When the magic was playful, not like this.
Thunder booms and more lightning cracks down, and I can’t think of anything but the rain that must be soaking the ground and turning the dirt to mud. I can’t think of anything but the magic that is behind such a storm. Where did it come from? Who did this? Who would have reason to do this? Did I make a mistake?
I am the only one here. If they are hoping to scare me away or send me running to somewhere else…
That will not work. I have nowhere else to go.
Another thought occurs to me. Perhaps there is no one behind this, and it is only wild magic, and it may grow until it consumes all the land around me.
Or it may taper off, disappearing as quickly as it came.
I have no idea.
I look up at the ceiling while the rain comes down on me and pray to the moon for a sign.
* * *
Protection Spell
* * *
For the good of all and to the harm of none…
Burn sage, and with the ashes, mix into salt until black in color. Add to a mortar along with rosemary to focus your spell and chili flakes for a defensive measure. As you grind the ingredients state: I am divinely protected, divinely guided, and am untouchable.
Coat the black candle with olive oil and then sprinkle the black salt concoction to layer on the candle.
Light the candle with an obsidian stone near so the light may shine on it. As many stones as you wish to enchant. Allow the candle to burn to completion and then keep your obsidian stone by a draft in your home or by a window close to the front or back door. You may also keep the stone on your person for protective measures.
So mote it be.
Chapter Four
Ryker
What in the fuck just happened? This is not a pitter patter, this is a battering. Confused and frustrated, rain falls around me as I try again and again. The heavy water drops pound in a punishing way. I need to get the hell out of here…but it’s not working. It’s as if the portal is broken; the magic no longer allows the portal to open.
I grit my teeth and summon more power.
The portal is about to give—I can feel that it’s seconds away from snapping open—when the sky opens up with thunder and lightning. My heart pounds and every hair stands on edge. Something’s not right. A chill runs down my spine.
Thunder crashes and lightning sparks through the sky not far away. Buckets come down on the top of my head. Wind gusts into my back and into my hands, swirling all around me and whipping my hair into my forehead, and darkness rolls overhead. I glance up without letting go of the portal and see nothing but black thunderclouds.
Fuck. The change is sudden and a different kind of anxiousness wraps itself around me.
Magic hits me along with the wind. That magic, whoever it belongs to, has to be causing the storm—it’s too sudden and strong to be anything natural. Goosebumps race down my arms at the thought of the witch.
The portal thrashes in my hands, starting to snap shut, squeezing the hell out of my fingers in the process. I throw myself against it, bracing my feet hard on the ground and shoving with all my strength.
“Open,” I order through clenched teeth. “Open, damn you!”
But the portal doesn’t open. My only way of getting home closes before my very eyes as the rain crashes down around me. The crush around my fingers is stronger than a pair of boulders. It’s not the worst pain I’ve ever experienced in the army. I’ll bear it if it gets the damn portal to stop closing and let me through, but it doesn’t stop.
Instincts take over to save my fingers and I yank my hands away as the portal chomps shut and dies, leaving nothing but a shimmer in the air.
My breath leaves me as I stare ahead as what just happened is not possible.
The curses I let out are drowned out by the rain. Thunder and lightning race across the sky in deafening bursts. Everything about this is wrong. I should have had enough power to get back. I don’t know what magic could’ve shut it down like that.
