Duke wouldn’t have spent that valuable time together and fallen in love.”
Victoria’s mouth dropped open, and she stared at Duke. He simply smiled, placed his hand on the back of her head, and captured her lips in a long-awaited kiss.
The other witches clapped, awwwed, and hooted. Brianna’s owl hooted with them from the treetops.
Rosa folded her arms. “Can somebody give me a lift back to my dry-cleaning store?” When nobody answered, she said, “Never mind. I’ll call my husband to come and get me.”
Victoria’s brows lifted in astonishment. “I thought you didn’t want him?”
Rosa shrugged. “I kind of miss him. He’s not perfect, but he’s good to me.
I don’t think I valued him until I was treated like a prisoner.
Thank you for not hanging me by my toes or cutting me in a hundred places, by the way.
” She let out a long sigh. “I just wish I could go back and make a different choice. He must be worried sick.”
“Maybe you can repair the damage,” Duke said. “If he’s a good man, and he loves you, he’ll forgive you. Just don’t take him for granted. Thank him for everything he does.”
“You’ll have to claim temporary insanity if you tell him anything that happened with us,” Lioness added.
Everyone laughed and agreed—even Rosa.
Victoria looked up at Duke, coquettishly. “Where’s the library?”
“Where do you want it to be?” he whispered back.
“All around us… for privacy.”
He grinned and nodded. “That can be arranged.”
End