Page 30 of Spellbound

“Just try and stay out of my way. Just try! I’ll get you, my pretty…”

~The Wicked Witch, The Wizard of Oz.

Asher

I barely remember the trip racing back down the mountain to the Cromwell home. I was trying the whole time to get my grandmother on her cell phone, but there was no answer. I told myself she might be taking a long bath, like she loved to do.

Meanwhile, Ben was trying to call Rosalyn, but there was no answer from her either. I was getting a really bad feeling about this.

Ben’s truck roared into the driveway, and he pulled right up to the front porch.

He was out of the truck and racing up to the porch before I could manage to get out.

I thought he did that on purpose, actually, because my magic was still bound and he didn’t want me getting in the line of fire.

Fuck that! I was worried sick about my grandmother.

The dog was jumping at me as I tried to hurry up the front steps, but Ben was already inside the door, and I could hear him shouting Rosalyn’s name as he ran up the stairs.

When I got to the top, I started toward my grandmother’s room, but before I could get to it, Ben slammed the door in my face and locked it.

He was trying to be protective of me, but I didn’t need that or want it.

I tried to force my way in, anyway, but the doorknob wouldn’t budge and when I tried to knock down the door, I couldn’t do that either.

From inside, I could hear Ben shouting at someone.

I turned and ran to Rosalyn’s bedroom, and there I was in luck. She had put my grandmother in the room next to hers when we first arrived and it had a connecting walk-in closet. I knew that my grandmother used a small part of the closet and that the door didn’t lock on her side.

I burst through it and saw my grandmother stretched out on her back in bed.

Her eyes were closed, and she was unmoving.

Her skin looked pale and waxy. Over her, standing by her head was Rosalyn looking shocked—not at my grandmother’s condition but at whatever Ben was saying to her.

He was moving toward her, his face like a thundercloud.

They both glanced quickly over at me as I came bursting in, and she screamed her frustration and anger.

Without any warning, Rosalyn pulled back her hand, raised it in the air above her head and began chanting a spell.

Almost instantly, the air felt thicker. My scalp prickled and my skin was crawling.

I knew this must be infernal magic at work and her fingertips were already crackling with little sparks.

She was pointing her hand directly at Ben and I panicked.

But Ben had already raised his own hand and called out “Avert!”

Whatever she hurled at him turned back at her, but I had already reacted instinctively like I had when she’d killed my mother right in front of me all those years ago.

Not with magic this time, though. I dove for her instead.

I used my whole body as a weapon against her, and I rammed into her from the side.

We crashed down together to the floor, and the spell she’d sent toward Ben hit the wall behind where she was standing and blew a hole right through it.

She went down hard but not hurt like she would have been if that nastiness she sent toward Ben had hit her.

I almost wished it had hit her. I did think she’d been knocked out from the fall though, and she lay crumpled up on the floor with her eyes closed.

She was my great aunt, so I should have felt bad for her.

I should have…but I didn’t. I felt nothing as I stared down at her.

Ben was already at my grandmother’s side, saying healing incantations over her, pouring them over her so fast that the I could have sworn the air changed colors in the room.

I went over to stand next to her and whispered encouragement to her, holding her hand and telling her I loved her.

From behind me, I sensed movement, and before anyone could stop her, Rosalyn was on her feet and limping out of the room.

I made an abortive move to go after her, but Ben pulled me back.

“No, she’s too dangerous right now. Some of her old power is firing off erratically in her brain, and it’s unstable. I’ll find her later. She won’t make it too far.”

I turned away, back to my grandmother and took her hand in mine.

As for Ben, he took out his cell phone to call for an ambulance and then make calls to both of her sons.

I was just amazed that Roslyn would have the energy to flee the scene that way, as I heard her start up her Grand Cherokee outside and speed down the driveway.

I didn’t think I’d hit her all that hard, but I wasn’t sure.

I really never stopped to think once I saw my grandmother lying there on that bed, her sister standing over her with her hand raised in the air and spells falling from her lips.

Ben was on his phone, talking to Council members, I thought.

as we waited for the paramedics to arrive.

I had no idea of the betrayal he must be feeling just then.

Despite what he’d said about Roslyn before we arrived, and despite his feelings about what she might have done to his father, I knew this had to be hard on him.

She had raised him since he was a young teenager, and he’d lived in the Cromwell house off and on for years.

Because he was so loyal, he’d even taken her to occasional doctor’s appointments and been involved in her family’s lives for a long time.

This was going to be devastatingly hard on him.

By the time the ambulance arrived, my grandmother was regaining consciousness.

They still transported her, because of her age, and the fact that she’d been unconscious in the first place.

I rode with her in the ambulance to the hospital, holding her hand, and I’d lost track of Ben, who told me he’d see me at the hospital later.

Gran didn’t remember much of what happened, or so she said.

But I thought she might remember a bit more than she was letting on.

The doctors decided to keep my grandmother overnight, though she didn’t want to stay.

I hated the idea of going back to that house, even for a little while, so I told Gran I’d stay with her.

There was one of those lounge chairs in her hospital room and a nurse brought me a pillow and some blankets.

I thought I’d never get any sleep, but the next thing I remembered was a warm hand taking mine and Ben’s quiet voice next to me.

“I wanted to let you know I came to check on you.”

“Have they found Rosalyn yet?”

“No, not yet. She kept her purse on a hook near the front door, so she grabbed that and took off. I’m hoping she’ll realize running from us is useless and will come back home.

Her sons are on their way, so I’m going back to the house too.

There’s a lookout on her vehicle, and no one thinks she’ll get far.

I’m not convinced of that, so I’m going back to the house. ”

“I hate the thought of you there all alone.”

“I won’t be. There are others on the way, and her sons should be there by morning. I’m going to unbind your magic, just in case, but if she were to somehow show up here, don’t engage with her. I mean it, Ash. I’m doing this just as a precaution.”

I sat up dutifully in the lounge chair. I could tell he was still emotional and upset, though he was trying to hide it and act like he was fine.

With one hand on my head and one on my heart, he chanted a shortened version of the binding spell he’d used on me before, but this time he said the words backward. He said it should work for now until the Council did a more extensive version later.

“I’ve told the Council we needed a meeting to discuss this whole situation and to clear your name entirely. They can do another full unbinding ceremony while they’re at it. They owe you that.”

“Honey,” I said, touching his arm. “They did the best they could back then. Don’t hold a grudge, because I don’t.

My father was with me the whole time, and I really have no memory of what happened.

It was all too traumatic for a nine-year-old kid, I guess.

Or maybe it was the shock of seeing my mother die.

Rosalyn could have even flung some kind of forgetting spell at me.

But I couldn’t tell the Council anything.

Don’t harbor this resentment toward them.

Not on my account. As for my magic…I don’t even know if I want that or not. ”

He gave me a solemn look and then nodded.

“I understand. It’s going to take you a while to readjust your thinking about all this, but your magic is strong and it’s inside you, whether or not you want it.

You can’t just walk away from it, or it will simply leak out of you again.

Her oppression spell on you was so strong that even now that it’s gone, I can feel it still trying to oppress you and that may be affecting your thinking.

That’s why I want you to work with me for a while.

I know you still have your master’s thesis to finish, and you also have a few months of rehab to do too.

You can concentrate on both of those over the next few months and then once you submit your paper and finish the requirements for your degree you can begin your magic training with me. ”

“But I’ll be going back home.”

He tightened his arms around me. “Your home is with me. If you want to go back to Atlanta, then we’ll both go, but we’re staying together.”

I slid my arms around his waist. “Oh yeah?”

“Absolutely.”

“And what will you be teaching me if I stay here with you?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” He pulled me up to hug me and lowered his head for a kiss. He kissed me like he owned me—which in his mind, he did. Mine too, for that matter. I’d been his since the night I’d seen him on that road. He kissed me long and hard and then he pushed me gently away.

“I need to let you go back to sleep, and I need to get back to Rosalyn’s house to be there when her sons arrive. Call me in the morning, and I’ll come pick you up.”

“I will.” He gave me one more kiss and then he was gone. I lay there trying to get comfortable again for a long time before I dozed back off.

****

I didn’t wake up again until the first rays of dawn were coming in the hospital room window. At first, I thought a nurse was in the room, standing at the foot of my grandmother’s bed. I rubbed my eyes and came fully awake to see Rosalyn staring at me from about six feet away.

She smiled at me, and I felt the blood in my veins turn to ice water. “What’s the matter, Asher? Didn’t expect to see me here? You should know I’d come to see my poor, old sister in the hospital to make sure she’s all right.”

“You’re the one who put her here!”

“That’s a bit harsh, don’t you think?” There was a red mark on her forehead from where I had tackled her and taken her to the floor. I had the sudden, violent wish that I’d killed her then and there.

Following my gaze, she twisted her lips into a sneer. “I caught that thought. You’re a terrible boy, aren’t you? Janet never mentioned all that when I allowed her to bring you with her, or I’d have told her no.”

“Allowed her? You pushed her to bring me, so you could get me here to kill me.”

“Why, how can you say such a thing? That’s a terrible lie. Ben was the one who wanted you to come. Certainly not me. Why on earth would I want to kill you?”

“To cover your crimes!” I was yelling as loud as I could, hoping to attract some attention to the room. She realized it and shook her head.

“You know, Asher, if you manage to get some poor nurse to come in here, I’ll just kill her. Do you really want to be responsible for something like that?” With those words, she opened up her big leather handbag and pulled out a black revolver.

I gasped and took a big step back.

“W-where did you get a gun?”

“My husband and I were both magistrates. Of course, I still have my gun. A woman alone can’t be too careful.”

“Put that away, Janet! So far, you haven’t hurt anyone, but if you do this…”

“Yes? What will be different? Will Ben leave me alone and simply go away? Will he tell my sons it was all some terrible mistake?” She shook her head.

“No, I’m a realist. He’s a judgmental, just like his damn father.

I know the jig is up. But I won’t go without taking you with me at least. Now get on your feet or I’ll shoot you in that chair.

Makes little difference to me. I’ll turn the gun on Janet first though, if you don’t cooperate. ”

I did as she said and stood up, and I actually took a couple of steps toward her, thinking, I suppose, that I could get to her in time to wrest the gun away.

But I clearly saw I’d never make it, as she swung the barrel of the gun toward me, took aim and got ready to shoot me point blank.

In the next instant, she pulled the trigger and instinctively, I raised my hand as if to ward her off.

I made the sign that I’d seen Ben make in the bedroom the night before and shouted, “Avert!” just like he had.

I saw her register her shock and rage, but it was too late.

She had already fired by then, and my spell stopped the bullet in midair inches away from me and turned it back on her.

She had just enough time for one last choking sound of pure rage before it plowed into her forehead.

She dropped to the floor with a red bloom of blood spreading rapidly over her face, and I knew that she was already dead.