Read The Witchfinder Wars for Free Online Page A

her sturdy form and cascaded down to the
floor in an array of browns and greens.
    I shivered as I stepped into the circle they
had already created.
    The circle of protection is a barrier
between the real world and the astral one we dealt with when doing
any sort of spell work. Invisible to the naked eye, its thin layer
was crucial to those of us who were calling upon the powers most
humans dismissed as myths and fairy tales. I joined hands with the
others in my family, my coven. The energy we were creating swirled
within the boundaries of the circle, and I trembled from the power
of it.
    The words they spoke were said in unison.
Rhyming and lilting, their voices rose and fell in a harmony that
could only come with years of practice. I murmured my responses for
fear of disrupting the beauty of the song surrounding me. When Evie
dropped my hand, and Ivy did the same, I opened my eyes to watch as
they blessed the fabrics and began to drape them over my form.
    The red was rich, the yellow bright to
represent the fire, my symbol at birth. Their hands worked to tuck
and straighten, then smooth the material falling down to puddle
around my feet. My eyes closed as I listened to their words until
they were drowned out by something much more soothing.
    A sound so sweet and clear, I felt the tears
welling into my eyes before I could stop them. My hand reached out
to brush those tears away from my cheek and I gasped as I heard a
new voice within my mind.
    Welcome home, child .
    My mother looked up at my gasp, and scowled
as she nudged me to be still before she continued her work. It
seemed to last forever, but when they finally finished and we
closed the working, both Ivy and Evie were grinning as they rushed
off to secure the sacred fabrics and compare what they had
experienced.
    I was once again alone.
    The flames of the candles adorning the
living room still danced as I walked around the room to blow each
of them out. A good witch would make a wish with each candle, but I
was too stunned by the ritual to think of such things. The final
candle stood before me and I watched as it flickered.
    Talk to it.
    The voice in my head sounded just as sweet
as it had earlier. I staggered back before shaking my head.
    "Don't be silly," I said out loud.
    Trust me.
    The voice was soothing, but it was unnerving
too, startling, even frightening. I wondered if the years of being
exposed to my mother and aunt had finally pushed me over the
proverbial edge. Resignation and curiosity set in as I stared at
the final candle warily.
    My movements were timid at first, reaching
out with my hand to brush the tip of the flame with my palm. It
responded, or so it seemed, blazing up at my touch. I pulled back
for an instant, then leaned in, letting my vision become blurred by
the oranges and yellows that lived within the flame and held me
rapt. I swallowed back the feeling I was acting silly before I
whispered.
    "Did it all go well?"
    The flame flickered and rose to a thin beam
around the wick. I gasped again and stepped back.
    It did ... it all went very
well , I heard someone—something—say.
    Oh, my Goddess ... it answered
me ...
    The feeling of ridiculousness returned as I
leaned in once more, cupping my hand around the flame to keep my
breath from blowing it out.
    "Was Ma right about Tommy Hopkins? Is he the
King of Wands?"
    The candle flame flared up in a violent
display and the tip of it aimed toward me while a thin plume of
smoke reached out and circled around my hands.
    Yes...yes, she was and he is. And I fear
I'll be the cause of much trouble for him, I'm sure of that.
    I was surprised by the sadness overcoming
me. I sat down on the floor before the candle. The flame had
answered my questions but raised even more doubts. I stared into
the orange light.
    I had long known fire was a part of me,
smoldering like coals just beneath my shy exterior. It was the
element of all Leos, but mine was damped down, restricted and
confined somehow. Perhaps it was all