Pushing her cloak from her head, the witch stared at me. Her grey hair was frizzy, the ends falling below her shoulders. As she reached her arm forward, her clawed wrinkled hand gestured me forward. “I can try.”
Feeling into the energy of the church, I relaxed when the energy returned pure. The witch wasn’t using dark magic, which would’ve repelled me from the church before I’d even entered. My muscles still clenched, on edge as I moved closer.
“I have two things to ask of you,” I started, pausing when she held up her hand.
Tilting her head to the side, she pursed her lips. “Your energy is all wrong, my dear. What happened to you?”
Ah yeah, it wasn’t a surprise that an old witch caught me out. Being dead meant that my life force was technically gone, replaced by the magic from the ley line.
“I... I died. My name is Gemma Ab-”
“I know who you are. How did you die?”
Her croaky voice grew clearer as she spoke. She was a no-nonsense witch, my type of person. I couldn’t be doing with airy fairy witches. So often, their minds had lost the plot. Too much magic could turn an old witch a little mad.
“I was shot. Bullet to the heart. Bled out. Felt like I died, but suddenly, I was alive again.”
“You’re an Essex witch, trained to protect the ley line.” The witch looked down at her stone table as she moved something around.
Going closer, I ascended the steps to join her. Glimpsing at what she was playing with, I raised my eyebrows. They were small wooden counters, carved with runes. Some witches used rune magic, but they usually had Scandinavian blood lines.
“My name is Helga,” she said, her lips pursing again.
Yeah, witches were extremely intuitive too. She must have sensed the question in the air. I had never personally used rune magic, but I respected it.
“The ley line is keeping you alive. It wants you to keep protecting it.” Closing her eyes, Helga hovered her hands over the five runes laid out in a circle. Whispering a spell in Norwegian, she allowed her head to drop backwards.
Wind ruffed my hair slightly, sending the candles flickering wildly. They stayed alight, the magic that had lit them strong enough to withstand the breeze.
As her chant died down, the runes shook violently. When they rearranged themselves, I clenched my hands into fists. I had no idea what the symbols meant, but my nerves still tickled my insides.
“You’ve been given a task by the ancestors...” Holding out her hand, she waited.
Passing over the bag full of my father’s ashes, I swallowed hard. I didn’t want to bring my father back to life, but if the ancestors wished it, I couldn’t ignore them.
“Bringing yourself back to life will mess with the pure magic of Mother Earth. Your own karmic balance will be thrown out, meaning you won’t be able to protect the ley line. Only pure magic can be connected to the line. Or it becomes contaminated.”
Swiping the runes aside, Helga placed a glass bowl in the centre of the table. Opening the velvet pull-string of the bag, she upended the ashes into the bowl. My stomach churned at the thought of what was about to happen.
“Go and make a circle with salt. We need to make sure it’s tight so no other spirits can come over with your father.”
Shoving a jar of salt into my hand, she pointed to a space where many other spells and rituals had been cast. The stone floor was marked with scratches and burn marks. Helga must have been a very busy witch.
“You haven’t said a word,” she muttered as I followed her instructions and set the boundary of the salt circle.
Putting the top back on the glass jar, I watched her as she poured water into the bowl of ashes, slowly mixing it into a paste. “I trust you. If the ancestors think that my father being resurrected is the best course of action, then I have to believe that it’s true.”
“What about your own death?” Helga stepped away from the table, coming closer to the circle. “How do you feel about that?”
Glancing at the ground, I pushed down the rising fear that laced my veins. I had barely taken in the witch’s comments about my own death. Okay, so I had to face reality. I would die. At some point soon, my link would be severed, whether by the serial killer, or by Mother Earth, who knew... until then... “Maybe I need to not think about myself. Sometimes, it’s best to put others first. Right now, the Earth is in danger of being drained of magic. I need to save it.”
The tiny incline of her head made me look at her. A pang of sadness sprung to my eyes when her bright grey eyes blinked slowly. For my whole life, I’d put the ley line and everyone else before me. Maybe that was my life purpose. To help everyone else.
“A very valiant way of looking at it.” Not saying anymore, she moved into the circle and placed the bowl on the floor in the centre.
As she retreated, she waved her hands several times until she was outside the salt barrier. A blast of energy made me clench my hands into fists. Helga was an ancient witch with tons of experience. Maybe I could get her to teach me a thing or two. Bringing someone back from the dead wasn’t exactly the easiest spell in the grimoire.
“Why are the ancestors taking the impure balance for my father’s return?” I asked, still unable to understand why he was so important to our mission.
Glancing at me sideways, Helga blew her fuzzy hair out of her face. The intensity
