The Heart of the Circle

by Keren Landsman

  I shivered as I felt the force passing through us. If we stopped now, we could channel the sorcery into action. In the past, sorcerers used full circles to build giant structures, to move boulders around or change the courses of rivers. It came in handy when technology didn’t exist. It was also used in wars, in more ancient times. No one dared practice full circles nowadays. The Confederacy was still paying the price for holding these circles in Korea, and there were entire areas in Africa where, due to the excessive use of powers during the colonial period, not a single sorcerer has been born in decades.

  Everyone let go of each other’s hands at the exact same moment. The elements dissipated but the sorcery remained compressed around me, blocking the outside world. I couldn’t feel anyone. My psyche was dulled. I looked at Matthew, who seemed worried, his brow furrowed.

  “It worked,” Lee said, turning to Matthew. “Don’t worry.”

  “How can you tell?” Matthew’s voice sounded strained. He bunched his fists.

  Sherry whipped her gun out of its holster and handed it to Matthew. “You want to check?”

  “No,” he replied, raising his voice.

  Sherry secured the gun back in its holster. I assumed she hadn’t intended to shoot me. I was hoping she hadn’t intended to shoot me.

  Daphne went to the kitchen while everyone in the circle remained still, looking at each other. River and Blaze were exchanging beaming glances.

  Daphne returned with a knife. She handed it to Sherry. “Do us the honor.”

  Matthew grabbed Sherry’s arm and yelled, “No!”

  She shook him off. Daphne held Matthew back while Sherry stepped into the circle, looked me straight in the eye, and stabbed me in the stomach. I flinched, waiting for the pain.

  Nothing happened. Sherry yanked out the knife. The tip was clean. I touched my stomach and looked down. There was not a single mark.

  I looked at Matthew and attempted a smile. “See? Everything’s fine.”

  Matthew wasn’t smiling.

  Lee looked at Sherry. “Can we open?”

  Sherry nodded.

  Instead of taking a step back, Lee hugged me and held my head against his chest. I could hear his heart racing. Blaze and River were talking to each other in their half-Hebrew half-English. I wrapped my arms around Lee and took in his scent.

  I’m not going to die today. I’m not going to die today. I buried my head in his shoulder.

  “I can barely feel you,” Lee whispered.

  I nodded and said, “I can’t feel a thing.” I looked up at him, meeting his gaze. His eyes were wet. “It’s probably because of the circle,” I said and touched his eyelids, his cheeks, wiping the tears before they rolled off his face. He leaned in and kissed me. I could barely taste him. There was a barrier between us, a kind of veneer preventing me from feeling the world properly.

  I looked into his eyes. Surrounded in green.

  “Time to head out,” Sherry said.

  I felt Lee’s stomach pressing against mine as we inhaled together. We broke away from each other, but continued to hold hands.

  “You don’t need to maintain the structure,” Sherry said as she opened the front door, “but you do need to stay close to one another.”

  We walked down the street together, Sherry in the lead. She was dressed in civvies, her gun tucked beneath her shirt. I assumed she had more weapons concealed on her body. Matthew was walking beside her, his bag dangling from his shoulder. They were talking to each other, but he kept his distance. I noticed the way she pulled back her shoulders, projecting invincibility. Matthew glanced back every now and then, considering me. I had the feeling that at the smallest sign, he’d call it all off and take me home.

  Lilia was walking on Matthew’s other side. She managed to insinuate herself into their discussion, and soon Sherry fell silent, Lilia and Matthew falling into conversation about the hospital and their patients, as if the two women had prearranged to distract Matthew. It seemed that Sherry had a plan for everything.

  Dimitri, Oleander and Daphne shuffled behind them in silence. It was only the occasional nod and friendly pat on the shoulder that indicated they might in fact be communicating with each other. Oleander’s arm was wrapped around Daphne, pressing her against him.

  Lee and I walked in a half-embrace. I was hot, and my shirt stuck to the small of my back where Lee had his arm around me. I had a feeling he wasn’t about to let go.

  Blaze, Aurora and River ambled behind us. River was asking Aurora about the types of support programs for Israeli youth, the political efforts and even the popular meeting places. Their tone was friendly, and I wondered how many times they’d met after the circle I had first encountered River.

  I couldn’t focus on a single conversation. I was surrounded by people who were looking after me, engulfed in the most powerful protective sorcery one could cast. A protective circle could be broken only if one of the people who had cast it got hurt. I was entirely safe.

  I marched to the beat of my thoughts. I’m not going to die today. I’m not going to die today.

  There were already people at the Three Sons Intersection, the main point where the march was supposed to begin. Squad cars stood on both sides of the street, blocking the intersection. Two officers stopped us at the entrance. I couldn’t tell whether they were normies or sorcerers.

  “Security check,” one of them said, and reached out for Matthew’s bag. The other officer noticed Sherry and tapped his colleague’s shoulder. The latter withdrew his hand, blurted out “Sorry,” and gestured a brief salute.

  We marched to the assembly point. I felt my heart racing, my breathing shallow. I glanced around, seeing only familiar faces; the same people who always marched with us, who called out for equal rights, who chanted with us. There were no traitors here.

  Gaia squeezed her way to us through the crowd. “Look!” She tugged on my sleeve. “Look, they’re all here!” She waved at my group behind her. Even Tempest was with them. She turned back to me, saying, “She’s not on… on… Don’t worry.” Only then did she notice Lee’s arm wrapped around me. “You’re a moody,” she blurted.

  Lee nodded.

  She shifted her gaze between Lee and me. I tried to think about what to say so that she wouldn’t be offended. She had offered her help with a heart full of anticipation. Gaia stuck her hand into her pants pocket and took out a stick of purple gum, similar to her hair color. She peeled off the wrapper and shoved it into her mouth.

  “Hello,” she said, and extended her hand. “I’m Gaia.”

  “Hello,” Lee said, smiling, and reached out his hand to meet hers. “I’m Lee.”

  They shook hands somewhat formally, then Gaia popped her purple bubblegum bubble and looked at me. “Anyway,” she said, “we’re here. All of us. We’ve got your back. Don’t worry.”

  Lee pressed me closer against him. “Good. I’m having a hard time looking after him all by myself. He keeps getting into trouble.”

  Gaia smiled at Lee. “That’s how they are at that age. Testing boundaries.”

  Lee laughed.

  Forrest appeared behind us. “You’ll be fine.”

  “Of course he will,” Aurora said with a smile. “I’ll give him hell otherwise. It would be a nightmare building a new counselor roster.” Gaia popped another bubble, winked at me and disappeared back in the direction of her group. My group. I took a deep breath. Everything will be fine.

  We fell into lines. Lee wouldn’t let me march at the edges like the rest of the empaths. He held my waist and led me to the middle of the line. I tried to explain that wasn’t how we marched, but Daphne silenced me with her touch, her expression grave.

  “What is it?”

  She shook her head. “Something. I can’t tell yet.”

  “You want us to look together?” Oleander asked her quietly, and I assumed he had asked the question out loud more for my sake than to get a real answer.

  Daphne shook her head. “Not now.”

  Th
e knot in my stomach tightened.

  “We’re going home,” Matthew said, shouldering his bag. “Let’s go.”

  Standing next to Lee, Dimitri said, “I don’t see anything.” He was looking over my shoulder.

  Daphne bit her lip. “Neither do I.”

  “I won’t have–” Matthew started to say.

  “It’s not your call,” Sherry interjected. She looked straight at him, talking in a softer voice than I’d expected. “It’s your brother’s decision. I know you’re only looking out for him, but he has the best possible protection.”

  They eyed each other silently, and Matthew backed down.

  Blaze and River came and stood behind me; Lilia, Aurora and Dimitri in front of me; Lee stood to my left, and Daphne to my right. Not one of us was standing where we should have according to our powers. Matthew stood near Daphne, ignoring Sherry who kept trying to pull him out of the line and position him near the cops. I suspected that had been her plan all along, and that he was refusing to cooperate. From a distance, I heard Gaia and the others’ hoarse, enthusiastic shouts. I wondered whether they had been among the high schoolers who got their asses whooped outside the Basement after the previous rally.

  Matthew linked arms with Daphne. “Stay close to me,” she said, her voice brittle.

  “Sure,” Matthew said sternly.

  Lee pressed me against him. I felt his breath catching. “We can go home.”

  “It’s too late,” Daphne said, sweeping her gaze across the crowd. “They already know we’re here. I can barely see anything. All I see is that your presence is vital here, beside me.”

  Matthew pulled Daphne into a half-hug.

  Everyone was nervous, but the circle held. I felt its protection. Sherry got up behind me, between Blaze and River. Now I noticed the undercover cops she had stationed there; unfamiliar faces dotting the lines, creating a loose circle with me in its center. She had been serious when she said they intended to catch whoever tried to hurt me. Oleander had inched slightly away from me. I was surrounded by friends who were looking out for me, by the protective sorcery and by the protection of the police officers.

  When the moon was fully visible above, someone in the crowd drummed seven quick beats, and another yelled, “Go!” and started shouting our slogans.

  “And we’re off,” Sherry said.

  Daphne reached her hand out to me. I held it, and we started marching.

  Daphne and Aurora began to chant. Once she managed to make out the words, River joined in. Lee silently held me close to him.

  We chanted our usual slogans, demanding the right to vote for parliament, the annulment of the oath of allegiance and the right to make our own decision regarding early detection in fetuses. There were other slogans, but with Sherry and Dimitri marching so close to me, I felt bad shouting about police corruption and coverups.

  Throughout the march, the police officers shifted positions based on some logic only they were privy to. Sherry kept me at arm’s length. She pulled me apart from Daphne when Daphne wouldn’t let go of Matthew, and squeezed herself in between Lilia and Dimitri when it was her turn to lead. At no point was she more than one person away from me. The rest of the cops stood farther back.

  Half the march passed uneventfully. I started feeling safer. Even Matthew began to smile, genuine smiles, and chant slogans he found amusing. He changed a few of the words so that the rhythm was the same but the meaning completely altered. I got swept up by his enthusiasm, and together we made up new slogans and shouted them with just as much gusto as the rest of the marchers.

  Aurora no longer looked scared, and was now busy shooting us angry glares whenever we chanted, instead of ‘equal rights in parliament!’, ‘Pluto is a real planet!’ From a distance I heard Guy and Gaya shouting the distorted slogan along with us. Aurora’s glares cut through me. I stifled my smile.

  When we reached the intersection of Paula Ben Gurion and Shenkar Street, Lee tightened his grip around my waist. He was shaking his head. “Something. I don’t know,” he said in answer to a question I didn’t ask.

  Tension reverberated through the lines. Daphne’s hand was covered in sweat. Dimitri was marching to Lee’s right, looking at Daphne.

  “I don’t see anything,” she said, shaking her head. Sherry placed her hand on her belt. The other cops in the lines around me mimicked her gesture. I tensed. Going home suddenly sounded like a great idea. I reminded myself that the previous victims hadn’t been shielded by protective circles. That was precisely their mistake. I had three damus friends and police protection.

  We switched places; River and Blaze now marching in front of me, chanting. With Lee’s arm around me, I could admit they made a cute couple. Sherry was on River’s left, scanning the crowd. Aurora to Blaze’s right, glancing back at me every now and then.

  We kept walking. Daphne let go of my hand and wiped her forehead. Aurora took a step back. Matthew grumbled something about her elbowing him, and that he wanted to be close to me but everyone was pushing him away, and then I heard a gunshot, and I froze.

  All at once, everyone started moving.

  Before I managed to react, Lee pulled me to the ground, shielding my head under his arm. I felt his breaths, shallow, rapid. I was hot, sweat dripping from my forehead into my eyes. Lee wouldn’t let me get up.

  A few more shots were heard from several directions, after which people began tripping and stepping on me. Lee arched his back every time I was stepped on. I heard someone running towards me. Matthew collapsed on top of me. I recognized the scent of his deodorant. He shielded whatever parts of me were still exposed. I heard their breaths, labored and painful. I didn’t dare say a word.

  I heard shouts, Sherry barking orders to the cops around us. She called each one by their name, directing them to their places. Someone fell to the ground next to me, and the protective sorcery snapped like a guitar string.

  My ears popped, and everyone’s feelings came crashing into me. Fear, anxiety, sadness, tension. A shooting current of pain was flowing next to me. Someone was hurt.

  I felt the cops, all full of determination, and some tinted with fear. I felt the depletion of everyone who had participated in the circle, the anguish building up inside Lee from the moment it expired.

  I dug deeper inside him. Footsteps running, and more gunshots, and Sherry yelling, “Disperse!”

  “Did they get him?” Matthew asked.

  Someone approached us. “Is Reed OK?” Sherry asked.

  Lee finally let go of me.

  I kneeled, trapped between Lee and Matthew, both pale and drenched in sweat. Matthew was panting. Sherry’s brow crinkled. “We’re on it.” She looked at me and said, “Thank you.” Her shirt was torn, a red blotch spreading across her abdomen.

  Between everyone’s feet I saw a body lying on the ground, four officers crouching on top of him. I didn’t dare poke in his direction. I stayed on the asphalt, Sherry already disappearing back into the crowd, yelling more orders at the cops.

  Lee hugged me, his face damp with tears and sweat. Matthew managed to settle his breathing. He wiped his face. None of us was able to speak. A wave of sadness hit me from behind Matthew. I moved a little to get a peek. Daphne was sitting on the ground, her hair veiling her in a dark cloud of curls. She was holding Oleander in her hands. Blood was everywhere.

  “Matthew!” I yelled out, and pulled him over.

  “He’s been shot.” Daphne was holding Oleander’s face, her tears dripping on him.

  “It’s my fault,” Aurora said. She was as white as a ghost. “I thought we caught all the bullets, but then another one was fired, and Oleander moved. He was so quick.”

  Aurora’s hand was red with blood. She cradled it against her chest. I wondered whether it was Oleander’s injury that had broken the protective sorcery, or perhaps there was something more.

  Oleander was lying on the ground, his head in Daphne’s lap. Around his left leg, his jeans were soaked in blood. Because he was unconsciou
s, I couldn’t trace the source of the pain.

  I was struck by Daphne’s sobs, and had to blink back my own tears. Matthew opened his bag, his steady hands betraying nothing of the panic rising within him. He handed me a pair of scissors and said, “Cut his pants,” then turned to Lee and instructed, “Blur his pain.”

  Matthew called out to Lilia to come help, Aurora amplifying his cry, creating a tunnel between us. Blood was dripping on her dress. I wanted to ask her not to utilize what little sorcery was still left in her, not to deplete herself, but I couldn’t put together a complete sentence. There was so much blood. Everywhere.

  I crouched above Oleander’s legs. I couldn’t understand why Matthew didn’t want me to help Lee, until I noticed my hands were trembling. I could barely hold the scissors in place. Daphne sobbed quietly.

  Raising his voice, Matthew instructed her, “Choose the future in which he’s OK,” and proceeded to rummage through his backpack, fishing out bandages, a suture kit and antiseptic ointment. Now I understood why his bag looked so bulky.

  Oleander’s wound didn’t look that terrible. Just a small hole on his shin.

  “It’s the entry wound,” Matthew muttered while disinfecting the area. “The bullet is still lodged inside.”

  “It’s my fault. It’s all my fault,” Aurora kept mumbling. “I felt the fluctuation in the air pressure inside the barrel and I diverted the bullet’s course, but I didn’t realize I had to stop two bullets.”

  Gaia ran over to us. “You’re OK, right?”

  “Aurora took a bullet, but… she’s OK.” I tried sounding confident, for her sake.

  Gaia tore her gaze away from Oleander and stared at Aurora. She collapsed beside her. “Oh no!” Gaia squeaked, and I could feel her taking Aurora’s pain away. She wasn’t experienced enough not to absorb the pain inside her, and I was too overwhelmed to show her what to do.