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“How come you didn’t add the other elements?” I ask, curious since she has a strong affinity for all of them.
She lifts a shoulder. “I have an affinity, but fire and air don’t currently call to me. There’s no reason to add them to this wand, when my focus is on earth and water. The other two elements would just weaken the spell by muddying the purity of the elements being summoned. If I want to perform a spell for something outside of gardening, I can always make a second wand. There’s no rule that says I can only have one.”
“Are you sure about that?” I purse my lips. “Aspen might say otherwise.”
“Contrary to his belief, Aspen doesn’t know everything.” She turns to Harper. “What about your wand?”
Harper pulls her slender wand from her pocket and balances it on her palm. “Mine’s more like a comforting weight. It just feels right, you know?”
Fascinated by their descriptions, I study their wands. If I ignore the glitter I added, our wands look similar, since they all have wood as their base, but the power they represent are all different. “Don’t tell Aspen, but I’m becoming more optimistic about him as our teacher after this experience.”
The garden gate creaks open, and Aspen and Mel step inside.
I straighten with alarm, afraid he overheard me praising him.
If he did, he doesn’t let on as his icy-blue eyes scan the garden. “It looks like the only one we’re missing now is—”
“I’m here!” Tris rushes into the garden, still in his scrubs and out of breath. “Sorry, we had a last-minute discharge at the clinic.” His golden-brown eyes meet mine. “The witch has left the building.”
I raise my hand, and he high-fives me as he strides for his seat at the back, where his grimoire and wand wait, because I’m the bestest mate and got them from the house for him.
Aspen clears his throat. “Well, now that we’re all here and everyone has their wands, Mel and I have been discussing trying out a few group spells.”
Mel steps forward, her darkly outlined eyes sweeping over our group. “You’ve all been through a lot in the last month. Both with escaping imprisonment and with the battle that shook Hartford Cove. It’s left the energies here out of balance, which feed dark thoughts and actions. It’s time we focus on healing and positive energy, as well as protection.”
“If you will all bring your wands and grimoires with you, we are going to take a trip down to the beach.” Aspen gestures toward the sand dunes behind us.
Excited murmurs rise, and chairs scrape back as everyone rises. Mel takes the lead, carrying a large bag over one arm.
I stick with Delilah, offering my arm to lean on, and Aspen surprises me by joining us on Delilah’s other side.
“I saw the notes Rowe copies from your grimoire, Delilah,” he says as we trail behind everyone else toward the beach. “The technique you used differs from how we were trained.”
“Delilah was just telling us we could have multiple wands,” I inform him, a note of challenge in my voice. “What do you think of that?”
He pauses for a moment before he dips his chin. “I’d like to hear more about it.”
Delilah nods, her smile brightening. “I’d like that. My mother taught me magic, and she encouraged the creation of multiple wands for specific outcomes. It’s more about precision than incorporating all the elements.”
Aspen raises an eyebrow. “An intriguing idea. Maybe we can sit down and discuss your training sometime?”
I lean past Delilah to stare at Aspen. “Who are you and what have you done with our stuffy teacher?”
His blond brows lift. “I believe your words were that I needed to pull the wand out of my ass?”
“Yeah, but I didn’t think you’d listen.” I bounce on my toes, then settle when I realize it might throw Delilah off balance. “Dare I hope we’ve got some unconventional magic brewing in our coven?”
His lips twitch, though he keeps the smile off his face. “I’ll let you be the judge of that.”
We carefully make our way down to the path behind the house, the soft ground tricky even under the best of circumstances. The weight of Ros’s worried gaze follows us the entire way down the dunes. Then the beach comes into view, the vastness of the ocean stretching out before us.
I’ve grown less fearful of the beach since the lightning project, but the ocean and its questionable residents still triggers unease within me.
If Aspen’s group project involves going into the water, I’m out of here.
By the time we rejoin the others, they’ve already formed a large circle in the sand.
Delilah and I join the circle, while Aspen steps into the center to stand beside Mel.
