"Araminta, your hand." The voice was commanding.
I could barely breathe, stunned, unprepared and relieved. "You?"
Edgar reached down and took my unmoving limb. "Me." In one swift move, he drew me up effortlessly, then let go and swept Zara off her feet to standing. After flinging her behind his back, Edgar grabbed my waist and shifted me around to face the knife-wielding figures dashing towards us. I let him lift my arm and stretch it forward. With renewed energy, I pushed my palm to the sky. Ready. Waiting.
Reinvigorated by our connection, and with Edgar guiding, a blue light shone out from my hand, dashing forward and creating an almost invisible bubble with us inside.
Zara whimpered as we watched them one by one, turn and flee back into the darkness of the wood.
"We're safe, Zara," I whispered. "We didn't even need to start a fight. No one was hurt." I huffed out air once, twice, three times and then inhaled.
Edgar's face was a breath away from my bare neck; his hand still enveloped mine. I shivered, aware and awake.
"You're back." I hushed.
"I never intended to leave quite like that," he said. There was a husky rumble in his voice. He let go slowly and turned, placing his hand on Zara. "Are you feeling ok?"
She didn't move, bloodied hands out in front, fingers gnarled arthritically. Wide-open, bloodshot eyes gave away the answer.
Edgar nodded. "Let's walk back to the road. Araminta, is the car at the bottom of the track?"
"Ætberan. It is now." I answered.
Somehow we got Zara back down the hill, though she refused to be carried. Somehow, Edgar drove us back to Jasmine cottage. Somehow, I managed to coordinate my fingers and text Pete and George. I told them I was sick again and Zara had taken me home.
Zara, a little calmer, had a small amount of colour back in her white washed face. I knew that was down to Edgar. But could the three of us, Ed, Gladys and me, ever give Zara back her peace of mind? I was worried she'd never sleep again.
*
Gladys willingly took control. Edgar and I willingly stepped back. "Dear me, poor child. Sit her down." Her hands pulled items out of the air and soon Zara was clean, covered in blankets, and sipping a tonic. She still hadn't spoken. When allowed, I sat down on the sofa next to her. "I'm so sorry Zar," I said.
No answer.
"Give her time." Gladys spoke softly, "Edgar, try healing again. Now she's warm and safe I think it will make a difference."
I moved out the way again as Edgar kneeled down, and took Zara's face gently in his hands.
I tensed as his face got closer, a mere kissing distance apart. Zara's eyes closed gradually and a warm smile slowly appeared.
Their intimacy reignited my temper. I fled into the kitchen, whipping open the door. The cool air hit me sharply. Woe betide any witch that got in my way. Anger reigned, and I needed a punch bag.
Breathe.
Breathe.
Breathe.
...I felt him behind me. He didn't speak; he healed, calming me, extinguishing the toxic flame.
I tried to laugh. "I'm not going to zap you."
"I know," he chuckled, "but I wanted to make sure."
Thankful Edgar hadn't condemned my selfish, childish feelings, I turned around.
He nodded and moved forward slowly. "Araminta, I need to go back and repair the woods."
That wasn't what I wanted to hear, but I feigned acceptance. "I'm not sure you'll be able to fix the tree."
"No, but I better make it look like it died naturally and remove anything underneath its trunk." His eyes lowered.
I tried not to allow the flashbacks. It was too fresh and increasingly shocking. "What happened, Ed? You were gone. I lost Darcy, heard Iona's voice under that cloak. And you..." A rush of feelings, I remembered each moment with anguish. "Dawlish was dead."
"Physically, yes, but being immortal it takes more than a knife, which you thankfully pulled out." Edgar looked grave. "I need to get it back. It's covered in my blood and that's not good if they know what to do with it."
Questions. I'd so many questions. I didn't know where to begin or what was important here and now.
"A book Ed, the leader said they had a book. It wasn't simple magic."
"I know. Though, I was out cold for most of it." He smiled warmly, it cut through the silence.
But so much had been left unsaid. "Ed-," I said softly, heart thumping.
Edgar stood tall, his beautiful face, open and intent. Everything I'd ever felt towards him suddenly jumbled. I opened my mouth again, but nothing I wanted to say really meant anything solid. I needed to fall into his arms, and stay there uncomplicated and unguarded. The skin on my lip gave way as my teeth sunk into my flesh.
Edgar half smiled. "I told you the truth wasn't simple. We'll talk about it, I promise."
"About what?" I wanted to make sure we were on the same page in the spell book.
"Everything." His eyes pierced mine, intensifying the voltage.
For a brief moment, I just enjoyed the feeling, forgetting all that had gone on and blocking all thought of complications here after.
Edgar, restless with the need to check out the damage, wanted my permission to break the spell.
"Go careful," I still whispered.
"I will."
I'd never taken any notice of the way the air faintly sparkled when he disappeared. Light rushed in to fill the space left behind.
I shivered in the courtyard, unsure about what had happened. What had I said, or not said, but meant?
Lighter than a dandelion seed in the wind, my head whirling in much the same way, I trekked back inside.
To feel normal, I opened the fridge. My head became clearer, but my thoughts more complex. Chocolate, cake, clotted cream... Jealous, when Darcy had shown an interest; bitter, when he'd sat close to Zara; hurt when he'd disapproved of my actions, shaken with his touch. Cheese, tomatoes, pickle... Yet, more profoundly, I craved the nearness of Edgar's soul. The void in my life had vanished when he'd jumped back into reality. But was that just a Charge's awareness of her Overseer? I'd no idea.
Taking out nothing, I propelled the fridge door closed.
*
"She rests, serenely for now." Gladys sat beside Zara, a picture of motherliness. "Edgar has taken away all the physical pain. All that is left is for you to choose the memories Zara will have when she wakes."
"Me?" I suddenly felt inadequate again.
"Yes. Do not doubt yourself. You have had so much to bare, yet are still alive."
"Thanks to Ed," I said ruefully. What was the point pretending?
Gladys shook her head and pulled a mirror from the air. "Edgar said he caught you at the end of a long struggle when your energy was failing. He believes you would have got through without him, only," she paused, and sighed resignedly, "contrary to the rules, he wasn't about to take the chance."
She passed me the mirror and let me digest the last few words. "You know what to do."
I did. I smiled knowingly and this time put my fingers over the spiral charm. The warmth penetrated my hand, which I placed over the mirror. A film of steam covered its surface and I began to write. "I'm not going to remake the past, only take out the bits she needn't remember."
"Very good."
"Cat, falling tree, knife, blood." I wrote slowly and clearly. "I take from your mind to give you peace. I take from your mind to give you peace. I take from your mind to give you peace. Ætberan." I snapped my fingers over her head.
Zara's eyes flickered open. "Minta?" she whispered. Then her lids drooped closed once more.
I shivered as if someone walked over my grave. "I still haven't warmed up Gladys, can we stoke the -,"
It was done, and as flames roared in the fireplace, a green flute glass appeared in my hands.
"That will help. It is not the best of seasons to be tied to a tree. Fear is a dish better served in a warm room."
I laughed. I'd begun to know Gladys, the woman, from her little snippets of humour. I sipped the hot and zesty liquid. Lemon balm, and flowers; it smelt like Gam's garden in the summer.
It'd been a rollercoaster ride since Gam's death, and I'd just hopped on board and gone with the flow. Now, I wanted to stop and actually get to know the two new friends in my life, their past, there present and how we fit in together, how we go on.
Gladys smile faded. She stood slowly and drew in the shawl over her shoulders. I waited patently sipping for more but she had no more to say.
An orb of light and Edgar appeared. My face blushed with a new pleasure.
Something had excited him too. "Everything was as if there was never a gathering or a fire. The place has been cleansed, and superbly so. I have nothing to go on and investigate. I've never met a coven with practicing witches or warlocks who could do that. But there was no trace of the supernatural."
Simply human's dabbling with magic. I couldn't tell if this was a good thing or not. Edgar turned away from me and walked over to the fireplace, resting his hand on the mantle.
But then, shock leaving, reality began to bite. All was not right with the world, and it wasn't just a damaged tree that worried me. "I could have killed someone with magic." Not with my bare hands, but with magic. It felt... wrong.
Gladys was smiling peculiarly; her hands clasped the amethyst charm around her neck. "Go on."
They stood back, out of the lamp light, letting me take everything in.
"I've nearly altered the future, drastically. I might have cancelled out a destiny, more than that, people's destinies. A mother, brother, a son... someone who might've been someone to somebody." The words echoed around my mind and I thought about the owner of the charred hand on my leg and the event that seemed so long ago after tonight. "No; everyone is a someone."
Gladys closed the curtains and summoned glasses filled with a tonic. She looked at me and raised a glass.
Gladys was speaking to Edgar. I could barely hear. "You see, Edgar. She understands even in her youth, even deprived of knowledge. Humanity matters to her with, and without magic. She does not seek to hurt or to ever harm."
"I know, Gladys. I know."
"Can you look after her? Will you? I know your heart. I realise you are different, changed even."
Silence. "Yes. Everything is different. I understand so much more. I'll watch her when you leave. You've more than my word."
Wrapped up in grief, I didn't follow the conversation. But the word 'leave' I noticed. "Gladys where are you going? I need you!"
But as I turned my head, I knew nothing I could say would change her mind.
"I have spent more time with you than any other charge and you have needed it less. I feel soon you will not need me anymore. The book will give you guidance and Edgar will oversee you when I go." She glanced at my protector. "I was right when I said you were in safe hands. You always will be."
The tears pricked. My voice warbled as I spoke. "Are you thinking about eternal rest? What about me? I wanted to add, but didn't.
"This is not a decision I make lightly; nevertheless, it is one I have considered for many years. I had but one obligation to fulfil, and I know with all my heart it is almost complete I already feel the wheels in motion as each day you grow more in confidence and skill. I know you be full Cumendre soon." Gladys turned to leave the room, but vanished into a circle of light before she'd made it to the door.
"Edgar?" Now would be a good time to hold me. I needed closeness, contact. My blurry, water covered eyes searched for his.
"Minta?" Zara's head rose off the cushion. "Can I go home?"
*
If you've made it this far well done please don't forget to vote if you've enjoyed this chapter, because then I know who you are and I can thank you for reading!
Some more witchy and wacky music from my favourite band. So much better live, but you get the flavour. I love the video too - because of the trees!