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"How can I help? Give me something to do," Dane insisted, his deep voice steady but urgent. His eyes scanned the room, taking in the counters lined with jars of mystical ingredients Juniper had collected for weeks. “We can’t possibly take all of this. TSA would never let us through.”
Juniper waved away his words, her resolve hardening. “I’m not worried about customs. It’s a simple sleight of hand that shifts a person’s perception. I can make them see whatever I want ontheir little computer screens and X-ray machines.”
He chuckled. “I like this cocky side of you.”
“I’m not being cocky. I’m confident. There’s a difference.”
“Yes, ma’am. What else?”
"I need some personal items of Adriel’s. Something with her DNA. Her hair brush. I might be able to use that to find Lilias and Lazarus.”
“That’ll work?”
She bit her lip as worry climbed into her throat. “I don’t know. But I’m confident we can try.”
Dane ran upstairs as Juniper set up the spell with practiced precision. Her strategy rested in the belief that anything was possible. She told Adriel to have faith, and that was the plan. As long as Juniper believed she could do this, the spirits and elements would all come together to assist her.
“I’m counting on you guys,” she whispered under her breath, praying they wouldn’t abandon her now. “How do you feel about airports?”
She tried not to panic when she felt nothing.
“Got it!” Dane yelled, returning to the kitchen with Adriel’s hairbrush in hand.
Needing all the help she could get, Juniper took the necessary tools out back. With chalk, she drew a large, intricate circle on the brick patio, inscribing ancient runes around its perimeter. At the center, she placed a map of the world,a lock of Adriel's hair, spelled ink made of berries and herbs, and a moonstone that shimmered with an ethereal light.
“Let’s hope this works,” she whispered as she knelt beside the circle, her hands hovering over the map.
Closing her eyes, she channeled the spirits and grounded into the earth. Her breathing slowed as she chanted in a language older than time itself. The air around them crackled with energy, the temperature dropping as the spell took hold, and the comforting sensation of phantom hands pressing power into her shoulders.
They were there, by her side, offering their assistance.Thank the goddess.
Juniper's voice grew louder, more insistent, as she poured her will into the incantation.
“Adriel, filia Lilias et Lazarus, revela mihi sanctuarium tuum progenitum…” Her voice resonated with power. The crystal casted an eerie glow outward. “By blood and by bond, ostende mihi ubi sint."
The map shifted, rotating slowly beneath her hands as if alive. She poured a puddle of ink onto the center. It spread into fingers, the lines morphing and twisting to converge on a single point.
Juniper's imagination blurred and sharpened as she was transported to another place, another time. She found herself in an ancient town. The vision was vivid, every detail etched in her mind with stunning clarity. She searched for carved signs etched in the granite walls.
It wasn’t the words that told her where she was. It was the letters. They were ancient and curved the way they often were over the American doorways of fraternities and sororities. But this was no college campus. This place was old. Very, very old.
“They’re in Greece!”
“Where?”
?ργος.“I don’t know. Everything’s written in the Greek alphabet.”
She closed her eyes, focusing on the foreign letters, regretting all the years wasted in Señor Jimenez’s Spanish class. The city’s name looked to start with an A, but she didn’t have a clue how to translate or pronounce the rest of the name into English.
Her mind pressed into the word, and she pulled from the support of the spirits, mentally requesting anyone of Greek descent come forward to help her. That was when the city’s name whispered through her mind.
Argos.
The city was a tapestry of history, its cobblestone streets winding through clusters of white-washed houses with terracotta roofs. Juniper's gaze was drawn to a secluded cottage on the outskirts of town, nestled among olive trees and vibrant blooms of the bougainvillea flower.
Ivy crawled up the walls, weaving in and out of the wrought iron balcony that overlooked the town. Lanterns hung in large, arched windows, spilling a warm, golden light from the shadows.The scent of salt from the nearby Aegean Sea mingled with the aroma of blooming jasmine, creating an intoxicating perfume that hung in the warm air.
Her body jerked as a woman with long auburn hair appeared. She carried a basket of linens. Her eyes were green as emeralds, and her skin as pale as a fresh lily bloom. There was no doubt in Juniper’s mind that this beauty was Lilias, Adriel’s mom. Their loveliness appeared almost identical, save the length of her hair and the fullness of her hips.
