Perigee Moon (34 page)

“I think I might be Bev. I think I might be.” With that I sprinted as fast as my legs would carry me until I was outside and cool morning air was slapping me across the face.

The forest was eerily quiet and a soft veil of white fog was hovering just over the bracken floor like a blanket. I eventually lost count of how many times I’d tripped over fallen trees or scraped my shins on rotted logs. Stupid fog. As if what I was about to do wasn’t hard enough. I didn’t really have a plan, but only because I didn’t know what to expect when I got there. If I got there. I prayed that Alex hadn’t had a chance to dismantle the spell. After what seemed like an eternity of thrusting myself through brambles and sticky branches I found the tree. It loomed over me and its spidery limbs curled out like fingers beckoning me forward. I could feel the power here. It vibrated up through the soles of my feet, leaving me strangely connected to the earth below. I suddenly felt very grounded and confident. The silver charm against my neck began to thrum with energy and I stepped forward. I spread my fingers across the symbol carved into the tree and closed my eyes. The words? Where were the words I needed? They came so naturally last time. I scrambled in my jacket and flipped open Rebecca’s book and found the spell. I could almost feel her whispering the words in my ear and, once I was confident I could get it right, I zipped it back into my coat and closed my eyes.

“Rowan?” Bevin’s shaky voice echoed through the forest, sounding farther away than it should have. “What’s happening? What are you doing?”

I spun around. Bevin’s hands were clasped to her chest. She hovered, wide eyed and frightened a few feet away.

“Go back Bev. Please.” I turned away and blocked her out, focusing on the task at hand.

I can do this. This magic is a part of me now. Focus on the power, on the way it runs through my veins.
I focused on the gentle rhythm of energy that was pulsing through me growing stronger by the second, and then as natural as taking a lung-full of air the words came.

“Mother of Earth, Goddess of great. Part the winds of time and fate.

We offer the fire, the salt, the power. Aid me on my quest this hour”.

The earth beneath me shifted, the air vibrated until it rippled like water, and I couldn’t breathe. The pain was incredible. I was glad I hadn’t thought about this part. I might have chickened out if I’d remembered it in this much detail. I centered myself around the ball of energy burning in my chest, and tried not to think about the way it felt as if I were being ripped apart cell by cell. Every fiber of my being screamed for me to run. That this was not natural. Not right in any way. I ignored the screams, but eventually I realized they were coming from my own mouth and not my subconscious. The world around me was blurring and turning black around the edges.

“No Rowan! You must stay conscious. Use your power. Your strength.”

The angry whisper brought me back with a cold snap and I shivered, feeling like the air around me had dropped thirty degrees.

“I have denied my fate, turned my back on the afterlife for three hundred years to guide you, to save my son. Do not fail me, daughter.”

The voice was familiar now. Rebecca. It had been her all along. Suddenly everything made sense and I felt like an idiot for not seeing it sooner.

“Rebecca help me. Please help me get through this.” I squeezed my eyes shut and pleaded, feeling the brittle bark beneath my hands take on a liquid feel. Then in an instant I was tumbling forward into nothingness. In that second nothing held meaning. Color, sound, texture, and touch. None of it existed as I disintegrated into a million particles only to be instantly fused back as a whole once I was through. With a shattering force I hit the earth. The world stopped spinning. The blades of grass beneath my balled up fist exploded with scent, making me dizzy. The smells were strong, the light so bright. Everything was too much.

God help me.
I thought as I struggled to sit up and form a coherent thought. The forest looked fuzzy around the edges. The tree tops covered me like an umbrella full of holes. Tiny beams of sunshine sifted through the branches and leaves, leaving the sparse grass around me spotted with light. Clumsily I looked over myself, taking inventory and making sure everything was where it should be. I half expected a leg to be attached where an arm was supposed be. Other than the fact that my entire body felt like one ginormous throbbing bruise, I felt okay. Well, as okay as you can feel after being ripped apart then thrown back together. My head throbbed and I was weak. I tried to remember the spell that Alex had done for my headache before, but came up blank. Then an arctic breeze whispered past my neck and I could feel icy fingers on my forehead. Then as quickly as it appeared, a gust of summer wind carried it away along with the throbbing ache that was in my head.

“Thank you,” I whispered to the wind. To Rebecca. Then I focused on the energy around me and forced it down into my limbs and climbed to my feet. My headache was gone, but my body was still throbbing. This wasn’t going to be an easy trip. At least the fog was gone here. In fact, here it was an entirely different time of day. The sun was filtering through the trees softly as it set behind the horizon. It would be dark soon. The thought didn’t comfort me so I trudged forward through the pain concentrating on my goal. My reason for living. Alex. Failing wasn’t an option.

Soon I came upon the large white house that resembled my own. Well, in reality I knew it would be the place I called home eventually, but now I needed to remember that this was not my home. If anything this place held nothing but danger for me. I took a deep breath and darted up to the porch, thankful that no one was on the road. I banged on the door until my fists were red and I was breathing hard. Finally Alex’s Aunt Marion answered, her crow-like face looking slightly amused as she motioned for me to enter.

“Now this is something,” she mused, circling me like a shark. I glanced around. The house was a wreck. And come to think of it, Marion was a wreck to. Her hair was falling out of her bun in stringy curls that were black tinged with grey. Dark circles shadowed her eyes. Alex had told me that this is what black magic would do to people. Drain them of their life force. And that’s exactly how she looked now. Half dead. “I see you’ve realized the power that dwells within you,” she said, still circling. I could feel her probing, digging in my brain, an unwelcome intruder.

“Where is Alex?” I said.

“Oh, my dear foolish nephew.” She shook her head in mock disbelief. “I warned him of what would happen if he didn’t stop this foolishness. Of course he didn’t listen. But how could he when you bewitched him?” A sly smile uncoiled across her face, and the transformation it made reminded me of a snake shedding its skin. I shuddered.

“He loves me. Magic has nothing to do with it. Where is he?” I asked again, impatient now.

A hollow shrill sound escaped her mouth and I realized she was laughing. “Oh my dear, there is no help for our sweet Alex now. Tomorrow he’ll be hung at gallows hill just like his mother before him. They say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. In his case this is too true.” She stopped at the window and stared out into the oncoming darkness. I could tell she felt comfortable there, in the dark. She was cloaked in it. “It is a shame though. His power was quite intense. He could have been very useful in my coven, but he made his choice. I won’t apologize for his fate when I gave him a choice in it.” She turned to face me and my stomach churned as I realized what she was saying.

“You did this? You turned him in to be killed?”

“Yes.”

I couldn’t breathe. This wasn’t happening. Something in me started to burn. The light. Where was that stupid might when I needed it? “No. Th-there has to be trial. It can’t happen this fast.”

Marion
smiled. “Oh dear.” She tsked. “Let’s just say there are ways of expediting things. It wasn’t hard. People have been anxious to dispose of Rebecca’s son for some time.”

“How could you do that?” My control was all but gone. The power in my chest I’d been centering myself around suddenly split apart and exploded into the room. A glass bottle shattered on the table next to us, leaving a syrupy liquid dripping onto the floor, and Marion flinched back, her eyes wide with shock. I could feel the shock on my face as well. Had I just done that?

She tapped her long boney fingers against her chin, thinking. “Calm yourself dear. It’s quite simple really. Allied with me Alex could have been an asset. Against me he’s a threat, you see. His power is too strong to roam free.” She stopped, looking me over thoughtfully then added, “As is yours.”

My breath caught in my throat and I froze. She wanted something from me. That meant I had leverage.

“What do you want?”

She began pacing again, her long dark dress sweeping against the floor, painting patterns in the dust that had settled there. “I have plans for these small minded puritans. But to conjure that kind of magic I need power.” She flicked her eyes towards me like icy daggers and her emotions hit me like a freight train. Greed, darkness, hunger, evil. It swelled within her and spilled over in angry waves, crashing over me and nearly bringing me to my knees. “I need your kind of power. Alex’s kind of power. With it I can wipe out the lot of them. Teach them what it is to really fear a witch. In the end it will be they who are the hunted. Not us,” she said. Her gaze crawled over me. I was just an insect she was toying with, waiting for the perfect moment to squash. And I knew she could. With a flick of her wrist I could go up in flames. I didn’t know enough to stop her.

“Tell me where he is. Help me save him and I’ll do whatever you want,” I lied.

She scrutinized me for a moment and suspicion twirled around her like tendrils of smoke. She studied me, considering my offer.

“We don’t need her!” A lilting voice burst into the room and a young girl with blond spiral threads of hair cascading over her shoulders came around the corner. “Marion, we don’t need her. Let us free Alex and use him alone and leave this silly girl in his place,” she said.

“Who are you?” Part of me already knew, but I wanted to hear it from her mouth.

She smiled, but it didn’t warm her face. Instead it transformed her into a snake just like Marion. “Annabel.” She straightened her back and looked down on me. She was a good four inches taller and beautiful. My heart sank. This was the girl, no, the witch, that Alex was supposed to marry. I was nothing compared to her.

“And you must be Rowan. The stupid child that has stolen my Alex’s heart,” she said, then tilted her head back and laughed. “Don’t be fooled girl. You are no match for him. With me Alex will be doing something great. Joining two covens and releasing an unbridled amount of power that would change the world.” She flicked her wrist as if to swat me away like a fly. “With you he’d be wasting his gifts. His life. Death would be more tolerable than an existence with you.”

“And so it will be.” Marion smiled from behind her.

“No! You must have him released. You have the power to do so Marion. What of our union?” Annabel cried, gripping Marion’s arm. “You need us!”

Marion shook her off and glared at her. “No my dear. That’s where you’re mistaken. It seems I’ve found a far more suitable replacement. And with her, Alex will follow.”

“Impossible. She hasn’t a thimbles worth of power compared to mine, let alone my whole coven,” Annabel said, outraged.

“You think I need your consent to access your feeble powers? My, what a stupid girl you are Annabel.” Marion scoffed and pulled a silky rope from her pocket. Blonde hair braided with some sort of red twine. She ran her thumb along the braid’s grooves and flicked her hand in Annabel’s direction spouting a quick spell under her breath. Annabel immediately collapsed to the floor with a whimper. Her body was still, but her eyes were wide, twitching with fear and anger. I knew she wasn’t dead because I could feel the emotions seeping out of her like acid.

“What are you doing?” I asked, confused.

“It’s just a binding spell child. It will hold her until I have time to dispose of her for good,” Marion said with a cold boredom. “But time is of the essence Rowan if you are to bring Alex back.”

“So you’ll help me save Alex?” I asked, hopeful, desperately trying to ignore the helpless girl on the floor and focus on my mission.

She laughed again and the sound trickled through me, filling me with dread. “Don’t be a fool. You think I’d risk my own life for that boy. He is my sister’s son, not my own. No, you may take this journey on your own.” She tossed me a hooded cloak and I immediately slipped it on. Then she called someone’s name out the front door and shouted some instructions.

“My groundkeeper Nathaniel will take you by horse to Salem Village. Alex is there awaiting his sentence in the old Salem Jail. I warn you, it is a three-hour ride by horseback, but under the cloak of darkness you’ll have the best luck. If you retrieve him, which I haven’t much confidence that you will, you remember our bargain child. You bring him back here. You understand?” Her fingers gripped my wrist, her nails leaving crescent shaped indentions in my skin. I swallowed through the fear and nodded.