22. Roses

The entire morning she had been busy looking everywhere for where to find the roses depicted in the book, but all her attempts were in vain. Stopping at the diner, her aunt looked sickly pale. "Hey Aunt Mel, are you okay?" she asked her aunt. Melissant looked up at her niece, who stared at her worriedly. "I am fine; I just feel a bit off."

"You do not look okay to me," Bobby called out from the counter where he sat reading his newspaper. "Okay, I may have food poisoning." "Maybe take the rest of the day off; I am sure we can handle dinner for today. You go home and have some rest."

"Are you sure?" Melissant felt awful for leaving the diner in her hands, but she could barely stay on her two feet. "I am sure; I will go home and rest," Raven instructed her aunt playfully. Bobby left with her aunt, making sure she got home safely; Raven began helping out.

The day dragged on as she wiped the tables, putting up the closed sign that everyone had left behind.

The bell rang, indicating someone had entered. "I am sorry, but we are closed," she began, stopping as she turned around to see Maura standing there, hands folded in front of her. "Ms. Adams."

"Well, aren't you just the best, always willing to help?" she began, stepping between the tables. "How is your aunt doing?"

"You know it was not difficult to do that, but I guess being a healer comes in handy."

"What do you want?"

"I want a spell from the book, as you know; give me the spell that's all I need, and I will level you and your aunt away, or we can continue this raven, you are unable to hurt me or you would be like your family killers," Maura said. Raven glared at her, grabbed the book, he flipped it open to the spell, and grabbed the notebook from her bag. Scribbling the spell, I am done and holding it out to Maura.

"There," she said, handing them over.

"Thank you so much, Raven. Now, where might I find all these ingredients?"

"Near the cabin, there is a stream; you can find it near there."

"Thank you for all your help." Glaring at them, her body calmed.

***

Locking up the diner, Raven quickly got in her car, heading down the road, wanting to get home to make sure her aunt was doing okay. Pulling up in front of her house, she saw a figure standing there. "What happened?" Dorian questioned her instantly. "I gave Maura a spell," Raven told him softly. "What do you mean?" he questioned. "She had done something to my aunt and told me she would continue doing it if I did not."

"Is your aunt okay? I believe so; I am glad I can do good with the healing, at least. What are we going to do about Maura?"

"What about them?" he questioned her nonchalantly. "They'll die if they try to do the spell."

"What?" she questioned, shocked. "Only your family can do that type of magic." Raven quickly took off past Dorian into the woods. A hand grabbed her wrist. "You can't save everybody, love."

"I can try."

***

Raven ran in the direction of the stream, her feet pounding against the ground. They were on the other side of the stream, their eyes darker. "I can feel it now; is this how it feels?" Maura called out to her, smiling happily, but there was a glint of something in her eyes. Dark figures leaped through the air. "NO!" she called out, but it was too late. Everything stopped, moving in slow motion. Raven watched the wolves heading straight for them.

She was grabbed, spun around, and pressed into a chest. Raven gripped the person's coat tightly in her hands. Her body was still tired, as she knew the inevitable. "Shhh, don't look okay," Dorian said to her as he made sure she could not see the scene in front of them. The witches were already gone. Grabbing the spell from the ground, Dorian stepped up behind her.

"They did them a mercy; they would not have made it through the night. Witches are not allowed on their territory, much less do magic on territory they'd id them a kindness; they would have died a worse death." Nodding her head, she watched as the piece of paper caught fire. Heading inside the house, Raven spotted her aunt cuddled up on the couch. "As you can see, I'm better." Smiling at her aunt, Raven dropped next to her on the couch, grabbing the bowl of popcorn. "I am glad."

"Go get cleaned up, and we'll finish the movie."

"Perfect,"