Chapter 21 - Lena

"Status report?" Cyrus asks. His voice reverberating in his chest next to me feels comforting. I'm grateful for his closeness this morning.

I am still feeling out of sorts with all the chaos that the last twelve hours have brought us. The stark white snow blanketing everything outside feels like a reminder that everything is currently buried under so many layers of lies and intrigue. I don't like it. I'm tired of the tension and the secrets.

"Wait," I cut Amelie off before she can finish the word that is on her lips, "Where's Rosie? I need to make sure she's not in the middle of all this."

"I've made sure she's got a little extra magical incentive to stay asleep this morning," Milo offers with a small salute, "I thought you might want to be a part of the conversation without having to worry about her overhearing."

I'm not sure how I feel about his magical roofie ability. I've experienced its effects on me when coupled with the concussion and don't really love the idea of him using it on my kid, but at the moment, it's probably safer for her and everyone if she's asleep for this.

I nod to Amelie to continue and take another sip of my coffee.

"Right, now that we've catered to the human, can we maybe get down to business?"

"Enough," Cyrus rumbles in that different tone of voice he gets, "Thenext person who comments about my wife or her daughter being human in a negative way loses their damn tongue. Now, status update, minus the attitude."

Amelie throws a glare in my direction that I'm sure is meant to make me more nervous and scared of her, but I can't seem to manage either for her. I match her glare with a raised eyebrow and continue sipping my coffee as the other newcomers begin to explain what happened. I swear she is older, but it's like having a more moody version of Rosie around.

We had twelve more arrive last night, and they think they have four more in the field on assignment who may be alive. They're working on getting in contact immediately and redirecting them all here to Greyson Ridge, to the Miller place. All but four of the children are gone.

"There's another thing," the older man, Ryker, explains, "I was working with Nestor on identifying the symbols you sent from the mine before all this happened. I think there's some context behind it that will help us answer that whole electricity question. Or at least point you in the right direction."

Cyrus sets his empty coffee mug to the side on the counter and seems to be fully invested in whatever this information is about. I don't remember him telling me anything about symbols in the mine.

Ryker slides a photo printout onto the breakfast bar, and I feel my chest tighten.

"Those aren't symbols. That's a sigil," I blurt out, stepping forward and picking up the photo, "Gram's sigils, but I haven't seen one like this before."

"Exactly," Ryker confirms with a nod, "Your Gram apparently was known even to our people as a powerful witch. Your family has been guarding a relic here for the last several hundred years after they moved it here for safety."

"A witch?" I laugh, "I mean, okay. I know Gram was all for her healing remedies, and her occasional dancing naked in the woods thing, but it's all just mindset and energy. There's no actual magic in what we do."

I look back at Cyrus over my shoulder. He has a bashful look on his face.

"What? You can't be serious, Cy. Witches? What's next, you're going to tell me that all the other mythical movie creatures are real?"

"Most are," Evander confirms with a nod, "Not all, but most."

"You've got to be kidding me," I sigh.

"It actually makes a lot of sense," Evander comments as he starts looking closely at the photo in my hand, "You've had nothing but women in your family survive, right? For how many generations?"

"As many as we can remember. It was a weird family thing for sure, but I'd always just thought it was a really bad string of luck and generational bad taste in men," I confirm with a confused shrug.

"That's more likely than not related to how you were bound to the power source that you protect," Ryker offers, "It's common in the oldest families like yours."

Great, just more ways I'm a weirdo.

"So, there's just all sorts of witches out there in the world who can randomly electrocute people? I don't remember Gram ever zapping anyone when she was hangry."

"That I have never heard of," Ryker admits, "But maybe look through her things and see if you can find some hints or some context. I think something happened to this sigil. See the marks there that break the anchor on it? That would have broken the seal of whatever this was protecting."

The reminder of her loss ripples through me. I hadn't really brought myself to look through many of Gram's things. I had not even really let myself process the loss. I just tried to dive back into work and distractions and keep my mind off it. It was a lot like what I'd done or tried to do to move past the loss of Cyrus leaving last time.

"Do you have her things somewhere? I can help you look," Cyrus offers quietly as he steps forward, sliding a hand around my waist to provide the comfort I didn't know I needed. I nod numbly as he finishes issuing commands to everyone about how to organize the day.

I stare down at the sigil, trying to make sense of it. It's similar to others I had grown up seeing, but there were a few differences I can't quite place. Everyone filters out of the kitchen, and I'm left standing there with Cyrus, looking down at the photo.

"Where did you find this?" I ask with a searching look up at him.

"Deep in the mine, it was closer to your property than Merl's. Deep in the area that's not lit anymore, it looked like it was near a cave-in. Do you recognize it at all? How are these meant to work?"

"Well, in theory, they're created by charging it with your intention, which is usually a spell cast and contained within it. When it's destroyed, like this slash through where it was originally carved in the stone, that would then release it."

My fingers trace lightly across the surface of the photo, and I recall long-forgotten lessons Gram would whisper to me in the shop.

"This is about protection, a net of protection or a barrier. I don't recognize this symbol that's bridged in the middle."

He looks down at it with me and pulls me closer, "Okay, where should we look for some answers?"

I pull him behind me as we head toward the attic. It was where I kept all my grandmother's things safely out of sight and out of mind so that I could get on with my day-to-day coping without her. We start rifling through the boxes of her journals and personal belongings. I'm looking for a particular book.

"Got it," I sigh as the familiar red leather peeks out from underneath a wreath of holly. "This was the journal she used during her last year with us." I hesitate for a moment before opening the pages, knowing that this is possibly an invasion of privacy.

I turn to the last page, and my heart feels like it's on ice as the words register.

"I have to break the protection spell on the town. If I die now without ending it, Lena won't ever actually come into her power, and she won't be able to beat him when the time comes. He intends to kill me. That much I know." I read off the page and pause, looking up at Cyrus, "What the heck? That's the last entry, the day she died."

"How long ago was it that she died?"

"Three years ago? Why?"

"Wasn't that when you said Creepy Tom showed up as well?"

"Yeah, like the week before."

"I don't believe in coincidences," Cyrus sighs as he shakes his head, "I think we need to figure out where that little weasel snuck off to and get some damn answers."

I nod in agreement and turn to put the stack of books back in their box. A sheet of paper floats onto my lap, falling loose from the stack of books. My eyes catch on the symbol, and I let out an odd little laugh.

"You're not going to believe this, Mr. I-Don't-Believe-In-Coincidence. This is the original spell she did for that sigil, look." I hand the paper over for him to take a look, and he nods, looking up at me with an expectant look.

"Do you know how to do this? This protection spell?"

"I mean, I can try? If this electricity thing is part of me coming into whatever power I'm supposed to have, I think it should work, right?"

We gather up the supplies I need from Gram's things and head back down to the kitchen to find a very well-rested Rosie talking with the young girl who'd been brought in animatedly about some pop singer. Amelie is still sulking in the corner over a bagel, looking like someone rained on her entire parade.

"Mom, what's up with all the supplies? You look like you're about to head out to the woods like Gram," Rosie laughs as she nods at the items in my arms.

"Well, it doesn't call for being naked, but I am going to give something a try that I found in Gram's things."

"Oh nice, need some help?"

"Nah, I'm okay. You stay here and get to know your new friend."

Cyrus and I head out to the back porch and Amelie follows, still pouting. I start laying everything out on the table and explain my process to them out of the sheer need to confirm to myself that I'm not crazy.

"In theory, if I do this right, we should see a net of protection surrounding the area of my intention. I can try to start small and see if that works."

Cyrus nods, gesturing to the table in front of me.

"Why not just try to protect yourself within the circle of that table?"

"Good idea. If I start small, then it's a different thing entirely from knowing how far I can go."

Amelie snorts and pushes herself up to sit on the railing that runs along the porch, crossing her arms in disbelief.

"Oh, don't worry, Cupcake. You can be the one to test my defenses if it'll make you happy," I offer her over my shoulder with an exaggerated shake of my head.

"No," Cyrus groans, "Don't encourage her."

"It's fine, Cy. I need someone who will actually be a threat to make sure it's truly working. Who better right now than my biggest fan?"

"I like this plan," Amelie replies with a single-shoulder shrug.

"Careful." Cyrus seems to be reminding her that she's on thin ice.

I set everything up around the table, and frown at the chalk in my hand. I don't feel any different. I don't feel anything, really, other than a bit silly. But I have to give this a try. If I can figure this out, then maybe I can keep anyone else from getting hurt.

I draw the strokes of the sigil while keeping my mind calm and focusing on the intention the way Gram had taught me. I recite the Latin she had inscribed on the small piece of paper and then light my candles.

"Well?" Amelie demands with a sigh, "Is that it?"

"I think so," I comment with a shrug. I'm not really feeling anything different. I'm not even sure anything worked, to begin with. "Give it a try. Come at me and try to hurt me."

Amelie doesn't need more of an invitation before she's moving across the deck toward me at lightning speed, but nothing happens to stop her once she reaches me. Her hand clamps around my neck and fear explodes throughout my body, causing a full arc of electricity to jolt through her body, knocking her four feet back onto her ass.

"Whoa," Cyrus exclaims as she hits the wood hard. "That's amazing."

"That's not the spell," I sigh as I offer Amelie a hand up and am met with a death glare from her.

"I don't need your help, Bitch," Amelie snaps.

Cyrus steps forward like he's going to intervene, and I shake my head at him. I am not going to let him fight this battle for me. She may not like me, that's her prerogative, but I won't be talked to like that in my own house. By anyone.

"Actually, stay there. You should be looking up at me while I say this so you learn your damn place. I will not be spoken to like I'm trash. Not in my own home, and not when you've been told multiple times to cut the petulant toddler bullshit. Now, Amelie, there are two ways you can handle this. One is that you can keep trying to be a spoiled, whiney brat."

She opens and closes her mouth a couple of times like she's trying to think of a strong enough insult but can't, so I continue in a tone that clearly gives no hint of there being any room for her to argue.

"If so, I will happily keep putting you on your ass until you learn to respect me. Or we can both agree to try and get to know each other a little better before we make judgments and try to learn to coexist since it looks like we're going to be seeing a lot of each other for a while."

I extend my hand again and give her a single raised eyebrow.

"So, what's it going to be?"