Magic on Changeling Mountain

The next morning, everyone started showing up at Carolyn’s cottage about 7 am. She had been up for about an hour and had coffee ready and waiting. Lucinda had gotten up not long after her and was making cinnamon rolls, which smelled heavenly.

First Colin and then Stuart and a few minutes later Tammy and her parents apparated in. Tammy was nervous about her father and Stuart meeting but she was surprised when her father stepped forward and offered his hand to Stuart.

“I heard you proposed to my daughter last night.” Jacob said.

“Yes, sir, I sure did.” Stuart said before taking his hand, not sure if her parents were going to object to their engagement or not.

“Well, this has certainly been a time of surprises. It looks like we’ve not only found our daughter but will be gaining a son as well. Welcome to the family.” Jacob said with a slight smile.

He still had mixed feelings about the whole situation but had decided to take his wife’s advice to accept the situation or stand the chance of losing their daughter for good, as she seemed set on marrying this young man. As soon as their hands met, Jacob seemed to relax even more. Jason had always been able to tell if a person could be trusted or not by a simple touch.

He had never touched Garret until one night their hands had touched when he passed Garret a glass of wine. It had been a shock and he had jerked his hand back as if he had been burned. He tried to pass it off as a static electricity shock but knew that Garret wasn’t fooled. From then on Garret had grown more and more suspicious of him. The vision Jacob had had from touching him had scared him. He had envisioned Garret standing over Julia with a blade in his hand and of her reaching for something that he couldn’t see and crying.

After that night, he had convinced Julia to leave the coven. They had tried just not going to meetings and distancing themselves from the coven members but it was made clear quite quickly that that was not an option. Garret had cornered Jacob in the men’s restroom and in no uncertain terms made it clear that either they comply with the rules of the coven and to follow along blindly or their lives wouldn’t be worth squat.

“We will be performing a sacrifice this Friday night. We’ll meet at the estate. Be there by 10 pm and don’t be late.”

He and Julia had started running that very night. They had both gone to the bank and emptied their bank accounts of what little money they had, packed what they could into his old Dodge van under the guise of going to the laundromat and had left town.

“Well, thank you, sir. Your daughter is one very special lady and I promise I will do my best to make her happy.” Stuart said, as he dropped his left arm around Tammy’s shoulders and pulled her into his side.

Just then Daniel, Ray and Richard showed up, followed closely by Justin and Jake, Richard’s sons who brought Pastor Robins with them. Everyone congratulated Stuart and Tammy on their engagement.

“Ok. Ok. Enough of this. Come on everyone. Gather around. We need to have our coffee and discuss our plan of action.” Amelia said, as she passed around the plates of cinnamon rolls her sister had made. They all gathered around the table, which she had enlarged so that everyone could sit down.

Daniel Masters unrolled his map of the mountain and he showed them where the boundaries were. “Our area of this mountain seems to be the most affected but just to be on the safe side, we have all decided that we would like for all the changelings’ land to be protected. Is that going to be an issue?”

“Well, if you want all of this area protected, we are going to need a whole lot more holy water and a lot more talisman’s than what we have prepared. I think we need to split up into groups. Since we witches do not have fur to protect us, we will go until it gets too cold then apparate back here and the next group can go on. Daniel, is there any part of the mountain that will be inaccessible to foot traffic?”

“I’m not sure but I don’t think so, at least not for changelings. Human traffic I’m not too sure about.” Daniel answered

“Well, since witches can fly or at least apparate, we should be able to handle it. Pastor Robins, what is your animal?” Amelia asked.

“I’m a bird. I already know what you are going to ask and yes, I can fly back and forth between the two groups and bless water as needed. I brought some with me, in fact.” Pastor Robins said. He opened the satchel he had brought with him and passed around pint sized bottles of holy water to everyone. “This will get you started at least. We can use the water from the river and streams along the way. One thing I would like to request and that is we all say a prayer to sanctify this mission before we go.”

They all gathered around Pastor Robins and joined hands as he led them in prayer, blessing each and every one of them. He also blessed all of the talisman’s that had been prepared so far and then Amelia and Lucinda passed them around.

“We are limited on these permanent talismans so we are going to have to gather natural elements along the way. That’s why it’s necessary for Lucinda and I to split up and show you what to look for and how to prepare them. Once we have them all in place, nothing evil will be able to set foot on this mountain ever again. Pastor, since you are going to bless the land and make it hallowed ground, why don’t you go with Lucinda and her group first and then at lunch time we will switch.” Amelia said.

They split into the two groups and filed out of the cottage. They spent the rest of the day hiking the mountain. Carolyn and the other changelings gathered the natural materials that the witches were able to craft into the talismans.

Carolyn was fascinated by the materials they had to gather and she paid close attention to how they crafted them. “Supplies would be more plentiful in the spring and summer months but we will have to make do with what we can find for now.” Julia said as she showed Carolyn how to bind willow branches together to create a natural talisman.

The witches muttered spells all morning long and even though they never complained, Carolyn could tell that it was taxing their strength. When it got close to lunch time, Pastor Robins showed up and transformed next to Jacob. Pastor Robins managed to catch Jacob just as his knees buckled. “You need to rest, my friend.” Pastor Robins said as he helped him over to a tree that had fallen.

“It’s been such a long time since we’ve even practiced our magic that I’m afraid, I’m rather weak and doing so much of it all at once is wiping me out.” Jacob admitted when Julia rushed to his side.

“You just rest for a while. I’ll take over for you.” Julia said.

“No, we all need to rest. We have a large area to cover and this is not going to happen all in one day.” Amelia said.

“Too bad we can’t bless the snow or rain and cover the whole mountain at once.” Carolyn said jokingly and was surprised when Amelia said “Carolyn, that’s a marvelous idea. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before. Come on, let’s go back to the cottage. Pastor Robin’s if you don’t mind, would you go and tell the others to meet us back at the cottage? I think I have an alternative that just might work!”

“Sure.” Pastor Robins answered and then transformed and took off.

They helped Jacob back to his feet and then apparated back to the cottage. They arrived before the others and Carolyn made them all something to drink.

“How about we order some pizzas for lunch?” Colin suggested. “I’m hungry!”

“Me too but I think I can do better than pizza. How about some sub sandwiches? I’ve got roast beef, ham and turkey for those of you that want meat along with lettuce, tomatoes, fresh spinach, cucumbers, pickles and peppers and two different kinds of cheese.”

She lined everything up on the counter and everyone filed through and made themselves sandwiches. When they were done eating, Amelia explained what she was proposing they could do to speed up the process.

“This actually might work out better since we will cover a larger area in a shorter amount of time. My only fear is that we might be spotted.”

“What are you thinking of, sister?”

“Well, Pastor Robins is a bird so he can fly up into the clouds and bless the rain we make fall on the mountain. It would cover a larger area in a shorter amount of time.”

“There’s only one problem with that and that’s that I can’t say the blessing while I’m in my bird form. I have to be in my human form in order to do that and unfortunately, I can’t fly in my human form.” Pastor Robins said.

“Well, we might be able to remedy that problem.” Amelia said as she waved her wand at Pastor Robins and suddenly he began to float in the air. He almost squealed, first in fright and then in delight, as he made frog-like motions to move himself around the room.

“This is not only amazing but wonderful. I’ve always wanted to be able to fly in my human form. This is great!” Pastor Robins exclaimed as he flew around the room a couple of times. “How do I land?” He asked.

“The same as you would as a bird. Just lower your legs, slowly, and you will come down.”

Pastor Robins lowered himself to the floor with a big smile on his face. “So what’s the plan?”

“Give me a minute. I’m still working on how we do this without being seen.” Amelia replied.

“Can’t you make him invisible as well?”

“No! That’s a very dangerous spell, just like transfiguration. If we are spotted by someone with dark magic powers, they could hex us and stick us in that form, just like Armand did with Sebastian. No, we are going to have to come up with something else.”

“Would fog help?” Colin asked.

“Yes, that would be great but it’s going to make navigating hard. Fog would hide us from them but then it would also hide the ground from us. We need to know where to guide him. For the barriers to work, we need to be able to direct him over the area we want to protect while we cast our spells.”

“Can I ask a question?” Carolyn asked.

“You just did but what is it you want to know Carolyn?” Amelia teased and everyone laughed.

“As I understand apparating, you have to know where you are going to go, right?” Carolyn asked.

“Yes.” Amelia replied.

“Well, can’t you apparate up into the clouds that you are going to make rain? Pastor Robins could bless the cloud and therefore the rain coming out of it would be holy water. If one witch stood at one of four points, north, east, west and south and cast the same spell while the rain was falling, then wouldn’t we be accomplishing what needs to be done?”

“Now that just might work!” Lucinda said.

“You are right! Let’s stop for now and rest. We have the areas between the mountain roads and town covered in both directions. If anyone evil wants to come on the mountain now, they are going to have to do it from non-changeling land and come through the woods. Tomorrow morning, the four strongest of us will apparate to safe places, one in each direction. This is where you changelings will come in most helpful for us. You know this mountain. You know where we will need to be and where it will be safe for us to land. Then you will need to watch our backs while we cast our spell. We should have thought of this before.” Amelia said.

“Well, the barrier that we placed today will be stronger but this should work just fine.” Lucinda agreed. “Daniel, can you show us where it will be safe for us to land using your maps?”

“Yes.” Daniel said and unrolled the map on the table. They all gathered around and Daniel pointed out where safe places for them to land would be that would create a four pointed cross. Amelia and Lucinda looked at each other but did not voice their concern just yet but Carolyn caught their look.

“What?”

“If a dark wizard is around and catches on to what we are going, they could step in and make a 5th point. That would turn our cross into a pentagram. A pentagram is a dark magic symbol. They could turn our blessing spell into a curse.”

“So do you have to say the spell all at the same time? What if you four stuck together and apparated from one spot to the next until you completed a circle? A circle doesn’t have any corners to it.” Carolyn said practically.

“She’s right. Plus with four witches casting together, it would make the barrier even stronger.” Lucinda said.

“Ok. So tomorrow morning, one of us will apparate to the cloud. Pastor Robins can fly up into the cloud and we will make it solid enough for him to stand on it and he can bless it then he can transform and fly back down and we’ll make it rain.”

“You may not have to wait until morning! It looks like it’s about to rain or snow again soon.” Colin said, looking out the window.

Everyone moved to look out the windows. Sure enough clouds were rolling in over the top of the mountain. “Weather man said this might happen today.” Stuart said.

“Well, let’s give it a little while so that Jacob can regain his strength. The more witches we have the more potent we will be.”

“Why don’t you go lie down for an hour or so, Dad? We’ve got time.” Tammy said with a slight smile. She was worried about her parents. They were still much too pale and now this weakness had her concerned. She wanted to talk with Lucinda and Amelia in private about what might possibly be wrong with them.

Jacob did as she suggested with Julia right behind him. They went into the bedroom that Tammy usually used at the cottage and closed the door.

“Lucinda, Amelia, can I talk to you please? What might be wrong with my parents? They are so pale and weak. What’s wrong?”

“They’ve been staying inside too much and gone too long without using magic. It’s weakened them. It’s almost as if a succubus has fed on them. Have they said anything to you about the weakness coming on suddenly?” Lucinda asked.

“No, but they never use magic. They do everything the human way and you are right, they rarely go outside and when they do, they cover themselves from head to toe.” Tammy said.

“They need to get out in the sun and they need to use magic again and soon or they are going to lose their powers all together.” Lucinda said.

“I think that’s what they want. They didn’t like it when I would use magic at their house. At first I thought it was because they didn’t want to take a chance on being discovered but now I think it’s because they wanted me to give up my powers and just not use them until they faded away. I’m just learning how to use my powers! I don’t want to give them up!” Tammy almost cried.

“Calm down, Tammy. We understand. Your parents have been on the run and hiding, thinking they were protecting you by staying out of your life for over 25 years! Their powers have gotten so weak that it takes a lot out of them to use them, especially when we are doing such large spells. We both use our magic regularly and even for us, it’s draining but then we are much older than you.”

“Is there anything I can do to help them?” Tammy asked.

“Just encourage them to use their magic again and once the sun comes out, get them out in it. It’s going to take time!” Lucinda said.

“How about we go take a walk while they rest for a little while?” Stuart asked.

“Sure. Ok.” Tammy consented.

“Carolyn if you don’t mind, can I use your bed to lie down for a little while? I’m feeling kind of drained myself.” Lucinda asked.

“Not at all. You go right ahead. Colin, would you like to go for a walk too?”

“Sure.” Colin said and helped her with her coat.

Daniel Masters asked Pastor Robins if he would like to come up to the house for a bit but the pastor said “Actually, I heard that Mr. Wainwright passed away and he’s lying in state in his house. I know that you are going to be burying him Sunday after church. Would you mind showing me the way up there so I can come say a few words over him before you lower him on Sunday?”

“Sure we can get to our house from there.” The two men left in Daniel’s truck as Carolyn and Colin sat on the back porch to visit.

“Wow. Lots going on around here.”

“Well, it’s not normally this busy but welcome to my world.” Carolyn teased.

“I guess I spend too much time with the townies. The most I usually have to deal with is parking tickets and the occasional drunk letting off some frustrations because his boss gave him a hard time at work.” Colin smiled at her. “How about we forget everything for a little while and you tell me what kind of plans you have made for our wedding?”

“Well, other than the location and our colors, which are blue and white, not much. It’s just been too much of a mad house lately. Have you started your guest list yet?” Carolyn smiled back.

“Well, other than the guys I work with and my family, I don’t really care who comes.”

“Have you managed to contact your parents yet?”

“No but Kenny is trying to contact them too. I did talk to Wendy though and she will be here and told me to ask you to let her know if there is anything she can do to help.”

“That’s great but other than being on time, there’s nothing I know of at the moment. Do your parents always stay out of touch for so long?”

“Sometimes but they usually leave a point of contact for us. A man named Jacques Vaughn. He’s a wolf changeling and I think my mom is hoping to hook Wendy up with his son.”

“Have you talked with him lately?”

“No but when I called the other day, his receptionist told me he was out on a call and she said she would have him call me. I left my cell number and the station number but so far nothing.”

“Hmmm. How strange that he wouldn’t have called back. I do hope nothing is wrong.” Carolyn didn’t want to cause him to worry but she felt concerned.

“Yeah, I’ve been thinking the same thing. I’ve been thinking that if I don’t hear anything in another week, I’m considering going up there and see if I can find them myself. Think you might be able to get away and come with me?”

“Sure. This time of year is usually pretty slow as far as the clinic is concerned so it shouldn’t be a problem but let’s just hope this Jacques fellow can get in touch with them.”

“So have you had any chance to talk to Tammy yet?” Colin asked, trying to take both of their minds off of something that was already worrying him. His parents had never stayed out of contact this long before and he was more than just a little bit concerned about them.

“No but I’m hoping she will agree to stay over one night as soon as this is all over and we’ll have the chance to talk. I’m a bit worried about her parents. They are so pale and their energy levels are not what they should be.”

“Have you examined them? What do you think is wrong?”

“I would need to take blood and send it for analysis to be sure and that is going to cost. I bet they don’t have any health insurance. Besides I’m pretty sure all they need is some good healthy food and sunshine. Right now I think what they need is as much rest as they can get. If they don’t get better in a couple of weeks, we’ll worry about tests and insurance then.”

“Well, I hate to say this but their hour is almost up. If we are going to do this today, we need to get going.” Colin said. He hated to let go of her but what he had said was true. If they were going to get this done today, it was time to get started.

Tammy and Stuart came back from their walk with big smiles on their faces. “Are you two ready?”

“Oh yeah. Let’s get this done!” Stuart said.

Tammy was dying to talk to Carolyn but for now, it was going to have to wait. She entered the cottage and went to wake up her parents.

“Mom? Dad? It’s time to get up.” She called as she knocked on the door. She opened it slowly and stepped inside the bedroom. Her mother was sitting on the side of the bed.

“Mom? Are you ok?”

“I’m fine, baby girl. Just tired.”

Jacob sat up suddenly and his eyes were almost blood red as he glared at them. “It’s Ok, Jake. It’s just Tammy.”

“Oh.” He said, obviously groggy from being woken up suddenly. He put his hand to his head as if he had a headache or was dizzy. “Kind of dizzy.”

“Dad, won’t you please let Carolyn take a look at you? She’s a doctor.” Tammy asked.

“She’s never treated a witch.” Jacob said stubbornly.

“He’s right, Tammy. I can’t do anything about their magic but Jacob, I think you are physically weak as well. I promise not to hurt you.” Carolyn said from the doorway.

“Alright. I guess so. I’m dizzy and my head hurts.” Jacob said.

Carolyn walked around the bed and touched his forehead. “You are running a fever. Open your mouth and let me see down your throat. Tammy, go get me a flashlight. There’s one in the drawer in the kitchen by the back door.”

Tammy raced to retrieve the flashlight and was back in less than a minute. Carolyn took it and looked down Jacob’s throat. It was red and looked irritated.

“I’m not positive but I think you have strep throat. He’s going to need some antibiotics. For now, Tammy, you should stay away from them. Julia, since you’ve been sleeping with him, you have been exposed and may already have it. Please stay in here.” Carolyn said. “I have a doctor friend who works at the hospital and may be able to get me some antibiotic samples.”

Jacob nodded and lay back down. “I really don’t feel well at all.”

Carolyn left the room and went to the bathroom. She washed her hands thoroughly with antiseptic soap and then wet a cloth with cold water. She found some aspirin and left the bathroom. She handed the cloth and aspirin to Julia. “I’ll bring you some water in a second.”

“Colin, you and Stuart need to leave right now. The last thing we need is you catching this but if you feel a headache or sore throat starting, then get back here. Amelia, you and Lucinda probably need to go too. Tammy, I know it will be useless to even mention you leaving but stay away from them as much as possible. I’m going to call Charlie and see if he can come and bring some antibiotics.”

“What are we going to do about getting the barriers in place?” Lucinda asked.

“Well, unless you can pull this off without Jacob and Julia and Tammy, then I would say it’s going to have to wait. Having Jacob out in this cold, damp weather would be signing his death certificate. Right now they need to stay warm and dry.”

“I can still help!” Tammy said as she rejoined them in the living room.

“Tammy, you have probably been exposed to it as well.” Carolyn said.

“Yeah, maybe but I’m not as weak as they are right now and I’m not sick yet. Keeping them safe is more important than me getting sick right now. Lucinda, do you think we can still pull this off with just the three of us witches?” Tammy asked.

“No, hon, I’m sorry. We are just not powerful enough to cover such a large area all at once. We were already going to be pushing our powers to the limit to get it done with just the four of us. There’s no way we can be effective with just the two of us. One of us has to be with Pastor Robins, so that leaves just two of us to complete the circle.” Lucinda said.

“Oh, I wish we knew some other witches that could come and help us.” Tammy almost cried, feeling defeated.

Lucinda and Amelia looked at each other but said nothing. Carolyn called her friend, Charlie and explained the situation. He said he would come by as soon as he got off his shift at the hospital in about an hour. The pharmaceutical rep had just been there the day before and had left a large supply of antibiotic samples. The hospital used them for people who were in financial straits and couldn’t afford medicine or insurance.

“Great, Charlie. See you in a couple of hours and thanks!” Carolyn said and hung up the phone. “Charlie is going to come as soon as he gets off work. Just in case they have to go to the hospital, do they have medical insurance?”

“I’ll ask but I doubt it.” Tammy said and pulled her credit card out of her purse. “Oh, well, I guess I’ll just have to forget that new car for a while longer but this is more important.”

“Well, hang on to that for now. They can stay here until we can get them up and going again. I was just asking in case they get worse, which hopefully they won’t.”

Colin and Stuart volunteered to go get some Sprite and chicken noodle soup from the supermarket. “I think I’d better call my folks and make sure it’s OK for Lucinda and Amelia to stay up there for the night.”

“No need to do that, Carolyn. We’ll apparate home and get some supplies we need anyway. We might also contact some friends of ours to see if they can help us out.” Lucinda said. “Don’t worry, we’ll be back tomorrow.” Lucinda and Amelia then joined hands and apparated.

“It still blows my mind that they are able to travel all the way across the country in the blink of an eye like that!” Carolyn said, to no one in particular.