The Trouble With Spells (7 page)

“I was awakened by
a visitor,” I replied, laughing. Grandma turned to look at me then, noticing
the giant cat in my arms.

“Oh!” She removed
the pan from the heat and came to stroke the animal. “Well, that happened
fast!”

“What did?” I
asked, not following.

“This cat is your
familiar,” she said knowingly.

“My what?”

“Your familiar,”
she said again happily, while scratching its ear. “A familiar is a spiritual
helper to a witch.”

“I left the window
open,” I explained. “She just wandered in.”

Grandma smiled. “A
familiar will choose the witch, not the other way around.”

“How do we know
she’s not just someone’s lost cat?”

“Ask her to do
something for you. If she does it, you’ll have your answer.”

I paused for a
minute, thinking this task was harder than it sounded. I’d never asked a cat to
do something for me before.

“Cat,” I said,
feeling more than a little dumb not knowing what to ask for. I looked around
and spied several leaves on the grass outside. “Bring me a leaf.” I wondered
what in the world I was doing.

The cat jumped out
of my arms, pushed the screen door open with her nose and ran out into the yard.
A few moments later she was back at the door meowing to get in. I opened it,
and the cat bowed its head to pick something up and trotted into the room. It
dropped a leaf at my feet.

“Well, paint me
purple and call me stupid,” I muttered in complete amazement.

“Don’t talk like
that! You might jinx yourself someday,” Grandma said sternly.

“Jinx myself? Is
that really possible?”

“You have to be
careful how you say things now. Your words will have extra meaning,” she
explained. “By the way, what’re you going to name your cat?”

I thought about it
for just a few seconds.

“Jinx,” I said,
and we both laughed. “Is that name okay with you?” I looked at the fur ball.
The cat purred loudly, rubbing between my ankles.

“Welcome to the family
then, Jinx.” I bent to pick up the beautiful animal. I nuzzled her fur, while
Grandma stroked her again.

“Come eat some
breakfast,” Grandma said, straightening to go wash her hands in the sink. She
pulled a saucer out of the cupboard and set it on the counter.

I sat dutifully at
the table, while Grandma poured milk in the saucer for Jinx and placed it on
the floor. Jinx hopped out of my lap and ran straight to it.

Grandma dished us
up some eggs, sausage, and toast, along with a large glass of orange juice. Then
she sat down to join me.

“So, how was your
night out with Vance?” she asked casually just as I was putting a forkful of
eggs into my mouth. I choked.

“You know about
that?” I said coughing. I reached for my juice and downed a big swallow.

“Of course I do. I’m
a witch too, remember?” She laughed. “Next time you two can feel free to use
the front door. It’s easier than the window. That’s why I was surprised you
were up so early this morning. You’ve only had a few hours of sleep.”

“You aren’t mad?”
I was surprised she seemed to be going so easy about this.

“No. Vance is a
good kid. He needs someone to talk his troubles over with, and I think he’ll be
good for you too. I noticed last night there’s a strange energy between the two
of you, but I think it’s a good one.”

We continued
eating in silence for a few more moments, and the things Vance had told me
during our visit drifted through my mind.

“What did his dad
do?” I finally asked her, but my grandma shook her head, unwilling to answer
the question.

“We won’t discuss
his deeds here. I prefer to do it in a circle of protection. It’s safer that
way.”

“What’s a circle
of protection?” I would never feel comfortable with all this witch stuff.

“Finish your
breakfast,” Grandma replied. “Then I’ll take you down into the basement. We’ll
get started on your training, and I’ll teach you about some of this stuff.”

We finished our
food, and cleaned up after ourselves. Then we made our way to the linen closet,
and Grandma showed me exactly where to press on the third shelf from the top to
activate the hidden spring mechanism. Soon the narrow door was revealed again,
and we made our way down the stairs and into the first room we’d entered on the
previous night.

Grandma walked
over to the wall where a wooden table stood with a bench scooted up underneath
it. She pulled the bench out, sat down and invited me to sit next to her.

“So the first
thing you need to know is the Earth will provide you with pretty much
everything you’ll ever need for your magic.

“Here you can see we
have all kinds of herbs. Some of them I’ve grown fresh, others I have ordered
from unique places.

“There are herbs
in their natural forms, some have been pressed into oils, and some have been
placed in capsules, or powder forms. It’s a bit of a pharmacy of sorts. These
things can all be used in rituals and healings.”

She stood and
walked over to an aisle that ran between the sets of shelves and motioned for
me to follow. We walked back through a few rows of the herbs before she turned
down one with different articles.

My eyes widened
when I saw gems, crystals, and stones of every color imaginable. They were all
lying in velvet-lined boxes, each stone labeled in its spot.

“There are so
many,” I whispered, continuing to follow her down the aisle.

“These are all
amulets used in our rituals or to make talismans.” She turned to finger the
smooth purple stone hanging at my neck. “This is your talisman. It’s why you
were drawn to this particular stone. It’ll help to protect you from harm, and
it has been charged with magic from our coven. You should always wear it.”

I reverently
touched the gem at my neck, having a whole new appreciation for it.

“Is that why you
said the jewelry picked me?” I asked curiously, and she nodded.

“The energy from
the necklace was attracted to your energy,” she said, and beckoned me to follow
her again.

We rounded the
next aisle, and I was surprised once more. This row contained all sorts of
objects. There were sharp double-edged knives, silver goblets, incense burners,
sticks, swords, silk cloths of many different colors, and even a large black
pot.

Grandma went over
and picked up one of the double-edged knives.

“This is called an
athame,” she said. “It’s a witch’s personal knife, used in rituals and spell
casting.” She placed the knife back and touched one of the silver goblets.

“This is a
chalice, also used in rituals. There are a lot of all these items here since
the whole coven meets here often. In fact, most of the things you see here are
used in our rituals.”

She pointed out
the swords, telling me they were used in casting circles, censors for the
burning of herbs to keep unwanted energies away, and the Hazelwood sticks were
actually wands of some sort, used to channel magic through, though not very
often.

The large black
iron pot was a cauldron, and I found myself having to press back a giggle at
the image of my grandma stirring over it. Next to it were smaller bowls, which
were used for grinding herbs.

There was a narrow
wooden door at the end of this aisle, and we stepped through it into a very
tiny, but organized, wine cellar. Most of the wine was in bottles lying on
curved wooden wine racks, but there were a couple of small barrels that were
stacked up on each other in the corner.

“This is our wine
cellar. We often use wine in our rituals, but sometimes we just like to have a
drink too.” Grandma laughed, giving me a wink. “But we try not to indulge too
much. Everything in moderation, you know.” She turned to walk back out of the
room. “Any questions?”

“Thousands,” I
replied, not even knowing where to start.

“Don’t worry, dear.
It’ll become natural to you over time. The more you use it, the more
comfortable it’ll become until it’s second nature to you.” She paused for a
moment. “So there’s something delicate I need to ask you.”

“Go ahead.”

“Are you willing
to become a member of the coven?”

“I thought that
was a given,” I replied, not realizing I had any say in the matter. I’d thought
it was already a done deal. Wasn’t that why she was telling me all this stuff?

“It must be of
your own free will and choice,” she stated. “It’s the only way your magic will
truly bind with the rest of ours.”

“Then, yes. I’m
willing,” I answered without hesitation. I knew she and my dad would never
purposely lead me into something harmful.

“Very good,” she replied,
smiling. “We’ll hold the initiation ceremony with the others tomorrow then.”

“There’s an
initiation?” A sudden case of nerves fluttered through me. I wondered what that
would entail.

“Yes. You have to
be officially accepted by the coven. That’ll be what binds our magic together.”

“I see,” I said,
even though I really didn’t. “Is there anything special I need to know for this
ceremony?”

“No. Just wear
this.” She handed me a black hooded robe.

We walked back
through the rows of shelves, and she had me place the robe on the table. Then
she took me to the ritual room from last night.

“We hold all of
our meetings in here. Those candelabras in each corner hold specific candles to
call the four elements. The elements are Water, Air, Fire, and Earth. The blue
pillar is for water. The yellow one is for air. The crimson one is for fire,
and the brown one is for earth,” she said, pointing to each candle
individually.

“Here on the table
is where we place the specific things we’d need when casting a circle. You’ll
see that done in our meeting tomorrow.”

She walked over to
a small cupboard and pulled out a medium-sized book.

The volume looked
worn with age, sort of antiqued. I was surprised, however, to find it was full
of crisp white pages on the inside, which had been trimmed in brown to give the
pages an older look.

“This will be your
Book of Shadows,” Grandma explained, handing the book over to me. “It’s a
journal of your craft and experiences. You’ll write down important rituals and
spells, as well as things you’ve learned. It’ll serve as a guide for you to
help you remember things in the future.”

“Do you have a
Book of Shadows?” I asked curiously.

“I do, and you’re
welcome to look through it if you’d like to.”

I nodded. “I
would.”

“The book is up in
my bedroom. Let’s head up there.” She led the way out of the ritual room and
back down the hallway to the storage room.

I followed her up
the stairs, where I found Jinx waiting patiently for me. She rubbed through my
legs before following me down the hallway and into Grandma’s bedroom.

Grandma went over
to a drawer in her nightstand and pulled out a book that was clearly much older
and thicker than mine. She handed it to me.

“All I ask is that
you please don’t leave the house with it. It’s very sacred to me since it contains
details of much of my life. And please feel free to ask me any questions you
may have about it.”

I thanked her, and
we headed into the living room, where I plopped into an overstuffed armchair
and began slowly flipping through the pages of her book.

She’d begun
writing in this journal on her sixteenth birthday. It explained her own
disbelief when her mother told her about the family powers that had been passed
on for generations.

It talked of the
very first spell she’d ever tried. In a moment of anger she had commanded a
wart to appear on her brother’s nose. The book explained in great detail the
sorrow she received from that command when she woke up the next morning with
three warts on her own nose which lasted for three hours longer than her brother’s
one hour. This was her first lesson in the Rule of Three, or the Laws of Return.
What one gives out will come back to them threefold. She cried when her mother
explained to her that the Law of Three didn’t always work so precisely, but
there were always consequences to magic even though those consequences might
not readily be seen.

I was deeply
immersed in her book when the front door opened and my mom walked in.

“There you are,”
she said, bending to give me a hug. Then she caught sight of grandma’s book. “Ah.
I see you’re reading Milly’s Book of Shadows.”

“You know about
all this too?” I asked, feeling surprised for some reason. She had never
alluded to anything magical.

She nodded. “I try
to stay out of the way though and leave the magic to the experts.” She smiled. “So
are you coming home today or what?”

“Sorry, Stacey,”
Grandma said, entering the room. “I’ve been giving her the tour.” She winked
over at me.

“No problem,” Mom
said. “I was just wondering if she was ever going to come home and open her birthday
present from her dad and I.”

That got my
attention. “I have another present?” I asked, jumping out of the chair and
handing my grandma her book.

“Yes, silly. You
didn’t think we wouldn’t get you something, did you? Go grab your things and
load them in the car.”

After I had
dressed, Grandma helped me gather up the presents I’d received from my party
the night before and carry them out.

“Thanks for
everything yesterday,” my mom said to grandma. “I was hoping I could get off
early, but the hospital was crazy last night.”

“No problem. We
missed you though. It was great fun, wasn’t it, Lollipop?” Grandma replied with
a grin.

“It was the best,
Grandma.” I gave her a hug and a kiss and told her I would come by later, then
hopped into the car with my mom.

The drive to our
house only took a couple of minutes, and soon we pulled up in front of the
garage door. Mom hit the button to open it, and I was amazed to see my dad
standing in there with a sign that said, “surprise” in big letters. He was
standing next to a motorized scooter in one of the brightest shades of green
I’d ever seen, with a wire basket on the back. There was a large purple bow on
the seat.