She met my Aunt Ella at the Crux. Together they created the Crows, and Ella has helped Kimi train lots of young witches that have all since moved on to the Crux. At the moment, the Crows consists of me, Tia, Samantha, and Charlie. There is no dogma in the coven. No list of rules and regulations. No one way to practice the Craft. Kimi stresses that every member is free to find our own way. We are not Wiccans, or Gardnerians, or Alexandrians. We can call ourselves hedge witches, or kitchen witches, or solitary witches, in that we practice alone but come together to share knowledge and to celebrate the festivals. We are all pagans, and we all believe in the Goddess and her Horned Consort, but we are free to call them whatever names we wish.
“How are you feeling?” Kimi leads me into her house and shuts the door behind me.
“Not too bad. I do wonder if I’ll ever feel warm again.” The feeling has subsided somewhat since my conversation with Mac, as he always warms me through, but whenever I think about the icy water passing down my throat into my lungs, it makes me shiver.
“We’ll see what we can do about that.” Smiling, she steers me along the corridor to the other end of the house and into a room.
“Persy!” The women in the room all stand as I enter. Aunt Ella—a couple of years older than Kimi, and with blonde hair she wears in a long braid—comes over and gives me a tight hug, then releases me so Samantha and Charlie can hug me, too.
We’re in a brick-built conservatory with large windows that face out onto Kimi’s garden and beyond that the granite uplands of Dartmoor, currently in darkness. The moon is a waning crescent, just past her third quarter, and visible high in the sky above us.
When Kimi moved into the house a few years ago, this room was already here, but she’s completely redecorated it, and its sole use now is as a place to practice magic. It has a fireplace in which logs are currently crackling, filling the room with welcome heat. The shelves of one wall are lined with books on magic and the Craft, and her beautiful example of an altar is beside them. It’s an old-fashioned sideboard that used to be Damien’s mother’s, filled with witch paraphernalia, such as a mortar and pestle, candles, herbs in packets and jars, and crystals.
The walls bear her hand-painted pictures—colorful interpretations of the Goddess, illustrated pentacles, anything inspired by her imagination. There’s little other furniture in the room, though. Instead, there are just six large, soft cushions in a circle. I’d love to have a room like this in my own house.
And now I’m single, I decide I’m going to do just that—dedicate a room in my new place to witchcraft, with an altar, a place to study, and somewhere to meditate. The thought excites me and fills me with a glow I haven’t felt for a long time. I’ve never kept much to do with witchcraft either at my parents’ house or in the house I shared with Jude. As far as I know, he had no idea I was a witch. I never felt comfortable sharing that part of myself with him, and now I’m glad I didn’t.
Kimi goes over to the table in the corner where steam from a recently boiled kettle spirals in the air, and Ella joins her and helps her make us all a hot drink. Samantha and Charlie remain with me for a moment, and we exchange another hug, all three of us together. These girls are my best friends, and I know they must be upset by what’s happened to me, just as I would, if it had been them who’d had the accident.
“I couldn’t believe it when I heard,” Samantha whispers. Her fluffy blonde hair, the same color as Aunt Ella’s, tickles my nose. “It must have been so awful for you.”
“I can’t stop thinking about it,” Charlie says. Her glossy dark waves are pulled back in a severe ponytail, and she’s not wearing any makeup. I think she’s been crying. Aw. “Mum has been out of her mind with worry.”
I glance across at Kimi, who’s talking softly to Ella. I know all of them would have been devastated to hear what I’ve been through.
“I’m sorry to hear about Jude,” Charlie adds. I told them both we’d broken up in the text I sent to them earlier.
“I’m not,” Samantha states. “You’re better off without him.”
I move back with a short laugh. She’s never liked him. “I am,” I say, “but it still stings a bit.”
“We’ll mourn the end of the relationship with you,” Samantha says, “then celebrate your new start.”
“Thank you,” I say gratefully. I knew they’d understand.
We go over to the cushions, and they tell me to sit while they carry out the usual tasks. Sensing they’re not going to take no for an answer, and appreciating that they’re worried about me, I do as they bid.
Firstly, Samantha walks around the room with a sage stick, cleansing the place. The scent of the sage comforts me, and tension fades from my shoulders as I finally begin to relax. I feel safe here, amongst friends and the familiar trappings of the Craft.
“Kimi said you actually died—is that true?” Charlie asks, sitting next to me.
“For about thirty seconds,” I reply. “Maybe longer. I’m not sure how long it took the man who rescued me to get me out of the car and onto the bank.”
They all exclaim. Ella shakes her head in disbelief as she starts bringing over the drinks—herbal tea for Samantha and herself, hot chocolate for me, Charlie, and Kimi. I accept mine gratefully and take a sip, enjoying the chocolatey smell and the warm liquid that travels easier down my throat than cold water.
“How lucky that he was driving past right when your car went in,” Ella says, sitting on a cushion. “Not every person would have stopped.”
“Who was he?” Samantha finishes her cleansing of the room and lowers herself onto a cushion opposite me.
“A police officer.” I sip the hot chocolate. “His surname’s Macbeth.”
Ella and Kimi exchange a look, and I laugh. “I know, ironic, isn’t it?”
“I hope you sent him a thank you card,” Samantha teases.
I bite my bottom lip for a moment. Charlie raises her eyebrows. “What?”
“Well, I’m kinda going to dinner with him tomorrow night.”
Now everyone’s eyebrows rise. Samantha and Charlie look at me in delight. Charlie laughs. “Young, was he?”
“Same age as my dad.”
“Yeah, right.”
I grin. “He’s mid-twenties, I think. He’s… lovely.” I blush as they all cheer.
“Fantastic,” Ella says. “He sounds like a knight in shining armor. Just what you deserve.”
All my life I’ve been taught the importance of balance. After the trauma I’ve experienced, I think I definitely deserve a treat.
“So what happened?” Kimi asks. “Did you lose control on the icy road?”
“I can’t remember the accident,” I admit. “Mac says he saw another car come around the bend too fast, on my side of the road. Apparently I swerved to avoid it, crashed through the fence, and went straight into the river.”
Samantha shivers. “And you couldn’t get out?”
“I tried, but when the fence hit the door, it buckled, and I couldn’t open it. The water level kept rising, and eventually it was over my head.”
The room falls silent for a while as everyone digests that thought, the only sound the crackling of the logs in the grate.