Fiery Gemstones (A Heston Witch Novella)

By

Cassandra DeBrown.

Copyright Cassandra DeBrown 2012

Kindle Edition

The right of Cassandra DeBrown to be acknowledged as the author of this work has been established in accordance with the UK copyright laws. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without the express and written permission of the author and publisher prior to use. All rights reserved.

License Statement

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to
your eBook vendor
and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This book is a work of fiction. All characters and places depicted here are a figment of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

OTHER BOOKS BY THIS AUTHOR

LEGITIMATE ISSUES

OUR URBAN UTOPIA

A LITTLE BIT OF BLACK MAGIC

Just a
Normal Day
at
Red Rock Haven
.

“
W
e are Heston witches
,

We are many, we are one.

We are descendants of Eve
,

And different webs we weave
,

As long as this life gives us leave
,

Though many hearts we might ….peeve?
”

Elvira Heston
paused to consider what the
next words
should be
in the spell she was writing. She had a good feeling about this one. Her bones were telling her that it was going to be epic. She was
definitely
going down in the annals of the Heston Witches as the Next Big Thing. Unfortunately, her spell writing mojo was being seriously drained by the palpable impatience that she
could feel emanating from every single
pore in her c
ousin’s body. Esther’s patience was not one of her strong points
. Sometimes it seemed as if
having to wait
for anything
caused her a physical pain.

Elvira glanced over at her cousin and smothered a wry grin.
The two of them were almost inseparable and though Esther could be a little hyperactive, she wouldn’t have it any other way.
Right now s
he was practically hopping on the spot
, tugging on and twirling her shoulder length
brunette
hair
as she waited for Elvira to
finish writing the spell and the fidgeting was not helping to speed up the process at all.

Bugs Bunny on a steroid rush
!

She turned back to her spell and just when she felt the perfect word sliding into her mind, Esther started popping her knu
ckles. Elvira gritted her teeth.
Her
cousin knew she detested that sound more than any other
and most times only did it
in an attempt
to get on her nerves
.
If that was Esther’s
intention right now, it was definitely working.
She took in a lungful of air and let it out slowly but it didn’t quite work.
That knuckle popping was doing her head in.

“Oh
, stop
that
already
, would you. You know all this…, t
his
twitching
that you do
is ridiculous.
” She ground out, turning to look Esther in the eye.

Her
cousin stared back, totally unrepentant.

“
If I’ve told you once
,
I know I’ve told you a million times already
! Spells don’t have to be fancy.
They
do not have to rhyme
as
you
well
know. They just need to work.”
Esther
shook her hands
next to her head
to emphasize her point.
Elvira thought she looked like a
Native
American shaman.

“Rhyming helps me focus
.
”

“Bull!
The
only thing it does is
help you waste time.
Our
precious
time. As in your time, but more importantly, mine as well.
”

“I have to disagree, Esther. I consider it time well spent, not wasted. The longer I spend thinking about a spell, the more life force I put into it
, the more effective it will be
.
”

“
If you want
ed
to add life force to your spell, why
didn’t you simply
slit a wrist and be done with it huh? After all, magic runs in our veins,” she scoffed derisively.

“
Hey, no mo
cking my verses. My spells work
just fine
,
so mind your own.
”

“Fine.
I was just saying
…”

“
Saying what dear?
”

Both girls turned towards the speaker. The new voice was that of their silver haired grandmother.
Evie had joined them in the alcove that led off from the kitchen area
at Red Rock Haven, the Heston’s ancestral home
.
The
three-tiered
red brick
house
stood on twelve acres of flourishing green lawns and gardens. It
had been in their family for generations and local lore held it to be a place of great power and harmony. To the Heston witches though, it was simply their home.

Esther smiled down at her diminutive grandmother,
Evie. The Hestons came from a very long line of powerful witches and Evie, the matriarch of their family was the greatest Heston Witch that Silverline City had seen in a very long time.
She’d taught her daughters almost everything she knew and they in turn had passed it down to their daughters.
Her size was nothing, it was the power she wielded that was
simply
awesome and her grandmotherly façade was simply a convenient disguise for one very powerful witch.

Right now that very powerful witch was waiting patiently for an answer from both of them.

“
Oh nothing
,
Grams
,
”
they chorused.

“
No
,
it
’
s not
nothing
but really
my
dears you should have just said
,
‘
mind your bizz
,
Evie
’
and left it at that. We all have our secrets, we are witches after all,
”
she added serenely.

Their
Nan
was so cool.

Esther aimed a fake punch at her cousin Elvira as she replied with a smile
that made her look like butter wouldn’
t melt in her mouth, “You know your bizz is our bizz
, Grams
.”

“Yes
,
Esther
darling, and I also know that you clearly didn’t say that your bizz is my bizz. I’ve played the careful wording game more than once myself
,
you know.
”

Busted!

The old lady was still as sharp as a finely honed blade. Even though she was pushing seventy, she was still spry and had complete control of her mental faculties.
It was hard to get anything past her but that had never stopped them from trying.

Evie’s pretty grey eyes crinkled with amusement as she observed the two squirming teenagers in front of her. One could almost mistake them for twins though there was about a year’s difference
in age
between them.
Still their lovely pale complexions, the waterfall of brunette hair and their ruby red lips made them look more like siblings than cousins. It was only
their eye colour that made it
ea
sy to tell apart them apart. Esther’s eyes were a pale blue while Elvira’s were a piercing black. However both girls were known to play aroun
d with coloured contacts once in
a while. Evie didn’t mind their pranks though. It kep
t life interesting. She’d bet her last coconut macaroon that
they
were cooking up some fun right
now.

“So, who’s going to let me in on what’s going on?”

“
Nothing is going on Grams, I swear. We were only debating the finer points of spell writing, honest.
”

“
I see. And this nothing that is going on…,
”
Evie
barely managed to keep a
straight
face as she saw the look of dismay on her granddaughters’  faces
as they realised she was not going to let it go that easily
.

“
May I ask what spell
you were working on that sparked
such
heated
intellectual debate?
”

“
Well…
”
Esther’s eyes darted furtively towards Elvira and back again.
Evie’s shrewd gaze followed hers, assessing both her granddaughters and she nodded slightly to herself as she concluded.

Aha. That means
it
’s
little
Elvira who’s
been cooking up a
spell.

“
Yes?
”
Evie asked patiently.

“
It
is supposed to be a surprise,”
Elvira blurted out.
“
Something that will make you and mother proud.
”

“
Yes, yes,
”
Esther
added eagerly.
“
Both our mums, and you. And
Aunt Edna
as well.
”

“
Hmm.
Alright. I suppose I should let you get on with this great spell of yours.
”

As she walked off with a last pat on the back for Esther,
she
pretended not to notice t
hat both their shoulders slump
in relief. 

“Oh and girls,” she called over her shoulder,

“Yes
,
Grams.” They replied immediately.

“Do try and leave all the walls
standing this time. It’s almost
winter
and
the cold night air is dreadfully bad
for my old bones.”

With that, she drifted off
down the hall
, humming happily under her breath.

Girls would be girls
.
It wouldn’t do to stifle their creativity.

“See
, I told you we were wasting precious time with your ridiculous rhyming. We were
very
lucky it was
Grams
and no
t your mum that caught
us.”