Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 48193 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 241(@200wpm)___ 193(@250wpm)___ 161(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 48193 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 241(@200wpm)___ 193(@250wpm)___ 161(@300wpm)
A crack of lightning sizzles through the air, scaring the breath out of me, and then the window goes dark. Rain pours down from the sky and beats on the roof. It is so loud, and so sudden, that I can’t hear my own heartbeat, though I can feel it banging in my chest.
Something’s gone horribly wrong.
I go to the window, blinking against the harsh wind and hoping the glass doesn’t break. I don’t dare cast a spell at it in case the power is amplified by the lightning. I find the edge of the window and press it shut, even as more raindrops fly into the cottage, catching in my hair and wetting my face.
I just manage to shut it before more rain comes down harsher. These droplets are much sharper, like hail, but that is not what worries me most. Punishing. A cleansing but punishing rain.
What has happened? I fear the worst: I’ve angered the magic.
What worries me most is that the sky is not only darkened from storm clouds. It’s dark as night outside. My eyes don’t want to believe what I’m seeing, but they must—there’s naught to see outside my window.
This must be something to do with magic, and powerful magic at that. There can be no other answer.
But there is no one in this land who is more powerful than I am.
There is not supposed to be anyone more powerful than I am.
The sky gets even darker, and a huge bolt of lightning flashes down from the sky, landing in the field with sparks that turn to flames and die away under the rain. That is what finally makes me act. I step back from the window and wave my hand. All the shutters close again. I send some extra power across them to make sure they are shut tight and bolted, then go hunting for a cloth to dry my face. Quite a bit of rain came through the open window.
I stand before the fire, letting it dry the damp places on my dress, and press my face into a cloth made by Elsma, who was the best seamstress in the coven before she died. If she were still alive, and still here, we would all be gathered at the fire right now, leaning close to speak into each other’s ears and trying to decide what the storm meant and who had made it happen and what could be done about it.
I try to breathe through the realization that I must do this alone. This isn’t even the time I miss them most. I miss my coven most on the longest days of summer, when the light seems like it will never end, and we could cast spells and sing songs and make each other laugh until we fell asleep under the open sky.
When the magic was playful, not like this.
Thunder booms and more lightning cracks down, and I can’t think of anything but the rain that must be soaking the ground and turning the dirt to mud. I can’t think of anything but the magic that is behind such a storm. Where did it come from? Who did this? Who would have reason to do this? Did I make a mistake?
I am the only one here. If they are hoping to scare me away or send me running to somewhere else…
That will not work. I have nowhere else to go.
Another thought occurs to me. Perhaps there is no one behind this, and it is only wild magic, and it may grow until it consumes all the land around me.
Or it may taper off, disappearing as quickly as it came.
I have no idea.
I look up at the ceiling while the rain comes down on me and pray to the moon for a sign.
Protection Spell
For the good of all and to the harm of none…
Burn sage, and with the ashes, mix into salt until black in color. Add to a mortar along with rosemary to focus your spell and chili flakes for a defensive measure. As you grind the ingredients state: I am divinely protected, divinely guided, and am untouchable.
Coat the black candle with olive oil and then sprinkle the black salt concoction to layer on the candle.
Light the candle with an obsidian stone near so the light may shine on it. As many stones as you wish to enchant. Allow the candle to burn to completion and then keep your obsidian stone by a draft in your home or by a window close to the front or back door. You may also keep the stone on your person for protective measures.
So mote it be.
RYKER
What in the fuck just happened? This is not a pitter patter, this is a battering. Confused and frustrated, rain falls around me as I try again and again. The heavy water drops pound in a punishing way. I need to get the hell out of here…but it’s not working. It’s as if the portal is broken; the magic no longer allows the portal to open.