AllFreeNovel
Share Us
They all glance around at one another, waiting for someone to agree or deny the plan. This friendship has always been a democracy. There has always been room for everyone’s ideas and debate is welcome. They all agreed years ago that they were done being bullied and told what to do by anyone.
Ringing her trembling palms, Emily speaks first, “I don’t know… I feel like provoking him only makes things worse.”
Sam sighs, “Em, I hear you, but I think we know that letting him get away with shit doesn’t work out very well either.”
Emily nods in acknowledgment, “Touche. It’s just… What happened to you, Sam, after you confronted him is what got us as deep in this as we are.” She drops her head in shame, afraid to even make eye contact, “And then we almost lost Raven the next time we fought back.”
Raven comes to stand next to her friend and places a hand on Emily’s shoulder, “Thank you for thinking of all our safety, but I’m more afraid of losing Willow than anything he may try to do to me.”
“I just don’t want all of you to put yourselves at risk because of the mess I caused. Again. Maybe I can go on my own,” Emily offers
The rest of the group immediately calls out their disagreement in unison, “No way.”
Sam and Callie both wrap their arms around Emily and give her comfort.
Callie speaks earnestly, “This has never, not even for a second, been the fault of any of us.”
Sam adds, “He is the only one to blame in every facet of our fucked up lives. Him and only him.”
“We have spent our lives cleaning up his messes and we would never, ever let you face that alone. We’re all in this together,” Raven assures her.
Emily swallows hard and swipes at the tears leaking from her eyes as she enjoys the warmth of her friends’ love, “I guess… let’s do this then.”
“Hell yes!” Sam yells out as she pulls her chair up to the table, “What do we do, Raven?”
Raven pulls a large glass canister from the cabinet, “We start with this, at least.” She sprinkles a pinch of the contents into three mugs before then pouring coffee or tea into each. “This is a special little mixture of herbs that Willow and I came up with. It gives protection and healing. Drink up.”
The friends obey and try their best not to make a face, but Callie breaks first, “Great job and thank you, but this is the most disgusting thing I have ever tasted.”
“Sorry,” Raven says as she sprinkles her share directly on her tongue, “I guess it’s an acquired taste.”
Sam is in awe of Raven’s ability to down the herbs like it’s no big deal. She forces the rest of her own down with a cringe. With the bitterness still clinging to her tongue, she asks, “Now what?”
The women all stare at Raven as she takes a thoughtful glance around the room, “A fun game of what would Willow do?” She feels uncertainty and panic creep up her spine as she wrings her hands.
Callie speaks up, “Your gifts are different than Willow’s, but just as strong and just as important. Plus, you have all of us behind you. We can do this together.”
Raven stares at the expectant faces of the women surrounding her. She knows they need her and she can’t bare the thought of letting them down. She closes her eyes and begs the universe to give her the knowledge of all the Kearney women that came before her.
With a hard swallow, Raven goes to work, “Okay, first I want salt. Lots of salt. Em, there should be extra in the pantry. Grab as much as you can along with anything else that looks helpful. Let the items speak to you. Callie, can you grab the black candles from the top shelf in the hall closet. I think… grab my spirit board too. It should be on the top shelf too, wrapped in velvet. Sam, take these shears and cut some pieces from the sage growing in Willow’s bedroom. That gives us something that belongs to her to bind her to us and something protective, two for one. If you see anything else in there that speaks to you, grab that too. Just go with your gut.” With orders delegated, the others scatter to fulfill their missions as Raven hurries to her own task. Gently placing her mom’s books of spells and rituals on the table before her, she runs her hands reverently over the tattered edges before opening the book and speaking only to herself, “The spell we used last time clearly wasn’t enough if he’s back… something similar… it did work for almost a decade so that’s something… binding… but also banishing…”
Suddenly she stops, standing perfectly still and staring down at her mother’s carefully penned work. There is a page missing. Torn directly from the spine leaving nothing but a roughly torn edge is an entire page of her mother’s hard work just gone. Why? Her mother never tore out pages. If something was wrong with a spell, she would write an explanation for what went wrong and why it didn’t work, what to do differently next time. Seeing a page completely ripped out is like seeing a bird without wings. It just doesn’t happen.
Raven is so wrapped up in these thoughts that she doesn’t hear the kitchen door behind her open or the creaky threshold announce a visitor’s presence. It is only when the person speaks that she realizes she isn’t alone.
“I don’t know why it’s gone either.”
Raven spins around to see Willow standing before her, but Raven doesn’t race to embrace her. She merely stands and stares at the cloud of sickly green floating in around her.
There is a precise moment when Willow’s feelings of unease morph into a certainty of doom. Like a blow to the head, she suddenly feels shaken to her core and lost in a haze of dread. She gives up her search for her mother who is out and walks silently to the front porch swing. She sits quietly, waiting for the arrival of whatever is about to flip their worlds upside down. It doesn’t take long.
Within ten minutes, Sam’s truck slowly and cautiously pulls into the long dirt driveway. As it comes closer, Willow can see the wide-eyed stares of both Raven and Sam inside the cab. Raven is behind the wheel despite how much she hates to drive. She is only fifteen and doesn’t even have her permit yet. That alone is terrifying, but then Willow looks at Sam. She can see streaks of blood and swollen eyes making Sam’s face almost unrecognizable and gasps. As they come to a slow stop, they slowly climb down out of the old truck and Willow’s stomach plummets.
After a closer look at Sam without the obstruction of the windshield, the swelling around her petite face is devastating. Rising patches of purple spread across her entire face and blood is caked down her skin and clothes. A groan escapes Willow as she rushes to the truck, certain this must be the bad thing she felt coming. It has to be.
Throwing her arms around Sam before she knows what’s happening, Willow gushes, “Oh, sweet mother earth! Are you okay? What happened?! Was it him?”
Sam throws her hands up in protest but accepts the hug anyway, “It looks way worse than it actually is. I mean it’s not great, but still better than it looks. I’ll be okay. And, yes. It was him.”
