Belonging To The Luna

Family Magic

I watched out the car window as the scenery flew by. My mother and grandmother had decided the best thing for me would be spending my summers up north with my father’s family. My mother had tried her best, but she was ill-equipped to handle the issues that arose over my differences from the rest of the pack. Sookie believed that being with people who looked like me would be good for my soul. My stomach churned with nerves over being away from other wolves for the first time since I had shifted.

“Don’t fret.” Sookie cooed. She had sensed my nerves without ever taking her eyes off the road. “The family knows what you are. We live out in the country, plenty of room for you to run.”

I bit my lip and nodded in response. I hadn’t been to see my father’s family since I was a small child. My father had died when I was only six, and my mother hadn’t been able to bear the thought of being reminded of him further.

“Did I ever tell you how I ended up in rural New York?” Sookie asked, pulling me from my thoughts. “I grew up in New Orleans. A southern girl, through and through. Things weren’t easy for our people in the fifties, especially not in the south. I left home when I was nineteen, decided to see if life was easier in the big city.”

“Was it?”

“Not really.” She chuckled. “Life moves faster in the city. Nobody took the time to stop and smell the roses. I was ready to pack up and head home with my tail between my legs when I meet your grandfather. The girls from the secretary pool took me out on the town, a last-ditch effort to convince me to stay. We went to a jazz bar, and there he was. He was a god on the piano.”

“What happened next?” I asked. I had found myself drawn into her story, her voice soothing my nervousness.

“I watched him all night and waited for him to make a move. It wasn’t proper for a woman to make the first move in those days, but he got the hint. At the end of the set, he bought me a drink. The rest is history. A few dates, and I was head over heels. We’ve been together ever since.”

Her story had been precisely what I needed. We spent the rest of the drive chatting about ourselves and our lives. She told me about the family I would be meeting once we arrived, and I told her about my life in the pack. As painful as it was to retell the abuse I had experienced at the hands of my packmates, it felt good to tell someone. My mother would have raised hell, but I had always felt ashamed of not being able to carry the weight of my schoolmate’s taunts on my own, never telling my mother what was really going on at school.

Though I was exhausted by the time we pulled into the driveway in front of Sookie’s home, I was in much better spirits. I was excited to meet my family and get to know everyone. My limbs were heavy with exhaustion as I followed Sookie into the house, dragging my luggage along behind me. She smiled at me as she led me into a large bedroom, gesturing for me to make myself at home. I barely remember changing and climbing into the feather-soft bed before sleep enveloped me.

“Come girl.” Sookie whispered as she shook me awake.

I rubbed the sleep from my eyes groggily. It was still dark out; I couldn’t have slept more than a few hours. I groaned, snuggling deeper into the bed.

“Up. There’s no time to waste.” She urged, pulling the blankets from my body.

With a sigh, I climbed from the bed. She gestured for me to follow her as she slipped from the dark room. My eyelids threatened to close as I trudged along behind her into a small space. Switching on the light, she revealed a room lined with shelves loaded down with various herbs and oils. A small stove sat off to the side with a kettle and sink nearby. In the center of the room was a wooden counter loaded down with the tools of witchcraft. Sookie motioned for me to follow as she pulled various jars from her shelves and took them to her work counter.

“Tiger’s eye.” She said, holding a small amber and brown striped stone up for me to inspect before she dropped it into a bowl. “Hyssop, rue, lavender, and rosemary. I want you to smell them each. Commit their scents to memory, girl; it may come in handy someday.

I took my time, dipping my nose into the opening of each jar and inhaling the fragrant herbs deeply. My eyes burned as I inhaled the hyssop. It carried an odd mixture of sweetness and turpentine, not as pleasant as the other herbs she handed me, but not altogether unpleasant either.

Satisfied that I had followed her instructions, she covered the large bowl with a muslin cloth and laid generous amounts of each herb across it. A sly smile played at the corner of her lips as the kettle began to whistle just as she finished filling the cloth with the last herb. She motioned for me to watch her closely as she pulled the kettle from the stove and poured the steaming water over the fabric. Once the last of the water had been poured out, she gently closed the corners of the muslin, securing them, before letting it drop to the bottom of the bowl.

“This is our family magic, Jasmine.” She smiled. “You will learn in your time with us. Your first, and most important lesson, is to learn how to do a protection and uncrossing bath.”

“I don’t understand.”

“There is a magic in you, girl; it comes from our ancestors. You have to know how to protect it. It won’t stop your classmates from bullying you, but you may find you have a strength in you that you never knew. A strength to hold your head high no matter what.”

My eyes searched her wrinkled face. There was no hint of humor or delusion to be found.

“The herbs have steeped long enough.” She said, removing the muslin from the bowl. “Grab that oil bottle and follow me.”

She led me to the nearby bathroom as she carried the bowl of water. I looked at her curiously, not sure what I was supposed to do now.

“First things first. Take a regular shower. I’ll wait right outside the door and when you’re done, call me. This has to be done before sunrise, so be quick.”

I showered quickly and called out for her to let her know I had finished. The warm water had felt divine and done wonders to wash the tiredness from my body. Sookie motioned for me to move to where she stood beside the door before placing a black and a white candle between us and the tub.

“Now, this may be uncomfortable for you, but you’re going to drop the towel and walk between those candles back to the tub. Whatever you do, don’t look back at me and don’t pass back through them. I will come to you with the bath. Do you understand?”

“Yes, ma’am.” I murmured, forcing my face to remain stoic as I dropped my towel to the floor and followed her instructions.

“Good, now climb back in.” She whispered, closing the distance between us.

The moment I stepped into the tub, she poured the herbal water over my head and swiftly placed the empty bowl between my feet. She murmured what sounded like a prayer to herself as she worked her rough hands from my scalp to my feet. My cheeks burned with embarrassment as her firm grasp worked down my body, but her demeanor was that of a professional. The sun was peeking into the small window by the time she had finished.

“Now to bless you.” She smiled, gesturing for me to step from the tub and sit on the toilet.

She retrieved the small bottle of oil she had instructed me to bring along and dabbed it along the soles of my feet and at each crease along my body, finishing at my temples. I wasn’t sure if it was the placebo of her certainty or if what she had done was actually magic, but I felt more comfortable and confident in my skin than I ever had.