The Witches of Marble Falls

IV

She hung her bag on a hook near the front door and removed her shoes—the smell of long steeped herbal tea drifted into the hall from the dining room. Kittie sat, her hands around a cup, her head bowed; a second cup sat, untouched, on the table. Agatha moved behind her sister and massaged her shoulders.

'I know this will be difficult, due to their ages—but, love, this is for the best. We can do this.' Agatha whispered. Kittie lifted a hand and placed it on her sisters, squeezing to convey her understanding and acceptance. 'Emilia has so much anger within her, she is so broken and torn and lost. Only time can heal their wounds.'

'Valerie is so soft, she is so innocent and pure—though she is in so much pain, she hides behind a mask. I'm not sure she knows how to handle their deaths, Agatha. How will we help these children?' Her voice ragged with emotion, strained yet so soft with sadness. Agatha wrapped her arms around her sister's shoulders and lowered her head beside Kittie's.

'This won't be easy, it will take time, Kittie. It will require understanding and acceptance, and a lot of deep breaths and cups of warm tea.' Agatha whispered. She moved away from her sister and sat at the table. She picked up her cup and sipped the brew.

'You are right. When are you ever wrong? You are so intuitive. I feel as if I have lost touch with the magic, with the energy.' Kittie said in a hushed tone. Agatha looked at her sister from the corner of her eyes, saw the fear that gripped her heart, saw the thoughts that ran across her face and through her mind. There were few things worse than feeling disconnected from oneself. Agatha knew how difficult it would be to find the parts that were lost to become whole once more. She reached her hand out and gripped her sister's fingers—Kittie opened her hand and their fingers laced together. They sat in silence, sipping their tea, until the soft sound of footfalls on the stairs drew them out of their collective daydream.

'Auntie?' Hayden's tired, quiet voice called from the bottom of the stairs. Kittie stood from the table and walked out of the dining room. Agatha listened to her sister as she soothed the child, picked him up and carried him to the table and sat with him on her lap. She smoothed his hair and held him tight, her arms wrapped around his small body. It was as much for his comfort as her own. Kittie hummed and rocked Hayden until his head lulled to the side and his eyes closed. She stood and adjusted his body so she could transport him back to his bedroom. Agatha watched as her sister took calculated steps to avoid the creaking areas of the floor and stairs.

Agatha stood from the table and walked to the bookshelf against the wall. Hundreds of books lined the wall, most of which were older than even the oldest living resident of Marble Falls. She lifted a large and heavy tome from the topmost shelf and placed it on the dining room table. Agatha opened it to the table of contents and, with her finger on the page, searched for a specific heading. Once she found it, she turned the crisp pages until she reached what she needed.

'To Help One Find Themselves.' Agatha murmured—again, with her finger on the page, she scanned the words and made a mental note of the pertinent information. 'White alyssum petals for Balance; fresh eagle fern from the heights of the waterfall for Health; blue delphinium for Protection and Travel. A black candle for banishment, a white candle for blessing; violet for the Spirit, blue for intuition and healing and balance, green for courage and healing; and silver as a beacon for the pieces of the soul to follow home.' Agatha scanned the rest of the words. She was sure she had found the correct course of action. Agatha walked to the opposite corner and grabbed a stack of paper and a pen from the roll-top desk.

She sat at the table, the book still open to the pages she needed—she took the pen and wrote her notes on the ingredients for the spell. It had multiple parts—the first being the gathering of ingredients for the brew that needed to be ingested. She read and reread the warnings on the herbs:

Delphinium is a poisonous plant, all parts of which are toxic. Take care not to ingest too much, half a petal ground to a powder is more than enough for this brew. || Though toxic in high doses, eagle fern should not cause a problem in this brew. || Alyssum is non-toxic.

Kittie appeared in the doorway, her arms crossed over her chest, leaning against the frame with one shoulder. She watched as Agatha wrote with a heated fury, her eyes dashing over the page, over the words, her pen scratching the paper.

'Sister, what have you found?' Kittie questioned, pushing away from the frame; she sat in her chair and picked up her cup, which was now cold and had a film of oil on the top from the herbs. Agatha held up her hand, one finger extended, as if to hush her sister for a few more moments. Kittie sat back and watched as her sister finished writing whatever information she had found. She reached over and picked up her cup, drained it of the brew, and held it for Kittie to refill it.

'I found something that may help you reconnect with the lost pieces of your soul. It may seem dangerous, but I believe that it will help you.' Agatha explained. 'You need this, Kittie. You need to reconnect with yourself, you've been floundering for months since Eleanora died. And now we have the children in our care; it's time you come back to yourself. I need you at your best for what is coming, Kittie. I need you to be complete, to be whole, to be connected to your power and our power.'

Kittie knew that what her sister said was true, she understood, and she accepted needing to finding those lost pieces of herself. However, though she accepted it, she knew that it would be difficult, dangerous, and would require the utmost amount of courage. Deep within her mind, in what remained of her soul, Kittie wondered if she had the strength to complete bring her soul pieces home.