Page 14

D aisy

“I call upon thee, Earth and thine Shadow, Holy Mother of all things: Hecate !”

Maroon candles positioned around a neatly drawn pentagram suddenly held plumes of fire in their wicks.

The dark arcane room glowed an ominous burnt orange as the flames danced and swayed to the constant beating of bare feet against the old wood floor.

The pentagram held a candle at each of its points, while a bowl of objects sat in the very center.

A few strands from Daisy’s long, brown hair mixed around with sprigs of freshly picked lavender and rosemary.

A rat’s tail, dried up and almost leathered, sat on top of it all.

Daisy began to march around the pentagram, keeping her step in place with the beat. The floor of the arcane shop creaked and moaned but she shoved the thought away. To stray from the spell, as powerful as it was, could ruin the overall effect. She could ruin it before the magic even began.

The energy in the small room shifted the moment they set up for their spell.

Daisy dragged the white paint along the floor.

Tessa preferred to draw the pentagram and runes, but couldn’t deny Daisy’s needle straight hand.

Now, when she managed to catch a glimpse of herself, Daisy trembled and shook from the excitement alone.

No matter how long she practiced witchcraft, felt the very essence of the earth running through her veins, Daisy felt it all as though it was the first time.

The dirt deep below her feet hummed with anticipation, the early morning sun pressed in from the outside, delivering a stunning heat.

Every piece of the world reached into the arcane room to touch Daisy, and the spell reminded her of why she ran Fields’ Herbals in the first place.

Across the way, Tessa swirled, her steps syncing to the music effortlessly. “Come, Hecate,” she called, following the lines of the spell. “Come forth, Hecate!”

“Grant me the will, Hecate,” Daisy rang out next, “to reveal the spell set upon me!”

The thumping continued as the flames began to join in, the reddish yellow hue bouncing rhythmically in the darkness.

Daisy’s eyes grew wide with anticipation.

The spell pressed further on, the power growing stronger and stronger.

Unlike other spoken spells, the ceremonial kind drew in the power from Hecate, the figure that acts as the Mother of all things Witchcraft.

Hecate was the very world itself, from deep within the soil to the stars beyond the sky.

For Daisy to see the spell that was latched onto her soul, she might be able to see who cast it, and how it may be removed.

But now, all she needed was the ability to see it done.

Smoke from the candles curled in the air.

Jewels and crystals that once lined the floor began to stand on their edges before rising above the floor.

Daisy could hardly believe it, but barely paid them any mind.

The longer she stared, the quicker the magic would scare away, and she would be left with nothing but more questions.

Daisy twirled and danced around the floating crystals.

Her eyes landed on a floating Carnelian.

It resembled the flames themselves, if only they were deeply dark with age.

The stone was curved and smooth, rising higher and higher.

Jagged stumps of Quartz rose along Tessa’s path, some larger than the others.

Black Tourmaline almost blended into the shadows but were incredibly surplus in number, due to their natural ability for added protection.

Purple Amethyst and Hematite came next, their spiritually protective properties keeping both Daisy and Tessa safe from any dark forces lingering nearby.

Daisy bent low, snatching up a twined bunch of dried sage before plunging one end into a flame.

The smudging stick grew smoky instantly, a sweet and earthy smell filling the room.

She swiped the smudge in different directions, watching where the smoke trail went and the symbols it left at the same time.

“Oh, Hecate!” Daisy shouted, her voice stronger and firmer than she thought it to be. “Show me the one who burdens your faithful servant!”

Tessa chanted: “From witches night and witches day, reveal the burden upon me!”

Daisy caught the chant herself, letting the words fill the air as the flames grew tall and strong. Their voices carried together like a symphony, growing louder and louder. And, as the candles shuddered from the heat they radiated, they shouted the incantation once more.

“From witches night and witches day, reveal the burden upon me!”

Outside, on the clear spring day, thunder crashed in the distance.

A burst of wind shot through the arcane room, blowing out the candles in an instant.

The lights flickered on, sputtering for a moment, before returning to its naturally dim glow.

Daisy blinked in the gentle light, the sage no longer burning.

Across from her, Tessa was locked in place as the crystals clattered from their spots in the air and onto the floor.

At the center of the pentagram, where the wooden bowl was, a thin trail of deeply black smoke curled up around them. There was a very particular smell wafting off it, something like burnt rubber or plastic.

Tessa stepped forward and shook her head. “Don’t like the look of that.”

“Me neither,” Daisy mumbled, already disheartened.

Smoke was to be expected, but black like squid ink was something else.

Daisy pressed forward and knelt within the pentagram.

The dress she wore fluttered out around her.

Undeniable energy hummed around her as the spell faded, the answer they had been searching for apparent in the wooden bowl.

All that remained from the offerings presented was a smoldering piece of papyrus, the sprigs of rosemary and lavender, along with Daisy’s hair, were all gone.

Daisy reached into the bowl with a trembling hand.

The paper, despite smoldering, was cool to the touch.

She flipped it over to reveal a symbol, one that looked to have been branded onto the thick material.

Running her fingers over it, Daisy jerked backwards, the heat burrowing itself deep within the rune.

“Look this one up,” Daisy said, holding the paper above her head.

Tessa snatched up a dusty book with frayed pages. She flipped through it for a minute before stopping halfway through, her index finger tracing the same symbol on the page.

“Well?” Daisy asked, eager to know. “What does it say?”

Tessa pressed her lips together. “It’s a scalding rune, Daisy.” She raised her eyes, the disappointment so strong it was almost palpable. “Whoever sent you that potion managed to cover their tracks incredibly well.”

Daisy pushed herself off the floor to peer at the pages in the book.

Scalding runes are leftover when a successful spell is being forced open by other magic users.

While the original spellcaster did their due diligence to protect their identity, what a prying eye might be left with is a scalding rune, telling the peeker that - no matter how strong their efforts are - the truth is hidden from them.

“Great,” Daisy mumbled before falling into a plush chair in the arcane room. The unlit candles clattered over noisily. “Just when I thought we could’ve had this figured out before my date with Ethan tonight.”

“If you thought I’m going to let this get in the way of your big date,” Tessa snapped, pointing an accusatory finger at her, “you’re very wrong, flower!”

Daisy sighed. “You felt how much energy that used, didn’t you? I can hardly stand.”

“We’ll drink some orange juice,” Tessa replied with a shrug, though she wobbled slightly when she walked. “For now, we still have work to do.”

Daisy watched as Tessa stumbled around the room, careful not to step on any of the sharp crystals.

She returned with a piece of paper before taking a seat on the floor beside Daisy.

The color from Tessa’s face was drained, leaving a slightly red tint at the center of her cheeks. Their exhaustion was more than obvious.

“So,” Tessa began, using the rune book to rest her paper on, “the next best thing is to figure out who would want to curse you.”

“That’s too simple.” Daisy leaned forward. “To produce a scalding rune like that requires a skilled caster. Not just any witch or warlock capable of minor tricks. An old and strong power.”

Tessa’s brow furrowed. “Doesn’t sound like Willowbrook spellcasters at all.”

“They’re out there,” Daisy murmured. “Somewhere.”

Silence settled around them as they thought over the witches and warlocks in Willowbrook.

Daisy was lost in a trance as she stared into the pentagram, as if the properties still hummed with a powerful magic.

She thought back to the last meeting she attended of the Witch Council, where the Elders overlooked the town and the magic users within.

Only the strongest spellcasters attended through invitation.

The last time she went, though, Daisy remembered the sharpest of stares holding onto her, someone from her past. Someone like -

“That’s it!” Daisy snapped her fingers. “Marigold Shadowbrook!”

Tessa winced. “I hope for our sake it isn’t her,” she grumbled.

“Why?”

“Everytime I go into Ronald’s,” Tessa explained, “Marigold is in there just raving about you and Gary. It boils my blood everytime.”

Daisy sighed. “They were together long before Gary and I.”

“Doesn’t make it normal for her to try and crash your wedding!”

“Listen, empath-in-training,” Daisy teased, “Marigold had her heart broken more times than most people. Sure, she showed up at the wedding, but Gary turned her down and the entire town saw! Last I heard, her recent engagement went down the tube after she kept bringing up Gary.”

Tessa shrugged. “More reasons why I don’t like her.”

“Just write her name down,” Daisy said with a laugh. “Suspect number one.”

“You know,” Tessa mused while scribbling down the name, “I went into Drusilla Ashford’s store a few weeks ago.”

Daisy glowered. “I haven’t been to Ashford Grocery in months. Not since her daughter got that full-ride scholarship out of state.”

“Good,” Tessa blurted. “You don’t want to go.”

“Why?”

Tessa sighed. “You know Drusilla. If anyone can hold a grudge, it’s that woman.”

Leaning back in her seat, Daisy ruminated over Drusilla Ashford’s predicament.

In the latter years of high school, Drusilla surprised the entire town by getting accepted into a prestigious school across the country.

While expensive, the school provided a scholarship that would’ve pushed Drusilla through her entire academic career.

That is, until Daisy realized that Drusilla stole her entrance essay.

Daisy, perhaps, wouldn’t have bothered telling the truth about the stolen work if its subject wasn’t such a personal topic.

Daisy wrote the paper about her struggle growing up without a father, her upbringing done solely by her mother and grandmother.

The essay glorified the women in her life while imagining what it would’ve been like to have had her father there all along.

Daisy couldn’t let Drusilla take that away from her and use it for ill tidings.

“Needless to say,” Daisy mused, “I think we should write her name down next.”

“Really?”

Daisy pressed her lips together. “She is a woman scorned. You said it yourself - she can hold a grudge.”

Tessa sighed before adding the name onto the short list. “Anyone else?”

“There is one,” Daisy mumbled. “But I don’t want to think about him for one minute.”

“Who?”

Daisy leaned against her hand. The words came out muffled, barely heard in the already cramped room. “Sebastian Crowe.”

“Don’t tell me he’s been bothering you again.”

“Not any more than before,” Daisy replied. A chill crept down her spine as she thought about him. “I-I don’t even want to get into it.”

“That’s okay,” Tessa reassured her, already writing his name now. “We know the guy is a creep and a jerk who can’t understand boundaries. For now,” she paused, reaching up to grab a hold of Daisy’s hand and give it a tight squeeze, “that is more than enough.”

Daisy’s eyes scanned over the three names written on the sheet of paper.

Everything happening to her over the past few days was because of one of them, and there were, perhaps, more ill tidings to come.

So far, nothing drastically dangerous had happened, but there was no telling what would happen tomorrow or the day after that.

Now that her date with Ethan was steadily approaching that evening, the last thing Daisy wanted was to realize that his interest in her was from the potion, or worse.

She shook her head. It was still morning, and there was plenty of time to worry before the date.

“This is good,” Tessa suddenly said.

“What is?”

Tessa waved the paper in between them. “We have suspects to question! Isn’t that better than just guessing?

” Rising to her feet, she reached onto Daisy and yanked her off the chair next.

“Now that we have some names, we’ll question them till we figure out where that potion came from.

But the real question is this: do you want to be the good cop or the bad cop? ”

Daisy burst out in laughter.

“I’m being totally serious, Daisy!”

Wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes, Daisy sighed. “You’d make a pretty good bad cop, don’t you think?”

“But I’m an empath!”

“Exactly,” Daisy replied with a shrug. “You know what makes them tick!”

They laughed together for a moment, the musical sound filling the stuffy arcane room. Daisy allowed herself to revel in the joy, to pay attention to the laughter rather than focus on the unknown. Despite that, a hidden truth lied in the distance, and Daisy grew more and more eager to figure it out.

Soon, she thought. Very soon.