Fateful Signs (Ballad of the Seer, Book Three)

Chapter 20 - Memories

The faeries weren't able to help with a motel location, but they did know of a local bed and breakfast. It, too, was run by a faerie. A matronly old woman, with bark for skin; she was the cousin of the man from the bar. She was waif thin and she would've been tall if not for how she hunched over, using a twisted cane of white oak to help her walk. She was a dryad, she told them, after learning whom they had been recommended by. She also claimed that she was two thousand years old, hence her elderly appearance. Lily wasn't sure if she could buy that, but according to the book some faeries were even immortal.

Still, the woman was nice. She gave them the best room in the house free of charge. She somehow knew that they had been to see the Queen. "I'm humbled by your presence." she said, when Lily offered to pay. If not in cash, then in trinkets, which faeries supposedly loved. She denied both, leaving them alone in their room after fetching some fresh towels and a toiletry kit.

While Duncan got into the shower, Lily set about preparing everything for her spell. They had stopped into the local store to get the ingredients that Lily needed for the potion. She had to google most of them, as they were obscure things she had never heard of.

As it turned out, they were all just common herbs and flowers and things that were easily procured. The names were what they were called at the time the spell was written, two hundred twenty-seven years ago.

Lily's hands were shaky as she lit the twelve candles and placed them in a circle on the wood floor. She mixed the ingredients in a cup that she got from the old lady. Luckily, the woman had a wine goblet made of pure silver - a necessity for the spell, which they weren't able to find in town.

Duncan emerged from the bathroom, wearing the sweatpants they got with the spell items, along with a few other things. He approached the center of the floor, where Lily poured out a line of salt around the inside of the circle of candles. It was meant to protect their minds from evil spirits. She hoped that table salt would do the trick.

When she was finished, they both sat inside the circle on two of the pillows from the bed. She held her hand over the cup, whispering the words that activated the potion that would allow his mind to relax, so that she could access his deeper memories with ease. A flash lit the dark liquid for a second.

"So, how does this work again?" Duncan asked, taking the cup from her. His hair was still damp and it hung limply over his forehead, curling slightly at the ends. He needed a haircut. He pushed his hair back with his free hand.

"It's simple." she said. "In theory."

"Can't you just dig through my mind to find it? Wouldn't that be easier?"

"Maybe for me, but you could end up with brain damage if I just go diving into your subconscious like that. I don't know what I'm looking for. This will help with that."

He looked down at the green concoction she had brewed on the stove downstairs. The woman had an actual cauldron, which made Lily feel like a true witch. It was another thing that she could tick off her magical bucket list. She had already taken care of her number one item: flying on a broomstick.

Concentrating on what she wanted to find, Lily unfolded the paper shed written the spell on, trying to put her mother's disapproving voice out of her head, telling her this was a bad idea. She felt bad enough already thinking about the betrayal her mother must have felt when she realized what Lily had done, and using her own eyes to do it.

Lily took a deep breath, pushing all of that aside. She needed to be focused. She didn't want to mess this up and hurt Duncan. "Magic forces hear my plea. Duncan's mind I wish to see. In his thoughts I want to be. Bring his secrets now to me."