Heart of the Witch Read Online Free Page B

scents nature provided.
    "O gentle Goddess, bend to me thine ear. My thoughts are not one with our teachings. I have anger in my heart. Death has touched me. Be with me now. Cleanse me. Heal me. Ease my rage."
    She stood silently, not moving. Time became something separate from her world. She had no idea how long she waited, but finally lightness filled her heart as peace settled around and inside her.
    Opening her eyes, she squatted and plucked a handful of grass from her yard. She sprinkled the grass into the wind. A few errant blades blew against her lips. She flicked out her tongue. The grass tasted of earth and moon. Content for the first time in days, Ravyn murmured a prayer of thanks and turned to head back inside.
    She caught a movement from the corner of her eye, someone just on the other side of her fence.
    It's him .
    The peace she'd found in her ritual left her like air from a punctured tire. She whirled toward the movement, her steps rapid and determined.
    "Come out! I know you're there."
    Her heart thumped in her chest as she ran on unsteady legs. The flicker of movement came again but quickly disappeared around the corner of her property. Ravyn quickened her pace.
    Opening the gate, she stepped through just in time to see a figure disappear down the dirt road. A small figure. Much too small to be him . Ravyn recognized the intruder now—a strange old woman who lived down the road. They'd passed at a distance from time to time. Ravyn had caught the woman's gaze upon her more than once and thought she might be mentally challenged, because she always just stared and never said a word. Until now, Ravyn had never caught the woman on her property.
    Why had the old woman been watching her like that? Ravyn didn't know. Maybe she needed to keep a better eye out. The woman might just be a harmless old busybody, but if she became too meddlesome, she might discover things she shouldn't.
    Ravyn went back inside. She paced the length of her living-room floor, then back again. When she passed the bookcase for the second time, her gaze fell on the top shelf. It wasn't the row of books on display that caught her attention, but what she knew was behind them.
    She pulled a worn copy of Gone with the Wind from the shelf, revealing a burgundy leather-covered book behind. It wasn't with the other books, because this was something she wouldn't want anyone else to see, something she shouldn't see herself. Kayne had given it to her just before he left the coven. Just before he'd been driven from the coven. She'd refused to go with him, refused to go along with his sudden conversion to the dark side.
    He'd been angry with her—so why had he given her this gift? Maybe because he knew it was a gift she couldn't use. Maybe because he knew there would be no turning back if she did use it.
    She shoved the volume back toward its hiding place but stopped. You could at least look through it. At least see what your options are .
    Taking the heavy tome down, she sat at the rolltop cherrywood desk in the corner of her living room and stared down at the book. Invocations of Shadows was emblazoned on the leather cover.
    The skin on Ravyn's fingers tightened as she flipped through the pages. As if knowing what she needed, the book opened to a section on retribution. She stared at the words, not reading them but just looking at the blurred, Old English lettering.
    She was unaware that she'd begun reading, but the words suddenly jumped at her from the page:
     
    This incantation is most powerful while in the presence of the one you wish to harm. It is also effective while holding a personal possession belonging to the enemy .
    Light a black candle and send your mind to the soul of the cursed one. This must be done in the black of a moonless night.
     
    "By the flame of the dark pillar,
    O Horned One!
    We call thy name,
    O Ancient One!
    We invoke thee, beseech thee, to hear our cry.
    Come to us this night,
    shed your dark light,
    our enemies will cry