light I handed him.
Gram shined the light down the hole onto a circular staircase. “What are we
waiting for? Lead the way, Cole.”
We followed Cole down the steep staircase. As we walked, I counted each step
in my head. Three…seven…twelve…Big spider! Don't scream. Sixteen…twenty…
twenty-six.
At step twenty-six, our descent ended with a concrete floor. We flashed the
lights around, inspecting the area. We stopped when our beams landed on a
hanging light bulb with a long chain extending from the side of it.
“There's a light.” Cole rushed towards it and pulled the chain. The small bulb
illuminated the room.
I stared in amazement at the space around us. Under the light, there was a circular table, much like the one Gram and I had used to cast the memory spell.
This table was a light gray marble with etchings of the elements on the surface.
In the center, an intricate image of the Goddess, holding a quarter moon in her
arms, sparkled in the light.
“She made this.” Cole traced his fingers along the surface.
My heart, once again, ached for him. I wanted to remove his hurt, though I
knew I never could.
Gram began searching one of the cupboards lining the wall. “Sarah fully
stocked this room with supplies.” She nodded her approval while sorting through the neatly arranged items on the shelves. “Very impressive. Her grandmother, Lucy, would be extremely proud if she could see how prepared Sarah was."
Gram picked up a bundle of tree branches. They had many brown needles
with specks of green that hinted at the color they had once been. “This is the juniper tree needles we need. If you come across yellow rue, put it aside.”
Each of us continued to look through Sarah’s things.
I stopped at a cabinet with the tree of life carved on its outside. Opening the
door, I was amazed by rows and rows of neatly labeled bottles. I reached inside
to inspect one that shimmered from the pink liquid it held. In my haste, I knocked over several of the containers.
"No, no, no," I muttered under my breath. Attempting to catch the falling items, I bumped the back of the wardrobe. Instead of my hand hitting the side of
the wood and stopping, it moved. Oh Goddess, no. I can't break Sarah's stuff.
I leaned in closer to see the damage I had caused. Much to my relief, it wasn't broken. It had been a false back. I tried not to knock over anything else as
I slid the panel out of the way. Hidden behind it was a square, silver box. Picking
it up carefully to inspect, I saw the name Cole inscribed on the top.
“I found something,” I exclaimed.
I walked over to where Cole was leafing through a book. Gram was next to
him, placing bottles and herbs into a box.
"This is for you to open.” I handed the container to Cole.
Quickly, he took the lid off the box. It held a silver ring with a square, purple
gem in the center. As Cole picked up the ring, I felt an odd pulsing sensation being emitted from the blue ring that I wore.
Gram pulled me away from Cole. “He needs to do this alone.”
Reluctantly, I agreed, and we retreated to the opposite corner of the room.
Away from Cole, my grandmother showed me the items she had found,
