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“I do not believe we will have a problem with my people helping us,” Jonas chimes in with a nod. “They are kind, and they want to help others. They’ll be confused at first, but when it’s all over, we will help them understand.”
“I’m a counselor,” one of our members chimes in. “I’ll be happy to work with them if we need to.”
“Me, too,” someone else says.
“The tapestry of fate was woven to depict a moment in time when the curse has already been lifted, with the coven and all the people of Hallows End understanding everything that’s happened.” Breena swallows hard. “It’s my intention and hope that while they’ll need some gentle guidance, they shouldn’t be pushed into chaos if it works the way I wove it.”
“I’m confident it will work the way you intended, Breena, but let’s lift the curse, and then we can worry about how to help all the people of Hallows End,” Lucy suggests.
“Where do we start?” My mother looks nervously at the bridge and shuffles her feet. “I can’t see the town. How do we get there?”
“Wait, I have a question.” Lorelei turns to Jonas. “Can you see Hallows End right now? Like, when you look over the bridge, can you see it? Or is it invisible to you until you cross the bridge?”
Jonas turns to gaze in the direction of his village. “I see it. I see the buildings and the lights from the glow of lanterns in people’s windows. I can see it.”
“Fascinating,” Astrid says, shaking her head and wrapping her cloak around herself more tightly. “Let’s free these poor people, Xander. How do we go about this?”
“It’s going to be a Labyrinth spell,” I begin and nod to Giles, who walks over to the truck we brought and lowers the tailgate. In the bed of the pickup are many crystals and geodes, all in different sizes. “We need to place the crystals in a spiral, making a path. As we walk the path in single file, we’ll chant the spell that will open a portal to Hallows End for us.”
“And in the center,” Breena continues as Giles carries the tapestry to her, “will be the tapestry. We’ve mounted it to this stake, and we will draw some energy from this, as well.”
“It’s beautiful,” my grandmother says, stepping forward to get a closer look. The beads and shells glimmer in the firelight, and Grandma traces her finger over the people celebrating their liberation around the fire. “Breena, this stitchwork is absolutely wonderful. But more than that, it’s powerful. I can feel the magic pulsating off it. You are an incredibly gifted witch, my dear.”
“Thank you.” Breena kisses my grandmother’s cheek. Is she thinking that she’s related to my grandmother thanks to the reincarnation? Perhaps.
This is going to work, I hear Lorelei say in my head.
Yes. It is.
We all get to work as a team, hauling crystals over to the small clearing by the bridge and placing them carefully until they form a path wide enough for one person at a time to walk it in a large spiral.
Giles brought us tourmaline, obsidian, smoky quartz, and tiger’s eye. There’s also amethyst, rose quartz, and carnelian. Crystals with powers of protection, productivity, calm, love, and everything in between are represented on our path to freeing the people of Hallows End.
As we place each stone, I feel the energy building within me and in the air surrounding all of us. The anticipation and adrenaline coming from every witch here is palpable. It’s so late, past midnight now, and everyone should be exhausted, but they’re not.
Young and old, we’re all revved, ready to finish a task we’ve been working on for over a year.
The excitement alone has a heartbeat.
Jonas and Breena erect the tapestry in the center of the spiral at the end of our path, the image facing the bridge. They hug and say something the rest of us can’t hear and then walk back over to join us.
“This is just gorgeous,” Hilda whispers next to me, shaking her head as she takes in the whole scene. “And maybe the most important thing I’ll ever be involved in as a witch in my lifetime. It’s overwhelming in a wonderful way.”
“It’s humbling,” someone else agrees.
“I can’t tell you how grateful I am to have each and every one of you,” Jonas says. “Thank you for using your magic to help me and the people I’ve loved for centuries.”
“You don’t have to thank us,” Lorelei assures him. “We’re your family, too. Your coven will be welcome to join and become a part of us—if they want. We love you.”
“I, especially, love you,” Lucy chimes in and kisses Jonas’s cheek.
“This shouldn’t be difficult, but there will be many working parts. For the sake of simplicity, I’d like to explain things step by step. Mostly so I don’t confuse myself in the process.”
