Do No Harm, Part Five

1 August 2002

I knelt and placed my hands at the base of the statue. Abuela had spoken at length when I was a kid about feeling the flow of energy through the natural world, connecting with the pulse of the Earth, going with the current rather than forcing it into a new direction. I closed my eyes and whispered the incantation, slowing my breathing until I began to feel the movement through me. My breath fell into the rhythm of the pulsing energy, my heartbeat followed suit, and soon I felt as though I was in the flow itself, fully immersed and part of the cycle of magic, drifting along with it. And that's when I felt the resistance.

It was like a catch in my throat, or a bit of food going down the wrong way. I started to cough, and rubbed my hands along the base of the statue as if pushing the blockage out of the way. It began to move, ever so slightly, and as it did my breathing grew easier. As soon as I could, I began a new chant, one aimed at helping to clear the way for the magic to flow. It felt so smooth, almost effortless, to work with the magical energy Hecate had given me instead of sacrificing something. I felt the blockage pop out of place, and the energy rush into the statue like a torrent that nearly swept me away with it. I stepped back and watched as the statue began to glow and take on a more ethereal form, and smiled until I noticed that the energy wasn't escaping the statue at all.

Then it turned and faced me.

"Oh, shit," I whispered, as it took a step off its stand and reached for its sword. As it cleared the base, I realized the magic that had been flowing into it now flowed into the area surrounding us, and that the energy contained in it was remaining in it.

"What do you see, child?" Hecate asked, from behind me.

"There's still something blocking the magic, but inside the statue." I was moving backward, trying to keep enough distance to decide my next move before it struck. "I need to clear that path and then the statue should return to normal."

"And then what?" I paused, and looked to her.

"What?"

"I doubt the mortals would be very happy to have this statue laying in the middle of the road come dawn." She was right. It wasn't enough to release the magic, I had to put everything back. I turned back in time to see the sword coming down at me and dive out of the way.

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