Page 20 of They Were Broom-Mates

“And what was it… exactly that you saw?” Delia asked, voice low.

Regina bit her cheek and took a deep breath. “I saw… hordes of zombies, roaming the hills around the cathedral. I… don’t have any way of knowing if any of them made it to town, but the primary concern of the Council was that since the cathedral is so close to the town border…”

“I see…” Hestia slumped back in her chair. “Hordes, you say?”

Regina shrugged, lips pursed, then nodded.

Brain running a mile a minute, Amelie picked up the pot again and began pouring tea into each of the other witches’ cups.

“It’s chamomile.” Amelie mumbled. “It will help calm our nerves.”

Hestia nodded confidently, picking up her cup as though she was just happy to have some sort of direction in the chaos. Regina wrapped her black hands around the porcelain, running a single finger around the edge, and Delia just seemed to stare at her reflection in the liquid.

“So…” Amelie continued. “What’s the plan?”

“There are two major concerns that need to be dealt with,” Regina responded, her voice steadier. “First, we need to contain the threat to the property. The mausoleum is working effectively for the one that’s already awoken, but there are thousands of bodies in the cemetery… it won’t hold them all.”

Hestia’s grip tightened on her cup as she took a sip.

“There should be protocols for this level of emergency…” Regina continued. “A spell that can potentially erect a barrier on the property line, but it’s going to take two of us. Since none of us specialize in abjuration, we will need to work together to provide the juice to power a barrier that large.”

Amelie nodded, taking a sip of her tea. “Okay… and what about the second thing?”

Regina sighed deeply. “We are going to need to figure out how to deal with the zombies themselves. Eventually they’re going to become too numerous for us to handle, so we need to take care of them before that happens.”

The silence around the table was all-encompassing, implications lying heavily in the air like a fog.

Amelie glanced over to Delia, who was still staring into her tea, genuine fear stricken across her face. Thinking back to Delia and Hestia’s spat in the mausoleum, Amelie made an executive decision.

“Alright.” Amelie placed her cup down on the table. “Hestia, you go with Regina and see if you can find and enact that barrier spell. I’ll stay here with Delia, and we will brainstorm about the zombie problem.”

Regina reached over under the table and gently squeezed Amelie’s hand with a grateful expression.

“Amelie’s right.” Releasing Amelie’s hand and standing from the table, Regina nodded, offering a hand to Hestia. “Let’s go, Hes.”

Hestia looked like she was about to cry as she took Regina’s hand, but willingly allowed herself to be led from the room, leaving Amelie behind with a catatonic Delia.

Chapter eight

Taking another sip of her tea, Amelie considered her next move. She didn’t know Delia very well, and didn’t know how she would respond to different forms of attempted comfort, but she knew that she had to do something. Reaching out, Amelie took Delia’s hand and placed it on the warm side of the cup, causing the death witch to stir.

In the time since seeing the zombie and sitting down at the table, she had somehow managed to dissociate back into her mind, so the first thing Amelie needed to do was bring her back. When Delia didn’t pull her hand away, Amelie moved her other hand up to the cup and wrapped her own palms around the outsides of Delia’s hands, encouraging her to grip the cup.

“Take a sip.” Amelie encouraged softly. “You’ll feel better.”

Delia’s thousand-yard stare didn’t go away, but she did nod her head tentatively. So, very gently, Amelie helped her bring the teacup up to her lips, tipping it only slightly so the liquid brushed against the other woman’s lips. When the tea reached her mouth, however, instinct kicked in, and Delia took a sip, strength coming back into her arms. By the time she put the cup back down, her eyes had come back into focus.

“Welcome back.” Amelie smiled, pulling her hands back. She didn’t get very far, however, as Delia placed one of her palms over Amelie’s right hand, halting its retreat.

“Sorry.” Delia shook her head. “The grounding… it helps.”

Amelie smiled, bringing her other hand back and cupping Delia’s between them. “Of course. That’s what I’m here for.”

“Amelie.” Delia started. “I truly have no idea how this happened…”

“Was it a spell that went poorly?” Amelie asked. “You can tell me, you know. We will figure all this out together.”

“No.” Delia’s laugh was bitter and airy. “That’s what I was saying before. I am literally not capable of raising the dead. It wasn’t me.”