page as before. I looked through some of the spells, trying to find ones that used the blood of a bigfoot and/or the wings of a fallen angel, but I didn’t see anything else of use.
Gran’s book didn’t help me in that department either. Groaning, I put my head on the book and closed my eyes.
A memory whipped through me.
Gran sat across from me and tapped her finger against a small stone cup. “Spells fade, Breena. It’s why my garden must be tended to regularly. It’s why we must renew our strength on the nights when the moon is at its zenith.” She tapped the cup again and a curl of smoke swirled upward.
“I’m not good at this,” I said. Twelve, I was twelve years old and no good at typical witch things.
“You are good at what you need to be good at. Now, remember this, all spells fade, but the ones designed for protection fade the fastest. Especially if the caster of the spell is no longer alive.”
I opened my eyes. “Holy shit, Gran. You spelled the angel wings to be hidden, but the spell is fading, isn’t it?”
I looked at the clock. One in the afternoon.
The tapping of a cane on the floorboards lifted my head and turned me around. Penny stood in the doorway to the sitting room. She’d changed into a long flowing house dress with a pattern of skulls and crossbones and some drooping white lilies that had no doubt been thrown in to soften the look.
I gave her what I knew was a tired smile. “Couldn’t sleep?”
“Strange thing about getting older. Some days I could stay in bed for a week, and others I can’t sleep for all the money in the world,” she said. “Would you like to talk? I could feel your energy all the way across the house. Sad. Jittery. Shocked.”
I sighed. “Sure.” I pulled the chair across from me a little closer. Penny made her way to it and carefully lowered onto the cushion, her joints creaking until she was settled.
She waited for me.
“I think that Gran put a spell on the angel wings, a protection spell. And with her gone, it’s fading. That’s why this is all happening now. Is there like a deadline on spells?”
Penny gave a slow nod. “Yes, but I would have thought . . .well, I wouldn’t have thought it would last so long. Then again, I think Celia concealed her true strength from us.”
“That’s why it’s happening now,” I said again, “Why the fae and whoever has the undead army are pushing hard to find them, because now they can be found.”
She nodded. “Yes.”
The way she said it . . . “Wait, you knew?” I spluttered.
She shrugged. “Celia wanted you to find your way, to make mistakes and learn from them. I told her if you came to me, I wouldn’t lead you by the nose. Besides, it’s fun to watch you figure it out, to see all the knowledge she gave you,” She tapped my head with her cane, “Come flowing out of you. Amazing really that the spells she laid on you were with you for so long, and are only now dissolving.”
Spells on me? I knew about the glamor that seemed to be fading, but did this mean there were others?
Nope, nope, I would come back to that at a later date. “It’s making this harder, you know. Guessing. Finding trouble.”
She smiled, then let out a low laugh. “Trouble, trouble, and more trouble. That’s how it goes for some of us, Bree. You got away with none of it for years, blocked off from your abilities and from seeing the shadow world. I think you’ve got about twenty years stored up, and it’s crashing down all at once.”
I stared at her. “Seriously? This is like stored karma?”
“Not quite karma.” She shook her head. “But the shadow world always has shit going on, just at different levels, and sometimes it waits for a person like you to come along to sort it all out. It’s about balance, and your balance has been out of whack for a long time.”
“Charming.” I stood and stretched, the need to move sweeping over me. “You think it’s safe to go for a walk? Or would that be asking for more trouble?”
Penny stood slowly. “Not safe for you even in full daylight, but let’s see where your feet take us. Maybe we’ll learn something new. Something helpful.”
I sighed. “You don’t have any friends here we could talk