Page 41 of Midlife Demigod Unexpected

“Are those her daughters?” Chloe asked in a hushed tone.

The Hayes had her hands held out. Her arms were shaking. In one hand she held a cup full of blood and in the other a bloody athame. My gaze widened in horror as I saw the slices along the necks of each of the girls.

“The Celtic martyrs,” I said. “She killed her own daughters.”

“The notional love spell,” my mom said. “You take that which you love the most and sacrifice it to win something else you covet.”

“Oh no,” Chloe was full of dismay. “She traded her daughters trying to win the love of a god.”

“But it didn’t work, did it?” I asked. “Because he was having an affair with Esmeralda, Kartika‘s ancestor.”

“Love spells are impossible to pull off,” Hilda said. “I’m sure sacrificing her daughters created the darkest magic that would fail on an actual god."

"So, she lost her daughters and the man of her dreams,” Chloe mused.

“Then she went to Styx and cut a deal to get her daughters back,” I finished. “Styx agreed to wait a hundred and fifty years for descendants to be born, then she would take our descendants as a sacrifice and open the river.” I shook my head. “I guess that kind of time doesn’t matter when you’re going to live forever.”

“Did The Hayes get her daughters back?” Chloe asked.

“Looks like she did,” I said, pointing at the platter, which was showing her daughters with her. Then I shook my head. “Maybe not.”

The daughters were pale and light, and I could see they weren’t actually walking with their mother, they were floating by her side. A young child played in the field while The Hayes watched.

“Styx only returned them as ghosts!” Chloe exclaimed.

They were wraith like creatures floating in the air around The Hayes.

“When she died, they must have all gone to Undirheim together and left the child to be the next Hayes.” I shook my head. “What an inheritance.”

“Styx has been manipulating this thing since the beginning and not giving anyone what they want.” Chloe looked like she was going to punch the water.

“Well, The Hayes was trying to do spells to control people,” my mom pointed out. “You shouldn’t do that. It always takes its toll. That’s what it looks like happened to The Hayes.”

“Still doesn’t answer the main question,” I interjected. “How do we get our people back?”

Chapter 30

“I’ve been doing some research,” Hilda said as she cleaned up the tea we’d been drinking. “There’s a spell we can use that will allow us to neutralize the Pendant of Time.”

“Will it neutralize the blood sacrifice?” I asked. “That’s the part that I find creepy.”

“That’s the only part you find creepy?” Chloe turned and looked at me incredulously.

“Um, no,” I rolled my eyes at her. “It’s the one thing I’m bringing up right now.”

“Got it,” Chloe nodded, turning back to my mother.

“Any spell that has a blood sacrifice is considered dark magic even though many times they’re used for white magic purposes. In this case though, it was all done in the name of control and personal desires.” Hilda explained.

“She made a mistake and wanted to rectify it,” I said. “Sacrificing her own daughters was her first mistake. Trying to bring them back to life was her second.”

"So, what happens if we neutralize the Pendant of Time spell?” Chloe asked.

“Well, essentially it was a binding sacrifice of six people to Styx in order for her to have the three people come back to her. They must’ve had quite a lot on each member of the family with the Coven to make them commit a descendent, but no matter what it was, it can be neutralized.” Hilda said.

“Hopefully not through another blood sacrifice,” I said.

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