Emmett's booming laugh practically shook the living room when Asteria told him about her supposed bear attack.
"This is why we weren't going to tell him," Edward said with vague annoyance after he recovered from the noise. Asteria couldn't blame him for his grouchiness there; she had almost dropped her bowl of soup when Emmett started up.
"I'm sorry, I just can't picture Asteria going one on one with a bear. She's the size of a single paw," Emmett said as he recovered.
"Yeah, well, apparently everyone else believes I had a fist fight with Yogi bear," Asteria said. She was a little bit moody, either from the migraine renewed by Emmett's outburst or from the assumption she couldn't take on a six hundred pound animal bare handed. How rude of him. "So now we're stuck with that story."
"Emmett, don't pick on her," Esme scolded him. "She's still recovering."
"Of course, Esme," Emmett grinned. He was completely unrepentant. "I'm happy to add another member to the bear hunting club." Asteria was then forced to sit through Emmett's retelling of his greatest bear hunts, which held all of the theatrics Esme had promised. By the time Asteria was loaded into the car, she felt more or less back to her old self.
"So, what's on the agenda," Alice asked her idly from the driver's seat of the Volvo. Jasper had offered to join them, and Asteria was tucked away in the back. "Maybe working on some of the homework you missed?"
Asteria groaned. "Are you positive you're not someone's little old grandma? Because you sure sound like it sometimes."
"It's your senior year," Alice said in exasperation. "You have to keep your grades up if you want to get into college."
"Ugh, fine. But I'm not going to be happy about it," Asteria said as she slumped further into the seat. She saw Jasper struggling to suppress a smile as he stared straight ahead. "Actually, there was a different type of homework I wanted to look into as well."
"What is that supposed to mean," Alice asked warily.
"Well, I had this dream last night," Asteria started out.
"What sort of dream," Jasper asked. He probably picked up on her tone.
"I'm not entirely sure. It wasn't like when Brigid would come to me in my dreams, but it felt…not quite normal," Asteria said. She was thinking out loud at this point. "There was something weird about it, but it wasn't necessarily a nightmare either."
"Okay, so what exactly happened in it," Alice asked.
"I was back in my parents' house, and everything was exactly the same," Asteria said. "But in their bedroom, there was this shadow entity in their mirror. It was trapped there."
"Do you think there was an entity at your old house," Jasper asked with furrowed eyebrows.
"No, I don't think that was the point of it," Asteria said. "The dream was telling me that part of getting the entity to leave is going to involve mirrors."
"You got this from a dream," Alice asked. "Don't get me wrong, it's not that farfetched, but where did this dream come from? You said it didn't feel like when your ancestors came through."
Asteria thought back through the dream again. Her mother's presence had felt almost tangible. She had originally thought it was just homesickness and being surrounded by her childhood memories again, but on second thought she couldn't be sure.
"I don't really have an answer to that," Asteria said. "I have an idea, but I'm not positive. All I know is that this feels right."
Alice glanced back at her and took in her tone and the look in her eyes. "If you're sure. So what do we need to do?"
"The mirror is only part of it," Asteria said. "We need to get the entity back through the portal, and then destroy the doorway so it can't get back. In short, we need an entire Scooby Doo plan."
Jasper didn't bother trying to hide his smile this time. "I think those only work on shady real estate investors."
Asteria felt her jaw drop. "Jasper Hale, I cannot believe you watch Scooby Doo."
He grinned. "I've been around long enough to see most of pop culture. I will admit, as far as cartoons go it's one of the better ones."
Alice smiled smugly from the driver's seat as she pulled into Asteria's driveway. Asteria gave her a questioning look, but Alice simply shook her head. If Asteria didn't know any better, she'd say Alice was enjoying their bonding. Jasper didn't seem like the type to interact with others. "We're here. Time to get to work."
The three of them sat around the coffee table as Asteria rifled through her book of shadows for anything about mirrors, or banishing unwanted entities. She got more accounts from Ailis, and some from Lorna as well, but nothing that was particularly helpful for this instance.
"Come on," Asteria groaned out as she laid her head down on the coffee table. "There's nothing in here about mirrors at all? How is that possible?"
"We could always try going to the library, or a book store," Alice suggested.
"If I couldn't find much about it online, I doubt books are going to be helpful," Asteria said. "The only thing I could find online was covering mirrors after someone passed so their spirit wouldn't linger."
"If that's the case then wouldn't we want to exclude mirrors from our plan, so the entity won't linger," Alice asked.
"Not necessarily," Asteria said. "It sounds like newly passed spirits get confused by the mirror and accidentally go into it, not realizing that it's a copy of our world. They can get out eventually, but they get so confused in there that their spirit comes out disoriented and sometimes angry."
"So they don't actually get trapped in the mirror," Alice asked.
"That's it," Asteria exclaimed. "Alice, you're a genius!" She frantically flipped through the book of shadows.
"Of course I am, but about what in particular this time," Alice asked.
"The hardest part is getting the entity to go back into the portal, because it'll know we want to trap it and won't go near it," Asteria said as she continued her search. "But it won't be expecting getting trapped in a mirror. If we can put a binding spell on the mirror, and then get the spirit inside, it won't be able to get away."
"How do you plan on getting it out of the mirror," Jasper asked.
"We break the mirror against the portal," Asteria said. "It'll make it go right through."
"Isn't breaking mirrors considered bad luck," Alice asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Actually, that works perfectly for us," Asteria said with a grin. "The idea that broken mirrors bring bad luck stems from the idea that your soul is reflected in the mirror. So if the mirror breaks with your soul reflecting in it, it risks the chance of damaging your soul. Of course, if you haven't bound your soul to the mirror then it won't have any effect on it."
"But the entity will be bound to it, thus fracturing it into pieces before forcing it back through the portal," Jasper concluded.
"Exactly," Asteria said. "Consider it a final 'screw you' before we send it packing."
"That's one part of the plan figured out, at least," Alice said.
"Not quite. We still need the binding spell, and it's going to have to be strong enough to keep that thing in there," Asteria said. "I have a few ideas though. If we can combine a few things together it might be enough to make it work."
"Can you just mix things together like that," Alice asked.
"Magic is subjective. I've said before, it's energy with intent. You can make a spell for anything as long as you have two components. You need something to give it energy, like a lit candle, a stone that's been charged with light, or the caster herself. The second part is intention, which is why you use herbs, specific colors, symbols, or anything else," Asteria said. "It all depends on the meaning the caster assigns to the herb or whatever. So rosemary may mean something different to me than it does to another witch."
"You make this sound like chemistry class," Alice said.
Asteria laughed. "I almost feel like magic is easier. You don't have to worry about perfect measurements. I guess spells could still go sideways like chemical reactions though."
"Sideways how," Alice asked warily.
"Things could counteract each other and make the spell ineffective, or you could get a different outcome than the one you were hoping for," Asteria said.
"But if you put your own intention in, how can the outcome go wrong," Alice asked.
Asteria paused to think over her explanation as she flipped through the book. "Say a witch wants a spell for luck, but she never specifies what type and in what aspect. She could get bad luck, or maybe she gets luck at work when she wanted it in her love life. That's why you're supposed to be very clear with your intentions, especially when you're a newbie."
"You've become quite the expert," Alice said.
Asteria let out a dry laugh. "I'm like a C+ at best here. Mainly just trying not to die."
Alice frowned. "We'll figure this out, I promise."
Asteria cut her off with a wave of her hand before anything else that reminded her of a Lifetime movie special could happen. "I'm sure we will. In the mean time, I should start on dinner before Charlie gets here."
"What's on the menu for tonight," Alice asked.
"Why? Should I set the table for four," Asteria asked as she looked between the two.
Alice rolled her eyes. "I was going to offer help, but-,"
"Alice Cullen in the kitchen? With the food she routinely calls disgusting? I can't pass this up," Asteria responded.
"On second thought, I rescind my offer," Alice said.
"Too late. You're making tacos now," Asteria said gleefully as she got up to get dinner started.
"We should get going," Alice said with a look at Jasper.
Jasper merely shrugged. "We don't have to go just yet."
"Traitor," Alice said as she wrinkled her nose at him, which just caused him to grin.
"Never," he replied. "But I would enjoy watching you two cook."
To be fair, Asteria at least picked an easy meal to make. She cooked the meat while Alice chopped various toppings. By the time Asteria was adding taco seasoning to the beef everything was neatly arranged on the counter.
"Once again, it's not fair how fast you move," Asteria said while turning the heat down to low.
Alice chuckled. "You'll get used to it. We really should be going now, Charlie will be here in a few minutes."
"Afraid of running into the chief," Asteria asked her jokingly.
Alice paused. "No, but it would be inconvenient timing. If we ran into him now, he'll insist on inviting us to dinner which we have to refuse. Little things like that start to add up, and then people catch on. It's better to limit opportunities."
"Oh, yeah," Asteria trailed off. Alice always caught her off guard with statements like that. "I guess I'll catch you guys at school tomorrow then."
"Please do your homework," Alice said with a very pointed look.
"Yes, grandma," Asteria sighed as she rolled her eyes. "And please don't forget your Life Alert bracelet either."
Alice stuck her tongue out at the other girl. "If you need help with Spanish just text me. I can come back over this evening."
"Will do," Asteria said with a mock military salute as Alice and Jasper made their way out the door. It was less than two minutes later when Charlie walked in that same entrance.
"Hey kiddo," Charlie said as he hung up his jacket. "How was school? Did your project go okay?"
"Uh, school," Asteria said. "Yeah, we finished it all last night. I guess I could have come home last night, but it was easier to just stay at Natalie's when we got done."
Charlie shook his head. "I don't know what your teachers are thinking, assigning last minute projects like that on a school night. I ought to give them a call."
"Actually, it's my fault Charlie," Asteria said quickly. "I wrote the dates down wrong, and we got all mixed up."
"Alright," Charlie said. "Just keep an eye on due dates from now on. You're on a good path this year; I'd hate to see it go downhill."
"Sure thing, Charlie," Asteria while turning her back to him to get plates out. She made a face once she was sure he couldn't see. If only he knew the whole truth.
"Tacos smell good," Charlie said while grabbing a plate.
"Thanks, I thought it would be fun for a change," Asteria said. They morphed the conversation back to their usual easy going silence. Once dinner was over Asteria excused herself upstairs to start on homework. There was a lot.
Three hours later, Asteria's hand was cramped past the point of usage for the immediate future, a new migraine had successfully lodged itself in her brain, and she was teetering on the point of sanity. At least her homework was done. Not just caught up, but done. All of her assignments so far were filled in with messy handwriting.
Feeling a sense of accomplishment only ruined by how much she didn't care, Asteria attempted to stretch out her painful writer's cramp. She suppressed a yawn while stretching and turning to look out the window. In that moment she thought she caught a glimpse of black sinking further into the tree line.
Taking a deep breath, Asteria tried to rationalize that it was just a wild animal scurrying back home. She knew deep down what it was though: the entity. Moving as fast as she could, Asteria lit the candle on her dresser. The protection spell was charged enough to work, but she wanted the reassurance the flame brought her.
Asteria debated back and forth on whether to tell the Cullens. They would want to know, but there was very little they were capable of doing. In fact, they might put themselves in danger by trying to come over. Ultimately deciding against it, Asteria grabbed her phone just in case and went down to check on Charlie.
"Hey, what are you doing down here so late," Charlie asked her as he turned off the tv.
"Oh, I was just grabbing some water," Asteria said. "Are you done for the night?"
"Yeah kiddo, it's already ten thirty. You should get to bed soon too," Charlie said.
"Sure, I was just doing homework and lost track of time," Asteria said as she got a glass of water. "So you're just going straight up to bed?"
"Yeah, why? You know something that I don't," Charlie asked her.
"Nope," Asteria said, popping the 'p'. "Good night."
Asteria went back up to her room and had another abrupt freak out. What if that thing ever decided to go after Charlie to get to her? Or else he just got in the way, and was in the wrong place at the wrong time? She searched the book of shadows frantically for a protection spell she could put on Charlie without him knowing.
Eventually Asteria came up with a solution so practical it almost made her hit her head in annoyance. She mixed together the same herbal concoction surrounding the house and then tip toed down the stairs. Taking the insoles out of Charlie's boots, she carefully poured some of the mix in each boot and replaced the soles. Sticking one of her feet into the large boot, she decided he would never know the difference. As long he was wearing his boots out of the house, he'd be fine. The entity couldn't touch him. She took the extra and put it into the lining of her own shoes as well. It couldn't hurt.
Feeling immensely better after her freak out, Asteria got ready for bed as fast as she could. She was out within minutes of her head hitting the pillow and fell so deep she barely dreamed. If she did, it was fleeting images of better times.
Waking up was hard in the morning. Asteria felt like she slept so hard she needed more sleep to recover from it. Just barely stopping herself from throwing her phone across the room, she turned off the alarm and got on with her day. Charlie was already gone by the time she went downstairs, so she just had to hope her spell was going to work.
The ride to school put Asteria on edge. She tried to drown out her hectic brain with "Hi-Lo" by Bishop Briggs on repeat, but it didn't do much to help. Pulling into the parking lot, Asteria faced a tough decision. If she parked where she normally did, it would be going back to the scene of her attack from Monday. However, if she moved spots the Cullens would notice and she really didn't want to look afraid.
Swearing, Asteria realized for the first time that she was afraid. As much as it got under her skin and she hated to admit it, she was afraid of this entity and what it was capable of. Then she got angry that she was scared. Ultimately though, she parked across the aisle from where she normally did. It was still close, but she didn't trust the tree line there. Not anymore.
At least she had beaten the Cullens into the lot, which meant they hadn't watched her internal battle. The Volvo pulled into its usual spot, which meant they were across from Asteria. She took her time grabbing her stuff and getting out.
"Why are you parked over there," Emmett asked her.
Asteria shrugged. "I'm half awake this morning. I'm running on auto pilot right now."
"Yeah, but you never park over there," Emmett continued.
"Oh well. First time for everything," Asteria said lazily as she started walking towards class. She took care to put a healthy distance between herself and the woods, and then cussed under her breath that she felt the need to do that.
"Is everything okay," Alice asked.
Asteria hadn't realized the other girl had snuck up on her and jumped. "Holy fuck, Alice, can you not?"
"Sorry," Alice said with furrowed eyebrows. "I didn't realize I was so quiet."
"Yeah, well, I'm half awake, like I said. I'm easy to sneak up on right now," Asteria said while adjusting her backpack on her shoulder. She kept walking.
"Something about you seems off today," Alice told her.
"Really? Shocking," Asteria said. "Could it be that I'm half awake, which I've said several times now?"
"Are you sure that's it," Alice asked her softly. She could tell Alice was picking up on her agitation.
Asteria ran a hand through her hair. "Just give me an hour or two to wake up. Promise."
"Okay," Alice replied doubtfully.
Thankfully, their conversation bought Asteria some much needed time. It seemed like Emmett was warned not to bug Asteria, as he was quiet when he came into class and sat down. It looked like Asteria was going to get a chance to get her mood back in place.
"Oh, Asteria's back," Mr. Peters said. "I guess that means the two of you can go ahead and give your presentation today, then?"