A Witch's Trial (Witch's Path Series: Book 3) (24 page)

"That. Please, make it stop doing that." She scrunched her eye.
 

The ivy heard the distress in her voice and settled down. Before I could initiate further conversation, it started to emit a green glow.
 

Michelle looked at her arm with wide eyes. "I changed my mind. Get it off me."

I was studying her wrist and trying to determine the best way to remove the ivy when movement at the edge of woods caught my attention. Looking up, I saw a man coming out of the woods. As soon as I got a good look at him, I knew he was of no danger to us.

He was a tall, burly man with skin the color of cherrywood and green hair with a sprig of pine tucked behind a pointed ear. His only clothing was a loincloth, which gave me a good view of the tattoo covering the left side of his chest.

The tattoo was of a maple tree. The top of the branches reached the base of his throat and curved with his shoulder, while its trunk turned to roots in line with his navel. The leaves on the tree were a mix of green, gold, and red. As he walked across the garden, a red leaf fell off the tree and moved down his torso, coming to a stop atop the tree's roots. The design might have looked like a human tattoo, but with moment like that it was something else entirely.
 

Michelle turned around and followed my gaze. When her eyes rested on the man, her jaw dropped. "Please be on our side," she whispered.
 

"Leshy Apalchen," I breathed.
 

"Who?" she asked, but I didn't answer.

The leshy stopped by Ty and scratched the dinosaur's jaw. Ty lazily thumped his tail against the ground and grunted. Leaning down, the leshy spoke to Ty in a soft voice that did not travel to my ears. His tail stilled as he growled and whined responses. A few words later, Ty resumed his vigorous wagging, and the leshy patted him again before continuing in our direction.
 

Leshy Apalchen came to a halt in front of Michelle. Her mouth was agape, and for once she was speechless. She sat there, motionless, as he plucked the wand out of the case and grasped her ivy-covered hand. At his touch, the ivy crept off her hand, making lazy loops around his arm.
 

After the ivy had transferred, he released her hand and held the wand an inch above the vine-covered portion of his body. As we watched, the ivy shifted to the wand, shrinking when it contacted the wood and twisting around the wand from tip to handle. When all the ivy was circling the wand, the green glow faded and it flattened, leaving a green design in the wood.
 

The leshy ran his fingers up and down the wand. Although I could feel magic, I could not discern what he was doing. He kissed the handle of the wand, and the air tingled with magic. After setting the wand back in the box, he kissed Michelle on the forehead.
 

"Thank you," Michelle whispered.
 

Leshy Apalchen smiled and stepped in front of me. He rested a finger against the metal cuff on my wrist, leaving the impression of an oak leaf and a tingle of magic behind. Leaning down, Leshy Apalchen set his lips against my forehead.
 

"
All shall be well, my son.
" The voice in my head was deep and clear. "
You know the path you must follow. Stand true.
"
 

He strode away whilst I was trying to form a coherent question, vanishing into the forest before the words would come to my lips. It was all well and good for him to tell me everything would be all right, but that did not help me deal with the here and now. As for the path, there was more than one before me. The vows I'd made to Sylvia, the push of the Call, the desire to terminate Gremory, and my feelings for Michelle, all were vying for my attention. Oh, the Call was likely to win as it was difficult to resist its pull, but I wanted to at least have the opportunity to shape the life I would live. If I had the chance to do more than react and follow orders, I needed to be emotionally stable so I could seize the moment with both hands.

Michelle looked at me. "You never did tell me who that was."

"That was Leshy Apalchen, the forest spirit of this area."

She paled. "The forest spirit came to visit me?"

I nodded.

"Was that one of the lesser forest spirits? One that covers a small area?"
 

"No, Michelle, that was the forest spirit of this area. I cannot say how much land he tends, but it is at least the lower Appalachian Mountains."

"Oh." She chewed on her lip. "He didn't speak to me."

"What?"

"You had that look you get when someone has said something frustrating."
 

"Ah." We sat there in silence, watching Ty roll in the grass.

It took more time than I would have liked, but I managed to empty my mind and let the tranquility of the earth wash over me. The garden was happy to have us, especially Michelle. It hadn't been seeing her enough lately. The trees were enjoying the last days of fall before they settled in for the winter. Evergreens were shedding pinecones, and beneath us the earth was slowing down.
 

"Do you want to go back inside?" Michelle asked, breaking my meditation.
 

"Yes."
 

"Good. I've had enough interaction with nature for a few days."

I was standing outside my apartment, trying to decide if I was willing to examine the wand in front of Varro, when my parents walked around the corner.

"Michelle, there's a message for you in the front yard," Dad said.

"Another one?" Of course there was. It had been an entire twelve hours since the last one. I set the wand box next to my front door and met them halfway down the hall.

"I know. We'll figure out something," Mom said, exchanging a look with Dad.
 

We headed for the door with Elron trailing behind. Luckily, he didn't mention the leshy. I needed time to reflect before I disclosed that encounter to everyone else. It would be one more thing people wanted to discuss, and I didn't have another tedious conversation in me. More to the point, I didn't have any answers.

"Make that two," Dad said as he opened the front door. Mom and Elron followed him onto the porch, but I hung back. With the protections on the lodge, the messages couldn't enter the building, even with the door open. One of the messages was the now-familiar glowing orb, this one a midnight blue. The second one was a letter floating five feet off the deck.

"Do I have to listen to them? I've suffered through enough of these."

"If you listen to them, we know where we stand with other clans," Mom said.

"But you don't have to," Dad countered.

"I don't?" My ears perked up. "Won't they the just follow me around until they can divulge their message?"

"Under normal circumstances, yes," Dad answered, "but I can deal with them."

"Please do. I'm starting to dream about these things and hear the voices when I'm in the shower." Ingrid's voice was especially persistent.

Dad went to his car, returned with an unadorned card box about twelve inches square with a circular hole in the top. He set it next to the front door and took a few steps back. As he began mouthing words, power built around him. With a wave of his hand, there was a soft pop and the air around the box vibrated with energy.

The orb soared into the box, followed by the letter. Dad smiled. "From now on, the messages should go directly into the box. It will turn black when it's full, and you'll have two days to do something with the messages. If you ask it nicely, it should return the letters one by one, but if you'd rather, you can hold your hand over the opening and say 'Be Gone.' The box will do its best to destroy all the letters, but that option will destroy the box too. If you wait too long, the box will automatically destroy the messages and itself."

"Thank you, Dad," I said, stepping outside to give him a hug.

"You're welcome," he whispered.

"We will figure this out, Michelle," Mom said, patting my back.
 

I was sure there was a solution, but I was out of grand ideas. The only thing I could suggest was joining a clan, and they hadn't been thrilled with that notion last time it came up.

"I know we will, but I don't have the energy to deal with it right now. After Gremory's dead, we can revisit the issue." Not enough energy wasn't the only problem. I didn't have time either. Varro wanted us to be ready, and I was sure his version of ready didn't include me spending time on ill-mannered witches.
 

"We can hope that this buys you enough time to fight the demon," Dad said. "If it doesn't work, I'll think of something else."

"You are the best."
 

Dad smiled and came back inside, followed by Mom. Elron poked the box with his toe on his way in.
 

"Dad," I said nervously, "have you started on my wand?"

He rubbed his temple. "No. I'm sorry, Michelle."

"No, it's okay. I found one that will do nicely, and I was hoping you could make me a scrying bowl instead. I don't have a good one right now." I watched him, trying to figure out if I'd hurt his feelings.
 

Dad smiled. "Of course, though it may take me a few weeks."

"That's okay. It could be a Christmas present."

"Oh, I should be able to do better than that for Christmas."
 

"I really appreciate it."

With that, we ran out of easy conversation. The four of us stood in the entryway, Elron with his shoulders hunched, tapping his fingers against his thigh, Mom and Dad holding hands, shifting back and forth.
 

Elron, I understood. He'd followed, not because he thought I'd need his help, but because his only other choice had been Varro, who was hardly a soothing presence.

"What is it?" I asked. This was the go-to awkwardness my parents exhibited when they didn't want to talk about something but had to tell me anyway.
 

Mom spoke up. "We are going to stay at Greg's house until things with the demon are settled. It's safer there; you'll understand when you come to the wedding. And I think we'll distract you if we stay." She sniffled.
 

Dad picked up the explanation before I could start sputtering questions. "We'll do anything we can to help, but we talked it over and this seems best. We won't be able to help with the spell, you're more than capable of protecting yourself, and if we're here, you'll be worried about us."

There, in that last sentence, I could see the pain they felt. They wanted to be here, fighting for me and helping me, but this wasn't something they could fix. Along with that came the realization that as long as they were here, they could be a liability, something to pull my attention away from my task. They weren't leaving because they wanted me to do this on my own, they were leaving because they couldn't help, could hurt me, and couldn't watch me stand between evil and the rest of the world.

"I'll call every day."

"I know you will." Mom pulled me in for a hug.
 

Dad patted my shoulder, but his eyes were focused behind me. I looked up to see him nod. Dad wouldn't be here, but he trusted Elron to keep me safe. Hopefully Elron could keep his side of the bargain, but I wasn't willing to bet on it since he would have enough on his plate with Sylvia having returned possessed by a demon, not to mention her forthcoming death. I hoped, for his sake, that if he failed to keep me safe he wouldn't make it, because living with that would destroy him and he deserved better than that. The earth would welcome him home, bringing him the peace he hadn't been able to achieve in life.
 

Mom let me go, dabbing her eyes. "The car's already packed. We'll be at his house by lunch. I can call, let you know we arrived safely."

I nodded. "Leave a message if I don't pick up. Dad, can you make me another box when this one is full?"

"Of course, and I'll teach you the spell next week." His smile was forced.
 

"That would be nice. I'll see you soon." I gave both of them another hug before watching them settle into the car and roll down the driveway. Watching them leave hurt. They took something with them as they bumped down the gravel road, and I felt its lack as sorrow crept into my heart. For a moment I wanted to call them back. As distracting as they could be, it would be nice to have their support.
 

"We should check on Varro, and I must show you the other features of that bracelet," Elron said, breaking my reflections.

"Oops, I didn't mean to leave him alone this long." My feet were heavy, and each step took more effort than usual. I missed my parents already and wanted to run down the road, calling them back. Darn them for being right.
 

 
"He will be fine, although your apartment might have been remodeled in our absence."

I groaned. "What if he got into my workroom?"

"Then we will find him entangled in the trinkets from Union County that you have yet to disenchant."

"If he breaks anything, I'm feeding him to Landa." I threatened.

Elron chuckled, picked up the wand box, and held open door to my apartment. Varro was sitting exactly where we left him, still talking to the book. Elron closed the door behind us, and Varro nodded in our direction. When he finished speaking, he tapped the pen and it fell onto the page.

"That's unexpected. Good, but unexpected," Varro said.

"What?" I asked.
 

Elron stood next to me, head tilted to one side, long silver hair trailing down his arm.
 

"You've been blessed. 'Tis an unexpected boon. Why didn't you tell me this was why you needed to leave?"

"I'm sorry, I'm confused," I said.
 

Elron started speaking before I finished. "Is that what he did?"

Varro's face didn't change, but I had the feeling he was surprised. "He didn't tell you?"

I took a deep breath. "Could you please explain?"