Chapter 29 A Blueberry Affair #3
"We'll go get Jessica," Ursula said nodding to Bess. They left the library, pushing out of the dark inside into the dark outside, the fresh air a balm to the stifling energy trapped there.
While Ursula and Bess were on a mission, the rest of them walked back to the house, clear uncertainty swirling around them. The confusion, the hopelessness was living, an animal interrupting their circle.
Tilly replayed the images she'd seen when she touched Astra.
They were projections, snapshots from Astra's point of view.
She'd known immediately, like the memories had the same imprint of the energy Astra left behind.
She had started to notice that everyone had their own force field of energy, unique to them and packaged into a language Tilly understood as feeling.
Eloise felt like ease and ideas forumalting. Like you were sitting in a cozy coffee shop creating something and you felt that rush of playful genius.
Ursula felt like being steady and sure. That feeling of soft relief after years of struggle or pain, the kind of relief that reminds you how small but important you are.
Being around Jen, she realized, had been her favorite, and maybe she never could pinpoint it before or define it, but Jen's emotional aura made Tilly feel like she was exactly where she was supposed to be.
Strutting down the street with a fresh-baked cupcake in one hand, an iced coffee in the other and a book in your bag; that part of reading where you're exactly nineteen percent of the way through and got hooked on the first page-you're invested and still there's the excitement of much more to come.
That was Jen. Her best friend had hooked her from page one at that blueberry festival, and she'd swept Tilly along as if they weren't beginning anything, like Tilly had always been there.
The ease of being herself after such a traumatic end to part of her had been heart-saving.
Or like a confirmation that the first half of her life she hadn't been shown love the way she was meant to. And now she got to look for it.
And Astra left her feeling like the voices in her head were right.
That feeling of starting a friendship and the excitement souring to disappointment.
Her aura was a woman in her thirties looking around wondering when making friends had become so difficult.
It left behind a residue of lost hope and searching for meaning.
It truly was a surprisingly emotional thing about the woman who acted cold as ice.
But it was also all shadowed, like sunlight hadn't brushed against her in months.
Tilly shook her head. What had she seen and why was something niggling her brain?
"What do we do?" Kelsea asked. Her voice didn't carry.
No one could answer.
They walked through the dark house, the usual coziness sparse, a void-like feeling unfamiliar and unsettling.
Lights and candles that usually lit their way remained dark.
The rooms were filled with a stale air that gave the feeling of an ancient place undisturbed for too many years.
Shadows in the corners seemed thicker and more menacing.
Even the house was uncertain.
Hopeless.
They decided on sitting out back, where at least the garden could offer them reprieve from the lifelessness they felt.
Eloise was chewing her thumbnail when she looked nervously to Crystal who looked, for the first time, worried. Her face had lines, her eyes seemed older and the glow that her cheeks usually carried had dulled.
What was happening to them?
"Anyone have ideas?" Carol was sitting forward in her chair, her knee bouncing as she looked around the unlit fire pit. The cafe lights wouldn't light above them and the wood wouldn't take flame.
They were in darkness.
"We will," Jen looked uncertainly at the other women, hoping someone had a thought, an idea, a salvation.
"Dark magic," Tilly said, drawing all eyes to where she sat in her adirondack chair, her brows furrowed. "You said that The Covenant is the police for dark magic."
"Yes," Crystal replied with a slow shake of her head.
"Did Margaret ever use dark magic?"
Crytal's eyes flashed. "Once. When she bound my magic.
That can only be done by The Covenant and it requires mixing pure magic with dark magic to neutralize a witch's magic, holding it hostage and out of their reach.
The Covenant cannot use any other dark magic.
It's against the foundation of who they are.
The punishment used to be death, " she added with a shrug.
"Damn," Eloise whispered.
"This is getting pretty dystopian, right?" Carol whispered back.
"So dark magic is our key." Tilly looked around at unsure faces. "I have a feeling that since dark magic is the accusation, which none of us are using, there is a truth in there. Carmen Frederick came forward and admitted that Astra had handled the peach shortcake."
Awe and understanding ran through the circle of women.
"It's not worth it," Jen argued. She looked to Crystal for confirmation and when she nodded slowly, Jen looked back to Tilly who shook her head.
"No, not us. We need to talk to someone about dark magic."
"Okay," Jen said the word drawing it out as she tried to connect the dots of her friend's thoughts. "Why?"
"To know dark magic, you must know the origin of magic without bastardizing it," Crystal responded, her eyes thoughtful as she looked at Tilly, clearly picking up something in Tilly's mind.
Eloise nodded. "Keep going with your thought," she encouraged Tilly.
Tilly sat forward further. "If we talk with someone about the dark side of magic, then we can maybe better understand what we are up against."
"Knowing the way an enemy thinks," Carol added, nodding along. Tilly snapped her finger, pointing to what Carol had said.
"Okay, but we have Crystal. She knows more about magic than we do," Jen said.
"I've never handled dark magic." Crystal connected eyes with Tilly. "Like I said - death. You want to talk with someone who has wielded it."
"And wielded it well," Tilly replied, a new spark in her eyes.
It was Crystal's turn to sit forward in her chair. "And someone who has used it against us wouldn't hurt."
The words zipped around the circle until Eloise groaned. Tilly smiled. Jen sat back with a sigh, slumping in the chair.
"Are you suggesting we go talk with..." Kelsea paused, not wanting to invite the name into their circle.
But Tilly nodded, a settled feeling in her chest. She felt brave and big and like she could take the world on.
"Yeah, I'm suggesting that we go have a chat with Cassidy Parker."