Free Awakenings (A Witch's Coven Novel Book 1) by Ron Vitale Page A

bit.” I averted my eyes and just offered him the bottle.
    He accepted and laughed. “Yes, yes, please come in. I could use some company.”
    I turned away while Stephen helped Charles pull up his pants and focused on the fire in the room. “Would you like me to put another log on?”
    Charles scooted up in bed and finished making himself more presentable. “Yes, thank you.” He pointed across the room. “Stephen, grab three cups over there. Let’s have a drink.”
    I added a log to the fire and then bounded over to sit on Charles’ bed. Stephen brought three glasses over, and using his cane with care, put the glasses on the bed by Charles. The fire sent flickers of red and orange light across the room, and we all took on a ruddy complexion. I jumped back up to pull a chair over for Stephen, and he sat down and stretched out his legs. He put his cane down and pointed over to the bottle. “Will you do the honors?”
    Charles read the label and asked me, “Where did you get this?”
    “I have my ways.” I put my glass out to him. “I thought it worth celebrating tonight.”
    “With a bottle of whiskey that’s thirty years old?” He opened the bottle. “What exactly are we celebrating?”
    Stephen leaned in and offered his glass to him as well. “Many things. Surviving this damn war and coming together. Let us celebrate us. Each of us and to new friendship.”
    Charles poured a good bit of whiskey into my glass and did the same to Stephen. “To us!”
    I shook my head and held my glass out. “Where’s your glass? It’s bad luck for us to drink without you.”
    He grabbed his glass, and I took the bottle from him and poured him an ample amount. He held up his glass, and I watched the flickering firelight play in the crystal patterns. “Thank you for coming tonight. I needed some company.” He looked to Stephen and then to me. “To old friends and to new.”
    We each drank the whiskey down straight, and it burned its way down. I pounded his mattress and thought my throat on fire, feeling the spirits burn through me. Smooth yet strong, I closed my eyes and twisted my body, but refused to cough. With teary eyes, I threw my head back and made a goofy sound. “Wow, that was strong!”
    Charles coughed once into his hand. “I think it just fixed anything inside me that had been broken.”
    Stephen shook his head and pounded his left thigh. “Why didn’t we have some of this before each battle? That would have motivated us in new ways.” He put his empty glass down on the nightstand next to Charles’ bed. “Damn, that was good.”
    I don’t know why, but a part of me awoke that night, playful and free. I glanced over to the door and asked, “How safe are we here tonight?”
    “Do you mean if anyone will come in to bother us?” Charles asked.
    “Yes.” I could already feel the effects of the whiskey.
    “My mother sleeps on another level of the house and she’ll be asleep by now. No one will bother me until morning unless I ring the bell.” He put his glass down and set the bottle on the nightstand. “What are you thinking, my lady?”
    He smiled at me, and I knew that, if I were to risk it, I could help him forget his trouble for the evening. We would be young and free, unfettered, and in the morning light we would be different people. But in the dark night of a frigid winter, we were two boys and a girl. “Let us play a game.”
    Charles laughed. “Do you wish to play some cards and win to humiliate me?”
    “No, that is not the game that I wish to play. This is a game of fun and skill.” I folded my legs up under me and faced both of them.
    Stephen put down his glass, curious. “What is the name of this game that you wish to play?”
    “Risk or honesty.” I pretended that I had another bit of whiskey and sipped a few drops from the bottom of my glass.
    Stephen’s right eyebrow rose. “The children’s game?”
    I gave my glass back to Charles. “We are not children here. But it is a