“Good, that’s...thank you.” Alizia hugged her daughter. “I’m so proud of you. I’m proud of the witch and woman that you’ve become.” Lilith hugged back. The two of them wanted to milk this, their last hug for as long as they could.
“I love you mom.” Lilith was in full sobbing mode again.
“I love you little monster. Now, If you’d excuse me,” Alizia separated herself from her daughter. “I have a lot of crimes to make up for. And I need to start with this.”
“I don’t want you to go,” pleaded Lilith.
“That makes me happier than you can ever know.” Alizia turned to Aunt Rose, Sir Kain and Eve who stood in the kitchen, far enough not to be interrupting a mother and daughter’s moment but close enough to keep an eye on her. They still didn’t trust the Blackward matriarch. “Take care of her better than I ever could. Please.” Aunt Rose nodded.
“I can use the spell again. Go back further. Stop all of this from happening,” Lilith was desperate. Now that it was go time, she didn’t want her mother to go. She’d lost so much recently, she couldn’t lose her too. “I can’t lose you too. You’re all the family I have left.”
“Don’t be stupid honey. You still have them,” Alizia pointed at Aunt Rose, Sir Kain and Eve. “Good bye. Be better than I ever was. That’s all I ask. And be happy.” Alizia kissed Lilith on her forehead then stepped out into the snow.
Alizia kept walking ignoring her daughter crying behind her. She couldn’t stop herself from doing the same. When she reached the family graveyard she looked up in the sky.
“Emit fo sdnas eht ni kcab spets owt.” Alizia lifted up high into the sky after she recited the spell. Light shined through her eyes, nose, mouth and ears. For a brief second she was a child again, lying in bed next to her own mother. She opened her eyes and saw her mother’s smiling face.
“It’s okay Lizzy. It’s okay,” said Alizia’s mother.
Lilith watched as her mother floated up into the air. Then she exploded into a starburst of extremely bright light. That light turned into a ball that shot up fast, higher in the sky, through the atmosphere and sped through space towards the sun.
A VERY BRIEF EPILOGUE
Lilith Blackward sat on her bed in her childhood bedroom. She held her journal in her hands and was thinking of what to write on the last page. From outside she could hear footsteps coming up the stairs. It was almost time.
Someone knocked on the door.
“Yeah?” answered Lilith.
“Lilith?” It was Sir Kain.
“Come in,” replied Lilith.
Sir Kain came in, appropriately somber and sat down next to Lilith. He was silent for a second. Then he broke that silence.
“I would say I am sorry and give my condolences but I somehow think I do not need to.”
“You’re right you don’t. And I’ve heard them enough. I’ll probably hear a lot more when I come downstairs.”
Sir Kain smiled and put his stone hand on Lilith’s knee. “I have something to admit. Something I should have told you a long time ago.”
“That I, like my father before me, am a descendant of Morgan Le Fay?” Lilith did it for Sir Kain.
“How did you-?”
“Inquisitor Torrance. When he helped me exorcise myself, when we were connected, he felt it. Told me. I’m guessing, given your age and past as a knight, you knew this and probably knew her. The original Morgan Le Fay? Don’t have to be a detective to figure that out.”
“I did. I was assigned by a great King to guard her. And her lake. But that’s...that is a story for another day. Again, sorry about that kid. Know that the oath I made to a King centuries ago, still applies today. I will protect you until this stone turns to dust.”
Lilith turned to Sir Kain. “I know. I love you Sir Kain.”
“I love you too.” Sir Kain got up and was about to leave. He stopped at the door. “Just a forewarning. Your Aunt Rose, she is very drunk.”
Lilith gave a little laugh. “Of course she is. See you down there. I need a few more minutes.”
“Of course.” Sir Kain left.
Lilith looked down at the blank last pages of her diary, still not knowing what to write. A few minutes later there was another knock on her door.
“Yeah?”
“Hey, you ready Lil?” It was Winter Krueger on the other side of her bedroom door.
“Yeah, just gimme a second. I’ll be right down.”
“Take as long as you need,” said Winter before going back down the stairs to join the rest of the attendees.
Lilith got up, diary still in her hand and walked over to the window. She looked outside. Inquisitor Torrance had just finished digging her mother’s grave the old fashioned way. And it was hard work. There was still snow on the ground and that ground was frozen. The reversal of Heinrich Talon’s spell worked but it wasn’t instant. It would take a couple weeks for everything to return to normal.
Other attendees of Alizia Blackward’s funeral were gathered outside, nearer to the kitchen, mingling. Lilith couldn’t help but find it funny that when this all started, when she decided to use Red Wolf’s Folly as her judgment spell, she stood at that same window and looked down on her own funeral. But what she found funnier was the fact that the spell was named because in the end, Red Wolf discovered that he couldn’t change fate, only the details getting to the end of the road. She couldn’t either. Unlike him though, that didn’t defeat her.
Don’t miss the first book in the Happy Blendings Cozy Witch Mystery Series:
The Potion Commotion
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Catalog of Books
Lilith Blackward Cozy Witch Mystery Series
What the Hex
Hex to the No
To Hex or Not to Hex
To Hex With It
CALAMITY CORNERS COZY Witch Mystery Series
Calm Before the Witch Storm
The Witch is in the Details
Better the Witch You Know
A Witch Axe to Grind
TRIPLET WITCH SISTERS Mystery Series
Two’s Company, Three’s a Coven
Resting Witch Face
Bewitched and Bewildered
Triple Toil and Trouble
WITCH DETECTIVE SERIES
Payback’s a Witch
Come Witch or High Water
Witch Boots on the Ground
THE WITCH SISTERS OF Stillwater
Hoodoo and Just Desserts
A Shade of Murder
That Ol’ Black Magic
A Whole Lotta Witchin Goin On
The Beast Cometh
Secrets and Sorcery
A Yuletide Wallop
Haunted Homicide
The Leprechaun’s Loot
THE SINISTER CASE SERIES
Mirror, Mirror Murder Them All
A Wicked Enchantment
A Scorching Spell
THE GRUMPY CHICKEN Irish Pub Series
A Frosty Mug of Murder
Treachery on Tap
A Highball and a Low Blow
Cursed With a Twist
A Whiskey Sour Wipeout
OLD SCHOOL DINER
COZY Mysteries
Murder at Stake
Murder Well Done
A Side Order of Deception
Murder, Basted and Barbecued
Murder Ala Mode
The Candy Cane Killer
The Blue Plate Slayer
THE CURIOSITY SHOP Cozy Mysteries
The Curious Case of the Cursed Spectacles
The Curious Case of the Cursed Dice
The Curious Case of the Cursed Dagger
The Curious Case of the Cursed Looking Glass
The Curious Case of the Cursed Crucible
WITCHY WOMEN OF COVEN Grove Series
THE WITCHING ON THE Wall
A Witching Well of Magic
Witching the Night Away
Witching There’s Another Way
Witching Your Life Away
Witching You Wouldn’t Go
Witching for a Miracle
TEASEN & PLEASEN HAIR Salon Series
A Hair Raising Blowout
Wash, Rinse, Die
Holiday Hooligans
Color Me Dead
False Nails & Tall Tales
CAESAR’S CREEK SERIES
A FROZEN SCOOP OF MURDER
Death by Chocolate Sundae
Soft Serve Secrets
Ice Cream You Scream
Double Dip Dilemma
Melted Memories
Triple Dip Debacle
Whipped Wedding Woes
A Sprinkle of Tropical Trouble
A Drizzle of Deception
SWEET HOME MYSTERY Series
Creamed at the Coffee Cabana
A Caffeinated Crunch
A Frothy Fiasco
Punked by the Pumpkin
Peppermint Pandemonium
Expresso Messo
A Cuppa Cruise Conundrum
The Brewing Bride
WHISPERING PINES MYSTERY Series
A Sinister Slice of Murder
Sanctum of Shadows
Curse of the Bloodstone Arrow
Fright Night at the Haunted Inn