“So, you’re okay for me to try this?” she asked tentatively, catching my eyes. It was almost as though she didn’t trust herself and needed me to reassure her.
I trusted her, but I wasn’t sure about this spell. Still, I had to be brave for them.
“Yes! Definitely,” I said, gesturing. “Bring it on.”
Bella swallowed hard. She glanced between Courtney and me, and then down at her book. She pulled her wand from her pocket and began to speak in an ancient language I’d heard my mother use only a handful of times.
An enchanted breeze whipped around Bella’s dark hair as she spoke faster and her fingers began to glow.
I rocked back, the air around us pushing me as though I was caught in a storm. I planted my feet stronger, bending my knees a little to stay where I was.
I wanted the protection of this type of magic. I was strong enough to endure it. I was sure. My fingers tingled. I bounced on my toes with excitement.
I wanted this. I needed this.
I was the daughter... we were all the daughters of the most well-bred warlock in all the realms, and an incredibly powerful witch. We had to be made for more than this.
The end of Bella’s wand began to glow a soft pink, that transformed into a deep, dark ruby. She lifted the wand up in the air, speaking louder and faster, chanting a string of words I didn’t understand. The house around us creaked and shifted.
And then, with a powerful shout, Bella struck me with the magic in her wand.
I stumbled backwards, pain centering in my ribs, around my heart, exactly where the spell had hit me. I gasped, placing my hand over my chest, trying to catch my breath.
The strength in my legs went, and I staggered again. I let go of my chest and grabbed onto one of the four posts of the bed so that I didn’t do anything so weak as to faint. I would never be able to live it down.
“Woah...” I gasped for air as breathing became harder, the pain spreading out. I winced, hissing, trying to do everything I could to keep the tears that accumulated in my eyes from falling.
Like a venom in my veins, the pain pulsed along my limbs with the beat of every heart thump in my chest.
I coughed, hoping for some relief.
“Ava, are you okay?” Bella asked, as she rushed over to me and put a hand on my arm.
I squeezed my eyes shut for a single moment, wishing away my tears and swallowing the urge to cry out.
Then, the pain began to ease and I collapsed onto the bed.
I forced myself to breathe in and out and opened my eyes. Both of my sisters peered down at me with concern written all over their faces.
“It’s okay...” I managed to wheeze, looking down at my body. “Where is it? Can you see the tattoo?”
I couldn’t see it on my breasts, my belly, my legs... I turned my arms over and couldn’t see anything there either.
“Is it on my back?” I twisted around on the bed so that my sisters could see my back, but when I turned around again, they were shaking their heads.
“No, there’s nothing new Ava.” Courtney said, then frowned. “Was it really terrible?”
I shook my head. “Not really.” I paused, trying to find the right words to describe it. It wasn’t bad, per se. But it also wasn’t pleasant. I didn’t want to scare them off from enduring it either, not if it was something we needed to do in order to protect ourselves better. “It was intense, but over quickly. I’m not sure why the spell book warned us it would be that bad.”
“Uh-oh,” Bella said, standing over me. She swallowed and peered down at the book. Her face went pale and she began to flip through the pages, careful not to damage the brittle parchment.
It wasn’t exactly something I wanted to hear from a witch who’d just performed a complicated spell on me.
I lifted my gaze to Bella, still feeling quite weak and unable to stand.
“What uh-oh?” I asked, trying to keep my voice even but failing. I looked over at Courtney, hoping to get some sort of information from her. She shrugged. I jerked back around to
Bella. “Don’t say uh-oh five minutes after performing a spell like that!”