Karma's Shift (Magical Midlife in Mystic Hollow Book 2) - Lacey Andersen (black female authors .TXT) 📗

Psyching myself up, I did a countdown in my head, squealed as I squatted down, and then jumped into the air. The hard, wooden handle took my weight right between my legs. It didn’t hurt, but it wasn’t exactly pleasant either. I had a moment of wondering if riding sidesaddle was more comfortable. I was far too nervous about rapidly rising into the air to fully notice if straddling a broom was going to end up painful after a few minutes, but I guess I’d jump that hurdle when I came to it. I felt more like I was holding my breath, trying to decide at which height I should start freaking the heck out.

I followed my friends and the two witch hosts over an expanse of trees. None of us were going too high, just above the trees, and… it felt amazing. The wind was whipping all around me, like when I would unroll all my car windows and drive down a slowly winding road. Only, this was even better. Part of me wanted to stick and arm out and roll one of my hands through the air, like I did with the car window. It was like I could taste the cleanest air imaginable, like I was actually some kind of fantastical creature that had grown wings and taken off into the sky.

It was truly incredible, so when I pointed the tip of the broom down and I started to slide, I didn’t expect it. Screaming out, I gripped the broom as hard as I could and squawked for my friends. “Beth!”

She pulled up on her broom handle and chuckled. “You won’t fall off!”

I wasn’t so sure about that, but I was not pointing my broom down for a while. And the pleasant experience I was having just a minute ago? The feeling had all but disappeared. Now, I was just tightly gripping the broom and hoping like mad we reached wherever we were going as soon as possible.

After a few minutes, Hildy waved toward the ground, and all the women pointed their brooms down and started to descend. For a minute, I didn’t do anything. I just stared down at the trees and remembered that feeling, like I was falling.

“You can’t stay up here forever,” Carol said, with a laugh.

Deva looked back at me and gave a reassuring smile. “You’ll be okay. I promise.”

I took a deep breath and just slightly tilted the handle down. This time, the descent didn’t feel quite as much like I was going to fly off and fall to my death. So, with my sweaty hands tightly gripping the wooden handle, I gritted my teeth and focused on the little clearing, which seemed to be our goal. The wind plucked at me a bit, making my descent not nearly as smooth as my flight, but I just kept focusing. Hoping and praying jumping on a broom and flying wouldn’t be the last adventure I ever had.

After what felt like forever, I landed beside Deva with my hair no doubt frazzled and flying everywhere. I dropped the broom on the ground and stepped back from it like it was a snake, before wiping my sweaty palms on my pants and trying to fix my crazy hair.

“Don’t worry, you look… nice,” Deva said, noticing my struggles.

I glared at her and her short, perfect hair. “Next time, I’m cutting my hair first.”

“Oh, I know the perfect person to do your hair!” she said, far too excited.

I lifted a brow. “Uh, do you not like my hair?”

She shrugs. “I like it. But you’ve been wearing it that way since we were kids. Maybe it’s time for a change.”

She had a point there. Breathing deeply, more like I’d run to the woods instead of flying, I realized that the other ladies had all gone to sit in the grass in a circle. So, I hurried forward to sit beside Khat and Hildy. After all, we weren’t here to learn about witches and brooms, we were here to protect Beth. I couldn’t forget that.

“What do I do?” I whispered as Beth completed the circle.

“Nothing,” Hildy said. “Just join hands. I will complete the spell and draw power from you if I need it.”

“Draw power from me? Will that hurt?”

She lifted a brow, and her eyes seemed to twinkle. “No. It never hurts. But for someone as powerful as you? It shouldn’t even make you tired.”

“How do you know I’m powerful?”

“I know a lot of things,” she said mysteriously, then stretched out one of her hands toward me and the other to Khat who sat on Hildy’s other side.

Okay. So, this wasn’t going to hurt, and I just had to hold her hand? I could do that. I flew on a damn broom, challenged sirens, and raised a son. Holding hands with a weird witch? Easy enough. Could’ve been a lot worse.

Hildy sucked in a deep breath and she looked like she was completely in her element. Her flowing skirt was spreading out around her, and her blonde hair fell wildly around her shoulders, but in a way that was pretty, versus my hair, which probably looked like it was attacked by a weed whacker. What’s more, she just seemed… peaceful. I imagined that she never felt more like herself than when she was with nature. Kind of how I felt when I was in my parent’s house.

“Great Mother Earth,” she began. “We call upon you in an hour of need, to reveal the secrets of our world. Secrets that could be dangerous. We call upon you to help channel our powers and show us what we need to know.”

I looked at Beth, about to mutter something about this whole thing being weird, but her gaze was locked on Hildy, so I shut up and looked back at the witch. For a long time, nothing happened, we just sat in silence, and then I felt something, like a tingle, moving through my hand where I was connected to