The door swings all the way open, and light from the hall spills into the room for a few seconds, and then is marred by a dark shadow. The floorboards creak and groan under someone’s footfalls, and the sound of someone walking into the room resounds with each of my heartbeats.
Get up! Get up!
I’m able to dig two fingers into the mattress now, slowly balling the sheet in my fist. The dark shadow looms closer, giving off a dark energy that makes me feel sick. My heart is racing, and the fear is just as crippling as whatever is holding me down on my bed. I can just make out the outline of a man slowly moving toward me. Tears prick the corners of my eyes and a strangled sob escapes my lips.
The man is standing at the foot of the bed now, and I can sense that he wants something from me. Everything inside me is screaming, and my fight or flight response is in overdrive.
But I can’t do either.
Because I still can’t move.
Get up!
Gritting my teeth, I push my fingers harder against the mattress, feeling heat gather around them. The little bit of magic is all I need to break whatever hold is over me and I sit up, throwing a hand out in front of me. Sparks sizzle around my fingertips, but the man is gone.
“Who the hell are you?” I demand, moving onto my knees as I madly look around the bedroom, heart still pounding. The door is open. I know I closed it. “Who are you?” The sparks turn into flames, and I curl my fingers, holding magical fire in my hand. The fear I felt is burned away, replaced immediately with anger.
“Whatever you want…whoever you are…it doesn’t matter. I’m not playing your game.” Staying on the bed for another few beats, I put out the flames and then get my Book of Shadows, turning on the light and quickly flipping to a protection spell.
“Dark of night, light of day,” I start, reading from the book. “Protect me from harm, send it on its way.” I feel a small sense of relief after the spell is cast, and finally, let out a slow breath.
“What the fuck is going on?” I ask Romeo, who is still sound asleep on the bed, totally unaware of what happened. I still can’t sense any spirits, but something was in the house.
My bedroom door was closed when I went to bed. I’m positive. Romeo can get into a whole lot of trouble, but he’s not able to open doors. Something opened the door…meaning something is in the house.
“You won’t be for much longer,” I say, eyes darting around the room once more.
I’ve yet to figure out the best way to store my magical supplies, and they’re scattered a bit around the house. I keep most of my magical supplies in the sitting room area of our bedroom and hurry to get out a sage smudge stick. Using magic, I light the end on fire, give it a few seconds to fully ignite, and then blow out the flames, wafting the smoke around. I need to walk through the whole house like this, drawing out any negative energy and then expel it through an open window. It takes me over half an hour to cleanse the house, and my smudge stick is almost gone. I have two more left but make a mental note to order more just to be safe.
I should cast another circle of protection around the house as well, but circle casting is a little complicated and I struggle a bit since I’m not sure if it’s actually working or not. Taking the Book of Shadows into the kitchen, I flip through the pages until I find a spell on casting a circle to keep anyone who intends to harm you off your property.
“That should do the trick,” I whisper to myself and gather what I need into a cast-iron bowl and go onto the front porch. My pulse picks up again as soon as I open the door, getting hit with a blast of cold air. Nothing is going to attack me and, if it did, I’m a badass witch. A witch who—if I’m being honest doesn’t have the best control over her magic but—can hold fucking fire in her bare palm.
“I got this,” I say again, trying to make myself believe it.
Putting the book and my supplies on the white table that I vaguely remember from my childhood, I get to work. First, I crush up bay leaves and mix it with black salt and a handful of loose sage leaves before setting it on fire. Dark gray smoke wafts up from the bowl. I hold my hands over it, close my eyes, and set my intention.