“Only that they’re extremely popular,” Joell said. “Some of them have been on our covers.”
Victoria smiled faintly. “That’s one way to get us onboard.”
Sahara groaned. “I really wish I weren’t in Egypt right now. By the way, why did you relocate to Tennessee early?”
Joell sighed. “I think Chad didn’t trust me to react well. But he never said.”
He didn’t have to. Everyone knows Joell can be volatile, especially when, well, anytime.
“Stand by. I’m heading up to my sacred space to go into trance.”
Crystal leaned toward her camera. “You’re going deep?”
“As deep as I can go,” Joell said. “Hopefully, I’ll get a look at the kidnappers.”
She turned toward another block on the screen.
“Lioness, can you get your sketch pad ready? If I see them, I’ll project the images to you mentally.”
Lioness nodded. “Already on it.”
“Good,” Joell said. “Because if eight models vanished without a trace…” She stood up. “Something weird is going on.”
Crowe jumped down from the chair.Understatement of the year.
Joell grabbed the laptop and headed toward the stairs. Crowe trotted after her. The staircase narrowed as it spiraled upward into the turret, Joell’s sacred space.
As soon as they reached the top, she set the laptop on a small table, and Crowe sat beside her.
All right. Let’s see what kind of trouble we’re about to step into.
20
Joell stood at the base of the pentacle she had painted on the floorboards and placed her wand at her feet. Her significator card, the Queen of Wands, rested on top of the deck. There couldn’t have been a more fitting card.
The Queen of Wands represented Joell perfectly—practical, adventurous, and fiercely committed to helping others. Upright, the card signified a sympathetic and understanding person. Friendly. Sincere. Graceful. An entrepreneur whose work benefited others whenever possible.
The League even had its own pet charity—Shifter Rights. Crowe’s tail flicked as he thought about the pun…Petcharity. If he could laugh, he would have.
A portion of whatever the witches earned went toward combating shifter prejudice, one frightened idiot at a time.
Of course, the reversed meaning of the card told a different story. Instability. Fickleness. Jealousy. Wanton, indiscriminate sexual behavior.
Crowe blinked slowly.Well, everyone has a dark side. Give it a day or two. PMS will bring out the evil twins soon enough.
Joell closed her eyes and raised her hands toward the ceiling. She drew several deep pranic breaths, centering herself as she connected to the energies above and below the earth. She raised her wand and walked the perimeter of the circle three times, clockwise.
When she spoke, her voice had already slipped into trance. “At this time and in this place, I reach out with my mind toward space. I reach to times since time began and what shall be of Earth and clan.”
The protective circle she had cast with her wand glowed bluish-white around them.
Crowe sat quietly beside the edge of the pentacle. Guarding. Watching.
Joell drew in several more breaths, strengthening her connection to the universe. “I draw in power. I draw in images. I draw in words. I draw in emotions. I draw within myself things that have never been seen, or heard, or felt before. To these images, I give life so that others know the magic, the beauty, the mystery that I have sought and found within and in the world around me and in the stars strewn like jewels on the velvet-black sky. So mote it be.”
She crouched and gathered the Tarot cards, shuffling slowly while concentrating and pouring her energy into the deck.
At last, she cut the cards and passed her hand over each half. Then she stacked them again.
