I winced. I was supposed to, I knew that. Sage cleansed spaces and people of negative energies. Especially after dealing with demons but…
“No.”
She gave me a look that spoke volumes and moved on. “Aura protection spell for you and the baby?”
My eyes widened. I hadn’t told her about the baby and I wasn’t showing yet. If anything, I only looked like I’d eaten a few too many potato chips.
The fae-witch grinned. “Please, I sensed the baby’s heartbeat the second I scanned you.”
Whoa.
That must have been her fae side. Rumor was that a certain sect of them were great healers and could sense all kinds of stuff about the body.
“No aura protection,” I answered in a meek voice.
She sighed. “Okay, girl, I’m going to help you. I know how confusing it can be to try and work out hybrid magic. I’m glad the boys called me.”
I nodded as I realized Tianna wasn’t to be feared as long as you were on her side. Still, I could smell the power rolling off of her, unable to be entirely contained. Heaven help you if she considered you a foe.
“Growing up, did you always know you were a hybrid?” I asked.
A thoughtful look crossed her face before she shook her head. “No. My mother raised me as a witch, like her, and kept my father’s identity a secret. It wasn’t until I was sixteen and ripped a bunch of gigantic trees from their roots in anger that she told me of my earth magic and my fae father.” She chuckled softly. “Because she had to then.”
Earth magic. So that’s what the fae called it.
“And you’re a healer too?” Maybe that’s how she’d known I was pregnant.
She shook her head. “No. I can sense energies as part of my fae gift, but I can’t manipulate them enough to heal.”
Damn, sounded a bit like my life, though she’d clearly mastered her gifts.
She held her hands out in front of her. “Let’s start with aura protection for you and the baby, okay? Copy me.”
I set the grimoire down on the coffee table and stuck my hands out before me as she had.
“Now close your eyes and imagine an upside-down glass bowl encasing your entire body with a protective golden light.” Her voice was calm and meditative, but her instructions were weird as fuck. Gran never did any of this stuff.
I pinched my eyes shut and thought of a bowl draping over me, emitting a soft golden light that covered my entire body. I pulled with everything I had.
“Whoa, easy kiddo. Breathe in and out.”
I peeled one eye open to find that the cover of the grimoire had flipped open and its pages were rustling in some kind of imaginary wind.
What the fuck?
“Is that me?” I gasped, completely losing the vision of the golden dome. The pages fell flat.
“You or the baby.”
My eyes bugged. “The baby?”
“I’m kidding. It was you. Now try again, but don’t force it. Your magic should be easy, like breathing.”
Okay. Right.
This time I closed my eyes and took a calming breath, and instead of pushing like I had before, I simply visualized the dome of golden protection.
“Perfect,” Tianna yelled.
