Shadows & Spells

KELLY

The late-autumn sun was glaring, hitting my face as I curled into the pillow. I peeked one eye open to check the bedside clock. Holy shit, it’s 11 a.m. I’d been asleep for almost thirteen hours.

Sitting up, I took a moment to assess how I felt. Surprisingly, I felt…better. The long sleep hadn’t made me feel worse, that was for sure.

So, this was day one. What did people do on day one?

Chad had been my first serious boyfriend, the only one I’d cared enough about to be upset over.

Looking for the silver lining, I thought about the positives. Less cleaning, cooking for one, more wine for me, more time to socialize, meeting new men, no more excuses to avoid exercise.

This was starting to sound depressing.

Something caught my eye, and I picked up my phone. A missed call and a text. From Aunt Francis. Oh boy, here we go.

I opened the text to see a storm of emojis and exclamation points, ending with a bunch of frantic face emojis.

Franny had finally mastered the art of texting like an emotional teenager.

I sat up in bed, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. This was going to require some serious caffeine. A mainline injection of coffee, to be exact.

After a quick trip to the corner coffee shop, I was back on my couch with a cold brew and a bagel.

I stared at my phone. I could put it off for an hour. But she’d know, and I needed a favor. Just get it over with, Kel.

Franny answered immediately.

“Do I need to kill him?” she asked calmly.

I couldn’t help but smile. Aunt Franny, always ready for a fight. “No, Franny, please don’t. How would I ever show off his replacement if he’s dead?” I joked.

She grunted, as if this was a perfectly reasonable explanation.

Dear Franny, my aunt and surrogate mother who’d taken me in after my parents died.

Too wealthy to be labeled crazy, she was the eccentric one of the two remaining sisters. Never married and happy about it, probably even more so now if she’d felt my pain last night and knew exactly what it was.

A thought crossed my mind. “You felt it from there?”

“Honey, I always feel you. I mean, when it’s something big.

“I’m not sure if I consciously keep tabs on you, or if maybe you get a little bit of your mother shining through when the tough times come.

“I remember the night before your final exams a few years ago. I couldn’t sleep a wink. It was like all your energy had just transferred itself into my blood!”

I was shocked. “You feel the big things? Like…how big?”

“Oh, calm down. I’m sure he wasn’t that ‘big.’ And there weren’t that many of them. I only get the jolt when the feelings are negative.

“You’re always so calm and gentle by nature. It’s just a shock to the system when you feel something different. I swear, only two or three times since you left the commune. But last night—whoa, huh?”

I let out a sigh.

“Yeah, it was…bad. I mean, as far as breakups go, okay, I guess. No public scenes, no throwing stuff, no violence.

“But man, it…it felt rough. I think I broke the bulb above me with some serious crying.”

She tsked me and said my name in a chiding tone.

“I know, I know, Franny, but cut me some slack this time, okay?” I paused, and there was a curious silence at the other end. “Franny?”

“Yessss?” she replied.

I could tell she was smiling. She knew what I was going to ask. Who was I kidding? Franny always knew everything before I did when she put her mind to it.

Even if she hadn’t had her own skill set, she could probably Sherlock this one to its conclusion.

“I did actually want to ask if I could stay with you over the winter break. I know I haven’t come back in the last two years, and if you’ve given my room away, I get it.

“It…it would just be nice to see everyone.”

“Darling, your room has been empty for some time now. It will always be the Grove room. So, yes, come on home. What dates are you here?”

I felt a wave of relief, and I grinned at my old name. “I’ve got another week and a half of classes, then I’ll be there for a month.”

She let out a short screech of excitement in a typical Franny squeal. “Right in time for the re-signing of the treaty!”

“The what?”

“Our ten-year re-signing of the treaty with the Blue Moon Weres.”

I was silent. The Weres from across the river would be there?

She continued, “I’m not surprised you don’t remember the last one.

“You were seventeen, and you were in and out of the commune at that time of the year ’cause you were dating that townie from your school.

“Anyway, it wasn’t made a big thing last time. It was literally a two-hour ceremony.

“But they’ve been under new leadership for the last few months, and since it’s winter solstice and the last moon of the year, it’s now more like a two-day party.”

My mouth fell open. “The Weres are coming onto our land? But…isn’t that what the treaty is for, to keep them off?”

She tsked. “Goddess, sometimes I regret sending you to that townie school instead of here. It’s for the division of land, but it’s also for the protection of both.

“It’s like the brains and brawn protecting each other.

“You know, they’ve got some old wards on their land that need a touch-up every so often. And every couple of years, we just need some good, strong hands. You get me?

“And they’re not too hard on the eyes,” she added with a wink.

“Franny, they’re werewolves. That’s borderline bestiality you’re suggesting,” I teased, trying to wrap my head around the idea.

“Nonsense, they’re men. They just take a little break from being human now and then.” She paused. “They’re really quite a sight, Kel.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. I had to admit, the Native American men I’d met were usually quite attractive, with their sharp features and fit bodies.

But I knew where Franny was going with this.

“Don’t even start. Bec already tried that about an hour after Chad left.”

“I always did like her.”

I was starting to feel drained. The thought of considering other men, let alone werewolves, was too much. How did people move on so quickly?

The idea of navigating through a sea of potential dates, each with their own stories and small talk, was overwhelming.

“Can you let Aunt Vonda and the cousins know I’ll be coming?”

“Absolutely. I’m sure they’ll have you working in the river forest in no time.”

I laughed genuinely for the first time. “I can’t wait. I miss the commune and the forest and my hikes. Seattle is just so…concrete. You know?”

“I do. I remember having to send search parties for you, even if you don’t.”

“Thanks, Franny. Really.”

“Don’t mention it, darling. Just let me know next week which bus you’ll be on, and I’ll send someone to pick you up.”

“Okay. Talk soon. Love you.” I listened to her hang up and stared at the screen.

A picture of Chad and me from last Halloween was my current home screen. I groaned in disgust and quickly changed it to a generic picture of a Washington forest.

It was going to take some time to erase him from my life. I looked around the apartment. He’d moved out but he was still everywhere.

There was a beer opener on the fridge; I never drank beer. A stack of horror movies sat next to my TV; I only ever wanted to watch comedies.

Little reminders of him were scattered all around, ensuring I was never truly alone in my thoughts but completely alone in reality.

I sighed and leaned my head back.

I might even bump into him on campus. How the fuck did people live in the same state as their ex, let alone the same town?

If I ever saw him again, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be the strong woman I prided myself on being, not the resilient descendant of a long line of earth-moving warrior witches.

No, I would probably become a cliché and break down, maybe even beg.

I couldn’t see Chad. Not even in passing. I needed this trip home more than I’d realized.

I might not have turned out to be everything the Hunter Valley Commune had hoped for, but I still needed it.

I might not have inherited any obvious magical abilities, aside from the occasional freak accident like the bulb, but it was still my home. They were my family and my sanctuary.

I smiled as I thought about my younger cousins and their antics around Granny, and how she would simply flick her fingers to give them a whip from across the room.

For the first time in twenty-four hours, I smiled genuinely.

I was going back to my coven.