My coffee this morning was strong, but strange dreams had haunted all night, and I needed it. Weird flashes of people I knew, then sudden jumps to others. Kind of like my mind was traveling along a web connecting people, but I didn’t understand the connections. My old friend from college jumped to a sweet old lady crossing the street, then a cute little dog, followed by soone I recognized, but didn’t know.
It didn’t make sense.
The smooth coffee this morning helped ease how rough my mind felt. It didn’t help with the looks from the Cat over the cereal bowl. I didn’t have it in to make a hot breakfast. Not even bacon, where Betty did most of the work. Instead, we both had a tasty cereal that reminded of French Toast and milk.
The Cat’s bowl sat near mine, already licked clean. He’d liked that I added a splash of cream into his. Mine, not so much.
I needed to finish eating breakfast, but my hand stayed wrapped around my coffee mug. The dark blue mug and bright gold stars brought comfort. The warmth steadied .
A headbutt brought back to the present and away from the mories of my weird dreams.
“Are you okay?” asked the Cat, rubbing his head near my wrist.
I couldn’t help but give his ear so scratches.
“I’m okay, just strange dreams from last night on my mind.” I set my coffee mug down and pulled my cereal bowl closer. “I feel like I slept. Like, I’m not tired, the dreams were just weird.”
I grabbed my spoon and stirred my cereal around before taking a big bite. It was only slightly soggy, but I didn’t mind. Parts were still crunchy.
The Cat’s green eyes stayed on as he purred next to my coffee mug.
“What kind of dreams?” he asked insistently.
“Just people and connections.” I twirled my spoon in the air. “Also, I couldn’t get the citrine to do anything. It drank energy in, but there was no physical manifestation of magic.”
“What were you trying to do?”
I paused and thought about it for a second, not having an answer. I’d pushed energy into the stone, which sucked it up, but then it didn’t do anything.
“Well, I guess I charged it…”
“Intentions matter.”
The Cat’s words rolled around inside my head as I finished up the cereal. It didn’t take long before I placed my bowl in the sink and snagged my coffee mug back. My coffee stayed warm no matter what, and I had to admit that was the pinnacle of magic sotis.
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What were my intentions for the citrine? I knew it brought light to places, and manifested power. It dispelled negative energy.
Now that it was charged, what would I do with it?
I had no clue, but it’d made a good talisman for the solstice. For the next year, lots of powers manifesting and dispelling all negative energy felt like a great idea.
“What’s today?” I asked, pushing thoughts of tomorrow away. First things first, I needed to get through today and then finish wrapping gifts—and stuffing stockings. I couldn’t bring myself to do it last night; instead, I’d focused on magic practice.
Now, I had to get that done tonight.
“Magic,” answered the Cat, without looking at . His head twisted toward the storage room. “Can you get the powdered athyst and the box of herb bundles that ca yesterday?”
For a split second I thought he was joking, and then he continued his request. With a shrug I headed into the storage room, still surprised by all of the stuff that fit inside the shelves. This ti, I noticed a narrow archway that led to even more shelves, though I didn’t head in that direction.
The herbs were right where I left them, though the box wasn’t cardboard anymore. Instead, it was made of so sort of clear substance which wasn’t plastic, but wasn’t glass either. I snagged the box, along with one that humd. The label read crystal powders, and everything inside hid within white tins.
Once back near the island I set things down.
The Cat nodded at the boxes.
“Now, I need a bowl.”
“Does the type matter?” I asked, thinking of a tal mixing bowl from a cupboard.
“No.”
The exact mixing bowl I thought of suddenly rose from the island next to the boxes. It nudged the Cat’s tail, and he glared.
As soon as I opened the lid, the humming beca louder. Small cursive letters decorated the tops of each lid with what type of stone it contained. I snagged the athyst and quickly closed the bow to reduce the noise.
“What herbs do we need?” I asked. The clear box of bundled herbs made hesitate. For so reason, when herbs were in nice labeled canisters, they didn’t worry , but these didn’t have labels or anything.
“We need coarse salt, ground silver, and Beesmalt.” The Cat pointed his nose back at the box of crystal powders. “The ground silver should also be in there.”
I opened that one back up, ignoring the humming, and found the right container. By that point a bowl of coarse salt had appeared. That left the box of herbs.
“Which one is the Beesmalt?”
“Look for the bundle with black and yellow leaves, like a bee.”
I glanced into the box without opening it and spotted it before going into the box. The clear sides were helpful in that regard.
Then, I lined everything up on the island. First the salt, then the stone, the silver, and lastly the herb.
The Cat stared at the order I’d put things in and nodded. “That’s… correct… but only start with a sprinkle of the salt. I’ll tell you when to stop.”
I sprinkled salt in until he nodded, then I added the powdered silver. He didn’t stop and I dumped the entire container into the mixing bowl. That earned a nod as well.
“The stone you need to be careful with. Only add a touch.”
I carefully opened the box, which humd even louder, making my fingers tingle. I grabbed a pinch and added it to the bowl.
“Good. Now the entire herb bundle.”
“Done.”
“Squish the bowl around so the herbs get coated…”
The herbs were in a tight bundle, with so sort of black thread keeping it together. Still, I swirled the bowl around letting the ground athyst, salt, and silver mingle with the bundle.
The Cat watched intently.
“Stop.”
I froze, waiting to see what would happen.
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