Okay, call me impulsive. It took only a few seconds to process Andres presence, meet Thais's eyes, and then take aim and hum my heavy glass hard at Andre's head. Being a witch he felt it coming at the last second and managed to deflect it, just barely. It whisked by his head, splashing his shirt, and he stared at me, grimly shocked.
Instantly his eyes shifted, looking for Thais. He saw her standing behind the kitchen counter, and the new wash of pain in his eyes made my insides twist.
Of course, all conversation stopped, and the other seven witches now stared at the stupid, humiliating drama spread before them. Andre was a witch, and brilliant me had been so lust-crazed and in love that I had totally missed it. I'd been so swamped by my raging emotions that I'd thought the strong vibes I got from him were all sexual attraction.
My stomach dropped at my next thought. Could it be Andre? Could it have been Andre who was trying to kill us? He'd lied about so many other things…
I sucked in a silent breath and spun on my bar stool, my back to Andre. I met Thais's eyes, letting my feelings show, and I saw the dawning comprehension in hers. A new stunned look came over her face, and then she looked at me like. Do you really think so? I shrugged, then stared stonily out the small kitchen window behind Thais. I didn't know anything anymore,
"Good God, Luc, already?" Axelles tone was both amused and irritated.
"Luc, I told you this-" the old guy, Daedalus, began, but Andre cut him off.
"Shut up." He sounded furious.
Thais's eyes were downcast, looking only at Axelles black cat as she stroked it.
Richard gave a somewhat bitter-sounding laugh. "The more things change, the more they stay the same, eh, Luc?"
"Shut up!" Andre snapped again, and Richard made a "whatever" gesture.
I felt a soft; hand on my back and tensed, ready to smack whoever it was. "I'm sorry, Clio," Ouida whispered, then sighed heavily. "I should have come back weeks ago."
"It doesn't matter," I said stiffly. I turned around again and faced Axelle, who was still carrying on a silent, exasperated conversation of gestures with Andre.
"So are we all here?" I said, making my voice as cold as possible. "Why don't you get this show on the road? Is anyone going to tell us what the hell is going on?"
I heard Richard chuckle behind me and resisted the strong temptation to turn around and deck him.
"Yes," Axelle said. "I think it's time to initiate our newest members."
I frowned. Not exactly what I had in mind. "I want some answers first. Who are you?"
The older guy stepped forward. His practiced smile reminded me of a circus ringmaster. How appropriate. "We are members of the Treize," he said. His open hands encompassed everyone in the room. 'As are you and your sister."
Huh. "Okay, Treize means thirteen in French, so I'm guessing you're a coven. But how does my grandmother fit into all this? We already belong to a coven."
" Petra belonged to this one first," said Jules. "We don't get together very often."
"To put it mildly," said Richard, under his breath.
"How are Thais and I members of this so-called coven too?" I asked.
"This coven is made up of members from the fifteen original families who founded our ancestors' settlement hundreds of years ago" Daedalus went on. "Not every family is represented, of course. But the twelve of us, plus one of your ancestors, a woman named Cerise, made up our coven. Cerise died… long ago, and another member disappeared and is presumed dead. So we've been only eleven for a long time. But then one of Cerises descendents, your mother, Clemence, had twins. So you and Thais unexpectedly make a full thirteen possible again."
Eyes narrowed, I looked around at all the witches in the room, carefully avoiding Andre. Even seeing him hurt unbearably. There was something weird here-I mean, something even weirder than all the obvious weirdness.
Thais spoke up. "Even with us, there are still only ten people here."
"Your-Petra is out of town… said Jules. 'And two other members haven't arrived yet'.
"But they will," Daedalus said firmly.
"Wait a second." I held up my hand. All of you were members of the Treize?"
Axelle nodded, shrugging, and Daedalus said, "Yes."
'And now you found out that we're twins and that we're almost ready for our rite of ascension." I was, any-way. "So we'd be useful in a coven"
"Yes, my dear" Daedalus said, practically rubbing his hands together.
"Okay. Explain them" I said bluntly, pointing at Richard and Manon. Who clearly weren't anywhere close to seventeen, especially Manoru.
Awkward silence.
"She's smarter than the average bear" Richard said dryly, and I spun on my bar stool.
"Shut up, you weird kid!" I hissed, and he raised his eyebrows and looked back at Axelle.
"You're right, of course," Ouida said, glancing at the others in the room. "And being a witch yourself, you understand that there are often mysteries and things that aren't how they appear on the surface"
"Why don't we have a circle," Jules suggested. "It would be a good place to start"
Being smarter than the average bear, I knew that having a magick circle with a bunch of strangers, one of whom I thought might be trying to kill me and Thais, was not a good idea. I started to say so, and then I caught Ouida's face.
She looked accepting, as if she knew what I was thinking and it was okay. She would support whatever decision Thais and I made. Assuming we had a choice about this. I turned around, and Thais and I met eyes. Her shoulders gave a tiny shrug, as if to say, Maybe we should.
I nodded. Maybe one or more people here were dangerous to us. But not all of them. Not Ouida. Probably not Axelle, Daedalus, or Jules, according to Thais.
Thais came and stood next to me. Together we faced Daedalus. "Okay," I said.
Thais had told me about Axelle's secret room upstairs. We went up. It looked like any other witch's workroom. I stayed close to Ouida, hating being in the same room with Andre. Worse, I hated his being in the same room as Thais. All my senses were on alert, watching to make sure they didn't somehow end up together, and not just because I thought he might be trying to hurt us. I knew this was sick and paranoid of me, but I couldn't help it.
Daedalus drew a large circle on the floor. Axelle got four old wooden cups and set them in the points of the compass, with their respective elements. Feeling someone's eyes on me, I glanced up to find Andre watching me. As soon as I saw him, he looked away. He still seemed tight and angry, and his face was pale and unshaven, as if he hadn't slept well last night.
Good, I thought. I hope he never sleeps well again. I started to think about spells to accomplish this, conveniently forgetting the threefold rule, and then Axelle said,"Everyone join hands"
Ouida was on one side of me. On my other side was Sophie, who seemed nice and shy and had a stronger French accent than most of them. Next to her was Richard, then Andre, then Jules, Thais, Manon, Daedalus, and Axelle on Ouida's other side.
Daedalus started chanting, and we began to walk slowly dalmonde. I actually didnt recognize what Daedalus was saying-it sounded like it might be Old French, but I could make out only a few words: vent and pierre, cerck, plume. Wind and stone, circle, feather. They didnt make sense. The others joined in, but Thais and I met eyes and shrugged. My sister looked curious and cautious but kept in step and carefully walked right inside the large circle.
We began walking faster as their voices seemed to separate like ribbons to intertwine and lace through and under and around each other. This happened in my regular coven too, and I always loved this part, the weaving together of the whole. Wisps of magick started to swirl around us, like fine threads of cotton candy. I waited for the familiar rush of magick to fill me, but I felt dull around the edges, not fully present.
Against my will, I glanced across the circle and saw Andre watching Thais. She wasn't looking back. Quick rage filled my chest, and I realized that my anger was getting in my way.
It was almost impossible to release it. I wanted to rake my fingernails down his face-almost as much as I wanted to grab him and kiss him hard, make him forget my sister. Gritting my teeth, I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths, putting both of them out of my mind. I tried to release all emotion, all feelings, to open myself to receive magick.
We quickened our pace, and I kept my eyes closed, concentrating on being here and being blank, a blank canvas for magick to color. I caught more words: calice, Veauj cendres. Chalice, water, ashes. No idea what they meant. But at last it worked: a familiar excitement and anticipation came over me, and magick began to swell within my chest. I breathed it in like light, letting myself feel the joy, the completeness of being surrounded by magick. It dwarfed everything else, and from this exalted height, my anguish over Andres betrayal seemed far away.
I opened my eyes and looked at Thais, wondering what she was thinking and feeling. Her eyes were open wide, as if in astonishment, her face transformed from wary to welcoming. I smiled at her, and she smiled back breathlessly. She felt the exhilaration of magick too, and it was her first time, I was glad we were together now, despite all the mixed feelings I had about her, about us, about our future, I felt the lovely rush of power and life, felt myself meld with the other forces in this circle, that heady sense of connection, the joining of spirits. Our circle moved swiftly, round like the earth, like the sun, eternal like the tides of the oceans. The chant reached a crescendo and I found myself joining in: Un calice du vent, un cercle des cendres, une plume dt Pierre, un collier d'eau. Again and again we sang the words, and though I thought I got their translation, they still didn't make sense to me, I offered up a prayer to the Diesse: please help me and my sister become what we are supposed to become. Please help us keep safe.
Then, as if one, the circle suddenly stopped. We threw our hands in the air, releasing our energy, sending out our power, which is the only way to receive the power back into you, I felt stronger within myself, felt I could work miraculous spells, and then Ouida and I were smiling and hugging.
The ten of us were flushed, panting, glorying in the aftereffects of magick, Thais was hugging Sophie. Hating myself, my eyes sought Andre, His face was dark, he was breathing hard, his emotions jangled and discordant. He looked like he had when we were twined together, kissing, when I had been offering him everything, and he had almost taken it, I sent out a quick general thanks that we hadn't actually gotten farther than that.
Then Thais was in front of me, blocking my view, I saw faint tear tracks on her pink cheeks as she put her arms around me. I hugged her back, feeling less alone, less wretched, I had a sister, I think it truly only hit me right then: I had a sister, forever. We shared the same blood, the same bone. We were one person, split into two. We would never be alone again. It seemed huge and amazing in a way that it hadn't until then, and my eyes filled with tears.
"What did you think?" I whispered.
Her face, so eerily like my own, was solemn, "It was… scary," she said finally, trying to gather her thoughts. "And… so beautiful, I wish-" She broke off, biting her lip. "I wish I had never known of anything so beautiful, so powerful," Her face was almost sad,
"What do you mean? I don't understand,"
"Before, I didn't know what I was missing," she said softly, "Now I do. And now I know, I have to have it, I'll do anything to feel it again,"
I nodded. What has a front has a back. And the bigger the front, the bigger the back. The joy and beauty of magick were married to the awful responsibility of wielding it. The pleasure of calling on magick was tempered by the need to do so,
"Did you get any of the words?" she asked me.
I nodded, "Some, but they didn't make sense. Part of it was, A chalice of wind, a circle of ashes, a feather of stone, a necklace of water. All connected like that. Thais looked thoughtful, repeating the words to herself. "You don't know what it meant?"
"No-never heard it before. We can ask Ouida," I said.
"Now I think its time," Ouidas clear voice cut through the lingering effects of the magick. "Time to know the truth. The whole truth "