The Bewitching - Midsummer Aine - Book 2

Chapter 31 - The Fallen

The night had passed more quickly than Elyssa had expected. It was filled with worry and fright. The words Annette had spoken had repeated over and over in her head, 'people don't come back'. That was all she could think about. In a few hours, they'd have to face Aine, and if one of them died they would never be heard from again. There would be no other lifetimes to look forward to, or chances to meet again.

The very thought of it made her sick to her stomach. She had tried to convince the others to leave. There was no point in endangering anyone but herself, especially since none of them were strong enough to defeat Aine. Even together, their powers didn't appear to come close to what she could do. In spite of permanent death staring them in the face, and all of Elyssa's protests, they refused to let her stand alone.

For Elyssa, running wasn't an option, even if she wanted to. It took them a few hours to figure it out, but Alicia finally realized how the bus ride had gone so wrong after pouring through some of her old spell books. It was an ancient spell, cast-able by only the strongest of witches, written in a language that even Alicia could barely make out.

The spell created a magical field around particular areas, variable in size based on the strength of the caster. In many ways it acted as an invisible prison, never allowing one to pass the magical walls that surrounded it. If the one imprisoned came close to one of the walls, they'd be struck by a sense of tiredness and sleep, only to awaken within the center of the prisoned area.

In many ways, it was an ingenious spell. Those not studied in the ways of magic, or aware of its place in the world, might assume they had gone insane, all while being safely kept in whatever prison the caster had chosen and without even knowing they were held captive. The scope of Aine's spell seemed to encompass a large portion of San Diego, a testament to just how powerful she was, and how little of a chance any of them stood against her.

Elyssa looked over to the desk in the small room of Annette's shop. The others had been downstairs for the last few hours going over different scenarios for when the time came to face Aine. Nothing they had talked about seemed plausible, and in all likelihood would end with multiple deaths at Aine's hand. Telling them so did no good, and finally Elyssa could take no more and wandered off to her room, refusing to listen to the different ways her friends and loved ones might die in their desire to protect her.

The desk she stared at contained her hope, but at an unknown cost that was only partly explained by the vision she had experienced several days ago. She wondered if her vision played into the prophecy that Aine had mentioned, something she had yet to ask Annette and her mom about. There hadn't been time, and with the battle against Aine fast approaching, so it wasn't the most important thing on the table. It would have to wait until the summer solstice was over, assuming any of them survived.

Hesitantly she made her way over to the desk, and then ran her fingers over its old, cracked wood. Maybe part of her had hoped she could change parts that she had seen in the vision, and that's why she had avoided what she had hidden in the desk for so long. It seemed now that that wasn't the case, and fate changed for no one, no matter how much one fought or hoped they could bend it to their will.

Reluctantly, she reached for the drawer and slowly slid it open. The torn pages sat ominously where she had last placed them. The pages seemed to be calling to her to read the spells written upon them. There were only a few she had torn from the book, one being the spell she had seen in her vision for preternatural soul reversal, and the others being spells of destruction and death that she thought might be useful.

She had hoped it wouldn't come to this, but it was the only way she could see that could save her friend's lives, even if it destroyed her own. The others may hate her for it, but she hoped that in the end they'd understand her reasons, and that she did it out of love for all of them. She read through the words for the spells for what felt like the thousandth time, making sure she had memorized them exactly, word for word and could recite them without hesitation.