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“I have a loom you can use,” Margaret Sanders chimes in. “I’m certainly not using it. In fact, we’ll go home and fetch it right now and bring it over to your place, Breena.”
“Oh, are you sure you don’t mind?” Breena’s face lights up with hope. I know she’s feeling so much pressure to get the tapestry done in time. She’s been working tirelessly for more than six months on the project.
“Absolutely not,” Margaret assures her. “It’s no trouble at all.”
“I hope everyone plans to attend the Samhain ball tomorrow evening,” Hilda says with a bright smile. “The committee almost canceled it out of respect for our sweet friend, Marydell, but she would have wanted us to move forward with the festivities. This was her favorite part of the year.”
“She always denied being a witch, but there was some magic there,” Grandma says with a wise nod.
“I’m so happy we’re here in time for it. Samhain itself is still almost two weeks away,” Mom adds.
“So many things are happening in Salem this month, the committee decided to throw the ball a little early this year,” Astrid says. “And that works just fine for me because this is my favorite time of year, too, and that means we get to celebrate longer.”
“Percy?” Mom’s voice is tentative as she watches the man. When I follow her gaze, I feel my blood run cold.
Percy’s eyes have gone white, and he’s sitting perfectly still in his chair, his back straight despite the usual curve in his shoulders, his hands on his thighs. His lips move as if he’s speaking, but no sound comes out. His face is almost blue, as if he’s hypothermic, and it looks as though his salt-and-pepper hair is turning grayer by the second.
“It’s here,” Jonas says calmly, tilting his head to the side as if he’s curious about what’s happening but not at all bothered.
I know what he’s doing.
It wants us to freak out.
“It would seem so.” I glance around the circle and speak to everybody telepathically. I know not everyone can hear me, but they’ll know. Do not react.
Some nod. Others narrow their eyes.
Astrid raises her eyebrow as if to say, “The audacity!” and it almost makes me want to smile.
The sky darkens. Not just as if a storm blew over, but as if night fell in an instant. Suddenly, we’re plunged into blackness.
With the flick of several wrists, fires ignite around the backyard, illuminating the area, and I can tell by the sound of thunder above us that we just pissed it off.
I don’t give a fuck.
“As above and so below…”
“I call on the wind and the fire…”
“Lilith, hear my prayer…”
“Ancestors and guides, I call on thee...”
Every person here begins their own protection spell, something personal to them that they use on a daily basis to keep themselves safe.
I join in and take Lorelei’s hand in mine as she recites her own spell.
The wind picks up, whipping and lashing about. I can’t tell if it’s from the power of the coven or a temper tantrum from it.
Percy’s head whips back so unnaturally that I think his head might snap off.
“Louder,” I command, feeling satisfaction when they do just that. The spells are louder, more demanding, and much more aggressive. I can feel the ancestors and deities around us, helping us.
The air is charged with magic, so tangible I can feel it slipping and sliding over my skin.
Just as quickly as it began, the sky clears, the wind disappears, and Percy collapses to the ground.
As several witches hurry to tend to the older man, I scan the yard, my mind reaching out and looking for any remnants of it, making sure there’s no trace.
“It’s gone.”
I nod and glance over at Giles, who’s breathing hard. He’s a bit pale, his usually styled hair a tangled nest.
Then, I glance around to see that we’re all a mess.
But we’re whole.
“It took balls for it to attack when we’re together as a coven,” Giles’s father says as he stands over Percy while Jonas tends to the older coven member, his mouth pressed into a grim line.
“It’s because of what he did to Marydell,” Hilda says. “The energy replenished him—it?—whatever we’re calling it, and it made him brave.”
“He won’t be brave for a little while now,” Jonas says. “We injured him. But he’s not gone forever.”
“It’s not injured,” Lorelei says, slowly shaking her head. “It was just playing with us. Testing us. Sure, we were stronger than it expected, but it could have done much more damage than what it did.”
We discuss strategy, protection, and being vigilant.
By the time everyone walks to their cars to head for home, Percy is as good as new if a little shaken by the experience.
And when it’s just the core group of us again with our parents, Giles asks, “How much time do we really have to kill the son of a bitch?”
