I also wanted to go through the old text that I had found the recipe for the elixir in. I knew there were more spells and recipes in it that I needed to investigate. Knowing that the one I had already tried worked so well, I was curious as to what else was in there that I could use to my advantage.

Flying to the west, we would gain time. I was tired of being on an airplane and was ready to get home. I had barely spent any time in my new house since I bought it. Anna was staying there, but I needed some home time. She had spent more time there than I had up to this point.

We got back to Oregon around noon and took a taxi back to my house. Jen had left her car there so she would just have to load up her bags and take off from there. When we got there, I saw the front door open and Anna came out to meet us. I had left my phone at the house when I left and I knew that the voice mail would be full. I found it amusing, before all this had happened, nobody called me. Only Jen on occasion, since we spent so much time together, it was usually just to say where and when to meet. But now, I had attorneys and financial advisors and my own personal accountant. There was always someone calling. Anna helped us take our bags out of the trunk of the taxi as I paid him. I watched as it drove off and turned to give Anna a hug. It felt so good to be home.

We helped Jen get her things into her car and waved as she drove away. We went inside and I stopped in the living room to see how it looked. The furniture had arrived just after I left, and Anna had arranged it perfectly. It looked like an interior designer had taken over. I was impressed with her sense of style and told her so. She helped me carry my things the rest of the way upstairs to my room.

I unpacked my bags, throwing the dirty clothes in the hamper and taking my toiletries into the bathroom to put them away. When I was finished, I went into the room that had all my magickal tools and looked around. The workbench I had found at Home Depot was set up along the far wall under the window.

I had the rest of the day to myself. Tomorrow there would be more meetings and driving. One of my attorneys had made an offer on a radio station and needed my approval, I had a conference call in the afternoon and then I had to go down to the farm to see how things were moving along. I went back downstairs to see what else was new in the house, I didn’t know what things Anna had brought with her, and wanted to see how the rest of the rooms looked.

She was in the kitchen cooking something when I walked in. I didn’t know what it was but it smelled wonderful. I walked out to the backyard. She had gotten the patio furniture all arranged and the garden looked great. I went back inside just in time for to see her dishing out the food onto two plates. We carried them into the living room and sat down in front of the big screen plasma television that I had delivered while I was gone.

It felt good to just kick back and relax. Anna and I just talked and talked, catching up on all the news. The guy that she had given the elixir to was still calling her and wanted to see her all the time. I told her all about Michael in Ireland and how Erik and Random were still calling me too.

In the morning I drove out to a car dealership to pick out a car that I could use for in town running around. I test drove several before deciding on a midnight blue Matrix. It got really good gas mileage and was an electric hybrid. It was a funny looking car, but it would do what I needed it.

It was almost time to head down to the farm. I decided to take the new car and stopped by the house to get my laptop and a few other things before I drove south. I grabbed my briefcase and ran back out to the car.

I drove through the countryside, along rural roads that needed serious repairs. I got stuck behind a tractor for several miles before he turned off into a field. I finally found the dirt road leading to the farm. The driveway was almost half a mile long and lined with tall trees. The original house was still there, and several outbuildings, but I could see where the new cob houses were being started.

Marco stood on the front porch of the old house and waved at me as I pulled in. I parked around the side of the house and got out with my case and laptop. Marco had a walkie talkie and was calling Gene and the others, telling them that I had arrived. We went into the kitchen and I set my things down on the long table.

We spent the next hour going over the plans and expenses. I wanted to have two of the old outbuildings torn down, they were in pathetic shape and unusable. That would give us a place to build the drying shed that I had planned for the herbs and the round building that would be for the potlucks and gatherings during the part of the year that we would be inside for rituals.

After all the discussions, they took me for a walk through of the property. I saw where they had marked out all the placed for the buildings. I could see them in my mind as finished and couldn’t wait for them to be done. There was another area where about seven homes were already complete, at the edge of the property, closest to the festival land. We had to drive, so Marco, Gene and I climbed into Gene’s jeep and bounced over the dirt track to those houses.

As we pulled up, I gasped. They were beautiful! The first one I saw was curved around the front with round windows. It was two stories tall and had a curved balcony around the second floor. It had what looked like two towers toward the back, in a triangle with the front. It was painted white, and had magickal symbols painted as trim. It was fantastic.

The second one was painted a pale lavender with symbols painted in gold all along the roofline. It was curved as well, but it was smaller, almost like a yurt. I felt like I had stepped into a fairytale village. Each one had a front yard with small trees and shrubs with a low picket fence surrounding it. I could see farther down the lane that several more were in the beginning and middle stages of construction. I walked around to the back of the first one. There was a play house and swing set bin the yard and a large garden area ready for planting.

Marco opened up the back door for me and I stepped into the kitchen. The inside was painted white as well, and I looked over to the oven. It was built right into the wall of the house, of the same straw and mud. The chimney went straight up the wall and through the thatched roof. There were seats built right into the walls with nooks and shelves. It was amazing. There was a ladder to get up to the second floor and I went up.

The loft was open, with bed spaces built into the walls. There were spaces for dressers for the people who moved in, and their own furniture. I like how the sleeping area was open like that, especially for kids. It would be easy to keep an eye and an ear on them from the master bedroom downstairs.

I went back out to the jeep to get my briefcase. I had put my digital camera inside it and wanted to get pictures to show off. I hurried through the first house clicking madly. I cut across the backyard to the smaller house next door and took more pictures there.

Gene told me whom it was that was getting the first house. Skye and David had worked the hardest on it, and he felt that they were the ones that deserved it the most. I agreed with him and he went off to call them to let them know that they could move in whenever they were ready to.

David and Skye were some of the most committed members of the community. I was very glad that they had been involved with the whole project. There were several other couples that I hoped would want to live here as well, I knew that many people in my pagan community had dreamed of this same dream, to have our own land where we could live our lives as we wished.

I was thrilled at the progress that my friends had made. They had handled every detail and problem as professionals.

Marco took me aside and we walked down past the other houses. I suddenly had a strange feeling that he was going to tell me something unpleasant.

“I wanted to let you know that Bill the drummer wants to move out here to one of the houses,” he told me. I cringed inwardly. I really disliked Bill, he gave me the most creepy feeling any time he was near me. There weren’t too many people that I didn’t like, but he was one of them. The other one was Jackie, a younger girl who was known for trying to sleep with any man that was married or in a committed relationship. She tried too hard to be my friend and I stayed away from her as much as possible. She was mostly just annoying to me, but I knew that many other people had problem with her.

“I don’t think that would be a good idea here, “ I answered him. “Too many people that already have places here don’t want him here, myself not included.”

“I know, I don’t think much of him myself either, I just wanted to let you know that he’s been talking about how much he wanted to be a part of this and to be here,” Marco replied and we continued walking.

We headed back to the jeep where Gene was waiting for us. Our next visit was to the festival property. It was only a few miles down the main road and we got there quickly. I was thinking about making a short cut from the end of the farm property through and told Marco to look into it. There was just a small piece of forest service land between the two and I just wanted to make a short dirt road through. I didn’t know how much government beaurocracy I would have to deal with, maybe it would be better to not say anything and just create the track.

As we walked through, I asked for their suggestions for the security of the site. It was private property but I didn’t know how well that would keep the local kids out. I knew we would need a gate across the road in. It was paved only a few yards into the trees. I took the plans out of my briefcase and laid them out across the hood of the jeep. I wanted to have a paved circle through the trees, many members of the community had recreational vehicles and it would be easier for them to park. I wanted about half of the sites to have electricity, and at least 5 water spigots around for potable water.

I didn’t know about keeping the grass mowed down in the meadow, I thought it would be a good idea to keep it thick and lush. I also wanted to improve the trail down to the river, it was very steep, and I wanted it to be easier for some of the elders to make it down to the beach.

I made all the notes on the plans and gave the copy to Gene. He would take care of all the details with little supervision, which worked the best for me. I tended to see the big picture best, and delegate the smaller details to someone else.

Driving back to the farm, I asked about the stables and animals. The barn had been left standing but I hadn’t looked inside when I first arrived. We pulled up in front of the house and parked. The barn was a two story building typical of the barns in the area. Marco pulled the heavy door aside and flipped the light switch on. There were two stalls on either side at the front, and an open area for tools and implements in the back. The upstairs was for hay storage and the staircase was just to the right of the front of the barn. I walked through to the other end and out the back.

There was a large chicken coop behind the barn and I was happy to see a dozen or so chickens scratching around in the dirt. I looked past the coop to a corral made of split logs. I thought that would be a good place for the sheep I wanted to get. A few of the women in the community were interested in spinning and weaving, and I wanted to have that be one of our resources.

I made some more notes on building a place for the dying and carding the wool, I wanted it to feel comfortable and productive. I could see in my mind the women working together creating beautiful things here. The other building I wanted was for the herb drying and storage. Oregon was a great farmland, many things would grow here and the growing season was long. There were many lavender farms, but I wanted a greater variety of herbs that we could use and sell.

I turned around, looking to see where a good place for the pigs would be. They would smell pretty bad most of the time, and I wanted them far enough away that the stink wouldn’t bother anyone. I made two suggestions to Gene and he said that he would figure it out.

The sun was going down. I wanted to get home before dark, so I hugged them all and said my goodbyes. Anna was going to be making something good for dinner, she said it was a surprise. I called her from my cell phone to let her know I was on my way home.

The weeks started to settled down into a routine. Every other week, I would go to the farm, and once a month I would visit the island. The building there was going well, only a few minor issues to deal with. I had made Random the supervisor there, it kept him out of sight for a while, until I figured out how I felt about him. Erik was an almost constant fixture at the house, as well as Todd, the guy that Anna had met. We were an unusual foursome, but we all got along together very well.

In the evenings, I had been studying the book. I had found several more recipes that I wanted to try, and there was a lot more interesting information. There was a section that was similar to an almanac, with tons of information on growing things and planting times. It was a very thick book, with a heavy leather cover. I had found it at an estate sale while I was still at the cabin. I had only bought it because the cover had looked so interesting, I had no idea what was inside.

My emails with Michael had taken an interesting turn. He wanted to come visit me here. The decision had been made that he would come out on a weekend that I had free, when I didn’t have any travel trips. My last time there I had gone alone, and stayed with him at his apartment, which he called a flat. I didn’t know what to do with him. He was so much fun and so different from any of the other men I was interested in. I loved his accent. He had been trying to teach me some irish gaelic, but it was hard to think in that language.

I felt like going into hibernation mode, so I changed the message on my voice mail and turned the phone off. I went down to the living room and turned on the TV. I took out my sewing basket and pulled out the cross stitch project that I was working on. It was a design of a northwest native bear that I had started while I was still working at my last job. I had a crush on one of the guys I worked with and he had told me that he had Tlingit blood, so I had started it for him. But since then I hadn’t seen him and I had no time to work on it. I needed to just slow down and relax and it was my favorite thing to do.

Thinking about him made me wonder how he was. We had only gone out a few times, but I had fallen hard for him back then. He had some complications in his life that he needed to work through before we could really get together. Then I had won the money and disappeared. Maybe I would go back and see how he was, tomorrow or the next day. I had so many demands on my time, I was going to just hide for a few days and do what I wanted, not what I needed to do.

The next morning I got showered and dressed up. I did my makeup carefully and styled my hair. I wanted to look good for him. I headed downstairs to leave and bumped into Todd coming out of Anna’s room. He smiled and said good morning and I grinned at him. I went into the kitchen where my keys were hanging on a hook by the door to the garage. I would be taking the S7 today.

I pushed the garage door opener and it lifted the door up. I pulled out slowly, revving the engine. It sounded a bit rough, I made a mental note to take it in to the dealership to have it looked at.

I made my way to my old job. I used to work at another car dealership and when I pulled in, all the salesmen came out to look at my ride. I was amused. One by one, I saw the mechanics peeking out of the service department to get a look too. I saw Evan come walking out and I climbed out of the car. I had brought him a Pepsi, which I knew was all he would drink. I had put a dose of the elixir in it as well, I would see if the attraction was still strong enough for it to work on him.

I had tried it a couple of times on one man that it actually hadn’t worked on. I think it was because he was gay, but I wasn’t sure. With him I had tried twice and I got no response either time. I wanted to see if there had to be a physical attraction for it to work.

He took the bottle and drank out of it. I told him that I had just stopped by since I hadn’t been around. I wanted to visit some of my past coworkers. He admired the car and we chatted for a few minutes until he was called back in to work by the service manager. I made sure he had the right phone number and looked deeply into his eyes before I left. He had used to look at me like that and it would unnerve me. I wanted to see if it would work back at him.

I went across the street where my old desk was and popped in to say hi to my old boss. None of the other girls that had worked in the office were still there, all of them were new. I was glad to see that I got out before all the ridiculous work crap got too much to handle.

I said my goodbyes and left. I drove to the Saleen dealership and they got it in right away. I only had about an hour wait before they were done. They just cleared the codes in the engine control unit and updated it with the current software. It was all covered by the warranty so I didn’t have to pay anything. I drove off toward home to make something to eat. I had an urge to cook, so I stopped at the grocery store and picked up a few things. I got a thick steak to grill on the barbecue and some vegetables for a salad.

I pulled into the garage and closed the door behind me. I had to turn my phone back on, just in case Evan would call. He still made me feel like a love struck teenager. I went into the kitchen and set the bags down on the counter. Anna came in from the living room and started getting the salad things taken care of while I went out back to start the grill. I had bought a huge gas grill for parties and it worked great.

I realized I should have a house warming party soon, I had a lot of people that I hadn’t seen in a long time. I went back inside and started telling Anna about it. She sounded excited and we decided to have it the next weekend, before Michael came out to visit.

I took the steak out to the grill and closed the lid. It wouldn’t take long to cook, less than ten minutes, but I was starving at this point. I went back inside to help finish up the salad and get the plates out. I stepped back outside to flip the steak and just looked out at the garden. It looked like Anna had added new flowers and plants. We decided to eat outside on the patio, and brought everything outside.

She began telling me what she had been doing in the garden and with the house. I told her all the news with the farm and festival land. She wasn’t exactly pagan, but she had gone through the class that I had taught and knew how things were. Jen was pagan and was really excited for me about the properties.

My phone started ringing inside. I had left it on the counter in the kitchen, so I jumped up and ran inside. I didn’t recognize the number, so I took a minute to answer it. I was glad I did though, because it was Evan. He had just got out of work. I asked him if he wanted to do something later and he said he did, he just needed to shower and clean up.

I went back to my food with my stomach all fluttering. I could barely finish my steak. I was so excited to go see Evan that I was getting all silly. I finally finished and took my plate inside and went up to freshen up in my room. I walked through my room and went into the large master bathroom. It had one wall that was completely mirrored and a small hot tub that was separate from the six head shower that was the size of my entire bathroom in my old apartment.

I changed into jeans and a shirt, and found my sneakers in the bottom of my closet. I wanted to be comfortable as possible with him. I touched up my lipstick and was ready to go. I wasn’t sure where we would go, but I had an idea of something fun to do. There was a Moonstruck Chocolate café not too far from his house, so I decided that would be a good place to go.

I picked him up in the S7 and drove to the café. As we went inside I felt him put his hand on the small of my back. I felt a thrill run up my spine as we walked up to the glass cases holding all kinds of delightful chocolate treats and desserts. I chose a dark chocolate espresso bar and laughed as Evan picked the same thing. The girl behind the counter wrapped up the sweets and we went back to the car.

We talked about all kinds of things while I drove around. I decided to take him back to my place, we could watch a movie if he wanted or just hang out there. I had a game room set up in the basement and there was a pool table and other kinds of entertainment.

He said that a movie would be okay, so I showed him the DVDs and let him pick one. I put it in the player and we got about halfway through it before he pulled me over onto his lap. I bent my head to kiss him and ran my fingers through his hair. I loved his hair, it was so soft and to me it smelled like cedar.

After a few minutes he picked me up and whispered in my ear to ask where my bedroom was. I told him, and then kept kissing him as he carried me up to my room. He laid me down gently and started to undress me without his lips leaving mine.

The next morning I woke up with his arms around me. I stayed there for a while enjoying the feeling of being held. I shifted over onto my back and his eyes opened. It was still early and the sun hadn’t come up yet. I got up and found my robe and went into the bathroom. When I came out, Evan was getting dressed. I had to get him home so he could get ready for work.

I took him over the hills back to his house. He kissed me as he got out of my car and he went inside. I wondered if he had made any progress with his home problems. He had a daughter and I got the impression that his ex held the little girl over his head to try to keep him in line. I was sure that when my island was ready, I could do something to take care of the whole situation.

On my way back, I decided to stop for breakfast at a tiny restaurant near my house. There were only a few tables but the food there was excellent. This early in the morning, there was only one empty table and I sat down. I ordered a ham and egg scramble and found a newspaper to read while I waited for my food. I found the entertainment pages and was working on a sudoku puzzle when the food arrived. I finished it as I was eating.

Getting home, Anna was just getting up. I could hear her moving around above me. She came downstairs as I was making a pot of coffee. I took the mugs out of the cabinet and opened the fridge to get the creamer. We sat at the bar stools at the end of the kitchen island and discussed the housewarming party. I would send out the invitations and she would take care of the food.

The rest of the morning was spent making calls to Random and getting flight information for Michael in Ireland. Everything was going well on the island, all the supplies were being delivered on time and the building was going well. The outer walls were finished and the house was going well. Most of the house itself would be underground, with only one floor above. To anyone flying overhead it would look like just a small house, but there would be two more floors beneath it. The communications room was at one end of the house toward the center of the island. All of Random’s equipment had arrived and he was busy setting it up. I told him that I would be back down there in just over two weeks and he told me he missed me. I missed him too in a way. I was easily distracted by Erik and Evan though and Michael was another good time. I was going to need to figure out how to keep them all. I wasn’t sure how to do that, but I had a few ideas. I liked all of them and for different reasons. Anna stuck her head in the door and startled me. I looked up at her and asked her if she wanted to go out to the coast for the afternoon. “Sure, I don’t have anything else planned,” she answered. Okay, how about calling up Jen and Kelly and see if they want to go too?” I said. She came back a few minutes later to tell me that it would just be her and I. Jen had to work and Kelly wasn’t answering her phone. That was good, this way I could take the S7 and not have to worry about taking everyone in the Matrix. We got in the car and headed up to Astoria. It was fun cruising up over the mountains speeding past all the other cars on the road. We came back down into the town and drove up to the bridge between Oregon and Washington. I wanted to go up to Ilwaco, it was one of my favorite camping places. There was a really nice beach there at the State Park, and I parked in the lot, locking up the car. We walked down the paved path to the sandy beach, passing by the huge logs of driftwood pushed up on shore in the winter storms. We walked down to the waterline to look for shells and rocks. After an hour walking on the beach, I was ready to go find more food. It seemed like I was always hungry anymore. With all the running around I was doing I needed to keep up on my meals. The ocean air probably helped as well. We found a steak and seafood restaurant that wasn’t too expensive, and had a wonderful lunch. We went shopping up and down the main street and found all kinds of neat treasures. I bought a bronze sculpture of dolphins for the garden and then I found several glass floats to go in there too. Anna picked out some pictures for the living room and den. We made it back to the car and carefully put our purchases behind the seats. It was a quick drive home and we brought everything into the house. There were three days left to get ready for the party. I sent Anna off to Party City to get decorations and stuff and I emailed invitations. I had a very selective list of people I wanted to attend. I still had about seventy five people I invited, and I knew most of them would attend. I called up a rental company and made the arrangements to have canopies set up in the back yard and extra tables and chairs. We would be doing the grocery shopping for the party the evening before so everything would stay fresh. Anna was an artist with hors d’oeuvres and I knew she would come up with a masterpiece. The house itself didn’t need much cleaning, just straightening a few things up and some minor dusting. I did what needed to be done and lit some incense. I had a couple things I wanted to do up in my workroom, so I went upstairs and lit several candles. I lit a charcoal and set it into my little cast iron cauldron and waited a few minutes to sprinkle the loose incense on top of the disk. I had ordered a special blend of incense from a shop in New Orleans that specialized in voodoo. I had found several other items that came in handy and useful from that shop. I was tempted to actually go to the store itself. I’m sure there was a lot more that would be there than what they had in their online store. I filed that into he back of my memory for later. I took out the thick leather bound book. I had found another recipe that I wanted to try. There were a couple people that had been giving me a hard time, talking shit about me and trying to get people to think badly of me. I had found a banishing spell in the book and it happened to be the right phase of the moon to do the spell. I took down several bottles of oils to be put together then I went into my herb cabinet and took out the ones I would need for this spell. Asafoetida and nettles were the main ones. An incantation needed to be said while mixing the herbs and oils together. I followed the instructions carefully. It took me over an hour to complete the working. When it was done, all I needed to do was make sure it came into contact with their skin. Their tongues would be bound against saying anything bad about me and they wouldn’t be able to speak my name at all. There were a couple of friends of mine that would be able to get the serum to touch their skin. I knew that they would be attending a certain event soon and it would be the perfect time to take care of their incessant gossip. If they didn’t stop, the consequences would be magnified against them, to the point that they would be outcast from the northern community. I poured the serum into two vials and set them aside to deliver to the friend that would be coming to my party. I labeled them carefully, I didn’t want to get them mixed up with any other oils. My back was sore from being hunched over my work table, so I went into my bathroom and ran the hot water into the tub. I dumped in a couple spoonfuls of bath salts and went back to the bedroom to undress. Back in the bathroom, I climbed into the tub and started the jets, scooting around to the seat that had the ones that went all up the back. I relaxed as the hot water soothed my sore muscles. Drying off, I slipped on a silk robe that was hanging from a hook on the back of the door, I went to bed, and slept like a baby. The party started at noon. I was surprised how many people actually showed up so early. When Gary and his wife Lisa showed up, I put him in charge of the grill. He was the barbecue king out of everyone I knew. He could mix up certain spices to make the most delicious steaks and burgers. The tents were set up in the backyard and I had also put out a buffet table with all kinds of food. Most everyone brought a dish of their own too, so I had them all set out there with a stack of paper plates and silverware. Several people had brought their kids, so I had put the cover on the pool table and set up a bunch of games down in the basement. There was also a hugs selection of video games and the kids all stayed down there. They all behaved so well, we hardly knew they were there. By three o’clock, there were over fifty people in the house and yard. The kitchen was so full, it was hard to squeeze through. I had a full bar set up outside and had hired a bartender to take care of all the drinks. I had taken the cover off the hot tub and people were getting in now that it was up to temperature. It was still early enough that we had to wear swim suits, after dark and when all the kids went home we could take them off. I made my way through the house making sure that everyone had what he or she wanted. I got to reconnect with many people that I hadn’t talked to in a long time. My friend David had showed up, and I took him by the hand and took him upstairs to my work room. The two people that the serum was for had burned him badly as well, but he had managed to keep his animosity to himself and acted like nothing had happened. They didn’t know that he knew about everything that they had done to him and to me and a few other people. He was still one of the guys that they liked to use and take advantage of. Handing him the vials I told him that all he needed to do was make sure that it touched their skin some how. He laughed and said all he needed to do was put it in the hot tub at one of the women’s homes. They were together so often that they were in the hot tub nearly every night together. I needed to take a break from all the people and went upstairs to my bedroom. I had kept the upstairs rooms locked to be safe. I unlocked my door and went inside. As I was locking the door behind me, I heard a voice. I turned around to find Evan lying on my bed. A huge grin crossed my face as I ran over and jumped on top of him. We got into a wrestling match, with me giggling and him struggling to get a grip on me.