Jerking my hand away, I gasped. The child wasn’t a changeling. There was something sinister in this room, something that was impacting both the baby and the mom. This dream catcher. How or why? I had no idea.
“Emma?” Beth, Carol, and Mia stood in the doorway, but it was Beth who'd spoken. “We heard you cry out.”
Had I been that loud? I shook my head. “I’m okay, but I’ve figured it out.” I looked at the mom. “Most importantly, your child isn't a changeling.”
Instead of looking relieved, Mia's eyes filled with tears. “No, there’s something wrong. You have to believe me.”
I lifted a hand. “There's something wrong, but it’s not your child, it’s this thing.” The last word came out a hiss of disgust as I pointed at the dreamcatcher.
Her face scrunched up. “I got that at a flea market from an older woman. She said it would bless my baby and give me good luck.”
For some reason, the back of my mind tingled. I thought of my dream. The one with the older woman. The one with Karma wanting her powers back. It was more than the dream. It was almost like I was picturing the faceless older woman handing this woman the dream catcher. I could even smell the flea market popcorn cooking, feel a cool breeze cutting through a massive open tent.
Every hair on my body stood on end.
“It’s not good luck. This thing is exactly the opposite,” I whispered.
The mom looked unconvinced.
“What should we do?” Beth asked.
I turned back to it and lifted a hand. “Whatever Karma thinks should happen to it.”
Letting my powers go toward it, I told them to give the item the karma it deserved. It only took a moment, then blue flames erupted all over it, and the cursed thing burned to ash. Before the ash could even hit the floor, the window sprung open, and the ash flew out the window by a burst of wind that was anything but normal.
All of us were silent, shocked to our core as the window slammed shut.
The baby started to cry. The mom raced to the child and picked her up. Within seconds, the child stopped crying, then gave a small smile, and Mia slipped into a rocking chair to nurse her. I didn’t know what to say or do when Mia started to cry.
“She’s herself again. She wants me again.” She continued speaking through her sobs, but the words were mostly nonsensical.
Beth and Carol reassured her. They calmed her down. They made it clear that we’d fixed the problem, and that if there was ever another one, we’d be back.
I was distracted. “Don’t ever take anything from an older woman again.”
Everyone looked at me. It was a weird thing to say, but the dream kept flashing back to me. The image I’d had a minute ago could be nothing. The woman in the market could have nothing to do with my dream, but my instincts were saying that everything was connected.
I’d learned to trust my instincts over the past few months.
Eventually, we left the mom and baby, heading back to the car, quiet until our car doors slammed. Beth didn’t start the car. We sat together, stunned.
“Are there a lot of cursed objects like that in Mystic Hollow?” I asked.
“No,” Beth said, her voice almost a whisper.
“Could someone have targeted her for a reason? Revenge? Jealousy? Something to do with her being a witch?”
“It’s possible,” Beth said. “Unlikely. I know a few witches who could put a curse on an object like that, at least a curse that strong, and all of them have strong rules against hurting children. There are witches in town that would hurt someone for hurting a child, but not the other way around.”
“This was strange,” I said, even though I’d already known it.
“Very strange,” Carol told me, and there was a flicker of worry in her eyes before Beth turned on the car and we headed off.
5
EMMA
I staredout the window of Daniel’s truck at the trees flying by. We were going to an area of Mystic Hollow I’d never been to. All of the mountains and lands in this area were privately owned. This road was typically only used by the owners of the property and the workers who brought down trucks full of the gems from the mines. Our area was known for the Gem Creek Mine, which produced amethyst, jasper, rubies, and agate. Technically, all the semiprecious stones came from various mines in the area, but the Seven Miners Group mined the whole area and gave a cut to the landowners in each area. Apparently, the deal between the group and the families has existed nearly as long as Mystic Hollow itself.
