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28
Lena
“Did you bring a Ouija board?” Ruby’s practically skipping as we walk through the woods toward the clearing in the Fae Woods. I don’t have a specific reason I can point to why that’s the place I want to do it. It’s just a gut feeling.
Miri shoves Ruby’s shoulder and she dramatically stumbles to the side. She looks so out of place for a jaunt through the woods. She’s wearing an oversized t-shirt as a dress with a palmistry drawing on the front. The words psychic hotline whore are wrapped around it. She doesn’t have any pants on but is wearing a pair of plaid tights and some shiny black Docs. Her lilac hair is up in a messy bun, with a few sparking pins shoved in to hold it in place.
“This isn’t a slumber party.” I sigh and hold my flashlight up higher to check out the path in front of me. Archer looks over his shoulder at me at the same time, and I hit him with a concentrated blast to his eyeballs.
“Shoot, sorry.” I whip the flashlight down as Archer curses and trips over a log on the trail.
“Tell me again why we have to trounce through the woods in the middle of the night?” He huffs out his question.
“Because that’s when the books said the veil between the living and the dead is at its thinnest. When the moon is at its highest point, otherwise known as midnight. That will give me the greatest chance of succeeding.”
“Plus, it’s an adventure.” Ruby skips a few steps, and this time Ezra is the one that shoves her.
“Read the room, Cube.”
Ruby shoves him back with a snarl. “Don’t call me that, Ezzie. And what are you talking about? We’re outside, hello.”
Ezra looks over his shoulder at me, his brow creasing. I know what he wants to say, but he doesn’t want to blurt it out, Ruby-style. Ruby, God love her, doesn’t always connect her brain to the reality of what’s going on around her.
“It’s fine, everyone. It’s all good.”
Rhys squeezes my shoulder from behind, obviously sensing how wound up I am.
Ruby leans into Miri, trying to whisper, but I can still hear her. “What am I missing?”
Miri murmurs a single word, later, and I shake my head. Whatever her faults, Ruby is great at distracting me from drowning in my churning thoughts. Although not even her antics can keep me from thinking about why we’re out here in the woods, in the middle of the night. I’m going to attempt to connect to the spirit realm and find a ghost. More specifically, the ghost of my mother. Who may or may not be dead. It’s a complete mindfuck.
“Why exactly are we doing this here?” Davis asks, his surly attitude on par with Ruby’s brain.
“I don’t have a specific reason, just a sense. This is where I want to do it. Do you have any better suggestions?” I grumble and clutch the notebook I’m carrying tight to my chest.
I made copious notes from every book I could get my hands on about life and death magic. The ones from Miri’s library up at Wild Cottage had a decent amount of information, and I rounded those out with a few more from my personal collection. Nothing was spelled out, so I’ve made a lot of assumptions about what needs to be done here.
It’s only a few more minutes before we reach the clearing. The burned ring of grass is still here, as though whatever happened permanently marred the ground. Last time, I didn’t want to cross over the charred line. There was this feeling that something wasn’t right. An unnatural quality had lingered in the air and made the hairs on the back of my neck stand straight up. Whatever it was is gone now, and the familiar soothing peace this clearing always brings me is back.
I push my glasses up my nose and smooth my hair back. I’m back to my perfectly pulled together self, in a pair of tight dark washed jeans, a royal blue sweater that’s so soft it feels like a baby animal, and my favorite pair of Timberland hiking boots. It’s a brisk night but not cold enough for me to need a coat with all of the movement. Hints of the stars shining down on us peek through bare branches of trees. Some are starting to get leaves and there is a good mix of pines as well, which keeps the woods from looking barren.
Archer, Davis, and Ruby set a few lanterns we brought with us around the perimeter of the clearing. Archer turns toward me, waiting at the edge of the blackened circle. I step into the spot next to him while Rhys moves to my other side. Ruby and Ezra fall into place on the other side of Archer while Miri and Davis take up their post beside Rhys.
An odd sense of Déjà vu washes over me. All of us standing side-by-side in the Fae Woods is jarring. The magic I’m about to do makes the reality of the Axis loom over us like storm clouds. The glaring space where an eighth person should be feels more pronounced here as well.
“I really hope this doesn’t open up a portal to Hell,” Rhys murmurs beside me.
“Or Fairy,” Ruby interjects, and everyone else groans.
Archer laces his fingers through mine and the zing of connection where our skin touches bolsters me.
“What do you need to do?” Archer asks softly. I’ve already gone over this with him a dozen times, but he knows me well enough to understand that talking through the steps will ground me. There are no feelings that I need to deal with, just a list of what I’ll be doing.
“I need to focus. Try to block out all distractions.” That should be really easy with my five friends and brother staring at me. I tried to get them to wait for me at the bar. I was only going to bring one person with me, but Archer and Rhys had nearly come to blows. Once I told them they could both come, Ruby insisted she needed to be there as well. After that, things spiraled, and it became a group outing against my better judgment.
Archer hums, encouraging me to go on.
“I’m going to drink Miri’s tea and take a few deep breaths.”
