After the Summerland (The Witches of Spring Hill Book 1) (10 page)

After the Civil War, the spirits of the
land were kept alive by the generations of witches practicing rituals and
casting spells. This ensured that the magic was even more powerful and that the
land remained sacred. For these reasons, the land is now so powerful that
supernatural abilities become stronger, while any dormant abilities awaken.

They read several grimoires
on how to cast circles, how to cast spells, what herbs to use, how to position
the candles and objects correctly within the circle, and how to make amulets. Even
though they are anxious to cast a circle of their own and practice casting a
spell, they stay true to their promise to Liam. They each put aside a couple of
spells they are most excited about and plan to go out to the clearing later
once Liam is back home.

“He was right, you
know,” Rowan says. “Everything we read today seemed familiar. I felt like
just reading it made the information part of me. I don’t know how to explain
it, but I actually feel… whole… for the first time in a long time.”

Both Kaiden and Chloe
look at her and nod, knowing exactly what she means because they feel the same
way. Of everything they read, they all agree that one of the most important things
they learned was how to block spells cast by other witches.

Rowan reads aloud while
Kaiden and Chloe listen intently. “This says that the most important part of
blocking and protecting oneself is by diverting the dark magic by focusing our
mind on positive energy so as to not feed the dark energy with our fear. It
says that holding a charm such as an amulet, crystal, or quartz will aid in
blocking the energy used by the spell caster.”

“OK, the mind thing I can handle, but where
are we going to get an amulet, crystal, or quartz?” Kaiden asks.

“Wait! I’ve got it,” Chloe
says as she jumps up and runs up the stairs leaving Kaiden and Rowan watching
her curiously.

She comes back down
holding three necklaces. “Last week I was digging in the garden and I found
these planted deep in the soil. Of course I recognized the star as a pentagram
and knew what it meant, but look here — in the center,” she hands each of them
one of the necklaces. The cord is made of black leather and the silver pendant has
a pentagram inside a circle with a stone in the middle.

“The stone is exactly
what the book calls a quartz stone,” Rowan says excitedly.

“So, I have to wear
this thing all the time?” Kaiden asks, not liking to wear any kind of jewelry,
anytime, and especially when he plays sports.

“No, I think you can
just keep it in your pocket, Kaiden. You don’t have to wear it, but I’m wearing
mine,” Chloe says as she slips the cord over her head and around her neck. It
immediately blends in with all the other leather cords and necklaces she wears
all the time.

“Well easy for you, Chloe,”
Rowan says, “you already have so many necklaces around your neck that no one
will pay attention to another one, but I don’t want everyone knowing I’m a
witch and this necklace screams, WITCH!” she says as she holds it out away from
her.

“Well then just make
sure to keep it near you, especially if you are going to be around the
Silvans,” Chloe warns. “Keep in mind that this amulet is only part of the
protection, you still have to focus your mind on blocking. Maybe we can find a
different
way
for you both to carry a crystal or
quartz. Maybe earrings or an ankle bracelet, Rowan, and Kaiden, maybe you can put
it in your shoe or something?”

Kaiden looks at Chloe
like she’s crazy, “Yeah, ‘cause that’ll be comfortable, sis,” he says
sarcastically. “For now, I think I’ll just carry it in my pocket.”

“I can’t help but
wonder what the Silvans are thinking right now,” Chloe says.

Rowan and Kaiden smile
and admit that, they, too are thinking about the Silvans and are cautiously looking
forward to whatever the future may hold. They all agree that having more
knowledge about their past and understanding what they are makes them feel more
confident. It also makes them feel stronger about preparing to defend what is
theirs.

As soon as the Silvans
arrived at school they knew the Alexanders weren’t going to be there. The
throngs of kids waiting outside yesterday are nowhere to be seen and everyone
seems to be in a bad mood. It’s almost as if the
Alexanders’
energy is the only thing that keeps the school functioning properly. And they
don’t even know they’re witches, Xavier thinks, shaking his head.

Cian was secretly
relieved that the Alexanders called off today. He suspected that whatever kept them from
school had something to do with their arrival into town. While he’ll do
whatever he can to protect them, they also have to be prepared.

He was hoping
that when he met with Chloe this weekend he would not have to be the one
to tell her that she is a witch. Mostly because she may not have believed him, but
also because that kind of news should come from someone closer to her than someone
she just met. While he is disheartened that he won’t see Chloe today, he isn’t
as disappointed or as angry as his sister and brother appear to be.

Brianna is disappointed
that she won’t see Kaiden today, especially since she took extra time curling
her hair and applying her makeup this morning. Her aunt walked by the bathroom
while she was getting ready and smiled knowingly at her, which only makes her
feel worse about herself now that she is all dressed up for nobody. When am I
going to learn to stop doing this?
she
asks herself. I
wish I could just do things for myself rather than trying to impress someone
all the time. She feels herself sinking deeper into a dark mood and will just
be glad when this day is over.

Xavier is seething mad.
This was not supposed to happen today. He knows his aunt
has a short fuse and the longer she has to wait for
results,
the more she will take out her frustration on them, and especially Brianna. This
morning she made a point of telling him that if he doesn’t bring information
home today, she will visit Liam Alexander at the police station tomorrow. She
knows exactly what buttons to push with him and although she is his aunt, he
hates her. He hates her for who she is and he hates her for what she has done
to his family.

They separate and go to
their own classes, only to meet up at lunch to find out that they haven’t
really talked to anyone else and haven’t heard anything about Rowan, Chloe, or
Kaiden Alexander. Reluctantly, they separate again and head off toward their
afternoon classes, more annoyed than ever that their aunt made a point of
putting them in separate classes.

At the end of the
school day, Selene’s was the first car parked in the long line of parents
waiting to pick up their kids. It seemed ominous since it meant she got to the
school early enough to have gotten the first spot, which meant she had been
waiting for them for a while. “She knows the Alexanders weren’t in school today,”
Xavier says worriedly to Cian and Brianna. They both look at him with surprise
when they hear the worry in his voice.

“And why does that
worry you, Xavier?” Cian asks. “Was something supposed to happen today?”

Xavier looks at his brother
and before he can stop himself, he blurts, “You know she has no patience when
it comes to the Alexanders. This morning she told me that if we don’t provide
her with some information about them today, then she is going to make the next
move, and we all know what that means for
all
of us.”

“It means that she is
going to start openly using magic to get the answers that she wants,” Cian
says.

Brianna shudders visibly when she thinks of
the spells her aunt has cast in the past and the chaos that ensued afterwards.

Just after their mom
died, when Aunt Selene first moved in, she loudly accused the woman across the
street of hitting on their dad, her brother, and cast a spell against her, out
loud, for the entire neighborhood to hear. The spell may have been disregarded
had the woman’s life continued as normal, but within one month the woman lost
her job, her car was repossessed, she gained 50 pounds, and she started losing
her hair. Shortly thereafter the woman sold her home, at a loss, and moved back
east, never speaking to anyone in the neighborhood again.

Of course, this all
brought great joy to Selene who loved watching the trampy woman’s life unravel,
but to everyone else in the neighborhood, even the kids’ friends, the damage
was done, and everyone started avoiding the Silvans. They were forced to sell
the house that they grew up in and move farther south in California, somewhere where
Selene was not suspected of being a witch.

Most recently, on the drive from California to
North Carolina, they stopped at a small family run hotel outside of Santa Fe
and although not one of
them
saw or
heard anything out of the ordinary, Selene insisted that the innkeeper refused
to rent them a room because she ‘knew’ Selene was a witch. Selene cast a spell
of misfortune to “show her” how to do business.

When they stopped at a
different hotel a few exits away, they learned that there had been a fire at
the other hotel. Miraculously no one was injured, but the hotel was required to
close because of severe smoke damage. The story got worse when it was
discovered that the woman did not have insurance and could not afford to repair
any damage done by the fire, therefore, forced to close the family business
that had been open for more than 50 years.

When Selene saw the
news report she smiled at the woman’s misfortune and said, “Well, I guess it’s
a good thing we didn’t stay at that hotel.” And without acknowledging her own
part in the disaster, she left to go pick up dinner. When she was gone for more
than an hour they all agreed that it was likely she went back to the hotel to
see the poor woman’s misery in person.

“So, what the hell do
we do now?” Cian asks Xavier.

“Just leave it to me
for now, but you have to know…” Xavier starts, but stops when his aunt
gets out of the car and glares at the three of them with a look that can only
be described as pure evil.

Brianna slows enough to
step behind Xavier and says, “Stop talking with us for now. You know how she
hates it when we all get along. We’ll figure out a plan later… when she
isn’t watching every little thing. We need you, Xavier. We need you a hell of
a lot more than she does.”

Cian nods his head slightly
so only his brother and sister can see it. Not for the first time since his dad
died, Xavier feels like he is stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Selene is fuming when
she sees the kids walking out together all chummy. Well, isn’t that nice?
she
thinks to herself. What the hell do they have to be so
happy about anyway? Pulling herself together before they see her fury, she
thinks how glad she is that she took the time to come up with a plan for the
evening, which will definitely wipe away those chummy smiles.

Chloe, Kaiden, and
Rowan can barely wait for Liam to get home to practice casting spells. As soon
as they hear the jeep pull in they run out the door to meet him in
the driveway.

“Hey Dad, we want to
practice some spells in the clearing,” Kaiden says enthusiastically.

Maybe a little too
enthusiastically, Chloe thinks to herself. Since she already has some experience
with spells and Rowan is… well, Rowan, they agreed beforehand that Kaiden
should be the one to enthusiastically suggest it, but he went a bit overboard with his enthusiasm, which might make their
dad suspicious.

“I brought dinner… and pie,” Liam says, hoping that he can sway
them to stay and talk to him about their day, and if he is being totally honest
with himself, he is also hoping to deter them from casting spells so soon.

“
Oooh
,
what’s for dinner? And what kind of pie?” Kaiden asks, quickly losing his focus
on casting spells when dinner is right in front of him.

Rowan and Chloe look at
each other, willing each other to speak up, until finally Chloe says, “Well, I
think we should go to the clearing first, before nightfall, which at this time
of year is early. We can have dinner as soon as we are done. We’ll probably
work up an appetite anyway.” She looks pointedly at Kaiden, hoping he’ll
stop thinking about his stomach for a minute.

“Alright,” Liam agrees.
“But let me put all of this away first,” he says while holding up the familiar
Lucky Diner take-out bags, “and then I’ll come back there with you.”

“Dad, we can go ahead
without you and then you can meet us back there after you eat… if you want,” Rowan says, knowing that
Liam is just as obsessed with food as Kaiden. She grabs the backpack with everything
they need for the spell that they are going to cast tonight and hands it to Kaiden
to carry.

He shoulders the bag,
and taking the hint, starts walking toward the clearing. Rowan and Chloe follow
close behind and almost bump into him when he stops suddenly, turns around,
and says, “And Dad, save some pie for me.”

“You don’t even know
what kind I bought,” Liam replies as he watches his kids move farther away from
him.

Kaiden turns around and
throws up his arms, “Does it matter?” he asks with a big smile.

Liam knows they need
their space and decides to take his time eating dinner and changing out of his
uniform. They’re good kids and I should probably be more thankful that they
waited until I got home before casting spells, he thinks. He can only imagine what
they are thinking, what they have learned, and what they will discover about
themselves in the next couple of hours.

Rowan sneezes loudly,
sending a flock of birds flying from their perches above. “Ugh, I don’t know
why we couldn’t do our first spell a little closer to home, or even in the
kitchen where we had to gather this stuff anyway,” she complains.