Page 6 of Extraordinary Quests for Amateur Witches

Everyone in the room stared at Kieran as if he’d grown a second head.

Instantly, his mouth went dry and his stomach twisted. But the words were said, and he certainly couldn’t back out now—even if his brain was begging him to make a running leap for the window just to escape, broken bones and glass cuts be damned.

Tilda tapped a finger on her chin, studying Kieran. For a second, Kieran expected the witches to tell him his proposal was simply too far-fetched.

It probably was. Panaceas were generally thought of as fictional.

Kieran had only ever heard of a single true one—water from a hot spring run by the Hammonds, Delilah’s family on her paternal side—and its source had long since dried up.

The idea of even the most experienced witch finding a way to create a magical cure-all was borderline impossible.

Much less an amateur like Kieran, who could barely spark enough magic to light a candle.

Meanwhile, Delilah and Briar shared mirrored expressions of horror.

Delilah mouthed, What are you doing? while Briar seemed lost in her own mind, skin having gone pale as she stared blankly ahead.

A spear of guilt went through Kieran’s heart—as a child, Briar had unwillingly been the test subject of a number of fake panaceas at the hands of their aunt Wrenlin, and Kieran knew how uncomfortable the concept of them made her.

After a long, pregnant pause, Tilda nodded.

“Tilda,” one of the male witches—the one called Gerard—said, his eyes rounding, “we can’t in good conscience—”

“Why not?” Tilda asked. She gestured to Kieran with a graceful wave of her hand. “This is a son of the great Pelumbra family. The head of the family, no less. It seems like an apt task to me.”

It occurred to Kieran as Tilda spat out his family name that he was dealing with a slightly more complex situation than he’d anticipated.

This woman definitely hated his family. Which wasn’t an uncommon sentiment—the Pelumbras had been one of the most powerful and influential families in Celdwyn before their downfall six months ago, when the blessing that had given the family supernatural luck broke along with the twins’ curse.

Before that, the Pelumbras had gotten away with nearly every con and scheme they could dream of, which had made them a lot of enemies.

Only now were they facing any consequences for their actions as money drained from their accounts and the court of public opinion turned sharply against them.

Gerard seemed to hesitate, but based on his defeated expression, Kieran got the sense that Tilda was the one in charge. After a moment, the witch sat back in his chair, nodding.

“I agree,” he said. He turned to the other man, who was much shorter and had a substantially smaller frame. “Franklin?”

Franklin chewed on his lower lip. He shot Kieran a pitying look as he sighed. Despite that, though, he said, “I do as well.”

“It’s decided, then,” said Tilda as she met Kieran’s gaze again. “Kieran Pelumbra, your Calling task is to create a panacea, which we will test for authenticity upon delivery. If you are unable to complete this task in six months, your magic will be taken away. Do you understand?”

Well, Kieran thought, swallowing the lump of dread in his throat, I guess I won’t have to worry about any more accidental cursecasting, since I’m about to kiss my magic goodbye.

“Y-yes,” he stammered, ignoring the way Delilah’s jaw dropped and Briar looked about ready to throw something at him. “I understand.”

“Then it’s settled. Consider this the first day of your Calling.” Tilda bowed her head and gestured for her fellow witches to follow her. “We’ll take our leave.”

The men stood, following Tilda to the door. Franklin cast a look over his shoulder, gently shaking his head. While the others walked out, he said, “Best of luck, Mr.Pelumbra.”

He shut the door behind them.

The second the witches left, Briar wheeled on Kieran, her face turning red. “What were you thinking ?!”

Kieran rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Well…if I’m being honest, I…kind of…wasn’t?”

“ Clearly! Kieran, you’re going to lose your magic!”

“And?” Kieran said, voice cracking on the word as tears pricked.

Something about his sister’s tone made his throat feel like it was closing up.

“I can barely use magic as it is! Whenever I try to cast a spell, nothing happens, and when I cast unintentionally, I mess up horrifically. You know what happened last night? I accidentally cursed Ash! If anyone deserves to lose his magic, it’s me! ”

Delilah, who had been about to interrupt, went stock-still. She blinked, mouth hanging open. At her side, Briar looked as if she was on the verge of incredulous laughter.

Briar shook her head. “You accidentally cursed Ash? How? ”

Kieran tilted his head back and moaned. After a beat, he launched into a full rundown of the last twenty-four hours: Ash asking to take a break, then the attack, and how he’d felt so pitiful and useless that he thought poetry would help him cope.

How he’d misconstrued the act of channeling magic into his words as the thrill of artistic expression and cursed his probably-soon-to-be-ex boyfriend into being unable to perceive him.

“And now,” Kieran finished, voice choked with tears, “I just have to wait six months, fail my Calling, and accept that I was never meant to be a witch in the first place.”

“Do you not even want your magic?” Briar asked in horror.

“Of course I do,” Kieran admitted, shoulders falling. “But…maybe my losing it isn’t the worst thing in the world.”

“Well—let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Delilah quickly said before Kieran could break down in tears.

She stood up and pulled him into a hug, which Kieran accepted with a sniffle.

As she patted his back, she said, “You know, Klaus has been working for months on making a panacea using the magic vein in the Pinwhistle Forest. Maybe I could call him and see if he’d be willing to talk you through his progress. ”

Kieran pulled away from the hug, ears pricking at the mention of Delilah’s famous cursebreaker father, Klaus Hammond.

Kieran had been positively starstruck the first time they’d met.

During his childhood, he had seen Klaus in newspapers and heard his voice over the radio talking about all the complex, powerful curses he’d managed to break.

He was known for helping everyone with their curses, from Celdwyn’s common folk to other nations’ royalty.

He was charismatic, handsome, and extremely skilled.

And also, something of a fraud, seeing as all his cursebreaking prowess had been fabricated.

Klaus had spent decades using a panacea to break those curses, making his clients swear never to speak of how he helped them.

Recently, though, his panacea had run out.

Hence, his journey to the woods outside Gellingham to look for a new one.

Kieran asked, “You think he’d help me?”

“Generally speaking? No, he’s way too selfish for that. But if I ask him to?” Delilah shrugged. “He’s been pretty desperate to win me over ever since he realized that he’s been a terrible father. So if I frame it as a favor for me, he’ll almost definitely say yes.”

Kieran let out a sigh, his shoulders relaxing. “That would be a massive help. Thank you.”

“Anytime. I do, of course, apologize in advance for the fact that you’ll have to deal with my father, but what can you do.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine. I just appreciate the help,” Kieran said. He pivoted to his sister, who sat at the table worrying at a hangnail. “And, Briar, I…I know that panaceas are kind of a touchy subject—”

Briar held up a hand to stop him. “Just promise me something, okay?”

Kieran closed his mouth. He nodded, eyebrows raised in question.

“Don’t…don’t try to use anything on Ash unless you’re positive it’s an actual, functioning panacea, okay?” Briar wrapped her arms around herself, absentmindedly touching a raised pink scar on her arm. “Promise me that.”

“I promise,” Kieran said without hesitation. “I would never do what our aunt did to you, Briar. I swear. I’d give my magic any day before I hurt someone else on purpose.”

“Good. Then I’ll help you however I can.” Briar cracked her knuckles. “Happy to punch anyone who looks at you funny.”

“Me too,” Delilah agreed—though she quickly added, “About the helping part. I try not to punch people unless absolutely necessary.”

Briar snorted a laugh. “Don’t want to break your thumb again?”

“I thought we agreed not to bring that up,” Delilah shot back.

“Thank you,” Kieran cut in before the two of them could go off on one of their usual flirting-by-mocking tangents. “Really. I can’t express how grateful I am to have both of you in my corner.”

“You’re certainly stuck with us,” Briar replied.

“I’ll call up Klaus now and see if I can set something up.” Delilah squeezed Kieran’s arm. “It’ll be all right, okay? We’ll figure this out—just as we did before with your curse.”

At that, Kieran felt the closest thing to relief he’d experienced in days.

The next day, Kieran found himself staring up at the trailhead at the lowest point of the Pinwhistle Forest, outside of Gellingham.

The once-verdant trees had turned spindly with the onset of winter, and the forest was covered in a blanket of fresh snow that glittered in the sunlight.

Squirrels and chipmunks sprang between tree branches, knocking off little puffs of snow.

Red cardinals darted through the air, chasing each other between long, dripping icicles hanging off the trees.

Rabbit and deer tracks dotted the snow, along with boot prints from hikers. The sky was a cloudless blue.

The only not -beautiful thing was the trail, which, while mostly clear of snow, was composed entirely of mud and ice.

“Well.” Kieran exhaled, holding fast to the walking stick he’d brought. It had been a gift from Ash, who was a much stronger hiker than he was. “This’ll be fun.”