Logan and I had spoken earlier, so I knew he wouldn’t be coming over tonight. I peered around the fire pit at Eden’s coven sisters, now my coven sisters and felt a welling of pride and satisfaction to be considered part of such an empowered and enlightened group of women. I reached out to grab the hands of the witches standing next to me and said, “Let us begin.”
My coven sisters and I all joined hands and began to harness our collective powers. In order to fight the powers of evil that will be unleashed on us by the Council, we will fight back with our best powers. Because we are good witches, our best powers are organic in nature, drawn from the beauty and the bounty of that which our world has given us. Our spells are derived from natural sources, our potions come from things found in nature, and everything we are about is unmarred by the chemical hand, untreated by the crude refinements of modern times. We have learned to work with the harmonies of the natural world and in that way, we would fight the evils of the Council. As Eden had taught me, we first needed to control the four elements, Earth, Wind, Fire and Water. We would begin with Earth.
The thirteen of us closed our eyes and began to call in our minds for the elements of Earth to come to our aid. In response, the wind picked up and the leaves on the ground around us began to swirl and dance. The trees began to sway and the air became electric. A wide patch of dirt in the back of the garden started to skitter and dust up and as we all opened our eyes, I watched the dirt form and take shape. A flat soil monster arose from the ground in a swirl of dirt, and leaves and debris. When it finished its transformation, it remained there, appearing to await commands from the gathered witches. I dropped my hands from Libby’s and Eve’s and waved them forcefully in the direction of the dirt creature. At once, the flat soil creature began to whirl faster and faster, rocks, dirt and debris whirling with it. As a test, I tossed a large rock into the swirling mass and everyone watched as it got pulverized into dust by the power of the dirt creature.
I rejoined hands with Libby and Eve and we all raised our hands high, to the heavens. Several trees uprooted themselves and, while whirling in the air, chiseled themselves down in the shapes of spears. Completed with the transformation, they sailed through the air and landed, blade side down, in the ground, behind each of the assembled witches in my coven, thirteen spears for thirteen witches.
Now, for Wind. Collectively, we called upon the winds to gather and be a force for us. Before my eyes, a cyclone formed and rose high up in the sky. Several funnel clouds rose alongside it and danced and shimmied around the backyard. I’d watched enough television to know the power a cyclone had. We watched as it ripped through a stand of trees at the edge of the forest and in the blink of an eye, cut a swath through them by chipping away at the wood and bark in nanoseconds. Pieces of the trees flew in all directions and became caught up in the tornado, making it larger and wider and more dangerous. As the collective force of our powers caused the cyclone to rise and fall, I could understand how controlling the massive force of the wind would work to our advantage in the future. Satisfied by the display, I allowed the cyclonic force to quiet and quell, until it became no more than a whisper, and the debris twirled near the ground, lower and lower until it came to a final resting place.
Water followed as the next element I wanted us to practice taming. I scanned the faces of my coven sisters and nodded. In agreement, we closed our eyes and concentrated our minds together to call upon the massive force of Water for a demonstrative show of our collective talent. At once, the air became dense, and then moist. I could feel a fine mist shower us and I opened my eyes to discover the origin. What I witnessed stole my words. An enormous funnel of water spiraled on its side, undulating and writhing around us. I telepathically encouraged my coven sisters to open their eyes and we watched in wonder at what our power had created. As we watched it, the water funnel lengthened and widened and stretched behind our circle, until it became a wall of water in back of us, rising far up into the dark night. I reached out and touched the watery shield and found I could not put my hand through it. Although made of transparent liquid, it wasn’t penetrable. It would protect us. With my coven sisters encouraging me, I clapped my hands together and in one move, the wall fell to the ground in one gigantic splash. My coven sisters applauded.
Eden silenced everyone with her hands and raised one finger to me. I had one final element to test. Fire. I nodded and reached again for Libby and Rochelle’s hands. My coven sisters reached for each other’s hands again and waited for my lead.
Slowly, holding hands with my sister witches, I raised our arms till they were pointing toward the fire pit in the middle of our circle. In response, the flames in the brick circle began to raise higher, the tips of the orange glow flicking and curling as if in a dance. Several of the sparks snapped off and jumped into the spring sky, rapidly churning and becoming fireballs, spinning madly in place. I raised my hands and suddenly, my hair began to fly as the heat rose to an intense temperature. I opened my eyes and noticed the same thing happening to everyone gathered with me. The hot wind had blown away hair fixtures and ties, undone braids and buns and now witch hair flowed freely in the heated, humid breeze. I gazed around our circle and saw beautiful, natural, flushed women in the peak of their powers, watching fireballs race around them with awe and wonderment. At the same moment, and by my psychic command, we released our hands and waved them, thirteen pairs of elegant hands and fingers, at the fireballs, and we became flame-‐‑throwers, launching our firebombs at the unsuspecting foliage.
Without warning the forest went up in a sheet of fire, as the thirteen whirling fire-‐‑cyclones found their target and landed. Quick as a blink of an eye, Aisling, Echo, Prudence and I, whirled where we stood and brought our hands down and then up and the wall of water resurrected itself. I twisted my hands left and then right, then pretended to throw something toward the blazing forest. A blanket of water sailed over our heads and smothered the engulfed trees and in a matter of seconds, they were smoldering instead of burning, and in seconds after that, they were simply charred and blackened instead of smoking.
I leaned forward and grabbed the bricks of the fire pit panting heavily. The flames decreased and soon they were only a tiny puff of smoke.
Eden stepped forward with an announcement.
“Serena, tonight’s demonstrations have been a revelation.
Your powers have grown, and leading us as the primary of this coven, we all grow stronger still. But for tonight, I think we shall rest.” As soon as she said it, I couldn’t have agreed more. I felt exhausted but exhilarated. I spun around and sat on the edge of the brick pit and glanced around. I could tell my coven sisters agreed as well. Aisling and Echo were flushed and literally leaning on one another. My sister Elizabeth came to sit down next to me. She put her arm around the back of my shoulder and gave me a wink, but she appeared weary and tired as well. Lily sat grinning at me like a proud mother. I blushed. Libby and Rochelle, who had been on either side of me, came up and each squeezed one of my hands.
Raven went one better. She came up to me and hugged me fiercely.
“I’m not usually like this, but shoot girl, I could feel the power from all of us just coursing through my veins. Talk about intense!”
Eve echoed her sentiment.
“Yes, dear. You are clearly developing your talents much faster than any one of us would have thought possible.” Even in her beautifully lilting accent, her excitement over the progress couldn’t have been more evident.
Rochelle, so overwhelmed by the events of the gathering, levitated right from her spot in the circle and hovered over to me.
“Serena, darling Serena! Amazing! I used to believe flying equaled the most electrifying thing ever, but this has changed my mind. The way you had us joining forces and mating our powers?
Just unbelievable! It makes me want to just soar!” And she did, grabbing her broom and dipping and swooping all over the backyard in a joyous quick flight.
“Everyone, plea
se. This truly became a group effort. I couldn’t have done any of it without you.” I called out to everyone.
I was as pleased with the demonstration as they were, but I wanted to make sure they understood, much more practicing needed to be done. I just didn’t feel we were ready. Eden must have been reading my mind, knowing her, literally.
“We must not get ahead of ourselves, Sisters,” she began.
“There is so much more work to be done. We must work harder, and longer. We must not falter.”
“And we don’t have much time,” interjected Prudence. I stared at her and the reservation shone on her face; she had had another vision. She tracked the unspoken question on all of our faces. “Yes,” she admitted, “I have seen something. The time is short. Shorter than we know. I can tell you one thing, however. Eve is right about the Spring Equinox. Something big is going to happen then. I don’t know if it has to do with Jade and her chosen one, but we must be prepared for anything. The Spring Equinox will have great significance to us.
I thought about what Eve had said. The Spring Equinox loomed, and two weeks would go by quickly. Will we have enough time to prepare? Will we be strong enough by then to do what we need to do? Can we harness and control the elements and our powers and take over the Council successfully in only two weeks? My head swam with all the possibilities. I swung around and peered at the women in my life now and realized it had to be enough time. Seeing Lily made me think of Logan and then Jade, and then Sully. It would be enough time, because it had to be.
Chapter Twenty-‐‑Three
LOGAN
Today I had my planned breakfast date with Serena. I had thought about it all night. I had to have something on my mind to take it off all the weird goings-‐‑on across the street. Even though I knew it had to be Serena and Eden and the coven sisters, it still didn’t freak me out any less. So I kept thinking about my morning with Serena. When I woke up, I walked down the stairs with all these great plans to make Serena breakfast. I had never been the greatest cook, but wasn’t it the thought that counted? How bad can I screw up toast and eggs? I stopped short. Man I can already smell them cooking! Then I realized, I could smell something cooking and it sure wasn’t my eggs. I took the last few stairs two at a time and bounded into the kitchen and spied her there. Serena stood at the kitchen counter and I noticed she had just put the finishing touches on a breakfast way better than the one I had in mind.
“Good morning, sleepy,” she said, with a big smile on her face. She spread her hands out in front of her and presented her offering.
“Wow.” I replied. “And good morning, too.” I surveyed the plates she had made. Eggs, sausage, bacon, hash browns, and toast.
And glasses of orange juice. “Serena, everything looks great. How did you get in, anyway?” As soon as I said it, I knew how stupid it sounded. Check out who I had asked? She gave me that secretive grin and I knew she wouldn’t answer. I leaned over the counter to kiss her and she leaned across to meet me halfway. We kissed over the orange juice. Maybe it wasn’t the romance I envisioned, but with the crammed house across the street, I knew how lucky we were to be alone.
Serena sat next to me on another barstool and we ate the breakfast she had prepared together. I told her what I had overheard coming from their back yard last night and she filled me in with what she and the coven had accomplished. When she told me some parts of it, I swear, I stopped eating. I just sat there and looked at her. She amazed me.
“Logan, what is it?”
She didn’t know.
“I’m so in awe of you, that’s what.”
“Logan, stop it.” She blushed.
“I am.” I insisted. “On one hand, you’re my girlfriend and I’m the guy and I’m supposed to be the protector. But on the other hand, you’re turning into, like, the most powerful witch on the planet. And I know I should be jealous, or burning up with envy or something. But I’m not.” I grabbed both her hands and spun her around so she faced me. “What I am is so proud of you I could burst. What you can do is amazing. And I know, I just know, you are going to bring back our Jade and Sully, and you’re going to do it with no problem. You’re just going to…I don’t know, take care of business.” I leaned forward and kissed her again. “My bad boy, name-‐‑taking, butt-‐‑kickin’ baby!” And I hugged her, boyfriend-‐‑
hard.
She laughed and disentangled herself.
“Okay, crazy boy. Eat your breakfast.”
We laughed and talked the rest of the way through our meal. It felt so good to be with Serena, and for a time we forgot the big issues that we were in the middle of and the ones we would be facing soon. While we were eating breakfast we could pretend we were just high school lovers, waiting for Prom and graduation, looking forward to the life we would likely share after we got out of school. We could pretend we were going to go to Dave and Tamera’s engagement party and then their wedding. We could pretend we were normal. Until, you should forgive the pun, the spell broke.
“I should get back across the street now, Logan. There’s more coven work to do. Prudence had a vision. Something big is going to happen in the next two weeks. We barely have enough time to prepare for it. Every minute counts.”
She stood to leave, and then sat back down abruptly.
“Oh.” She jerked her head up. “It seems we both need to get across the street. My sister is calling me.” She peeked at me with a smile. “In my mind. Do you hear it? You should be getting better at it by now, Logan. She’s trying to call you as well.”
“No, I don’t hear anyth—” And then, all of a sudden I did. It was faint at first, like someone was whispering in my ear. I strained to get it. Serena gave me an expectant look and I closed my eyes, so her beautiful face wouldn’t distract me. I concentrated and I could make something out. I listened intently and suddenly, I did get it.
Or, rather, I got Elizabeth. She had called out to me and Serena, asking us to come over as soon as we were done with breakfast.
Right, Serena? She asked us to come to the house as soon as we were done.
Did I pick her right?
Yes, you heard her right, Logan. Logan? Do you know what you are doing right now?
Yeah. Confirming it. I got it right. I can talk to her in my head.
Serena looked like she was waiting for something. She didn’t speak. Wait a minute. She didn’t speak. We weren’t speaking. But we were talking with each other, weren’t we? I jolted up from my chair.
We have been talking with each other, Logan. Just not the way you’ve been used to. It seems you’ve picked up another talent.
Holy smokes! You mean I’m reading minds now, too?
Well, mine at least.
When did this happen?
I don’t know. You may have had the ability all along and it just, well, it woke up.
Like in sleeper-‐‑mode?
Possibly. But that sounds a lot like a Russian B-‐‑movie sub-‐‑plot.
Sorry. It’s my only point of reference.
Are the two of you coming over here, or what? Eden would like to speak to you. Definitely Elizabeth I heard. And not too happy to be asking a second time.
Be right there, Elizabeth, I told her.
Well, Logan. Nice you’re using your skills. About time. Elizabeth didn’t even seem surprised to hear me in her head. It seemed like everyone knew I had it in me, except for me. I had to start believing more in myself. Serena clearly did. Elizabeth did. Even in the depths of my mother’s sorrow over Jade’s disappearance, my mother did. And I knew that as the only male invited into the coven of thirteen wildly powerful and yet mothering witches, they also not only believed in me, they were counting on me. I had begun to show my skill as a budding warlock. Time to step up my training. I put my arms around Serena.
“It’s time for me to train too, Serena.” I apologized for speaking. Hey, I’d been doing that a lot longer than the mindspeak thing. It came easier. “I need to get as strong as you are.” She nodded.
“I agree. Let’s talk to Eden about it. It’s time to go.” She waved her hands and the breakfast dishes were not only cleared, they were cleaned, stacked, and put away in the cupboards. The stove got wiped down and the food and condiments were put back away in the refrigerator. I blinked. I still wasn’t used to that. She giggled and grabbed my hand, dragging me toward the front door.
“Come on, silly. Let’s go.” Charlie, Sage and Zena followed us out and the door closed behind us as we headed across the street.
****
“You want us to do what?” I wasn’t sure I had paid attention to Eden correctly. We were in the den and Eden had just informed Serena and me that she and Elizabeth had discussed it with the coven and they thought it best if Serena and me returned to school.
Serena took my side.
“Eden, are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“Yes, I am. We’ve discussed it and we do feel it’s best. In spite of everything, Logan and you cannot miss too much school and we can monitor you constantly while you are there.”
Elizabeth broke in.
“On top of that, Serena, this is a special year for you. I take responsibility for this idea as much as anyone. Prom is coming up, and parties and with everything going on, I didn’t want you to lose sight of that.”
I started to interject my fears about our safety, but Elizabeth jumped one step ahead of me on that one.
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