“Things got better for a little while. I think mostly because you distracted them. But eventually things got bad again and they just didn’t have a choice. I didn’t want to leave but I had to learn how to get a handle on my magic.”
She returns to the table and asks for our wrists. We place them near the center of the table once again. She dips her finger into an oil mixture and rubs it around the twine bracelets and also around her ring. She then places her ringed hand gently over our hands and recites a spell in the same language that she used before. The strings of twine illuminate briefly. A pulse of energy materializes in my wrist sending a shiver down my spine. Goosebumps rise across Zoë’s arm.
“There. Now I’m the only one who can take those bracelets off your wrists. Nobody else will even be able to see them.”
Zoë and I share a look.
“So I take it you two are on your way to the colony?” Eliza asks, standing up from her seat and gathering all of her items.
“Have you been there?” Zoë asks in return.
“No, but I’ve read the journals. I know of it. Where it is, what they do there.”
“I really hate to say this,” I chime in, “but we need to get back on the road. We still have another two hours to drive.”
“How long have we been here?” Zoë asks.
“About an hour,” Eliza says.
“An hour? It feels like ten minutes. How is that possible?”
“Time is an illusion, Zoë. You should know that by now.”
We look at her curiously. “Come with me. I have some things for you.”
She walks back into the storefront and we have no choice but to follow. She heads behind the counter, crouches down and moves a small curtain aside, revealing a safe. She quickly moves her fingers over the keypad, typing in a code to unlock the door. To our surprise, she pulls out what looks like another journal. As she carries it over to us, she begins to explain what exactly it is. “I know you already have quite a bit of reading material to explore, but this journal will help you exponentially.”
“This is different than the ones we already have?” I ask.
“Yes. This one contains the stories of the elder members of our coven. They battled Isabel Del Bosque long before she encountered your family. The stories actually go back about three centuries before her, to the early 1300s.”
“The 1300s!” Zoë exclaims. “Are you seriously telling us that this woman has been around for seven hundred years? How is that even possible?”
“Zoë, the faster you learn that time is an illusion, the easier it will be for you to reach your full potential as the meiga you are.”
“Meiga?”
“Meiga. It means witch. I don’t care for that word. It has too many connotations associated with it, most of them juvenile. Every powerful meiga I’ve ever known has been alive for centuries.”
“You haven’t. Or have you?”
“No, only thirty-five years.”
“How are you so powerful then?”
“My spirit was pulled to this realm of existence by a Strega. Strega are very powerful sorcerers. While I might only be thirty-five in this body, I have long existed.”
“So you have memories of other lives you lived?”
“In a way. All of the energy I attracted when I was younger was part of my problem. I didn’t know how to filter it. I had a lot of information that I didn’t understand flowing into my body. My time with the elders changed that. They taught me how to read the energy and comprehend the messages that were in it.”
She hands the journal to Zoë. “It’s yours now.”
Zoë takes the journal and squeezes it to her chest. The words “thank you” escape her lips, just barely above a whisper. Eliza reaches her hand out and rubs Zoë’s shoulder. “You’re welcome. I’ll do whatever I can to help.”
“It was nice to meet you, Eliza,” I say as we prepare to head out the door.
“We’ve met before, Emma. You just don’t remember.”
“Oh. I guess I don’t.”
She reaches out toward my neck, grabs hold of the cord the pendant hangs on between her fingertips and tugs on the leather. “You will soon.”
I smile at her then look down at the ground.
“By the way, the pendant is enchanted. Nobody at the colony will be able to see it. But if I were you, I’d keep it as hidden as possible, regardless.”