The Accidental Witch by Jessica Penot

Author:Jessica Penot [Penot, Jessica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2013-11-03T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 6

A POTION FOR POWER

After dinner, Fred and I cleaned the kitchen together. It wasn’t unpleasant. There was something completely calm about Fred that was infectious. Despite the horror of the day, his peace spread to me, so I felt almost relaxed scrubbing my pots.

Fred put a pot of hot water on and took out an old wooden box filled with packets of tea. He smelled the teas and set them down. There were other things in the box—crystals and herbs and other objects I quickly recognized as magical items.

“Now that the demon is gone,” I said. “Are you going to leave?” I was hoping the answer would be yes.

The tea kettle boiled and Fred put a packet of tea in each cup. He poured the hot water over the tea.

“The demon isn’t gone,” Fred said.

“What?” I said. “I don’t like tea.”

“You’ll drink the tea because you need it. The demon isn’t gone. It’s more dangerous now than ever. It is somewhere in town and it will drain the town of its energy to gain power.”

“What?” I asked.

“Shut up,” he said.

He placed a quartz crystal in each cup of what looked like Ginseng tea. He took a cinnamon stick out and began stirring it. There was a pattern in the motion of his stirring. I watched him and took a cinnamon stick and stirred the other cup of tea in the same pattern. Fred smiled at me as I moved. He stirred the tea for several minutes and then he drank it. I did the same. As the tea flowed down my throat, I felt my fingers and toes tingle. I felt my strength return to me. I felt even stronger than I had before. I drained the cup of tea.

“What did we just drink?” I asked.

“It was a potion for strength. Whenever you battle, you should always use the potion afterwards. It recharges you. The battle today drained us both. We would not survive another.”

“What were we doing with the cinnamon?”

“We were stirring Beorc into the potion. Beorc is the Norse rune for the birch tree, which is a symbol of strength and power. You should learn your runes. They are the alphabet of magic. The Norse say that Odin cast them out when he was hanging from the tree of Woe. They are a connection to the divine.”

I nodded. “Thank you,” I said. “Thank you for helping me. You didn’t have to. I know I can be a bitter pill to swallow sometimes, but your help meant the world to me.”

“This is what I do,” he said. “We aren’t so different, you and I. We both help people. We accept payment, but we would do it even if it were for free. The Guild pays me to be here, but it has always been my calling. You are the same. You love what you do. I can tell that. Would you require thanks for the help you give?”

“No,” I said.

“Listen,” he said. “I understand why this happened. I understand that you wanted to help people here.

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