Blue Stone

“Okay, quit pacing and tell me what’s going on.” Micah’s strong hands gripping my arms to hold me still.

I collapsed into him. “You were right, Kayne is using me. I was practicing and saw him talking to the river.”

“Did he see you?” He looked worried.

“No, what I am going to do? This was supposed to happen by the Equinox. I don’t know how to do it, even if I wanted to. Wait, why don’t you want them out?”

“Well, because I am a lone wolf so to speak. I don’t belong to any of them. I was turned by mistake. Your great-grandmother and I worked together to stop them, but failed until she figured out how to trap them. We need her spell book maybe we can figure out something else to keep them from escaping.”

“Follow me, I have something to show you.” I led him into the kitchen.

When his eyes hit the trunk there was a mixture of sadness and excitement. “Two books! She only had one, right? Where did the other one come from?”

“Well, I came across it at table during train days.”

“But, how did you open it?” Micah’s mouth dropped open as I showed him my hip. Big and bold, a lightning bolt birth mark. “Wow, this changes things, and explains why you are so strong so fast. No wonder the covens are after you.”

“Between the two books we should be able to come up with a solution.” Micah immediately began looking through the Donovan book and I worked on Ceana’s.

“I found the spell you were talking about, the one that trapped them. We need a way to get rid of them all together. I’m not keen on killing them that would take black magic, right? Something has to be done they may get out one day.”

Micah plopped down in the couch scratching his head. “What is keeping them alive? They have been under water and should have died already. Maybe if we figure that out we can simply let them die as they should have and then release their souls.”

“If you think any harder smoke will start coming out of your ears. What do you have?”

“Well, we need to see Bluestone Lake from above. There may be symbols that you can’t see from the ground.”

“I bet the park service has a photo. Let’s go to the office and see what they have.” With that we went to the park information center. Sure enough they had aerial photos. “Micah, I think it is one symbol.”

“What makes you say that?”

Tracing the edges of the water from one side of the dam to the other, I heard his breath catch. “Infinity. Your right, the whole thing is the symbol. The big question now is how we break it.”

“One of the ends will have to be blown up. Can you get some explosives? We will have to decide which side to open.” I turned to look at the map one more time.

“I’ll see you tomorrow after I get the explosives. We’ll meet here and decide.” He started for the door, but I had to stop him.

”No Micah, I have a training session with Kayne. He can’t figure out what we are doing, who knows what he’d do.”

“Kayne, where are you, we are supposed to train today. Call me.” Where is he? Bzzzzzz. Nice a text message. I know you have the spell, if you want to see your aunt again. Meet me on the bank across from Angelika’s on the Solstice. Bring the stones.

“Micah, he has Aunt Roxie, we need a plan. He texted me, yes we are to meet across from Angelika’s. We will have to blow up the land barrier on the opposite end. I agree it will be better, there won’t be a chance of him seeing you and the dam will prevent any flooding. Okay, meet in an hour we need to start laying the explosives. The Solstice is only a week away. See you there, bye” My hands were shaking so bad I could barely hang up the phone.

The week went by quickly. Micah and I laid the explosives out and he is responsible for detonating them. I am responsible for the magic. The plan is to stall long enough for the explosives to go off. Then there won’t be a reason for magic. Micah and I haven’t communicated the last couple days in case Kayne was spying.

“Okay, Kayne I’m here. Let my Aunt go, and I’ll give you what you want.” Too bad I wasn’t here for pleasure, it’s a beautiful spot. Leaves started rustling, and Aunt Roxie was whimpering. “Let her go, Kayne.”

“Not until my family is free. Now, hurry and start the ritual.” I had made a circle with salt and sat in the middle placing the stones according to their direction. Blue- North, Green - East, Red - South, and White - West. Seated crossed legged I began to concentrate when Kayne decided to be impatient. “Hey, hurry, the sun and moon are in the sky. Just to keep you honest,” Aunt Roxie screamed in pain with his knife at her throat. “Don’t try anything stupid, it will waste Roxie’s time, and she don’t have a lot of it.”

That’s when I looked up and saw she was already bleeding at the base of her neck. No time to waste, if I’m going to do something it had to be now. I touched the earth with one hand, slowly growing roots around Aunt Roxie. Almost, take a deep breath, blowing it out throwing Kayne back away from her. “Run Roxie, Run!”

Kayne fell backward but gained his balance quickly. “How, when did you figure this out?”

“You made me have to figure it out in a hurry. Watch for the root!” He didn’t see it fast enough, he tripped over it and was in the water before I could get to him. He’s trapped with the rest of them. The ground is shaking. Micah, he’s setting off the explosives.

“Braeden! There you are. Where’s Kayne?” All I could do was point. “What happened?”

“He tried to cut Aunt Roxie’s throat. I couldn’t let him, but I didn’t mean for this to happen. He tripped over the root just as he had regained his balance. Is the infinity loop broken?” The answer was in front of us, we could see their souls leaving the water going to their final resting place.

“Micah, what is that?” The water was rippling where Kayne had fell in. “It is Kayne!” Apparently they have to be dead before hitting the water. Kayne sprung out of the water with a sharp stick in his hand and had it in Micah before either of us could react.

Micah’s scream shook me to reality. I had to do something. Focus girl, you can’t afford to lose this one. First I focused on the the stick trying to disintegrate it before Kayne got it in Micah’s heart. Kayne nearly fell on to Micah when it crumbled. “What the, you? You will pay for what you’ve done.” He lunged at me, but my circle of salt held. So he went for Micah again.

What could I do? I searched my pockets for anything that would help. Got it. I grew roots around Kayne’s feet. “Micah, hurry into the circle, I invited you in.” He made it. Just in time too. Kayne broke free.

“I’m going to finish you. Your sloppy boyfriend broke the circle. There’s nothing to protect you.” Kayne charged towards me like a bull.

Kayne had made it about half way when I pulled out a tooth pick. Kayne laughed. “So scary what are you going to do with that? Irritate me?”

“Nope, kill you.” In that moment I flicked the toothpick. As it reached his chest it grew into a stake and plunged into his chest. The shock on his face was priceless. He didn’t have time for a response. Within seconds he was reduced to a pile of ash.

“Micah, are you okay?” I had reached out my hand to help him up.

“A little bruised, but I will live. Wow! You are impressive, but you are going to need more practice.” He looked afraid. What could he be afraid of?

“Why? We just stopped Kayne and released all of those souls. What else is there?”

Micah held me like he was bracing me for something. ”We let Angelika out.”