CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
After a week of no incidents, Nyssa was feeling almost confident in their upcoming ritual.
Not one hundred per cent confident – there was still that niggling voice in her head that liked to remind her she could fail her trial with the coven and be so distraught that the ritual ended up a total catastrophe – but far more so than she had been when Alaric had first brought her the druidic texts.
While some of it was to do with how successful her last protection spell had been, and Elowen’s triumph with the orb, Nyssa knew these weren’t the main reason.
No, the main reason were the three people currently sitting around the table by the fireplace.
Elowen. Liora. Alaric. Every evening since Nyssa and Elowen had returned from T? Canol (a journey which had felt significantly more high stakes with the orb buried at the bottom of Elowen’s satchel), the group had met at Teas and Tales, poring over the ritual and planning their individual roles until late into the night.
It was hard work, but Nyssa didn’t mind – especially since giving her undivided attention to the ritual was proving an effective distraction from her final test with her coven, which was now only a few days away.
As their only druid, Alaric had quickly taken on the role of ‘circle leader’, declaring himself the oldest (much to Liora’s amusement) and thus the most experienced (much to Liora’s annoyance).
His main role would be to lead the druidic circle, calling on the spirits to aid them while Nyssa focused on the spell itself.
Elowen would be in charge of activating the orb at the right moment, and Liora had written a melody to specifically enhance Nyssa and Alaric’s powers while simultaneously shielding them against Morven’s fog.
So far, their practice runs had been … interesting.
They couldn’t actually cast the circle until the full moon, and yet Alaric had been extremely insistent – almost too insistent – that they act as if it was the ‘real thing’ after Liora had begun to play a bawdy sailor’s song halfway through their first practice.
Thankfully (for the sake of both Nighthaven’s safety and Nyssa’s patience), the bard had been perfectly behaved ever since, playing her melody in a flawless run each time Alaric ordered she perform.
So flawlessly, in fact, that their last practice had been their best yet.
With their roles perfected, and just over a week until the full moon, there was only one thing left to do.
‘The woods are our best bet to find a site for the ritual.’ Nyssa had stuck to her silent vow of grounding herself in them after she and Elowen had returned to Nighthaven, and the rush of power she had felt surrounded by Nighthaven’s ancient woodland had given her the idea.
‘There are a few spots my grandma used to use to perform her more complicated rituals, places where ley lines cross, or where the earth is untainted. I just need to find the one with the strongest magical energy,’ Nyssa explained, wrapping her scarf tightly around her neck as she prepared to leave the comforting warmth of the café for the bite of cold evening wind.
Elowen got to her feet and reached for her own coat. ‘I’ll come with you.’
Nyssa replied with what she hoped was a casual ‘sure’, but from the look Liora and Alaric shared, it was anything but.
The bard had relentlessly questioned Nyssa about their time alone, and naturally, Liora had been deeply disappointed to find that they hadn’t recreated any of the scenes from Enchanted Thorns.
Nyssa had decided not to mention the kiss that they’d shared in the grove, though – that somehow felt too personal, like something Nyssa wanted to keep just for herself.
‘I think you two have this covered,’ the druid said, unable to hide his smirk. ‘Liora and I will stay here and work out any final kinks.’
Nyx, too, settled down on to a cushion with a slow blink that seemed to convey that she was on Alaric and Liora’s side. ‘Great.’ Nyssa ducked her chin into her scarf, her cheeks flaming as she tried to look anywhere but at Elowen. ‘We’ll … be back soon.’
She was already out of the door before Elowen had finished putting on her coat, and when the elf joined her a few seconds later, she gave Nyssa a smile that stopped her heart. ‘Ready?’
‘Ready.’
Nyssa started walking in the direction of the forest, keeping her pace slow enough to allow Elowen to fall into step beside her.
She’d left her broom at home today, needing the walk to and from town to clear her racing thoughts, and though she missed the chance to have Elowen behind her, her arms wrapped tightly around her waist, she was also grateful for the distance.
She still hadn’t told Elowen about having a confirmed date for her final test with The Coven of the Sacred Owl; she had wanted to, but after their kiss at the grove in T? Canol, finding a way to explain that she might be returning to her coven had felt impossible.
And even though now would be the perfect time to tell her, Nyssa found the words lodging in her throat when she saw how … happy the elf looked.
Nyssa didn’t want to ruin that. Not yet. Not if she didn’t have to.
And so instead, clearing her throat, Nyssa asked, ‘Do you think Liora will annoy Alaric to breaking point by the time we get back?’
Elowen chuckled. ‘I think it’s a good job Nyx stayed behind to chaperone. Deities know I needed the break.’
‘You must truly be fed up if you consider this a break.’ Nyssa gestured to the entrance of the woods that lay at the far end of the lake the cottage sat next to.
The forest itself wrapped around the entire south side of Nighthaven, and if one followed the winding path that wove from the grounds of Hawthorne Cottage through the woods, you would eventually come out near the town entrance.
It was a route Nyssa never chose, both because it took far longer than her usual one and because it held a far higher chance of being led astray by pixies if one didn’t keep their wits about them.
‘Well, if you forget the reason why we’re here, Nighthaven’s woods are rather peaceful. And the company isn’t so bad, either.’ Elowen gently nudged Nyssa’s shoulder with her own, and witches-dammit, Nyssa actually giggled.
Nyssa would have been embarrassed if it wasn’t for the pink tinge that her giggle brought to Elowen’s high cheekbones. If it made the elf look at her like that, with so much tenderness it made Nyssa’s heart feel like it was about to burst, then she’d giggle whenever Elowen asked it of her.
‘It is nice to be out here again,’ Nyssa replied. ‘I haven’t visited the centre of the forest since before my grandma passed.’
She’d walked on the forest outskirts to forage and ground herself, and she’d fallen into the grove near the cottage when they’d been attacked by that darn owl, but Nyssa hadn’t had a reason to venture too far inside.
Whenever she’d thought about it – whenever her feet had begun to lead her towards the forest centre – the worry that she might find the places in her memory devoid of the charm they’d held when her grandma had been alive had caused her to turn in the other direction.
Now that she was here, though, it was like no time had passed.
The trees in the forest proper were just as tall and vibrant as Nyssa remembered them, their leaves the same dusky oranges and mud-rich browns as the foliage in town.
It didn’t hold quite the same magical quality as T? Canol, but it was close.
‘It’s one of my favourite places in Nighthaven,’ admitted Elowen, tucking a strand of hair behind a pointed ear. ‘It reminds me of T? Canol.’
Nyssa thought of her old coven quarters, of the longing for quiet nights spent in the coven library or afternoons in the greenhouse, and couldn’t help but ask, ‘Do you ever think about going back? Permanently, I mean?’ Just as she had in T? Canol, Elowen looked so at home beneath the trees, her skin glowing, the green of her eyes more vibrant.
As if simply being here, surrounded by nature, was feeding the very core of who she was.
‘I used to. Especially whenever I came here.’ Elowen gestured around at the thickening trees.
‘I’d still like to make up with my parents, and maybe one day I will, but Nighthaven is my home now.
Everything I need is here, and … Elder Rhydian was right.
Just because my path differs from my clan doesn’t make me any less of an elf. ’
Nyssa wished she could feel the same certainty whenever she thought about the decision she’d have to make. Instead, her gut twisted, and she turned away from Elowen before the elf could ask Nyssa about her own plans.
‘There should be a spring up ahead.’ Nyssa was already walking in its direction.
Elowen’s footsteps followed a second later, the crunch of leaves and acorns beneath her feet echoing through the otherwise silent forest as Nyssa rambled on.
‘My grandma always used to say a selkie lived in it, and that its waters were potent for spell work. Could be a good place to check out for the ritual.’
‘I know the place.’ From the slight flatness to Elowen’s voice, it was clear the elf knew Nyssa had purposefully put some distance between them, and it took everything Nyssa had not to stop and tell her about the new trial date and how conflicted she felt about it all. It will only hurt her.
Shoving aside her guilt, Nyssa instead focused on recalling the route.
It had been over a decade since she’d walked it, and yet she remembered every turn in the trail, every tree stump her grandma would claim acted as a marker to a fairy ring.
It felt so familiar that Nyssa could almost feel her grandmother walking beside her, basket hooked over her arm and the scent of her magic lingering on the breeze.