Crow Moon, page 18
“Yes. I managed to get into the hospital.” Katherine eyed her up and down, her eyes narrowed as she inspected her.
“Why are you doing this to me?”
“I’m simply testing your powers, darling.”
“What if I fail? You’d risk your granddaughter’s life?”
At that her grandmother smiled. “I realize you don’t know me very well, and perhaps that idea seems strange to you. But yes, without hesitating, I’d risk my granddaughter’s life.”
“Why?”
“To find your strength.” Katherine stood straight and carried herself with confidence. She spoke matter-of-factly. Leni knew she was in trouble with her handful of elementary spells and her lack of a coven to combat Katherine’s.
“To take my strength, you mean.”
Her grandmother laughed. “You could put it that way. We could work together. I used your mother to force you into the test, but you were so weak, I don’t even know why I bothered. Unless you refuse me, after you pass the test. She might come in handy then, I suppose.”
“If I fail?”
“If you fail, I’ll have no use for either of you. Now, let’s begin.” She turned and took her place within the circle her minions had formed. She then raised her gaze to the sky. “The moon is ready. Let’s be quick about this,” she said, eyeing the others around the circle.
The sound of crows grew louder. Leni couldn’t think of anything else to say or any other way to stall. She inhaled as much air as she could in order to release a powerful scream, but as soon as the sound started from her mouth, a quick motion from her grandmother silenced her, as she’d done to her mother earlier.
She didn’t know if this made the crows sound louder or if they were actually nearing. But the single caw in the distance she’d heard moments ago had grown to many, and they were getting closer.
Her grandmother joined the circle of her minions, taking their hands, and they all began the chant. Debra’s head jerked up and she struggled against her bindings. Her eyes met Leni’s. Her glance spoke volumes. Leni could tell she was sorry, that she couldn’t help, and she didn’t know what to do. Frankly, neither did Leni.
With the chanting in the circle building, the sound of the crows did, too. Leni’s heart pounded and perspiration sprang up again. She fought against her ropes, twisting and pulling at them until they dug into her wrists.
The chanting became louder, but Leni tuned it out, tuned everything out to think about how to message the others. Before she could, a loud voice bellowed from the woods.
“Enough!”
Leni ran through the voices it could have been. It wasn’t Michaels or Ned. Andrew maybe? Then he emerged from the tree line wearing his crow cloak and mask.
Her heart sank. Her grandfather was supposed to be her guardian, but she’d seen him do nothing along the lines of spells. She’d never heard him talk of any great ideas or strategies. All she’d seen him do was lurk around in his weird outfit like some deranged drifter who squatted in the shack in the woods. Of all the people to come to her aid, why did it have to be him?
All of that ran through her mind in the beat of a heart. But before those thoughts could settle and take root chanting ceased, and all eyes were on him.
“Foul harpy! Get back to the ash from whence you came!”
The circle stayed quiet. Go grandpa!
Then her grandmother started laughing. “James, dear. What on earth—”
“I said enough!” Her grandfather continued toward her grandmother, his arm outstretched, poised to cast. “Your work is done here.”
Her grandmother continued speaking to him, unfazed. “That get up. Really, James. What in God’s name are you wearing?”
“Speak not of God, you devil’s whore!”
Her grandmother’s minions glanced from one to another, seeming not to know what to do next, while Debra managed to stand, her hands still bound to the tree.
“Now is that any way to speak to your wife, dear?” she responded, flicking her hand and knocking him to the ground.
The circle may have quieted, but the birds were reacting much more chaotically.
“You have one chance to leave this place.” Leni’s grandfather got back to his feet and eyed each of the cloaked figures in turn. “Or face the truth of the Crow Moon.” His voice was aged, hoarse from years of disuse, but steady.
Her grandmother’s people paused and eyed each other.
“Oh, come now. Don’t let this old fool scare—”
A motion from the old man sent a blast of green energy their way, knocking half of them to the ground. Katherine staggered but regained her balance to remain standing.
The crows erupted, circling above.
“You may be strong enough to fight me, but you aren’t strong enough for them,” her grandfather said, a quick look skyward.
Even Katherine paused before regaining her composure. “Stand up, you idiots and chant!”
The tallest of the robed figures got up first, only to be met with another blast from Leni’s grandfather. This time when the robed man fell, he remained still.
Ginny scrambled to her feet but ran for the woods. Leni’s grandfather let her go.
“Any others care to join your little friend? Or the tall one on the ground perhaps?”
A few rose to their feet and started for the woods, but Katherine stopped them. “Halt! Fight back, you cowards!” Her force held them in place, pulling them back to their positions.
“If you’re quite through,” Katherine said. Leni hadn’t seen anything in her grandmother’s hand, but before she knew it, her grandmother had flung a dagger at James. The blade sunk to the hilt, and he stumbled backward, gasping.
“No!” Leni shouted. Her mother appeared to be screaming, though sound refused to escape her. Both of them struggled against their ties with more force.
James stumbled back a few steps then fell to the ground, clutching the dagger’s handle, choking and fighting for breath.
“Get back here!” she screamed at her coven who scrambled back to their places. Katherine regained her composure and started the chant again. Her remaining companions joined in, weaker than before, but building strength. Leni knew from her training her grandmother no longer had thirteen, so their ritual magic wouldn’t be as effective. If only the others made their way here, perhaps they’d be a match for Katherine.
“You can’t tame them,” her grandfather said weakly, barely audible through the chanting. “They will take what they want. You’ll be left with nothing.”
Katherine and the others ignored him and kept going. Leni tried to free herself from the bindings, but she was still too weak. Her mother worked herself free and rushed to her grandfather’s side.
Leni twisted her wrists, tearing the skin on the ropes, and managed to force one hand from the ties, and then another followed, raw and skinned.
“Leni!” Ned shouted from the edge of the woods. Diana and Michaels emerged from the trees. Jake transformed and lunged after one of the cloaked figures. Spell effects Leni had never seen burst in a variety of colors from all directions. Diana, Lindsey, and Audrey cast beams and rays that targeted Katherine and her coven, while Michaels and Andrew cast spells that appeared to form barriers and shields around the others. Ned rushed to Leni’s side and helped her out of the cauldron.
Leni had little luck casting anything so far. Except when she’d panicked. Except when she’d been afraid. She raised her arms toward the blackened sky and for a moment couldn’t tell if the sky was dark or if black wings were blocking out the moonlight. The crows were there, circling above. Hundreds of them.
Her vision started to speckle again and blur. She’d be useless if another attack came now. She counted it out.
“One—”
“One for sorrow,” her grandfather said in failing voice.
She turned toward him, her head tilted. Where had she heard that before?
“Two for joy,” he continued.
Debra tore the mask from his face, checking his eyes. He stared at Leni and nodded. She knew the poem and picked it up after him. “Three for a girl, / Four for a boy, / Five for silver, / Six for gold, / Seven for a secret, / Never to be told.”
She knew where she’d heard it before. In the hospital. He’d read it to her, night after night. His poem had calmed her. His poem had given her strength and control.
“Again,” he said, so quietly she almost didn’t hear it. She repeated it herself this time. And with that, the crows descended upon her, swarming around her like bees, but not scratching or clawing her. Not pecking her. Just the light tickles of their feathers as they swirled around her brushed against her. A cooling breeze, light, uplifting.
Her body shook once more, and darkness clouded her vision. Another attack was weighing her down, but before she knew it, she was ascending into the night sky with the birds. Were they carrying her? The motion felt fast and frenetic. Her vision cleared and a wave of energy burst through her. Below her a few bodies lay on the ground, figures fled into the trees, screams echoed in the distance. But her attack passed. The open sky, the limitless possibilities, freedom, and release overcame her now.
Had she died?
She looked down her body as she flew. Her arms were now wings of black feathers. Her nose now a beak. She wasn’t with the crows. She was a crow.
She cocked her head to look around her. The other crows flew by her side, straight and far. The cool wind soothed her concerns. They banked and turned, heading back toward the estate, over the forest where her family was, back to the balcony on the deck.
They perched along the steepled roof, along the balustrade, on the deck, while she landed and hopped a few feet in the center of the deck. Not one crow, or two or seven. But hundreds of them. She willed herself to stand and shifted out of the crow form as easily as slipping out of a T-shirt, standing naked on the balcony, unaffected by the weather and as unashamed of her natural form as the crows were of theirs. She walked toward the edge, staring in the direction of her family.
A particularly large crow, splotched with patches of white, hopped in front of her, and then up on the railing of the balcony. It made eye contact with her, staring, as though waiting. She knew then the crows were with her to answer her call.
She nodded, shifted back to her crow form at will, and flew back to help her friends. She landed in the center of the circle and returned to her human form only peripherally aware of her nudity, mentally directing the crows; they swooped down and attacked each of her grandmother’s accomplices either knocking them out or running them out of the woods. Two more lay still on the cold ground, while Leni caught site of another few running for the woods.
One of the hooded figures shot a green flash of magic in Michaels’ direction. Before it struck him in the chest, Jake blinked into wolf form, absorbing the blast. His yelp echoed through the trees.
“Nooo!” Michaels screamed and dropped to Jake’s side. Her grandfather, James, was still prone, and Diana and Lindsey cast spells at Katherine, which she was able to counter or block. Ned looked to be trying to disrupt any magic that Katherine could get off. Debra sat with James while Audrey and Andrew tried to hold the other cloaked figures at bay.
“Stop,” Leni said. “Grandmother, you have lost.”
Her friends remained at the ready.
“Do you think so?”
Her grandfather spoke. “Leni passed your test, but she is not yours. She is more than a witch, more than the balance. She’s the secret.”
Leni wasn’t sure what that meant.
He continued. “Born on the cusp, child of the spring, touched by the moon and the crow alike. She is not yours to tame. If you stay, you will be hers. Your numbers have dwindled. Take your defeat and go.”
Katherine glanced around, assessing her troops. Her eyes twitched.
A flash of movement from the trees distracted Leni. Before she could strategize or think it through, her mind called to the crows that shot after it through the trees.
Leni walked after them, listening to their wings buffet their target, listening to their screams echo in the night. She drew back a branch from her view to see her victim. Ginny lay bleeding and scraped as the crows tore at her.
“No, please. Leni,” Ginny said.
All it took was a mental order to the crows. Stop. They darted back to the branches, taking cover in the trees. Ginny lay, gasping for air, her face bloodied and scratched. She’d live. If Leni willed it.
Leni eyed the girl briefly before saying, “Run.”
Ginny scrambled to her feet and obliged.
“Now, Lenore, together we can do great things,” Katherine called from behind her. This drew her attention back to the circle. Leni walked toward the old woman.
“Just think this through, Lenore. You’re a thinker. It’s what you do. I know you. I’m your grandmother. I’m family,” she pleaded.
“No,” Leni said.
“I can help you with your powers. I can train you. Guide you. This darkness you have, this force. I know what it’s like. I can help you.”
“No.” Leni walked closer.
“You have my blood. You have the blood of the Salem witches in your veins. You have the blood of the Druids, and you have the blood of the priestesses from the tropics. You have hunter’s blood inside you. With my help, you could be unstoppable.”
“I will be.” Leni stopped and eyed her grandmother, her head cocking to the side.
“The darkness. It requires control. Let me help you.”
The others watched, and then the crows flew out in a black tornado, spinning and mesmerizing those who watched. They then burst apart again, separating to perch in the trees, awaiting orders. The large crow with white splotches landed at Leni’s feet. She glanced its way.
“Please, Lenore,” her grandmother begged holding her hands out to elicit caution.
“Did you kill my father?” Leni asked, needing to hear the confession for herself.
“What? No, of course not,” her grandmother stammered.
“He was a witch hunter. Did his life force give you power?”
Katherine remained silent, her body stiffening.
“He knew your power. He knew of the Bentley witches. Did you kill him?”
Her grandmother’s eyes darted around the area.
“Your power drains life energy from those around you. But you can target people. My father knew he was dying. You took from my grandfather. Did you kill my father?”
“I can’t control that, Lenore. None of us can. Why your power right now—”
“Did your power take from my mother?” Leni’s jaw was tight, her teeth grinding.
Katherine took a quick breath and looked at her children. “Yes, most likely.”
“You were going to take from me.”
“If you’d failed the test, but you haven’t. You’re a powerful, beautiful—”
“Did you take from my father?” Leni stepped closer.
Katherine took a step backwards, remaining silent.
“Even one year from him? A month? A day? What I wouldn’t give for one more day. Did you kill my father?”
“Yes! Yes, of course, I killed your father. He was just a man who thought he knew how to take down the Bentley power. A foolish hunter who thought he could beat us. I killed him like the pesky fly he was.” With her confession, Katherine drew back her hand and shouted something in another language.
Leni flinched, but nothing happened. She narrowed her eyes at her grandmother, who tried it again. “Bas!” No sparks or bursts of color streamed from her hand.
“The void!” Ned shouted.
Leni ran the calculations and the image of the calendars through her head and knew he was right. The full moon hit on March 20th, between Pisces and Aries. They had a few brief moments of magic blackout.
Leni glanced at the bird at her feet. He hopped once and the others darted from their branches, beaks and talons directed at Katherine.
She screamed as they circled her, all feathers and claws. Leni turned away. Not out of fear of the violence. Out of a lack of caring for the result.
With Katherine distracted, the others rushed to James.
“Father!” Diana yelled, falling to his side.
Debra worked on the dagger, clearing it from James.
Michaels stroked Jake as he transformed back into his puppy form. Leni stood, assessing the fallout. Ned took off his jacket and wrapped it around Leni’s shoulders, covering her body.
“Thank you,” she said in a meek voice, watching the pain unfold. “All of this damage, because of me?”
“No,” Ned said. “All of this because of her.” He nodded in Katherine’s direction.
Leni went to her grandfather’s side. He took her hand and kissed it.
Leni recalled the healing spells and went through the steps in her mind, the motion, the focus, and the words. On top of it, she focused on visualizing the energy drain from the hooded figures who lay on the ground. She could sense their faint pulses. She visualized the others trying to escape through the woods. She visualized until the void passed, until magic returned to her. A white glow outlined him, and when it faded, he breathed easier. Once she felt he was strong enough, she shifted her focus to Jake. In the depth of her mind, she sensed the dead silence of those on the ground, and a weakened life force in those who had run.
Diana stroked Jake whose tail began to wag.
“He’s going to be all right,” Michaels said, laughing as tears streamed down his cheeks.
“I’m going to buy him the biggest steak I can find. He saved your life!” Diana embraced Michaels.
Ned picked up Leni’s discarded red dress from the ground, then held his hand out to Leni. “Come on. Let’s get you inside.”
Fifteen
Leni sat at the end of the long dining table, all set and decorated for her birthday dinner. The food had been left out and was now cold. Ned brought down some flannel PJ bottoms and a T-shirt from her room.
“What about the others? My grandmother?” Leni said, taking the clothes.
