“I need to take you somewhere,” he said. They didn’t have time to chat about this and he caught her around the waist, whisking her away to his car. They needed to get out of the city.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
“I said before, Ella has natural abilities that most witches have to undertake training to master. I believe there’s a powerful witch or two in your bloodline, but you’re much more than that, my dear. Being a descendant of the moon goddess, you are so much more. Your soul has lived several lives, and those women surround you, all the time. They help and protect you like guardian angels. Am I wrong?”
Ella wandered around the open kitchen in Zephra’s home, staring at the bunches of dried herbs and pretty flowers that hung from the ceiling. The heady scent in the room called to something old from within.
“Ella—Zephra’s talking to you,” Marcus said.
His gravelly voice broke her thoughts and she faced the witch. “I’m sorry. Yes…I heard their voices in my senior year at high school. It’s not something you share with your friends or parents. And then, after, I was alone, so I kept to myself. I felt weird, on edge, as if waiting for something to happen. Then when my magic manifested, I thought I was crazy...” She stopped, realizing she hadn’t spoken to anyone about those years, not even Marcus. Things were still unsettled between them. His intense stare reached her, as if begging her to continue.
“Don’t stop. I want to know everything,” he said.
Ella relaxed her shoulders. Losing her parents had meant growing up fast. She had missed them so much, and there was no other family to speak of. “I started a fire once. I didn’t mean to. These boys used to follow me around the campus at college. I was easily intimidated back then, but they were relentless. One evening, it was late, I’d been in the library studying, and as I passed them by, they followed, pushing a joint at me, and one wrapped his arm around me. I was terrified. I pushed Bryant. He was the leader of the group. He landed pretty hard, and the joint burst into flames, setting his jacket and a bush on fire. After that, they stopped following me, but whenever we crossed paths, they called me the witch. That name stuck with me throughout college. I never believed I was a witch, though...”
Marcus slung his arm around her shoulders, and she leaned into him, grateful he was there. “Being alone suited me, because with the voices came dreams of the past, and I couldn’t handle them. I admit, I went a little wild.” She closed her eyes, remembering the drinking sessions and risky situations she put herself in.
Zephra crushed up some white flower petals, grinding them in a small pot. Ella studied her, wanting to know what she was doing, but the witch stopped and smiled at her, as if knowing what she was thinking.
“They’re harmless chamomile flowers. I’m making you some tea. It’ll help you relax, something I fear you rarely do.”
Ella stared at the woman and laughed. “It won’t taste like the other tea you made, will it?”
Zephra reached out and stroked Ella’s arm. “Not at all. This is very different, and it will reduce your anxiety. Keep talking. It helps me understand your powers.”
Feeling free to unburden herself, Ella shared with them the years she ran and hid in fear, feeling alone and adrift, waiting for the past to catch up with her. Because the voices told her they would. They warned her. “Gwen was hung as a witch back in the sixteenth century. She was a healer, a nurturer, and is usually the one who speaks first.”
Ella recited her history, watching the witch as she placed the delicate flowers into the small red teapot and poured the boiling water into it.
“It needs to steep for a couple of minutes, then it will be ready. Carry on.”
Marcus stroked her back and she couldn’t remember a time when she had last felt comfortable and at home. “When I was searching for Nate, the women guided me, and when I wanted access to the Liber Sanguinus, they came to my assistance.”
The witch placed a sieve over the teacup and glanced at her. “Hm, I believe these women are the key. You call to them, like an invocation, and they help you. Perhaps, when you call them, you use their magic. It could be the answer as to how you retained your magic. I feel it more today, but it fluctuates…I think you have compartmentalized these women and their abilities.”
The witch poured the tea, the light fragrance pleasing, and handed the cup to her, which she sipped. A sense of calm washed over her.
“Ella, you need to talk to these women. It’s possible when the transference spell was cast, only your direct magic was taken, the powers the women possess perhaps hidden. Either way, we need to find out. All of this would also explain why your aura isn’t stable.”
Ella sipped the tea, eyeing her over the china cup and thinking over what the witch said. Placing the drink down, she said, “Before Gabriel left, he said I still didn’t know who I was. Is this what he means?”
Zephra lifted her hand palm side up and there in the center, a glowing misty ball with Ella’s face reflecting inside appeared. “Did you ever wonder how you were able to start a fire?”
“Yes of course, but I was frightened and alone. There was no one to explain what was going on, except the women.”
Marcus
