Chapter 81: Violet

I had to think fast. What could I do? He was dying. “Think, Violet, think!” I yelled at myself. “Jared take Toby and Meredith to the big rock in the woods. It looks like an altar.” He nodded and went over to Meredith. He tried to take Toby from her arms, but she held on tight. “Meredith, I trust Jared, he will protect your son with his life.” Meredith reluctantly let go of her son and Jared cradled him in his arms. They made their way out the front door.

“What are you going to do?” Simon turned to me.

“I’m going to try and resurrect him.” I stared into his eyes. I could feel the fear starting to build in me.

“Do you know how to do that?”

“No, but I’m going to sure as hell try.” I started to make my way to the stairs. “Can you go to the kitchen and grab a knife and a small bowl?”

He nodded, “what are you doing?”

“I need to grab my book.” I turned and ran up the stairs and grabbed the book that would help me cast this spell. As I made my way back down to the main floor, I said a prayer to the deities to help me not kill Toby.

I met up with Simon in the foyer. He had a hand full of different knives in his hand. “Wasn’t sure what size you needed so I grabbed them all.”

“That’s perfect.” We exited the house. “Keep up.” I said as I quickly stepped to the forest line. He started running. He wouldn’t be able to keep up but wouldn’t take long to catch up. I made it to the stone altar. Toby was laying on the stone while Meredith cried over him. He was barely breathing.

I flipped to the Resurrection Spell page and read over the words in Latin. Translated it means, ‘Bring back what was lost. Death to life. I beseech thee, thy shadows, and restore their spirit. Ashes of death to living flesh.’

I looked around at Jared, Meredith, and Simon. “Put the bowl here and then step back. I don’t know what to expect.”

Simon came and set the bowl down and only took a small step back behind me. I knew he didn’t want to be too far from me.

I lifted my arms to the heavens; the sky was starting to turn pink in the afternoon sun. I read the words out. I felt the power of the words explode within me. I felt my body leave the ground. When I finished saying the words, I looked around to see if there was a change in Toby. Nothing happened. I repeated the words.

With the final word, the world went grey. I could still see the setting around me. I could see the trees, the stone altar with Toby on it. I looked behind me and Simon was there. It was like I was in a television set with bad reception, black and white, and fuzzy.

Movement shifted behind the tree line. I followed it as best I could. It was as if more than one animal circled our group. The dark figures danced around the circle before coming to a complete stop. They peeked behind a tree.

“Who callsss ussss?” The shadow behind the tree that was closest to the altar. From what I could tell, it looked like a big shadow with high pointed ears, yellow eyes. Talons gripped the tree as it looked at me.

“I called you, Violet Proctor.”

“Ahhhh.” The shadow to my right said. “Ssshee’s the lassst familiar witch.” It hissed.

“Ssshe’s the lassst.” The shadow to my left responded.

“I am what you claim I am.”

“We know little girl!” The shadow in front of me yelled.

“Ssshe could be very valuable.” The shadow on my right emerged from behind the tree and stalked closer. It was easily eight feet tall. I stared at it as it circled me. It took a piece of my hair and brought it to its nose and inhaled.

“Ah.” I took a step away from the shadow playing with my hair. “I called you to bring back Toby.” I pointed to the boy.

“He’sss not dead.” The shadow to my left said and took a step toward him. “Not yet, at leassst.”

“He’sss almossst dead.” The shadow in front of me corrected. He loomed over Toby, looking at him. “He would be a great addition to our collection.”

“I called you to bring him back.” I repeated.

“What will you give usss?” The shadow looming over Toby hissed.

“What do you want?”

The looming shadow looked at me then at Simon who was standing behind me. He shot over to him and stood behind him, talons on his shoulder. “Thisss would be a lovely pet.”

“No!” I yelled, hand out halting whatever move they were going to make. My heart sank as the looming shadow danced around Simon, taking him in. Simon only stared straight, avoiding the shadow’s eye contact. “There must be something else.” I pleaded.

“What are you willing to give?” The shadow that was to my left asked.

I looked around, unsure of what to offer. They weren’t interested in money. They were only interested in life. The little soul suckers that they were, they wanted life to feel life. What was the essence of lifeblood? I looked down at the bowl that was sitting next to my feet. I grabbed the biggest knife and plunged it into my left arm through my sweater. Slicing down, making a six-inch incision.

The shadow that was looming over Simon cackled. “Bold move familiar witch!”

“Like you said, I’m the last familiar witch. My blood is priceless.” I held out my arm and let the blood drip into the bowl. Within a few seconds it was a quarter full. “Bring back the boy.”

The shadows looked at each other and came to an agreement. The looming shadow said, “agreed, you can have the boy back. Next time, we require a life.” The shadows scooped up the bowl and disintegrated before my eyes. The scenery went back to its normal colors and the sky now had a tinge of purple.

Toby took a deep breath on the altar. The coloring of his face went from gray to a pink. His eyes opened, “mama?” He looked around.

Meredith ran to him. “Oh, my baby!” She started kissing him all over his face as he struggled to get away. “Thank you, Lady Violet. Thank you!” She squeezed her son in her arms. The tears that were flowing were happy tears. I was successful.

I could feel my heart slowing. My vision was getting fuzzy. I tried to take a step but stumbled. Simon caught me. “Jared, get her stuff and bring it back to the house. We need a doctor.”

Simon scooped me into my arms. “It’s ok, I’ll be fine. I’m just a little tired.” I mumbled.

“Oh, baby. Hang on.” I could feel him running through the woods.

“I’ll be fine. I’m just going to close my eyes for a minute.” I let my eyes close as I listened to his heart beating in his chest.

“Don’t go to sleep, baby. Don’t leave me.” I could feel him climbing stairs and running to the infirmary. “Doc fix her. Fix her now.” He yelled.

I drifted off, into the dark.