Calli came to a stop a dozen feet away from the edge of the cliff. She hopped off the broom, which floated down to the ground at her feet.
“Malcolm?”
He didn’t move, not even as a massive gust of wind surged up the side of the cliff and barreled into both of them. It knocked Calli over, but Malcolm didn’t budge.
She reached out with her magic as she struggled to her feet, and the world around her changed. It was like she’d put on glasses and was seeing everything clearly for the first time.
Spells were everywhere. A silvery cloak covered Malcolm. It looked like it was made of fine gossamer-like spells, but they were deceptively powerful. Ringed around him were the ghostly echoes of witches past. Five women and two men formed a ring around him. Their shining essences revealed the wide skirts of early settlers. Curled ringlets surrounded the women’s faces as they chanted in unison. The language they spoke was not one that Calli knew, but she could feel what they all wanted.
They wanted Malcolm to jump.
The enchantment these ghosts were weaving held a sinister pull that made her stomach turn and her mind fog over with an animal-like panic. She felt like she was drowning, unable to catch her breath. Yet she was breathing, she could feel the air passing into her lungs with each breath. So why did she feel like she was dying?
Malcolm walked closer to the edge.
She had to stop them. But the wind crashed against her, and the rain buffeted her like a wall.
Have to… stop him.
Calli felt for the magic around her and dug deep, finding strength from the ground, the roots of trees, the rocks, even the wind itself, drawing it all into her, finding the strength she needed as she pushed through the invisible barrier that surrounded Malcolm.
The echoes of the spectral witches blurred as she passed through them, hearing them curse her every step. Her blood burned like fire in her veins, but she didn’t stop. She pushed forward until she was able to reach out and curl her fingers into the soft, wet flannel of Malcolm’s shirt, just as he lifted a foot into the air and leaned over the cliff.
“No.” Calli spoke the single word against the wind, the rain and the ancient magic surrounding them.
The wind suddenly stilled. The rain froze motionless in the air. Even the incantations had halted. All around her, time stopped. It was as though Calli had fallen into a pocket of air between worlds where only she existed. In that moment, she didn’t think, she simply acted.
She grabbed Malcolm, pulling him back to safety. But she needed to break the enchantment’s hold over him, or he’d head right back to the edge. She pulled his head down to hers just as time caught up with her and kissed him. Malcolm’s lips were cold upon her own. She breathed into him, letting her magic overwhelm him until his body’s stiff posture softened, and he was holding her in his arms.
Her magic chased his, swirling in silky tendrils around their bodies, blacking out the curses of the apparitions until at last the storm began to fade. The rain seeped into the earth and the storm lightened to a softer, more natural rainfall.
“Calli?” Malcolm blinked away the rain and looked at her. “What—what happened? Where am I?” He looked so lost, so afraid.
All around them, the echoes of the old witches and warlocks wavered in the wind, their spectral forms fading back into the ether that kept them tethered to this realm. But they weren’t truly gone. Calli could feel their old magic locked in the stone beneath her. Malcolm probably would have some silly name for it, like a witch time capsule.
“It’s a long story. Come on, let’s go home.” She led him back to her broom and mounted up. Malcolm climbed on behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist. The feel of his body, their legs touching, his hips pressed against her, was a comfort she desperately needed. He was alive. The sense of relief that flooded through her was overwhelming, and she choked down a sudden sob. This wasn’t the time to cry.
“Hold on!” she warned as they took flight. The wind whipped against her, feeling like icy shards slicing at her face and arms as they wove through the dark, autumn woods that held only a few faint glimmers of the fading summer in the golden fire of their leaves.
Malcolm was going to have questions, and Calli didn’t have as many answers as they both needed right now. How had he ended up on the Black Cliffs? How had he reawakened the old witches’ ghosts, and so strongly that they’d started casting their spells again? She’d never even heard of that happening before.
They landed in her back garden, and the broom floated to the ground. For a moment, they simply stared at one another. Then Malcolm threaded his hand into her hair, gently pulling free a few burgundy-colored leaves before he tucked the windblown strands behind her ear.
“Calli…” He whispered her name in a way that echoed through to her very soul.
“Mreow?” The tiny little cry came from somewhere nearby, temporarily breaking the spell. She and Malcolm broke eye contact and searched for the source of the meow.
Sitting on the back steps of the house were Hades and Calli’s little black kitten. Seeing them safe and sound was a soothing comfort to Calli right now. Malcolm slipped his hand into hers, and that rush of connection returned. She led him inside the house. He was trembling now, and so was she. She was exhausted after all the magic she had channeled, after she’d come so close to losing him.
“This way,” she whispered to him as they climbed the stairs. Their familiars watched from the bottom of the steps. Persephone tried to climb up after them, but the giant schnauzer gently caught her by her scruff and carried her away into the living room, leaving Calli and Malcolm alone.
Calli led Malcolm into her bedroom, and then her bathroom.
“Calli.” Malcolm murmured her name, low and husky. The hint of uncertainty she felt only made it clear to her what she really wanted. Seeing him on that cliff, so close to falling, had changed something inside her forever. She didn’t need to be witch-locked to him to know how precious he truly was to her.
She closed the bathroom door and turned on the shower. “Take off your clothes.”
“Shouldn’t you buy me dinner first?” he quipped, but his teeth started to chatter. How could he try to deflect with flirting at a time like this? Maybe she needed to distract him right back.
