Easy Bake Coven Read Online Free PDF Page A

to interrupt its slumber. There was something unusual about the house tonight though. A soft light glowed from the half-moon window in the attic, welcoming me home.
    What on earth was Gram doing in the attic?
    I hefted Stewie and my bags up the steps on the porch and sat them at my feet as I dug out my keys to let myself inside. Once the door was securely closed, I let Stewie out of his cage. He took off in an unhappy streak of orange. I surveyed the house. It looked and smelled exactly as it did the first time I’d arrived when I was 7 years old—lived in and fragrant with fresh bread and lavender. Not all was cozy, however.
    Blood smears at the bottom of the stairs marked where she had fallen. I went to the kitchen and got a wet cloth. When I was finished cleaning, I dragged my bags to my room in the turret and collapsed onto my bed. The room was peaceful and dark, the moon the only light. I was surrounded by complete and utter silence. It was, naturally, driving me mad.
    After a few moments I gave up on sleeping. I walked around the house, taking in every familiar detail and touching objects that held sentimental value. My parents’ photograph, Gram’s quilt, the clay bowl I made for Gram in my first pottery class . . . Her house was a scrapbook of my life. I walked out the back door to the center of the yard. In the distance, waves crashed against the shore. My friend, the moon, still cast its silvery glow down on me. I held my arms out wide, surrendering to the power it held over me. I spun in a slow deliberate circle, my face lifted toward the pale majestic beauty. I breathed out all my tension, letting the night take it away.
    “Gram will be okay,” I said aloud to make sure the universe understood that was the only outcome I was willing to accept. She would be fine and the cosmos better have my back on this one. I’d suffered enough loss for one lifetime. “No more will be taken from me, not now. I’m not ready.”
    Peacefulness washed over me with the sounds of the waves. I stopped spinning and lay on the ground with my arms and legs spread out wide. My senses filled with the sound of the ocean, which I’d missed terribly, and the glow of the moonlight. After a while sleepiness found me. I sat up and went to my bedroom, where I slept like the dead until the alarm on my phone brought me back to life.
    The sun had barely opened its eyes when I was already on my way to the shore. I spread my mat out on the beach and began my morning routine, the sun salutations warming me from the inside out. I was having trouble focusing though. Something nagged at my consciousness, keeping me from relaxing fully. I glanced at my watch—barely 6 a.m. I couldn’t go the hospital for another hour. The feeling didn’t subside.
    I collected my mat and turned to head back to Gram’s. I spotted someone off in the distance and had the distinct impression I was being watched. I was too far away to make out any features or even to tell whether it was a man or woman, yet I felt a steady stare penetrating me to the core.
    I backed toward the house, seriously creeped out, but when the figure made no move to follow me I relaxed a little. I dropped my sandy mat on the porch, rummaged up some food for Stewie, and made a mental note to pick up cat food and litter. I showered and dressed quickly, wanting to make it to the hospital right at 7. I gathered my hair into a low ponytail, not bothering to do anything more than towel dry it, and pulled on the first things my hand landed on in my suitcase—olive green cargos and a blue and white striped sweater.
    When I got to Gram’s room at the hospital, a nurse was standing next to her bed taking her vitals.
    “Has she been awake?” I asked.
    “In and out—but that’s normal. She’s heavily medicated for the pain.” The nurse recorded something on Gram’s chart, then turned to me and smiled. “You must be Selene. She has asked for you.”
    I walked over to Gram, my eyes filling with