eyes narrowed though when she found out what an unattended bite could do. Now she really had to get to work, as this was getting urgent. She read for about half an hour and then decided just to check the book out and take it home.
Zoey was spending a few weeks with her Aunt Lorrie until the heat died down from the dead witch. She eventually told her mom what happened and both of them decided it would be best for her to go to the city and stay with her aunt for a while.
Aunt Elise played a prominent role in Zoey Foster’s life ever since her dad’s untimely death when Zoey was only fourteen. Her Aunt and the rest of the family stepped right in to help with the grief and made sure they were around on family holidays that would cause them pain.
But time does heal and now that she was grown at 18 years old, they saw her Aunt Elise and grandmother, etc. a little less often. However, she did share a bond now with Aunt Elise that they knew would be there forever.
And Aunt Elise had a sad history too - several years ago she got married and her new husband died in a freak accident where he worked. He fell into some machinery at his plant. It was after that tragedy that Zoey and Lorrie became even closer. But tragedy does that, doesn’t it?
When she got back to her aunt’s house, Zoey poured over the book- it really did have some excellent remedies in it. It was worn and tattered but Zoey learned to trust those older remedies as they were often tried and true. Even her dad used to recommend them as responsible tools and guides.
She went back to the section that mentioned witch bites. It stated that if she didn’t get the bite seen to properly, she would keep getting weaker, and could eventually die or just remain in that shaky, exhausted, bed-ridden state her whole natural life! The bite would suck the virtual life out of her.
“Well, what’s the remedy?” Aunt Elise blurted out, getting more and more anxious, as she waited for Zoey to tell her.
Zoey slapped the book closed. Exasperated, Zoey told her that unfortunately, all the specific remedies were in the second volumeand that this first volume just ended short of naming them.
“I’ll have to go to the library tomorrow and get it. There’s not a lot of time.”
“I’ll go with you, hon.” her aunt smiled and gave Zoey a hug.
A DISCOVERY AT THE library.
As they sat in the glorious, all-enveloping silence and solitude of the library, Zoey’s turquoise-blue-painted fingernail scanned the page of the second volume.
“Oh no—guess what?” Zoey almost yelled, “It says that a witch has to kiss it—!” and she looked up quickly, her long lashes curling up, almost to her brow, “No, seriously. A witch bit it and now a witch has to kiss it! Kiss it better! And then it has to be wrapped in a special cloth and soaked in Valerian tea for a few days. That’s it! That’s all! I just have to get a damn witch to kiss it,Aunt Elise. That’s a cinch!” she said sarcastically, but with a definite tone of desperation.
Her aunt put her arm around Zoey’s shoulder and patted her arm.
“We’ll get a witch to kiss your hand if that’s what we have to do. And I already have the Valerian tea. We will!”
“And don’t worry; we have a little power over witches—right?” Aunt Elise continued, “Your grandpa, my father, was victorious and so were you. You already know that once you kill a witch, that strength goes down the family ties, right? I won’t have it really—as it goes down the line and has strengthened you—but maybe I have it a little bit. But for sure, I have the conviction, like my brother Victor- your dad did!”
And then Aunt Elise looked at Zoey and said, “Oh yes, I have the conviction.” And Zoey knew she had a lifelong ally in Aunt Elise and felt comforted.
“And besides,” she continued, “you killed a witch of your own on top of it! This will be a walk in the park!”
“A walk in the dark is what it will be.” Zoey smiled, lamely, rolling her dark eyes, “Where can we find a witch in the first place?
“I’ll do some research on the Internet tonight, hon. Right after dinner.” Aunt Elise smiled her cheerful smile, showing her perfect white teeth. “We’ll find