The Windhaven Witches Omnibus Edition : Complete Paranormal Suspense Series, Books 1-4 by Carissa Andrews (graded readers txt) 📕

the water dissolves the salt before my eyes. I grab the bowl of water and the white pillar candle still waiting for its purpose, and walk over to Wade.

“Don’t forget to word things carefully. You don’t want to kick Abigail out by accident,” Wade warns, stepping aside.

I nod, placing the candle on the desk beside the mixture. I light it quickly, then recite the incantation, still fresh in my memory from one of my course books.

“As this candle burns, its flame purifies our home. It acts as our cage, binding and banishing unwelcome spirits and energies from Blackwood Manor. When the flame is spent, and the smudging is done, they will be cast from this space. Now and forever.”

As I finish, the flame reacts, rising higher into the air.

Wade nods, bending down and releasing the contents from the mortar into the abalone shell. Lighting the smudge, it crackles as flames consume the leaves. He blows it out and instantly, it fills the room with the heavy aroma of sage, lavender, and sweetgrass. “It’s begun. Okay, you take the smudge and I’ll take the salt. We need to smudge every room in this place, so this could take a while.”

I pick up the conch shell and a large feather, guiding the smoke to the four corners of the room. “By the four elements, I banish any unwelcome spirits or energies from this space.” I walk the room counter-clockwise, the motion of banishment, to help dislodge the unwelcome energies and spirits.

Wade walks behind me, dipping his fingertips in the water and spritzing it into the four corners. As we finish this one space, the room feels lighter—brighter, even.

We continue from my bedroom to the resurrection chamber, then throughout the rest of the house. One by one, we banish any unwanted energies from the house. The whole process takes nearly an hour to complete, but by the time we make it back to where we started—my bedroom—the house feels like a heavy burden has been lifted. Even some of the workers seem to have noticed, because two of them even said hello and smiled. But throughout the experience, we didn’t have a single sighting of my dad.

The embers of the smudging contents are nearly completely burnt out as I place the shell on my desk.

Wade holds the water bowl close and nods to the candle. “Now, it’s time to release any of the energies it trapped. Then we can set up the wards.”

I exhale slowly, staring at the candle. Its flame flickers back and forth, dancing as if it’s any other ordinary flame. Bending in, I blow out the candle.

A shockwave of energy escapes with it as whatever unwelcome energies are cast out of the house and beyond its border.

“Okay, now we’re on the clock. We’ve got an hour to reset the wards,” I mutter, gathering four stones from the bed and heading for the doorway.

“And if we miss it, we get to wait a whole month until the next full moon,” Wade says, shifting his eyebrows up. He keeps hold of the saltwater and follows me.

I continue down the hallway to the doorway we used last winter when his grandpa had become a revenant. It’s the last time I used it, and instantly I’m reminded of the terrifying moments of that day.

When we walk outside, we’re greeted by the sweet smell of rain filtering through dying leaves. Drizzle lingers in the air, blanketing us as soon as we walk beyond the shielding of the house.

Glancing down, Wade takes the compass out from his pocket. “Okay, we’ll want to start in the north and work clockwise from there.” He finds north and starts walking. “I don’t suppose you have any idea where the boundary of the property is?”

I shake my head. “Not even the remotest. We’ll just need to wing it and do our best.” Unfortunately, our property is vast, so finding the four corners to place the stones could prove difficult. Especially if we only have an hour to do it in.

Finding north takes a little bit of time, but we finally walk as far out into the woods as I dare.

“Let’s place the ward here. We still have the other three to maintain,” I say, dropping to my knees and inscribing the first stone with the Nordic runes for protection and calling upon the element of earth.

As I place the stone on the ground, Wade sprinkles the saltwater across it.

“By the element of earth, I ward thee. Guard this space from all ill will and any unwelcome energies that may wish to bring us harm,” I say, still touching the stone. When the words are done, the runes light up, glowing like hot embers.

Pleased by the result, I stand up and brush off my knees.

I shoot a sideways smile to Wade, who returns the sentiment. “On to east,” he says, sweeping his hand out in front of him.

Nodding, I walk in the direction he pointed. We walk in silence, keeping the manor in eyeshot as best we can while we find our next corner. The rainy weather seeps into my clothing, making me shiver in the chill of the fall air. It certainly helps with urging us along to finish this quickly, so we can get back inside.

Finding the east and south corners takes longer than I anticipated, mostly because I wanted to get us as wide a circumference around the manor as possible. By the time we’re on the last corner, Wade and I are practically running through the trees to get to the western corner to seal the circle.

“We’ve got about ten minutes to drop the last stone or we’ll have to wait until the next full moon,” Wade says, picking up speed.

“Ugh,” I groan, rushing forward to keep up. My feet slosh inside my Nikes and I’m already daydreaming about a nice, hot bath.

A sudden flash of movement in the underbrush to my left catches my eye. At first, it looks animalistic, like perhaps a bear making its