Magic on Changeling Mountain

“Ok. I think I’m going to go check on the Mason’s. Make yourselves at home, ladies.” Carolyn said. She detoured into the bathroom and quickly used it, then we went to the spare bedroom door, which was closed. She knocked on the door and then opened it a crack. She found Mr. Mason sitting on the side of the bed, so she pushed the door wider and whispered “How are you feeling?”

She walked over to him and put her hand on his forehead. His fever was almost gone but his skin felt a little clammy, which wasn’t unusual considering he had been running a fever for the past couple of days.

“A little dizzy but I need to use the restroom.” Jacob admitted.

“Here take my arm. I can help you get there but then you are on your own. Do you think you can stand up?” Carolyn asked.

“Yeah, it was just walking that I was really worried about. Thank you, Carolyn.” Jacob said as he slowly stood up while hanging on to her for his balance. He managed to walk with little support but Carolyn let him set the pace and then waited outside the bathroom door until he finished. Tammy came back while he was in the bathroom and she glanced down the hall as she handed the map to Lucinda, then she came down the hall to make sure that everything was Ok.

“He’s fine. Just needed to use the bathroom and was a little dizzy. Don’t want to leave him alone until he’s back in bed. You go ahead and brainstorm with them. I’ll watch your dad.” Carolyn told her.

“Thanks!” Tammy smiled at her and then returned to the living room where the other witches were gathered around the map that Lucinda had spread out on the coffee table. She was worried about her parents but knew that Carolyn would take good care of them while she took care of making the mountain safe for all of them.

“It would be a big help if we knew who this warlock is but since we don’t know who he is, we need to focus on removing all magic from the mountain without removing any of our own power.” Sabrina said.

“That means none of us can be on the ground when we cast this spell. Ok, so that means we need to be airborne when we do it. That increases our risk of being seen but so be it.” Lucinda said.

Tammy heard the bathroom door open and her father asking what was going on.

“What did he look like, Carolyn?” Jacob asked.

“He was tall and dressed all in black is about all I can tell you. He had on a hood so I never saw his face but I felt his darkness, even when he was masquerading as a centaur.” Carolyn told him.

“I’d bet my bottom dollar it’s Garret. Or one of his followers. I know the plan to cover the mountain with a protective bubble and to make the ground hallowed but that’s not going to be enough to stop him. He’s too powerful. He’s also a master of deception. He’ll protect himself so that their spells won’t affect him. They’ve got to either drive him away or catch him and trap him, like Tammy told us you did with his brother.” Jacob told her.

“I’m sure they will come up with something that will keep her safe, Jacob. You just lie down and rest. We don’t want you to have a relapse.” Carolyn helped him back into bed and he laid down but couldn’t go back to sleep. He racked his brain trying to think of anything that would help but he was so tired that his brain just wouldn’t function. “Maybe if I just rest for a little while, I’ll be able to think.” Jacob thought as he closed his eyes. He fell asleep not long after that.

Carolyn rejoined the others in the living room. “Jacob seems to think the warlock is Garret or one of his followers. He said he doesn’t think the rain idea will work to get rid of him. He says we will need to either run him off or trap him, like we did with Armand.” She told them.

“But the only reason we were able to capture Armand like we did was because he was basically a ghost. And his death was an accident. I’m sorry, but I draw the line at intentionally killing someone, even someone as evil as Armand was.” Amelia said and all of them agreed.

“Agreed but we still have the question of how we are going to get rid of him?” Carolyn asked.

“Well, with all of us together, he wouldn’t stand a chance of beating us in a wizard’s duel but I doubt he is stupid enough to take us all on.” Lucinda said.

“Maybe we need to look at another way of doing this.” Samantha said. She looked like she was coming up with an idea as she looked at the map.

“What are you thinking, Sam?” Sabrina asked.

“Well, from what Lucinda and Amelia have been telling us of their plan, they were looking at covering the whole mountain from the outside into the center. From this map, it looks like Carolyn’s parents’ house is the closest to the center of the community. Right?” Samantha asked, as she looked over at Carolyn.

“Well, I had never realized it before but, yes, I guess it is. The eight main families that settled the mountain originally, settled on that plot. They all worked together to clear the land and established their own individual farms.

My great, great, great, great grandfather was the head of that community and it’s kind of gone from father to son ever since. The place where my dad’s barn stands right now, used to be the site for the original community house where they all lived.

Eventually they got the land cleared on their chosen homesteads and every year they have a big celebration, kind of like Memorial Day. Except we spend the day helping our neighbors with whatever they need done. We have barn raisings, field days or whatever they need help with.

Two, well now three with Mr. Wainwright’s passing, of the main families have died off or moved away. There is only our family, the Pence’s, the Bennett’s, MacKenne’s and the O’Neil’s from the original eight.”

“What about Colin’s family?” Tammy asked.

“They came afterwards and bought part of the land from the Goldstein’s when his wife passed away without having children.” Carolyn replied.

“OK. Great history lesson but, I think we need to follow their lead and start in the center and work our way outward. We need to spread the talismans throughout the forest to the outer edges and then make the ground hallowed. It will drive him away and then keep him out.” Samantha said.

“Sam, to do what you are suggesting means we will have to walk just about every inch of this mountain on foot in the winter time. It will take us weeks, even with the five of us working together, to cover the whole mountain.” Sabrina said.

“Do the talismans have to be put in place by a witch?” Carolyn asked.

“No but in order for them to be the most effective, we have to cast a spell on the area where they are placed. We are going to need more witches!” Sam answered. “I know where there are two that we can trust.”

“Who are you thinking of?” Sabrina asked.

“Brenda and Wendell.” Sam answered.

“I’ll bring Janie and Tina.” Sabrina said.

“We know of a couple of people we can trust.” Amelia said. “We’ll be back as soon as we can.”

“We know of some too.” Dawn and Emily said, then disappeared.

Suddenly, Carolyn and Tammy were standing in the living room alone.

“Wow, this is turning into a real witchy circus. I’m so sorry, Carolyn. I never meant to bring all this trouble to the mountain. Sometimes I think I might be better off just giving up on my magic and going underground with my parents.” Tammy said, feeling defeated, as she plopped down on the sofa.

“Now you stop that right now! This is not your fault. My father says we changelings are lucky to have stayed below the magical radar this long. We may not have powers like you but we are still part of the magical community because of our ability to change our forms at will. We are just lucky that we are able to live in both the human world and the animal world, just like witches. Can you imagine what it must be like for the centaurs, fairies, gnomes and all the other magical creatures that can’t mix with the human world? It’s not just we changelings that are being affected by this but the other new residents as well. My biggest hope is that you and your parents will agree to settle here one day. You know this is where Stuart will want to live, don’t you?”

“Yes. We’ve already talked about it. He was going to take me up to see his parents’ old house this weekend but now this happens. We may not have been able to see each other much since he proposed but we have been texting and talking on the phone before we go to sleep at night.” Tammy said, knowing that Carolyn would wonder how they had had the time to talk about anything.

Carolyn did wonder how they managed it since she had spoken to Colin on the phone twice since she had gone into quarantine and neither call had been very long. But that had been more her fault than his. She had been tending to sick people most of the time. She needed to call him and apologize and to let him know she loves him. He must be feeling so deserted. She excused herself and went into the bedroom and called Colin from her cell phone.

“Hi babe. First of all, I want to apologize for not calling you more over the past few days but it’s gotten really crazy here.” Carolyn said.

“Hey, it’s OK. I know you’ve been dealing with Tammy’s parents being sick and all. To tell you the truth, I’ve been rather busy myself. Strange things have been happening around town and it’s been keeping us on our toes. How are the Mason’s? Please tell me they are over the contagious stage ’cause I sure would like to see you tonight.” Colin said.

“What time do you get off of work?” Carolyn asked.

“In about half an hour but I really need a shower. You would not believe what I just had to do. You know we have Joe in jail because Zoey refused to bail him out, right? Well their goats got loose and she called for help to catch them and they are elusive little buggers. You should have seen all of us out there running down the side of the road, trying to catch these goats who would butt us and knock us down and then run away again. I don’t think there’s one inch of my uniform that is not covered in cold, wet mud.”

“Hahahahaha! Sounds like fun! At least compared to what’s been going on here. It’s too much to go into right now and I’m not one hundred percent sure that I will be able to get away tonight but I would like to see you, but more importantly I wanted to tell you that I love you and miss you!”

“I love and miss you too. Sounds like you could use a hug!” Colin said

“Oh, babe, you have no idea! Please come over after you’ve showered? Hopefully, we can at least take a run together.”

“I’ll be there!” Colin said and then hung up.

Carolyn returned to the living room to find Tammy cooking some soup. “Hey, do you want some chicken noodle soup? My mom woke up hungry.” Tammy asked.

“No, thanks! I’ve had all the chicken broth I can handle for a while. I think that and grilled cheese sandwiches are all we’ve had for the past couple of days. I wonder when Lucinda and the others will get back?” Carolyn said.

“No idea but I would almost bet it will be sometime later today. They all know how urgent the situation is and I really don’t think they will linger or bring back anyone they can’t trust one hundred percent.” Tammy reassured her.

“I know but still, this sitting and waiting is not something I’m very good at. I wish I could at least go for a run. Colin is going to come over later and maybe I can get out for a little while then?”

“Well, hopefully but I wouldn’t count on it. Lucinda said she put a protection spell on the cottage so that nothing evil can get in but it’s limited to the cottage, I’m pretty sure.” Tammy said as she began dishing up bowls of soup. “How about we order a pizza for those of us who can eat regular food?”

“Sure. Anything is preferable to more soup.” Carolyn said as she picked up the phone. She called in an order for their favorite pizza and wished she knew when the witches would be back. Suddenly the tinkling of bells sounded and Randolph, Lucinda, Amelia and three other people they didn’t recognize appeared in the living room. There were two women and a man, who remarkably all resembled each other.

“Randolph! How nice to see you again. Welcome to my house. Who are your friends?” Carolyn said, giving Randolph a hug.

“Carolyn. Tammy. These are our friends, the Cavanaugh’s! Marcus, Naomi and Cecilia. They have come to help. Please allow me to introduce Dr. Carolyn Masters and Tammy Mason.” Randolph said.

“Hello!” They all nodded and smiled.

“I think I should call back and order more pizza. We didn’t know if you guys would be back in time or not.” Carolyn said.

A few seconds later, Samantha and Sabrina appeared with four more witches in tow. Samantha introduced them as Brenda, Wendell, Tina and Janie.

“Welcome everyone and thank you all so much for coming! Hopefully, we now have enough people to get the job done because I’m not sure if my cottage can hold many more! Hahaha!”

“Wow, girl, you weren’t kidding. She really is a white witch! I never thought I would live to see the day.” Janie said as she walked towards Tammy, who was beginning to glow. “Sorry, I can’t always help it when I’m nervous and I’m not used to being around people who can see it. Most can’t, it’s just a feeling they get.” Tammy replied.

“What do you have to be nervous about, my dear? We are among friends. No one here is going to hurt you.” Randolph said, stepping closer to her, effectively cutting off the more outgoing Janie, who had a tendency to invade people’s personal space with her over friendliness.

“Well since we will, hopefully, not be staying long. Let’s get to it and get it done. It’s going to be dark soon.” Lucinda said as she glanced out the window. It was only going to be light for another hour or so.

“Well, if we can’t get this done today, we’ll be back first thing in the morning.” Amelia said.

“If you have to go tonight, I want you to take Tammy with you and keep her safe.” Tammy’s mother, Julia, said from the hallway.

“Julia! What are you doing up? You need to be in bed, resting.” Lucinda said.

“My daughter is in danger because of things we did in the past. I need to help, in any way I can.” Julia said.

“Mom, now you just stop that. This is not your fault. The best thing you can do right now is to rest and get well.” Tammy said, rushing to catch her mother as she began to sway on her feet. Tammy helped her mother back to bed.

“They are not healing as quickly as most would because they were so weak to begin with. We need to get this problem resolved as quickly as possible so that they can get out in the sun without having to worry or look over their shoulders all the time.” Carolyn said as she turned back to the map. They all gathered around and looked at the map. Carolyn explained where the boundaries were located. She pointed out where all the inhabited homesteads were from humans to changelings as well as where the centaur’s and fairies were living.

Emily and Dawn came back with two more people. A young couple that Emily introduced and Bruce and Daniele.

“Welcome.” Carolyn said, then she continued to explain to the witches where the boundaries of the changeling lands were located.

Just as they were brainstorming a plan, the doorbell rang and everyone froze. Carolyn peeked out the window to see the pizza delivery boy hopping from one foot to another.

“It’s just the pizza we ordered.” Carolyn assured everyone, as she went to open the front door. “Come on in out of the cold.” She told young Dave Pearson. His parents ran the pizza parlor in town. He stepped inside and smiled at all of them.

“Dr. Masters, I know pizzas are getting expensive but there is no way this one large pie is going to feed all of these people. Want me to bring more?” Dave whispered.

“No thanks, Dave. They aren’t staying for dinner.” Carolyn whispered back as she handed him the money for the delivery. He left and Carolyn put the pizza in the kitchen.

“That smells divine. Do you mind if I copy it?” Sabrina asked.

“Would you mind? I didn’t know there would be so many to feed.” Carolyn said and Dawn called out “Please make one with pineapple on top and no onions!”

“A girl after my heart! Or at least one with the same tastes as me!” Carolyn laughed as she looked in one of her cabinets for some paper plates. She didn’t own enough glass plates to feed so many people. “Can you copy some sodas as well?” Carolyn asked.

“Sure.” Sabrina smiled at her and waved her wand again. They passed around pizza and cans of soda, which were ice cold.

“Ok, now that everyone has something to eat, let’s get back to the business at hand.” Amelia said.

Just then the doorbell rang again causing the same reaction as before and Carolyn again looked out the front window. “It’s Colin.” She said as she opened the door. “Come on in.”

“Hi! Are you……….oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know you had company.” Colin said, glancing around the room.

“Everyone, this is my fiancé, Colin Noble. We are still trying to figure out how to get rid of the warlock before they make the barriers.” Carolyn said as she took his hand and urged him to come inside. “Want some pizza?”

She made a plate of pizza and handed him a cold soda as he sat down on the stool by the counter. He sat and munched his pizza as he listened to what they were talking about.

“I thought they had to do this while it was still light outside?” Colin asked.

“We do.” Lucinda replied and then looked out the window. “Oh, dang, we’ve lost the light. “ She said, looking frustrated. “It looks like we’ll have to agree on a plan and meet back here in the morning.”

“The only problem with that is, is that tomorrow is Sunday and I already happen to know that Pastor Robin’s day is going to be full with church and the funeral tomorrow.” Carolyn said.

“With something as important as this and being that it affects everyone on the mountain, I think church can be postponed for an hour or so. Will that be enough?” Colin asked.

“If we get here just after sunrise, then it shouldn’t cause church to be late unless they have sunrise services?” Lucinda asked.

“No, this is farm country. Even if people are not supposed to work on Sunday, the families can’t allow their stock to go unattended for a whole day, so services don’t usually start until about 9:30. Mr. Wainwright’s funeral will be immediately afterwards. Everyone who attends that will probably want to look around the property since it will be available now.” Colin answered.

“Oh, Tammy, I almost forgot! I need to talk to you about helping Mr. Pence once this is all over.” Carolyn told Tammy.

“Sure.” Tammy said.

Lucinda and Amelia took over and they all discussed how it would be best to handle ridding the mountain of evil and then protecting it from anything coming back. After about an hour, it was agreed that they would all meet back here at sunrise and try to have it done before church in the morning. Colin said he would contact some of the changelings to help guide the witches. “Three more changelings should do the trick.” Samantha told him.

“Oh, Randolph, before you go, I wanted to ask if you could help me with a spell?” Tammy asked as everyone began to leave.

“Sure, my dear. What would you like to know?” Randolph replied.

“Can you teach me how to make bells sound before someone comes in?” Tammy asked.

“Well first of all, you can’t make it open to all magic or it will defeat the purpose of the barrier. People coming in have to know to ring them first otherwise, instead of a pleasant tinkling sound, it will be like an alarm going off, really loud.” Randolph said.

“Perfect.” Tammy, Carolyn and Colin all said at the same time, causing everyone to laugh.

“Why didn’t an alarm sound the last time we went there without ringing them first?” Tammy asked.

“I have my alarm noise going off set low enough and with a different ring tone. I have one for people to ring and another tone set to let me know someone is coming but it won’t scare other people in the shop. A loud alarm will only sound if it’s someone evil trying to come in.” Randolph said.

“That’s what we need here and at my house and office.” Tammy said, getting excited.

“Very well.” Randolph said.

“Do you need us to stay, Randolph?” Lucinda asked. She was still not her usual self and wanted to rest up for what they would be doing in the morning. “We want to get home and get some rest. We are not normally early risers and since we are 3 hours ahead of them on the west coast, it means we’ll have to be up at 3 in the morning.”

“Oh great!” Amelia said. “Good night all!” She said and waved her wand. She disappeared and Lucinda said “Great. She’s going to be a trial to deal with tonight.”

“You go on, my dear. I can find my own way home.” Randolph said.

“Well, I’d almost rather stay here but that won’t make it any easier in the morning and we need everyone to be here on time. Come on gang, let’s go!” Lucinda said and one at a time they began apparating out as they said goodnight.

Randolph cast the spell on Carolyn’s cottage and then he and Tammy left to do it on her cottage and office, after they promised to stop by the clinic and do it there as well.

Within minutes, except for the Mason’s being asleep in the guest bedroom, Carolyn and Colin found themselves alone in her living room.

“Well, that was certainly interesting!” Colin said as he looked over at her. “What’s been going on? Why the mass meeting and who were all of those people?”

“They have been popping in and out all day like that and they are all friends of Lucinda and Amelia’s. It has been decided that they needed help to cover the entire mountain since another dark warlock showed up on the mountain and attacked one of the centaurs today.” Carolyn told him.

“What? When did this all happen?” Colin asked in shock.

“Well, I was planning on telling you when you came for our walk but I wasn’t prepared for so many of them to show up. I can’t go anywhere but let me just check on the Mason’s and then we can go sit outside.” Carolyn said. She went down the hall and quietly opened the door to the spare bedroom. They were asleep, or so it appeared as they lay quietly, spooned together on the bed. She heard a faint jingling sound, like sleigh bells and returned to the living room just as Tammy reappeared.

“Oh, you’re back! Did you get the bells all in place?” Carolyn asked as she rejoined them in the living room.

“Yes, as well as protective spells to keep any evil out of any of the places where we are most often.” Tammy said as she plopped down on the sofa. “Hey, no fair that you get to have your man over and not me!”

“And we are going to go for a walk now that you are back. You are welcome to invite Stuart over if he’s off tonight.” Carolyn said.

“Sorry, but he’s working tonight!” Colin said.

“Drat! Oh well, I guess I’ll go get a shower and wash my hair.” Tammy said.

“We’ll be back soon.” Carolyn said. “It’s too cold to be outside for long.”

“Take your time. I was just teasing. You two deserve some alone time.” Tammy said, pushing them out the door. Carolyn grabbed her coat off the hook by the door and Colin helped her into it as Tammy shut the door behind them.

They took a walk down to the creek, hand in hand. Carolyn told Colin about everything that had happened that day and finished up by saying “Well, you heard their plans for tomorrow. Hopefully, once they get the barriers in place, things will settle down.”

“Maybe we will have a chance to go on a “just ourselves date” again? We need to make plans!” Colin said.

“Definitely. Have you had any new ideas of where you would like to go for our honeymoon? Oh just so you know, Tammy has offered to apparate us wherever we want to go!” Carolyn said.

“Well, then, I was thinking about a cruise to the Bahamas but if she’s willing to apparate us there, how about Hawaii?” Colin said.

“Well, we can if you really want to but to be really honest with you, I don’t care much for apparating and would rather go to the Bahamas.” Carolyn said. “Please don’t tell Tammy I said that. I don’t want to hurt her feelings.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t.” Colin smiled at her as he slid his arm around her waist and pulled her close. She was always thinking of others. It was one of the reasons why he loves her so much. “So what other plans do we need to make? I’m not really up on what it takes to get married other than renting a tux then standing in front of the preacher and saying “I do.” Colin said.

“Well, there’s the vows. Do you want to make up your own or will the standard “love, honor and cherish” be enough?” Carolyn wanted to know.

“You know me, I’m no poet so I vote for the standard. From what all the married guys at work have said, you don’t really remember what’s said anyway. Jimmy from the grocery store told me that he barely got “I do” out because he was concentrating on not throwing up! Apparently he had his bachelor party the night before and he was very hung over.” Colin grinned.

“Well then make sure you have yours at least three days before since I don’t want to kiss you for the first time as your wife if your breath smells like alcohol or vomit.” Carolyn grinned at him.

“Deal.” Colin grinned back. “I wish we had time to go for a run but I’m sure you want to get back to Tammy.”

“We can if you like. I wouldn’t mind going up and checking with the centaurs and let them know what is going on. I also want to thank Damien and Eric again for saving my life. But I do want to let Tammy know where we are going. She will worry if we are gone for too long.”

“Ok. Let’s go. I’ve got to burn off some energy or I’m never going to get to sleep tonight.” Colin said.