Chapter Thirty-Six
We said our goodbyes on the main floor when the elevator stopped to let Jora off. “Tell your wife to enjoy the garden.” I smiled as he stepped off.
“Oh, I know she will. Thanks again.” Jora spun back and gave a tiny wave as the door shut. Then we were on our way to the penthouse.
“Oh, I’m nervous.” Wendy almost vibrated on the spot.
“Why?” I laughed as I juggled my garden to get my keys from my pocket. Wendy shook her head and took it from me.
“Give me this.” I tried to hold on to it, but she laughed. “You have your bags, the food, your garden and your bag. How are you going to grab your keys to open the door?” She chastised me like I was a fool. Toya, who was holding their garden, just smirked.
“Toya.” I laughed at her, but she just smiled bigger.
“Don’t look at me. She started to bully me a few months ago. You taught her how to fight, but the nice bullying she learned all on her own.”
We both laughed as Wendy interrupted us. “Hey, I’m not a bully.” She grumbled, making us laugh harder. “I’m being helpful.”
“That’s it.” I pointed to Wendy. I finally got my keys out of my bag.
“We need to get you a shirt that says I’m not being a bully, I’m being aggressively helpful.
” Toya laughed harder as Wendy turned bright red.
“Come on. We are just joking.” I stepped out of the elevator and opened my apartment door.
The two women filed in and put the gardens on the ground.
“Magic time?” Toya clapped her hands, but I shook my head.
“Let’s eat first. The food will probably grow cold before we get too far into the spell.”
I walked to the kitchen and dropped the bags. We each grabbed our food and went into the living room to eat. “What are we doing?” Wendy took a big bite of her burger.
“Yeah, what’s the plan?”
I hesitated. “I need to find out what is killing my wolves.” I bit into my sandwich and Toya nodded. But Wendy started to choke. Toya leaned over and patted her back.
“Come on.” She hit harder as Wendy kept choking, turning red. A hunk of meat flew out of her mouth as she gasped for a clear breath. “There you go.”
Wendy lifted her tear-streaked face up to meet my worried gaze. “Are you okay?” I handed her a few napkins.
She grabbed them to wipe her face. “Wolves?” She wiped her hands and sat back to stare at me. “Explain.”
I looked over at Toya, who lifted her hands. “She is my best friend, just like you, but I wasn’t going to share you secrets. That is your place, not mine.” I smiled, and she nodded.
“Wolves?” Wendy repeated the question, and I wanted to wince.
“I’m going to do this quickly, okay?” She nodded. “My dad’s line is descended from a powerful witch line and the first werewolf. My mother’s line is descended from the first Lycan’s line and the Goddess herself.” Wendy’s eyes widened and Toya choked on her drink.
“The goddess? You didn’t tell me that.” Toya used a napkin to mop up her drink she spat out.
“I just found out earlier.” I ate a fry. “She fell in love with one Lycan that came from her first creation.” I lifted my shoulder.
“Holy shit.” Wendy stood and started to pace. “So you have a Lycan and a wolf.” I just nodded.
“Exactly.”
“You will have two mates.” She whirled to me. “Won’t that be an issue?”
Toya snorted, but I cut a look at her. “No. My wolf’s mate is a tool bag, and we will be rejecting him as soon as we can.”
“You know who your mate is?”
I closed my eyes and nodded. “Megan, my wolf, her mate is Brandon.”
Wendy shrieked, “You have to be fucking kidding me!”
“I wish I was.” I finished my burger. “My witch lineage has an ability. One that gave me a second chance at life.” She dropped to her seat, dumbfounded.
“I really won’t get into it. Just know that I know Brandon is a horrible person, no matter how he likes to pretend.
Or how he ‘changes’, he will never redeem himself to me. ”
She nodded. “Good, I’ve had a lot of interactions over the years with Brandon and Vince.” She rubbed the lines on her forehead. “They are horrible people.”
I nodded. “I know. But we have a lot to do tonight, and we still have the second day of applications tomorrow.” I looked at the time and wanted to cry. “I don’t know how long this is even going to take. So let’s finish eating, and then get set up.”
“What do you need us to do?” Toya grabbed her trash and walked into the kitchen.
“I need you to keep me grounded in the here and now. I have to go for a spirit walk and I don’t know how to get back…yet.”
“What do you mean you don’t know how to get back yet?
” Toya dropped the metal bowl she came back into the room with.
She caught it before it smashed into my glass coffee table, but it was close.
“Holy goddess.” She put the bowl down softly on the table, then turned to me. “Speak.” She looked pissed.
I raised my hands in surrender. “The book…it tells me how to do certain things. But coming back to my body isn't there. It just said I needed an anchor.” I pointed to the two of them. “I have two.”
Wendy shook her head. “We are next to useless if you don’t know what you’re doing.”
I shrugged. “I have no other choice. I either break through the threat, or I die.” The room fell into a weighted silence.
Toya sat down next to Wendy with a sigh. “Tell us what we have to do.”
I nodded and went to get my book. I came back into the room and the two women were still sitting side by side, looking a little lost. “Okay, so here it is, a spirit walk. Follow the thread of connection and seek what you wish to find.” I read from the book.
“We need to push the table back from the couch. I need to be sitting up against something.” Wendy and Toya stood, pushing the table against the wall on the other side of the room, leaving me a big space to work.
I grabbed the bowl and put it on the floor in front of where I would be sitting.
“Okay, what’s next?” The two came up next to me.
“I need three candles, one white to bring positive energy and healing, a black to expel negative energy and to banish the spell against me, and purple to increase my spirituality and intuition to separate from my body.”
I walked to my room and pulled out a box I had put together to have on hand so I could practise. I brought it out of the bedroom and Wendy and Toya dug into it, pulling out what I needed.
“What else?” Wendy dug through the box.
I looked at the book again on the list. “Angelica, belladonna, blessed thistle, feverfew for the box. And from the shopping bags we need basil, bay leaf. Thyme and the sea salt.” Toya went to the bags on the counter and within seconds I had everything I needed.
“Anything else?”
“Actually, in my kitchen drawer I have a barbeque lighter, and I need a bottle of distilled water from above the fridge.” I sat down and organized things in the order I needed to add them, and remember, I needed something to burn.
“Oh, Toya, can you run to my printer and grab some white paper? I need something that will burn.” She nodded and ran out of the room while I finished.
Wendy came back with the lighter and water. “Why water? Seems counter intuitive.”
I laughed. “It is, but to seal the spell once I get back. I need untainted water.” She nodded as Toya came back with the paper.
“Walk us through whatever you're doing, so we know what to expect.”
I pulled the book into my lap. “I start off by lighting the candles and the paper in the bowl. I add in the sea salt first for earth, purification and grounding. Then I add in angelica for air, and to aid in my vision. Basil comes next, for fire and astral projection. Next is belladonna, and water for an extra boost in energy for my spell and protection.” The girls leaned in and we quickly went through the rest. “Blessed thistle for hex breaking, thyme for good luck, bay leaf for psychic powers, feverfew for protection and to boost my spirit.” They nodded.
“I have to focus on the fire and let it burn down but never out, so while I’m going you will need to feed the flames pieces of paper to keep the herbs going. ”
“Okay.” Wendy gave a thumbs up and I wanted to laugh.
“I’ll say the spell, and my spirit will be free to move where I need it to.”
“And where do you need it to go?”
“I don’t really know. But the goddess told me to follow the power back to the caster and break the spell, or else my wolves weren’t going to make it much longer.”
“So this is just to find who is doing it?” Wendy grabbed the book and flipped through it. “How are you going to break it?”
“I don’t know yet. But if I can, I will give you a sign to add more thistle.”
“How is that going to help?”
“It helps break a hex and if I’m lucky, it will help.”
“And if it does, how will you come back?”
“I don’t know…” I looked at the two of them. “But that’s why I needed you guys.”
“What are we supposed to do?”
“I don’t know.” I lifted my shoulder. “But if I can find you in this life, then I’m sure I can find you in the spirit world.
” I gave them a sad smile. “I have only had my friend Cass in my life, and she is my soul sister. I knew as soon as we met, we were meant to. I need you guys to know that you two…I felt the same way about. As soon as you sat next to me in the cafeteria, I knew I met you for a reason. To be friends with you. We were connected as soon as you sat down and decided to be my friend. Connected in a way that is soul deep.” The two nodded.
“Our wolves work together.” Toya closed her eyes and when she opened them, her wolf was there. “You are my Luna.” I reeled back at that confession.
“I can’t be. You are a Luna in your own right.”
“And yet, if you asked, I would follow you into the wilds and never return.” Her wolf faded from her eyes and I could see the recognition in her eyes. “I agree with her.”
“As do I.” I looked to Wendy to find Wyn staring back at me. “You are my Luna, my Alpha, my friend.” Wyn faded away, leaving both of my friends staring at me and me floundering at what to say. “We know where we stand, Amy.”
“And I think we know what to do.” Toya sat on my left, and Wendy on my right. “You can start now. We will bring you back.”
I settled and pulled the metal bowl closer. “Okay.”
“Wait!” Wendy jumped up and ran to the kitchen, leaving the two of us confused. She came back with a plate, leaving me even more confused. “For the candles to sit on.” She offered it as she settled back down next to me.
“Okay…” I put the plate behind the bowl. Wendy took an extra candle from the box and lit it. She dropped a few drops of melted wax onto the plate and used it to secure the white, black, and purple candles in place.
“Now they won’t move, and won’t drip wax onto the floor.” She waved her hand and I wanted to smack myself.
“You think of everything Wendy.” Toya smiled wide at her and I could see a faint blush rise to her cheeks. Interesting.
But I turned my mind back to the matter on hand. “Okay. Let’s start.” I lit the other candles and used their flames to char some herbs. I ripped a few pieces of paper up and threw it into the bowl with the charred and burning herbs, lighting the pages. “Everything is in.”
“Are you ready?” I took a few cleansing breaths, taking in the smells of the herbs, and I thought of something. “Can you quickly grab me a small glass of water?”
Toya nodded and jumped up. She came back with the glass and I dumped some sea salt into it, and added about half the bottle of the distilled water. “What are you doing?”
I drank the salty water and shivered as my body tried to reject it.
“Sea salt helps to purify, so I figured why not drink a glass to help purify my body from everything.” I shrugged.
“It can’t hurt.” I added a few springs of herbs into the bowl and closed my eyes.
“Ifta nota wal spiritian flo sta bint tor fa shen.” I dropped the last thing into the bowl, a few leaves of basil, and opened my eyes.
“Agin tor kin thista dor.” I repeated the words three times and waited. And waited.
I looked around and realized nothing was happening. Something must have gone wrong. I shook my head and turned to Toya to find her staring at me. “It’s not working.” I stood up in a huff. I stepped over the altar and turned, hands on my hips. “I don’t know what I did wrong.”
But Toya and Wendy were still staring at me. My body was exactly where I left it. My hands were open on my knees and my eyes were closed. But I was in front of the bowl on the ground.
I did it. I had separated from my body, and now I was walking around as just my spirit.
“Focus on the task at hand, girlie.” I turned to find my grandmother sitting in my chair.
“Grandma.” I rushed over and she smiled. She stood and cupped my cheeks and for the first time, I could feel her. “I can feel you.” I launched myself into her arms, feeling her soul pressed against my own.
“Focus, or else you will lose your tie to the living.” She gave me a quick hug and pressed her lips to my forehead.
“Don’t let the spirit world call you too far from the path.
” She turned me back to my body. “Follow the power.” I stared at myself and realized there was a thin black chain that shot into my chest. “Save your wolves, or die.”