“Sahara. Wake up? Are you okay?”
I opened my eyes and stared at Paris from a weird angle. “When did you get here?”
“Just right now. I tried knocking like you wanted me to. I knocked and rang the doorbell at least ten times. I sensed something was wrong. So, I came in and I saw you on the couch nearly passed out. I wasn’t sure if you were dead or not.”
“I’m not dead. I’m extremely exhausted.” I wasn’t sure why I was so tired. Oh wait, I had gone on two dates today. No wonder I was so tired.
“I’m not sure when I fell asleep. The last thing I remember is walking through my door thinking you were inside.”
“Why did you think that?” Paris asked.
“Because the lights and TV were on,” I said.
“I haven’t come over till now. If the lights and TV were on, they were left on by someone else.”
“Someone else?”
Paris looked at me and said, “Something has happened. Someone else is pursuing you. It might be Abigail.”
“Abigail?” I said. “Abigail has made zero contact with me.”
“Has she?” Paris asked.
I tried to think, but I couldn’t think. My mind was a fog as if a cloud was blocking my memory. It was a fuzzy cloud that had colors. “Something has happened,” I said. “I’m not sure what, but something is blocking my memory.”
“It’s a spell.”
“I’m under a spell?”
“Oh, sweetie. There is so much magic that surrounds you.”
“Someone else told me that,” I said.
“Think, Sahara. Was that someone else Abigail?”
I tried to think and all I could see is a bit of red in my memory. “All I see is a bit of red.”
“Abigail has red hair.”
I concentrated with all I had within me. I focused on that memory. “I see two women. Both woman look as if they could be me.”
“That’s because Abigail looks just like you,” Paris said from right next to me on the couch.
“You never bothered to tell me that?” I said to Paris.
“There was no reason to. The less you knew about her, the better.”
“Why? If she is the enemy? Shouldn’t I know all there is to know about my opponent?”
“Abigail has been visiting you and you don’t remember. Has this happened before? Where you wake up and you can’t remember falling asleep?”
I looked at Paris, horrified. “Yes, it has happened a couple times before in the last week. I thought it was because I was exhausted.”
“Abigail has been here. She has sat right where I am sitting. That’s the evil. She is the evil.”
“I’m scared, Paris. I don’t remember anything. I just see a picture. It’s a still shot like a photo in my mind.”
“You need to rest. Maybe if you rest your mind that might help. Let’s talk about something else.”
“Okay, what do you want to talk about?”
“How about the little love triangle that you and I have created?”
“Paris, I need to know what kind of spell you put on Donovan. He is all over the map with me. I have no idea what is true and what is false.”
“Really? Love does that to you?”
“Does what?” I asked.
“Not allow you to see what is right underneath your nose.”
“I am totally confused, Paris. Quit talking in riddles.” I was tired and I had seen and heard a lot of weird shit tonight.
“I can’t tell you.”
“Why not?”
“Because if I tell you without you guessing it, every good thing that has happened because of my spell will unravel.”
“So, you’re saying I have to figure out your spell if I want to stop it?”
“That is your test. I thought these spells would be fun for you and I had no idea they were going to get all twisted up like this.”
“They?” I asked.
“Yeah, they,” Paris replied.
“There has been more than one spell cast on Donovan?”
“Oh, there has been more than one. I had to do combos and everything to get this spell exactly right.”
“And you can’t just tell me what you’ve done?”
“I can. But then, I couldn’t mentor you anymore. You need to be strong, Sahara. You can figure this out. I have faith in you.”
“That will be when the spell is over? Once I figure it out?”
“Yes, but you need to understand there is more than one spell at work here. And you can break all spells that were cast by me whenever you want, the second you figure out what the spell is. You have to know it, not guess it. There is a big difference.”
“So, it’s over, once I understand what the spell is?” I asked.
“That has to happen and then you need to do a physical act followed by a few words.”
“What’s the physical act?” I asked. “What are the few words?”
Paris looked at me and said, “You need to stand with your arms crossed like a genie and say this phrase, ‘Make right what is right.’”
“Make right what is right?” I repeated, but without crossing my arms like a genie.
“That’s the phrase,” Paris said.
“I don’t know why everything has to be so difficult,” I said.
“What you need to understand is, we’re the ones making things difficult. Spells and witchery is the craft of constantly offsetting the balance of nature. The good witches are constantly trying to fix everyone else’s mistakes.”
“Whose mistakes?”
“Humans and dark witches.”
“So, you are saying that making a guy fall for me against his will is your way of balancing nature?”
“I wish I could tell you more, but it would ruin everything I have taught you.”
“Why?” I asked.
“You’ll learn by your own mistakes. Trust me when I say to you that. But, with this particular spell I cast. If you don’t figure it out. It will be active. I can’t stop that from happening. There are seriously powerful spells at work and if my intuition and feeling are correct, Abigail has cast a memory spell on you.”
“Seriously?”
“That’s why you can’t remember her. If you see two women that look like you, then you are describing Abigail as the other woman.”
“This is just great,” I said sarcastically.
“You need to be more observant at all times and try to see her before she sees you. She won’t know you know anything and if I know Abigail, she loves the dramatics. I’m pretty sure she is showing herself to you well before she actually does speak to you.”
“She would do that?”
“Oh, she is so manipulative and cunning. She takes joy moving in slow on her kill.” Also, pay more attention on your dates and you will be able to figure out my spell. That is all I can tell you.”
“I’m not going to be on these dates much longer,” I said.
“Good,” Paris said. “Because we want to fast track you to being a High Witch.”
“Who is we?” I asked.
“Well, me and...magic.”
I looked at Paris and this was the first time I didn’t know who to trust. I wanted to trust Paris, but she was acting extremely weird and mysterious.
For now, I put my trust in her. If I was sensitive at all to the Magic and spirit world then I knew Paris was good. I know it from the innards of my soul.
I just didn’t know why I was trying so hard to convince myself.
Chapter Thirty