Free A Broom With a View by Rebecca Patrick-Howard Page A

“just don’t go outside like that and make sure the curtains are closed before you turn the lights back on. We have neighbors!”
    “Prude,” Liza muttered even now, still a little stung at the memory.
    She wondered how Colt Bluevine would feel about her wandering around the house naked…
    At least she wouldn’t have to worry about shocking the neighbors anymore.
    “Nobody here to see me outside naked but the skunks and the deer,” she said with glee, all but clapping her hands together.
    Then she was hit by another thought.
    “Do snakes come out at night? I’d better Google that…”
    Now that she had all those acres it seemed a shame to waste them and not try to garden something. She’d been good at that in the past and there were a few different herbs she liked to use in a few of her rituals. These she kept in little crocheted sachets and stored them on the shelf. They included mugwort, angelica root, devil’s root, and black cohosh. She also had a five-pound bag of beeswax pellets because, despite Mode’s insistence that it was easier to buy things rather than make them, she enjoyed creating her own candles.
    Crafting gave her something to do. She was a Pinterest fiend. In fact, she had a bumper sticker on the back of Christabel that proclaimed she’d #nailedit.
    When everything was arranged just the way she liked it, Liza got up and trotted down to the kitchen. There, she fetched a dark ceramic bowl and filled it with water. Carefully, she took it back upstairs and placed it on the floor in front of her. She then turned off the lights and used wooden matches to light first her altar candle and then three blue taper candles.
    The room was suddenly filled with dancing shadows and the sounds of small flames licking at the musty air. Thin slivers of black smoke rose slowly upwards, dissipating and disappearing before they reached the ceiling.
    Liza Jane peeled off her blue jeans, socks, and underwear and folded them neatly by the door. She then pulled off her sweater, trying not to get the fabric caught on her hoop earrings.
    She failed.
    Naked from the waist down and with her breasts jiggling against her chest she hopped around, blinded by the angora sweater as she tried in vain to free it from the sterling silver.
    “ Damn it ,” she cried, ruining the relaxed and cheerful mood she’d tried to create for herself.
    As hard as she might, she simply could not get it loose. It was either going to tear the fabric or rip her earring out.
    Not wanting either to happen (the sweater had cost $75; she was damned if she’d ruin it before she even got to wear it more than once), she finally gave up and spun a little verse. Suddenly, she could see again as the sweater was gently untangled and the piece of clothing was smoothly lifted over her head and held high in the air. Sighing in frustration, she reached up and pulled it down, as casually as she might pluck an apple from a tree.
    She hadn’t meant to use magic that early; every little bit she spent took something out of her, making the next attempt less effective. And she wanted what she was about to do to be as helpful as possible.
    With the candles burning brightly Liza lowered herself to the floor and crossed her legs. She placed the bowl of water inside her legs on the floor and situated the three blue candles around her. She then proceeded to offer a protective spell to the four corners of the room, encasing herself in their walls with a barrier of security.
    Gazing intently at the water, she spread her arms out beside her, palms up, and opened herself to the air to welcome in the energy that was slowly gathering around her. She could feel her own power intermingling with the influence of the house, the energy left over by her grandmother, and the vitality from the candle’s flames and colors. They were more than just symbols to her, after all; she derived strength from them. It didn’t always come on as quickly as it was that night, but she’d found