Page 38 of Wallflower Witch

“One way to find out.” I close my eyes, ready to try to summon magic to make the leaves around us float, when a hand landing on my arm makes me jump.

“I love the enthusiasm, but maybe we should go outside before you start playing with magic. We don’t want to knock the house down,” Patrick reminds me.

We get redressed and leave the study. Entering the backyard, I see Timmy walking out into the yard. I hurry my steps to catch up to the young ghost. He’s staring straight ahead, eyes fixed on something I can’t see.

“Timmy,” I say, hoping to gain his attention. No luck. “Timmy!” I call louder. He doesn’t respond. He’s steadily moving toward whatever is calling him.

I reach out, not sure it will work, and close my hand around his arm. Timmy goes to step but jerks to a stop. His head slowly turns and looks down at the hand somehow holding on to his arm. He blinks a few times before he seems to see me.

“How are you holding me?” he asks.

“I’m not sure,” I tell him, letting my arm fall back to my side.

“But you touched me, and you didn’t pass out,” he says. “That’s new. And why are we outside?”

“I don’t know,” I tell him. “We were coming outside, and I saw you walking through the field. After talking to Nan earlier, something just seemed off. I tried to talk to you, but it was like you couldn’t hear me. You were focused on something out there, but I couldn’t see anything that would be calling to you. I acted on instinct and hoped for the best.”

“Well, however you did it, thank you,” Timmy says. “I don’t know what came over me, but I think it would have been bad. I think I should be getting back inside, though, just to be safe.” Timmy turns and floats across the field, disappearing through the door and back into the O'Byrne manor.

I make my way back to where the guys are waiting for me, recounting what happened and how instinct had led to me grabbing Timmy and being able to stop him from walking.

“Guess that answers the question of if your powers expanded,” Matt says. “Being able to touch ghosts seems like a big jump up.”

“It’s a good first step, but let’s not celebrate too soon,” Patrick advises.

“What do you think we should try?” I ask.

“How about creating a small hill?” Josh says. “Wasn’t that something you brought up last time?”

“Yep,” Patrick and I answer at the same time.

I close my eyes, smiling as the bubbles bounce around inside, ready to do my bidding. Cracking my eyelids open, I focus on the ground in the middle of our group, imagining a string sticking up that I can pull. With the briefest of thoughts, the ground responds, rising to the size of an anthill. I don’t feel any strain from the magic. I pull again, and again, the ground responds, rising higher.

“That’s really good,” Patrick says. “But how are you feeling?”

“I’m fine,” I tell him. “I could keep going. I can’t sense any drops in my magic or my energy. I think I’m as ready as I can be to go face this curse and end it once and for all.”

“Yeah!” cheers Josh. “How are we going to do that?”

I chew on my lip. “I’m not sure,” I admit, looking at the other two. “Do either of you have any thoughts?”

“A lot,” answers Matt, “but not about this.”

I roll my eyes. “Not helpful.”

Patrick points toward the edge of the woods. “I’d say let’s start walking the tree line and see if we can find the other crypts. As we do, you can open them. Well, until you get too tired or your magic starts to fade again.”

“Okay.” I nod. “It’s the only plan we’ve got, so let’s try it.”

We head to the edge of the property and start around the circle, passing both the crypts I had already opened.

As we reach the next one, a shiver races down my spine, and I freeze. “Do you feel that?” I ask.

Josh and Matt both say no, but Patrick says he can feel something off, like a heavy weight has landed on his shoulders.

“I think Nan was right, and the curse is getting stronger,” I tell them. “We need to be careful. I couldn’t feel it at the other crypts until we were trying to open them, but this one is already trying to reach us.”

We slow our pace, checking the ground and the trees for any traps that may jump out at us. We stop a few feet from the doors. Nothing has moved. The air around us is so still, it almost seems like we shouldn’t breathe.