Double-Sided Witch (Covencraft Book 3) (5 page)

“Not always.”

“But if less is more, just think how much more ‘more’ will be,” Jade said, a faint joking tone in her voice - forced and slightly hollow.

“Are you having problems sleeping?”

Her shoulders slumped. “Sort of. I just… I thought… I hoped that I could cast some magic to help me just sleep more peacefully.”

“Are you restless or are you having nightmares?”

She stilled at his question and he immediately worried. He’d only been asking casually due to the nature of the spell, but her body went tense and she leaned slightly away from him.

“Maybe a little of both.”

Paris nodded. “I see. And have you tried this spell before?”

“No. I didn’t really think about trying something till this morning. But I don’t know. Maybe it’s a bad idea.”

Jade moved forward like she was going to start cleaning up the supplies.

“No, no,” he said, holding a hand out to stop her. “If you’re feeling… troubled at night, let’s try this spell together and see if it helps.”

She sagged a bit. “I tried it twice already, but it just… doesn’t feel like it’s working?” She fiddled with the salamander charm, running it back and forth along the chain like a nervous tick. “I mean, I normally get some kind of… ping?” Her eyes looked at him for confirmation and he nodded. He knew what she meant. When a spell worked, it aligned with a witch’s personal magic, and it felt like it ‘set’ in place. Jade continued. “But I haven’t got that. Or maybe it’s more like there’s a ping, but it’s not the right one.”

Paris nodded again. “Okay, give it a go with me here and I’ll see if I can figure out what’s wrong.”

It was Jade’s turn to nod and she took a deep breath, dropping her talisman back against her neck. It was slightly foolish of him, but he felt a little prideful that he always saw her wearing her talisman. He’d spent careful consideration on what he should chose for a charm for her, finally settling on a salamander. Not only was a salamander traditionally associated with fire, which Jade wielded well, it was also a symbol of courage and loyalty. Both were qualities he’d come to identify with Jade. He’d worried after he’d given it to her that she’d think it some strange trinket and put it in a drawer somewhere, never to be seen again. He’d yet to see her without it.

Jade picked up a white candle from her coffee table and lit it, placing it in a large candleholder that was adorned with a generous saucer to catch the wax drippings and hold the other ingredients. She took the mint oil and added a few drops to the saucer, then some salt, then a few of the cloves and then finally she crushed a cardamom pod and scooped the seeds out with her fingernail, flicking her fingertips three times to land them in the saucer. There were words for the spell, but she didn’t need to glance at the book Paris was holding. With her near perfect recall for printed matter, she’d only had to read the words once to have them well memorized.

Paris felt her magic coil about her, like an eager puppy waiting for its master to throw a ball. Despite what she’d said about it not working, when Jade finished the words and sent her magic out to the ingredients, Paris fully expected the spell to take hold. She’d done everything well; all her ingredients were of good quality and her magic was focused and even.

However, it was as though her magic glanced off the ingredients and shot off on an angle. There was a sort of resonance, as she’d indicated, but nothing like the spell should have given off.

Jade turned hopeful and expectant eyes on him. “Well?”

“I don’t know,” Paris admitted. “I thought it would work.”

“Ugh,” she moped. “This is such a bust.”

Paris looked down at the spell book again, reading over the ingredients and the words. He picked up each of her ingredients, checking the manufacturing dates and giving them all a little sniff to see if there was anything amiss. Jade had completed everything correctly, and it was a beginner level spell. She wasn’t reaching beyond her knowledge. Given her proficiency with everything else, this should have been a simple task for her.

Setting all the ingredients back down, he took one more deep inhale, trying to get the overall scent of the spell. As he did, he caught the scent of something else. Vanilla. He looked down at her table and found none.

“Do you have any other candles or that wick-less wax? The scented kind?”

“No, should I? I thought those were bad and they messed up spell work. I only buy the kind you suggested - the plain, natural ones. I think this one’s even organic.” Jade pointed at the candle in front of her.

“What about your perfume?”

She shook her head. “I’m not wearing any today. I can get the kind I use though, if you want to see it.”

“Does it have vanilla in it?”

Jade pursed her lips. “I don’t think so. Wait, let me google it.” She pulled her smart phone out and tapped quickly. “No. Currant, apple, jasmine, moss, oh, wait it says vanilla is an undertone.”

Paris shook his head. “I thought I smelled vanilla around the magic. Your perfume would likely have to be primarily vanilla for me to smell that, unless you spray it all around,” he said wryly.

“Not at the price I pay for it.”

He sniffed the air again, but this time couldn’t find the faint scent of vanilla.

Paris checked over the book again. As the head librarian, if Callie got a number of complaints about spells in a book not working, or being ‘bad’ or configured incorrectly, she would often make small notes inside the cover, warning the next person who checked the book out. Paris didn’t see any of Callie’s careful, and no doubt archival safe, markings.

“Let me see if I can cast it.”

Jade blew the candle out and handed it to him, unlit, with a soft cotton cloth for him to use to wipe it down to ‘rinse’ off any residual magic. She took the candelabra into the kitchen and he could hear her washing it, also ridding it of any lingering charm. By the time she came back with it, clean and dry, he had set the book open in front of him and had his ingredients ready. He took a calming breath and then worked the spell.

Right as he was saying the last words, he felt it. There was something pushing against his magic, testing it, checking it. But it didn’t feel malevolent. It felt inquisitive and cautious. He reached out his own magic to test it back and felt it scurry away - like a spooked deer in the forest. He finished the spell, feeling it ‘click’ into place.

Jade fell back against the sofa, discouraged. “I can tell that worked for you. What a bust. I must be doing it wrong.”

“Hmmm.” Paris said, leaning forward and blowing out the candle. He wasn’t sure that was the problem. What he’d sensed from the magic testing his was that, once it realized it wasn’t Jade working the spell, it backed off, content to let Paris cast the spell on himself.

Someone was keeping Jade from working the spell. Someone Paris must know - the brush of magic was familiar. He couldn’t quite place it, but he was positive he knew it. He was equally positive it knew him in return. Another mystery involving one of his Coven members and Jade. He schooled his expression into his best neutral Coven Leader face.

“Why don’t we try something else for tonight and what we can get to work?”

“Yeah, okay.” He could tell by her tone and expression that she was disappointed. She brightened up for a moment. “Oh, there was one in there for making your own runes. I’ve collected some rocks and gotten some stones. Maybe we could try that?”

He smiled. “That’s an excellent choice to add to your repertoire.”

“Okay, let me go grab my stuff.”

As she ran upstairs, Bruce, who’d been waiting outside in the foyer, sidled into the room coming to stand on his short, squat legs in front of Paris. He looked up at Paris expectantly, like he was waiting for something.

“Can I help you, Bruce?”

“Pfffft.” Bruce’s tongue flicked out and then he looked pointedly toward the kitchen.

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand.” Paris felt a little silly talking to Bruce, but he did seem to have some sort of intelligence, albeit an animal one.

Bruce made the ‘pffft’ sound again and tossed his head. This time his glare was more accusing. Paris was about to ask him another question when Jade came back in with some bags.

“Bruce, leave Paris alone. Go sit in front of the fireplace.” As she spoke, a fire lit up in the hearth. It appeared that although someone was blocking Jade from the dream spell, nothing was blocking her from casting fire. The flames lit up easily, and Paris sensed nothing amiss in the magic - the essence of Jade’s power was clear and strong.

Jade knelt on the ground and pushed all the previous spell casting materials off to one side before dumping out a bag of rocks and stones on the wooden coffee table with some indelible markers in varying colors and some spray sealant from the craft store. Paris picked up some of the rocks she had, rolling them over in his hands.

“These are quite nice,” he said, picking up a few more. “Where are they from?”

“Some are from the Preserve, some are just from around the Coven and some I already had. We’ve always liked rocks. Had a bit of a collection.” She was smiling as she spoke, setting out the rocks in a line on the table and pulling out the spell book that had the instructions for making the runes.

Paris rolled the stones in his hand. These ones must have been part of her collection. They had a strong sense of ‘Jade’ about them.

“Who’s ‘we?’”

Jade stilled, the smile fading from her face. “Oh, I don’t know why I said that. I meant me. I’ve always liked rocks.”

Paris nodded even though she didn’t look up at him to see him do it. “I see,” he said lowly. He was glad he’d taken the time to come over tonight. Between her wanting to cast a spell for her dreams, the spell not working and her words, it would appear that he should be spending more time with Jade. Something was amiss, he just wasn’t sure what.

Watching her now, she seemed like she was waiting for him to push her more on what she just said. She was fiddling with the rocks, shifting them in their line up needlessly, swapping their places. He put the stones he’d been holding down.

“All right, let’s see what instructions you’ve gathered for your rune making.”

He saw her shoulders relax and even though he knew he was only putting off the inevitable, he was glad that he could help her with this simple task tonight.

CHAPTER
THREE

With
the frequency of her nightmares and the failure of the dream spell, Jade knew she could expect a nightmare that night. It took a long time for her to fall asleep, a coil of dread settling in her stomach while she lay in bed. But, the body needed rest, whether the brain wanted it or not. Jade knew she would eventually fall asleep. She had no desire to try and push the limit of how long she could go without sleep. Like most former post secondary students, she’d already played that game. Eventually, sleep won. Paris stayed, helping her with her runes, until about nine. She’d laughed, watching him get indelible marker on his fingers. Then when he helped her take the rocks outside to set with the craft spray, he’d been like a child in an arts and crafts class - careful, but slightly awkward. Of course, he’d come back into his element when it was time to cast the protection spell on the runes - magical charms that would keep them from soaking up negative energy. Jade had no problems with those little spells and it had been both a relief and an annoyance. She was glad she could still cast new spells, but disappointed she couldn’t get the dream protection charm to work.

After Paris left, cleaning up from the rune making had taken time and Jade stayed up to put a load of laundry through the washer and into the dryer. She still hadn’t gone back to her apartment to get her things and doing laundry had to be a regular occurrence or she ran out of underwear and socks. She was dragging her heels about going back to her apartment. With everything that had happened since she came to the Coven, she just wasn’t sure if she was ready to sever that link to her old life.

Finally falling into a dream was almost a release - like hearing a second shoe fall, or the instant right after you’d been dreading a hiccup and you’d had it, before your body realized it meant you still had the spasmodic problem. The dream, like most of Jade’s recent dreams, involved the Preserve, or more specifically, the lake. Jade sometimes felt that when she thought of the lake, it should be capitalized. The Lake. She’d never liked water, never learned to swim. Lily knew how and had gone a few times. Jade made sure she was far, far away when that happened, retreating deeply into their shared mind. It was almost like sleeping. Almost.

But since Jade had gone to the Preserve with Paris and passed by the lake, she found herself dreaming of it more and more. Sometimes in her dream, she only walked by it - getting an ominous and looming feeling. Sometimes she got close, standing a few feet away. Sometimes, like today, if she were any closer, she feared she’d be in it.

Underwater.

Jade stood on the dock that jutted out from the shore. She’d never seen the lake in person. She and Paris had only started heading in the general direction of it before Jade had been overcome by a sick, heavy feeling, her upper lip breaking out in a cold sweat. She’d made him stop and they’d not returned. It wasn’t like she’d been avoiding the area. Paris had taken her into the Preserve to work on her magic and at one point, he had thought they could go to the lake to work on her water magic, which was dismal at best. Having been ‘distracted’ by stopping Dex, they hadn’t gone back. Jade admitted, she was dreading Paris bringing it up. She didn’t want to go back to the lake. But she wasn’t sure if she wanted to say it out loud and have Paris ask why. She made sure to have other spells and charms she wanted to work on when they got together.

But now, in her dreams, like many of them before, the lake was in front of her. The dock swayed and swung slightly beneath her feet and she kept her knees soft in order to move with it. In her dream it wasn’t winter, like it was now at the Coven - it was spring. The trees were bare, but if she squinted, she could make out small buds cropping up on the branches, tiny dots of green against the dark bark. A flock of birds poured out of a tree, their shapes black spots against the sky. Sparrows, though Jade wasn’t sure how she knew that. One of them swooped close and perched on her shoulder, as if she were some kind of fairytale maiden, lost in the woods.

Breathing in, the air had the smell of crisp promise that comes in the spring, different from the sharp cold that was winter.  But the water… the water would be cold, so cold. Jade doubted the lake ever truly got all that warm. It was too deep. She had a sense of its depth from where she stood on the dock. Peering down at the surface of the lake, she could imagine it stretching far below. The deeper it went, the colder it got. She could see her reflection in the water - wavy and jumbled - distorted by the uneven surface of the water. She looked closer. There was something wrong with her reflection. Something not right. She bent over, teetering on the dock. There was something over her shoulder. There was something behind her. No. Not something, someone.

Before she could shout or move, she felt hands at her shoulders and she was falling. The water so cold, she involuntarily gasped when she hit it. She choked on it, sputtering and resurfacing to get another breath. But there was a shape above her. Was it Lily? Jade could just barely make out long, dark, hair and only the impression of a face. Surrounding the face was a flock of birds. More sparrows.

Jade awoke with a start and then yelped, jumping a step backward as she found herself in her bathroom, standing in front of the mirror instead of safely tucked her bed. She’d woken up in the closet before but she’d never woken up anywhere other than the bedroom. She heard a loud thumping and turned just as Bruce came stampeding to the open doorway of the bathroom, hovering at the entrance. He looked around and spat three times. Not seeing any threats, he dropped his butt to the ground with a thunk. He was so long, he didn’t have much of a butt to speak of and his entire lower half slouched down when he sat.

Jade looked around, trying to figure out how she’d gotten to the bathroom. She must have walked in her sleep - something she hadn’t done for a long time. She looked at the mirror, taking in her too pale skin and the circles under her eyes. She looked sickly - like a vampire doomed to too long indoors.

One of her eyes flashed green for a split moment and her breath hitched. Apple green. The color of Lily’s eyes. It was there and then it was gone. She stumbled back with surprise, Bruce making a ‘pfffft’ sound. Slowly, she moved forward, closer to the glass. She reached a hand up, touching her fingertips lightly to the mirror, the surface cold and hard under her skin. She licked her lips nervously, afraid to speak.

“Are you there?”

The glass cracked under her hand, splitting the skin on two of her fingers. She yelped, pulling her hand back in surprise and pain.

Bruce stuck his tongue out. “Pfffffft”

Jade turned to look at him. He didn’t look overly concerned. Jade had seen him mad and angry before, certainly when Seth, the demon, made an appearance, but whatever was happening now, Bruce wasn’t upset about it. As she looked at him though, at his luminous eyes, she thought he did seem… concerned? He blinked at her twice and then turned his head, presenting his neck, where his dry patch of skin was. 

“Yeah? You’re hurt too, hey?” she said, hearing the shakiness in her voice and hating it. She was dripping blood into the sink, stark red patches against the white porcelain. Jade turned the faucet on and held her fingers under the water while she rummaged around the medicine cabinet with the other hand for bandages.

“We’ll be okay, buddy. Just flesh wounds.”

Jade bandaged her fingers quickly, having to use several bandages to cover the round shape of her fingertips. Finger wounds were the worst. She’d have to bring bandages with her to work and change them out over the day as they got dirty or wet. Wet bandages were gross - all clammy and cold against the skin.

She shivered and pretended it was just from the thought of dealing with dirty bandages all day long and not the lingering cold from the dream. As she worked on her hands, she could see her misshapen reflection in the broken mirror - doing the same things she was doing only in reverse. A strange doppelgänger.

Had the figure in her dream been Lily? Was she back? And if so, was she angry with Jade? Jade remembered the arguments they’d been having, right before Lily disappeared. Circular, circuitous, always whirling around the same topic.

Go away, you’re distracting me. It’s my turn.

I don’t have anywhere to go.

Just sleep. It’s time you slept.

You sleep. You haven’t slept in weeks.

Neither have you.

Bruce hit her leg with his tail, a solid ‘whap’ against her skin that jerked her out of her thoughts. She’d been standing there with the water still running, staring at blood on the white porcelain of the sink. Not a lot of blood. Not like before, when Lily left. She shut her eyes. This wasn’t the time to think about this. She looked up at the small clock on the wall of her bathroom.

“You’re right. I’m going to be late for work.” She left the bathroom, pulling the door shut behind her, hoping it would keep her from seeing the broken mirror with her distorted reflection.

#

Given
what he’d felt when Jade had been trying to cast her dream protection spell, Paris took it upon himself to cast some rudimentary protection runes over Jade’s cottage as he was leaving the previous night. They were simple ones his mother had used and Jade likely wouldn’t even notice them. He felt duplicitous in not telling Jade he was doing it, nor
why
he felt the need to. He felt as though he needed to gather more information first. Someone had stopped Jade from casting her dream spell, but hadn’t stopped her from doing any other magic that night. That same someone hadn’t stopped Paris from casting the dream spell on himself, although in the middle of Jade working on her runes, he’d gone to her kitchen under the pretense of cleaning up the spell items and tried to cast it for her and found it similarly blocked. Whoever it was, they didn’t want Jade to have a peaceful night’s sleep. That was eerily disturbing to Paris.

When Jade had first come to the Coven, Paris had been shocked to discover Matthew, one of their weaker witches, had entered a demon deal to try to steal Jade’s magic. After that, Paris learned about Dex and Veronica betraying not only their own Covens but Paris’ as well. Paris had always believed in the cardinal rule of witches: do what you will, though it harm none. Now, he was wondering how many witches truly followed that rule and if he was naive for ever assuming it was all witches everywhere.

Paris wondered if whoever was responsible for stopping Jade was also responsible for the magical disruption out at the Preserve.

Once at the Coven the next morning, he waited until he saw Jade’s icon on the internal link system light up indicating she was at her desk and online. He ran out quickly to the local coffee shop he knew she favored and ordered her a large latte - something he’d seen her order for herself once or twice. Once back at the Coven, he detoured from his office and headed toward Counter-Magic, spotting her at her desk, typing away on her keyboard.

As if sensing she was being watched, Jade looked over as he came. Her eyes immediately fixed on the two cups he was carrying.

“One of those better be for me.”

“Or?” he teased, handing her the larger of the cups. Jade sniffed it once and, happy with what she smelled, took a sip. She smiled, a blissful look on her face.

“Mmmm. Cafe Crema latte. They make the best ones.”

Paris took a sip of his tea latte and had to agree. It was rather good.

“To what do I owe this honor?” Jade asked, taking another drink of her latte. “Not that I’m complaining, mind you. If you want to stop by everyday with coffee, have at it. But… do you need something?”

He could see how it was completely suspect - it wasn’t as though he popped by regularly with coffee. Looking around, Paris could see Daniel in Josef’s office through the glass door, showing the older man something on the computer screen. Possibly reports on the Preserve area. Since no one else was close enough to Jade’s cubicle, Paris felt safe in asking a direct question.

“How did you sleep last night? Any bad dreams?”

Jade fiddled with the coffee sleeve, as though it were in the wrong position, twisting it around. “Sort of.”

Paris frowned. When Jade did too much magic, she would say she ‘had a headache’ - as though it were that simple, even though the overuse of her magic could cause her to bleed from the nose, or from the ears. He had a strong suspicion that Jade saying she had ‘sort of’ of bad dreams was akin to her replying that she’d had a troubled night. Watching her continue to fiddle with her coffee cup, he noticed bandages on two of her fingers.

“What happened there?”

She swallowed. “Oh, just… a minor accident. You know how it is.”

“No, I don’t,” Paris replied, not that easily put off. “Was that last night or this morning?”

“This morning. Curling iron. It happens. Price of beauty.”

Paris took in Jade’s ponytail - straight as usual. He wasn’t so certain she didn’t at least own a curling iron, but he was fairly certain if she
did
own one, she didn’t use it often. She lied so quickly and convincingly. If he hadn’t been looking for anything amiss, he likely wouldn’t have noticed. He wanted to press it, but didn’t think that the middle of Counter-Magic was the right time.

“If you want a healing spell to help your fingers along, let me know. My mother had a wonderful poultice for burns. I think Dr. Gellar uses it in medlab, actually. Keeps infection rates low.”