Antonia sat in a circle with Samantha across from her, Maia to her left and Petra to her right. They’d gathered in the center of the witches’ garden and were surrounded by magical plants, candles as well as crystals.
As it neared midnight, they looked up to the vast darkness adorned with stars made brighter with the moon less visible.
Antonia centered herself, closed her eyes and opened her mind to clarity, then took her notebook and wrote her intentions—what she wished released from her life, what she would welcome and the changes she sought. There was only one matter that weighed on her. Antonia then waited for her friends to complete their writing. When all notebooks were closed and set aside, each lifted their white sage and wove a pattern about them so that the smoke enveloped their bodies from their feet to the top of their heads, while quietly reciting a smudging prayer.
Candles were then lit, and each closed their eyes to quietly name their intentions.
It was a simple new moon ceremony and one that Antonia rarely practiced but she hoped that by manifesting her intentions she might bring about solutions previously unattainable.
“We’ve cleared our minds and our space,” Petra said.
“We have created a space to honor intentions, free of walls so that they can be sent out to be answered,” Maia added. “Perhaps now is the best time to seek our answers.”
“Perhaps now we will have clarity,” added Samantha.
Antonia glanced round the circle. Her friends were looking at her. “What of your intentions.”
“They will come to be in time,” Samantha answered. “I believe you are the one with the most pressing concern and why we remain at Nightshade Manor.”
Antonia had no way of knowing if that was the truth as she hadn’t listened to their whispered intentions and only concerned herself with her own.
“The book,” Petra prompted.
Antonia lifted the ancient tome left to her by her great-grandmother.
“She had she same gifts as me. Speaking with animals and feeling the emotions of others and accurately reading auras.”
“Did she suffer as you?” Maia asked.
Antonia frowned. “I do not recall her doing so. We attended gatherings together, such as church, assemblies in the village, house parties of neighbors.”
“Did she ever accompany you to London?” Samantha asked.
“No.” Maybe her great-grandmother hadn’t gained the control Antonia sought.
“If she was not plagued at assemblies, then there must be a spell she found, or it could be a simple tea to be drunk daily,” Petra offered.
Antonia placed the book on her lap and opened it to the first page. She had read the book before, often, but there had been nothing within to help her. The only reason for looking now was because it was the new moon and she hoped that clarity would help her discover answers previously missed.
When she leaned forward in an attempt to make out the words in the darkness, Samantha snapped her fingers, and the candles suddenly grew brighter, filling their space with light.
“Thank you.” She flipped the pages, reading quickly, but there was nothing that hadn’t been there before. Most of the spells had to do with animals. The healing and understanding of them. Poultices for wounds, herbs for illnesses, but nothing for overwhelming empathy. Antonia glanced up to her friends. “There is nothing in here to help me.”
“I am sorry,” Petra offered “Then we keep trying until we find an answer. I have not lost hope.”
“Neither have I,” Maia agreed.
“What else is in the spell book if not something to aid you?” Samantha asked.
“It is a healing and spell book for creatures,” Antonia answered as she started turning the pages again. She really should become more familiar with what the book contains, even though she had read it several times, as they may be needed one day. She already knew well enough what it lacked. Then she smiled.
“What?” Petra asked.
“A spell to turn a wolf into a man.” She laughed.
“Perhaps you should revisit Amarok,” Samantha laughed. “He did ask.”
“I told him that it wasn’t right to change him, even if only for a day.” Antonia had been afraid that when she had told her friends of the wolf’s request that they would ask her to cast the spell, just to see it done. Antonia did not know why, but as charming as the wolf had been, something inside warned her not to give in to his request.
