Page 68 of The Book of Unwritten Stories

Sephy and Lenny had Lucine’s journal, her book of spells spread out on the table. They were searching for something – anything – to help Morana.

‘It’s no good, it’s not here. There isn’t anything that tells us how to deal with an inexperienced witch who has access to powers far too advanced for her.’ Sephy was using her finger to turn the pages without touching them.

‘Then we must make our own spell to protect her, guide her and help her at the same time. You know, we’ve never really needed this grimoire. We’ve managed without it all these lifetimes.’

‘Shh, Lenny, you will upset it. Yes, we have needed it. I could never have summoned Hecate to help Dora without it. She is very precious and valuable to us all.’ Sephy lovingly stroked the pages of the book. ‘But maybe this time we are going to have to come up with something appropriate ourselves; after all, we have never been in this situation before. I mean recently we’ve had some awful experiences with Dora, but she didn’t manage to kill people the way Morana has with just her thoughts. It is simply terrifying to think of the power she could harness if she chose. Which is why we need to help her, for the sake of all the people of Salem.’

‘Tosh, the people of Salem didn’t help us when we needed it. We should help her for our sakes and Dora’s. If she was to get annoyed with us, she may just wipe us out in the blink of an eye without even thinking about it. We did not get this far, let Dora fight that horrid man and survive, to get wiped out by Morana.’

‘What would Lucine say?’

‘I think our dear sister kept secrets from us she should not have. She clearly knew about Morana when she wrote the book and named her inside of it, it took us a lot of brainstorming last night to put everything together and come up with what we did. Lucine clearly knew John’s daughter’s name, yet not once did she think to mention her.’

Sephy shrugged. ‘We all have our secrets.’

‘Do we?’

‘You know we do, don’t act so saintly, Lenny, it doesn’t become you. Let’s focus on what matters now.’

‘Yes, not dying unexpectedly.’

Sephy snorted. ‘You have the worst sense of humour.’

She closed the book and whispered, ‘Thank thee, we will not be using you this time.’

Then she walked over to the huge, pitch pine dresser filled with so many glass jars that Lenny had given up counting them. Sephy picked out jars with dried lavender and rosemary for protection, angelica to shield Morana from evil spirits, rue to help block demons and curses, dill to strengthen their relationship with the woman and help them form a friendship with her; lastly, Sephy trailed her finger across the bottles looking for the missing ingredient. Her finger stopped on the jar of cloves, no better protection for the mind and body. Out of the baskets of raw crystals she liked to keep on hand, she plucked an amethyst, smoky quartz and black onyx to ground, protect and give Morana as much inner strength as possible. Placing them all on the table she smiled at Lenny.

‘What do you think? Are these enough?’

‘Looks good, I think so. Are we missing something extra though?’

Sephy clapped her hands together. ‘Where is that bird? I need a feather. He has been missing for some time now, but I didn’t see him follow the girls, did you?’

Lenny shook her head. ‘I haven’t seen him at all this morning. You have a jar of black feathers on the dresser.’

‘Yes, but they’re not as potent as if we take one of Hades’ from him. I would prefer one that is fresh and has not been kept in a jar festering for years.’

‘I’m not sure he’s going to agree with you but there you go. Didn’t Dora get some of his feathers when he got scorched that time?’

‘Yes, but I don’t know what she did with them. We really need to get to work with both of those girls once we get that book back off Clara. They are both very powerful and need to know how to harness their powers. We should not let them loose around town. It could be catastrophic if we don’t teach them the rules and basics.’

Lenny sighed. ‘Witch school 101.’

‘Yes, witch school 101. We should have done this with Dora immediately.’

‘Why? We let her explore, get to know Ambrose a lot better and live her life a little after defeating Corwin. We did the right thing. She deserved to have a little happiness. None of us knows what is around the next corner and we sure as hell did not foresee this.’

‘I know, she did, still…’

‘Right, what are you thinking for this concoction?’

‘Tea.’

Lenny rolled her eyes. ‘Tea, is that your best shot?’

‘Hear me out, we can make a tea, steep it with the crystals and get her to drink it. Then you can make a couple of pouches up and she can also carry one of those for protection to up its potency.’

‘But tea?’