Deals with the Devil (The Devil's Due Series Book 1) by Veronica Ford

Author:Veronica Ford [Ford, Veronica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cat & Crow Publishing LLC
Published: 2023-06-25T16:00:00+00:00

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I dropped a handful of diced osha root into Gram’s second-largest mortar. Bayberry grows next highest, so I sprinkled that in next. Last I added the Juniper, sprinkling the fresh needles I’d collected that afternoon over the other herbs. I had a feeling layering mattered.

Spelling is like prayer, I reminded myself, remembering a long-ago lesson from Gram. But prayer is a beseeching or a thanking, and spells are a doing, done with intention to will something into being. I willed my home to be safe as I ground the herbs together, careful to twist my wrist clockwise.

I shall always be safe here; Gram shall always be safe here; all who enter here invited shall be safe; none shall enter who mean me and mine harm.

I repeated the words over and over in my head as I twisted the pestle clockwise until I realized I was saying them out loud. I opened one eye and peeked at the herbs in the mortar. They were well and truly ground, and certainly infused with my intention. In fact, they were practically powder from all the grinding.

“Okay,” I breathed in and out again, wiping my palms on my jeans, and glanced at Cat, sitting on the table watching me.

“Here goes, Cat – er, Stephen.” Cat’s tail twitched, but otherwise he had nothing to say.

“Right.” I nodded at him. “Oh! So mote it be,” I added, remembering.

I pocketed several small pieces of amber in my sweatshirt and carried the mortar out into the night, Cat at my heels. The new moon proper was tomorrow night, but I needed to get this done. I was done with feeling anxious and jumpy in my own home, peeking out of windows and around doors.

I started at the east side of the house, sprinkling the powdered herbs and repeating my intentions over and over. I stopped at each of the cardinal directions to lay a piece of amber in the ground, shoving it under gravel in the driveway and under grass and dirt everywhere else.

When I finished, I set the mortar on the back steps. I would have to rinse it with salt water to clear my intentions from it, but I could enjoy the dark for a few minutes first.

Cat Stephen jumped up next to me on the porch swing and we gazed out at the night together. The woods were lovely, dark and deep. Something shifted inside me, another door quietly opening. I tried not to look at it too hard, not wanting another headache. I just let it settle, slightly ajar.

I gazed up at the stars glinting through near-naked tree branches into our backyard, feeling better than I had in a long time. I felt ready.

I was wrong.

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