by Pat Esden
Chloe shook her head. “That’s unbelievable. Your own miniature arsenal.”
“Much like yours?” Keshari slanted a look at Chloe’s charm bracelet.
She laughed. “We do make a good team”—she gave the tiny wand and atomizer another study—“but don’t you think taking it out to follow Midas was overkill? I mean, you didn’t really think we were going to run into demons?”
“Better safe than sorry, yes?”
“I suppose.” Chloe wrapped her hands around her coffee cup, focusing on the sensation of its moist heat against her skin. As worried as she was about the situation with the stolen phone, it was wonderful and a huge relief to have someone like Keshari she could talk to openly.
Chloe didn’t text Devlin right away to ask him when he’d pick her up for the gathering. She didn’t want to come across as clingy. Besides, he had said he was going to be busy. But when it got to be three o’clock and she still hadn’t heard from him, she gave in and sent a text. An hour later, her phone was still silent. Feeling more and more like a clingy girlfriend—and not liking it one bit—she texted again, then started walking toward home.
The day had turned sharply cooler, the temperature dropping a good ten degrees, and a strong breeze pushed leaves across the sidewalk. As she joined a crowd of people waiting on a curb for the crossing signal to change, she glanced at her phone again. Still nothing. Yesterday, she’d felt uneasy when Devlin had been all into her, then flip-flopped by saying they wouldn’t be able to get together for a few days. Now here she was again with crazy thoughts flying around in her head, all because he hadn’t made the time to text back. But the truth was, he could have. No one was that busy.
The hiss of a bus pulling up to a nearby stop drew her attention. To hell with waiting. She had on worn jeans and a casual sweater. A little informal, but covens were like family, right?
Her messenger bag slapped against her side as she made a dash for the bus. The seats in the front were taken, but she found an empty one halfway back and claimed it. The bus lurched into traffic, barely slowing at the next stop. It wouldn’t take her any time at all to get downtown at this rate. She’d change buses and be at the complex in maybe twenty minutes at the most.
She scrunched down in her seat, resting her head back and staring out the window at the passing traffic. This had been a good idea. A damn good one.
The bus hissed to a stop, doors opening to let a group of people file in. As they crammed their way up the aisle, Chloe moved her messenger bag off the empty seat next to her and onto her lap. Her gaze settled on the pocket where she kept her phone. While she had the chance, she should text her mom and tell her to expect a box in the mail.
Someone stopped in the aisle next to her seat. She looked up. A woman in a stylish trench coat gawked down at her.
Chloe’s mouth fell open. “Jessica?”
Jessica harrumphed. “Twice in one day, who’d believe it.” She nodded at the empty seat next to Chloe. “Do you mind?”
“Sure.” Chloe scooched over, a queasy feeling tumbling in her stomach. Of all the people in the universe, why her?
Jessica claimed the spot, stretched her legs out, and rested her handbag on her lap—a big tangerine-orange handbag with a gold clasp and the initial J—for Jessica— decorating one side.
The queasy feeling in Chloe’s stomach crept up her throat, but she somehow managed to keep her voice steady. “Are you going to the complex?”
“Of course.” Jessica gave her a tight-lipped smile, one that conveyed that she knew things Chloe didn’t, like perhaps about tonight’s gathering.
Chloe’s jaw clenched, her anxiety flashing to sudden anger. She didn’t like being toyed with. She didn’t deserve it either. If Jessica was determined to mess with her head, then she’d mess right back. She leveled her eyes on Jessica’s and sweetened her voice. “I owe you thanks.”
Jessica stiffened. “I can’t imagine what for.”
“I know you’ve read my records.” She kept her voice calm. “I’m grateful you did. If it weren’t for you, I might never have been asked to join the Circle.”
“Oh”—Jessica’s lips remained pursed, but her chest puffed out proudly—“I never looked at it that way.”
“Seriously, I know we got off on the wrong foot. But if you’re worried about me being mad, that’s far from what I feel.” Chloe’s middle finger itched to make a gagging gesture, but this was going better than she could have planned.
Jessica blinked at her for a second, then dropped her gaze as if she couldn’t bear to meet Chloe’s any longer. “Oh, okay. Whatever.”
Chloe smiled. “Friends, then?”
“I didn’t think we weren’t.” Jessica opened her handbag. “I need to tell Athena I’m running late.” She took out her phone casual as anything.
Chloe stared at it. Had Midas somehow managed to return Jessica’s phone or was this a different one? Or was Jessica suspicious and toying with her again? Either way, she needed to be sure. “Can you tell Athena I’m coming too? I—misplaced my phone. I remember setting it on my coffee table, like I always do. But when I went to grab it before I took off for class, I couldn’t find it.”
Jessica gave her a sidelong look. She surrendered a tiny smile. “Have one of your housemates phone you. I thought I’d lost mine earlier today and that’s how I located it.”
“Good idea.” Chloe clenched her teeth, resisting the urge to smile.
“Some idiot knocked my bag over while I was at lunch, spilled everything. For a while, I thought they’d swiped my phone. I was certain they were going to figure out how to drain my bank account. It was a good half hour before I thought to have someone call me. Turned out, the whole time it was on my desk under some papers.”
“That was a good thing,” Chloe said, unable to contain her smile any longer.
A sense of joy lifted her spirits. Thank Hecate, one disaster diverted. She stole another look at Jessica’s orange bag. Still, Midas’s perfectly timed theft-and-return didn’t explain why he’d wanted the phone in the first place.
A disturbing possibility seeped into her head. After that night at the Vice-Chancellor’s house, her father had caught one of his employees rummaging through his office. The employee claimed the High Council’s Bureau of Special Investigation had hired him as a spy, to make sure her father’s botanical business wasn’t dealing in anything illegal. It seemed like a remote possibility, but what if Midas was a council spy? He knew about Merlin and the crystal. He knew she was a new member. Worse, he knew what they were planning to do and not making the Council aware of such monumental plans was definitely against their spy rules. She had to tell Devlin about the possibility, as soon as she could get him alone. Maybe Midas was innocent. Still, stealing and going through someone’s personal belongings was not okay.
* * * *
After a few blocks, they switched buses for the rest of the ride. Chloe was thankful Jessica knew exactly what to do and which stop to get off at. However, their walk up the complex’s driveway and under the monkey-covered gateway consisted mostly of uncomfortable silence.
When they reached the main house, they found Athena and Chandler in the lounge. They both had on plum-colored robes and were sipping glasses of burgundy.
Chloe scanned the room. No Matt or Brooklyn. No Devlin. She frowned. “Where is everyone?”
“Just us dedicated few tonight.” Athena breezed over to them, her ring-covered fingers and black beaded choker glimmering in the candlelight. She hugged Jessica. “You look tired. Long day at work?”
Jessica rolled her eyes. “And then some.”
“I’m sure once you have a cool drink, you’ll feel refreshed.” Her gaze went to Chloe. “Devlin had to run over to the Adirondacks for a couple of days. He’s working on a waterscape for a new client. He didn’t tell you?”
Chloe faked a weak smile. “I knew
he was busy, but I didn’t realize he was going out of town.” She took the hug Athena offered, its warmth and the hum of her magic lending a measure of solace. She stepped back as another almost more interesting absence piqued her curiosity. “Midas isn’t coming either?”
“He’s with Devlin. Something to do with his thesis—waterfalls and power generation. I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to tonight being just us girls.” She steered Chloe toward where Chandler was opening a fresh bottle of wine. “I truly appreciate you making time to come.”
“No problem. I’m sorry I couldn’t come earlier. Is Em going to be here?”
“She’s out in the teahouse gathering some supplies for later.” Athena shot a meaningful glance toward the glass doors. “If you wouldn’t mind, she probably could use a hand carrying things in.”
Chloe hurried out into the garden. A girls’ only night might not be a bad thing. Part of her not feeling comfortable around Jessica was Jessica’s fault. But she was also partly to blame. She’d been so focused on Devlin that she hadn’t put much effort into getting to know anyone else. A gathering without the guys would force her to make up for that lapse. Besides, Midas not being around might be a good thing, though him being with Devlin meant she couldn’t just text Devlin about her concerns. There was no telling who might end up seeing her message.
When she reached the bridge, her mind drifted to the kiss she and Devlin had shared right there on that very spot. She pressed her fingers against her lips, letting her mind relive the sensations. Warmth spread through her body and thrummed in all the right spots. Maybe a girls’ night would be fun, but she really wished he was here—
The faint odor of something burning broke through her thoughts. She frowned and sniffed the air. Smoke, and nearby. Not the complex’s main building or teahouse, the wind’s direction was wrong for that.
She sniffed again. It wasn’t sharp or overpowering, like the first hint of an electrical fire. It was natural like the smell of pipe tobacco. Letting her eyes and nose guide her, she followed the smell, looking upstream from the bridge to where a waterfall trickled down a man-size standing stone, partly screened by juniper trees. A tiny flash of red sparked in the branches. It vanished, then returned brighter than before.
Chloe dashed off the bridge and crept up the edge of the stream, heading for the junipers. The glow could have come from an indicator light or something else mechanical having to do with the manmade water features. But that didn’t explain the burning odor.
The wind lifted, blowing back her hair. She shivered and tucked her hands into the sleeves of her sweater. As cold as it was now, it was hard to believe she’d dove into the quarry the other night.
She stepped around a statue of a nymph, then again glanced toward the junipers and the red glow.
The glow was gone, and the smell had faded.
“Waning,” someone whispered behind her.
Pulse racing, Chloe swung around.
No one was there.
“Waning,” the voice whispered all around her now. “Waning. Waning.” Her brain engaged. She knew that voice. The orb.
She turned back toward the junipers. The orb was fleeing into the trees, shimmering in the depth of their branches, then stopping for a moment before moving on, as if begging her to follow. She sprinted across the distance, pushed the branches aside, and stepped into a natural grotto with an altar at its center. The place hummed with the energy of recently cast magic.
A sense of guilt made Chloe retreat a step. This was someone’s sanctuary, their private place of worship. She shouldn’t intrude. But the orb had brought her here for a reason.
One slow step at a time, she stole forward to where the orb hovered above the altar. On it sat a basin filled with black stones and marigold blossoms. Next to them, a cone of incense smoldered. That explained the burning smell.
There was something else on the altar as well. Something the same color as the dark stones and about the size of a wild plum.
Her whole body went cold. A blackbird’s head. Just the head. Its beak crusted with blood. Its beady eyes staring back at her through a gray skim of death. A head, like the one missing from the bird at the Earth Clock. Also, now that she was closer, she recognized the incense’s fragrance: myrrh, rosemary…a pinch of vinegar intended to ward off spirits.
“Yin and yang. The Circle. Protect the Circle. Banished. Banished…” The orb’s hoarse whisper faded as the last wisp of incense smoke disappeared.
The orb’s light throbbed one last time, then died.
Chapter 16
LAKE PLACID—Teenage girl found chained inside a van after police respond to reports of a dog left in a vehicle with blacked out windows. According to police when they arrived at the New Sun Conference Center they heard whimpering coming from a van owned by the Violet Grace Psychic Medium Show…
—From The Upstate Tribune, August 9
Chloe backed out of the grotto. She’d only been in there for a few minutes, but twilight was now descending, the trees and shrubbery darkening, the pathways glowing blue. She glanced across the gardens and at the windows in the main house to make sure no one had watched her come out from the grotto, then she dashed for the bridge.
Athena had banished the orb from the house, so it made sense that she’d done this ritual. But why would she—or anyone for that matter—do such a thing to a spirit whose only wish was to protect the coven?
An image of the bird’s dead eyes staring at her flashed into her mind. Chloe hugged herself and made for the teahouse. She couldn’t help but wonder if Athena was responsible for the head here and the body at the Clock. No matter if that was true or what the reason, the idea of sacrificing and dismembering living creatures made her utterly uncomfortable. Intellectually she got that these things were normal in some magic practices. Like Devlin had said, intent was what was most important. She hadn’t sensed evil or darkness around the ritual, only intense power. It was also possible she was interpreting the whole thing wrong. Maybe the orb had been a trickster or something. Still, the whole thing bothered her.
Brightness stung her eyes as she opened the teahouse door. Em was in the back of the room rummaging through a glass-fronted apothecary cabinet. She glanced over her shoulder at Chloe, her eyes looking even more distressed than usual. “Do you know what apple twigs look like?”
“Yup!” Chloe scanned the boxes and jars, some labeled in Latin, others unmarked. She noticed a bin of red-black twigs, about six inches long and neatly tied into bundles. She took out a bunch, scraped off a fleck of bark with her fingernail and tasted the raw wood to be certain. Apple for sure.
“Here you go,” she said, handing it to Em.
“Thanks. I couldn’t have found the right ones in a month of Sundays. Could you grab me a couple more? I need three in total.”
“Don’t feel bad. I grew up working in my parents’ botanical supply business. We harvested things like this with my aunts.” She handed her the additional bunches, then tucked her hands into her jeans pockets. “Do you mind if I ask you something?”
“Is something wrong?”
“I saw that orb you called the other night, just now out in the garden. It’s a spirit, right?”
“Yeah, but are you sure that’s what you saw?” She clutched the bundles of twigs against her chest. “I haven’t seen or sensed any spirits since Athena banished that one.”
Chloe gave a half-hearted shrugged. “I guess it’s possible I could have imagined it. There’s lots of reflections from the house and stuff.” She glanced back at the apothecary, pretending her question was a passing fancy. “Why don’t you tell me what else you need? It’ll go faster that way.”
“That would be great.” She set the twigs in a gathering basket that was on the floor and took out a list. “I need a variety of crystals. One of each. Medium size.”
As Em read the list, Chl
oe dug through the cupboard and handed her the stones. She paused as she passed Em a piece of smoky quartz. “Who was the orb spirit, anyway? Someone you know or someone related to the coven?”
“I was so nervous that night. I kind of latched a hold of the first soul I sensed. It wasn’t a smart thing to do. I could’ve drawn someone malevolent.” She set the crystal into the basket. “Maybe Chandler knows. If I’m not mistaken she has at least some psychic ability, and she wasn’t as nervous as I was.”
“Good idea. But I hate to bother her with everything that’s going on, especially since I might not have seen anything.”
Em’s gaze touched hers. “I’ve slept like a baby ever since I moved in. I wouldn’t be able to do that if there was a threatening presence nearby.”
“You’re living in the complex?” It surprised Chloe, though it made perfect sense. Em had been in a halfway house in New York State. It wasn’t like she could have gotten a job and afforded an apartment so quickly.
Em nodded. “It’s a great deal. No rent. Free meals.” She gestured at a round floor mat, maybe six feet across and made of what looked like braided straw. “Athena wanted me to bring this too. While I roll it up, do you mind finding a piece of twine for me to bind it with?” Her voice went serious. “You should ask Athena if you can live here. There’s lots of space. You’d never know there were five of us here.”
Chloe did a double take. “Five of you? I thought there were only four—you, Athena, Chandler, Devlin.”
“Jessica lives here too. She’s got her own suite.”
“I didn’t realize that.” It was interesting that Jessica had neglected to mention that.
“Athena’s the one who arranged for me to stay here,” Em continued. “She didn’t have it easy when she was young. She totally related to my situation.” Her voice quieted. “We were both runaways at one point.”