A Chalice of Wind

by Cate Tiernan

  Before now, I’d always had Nan to help me if I was in trouble or hurt. I’d depended on her to fix everything. With her gone, I had to be the strong one, the one who saved us.

  “I hate this place!” Thais sobbed thickly. “Sheets attack you here, trucks drive through streetcars, and now killer wasps! This place is a death trap!”

  “Shh, shh,” I said, gently pulling Thais through our garden gate. We stumbled up the porch steps, and I had a hell of a time stuffing my hand into my pocket to fish out the house key.

  I was barely able to turn the key, and then I felt Melysa coming, running down the street. She lived only three blocks away—she was one of Nan’s best friends, one of the top witches in our coven, and had been tutoring me in healing spells for the past year.

  She burst through the gate, her full, wavy gray hair flying. “Clio!” she exclaimed, looking at us.

  I made a mumbled “uunnhhh” sound.

  “Inside, inside,” Melysa said, careful not to touch us.

  I was starting to feel dizzy, light-headed, and oddly cold. I couldn’t think straight, couldn’t explain Thais to Melysa or even tell her what had happened. My world was narrowing, growing chilly and black around the edges, and then I felt myself falling, falling in slow motion.

  Thais

  A heavy weight was on my chest, making it hard to breathe. Alarmed, I opened my eyes.

  A broad white furry face was looking back at me. Q-Tip.

  “Jeez, kitty—you’ve got to take dieting seriously,” I murmured, easing him off my chest. Ah. I could breathe again.

  So I was at Clio’s. This must be Nan’s room. I got out of bed and moved slowly to the door, feeling like I’d been hit all over with a baseball bat. Out on the landing I suddenly remembered the whole horrible night before. It had started with finding out that I had meant nothing to Luc and ended with wasps almost killing me. I glanced at my arms—I had faint pink spots all over me, hundreds of them, but they were hardly noticeable.

  I looked into Clio’s room. It was empty.

  Downstairs, I padded barefoot into the kitchen. Clio sat at the small table, her hands wrapped around a mug. When she looked up at me, her green eyes were clear and weirdly calm.

  “Coffee?” she asked.

  “God, yes,” I said, and poured myself a cup.

  “Tell me again what you said last night about being attacked by sheets and streetcars and stuff,” she said.

  “Oh my God, Axelle!” I remembered, my hand over my mouth. She was going to be furious! I’d stayed out all night—

  “Melysa called her,” Clio told me. “She knows where you are. It’s cool. And I called us in sick this morning to school.”

  School—jeez, school was the last thing on my mind. “Was Melysa the woman with gray hair?” I asked, barely able to remember what she looked like, only that she had been calm and kind and had taken all my pain away. She was no doubt a witch, I thought with resignation.

  “Yeah,” Clio answered. “She’s one of my teachers. She’s a healer, and she lives close by, so that was lucky. She left early this morning.”

  I sank down into a chair, shivering at the memory of the wasps. “ That was very bad,” I said, and Clio nodded.

  “Yes. Now tell me again what you said last night. What’s happened to make you think New Orleans is a death trap,” Clio pressed, calm and unstoppable. She seemed unlike herself this morning, older somehow, less offhand. Well, near death can do that to a girl.

  “I had a bad dream,” I said, still hating to think of it. “An incredibly realistic dream where I was in a swamp. A huge snake came and wrapped itself around me, choking me. I felt like I was dying, couldn’t breathe. Somehow I yelled, and then Axelle came in—though my door was locked—and she woke me up. My sheet was twisted into a thick rope, and it was wrapped around my neck tight enough to choke me. I had bruises for days, as if I’d been strangled.” I shivered. Clio was listening intently, following every word.

  “And then on the second day of school, I was on the streetcar, going to school. A teenager driving a pickup truck jumped the curb and hit a light post. It snapped off and crashed through a closed window on the streetcar—right where I’d been sitting until like a second before. If I hadn’t moved, it could have killed me. And now the wasps. I mean, God.”

  Clio nodded, thoughtful.

  “Why?” I said.

  “A few nights ago, a mugger pulled a knife on me,” she said. “He didn’t even really try to rob us, me and Della, Eu, and Racey. What he really wanted to do was knife me. Me in particular. And then the wasps last night. And your dream and the streetcar. I mean, suddenly it seems so clear, right? Someone’s trying to kill us. Someone from Nan’s old famille has found out about us and is trying to kill us because we’re twins.”

  My stomach dropped. “You’re right,” I said, shocked. “ That has to be it. But who? If Axelle wanted to kill me, she could have done it a long time ago. She’s the one who saved me from my dream. Same with Jules and Daedalus—Axelle isn’t always there. They could have gotten to me far more easily before now.”

  “And it’s not Nan,” Clio said wryly.

  “Who else is there?” I asked, trying to think.

  Clio shrugged. “It could be anyone from their famille. Which could be . . . let’s see—there were fifteen original families three hundred years ago. Now we have all their descendents. It could be more than a thousand people.”

  “Great,” I said, wanting to race back to Welsford on the next plane. But they’d found me there—I wouldn’t be any safer now.

  “Nan isn’t here to ask,” Clio said. “Of course, now I wish I’d told Nan about being mugged.”

  “Well, I can think of one place to start,” I said. “Axelle.”

  We found Axelle standing in the kitchen, eating cold leftover Chinese food out of its carton.

  “Are you all right, then?” she asked, examining me.

  “Yes,” I said. “But it wasn’t pretty. This is Clio.”

  Clio looked around the apartment—it had quite a different ambience than the comfortable, homey place she shared with Nan.

  Axelle studied Clio. “Interesting,” she said, and I realized that Clio and Axelle were somewhat alike in their personalities. They were both kind of showy and used to getting their own ways. Axelle was just a more exaggerated version.

  “We want some answers,” Clio said coolly. She pulled up a chrome-and-leather bar stool and sat down. Axelle looked at us both, a little smile playing around her lips.

  “Such as?”

  “What other members of Petra’s famille are here in New Orleans?” I asked.

  Axelle’s glance turned speculative. “Why do you want to know?”

  “Look,” Clio said tightly. “We’re twins. Nan has explained that we’re probably setting off mass hysteria in members of her original famille. But there’s more to it than that. We’re in danger. We want to know what’s going on. And you’re going to tell us.”

  Axelle smiled wider, as if she approved of Clio’s take-no-prisoners attitude. Great, I thought. She can come live here with the leather queen, and I can go live with Nan.

  “Well.” Axelle seemed to come to a decision. “Maybe you’re right,” she said. “Maybe it’s time for you to be let in on the whole enchilada.”

  Why did this not sound like a better idea?

  Axelle went into the main room and picked up the phone. “Let me make a few calls.”

  Half an hour later the door opened and Daedalus came in. He examined Clio, and she met his gaze calmly. Jules was with him, of course, and Richard came a few minutes after that. Axelle smugly made the introductions, as if she was enjoying presenting The Other Twin to everyone.

  I saw Clio blink when she met Richard, taking in his piercings, tattoos, and oddly adult demeanor.

  “Yo, babe,” Richard said to me, moving into the kitchen.

  There was a knock on the door, and Axelle opened it.

  “ Thais, Clio, this i
s Sophie and Manon.”

  Sophie was a pretty woman in her early twenties, and oh my God, Manon was another kid, even younger than Richard, maybe twelve? But like Richard, she seemed older and creepily knowing, like a grown-up.

  “Hello,” I said as Sophie and Manon checked us out. I saw Manon wink at Richard, and he grinned at her. Those weird kids knew so much more than I did, were much more comfortable in this world than I was. Was Manon an orphan, like Richard? Or did her parents just not care?

  Richard was pouring himself an alcoholic drink. Mouth open in shock, I waited for someone to stop him, but though several people saw it, they didn’t seem to think anything of it. Clio looked at him curiously, then held out her hand in a pinching gesture, her fingers two inches apart. Richard nodded and got down another glass. I shook my head.

  “I guess I’m not in Kansas anymore,” I whispered bitterly to Minou, who had jumped up on the counter.

  The door opened again, and a black woman came in. Maybe four inches shorter than me, she was fine-boned, elegant, and graceful.

  “This is Ouida,” Axelle said, and gestured at us. Unlike everyone else, who had just stared at us like we were an exhibit, Ouida caught on to the fact that we were actually people. She crossed the room, holding out her hands.

  “I’m so happy to meet you,” she said in an attractive, cultivated voice, and hugged Clio first. When she hugged me, I felt warm and happy. “I’m Ouida Jeffers, and I’m a good friend of . . . Petra’s. Now let me see. . . .” She looked at us both, then nodded at Clio. “You’re Clio, and you’re Thais,” she said to me. I nodded, smiling at her. She seemed blessedly normal and unweird. “I know this is all strange and confusing—maybe a little scary? I wish Petra was here today to help. But she’ll be back soon.”

  “Where did she go?” Clio asked quickly.

  Ouida patted her arm. “It will all be clear soon,” she promised. “Today might be upsetting for you—but afterward, maybe we can all go out and get something to eat somewhere? I’m anxious to know you both better.”

  “I’d like that,” I said, feeling more comfortable than I had in days.

  The doorbell rang again, and Axelle yelled, “Come in!” The apartment had taken on a party atmosphere, with people getting themselves things to drink, milling around, talking. Yep, just a bunch of modern witches hanging out, schmoozing. . . . I wondered if Ouida would be interested in escaping sometime soon.

  The door opened, and—

  My heart pounded one last time and thudded to a halt. I saw Clio turn; then her body froze and the hand holding her glass clenched.

  “Luc,” Richard said casually, tossing a pecan into his mouth.

  Daedalus and Jules nodded at him. Luc nodded back at them. Axelle waved at him as she talked to Sophie. Luc ran one hand through his dark hair and nodded back. He looked tense, upset.

  Clio turned very slowly in her seat and met my eyes. I’m sure we wore the same sick, horrified expression: the situation that had already been as wretched and heart-breaking as it possibly could be had just gotten worse.

  Luc was one of them.

  Clio

  Okay, call me impulsive. It took only a few seconds to process Andre’s 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?” Axelle’s 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 Axelle’s 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 Cerise’s descendents, your mother, Clémence, 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, anyway. “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 Manon.

  Awkward silence.

  “She’s smarter than the average bear,” Richa
rd 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.