“I think so.” Garret nodded. “So long as you don’t mind store-bought.”
“Not the best, but it’ll do. It’s a clarifying herb. It’ll make whatever I see more vivid.”
“No silver bowls, but I found some stainless-steel ones,” Loch offered.
“No good.” Elise shook her head. “Steel is a murky metal. Glass is better.”
“I can do that.”
Loch returned with a glass mixing bowl as Garret fetched the herbs.
“Do you need holy water or something?” Loch asked.
“Springwater, if you have any.”
“Sure, I’ll just pop over to the local spring,” he muttered. “Can you work with tap water?”
“I hate to, but I can.”
“So sorry for the inconvenience.”
Elise gently rotated her freshly bandaged ankle. “Don’t talk to me about inconvenience.”
Loch considered her for a moment. “Okay, you win that one. You’re still getting tap water, though.”
“There’s bottled in the cabinet,” Garret said.
“Bottled is better than tap.” Elise shrugged.
When everything was assembled in front of Elise, she slowly sat up.
“How long does this usually take?” Holly asked.
“It depends. What is it that you want me to look at?”
“I want you to look through the veil between here and Golden Oak,” Holly said. “I want to know what they’re up to.”
Elise frowned. “That might be difficult,” she said. “I’ve only done this a handful of times.”
“Just do what you can,” Holly pled.
Elise poured the water into the bowl and crushed rosemary between her palms before adding it to the water. She held her hands above the bowl and closed her eyes.
At first, nothing happened. Holly was about to ask if Elise needed anything else when the surface of the water began to ripple.
Silently, everyone moved closer.
The ripples turned into a small whirlpool. Something was definitely happening, but Holly couldn’t see anything within the depths of the water.
Elise gasped. Her hands began to tremble. The swirling water in the bowl turned black. She shook violently like she was trying to pull away, but something had her in its grasp.
“Move the bowl!” Holly commanded. “Dump out the water!”
Johnny grabbed the bowl, but it wouldn’t budge from the coffee table. He yanked his hands back with a cry. His palms were red and raw as if he’d been burned.
“Loch, can you help him?” Holly pled, unable to take her eyes off Elise.
For once, Loch didn’t argue.
“What can we do to help her?” Holly asked.
“I don’t know,” Garret replied. “I’ve never seen someone scry in person. I don’t know what it’s supposed to look like.”
“We just have to wait,” Keller said heavily. “And hope she makes it out of this.”
“I never would’ve asked her if I knew it was this dangerous!” Holly cried. What had she done to this poor girl?
Elise let out a sharp cry and flew back against the couch. The water in the bowl shot straight into the air before evaporating into steam.
“Is she all right?” Holly cried, rushing to Elise’s side.
“She’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t yell so close to her ear,” Elise muttered.
Holly let out a sigh of relief. “She’s being a bitch.” Holly laughed. “She’s okay!”
“If only all women were so easy to read.” Loch smirked.
“How many women are you trying to read?” Holly placed a hand on her hip and arched her brow.
“Two, technically.” Loch shrugged. “Though, I’m already good at reading you. I’m also trying to get a read on the actual Maiden who whispers into your mind. I think of her as a mother-in-law.”
Holly let out an incredulous laugh just as Elise groaned.
“Excuse me!” she said from the couch. “Can we get back to what’s important? I’ve almost died twice in one day.”
“Having your ankle broken doesn’t count as almost dying.”
“Says the asshole who fucking broke it!”
“She’s right,” Holly said. “We need to focus.”
“I’ll tone down my witticisms.” Loch nodded.
“We’d all appreciate it,” Keller muttered before turning to Elise. “What did you see?”
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out. I seriously pissed off the veil by trying to scry through it.”
“You mean figuratively, I assume,” Keller said.
“No.” Elise shook her head. “Literally. The veil was literally angry. It dug into me and didn’t want to let me go. It tried to turn the spell around on me, but it wasn’t sure how. I don’t think it had ever encountered an unnatural witch before. It didn’t know how to fully negate my magic.”
“Is that what made the water go black?” Holly asked.
Elise nodded. “When it couldn’t force me out, it muddied my vision.”
“I’m starting to understand why crafting this spell killed half of the Silver Spruce coven,” Holly murmured. “It’s not a barrier. It’s a guardian.”
“Exactly.” Elise nodded. “And it’s not on our side.”
Holly furrowed her brow.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s protecting Golden Oak. It didn’t want me to see what they were doing. There are hundreds of shifters training. They’re going to attack soon, but I couldn’t tell when. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was an army waiting for us tomorrow night.”
“Do you think they know of our plans?” Keller asked.
“They know the Maiden has returned to Silver Spruce,” Elise confirmed. “They—” Elise stopped herself, casting a wary glance at Holly.
“Just say it,” she urged. “We need to know.”
“They were burning your effigy.”
“If they aren’t stopped, they’ll come right for Holly,” Johnny said through clenched teeth. “Keller, you need to summon the shifters. We have to go to the silver mines tonight. We’re going to scare the life out of them and send them running for Golden Oak.”
“I’ll make some calls.” Keller strode off to the dining room.
Garret followed after him.
“I’m going to give him a hand. That’s a lot of calls.”
“Shame
