Shadows & Spells

I sucked in a sharp breath, wincing as Clementine worked on a boil on my leg. She didn’t flinch, her grip steady on my calf, her eyes focused.

Behind her, Diana was pacing the room, mumbling to herself. Every now and then, she’d glance over Clementine’s shoulder, checking her progress.

“That…bitch!” she’d spit out, then go back to her pacing.

Halfway through, Clementine asked, “You didn’t hear her say the spell?”

I shook my head. “No, everyone else was laughing too loud when she did it.”

“I’m going to…to…argh!” Diana let out a frustrated cry, her hands clenched into fists as she stood by the window, the wind howling outside.

Clementine and I exchanged a knowing look and a small, grim smile.

Diana couldn’t do anything yet. Her own test was still two months away on her twelfth birthday, and it would take her a while to learn anything that could help me.

No, Diana was as helpless as I was when it came to dealing with the occasional bully. Except now, I was the one in the crosshairs.

Clementine clicked her tongue. “Don’t worry, Deedee. I’ll handle them.”

She looked at me. “But why didn’t you tell me about this before? Why am I only finding out now?”

I shrugged, counting the remaining boils.

Sarah Goode might have been sloppy, but she’d covered a lot of ground when she’d cast the pestilence spell on my ankle. The boils had spread over nearly half of it.

“After she failed me and they didn’t fight to have it overturned, I kind of thought it was normal, you know? Every place needs a scapegoat, and all I can do is the occasional flicker of…something.”

Clementine grunted, understanding who I was talking about, and focused more on her task than my words.

Emily walked into the room with a wet towel and a bowl of water.

“Is she gone?” I asked the oldest sister.

“Yep, about twenty minutes ago.” She gave me a comforting smile.

“Don’t worry; they didn’t notice. They were too busy talking about their upcoming vacation and the future alpha’s maturation ceremony across the river.”

I nodded. Good old Mom, always missing the little things that mattered. Why would her daughter be limping?

“It doesn’t matter. They would have gotten away with it anyway. It’s not like I can go to any of the meetings anymore.”

Emily knelt next to me on the floor. “Kel, this won’t happen again. I promise.

Diana stepped forward and hovered over us.

“And we don’t play nice.”

We all paused and looked up at Diana’s angry expression on her beautiful elfin face, and we all started laughing.

The wind blew a tree branch against the window, and we all looked over.

My youngest cousin went to check the sudden change in weather, as Clementine lanced the last boil, and Emily wiped it away.

“What…what is that?” Diana asked, turning back to Emily.

We heard the front door slam, then the family car started up and sped down the driveway.

Emily and Clementine frowned and went to the window. After a moment, Emily turned back to me with wide eyes and parted lips.

Not understanding, I shook my head and stood up, my ankle still throbbing, and limped to the window with the others.

In the sky beyond the nearby patch of forest was a bright-orange glow, and I frowned as well.

“That looks like a fire, right?” My eyes suddenly widened. It was a fire, a really big fire. In the direction of my house.

Forgetting my leg and the pain, I rushed for the door and ran out of the house, not bothering with shoes or a jacket, and plunged into the dark forest.

With the unerring aim from hundreds of traverses, I ran the trail connecting the families’ houses. My cousins raced behind me, their footfalls as loud as the blood rushing in my ears.

It was usually a twenty-minute walk or a ten-minute run between the houses.

The path was full of twigs and other detritus that usually littered the forest floor, and twice, I tripped over a protruding root.

Every time I crashed to the ground, pain shot through my body like electricity, pushing me off the ground, spurring me on to continue my race.

The orange glow grew brighter with each stride, the forest more illuminated with each second. My home was totally in flames.

Clementine yelled my name, demanding I slow. But she clearly didn’t understand. My parents were likely home, in that house.

The trees ended, and I broke through, stopping short. Blood drained and sank to my stomach.

I had never seen anything so terrifying. It wasn’t just on fire; it blazed. Flames licked high into the sky. Nothing would ever stop that mass of flames, save a downpour.

Clem crashed into me from behind and held my shoulders. I looked beside the house and saw others a hundred feet away.

The circle of elemental witches chanted, and new clouds swirled overhead, which explained the sudden wind, but it would take them at least another five minutes to get any rain out of that.

I was helpless.

A gleam of chrome sparkled in the firelight, and I saw Dad’s bike and Mom’s car at the side of the house. They were both in the writhing mass of flames.

I made a movement toward the house, and Clem’s arms tightened, holding me close, leveraging her weight against mine.

Emily’s and Diana’s arms joined hers in a mass of hugging limbs, and together, we all sank to the grass, watching my life literally burn up in flames.