"Trust me, you'll be fine." Carol patted my arm gently. "We've done this kind of thing before. It's perfectly safe."
Beth opened her well-loved backpack, which had seen better days, and pulled out various items, candles, a small mirror, and even a wishbone. The smell of smoke from the fire still lingered in the air, a constant reminder of the chaos that had unfolded just hours earlier.
Beth arranged the candles on the floor in a circle large enough for all four of us to sit inside. "Emma, hold this wishbone." She handed me the small, brittle piece of bone with a grin. "It's from a chicken because people who do curses are chickens." She made clucking noises, and I laughed, despite the seriousness of the situation.
"Uh, sure," I took the wishbone gingerly. "Because that's a totally logical explanation."
"Of course it is." Beth winked. "Now, we'll also be using this mirror." She held up the small, round mirror, and then coveredit with a black cloth. "This will stop the person who cursed Deva's Delights from seeing what we're doing."
"You guys really think of everything," I said, thoroughly impressed by their preparation.
"Been at this a while," Beth's voice shifted from playful to serious. "Let's all take our places in the circle and hold hands."
We did as instructed, sitting cross-legged on the floor, forming a tight-knit circle of friendship. Fear and excitement bubbled up within me. This was so far beyond anything I'd ever done before. My powers were more about feel than spells.
"Ready?" Beth asked, looking around at each of us.
"Ready," we all said in unison.
"Then let's begin."
Beth started the chant, low and steady. I tried my best to follow along, fumbling over the unfamiliar words and feeling slightly ridiculous as I did so. But I kept going, ready to do my part in helping Deva, the wishbone sweaty in my grip.
As we chanted, a tingling sensation began in my hands, but I kept my grip tightly on the wishbone. It was subtle at first, but it grew stronger with each word we spoke. I glanced around at the others, wondering if they felt it too, but their expressions remained focused and unwavering.
It was okay though, I trusted them. This was just another thing I had to get used to in a magical world. It definitely beat dealing with angry mermaids, gambling vampires, and wild shifters.
"Stay with us," Carol said, squeezing my hand gently.
My mind sharpened. I hadn’t even realized it’d been drifting. Her encouragement helped ground me, and I refocused my attention on the chant.
I don't know how long we chanted, time seemed to have lost all meaning in that small circle of candles. Eventually, the sensation in my hands changed, becoming almost electric. Something was happening. Something powerful.
Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the chanting stopped, in unison. We knew, somehow it was time to hush. We looked at one another, each of our eyes wide with anticipation. The air around us was charged, as though the very atmosphere had been altered by our actions.
"Did it work?" I whispered.
"Only one way to find out," Deva said, glancing toward the wishbone.
I clutched it tightly. All gazes focused on the little bone, and we held our breaths, waiting for a sign, any indication that our efforts had not been in vain. Then, without warning, the wishbone trembled ever so slightly.
"Here we go," Beth said, her attention never leaving the quivering bone. "Let's see what we've uncovered."
The wishbone quivered in my hand, then suddenly jerked upward, out of my grip, like an invisible string had been attached to the fragile bone, pulling it taut and lifting it off the ground. We all stared at it, mouths agape as it swayed back and forth like a pendulum.
"Follow it," Carol breathed. "It'll lead us to the source of the curse."
As we trailed after the hovering wishbone, I shivered. This was all so surreal, like something out of a creepy children's story. The kind where the heroine gets lured into a witch's lair by a trail of enchanted breadcrumbs, only to be devoured once she steps inside.
"Here." Carol stopped abruptly in front of the charred remains of the kitchen. The wishbone pointed directly at the blackened walls, which still bore the scars from the fire that had ravaged them. "This is where the curse was placed."
The tension in the air was thick enough to slice with a knife.
"Let's keep moving," Deva said, her features hard. "There has to be more to this."
We continued our eerie pursuit of the twitching wishbone, which led us on a winding path through the restaurant, jerking from one corner to another. It was like watching a cursed game of hide-and-seek, with the wishbone as the seeker and the curse as the elusive hider.
"Guys, I think it's leading us back to the dining room," Carol said, her brow furrowed in confusion.
