The First Midnight Spell by Claudia Gray Read Free Book Online Page B

Elizabeth had hurt her son.
    But I’m not hurting him. I’m helping him, Elizabeth told herself. Nobody else in the world could ever love Nat as much as I do. Nothing else could ever make him as happy as I’ll make him. I just have to . . . show him the way.
    So she would need a fourth element, one that would ensure Nat went along with her plan to elope.
    It was impossible to weave such a specific suggestion into a spell. Elizabeth had often listened longingly to fairy tales in which wicked sorceresses were able to bewitch people into doing precisely what they wanted; real magic didn’t work that way. Spells would let you push someone in the right direction, but it was up to the witch to know precisely which way to push.
    After some consideration, Elizabeth decided that the easiest way to be sure of Nat would be to make him highly suggestible. Ideally he would only be controlled by her suggestions, but probably he’d be slightly vulnerable to the words of others as well. She decided it didn’t matter. Nobody else would be likely to argue against their plan, especially not after Elizabeth told Nat to keep it secret.
    Reenergized, Elizabeth began considering which ingredient would exactly fit each element of her spell. She wouldn’t be able to try this one out on Prudence Godwin ahead of time. She’d have to cast it for the first time on Nat himself. That meant nothing could go wrong.
    She sat by the fire late into the night, creating what she already knew would be the most important spell of her entire life.
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    Some spells were more powerful under certain conditions—by the light of a full moon, for instance, or when performed by a witch who was great with child. Elizabeth’s instincts told her that this spell would respond best when the winds were fierce. So she waited, days and then weeks, for the stillness of early summer to give way to a breezy day.
    Finally it happened.
    The wind came in from the ocean, far more brisk than usual. It seemed to turn back time, transforming midsummer heat into the pleasantness of spring. Elizabeth made excuses to get out of watching her cousins, the better to stroll around town until she found Nat.
    As it happened, he was working in the field, putting his muscle into keeping the plow down as his horse dragged it along. For a while she simply watched him, captivated by the strong lines of his body, and the way sweat made his white shirt stick to his well-formed back. Lovely though this was, she didn’t linger too long. They were alone. The time was right. She needed to act.
    Ironically it was the pearl charm that she knew would help her. Widow Porter had given Elizabeth exactly the charm that would help her defeat the First Laws. Elizabeth liked imagining Widow Porter’s consternation if she ever realized that.
    For now, though, she concentrated, took hold of the pearl charm, and thought of the ingredients.
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    A man so in love with a woman that he will change his whole life to be with her.
    Someone hurting herself to attain a goal.
    Pure lust that would not wait to be slaked.
    A weathervane turning in the wind.
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    The breeze caught her hair, pulling it free from her cap. Elizabeth didn’t tuck it in; she let it blow about wildly as she brought the right memories into her mind.
    Nat smiling down at her, love for Rebecca Hornby glowing from him like light from a lantern, as he hinted about getting married.
    Elizabeth driving her sewing needle into her flesh, again and again, not minding the blood because it was the price of keeping Rebecca far away from Nat.
    The time she’d seen those two people in the barn, Mrs. Henson and a man Elizabeth hadn’t been able to see clearly—but not Mr. Henson—both of them grappling with each other hungrily, crying out as though in pain, and Elizabeth had flushed all over before she could make herself tiptoe out again.
    The vane atop the Godwin home, carved in the shape of a