If the Broom Fits (19 page)

She shook her head. “I don't get visions. Not yet. But I could try to cast a spell that looks to the future.”

“Do it,” Selene said. “Even if it doesn't work, we haven't lost anything trying.”

“Okay.” I thumped my fist against my forehead three times as I tried to play this out in my mind. “Selene is the strongest so let's put her front and center. Alexis and Terrick have the next most active abilities so they can flank her. You guys are in charge of distraction. Alexis can set a fire and Terrick can blow something up. The bigger we can make it without burning down the house the better.” I wrote them all in.

“The next row will be Leslie and Kat. They might not have showy powers, but they pack a hell of a punch these days.” They both nodded. “Aisha, I'm going to put you between them and the protective circle in back. So basically we will be in an inverted pyramid formation. Does that benefit us in anyway?”

“No,” Selene said.

“What if we try this?” Leslie took the pen from me and flipped the page. She fanned everyone out from Frost, starting with Selene on her right and Terrick on the left, then Alexis and Kat and Leslie and Aisha. Finally she ended with the protective circle in the center of the triangle so the formation looked like the all-seeing eye.

Selene nodded. “I like that better.”

“Me too,” I said. “How are you coming on the spell?” I asked Terrick.

“Still working out the math. I'm close though.”

“If Olivia is going to help us get the angel here, then all that's left to do is clear out the cellar and set up what we need,” Leslie said.

And just like that we were barreling toward another battle with an uncertain end.

T
he parade
of people stomping through the house and out the front door was hard to miss. They must have figured out something while I was talking to Olivia. The more I spoke with her, the more comforting she was. She didn't rush me or push me. She didn't even ask questions, probably because she already knew the answers.

She was just so easy to talk to. I told her everything. It spilled from me as if a cap had been removed. I told her about growing up, about meeting Sy and then the coven, about my mother and about what I thought versus what might have been. I even told her about Corbin and Orion. She listened to all of it with no sympathy or pity on her face, just peaceful acceptance.

“So you see why it has to be me who takes care of this?” I finished.

She drew in a deep breath. “I see that doing this yourself will bring you peace, but the question remains, is peace what you are looking for?”

“What do you mean?”

“You are young, Frost. There is still so much life left before you. You must ask yourself if it is too soon to accept that the purpose of your life is not still of your choosing. You were not born to correct the sins of another. Perhaps you were born to forge your own path.”

I crossed my legs beneath me in the chair. “I can't explain why, but I feel like this is what I need to do. That's not saying I'm not scared as hell, because I am. Death has always frightened me. But,” I shook my head, “so does living like this for the rest of my life. I have been at war with what I am since the day I was born. At least now I can use my power in a way of my choosing.”

Olivia nodded. “Then your decision is made and you do not need me.”

“Wait,” I said before she could leave. “How do we get him here?”

“Pray,” she said.

“It can't be that easy.” Nothing was ever that easy.

She nodded. “And that hard.” She put a hand over mine. “Good luck. I'll be watching.”

Despite everything I thought I would feel when the grim reaper told me she was watching me, I felt comfort. “I'm glad it will be you,” I said.

Olivia nodded, but I couldn't read her expression before she faded from the room.

I was alone in my mother's house for the first time ever. All day someone had been here with me, but now it was just me and the house that would never be a home. It was sort of like me in all the things it would never be.

I glanced at the star light box that Orion had intended to give me as a child. So sentimental. Granted he never actually gave it to me until it was too late, but the thought was still there. I noticed a notepad in the center of the table and couldn't remember seeing it before. I pulled it over to me and a pen rolled off to the side. There was a note on the top sheet.

“Even if you can't speak the words, tell the people in your life what they meant to you.” It was signed “—O.”

Olivia, of course. I tore off the top page and stared at it. I had no idea where to even begin, but the advice felt right. I took a deep breath and put my pen to the paper, but nothing came to me. My mind was perfectly blank. Then the single most obvious choice popped into my mind.

Leslie,

I'm sure you guys have already figured out my plan. You've been here through all of this and above anyone else I probably owe you an explanation the very most, but I'm not going to give it to you. Okay, so this might be the worst goodbye letter ever written, but just because I'm going to die doesn't mean I have to change everything about myself. So instead of being mushy, which you are probably already crying too much to take, I am just going to tell you what needs to be said.

So stop crying.

Stop it.

Okay, first off let me start with saying I was lucky to have met you and the rest of the coven, but especially you. You made me feel like I could really be one of you someday and that wasn't something I experienced often in my life. You also were pushy and determined to help me whether or not I wanted it which was both annoying and the best thing you could have possibly done. Never change anything about yourself for anyone.

I guess what I am really trying to say is you were my friend even if I didn't always show it. Thank you for that. I will miss you the most.

Love,

Frost

The next one was also an easy choice, and words (maybe not the right words, but words nevertheless) came easily.

Sy,

I don't think I ever said it out loud, but thank you. You did more for me than you could possibly ever know. The day you found me hiding in the alley was the first time my life had ever changed for the better.

I really am okay with the decision I made, but the one part that gives me any hesitation in all of this is that I am disappointing you. For a long time that was the single thought that got me through the bad days when I really did just want to stop trying to do what was right and instead do what was easy. But I owed you more than that.

So you see, it wasn't just the fact that you were in the right place at the right time. You actually made me want to be more than what I was. In a lot of ways the person you knew was as much my creation as I was yours. Only you were the one responsible for the best parts of me and I never have forgotten it.

No matter what happens or where I end up, I will always remember that. You have the best heart of anyone I have ever met. Never stop taking in us strays. We need you.

Love,

Frost

Tears streamed down my cheeks. This was harder than I thought it would be. I wrote to the rest of the coven members individually, then a collective letter to the coven I never got to know. I had already said goodbye to Orion in person, so there was no one else left to write to. Or no one else who was still alive. I lifted the pen again.

To the mother I have never known,

I don't know why I am writing this other than you left me a letter and even though my letter will never reach you, writing it seems somehow important in the eleventh hour.

There are a lot of things I always wished I could tell you. Things like you ruined my life. You had to be the most selfish, uncaring, unlovable woman who ever walked the face of the earth to justify my complete and utter hatred for you. There were so many times I wished I hadn't been born. So many times I would have given anything for you to be there so you could wrap your arms around me and tell me everything was going to be okay. But you weren't and it wasn't.

Now I am finishing what you started. Once again robbing myself of the life I should have had, but this time I go a little more in peace. I can see the dilemma you faced now more clearly than I ever could before. It doesn't excuse your choice or soften the impact of that decision on my life, but now I understand.

So from a daughter to a mother I will never speak to, I may not have the strength in me to forgive you, but wherever you are, you should know that despite everything I have always loved you.

Frost

I tri-folded each letter and wrote the recipient's name on the outside. I removed the key from around my neck, unlocked Orion's box, and placed each letter inside. I was about to turn the key to relock it when another idea hit me, making me smile.

I took one last sheet of paper.

Corbin,

You never did kill me. Kiss my ass.

Frost

There. Now I was really done. I locked the box and left the skeleton key lying on top of it where someone would find it after all was said and done.

“I've got it,” a voice yelled from the hidden room, startling me.

I got up and went to look. Terrick was inside, waving a piece of paper at no one since he was the only one in the room.

“I have it. I figured it out. Yes!” He reached toward me in his enthusiasm, but I managed to avoid him.

“No touching,” I snapped. “What did you figure out?”

“Where your mother went wrong. It wasn't a problem with the spell. It was a problem with her math. You see . . .” He dove into a long explanation about the math required to pinpoint where exactly the door would open and while she thought she was opening it to Orion, she really hit Aquarius instead.

“Okay, so what you're saying is it will work,” I said slowly.

He nodded. “Yes, it will work. More than that, we can actually do what she set out to do. We could rescue Orion if we wanted to.”

Everything in me stilled and time seemed to slow. “What?”

“Yeah, once we get rid of the angel and seal that door, we could open a different door to Orion. No problem.” His jubilation froze as he looked at my face. “Only if you want to, though.”

Whether or not I wanted to bring Orion here permanently wasn't even a question. Of course that's what I would want to do in a perfect world, but this world that we lived in was far from perfect. The same tempting trap my mother fell into was now lying wide open at my feet. I could use my power to overrule the gods and make my will known, or I could pay the price for insubordination as Orion was currently doing. Olivia's words echoed in my mind. Was it too soon to accept my purpose in life?

The paper in Terrick's hand promised both a future and a demise, but which would it be this time? In my mother's case it was demise. Would that change in my case? Would I succeed where she failed? “That's good to know,” was the only thing I managed to say. I backed away from him, numbly. “We should join the others.”

Outside the snow had stopped completely and even the wind wasn't blowing. Orion was gone. I glanced up at the sky. Was he back there? It was so very much within my reach now. I spun around and looked directly at Terrick. “When all of this is done, free Orion. Promise me you will free him.”

Terrick nodded. “We can do it as a coven,” he said, obviously meaning I would be there too.

I smiled a little. “Just promise on whatever matters to you that you'll make sure it's done.”

He took a deep breath. “You're really demanding for someone I just met, but fine, I promise.”

“Thank you.” I started back on course for the cellar.

When we got there, the doors were wide open and all the junk from inside was piled outside. What on earth were they doing? I went down the stairs and discovered a protection circle had been drawn on the floor. The only things left in the room were two small stacks on either side of the wall where my mother had drawn the door.

“So what's the plan?” I asked.

Leslie was the only one who stopped what she was doing and looked up, while Terrick rushed over to Jessica and excitedly told her about his findings.

“We're getting things ready so we can open and close the door fast after Ornias arrives. Do you know how to reach him?”

I nodded. “According to Olivia all I have to do is pray.”

Leslie's eyebrows shot up. “I guess that sort of makes sense given he's an angel or an ex-angel or whatever.”

“I think the word you're looking for is fallen,” I said.

She shrugged. “Whatever. So how will he arrive?”

“I take it just like Olivia does. One second he won't be here and the next he will.”

She rubbed a hand over her eyes, looking very tired. “That's hard to prepare for.”

“We'll manage,” I said. “It will be over almost faster than it starts. Opening the door, getting him through it, and sealing the door shouldn't take more than a few moments.”

“Hopefully,” she said. “Who knows what else is out there?”

“Orion is gone,” I said.

Her head tilted to the side. “He was never going to stay.”

I knew that. But part of me had hoped . . .and that fact—that I still hoped—killed me.

“Frost,” Leslie said firmly. “Do whatever you need to do to prepare, but know this: I am going to hug you now.”

I took a step back. “No. Why?”

She held up her hand and started counting down on her fingers. I didn't know what to do, so I tucked my braid into my wool hat and made sure my scarf covered my whole face even though it made it difficult to breathe. Moments later she wrapped her arms around me and squeezed hard.

“You are going to be okay,” she whispered.