Animal Secrets: A Paranormal Romance (The Animal Sagas) (5 page)

“Thank you for confirming that for us.” Ben said, smiling from ear to ear. “And also for specifying exactly what we need to take from her home. I appreciate, I mean we all appreciate, that tip. So my next question to you would be, first, when is the next blue moon, and second, how do you find a particular witches home in the first place?”

“Ah,” Mistress Harlayne sat back in her chair and looked from face to face before she went on. “Interesting questions that you have, Alpha. And you are in luck for one of them. For certain, the next blue moon will appear in just under 2 weeks – on a Thursday night. But the second question, that is a much more difficult one to answer.”

Lynda reached out to Mistress Harlayne upon hearing the date of the next blue moon, she was so excited. “That is wonderful news,” she said. “But what do we do to find a witch? Can you help us?”

Mistress Harlayne began, “I can tell you how to do it but it won’t be an easy task unless you have something of hers in your possession – a hair, fingernail, tooth…..”

“A piece of her clothing?” Sonya yelled – she just couldn’t hold her excitement back.

Mistress Harlayne looked at Sonya, who was clearly beside herself hoping for an agreement to her previous statement, smiled and said, “Well, yes, that could work… as long as it has touched the witches skin at some point in time.”

“It has her scent all over it!” Sonya exclaimed, grabbing Lynda’s hands at the same time.

“So then, yes, I believe that would work.”  Mistress Harlayne agreed, smiling at them all.

Ben could not contain his excitement, he grabbed up Mistress Harlayne and swung her about the room like you would a small child. Immediately afterward he put her back down and shook her hand again. “Thank you so much,  Mistress Harlayne! You don’t know how much that helps us.”

Obviously caught off guard, she did seem to enjoy the ride, “I am always glad to help, Alpha.” She was trying hard not to smile, but was not doing a very good job at it.

The two girls took turns hugging her and Clay kissed her on the cheek. Mistress Harlayne had not gotten this much affection in years. “So let me share with you then, exactly how to find a witch……..”

And with that all 5 of them sat back down and discussed exactly what needed to be done. Lynda took notes, Sonya made snacks and Clay and Ben listened intently to everything that the woman had to say. Occasionally one of them would ask a question and Mistress Harlayne always answered. Everyone at this little meeting wanted to make sure that they were 100% positive on what to do, how to do it and when and where to do it. They did not want to leave any room for mistakes.

After about 2 to 3 hours they felt good enough to accompany Mistress Harlayne back to her home. She had been a great help to them all and had trained them in exactly how to find the witch. They all felt very confidant about the entire situation. Before they left, each one of them gave her a hug or shook her hand and thanked her for all her help. It was obvious that after tonight Mistress Harlayne would never be an outsider in the Strongheart clan again. And she now had 5 new lifelong friends who would always be at her side for anything.

Chapter 10

It was Thursday. Finally! The Thursday of the blue moon. And it would be getting dark in just a few hours. Ben, Lynda, Sonya and Clay were making last minute preparations before they did the summoning ritual to find the witch. They had gathered all their items and had gone over their notes so many times that they could all recite them word for word. Mistress Harlayne had given them the exact ritual and a list of all the ingredients over a week ago and they felt they were more than ready. But time was running out and they were starting to get a bit nervous.

Since the original curse had to do primarily with Sonya and Lynda, they would be the ones actually carrying out the ritual activities. Alternatively, Ben and Clay were the ones who would be actually dealing with the witch once they found out where she lived. Assuming the ritual worked in the first place, their plan was simple – to go to the witches home, grab a personal belonging of hers and break her wand too – all without being seen! Mistress Harlayne agreed to be with the girls just in case, due to all her valuable magical knowledge. She was not a witch herself, but being a shaman she had a lot of insightful information and knew a lot of things most witches would have rather kept to themselves. Her keen perception was incredible and she was a valuable ally.

The girls premixed all the ingredients according to Mistress Harlayne’s instructions, gathered all the needed maps, candles, pendulums, and went over the ritual several more times – minus the ingredients of course. Finally, it was just past dark and time to start. Ben and Clay met with their mates one last time before the ritual, kissed them both goodbye then let the girls go about their duties as they waited for details outside. Mistress Harlayne was inside with them just in case.

The candles flickered all about the room. On the kitchen table, there were a circle of candles laid out right on top of a map of the Strongheart’s territory. Inside that circle of candles, and on top of the map the sisters started to spread out their herb mixture that Mistress Harlayne had helped them put together earlier in the day. It had to completely cover the entire map, but only those lands that belonged to the Strongheart’s – so they were extra careful in spreading the mixture.

When they were done all 3 ladies looked it over once more to be sure that they had not made a mistake. Finally they all agreed it was correct and Mistress Harlayne went and sat down near a wall on the east side of their living room. Nervous, but excited too, the girls gathered the rest of their gear, got ready to start, then headed back to the kitchen table slowly so as not to disturb the herbal mixture on the map.

Lynda walked over to the map, closed her eyes, held her hands in the air, holding a small crystal in each and started the incantation. As soon as Lynda was done Sonya lit the map on fire. Fire engulfed the map, and only the map, in just an instant. As soon as it was done, which was one or two seconds, the magical fire had burned all the map, not the table underneath, the candles on top, or anything else in the home. The magical fire was intense, short lived and also very specific. The only part of the map left untouched by the fire, a small piece about the size of a dime, contained the exact location of the witches home. Amazing! The girls cheered at their success!

Ben and Clay ran in as soon as they heard the cheering. “What happened?” they both asked in unison.

Sonya reached over and carefully picked up the tiny piece of map and held it out to the men. “Here she is!” is all she had the time to say before they all started congratulating each other. The men kissed the girls once more, thanked Mistress Harlayne and then were gone in an instant to join their small hunting party which waited just a mile or so outside of their camp. They knew time was of the essence and it would take a while to reach her home – they also knew that they needed to be as stealthy as possible so their journey would be a mixture of excitement and leery expectations since they had no idea what would happen next.

They ran as fast as they could for the better part of an hour. It was still fairly early time wise but they knew that their mission was one that required stealth, cunning and silence. So they did their best to not think too far in the future and just to keep their minds on finishing the task they had been planning all week. All they could think about now was the small parties mission and the roles that were required by each member.

There were 7 of them in total – all Ben’s best men. Thankfully the past week or so had given them plenty of time to plan. As soon as they got about 3 miles or so within the range of the witches house they all split up – each going to an area, pre-planned days ago, in direct correlation to the houses location. Some went north, some east, some south and a few on the west side. Ben and Clays mission was to go directly to her home.

At the same time, back at the house, Lynda, Sonya and Mistress Harlayne were working too. They lit incense, more candles, and did several incantations for the team as they headed toward their destination. Among the most important incantations performed by the ladies were ones for changing the weather, removal of a persons scent, one for invisibility for the team members and, maybe most importantly, producing an enchanted sleep for the witch. The ladies had no way of knowing exactly what was going on with the team – but they relied on their planning and best guesstimate of how long it would take the men to reach their ultimate location and that guided them as they performed their spells.

Finally! The team came in view of a small clearing in the forest. And within the clearing stood a little old house surrounded by strange smelling plants and covered with ivy, a wishing well of some kind and sitting right next to a small pond. All were in various stages of disrepair. The pond stank and the green water was overrun with some kind of plant the men had never seen before. The small cottage was quiet even though smoke flowed from the chimney in a wispy fashion. Shingles on the roof were missing or twisted in more than one direction. Bricks were missing in the chimney. The wishing well looked as though it could fall over any second.

Were it not for the smoke rising from the chimney anyone who might have passed through these parts would have thought the home to be abandoned long ago. Overall, the site looked to be hundreds of years old – but who could be sure? But the scent – yes the scent was the same as the one of the swatch they found previously after the witches visit. The old woman’s scent was so noticeable – in fact it was everywhere – they immediately knew they were in the right place. There was no doubt in any of their minds.

Chapter 11

Ben and Clay crept slowly toward the witches home which gave the rest of their team plenty of time to get into position. The 5 members of their team surrounded the old woman’s home, about 100 feet out. If you were to look at them from above you would soon see that they had formed a simple 5 pointed star formation – but in magical terms they were really forming a pentagram shape. A powerful magical symbol in their battle against the witch. Further, each wolf was adorned with a simple leather string collar from which hung different kinds of crystals and protective gemstones such as selenite, amethyst and beautiful green spotted bloodstones.

The spells from the ladies back at the camp seemed to be working so far. They had not been seen by the witch though they still opted to maintain as high a stealth level as possible. As Clay and Ben approached the front door they did their best to peek in the window without being seen. The old woman’s scent clung to everything here like a child refusing to let it’s momma go on the first day of pre-school. The lights were off except for the coals in the fireplace – they listened for movement in the house and heard nothing. Maybe she was sleeping? So they crept closer.

Ben and Clay transformed back to their human form at that moment so they could operate the door knob. Ben carefully turned the tarnished old door knob to test whether or not it was locked. It was not! Clay, still peeping through the one little window, nodded to Ben that the coast was clear. Ben carefully turned the handle and slowly, snail pace slowly, opened the door. As soon as it was about a foot open Ben and Clay snuck inside. Clays mission was to locate a personal object of the old witches to bring back to the camp. Ben’s was much harder – he was in search of the old lady’s wand.

By firelight, they both moved as slowly and quietly as possible about the old witches cottage. One moved in one direction and the other to the other side of the home. It shouldn’t take long as it looked to only be 3 or 4 rooms total – but it was littered with books and papers, pieces of plants, bones, rocks and even a few antlers of some long dead deer. Clay quickly found an old scarf of the witches as they both continued to look for the wand. It would be so easy to confuse the wand for an old twig if you hadn’t seen it, but thankfully Clay had. Still, they had not seen the witch which made them increasingly nervous.

The wand, or the witch, were not in the main room which required them to start searching the smaller rooms. Ben crept into one and Clay into the other. Same as before, each room was filled with pieces of old furniture, covered in dust, rock, bones, papers and books. Obviously she didn’t spend a lot of time in either of these rooms. No witch and no wand either. As they both exited these rooms they came together to search the last. Then they both heard it – a soft wheezing sound. Was that snoring? Then as they listened further they heard a heartbeat. They had found the witch – and she appeared to be sleeping.

The two men froze. Staring at each other they knew that this was the moment they had been planning for, for over a week. They shifted to peer inside the door as quietly as possible, being careful not to slide down on any of the numerous papers that lay all over the floor. At first they did not see her – then Ben caught sight of her at the back of the tiny room, all covered up in quilts on a tiny bed, and thankfully, facing the wall away from them. She snored quietly and the men could tell from her heartbeat that she was in a deep sleep. Hopefully, they both thought to themselves, this was a magical slumber though they dared not to test it.

They looked about the room as best they could, scanning all the items inside, looking to find the wand. Same as before, the room was strewn with books, papers, stones, gems, rocks, tiny bones – and there it was on the nightstand by her bed, a tiny stick, right next to a handful sized pile of stones and dried up flowers. It was only 3 or 4 feet away but it may as well have been 1000. Clay nodded and Ben knew that upon the table was the wand he was searching for. Ben and Clay looked back at each other and prepared themselves for whatever may happen next. Ben rose slowly from his position by the door and stepped toward the tiny table so slowly you could easily envision paint on the wall drying faster.

Hours later, it seemed to him, he reached arms length from the table. Slowly, carefully, he reached for the wand as the witch quietly snored only a few feet away. Clay, still holding the scarf, watched his friend and the witch both, his eyes flickered in the firelight from one to the other, listening intently to her every movement. Her heartbeat was still incredibly slow and the snoring fairly quiet so he felt they were going to be okay but he knew until they were back in the safety of the camp that no one could really be too secure. The enchanted sleep spell seemed to be working just as they had hoped.