I asked Emmett to drop me off at home, crafting a flimsy excuse about needing to search for answers in the Book of Shadows. After we shared a kiss goodbye, he drove back to his place, where he needed to handle the other vampires gathered there.

A few days after the woman began making her appearances, I stumbled upon a page in the Book of Shadows about performing a séance. At the time, I didn't think much of it; she didn't seem like a ghost. But now, desperate for answers, I was willing to try anything to reach out to her and ask why she was haunting me.

I stood at the kitchen table, knowing my Grams was out shopping and wouldn't be back for a while. A white cloth covered the round table, creating a serene backdrop for my setup. Surrounding a small brass pot, were six candles—three white followed by three purple, arranged in alternating order. The pot was filled with cinnamon, frankincense, and sandalwood, waiting for a flame to ignite the ingredients.

Before me lay the Book of Shadows, it opened to the page I remembered from a few days earlier. With a wave of my hand over the setup, the candles ignited on their own, their flames flickering to life. The ingredients in the pot caught fire as well, releasing a warm, sweet aroma that filled the air around me.

I was apprehensive about what might happen, but my desperation for answers outweighed my fear. Taking a deep breath, I inhaled the sweet aroma of the burning ingredients, which helped soothe my nerves. I felt a sense of calm wash over me as I prepared to begin the chant.

"Beloved unknown spirit, we seek your guidance," I began to chant, focusing intently on the mysterious woman I had been seeing. "We ask that you commune with us and move among us." The words hung in the air, and I braced myself, anticipating a jump scare at any moment.

My eyes darted around the kitchen, searching for any sign of movement, but there was none. Perhaps it wasn't a spirit after all; maybe it was just my imagination. I pulled out a chair and settled into it. Suddenly, the lights began to flicker. When they stabilised, there she was—sitting directly across the table from me. I tried to rise, but an invisible force pinned me in place, rendering me helpless in my seat.

"Witch," the woman rasped, her voice eerie and otherworldly, reminiscent of a frail, dying elder. She raised her hand, extending her bony, white index finger toward me as if accusing me. No, it wasn't an accusation; it felt more like a declaration of truth.

Suddenly, the overhead light flickered and shorted out, plunging us into complete darkness. The only illumination came from the six flickering candles around the room.

"Who... who are you?" My voice trembled, yet I fought to sound firm. The cloak obscured her face, revealing only her mouth. Her lips were withered and lifeless, evoking the image of a decaying corpse hidden beneath the fabric.

"What the Volturi did pursue and set aflame," she proclaimed, withdrawing her skeletal finger and placing her hand back upon her lap.

"You're a witch?" I questioned with a furrow of my brows. She nodded her head slowly, a grave affirmation of my statement. "Why are you haunting me?!" I exclaimed, my voice rising with urgency as I sought answers.

"Thou art kin to Sabina," the ghost replied, eluding my question with cryptic words. "A lineage steeped in power," she continued, but it made me frown even more.

"What do you want?" I asked, my gaze fixated on her mouth, where I detected a faint curve of her lips as if my question had struck a chord.

"Offer thee guidance, dear child," she replied, her voice maintaining that raspy, otherworldly quality. She raised her left arm, hovering her hand to the right, and slowly swept it across the table, leaving a trail of cards in her wake. When her hand finally reached the end of the table, four cards lay spaced evenly apart from one another.

The backs of the cards were unadorned, resembling simple pieces of worn paper that had suffered the passage of centuries. They looked as if they had been crafted long ago, aged and weathered beyond recognition.

"Let thy cards reveal thy truth," she said, extending her right hand to the far left of the table. Gripping the bottom of the card from her perspective, she flipped it forward. The surface depicted a woman seated between two pillars, devoid of any name to provide clues about her identity.

"The High Priestess," she proclaimed. "This doth represents intuition and the mysteries of the unseen... Thou standest upon the brink of awakening to deeper wisdom, where shadows veil the secrets of transformation... Trust in thy instincts; they shall lead thee to what lieth beneath."

With that, her hand glided to the next card, mirroring her previous motion. She flipped it to reveal a tower engulfed in flames, lightning striking as two figures plummeted from its height.

"The Tower speaketh of change, sudden and unavoidable. The world thou knowest may soon fall to ruin, yet fear not the descent. It is in the debris that thou shalt discover thy true path. Oftentimes, the darkness must take that which is no longer needed." she declared, her voice unwavering.

My brows knitted together; this made little sense to me. "I... I don't understand," I replied quickly, frustration evident in my tone.

"Loss doth pave the path for that which is inevitable. When the tempest subsides, thou mayst not recognize thyself, yet thou shalt find that thou hast ever walked a road destined for thee." she responded, unfazed as she moved to the next card.

With a single flip over, my gaze lowered to the painting of a man, holding something in his right hand as he lifted it to the heavens. I couldn't make out what it truly was, to me it looked like a candle.

"The Magus," the woman began. "He doth declare that thou hast the tools and the power within thee to shape thy fate. Yet this force, this potential, doth spring from a place deep and shadowed. There are... abilities that yet remain dormant within thee, waiting to awaken."

My mind spun with the flood of information she was offering, none of it making sense. Abilities hidden deep within me? I couldn't comprehend that.

"I already have magic," I declared, my brows knitting together once again, confusion lacing my expression.

My words seemed to drift past her, unclear if she heard them or she didn't want to reply to my comment. She flipped the final tarot card, and a moon with a face appeared, suspended in the sky, while creatures below gazed up at it.

"The Moon unveileth that which thou canst not yet perceive," She slowly lifted her head from the tarot, her gaze now fixed on me, still cloaked in shadow. "It speaketh of a path shrouded in shadows, where thy instincts must lead thee. There is power within the darkness, yet take heed... once thou dost venture deeper into its embrace, there shall be no turning back. Thy hunger for the unknown may intensify, along with a thirst for more than mere knowledge."

My pulse quickened at the ghost's words, an inexplicable fear prickling my skin and causing the hairs on my arms to stand on end.

"What do you mean?" I asked, absorbing everything she had said. To me, it sounded like I was being led down a path that would end in darkness and in hunger.

"Thou shalt soon walk a road... one not every witch dares to tread. It is a path shrouded in secrecy, where light and dark do intertwine. Thou shalt find thyself drawn deeper, growing more powerful, yet... different," She was clearly hinting at something as if she knew what was destined to happen to me. A wave of fear washed over me, and tears slipped down my cheeks against my will.

"Do I die?" I choked out the words, staring at her lips to see any signs.

"Change will come," she responded, avoiding the question I asked. "There lies a strength within thee, a power that awaiteth to be claimed. Yet once thou dost claim it, thy path shall never be the same." Her words echoed in my head, as this seemed too much to handle, too much to absorb.

"Trust the road that lies before thee, but know this... once thou dost embark upon it, there shall be no turning back. The darkness shall unveil who thou art and who thou shalt become." Her final words echoed in the air. Suddenly, the candle flames surged upward, as if ignited by some unseen force. I instinctively shielded my eyes with my hand.

Once the heat from the flames subsided, I lowered my hand and discovered she had vanished, taking the tarot cards with her. The oppressive power that had held me was lifted, and I found myself able to move freely once more. The lights flickered back on, bathing the room and the entire house in a warm, inviting glow.

Tears streamed down my face uncontrollably, the fear clinging to me like a vice. I couldn't decipher what she was getting at. Was there a hidden power within me that I was unaware of? Was there something about my ancestors that I hadn't discovered?

Maybe it was time to talk to my Grams...

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