AfterLife

Starting Over...Again?

THE NIGHT

When the sun settles over the horizon and the moon lures us with her beauty, we enter the night. The sun is there for wakefulness, to feed the body and help it to grow. The night exists to feed our minds. Our thinking shifts from the world surrounding us to the world within us. The night is a time to explore, to look inside where the sun's rays block these thoughts from emerging. Who we are, how we exist emerges from the night. There is no sun to light a path, so we enter the path of our minds, seeking out the wisdom we desire to be there. Can we look without the strength of the sun and still emerge? What lurks within the dark corners, what stays hidden from the light? Can beauty emerge from darkness? Yes, because our person emerges from these corners. When we cannot decipher the reaches of our minds, the moon will reflect its gentle light and show us not what we fear, but the beauty that lies within. Delve into the corners of your mind as we delve into the far reaches of the night.

1/21/2004

Kathryn Curtis (used with permission and copyrighted by the author)

 

CHAPTER ONE

WAS I a good witch or a bad witch? A really good question. And because there was a black hole where my memory used to be, I didn't really know the answer.

Not everyone would believe the issue of payment for my top-secret cream puff recipe could be a defining moment, but right here, right now, for me? It was.

"I'm not in the business of giving out dozens of Kitchen Witches' cream puffs, much less slaving over a party for twenty-four hours, for free," I snapped, not really giving a damn that I was acting like a wicked witch right now.

Because he was our most important supplier, as well as a good customer, I'd given my all, and so had my employees, to guarantee werewolf Chris Bailey's full moon party would be a success. And it had been.

"I can't believe you're trying to stiff me." My accusation hung between us like a portent of danger.

When I'd presented the bill, Chris had been sprawled in a deck chair. He had just reverted to his human form, and looked spent and effectively partied out. Sweat dripped from his shaggy black hair onto his bare shoulders and slid down his well-muscled chest. The chill breeze hadn't seemed to affect him at all. But as soon as I'd blurted out my accusation, his muscles tightened, and I could actually smell his wolf form go on predatory alert.

Time for Earth magic reinforcements, I decided. The gorgeous wood of my client's patio deck was vibrant beneath my feet, sending power up through bone and tissue with perceptible warmth. The full moon had just disappeared behind the tall buildings of St. Paul, and the soft glow of dawn played peek-a-boo with the horizon.

For a moment, I felt caught in a bubble of time and the beauty of the early morning, vividly aware of a wisp of blonde hair that escaped my after-a-long-hard-working-day-and-night haphazard bun and now drifted on the gentle, chilly early morning breeze, a breeze playing hopscotch with the fallen leaves. With a fitful gust, the wind lifted the leaves off the deck and skimmed them out over the back yard, like feathers from an angel's wing.

I stared at Chris, and he focused on me with deep, piercing blue eyes transitioning from contented to puzzled. He didn't answer, looking to the rising sun as though he was considering his next words carefully.

I followed his gaze and gasped. The sky had turned a bloody red. The ominous sign made the back of my neck prickle and my heart pound.

When our eyes finally met again, Chris's blue ones were guarded.

I sighed, dropping my shoulders and flexing my hands. Was I a good witch or was I a bad witch?

Glinda had it right, but when she asked Dorothy that question, there wasn't any turmoil for Miz Goody Two-shoes from Kansas to work through. Me, on the other hand...I'm the witch in this story. At the moment I felt fully justified in playing the witch card, but I'd lost my memory, and still had no idea what my original position had been on the whole good/bad question.