Amelia Debrek went around the room, lighting candles and incense burners. Part of her redecoration of the Debreks’ London home was to create a room where she could practise and develop the magic skills that her mentor Magda was teaching her.

Everything was set up exactly how she needed it to be to practise her daily mediation and connection with the ancestors, which gave her power. It was a difficult job to learn the craft from scratch as an adult. Normally knowledge was passed down from generation to generation, starting in childhood. But since Amelia didn’t learn she was a witch until sometime after she’d met Byron, Amelia was playing catch-up. She breathed in deeply, and the scent of the essence started to take her to that calm place where she communed with the other side.

Her casting circle was drawn on the floor. It had symbols to help create the enchantment that was needed to make the connection to the spirit world. When Amelia stepped into the circle, she felt a pleasant burr of what felt like electrical current on her skin but was actually magical energy.

In the middle was a cushion to sit on and make things a little more comfortable now that she was pregnant. Having a baby wasn’t something she and Byron had planned, it just sort of happened, but after their initial shock subsided, they were both delighted.

Amelia sat cross-legged on the pillow, trying to get into a more comfortable position. The baby had raised all sorts of worries and questions. Sybil, the woman who saved Amelia as a baby and the last remaining member of the cunning folk witch coven, had told her that she was one of the descendants, two people who would unite the paranormal world and save the world from the darkness ahead.

Who the other descendent was and how she was capable of fighting evil while pregnant, or as a beginner to magic, Amelia didn’t know. One thing was for certain, though—her pregnancy helped her communicate with her witch ancestors on the other side.

Magda explained that every witch opens themselves up to their ancestors in a different way, and Amelia discovered hers was through her love and passion for Byron. They were a very tactile and passionate couple, and concentrating on that passion and love for Byron took her to a place where she could open a door to the other side.

Now that she was carrying the evidence of that love and passion, Amelia found it a lot easier to open to her ancestors. She put her hands on her slight baby bulge and closed her eyes. The love for Byron and the baby filled her from her head to her toes.