“What do you mean you moved the ley line?” exclaimed Dolores as she paced around the kitchen. “That’s preposterous. It makes no logical sense.”
“And ley lines are logical?” I countered.
Dolores gave me a hard stare. “Don’t patronize me. Everyone knows you respect those taller than you.”
I laughed. “Yes, ma’am.”
Beverly popped an olive in her mouth. “She does have a point. I never did understand how those ley lines work. All those courses of lines and stops, ups and downs, and side to side. It’s exhausting.” She fanned herself with her hand. “I’m breaking a sweat just thinking about it.”
Dolores patrolled the kitchen, stopped, and gestured with her right hand while her left was on her hip. “Just… start from the beginning. I need to hear it again.”
“It’s like I said. I reached out to the nearest ley line and I pulled it to me. I bent it,” I said again, seeing my Aunt Dolores’s eyes widening more each time.
The moment I got back, I’d hurried inside Davenport House in search of Ruth to give her the good news. I’d finally found her upstairs in her bedroom, standing next to her window and staring absently outside.
“I did it, Ruth,” I’d told her as came to stand next to her. “I passed. I passed the second trial.” When she didn’t answer, I tried again. “Ruth? Did you hear me? I passed the second trial.”
When my aunt had finally turned around and acknowledged my presence, I’d stifled a gasp.
Her face. Her face had aged twenty years. Heavy layers of skin drooped down around her eyes and mouth, pale and dry. Her hair was a mess like she hadn’t brushed it in years.
“That’s wonderful,” she’d said to me, her eyes distant and not really seeing me. Then, she’d looked away, back at whatever had gotten her attention outside.
My throat and eyes had burned as I’d bitten back a sob. I didn’t want to break down in front of her. Not when she needed me to be strong.
I’d left her room feeling devastated that I hadn’t helped her in some way.
There was still time to prove her innocence. I didn’t know how I was going to do it, but I just knew I had to do something.
“Let me get this straight,” Dolores was saying, and my attention snapped back to her. She stopped pacing and spun to face me. “You’re saying that you pulled the ley line that was miles away into this labyrinth… pulled it right next to you… and then you used it—”
“She bent it,” interjected Beverly who flashed me one of her smiles and popped another olive into her mouth. “She’s flexible.” Her green eyes met mine and she raised a perfectly manicured brow. “Speaking of flexible,” she said, her voice low and sultry. “Oliver said he’s never been with someone so flexible.” I had no idea who this Oliver was, probably her man of the week.
“He said he could just bend me like he wanted. Like a doll.”
“Yes, an inflatable one,” snapped Dolores.
Beverly glared at her sister. “You’re just envious because you haven’t had a date in months,” she replied, casually tossing her hair back and casting a glittering smile my way. “It’s not my fault you don’t put yourself out there. You might get lucky and find a man who doesn’t mind dating a big ol’ sasquatch.”
“As opposed to dating what? A walking mattress?” Dolores shot back. “I’ll take those odds anytime.”
I cleared my throat at Dolores’s hard stare. “Umm… we’re getting sidetracked. We were discussing the ley lines?” I didn’t want them to start a fight again. The tension between my aunts was getting worse. The closer we got to December 23, the higher the tension. We were all under a lot of stress. The last thing we all needed was a wedge between the sisters.
Dolores nodded and made a sound in her throat. “You said you bent the ley line and used it to finish the trial?”
“Yes. That’s exactly what I’m saying.” I leaned forward in my chair, grabbed a piece of cheese from the large platter piled with an assortment of cheeses from different countries, and stuffed it in my mouth. I was ravenous. The trial had used up all my energy. High-fat dairy was my healing food. The creamier the better.
“So?” I asked, swallowing. “How come Ruth never told me I could bend the ley lines? I mean… I’ve been over and over the ley line book she gave me. But I couldn’t find anything on that.”
My chewing was loud in the sudden silence. I swallowed and grabbed another slice of Italian cheese with chunks of cranberry in it. Yum.
Dolores pulled a chair from the kitchen table opposite me and sat. “That’s because it’s never happened before.”
I choked on my cheese. “Excuse me?” I coughed, my stomach tightening. “What do you mean… it’s never happened before?” My heart slammed against my chest at their silence, my eyes darting to each aunt. “Are you telling me… there’s never been a witch who’s done this before?”
Dolores watched me for a long moment. “That’s exactly what I’m telling you.”
“Bullshit.”
Dolores raised a brow. “Language.”
I leaned back in my chair. “Clearly it has something to do with me being a Shadow witch. Right?” It was the only thing that made any logical sense. From what I knew, it was a rare gift. Only a handful of witches were considered Shadow witches. I knew being able to weave both Dark and Light magic had its perks. This was just another badass magic bonus. The image of Silas’s utter shock brought a smile to my lips. It had been so worth it.
Beverly drummed her red manicured fingers on the table. “I’ve never heard of a Shadow witch or any witch with the power of drawing ley lines to them and bending them. We all know ley lines run straight. Like a grid that wraps around the earth. I don’t think any witch or magic practitioner can.”
“Maybe you just haven’t heard of it,” I told them, my pulse rising with excitement. “Because,” I continued as I reached for another piece of that fabulous Italian cheese, “it’s so rare that the witches who can bend the ley lines have kept it a secret. I mean, it’s possible they were afraid to tell anyone. You know how witches get when they hear of something that could potentially make them a crapload more powerful. Take Adan and the Elder ring. He kind of lost his mind.”
Beverly let out a puff of air. “He was already a jerk, darling. I doubt the ring had any part in that. That was all him.”
“Even so,” I said, chewing. “Hmmm. Good cheese. Um… I think it’s really unlikely that I’m the only one.”
“I don’t think you’re hearing us, Tessa,” said Dolores. The tension in her voice pulled my eyes to her. “Moving, bending, manipulating ley lines the way you’ve described to us… it’s never been done. By anyone.”
“I’m pretty sure I remember seeing the sorceress Samara doing just that in the woods.” I had a good visual of the psychotic sorceress pulling the ley lines to her.
“That wasn’t the same.” Dolores shook her head. “Samara pulled the town’s ley lines’ energy into that fortress. Not the ley lines themselves. She was drawing on their power. She never physically moved them like you did. She never bent them.”
I should have been feeling excited at the prospect of being able to do something that apparently no other witch could. But the grim faces my aunts wore made me feel like puking. I really wasn’t getting why they didn’t see this as an opportunity.
If I could bend ley lines… what else could I do with them?
So, so much.
I took a sip of water from my tall glass to wash down the cheese, not liking where this conversation was going. “But this is good. Right? Being able to bend ley lines is good,” I blurted out, remembering how badly things had declined for me when I told them I was seeing a goat, who turned out to be a cursed Iris.
“I’m not entirely sure,” answered Dolores as she glanced at Beverly. The two sisters did that thing again, that unspoken conversation between them that only close siblings could share.
My jaw tightened. “What?” The look didn’t settle well with me. The cheese I’d just gobbled down threatened to come back up. “Why are you both looking at me like I’m crazy. I’m not seeing dead people or demons or ghosts that no one else can see. This is entirely different.”
Dolores folded her hands on the kitchen table. “Not necessarily.”
I leaned back and wrapped my arms around my middle. “Okay. Can you tell me why?” My voice sounded harsh, but I was getting a little ticked off at how ominous this whole situation was getting.
I was kind of glad I hadn’t mentioned the man I’d seen in the ley line earlier. If they were freaked out about me bending ley lines, imagine what they would do if I told them a dude was in there with me.
Yeah, I wasn’t going to tell them about that just yet.
Thinking of said man reminded me of Marvelous Myrtle’s warning to me months ago before she died. “A dark presence is following you. It’s… around you… around your aura.” Had he been this dark presence? The man in the ley line?
Dolores pressed her lips together in thought. “As you know, not many witches are capable of drawing power from ley lines. To most, ley lines are still an unknown territory in terms of magic. And most witches are afraid to even use a ley line. They’re unpredictable. If you’re not in tune with them, you might lose a limb.”
“Or your life,” added Beverly and then took a sip of her red wine.
“Yes, but some witches do,” I countered, staring at my glass of red wine, which was still full. “Even Ruth told me she used to ride the ley lines.”
Dolores sighed through her nose, and I could see the pain that just mentioning Ruth did to her. “Riding ley lines is like riding a race car,” she said.
“Good analogy,” agreed Beverly, lifting her glass in a salute.
“Thank you.” Dolores shifted in her chair. “Race cars are dangerous. Deadly. And only a few people are crazy enough to ride them.”
“You mean someone like me,” I said.
“And a handful of others, yes. The thing is, ley lines are still in the gray area of magic. Because of their nature, we don’t know much about them. It’s not like elemental magic, or even borrowing magic from demons like the Dark witches do. It’s been practiced for thousands of years by millions of witches all over the earth. All magic is risky. But ley lines… the energy drawn from ley lines is a magic that’s still raw, unsure, and unused. We just don’t know that much about it. But I am a hundred percent certain that bending or moving lines has never been done before.”
“To your knowledge,” I said, ignoring her frown. “I did it. I’m not lying.”
“We believe you,” added Beverly quickly.
“That’s the problem.” Dolores sighed. Fear simmered in the back of her thoughts, showing on her face. “Tessa. If I’m right, and I have a feeling that I am, you are the only person on this earth who can.” She hesitated, searching my face. “Do you know understand what I’m trying to say?”
“Maybe if you stopped talking like Obi-Wan Kenobi, I might have a chance.” My heart did a little flip-flop of dread. “What kind of freak am I?”
Of course, if there had to be a freak in the world, it would be me. And if I was the only one who could bend the ley lines with my will, what did that make me?
“Sorry, darling.” Beverly reached over the table and tapped my hand. “It’s better to be a witch freak than a human freak.”
“That’s not exactly helping,” shot Dolores.
Beverly leaned back in her chair. “Of course, it is.” She tipped her glass to her lips and finished her wine. “She’s here with us,” she said as she reached for the bottle and poured herself another glass. “In this town, she can be as freakish as she wants. This is Hollow Cove, for cauldron’s sake. We’re all freaks. Nothing new here.”
A dark cast came over Dolores, and I could see that she was really worried. “Tessa. Did the arbitrator—this Silas—see you when you bent the ley line?”
I stiffened in my chair. “Yes. So what? It’s not illegal to use the ley lines. I used what I could to finish the trial. What? You think I shouldn’t have?”
Dolores bit her bottom lip. “I’m just trying to understand. If he saw you, then Greta knows.”
“And you don’t want her to know?”
“I would rather less people know until I know more about this. It’s all very new and unexplored.” Dolores was quiet for a long time. The only sound was Beverly drinking her wine.
This was not the reaction I’d expected from my aunts. I thought they’d be excited at the prospect of my being able to do something extraordinary. I had let it go to my head. And now, well, now it seemed like bending the ley lines was a bad idea.
“So, what now?” I asked. “You think Greta is going to use that against me?” A new dread rushed through me at the thought. “You think they’ll take away my win?” If they did, I thought I would murder that old witch.
“Settle down, Tessa.” Dolores gave me a weak smile. “They can’t fail you for using a ley line. But, knowing Greta, she’s probably already looking into it.”
“And?”
“And,” said Dolores, her features twisting in bitterness. “I would hate it if she knew something I didn’t.” Dolores pushed back her chair, a dark gleam in her eye. “I have some work do to.”
“What about Ruth?” I called out as Dolores walked out of the kitchen and into the hallway.
Halfway down the hallway she turned around, opened her mouth to say something, but then shut it and walked away.
“I’m afraid we’ve failed Ruth.” Beverly’s voice was small, and when I looked back, her green eyes welled with tears. She put her glass to her lips and downed the entirety of her wine in one gulp. “It’s over.”
I clenched my jaw. “It’s not over. She’s still here. And she’s innocent. She didn’t put that black belladonna in her potion.”
“I know, darling.” Beverly grabbed the wine bottle. Her hands shook as she poured herself another large glass. The wine spilled from the rim of the glass and onto the table. “She didn’t even have any left.”
Alarmed, I froze. “What did you say?”
Beverly wiped a tear from her red cheek. “She’d run out. Months ago. It’s not an herb she likes to use, so she hadn’t bought any for a while. It couldn’t have been her. We didn’t even have it in the house when she made that gingerweed for Bernard.”
“Oh, my god.”
“It wasn’t Ruth.” Beverly bent her head over her glass, slurped the excess wine, and giggled. She picked up her glass, spilling the wine over the table and her wrist as she took another sip.
I leaned over the table and grabbed Beverly’s wrist. “Did you tell them that? The Gray Council?”
“We did. They didn’t care. They said it didn’t prove that she didn’t put it in there. They said she could have gotten it somewhere else.”
“Idiots.” And then it hit me. “Where did Ruth get her orders of black belladonna from?”
Beverly laughed, but tears fell from her eyes just as more wine spilled down her hand. “From Gilbert’s store. He has an aisle reserved for exotic herbs. It’s seriously overpriced too. The little worm of a man.”
My pulse thrashed with excitement. This was it. This was what I’d been waiting for. It was right in front of me, so simple. I knew exactly what to do.
“Where’s Iris?” For my plan to work, I was going to need her help. Possibly Ronin’s too.
“She’s probably banging that vampire,” said Beverly, her green eyes unfocused. “Good for her. Good for her for getting some. Orgasms are the best stress releasers.” Not this again. She started to laugh as she pointed a finger at what I expected she thought was me—but was the refrigerator. “Do you have a good vibrator?”
“Okay.” I jumped to my feet. “Time for me to go.”
“What?” Beverly kept laughing. “Martha’s got a two for one special.”
“Two for one vibrator special?” This was beyond weird.
“No,” she dismissed me with a wave of her free hand. “You get a facial and a vibrator for the price of one.”
That was my cue. “I’ll see you later,” I said, tense and excited all at the same time.
Grabbing my phone, I rushed down the hallway, my pulse racing with anticipation because I knew how to get Ruth’s charges dropped.