Mandy poured them both another cup of tea and put out some homemade chocolate chip cookies on a plate. "Let's get back to the reason you came to see me. You want my help with this Navy testing stuff. I was a pretty good organizer back in my feminist protest days. Let me do a little research and we'll get the word out. I'll get us a rally permit, and we can have a nice little protest march."
Lily rose to hug her. "You're a darling. I knew I could count on you."
"I would also like to use some ritual magick to help you, but I need your permission to use it."
"I don't know how all that works, but if it will help, please do."
After Lily left, Mandy called Tara. "I want you to call the others and meet here at seven tonight. One of our own needs our help."
"You're talking about Lily, aren't you?"
"Yes."
"Don't you think it's time you told her the truth? That she is indeed one of us?"
"She needs to discover it on her own, but I think this project she wants help with will enable her to do just that. She never knew her mother. And I feel bad that I didn't fill Rebekah's role and teach Lily about her legacy. I guess I just figured she would have discovered it long ago and that she would come to me."
"Well, it didn't help that her father took her away from here. You tried to follow, but he was determined to forget about Rehoboth and everything and everyone that reminded him of it. He was devastated when Rebekah died. I'm just glad Lily found her way home. We might have lost her completely."
"We will all need to work together to help her, not only with her cause, but also to truly find her way home."
Chapter 4
I know you are all surprised to be gathering again so soon," Mandy said as she looked around the circle at the other twelve women. They were a bit more cramped at her place than they had been at Lucy's. This time there were no comfortable pillows, just a wooden floor laid bare of its Oriental carpet to reveal Mandy's pentacle. "Lily has asked for my help, and I decided it was something we could all do together. After all, the power of thirteen is much stronger than the power of just one."
"Ah, time for a spell or two," Gwendolyn stated. "Not a love spell, I gather?"
Everyone around the circle tittered. Mandy was beginning to wonder if Lily was right in thinking people were obsessed with her love life. For Hecate's sake, Lily and Jany weren't the only lesbians in town having sex. She frowned, bringing the group back to order.
"No, this is not some trivial matter. It seems the U.S. Navy has decided to perform some military training exercises off our coastline starting next week and going on for four weeks. These exercises involve mid-frequency sonar; studies have shown these types of tests can be lethal to whales and dolphins, possibly causing the animals to beach themselves." She paused, knowing they'd remember when such an event had occurred in nearby Dewey Beach.
"What does Lily think we can do? We can't stop the Navy," Sarah said.
"Maybe not, but we sure can give them some bad publicity. If we get the town to unite behind Lily, it will call attention to what's happening. And maybe a nasty storm or two will prevent the military from being able to conduct the tests."
Sage spoke. "You don't think we could stop the Navy entirely if we used all our power together?"
"This is more than just holding hands and chanting 'go home, go home' several times over. We will need a powerful protection spell."
"I think we can do it," Kathy said. Her eyes blazed brightly for just a few seconds, but it was enough to make windows slam shut and furniture rattle. Two of Mandy's three cats hissed and took off running.
Mandy shivered. Kathy's rage might very well help them get rid of the Navy vessels, but did she really want to harness it? Once released, could such power ever be contained again? If the truth were told, she was afraid of Kathy, but she'd never said anything to anyone. Her main reason for having Kathy in the coven was to watch her. What was that old phrase? Keep your friends close and your enemies closer? Kathy was not an enemy. At least, not yet. But she could be.
"Let's concentrate right now on bringing the townspeople on board with this."
They all stood and held hands, raising their arms to the sky. "By the power of Hecate, we call on thee..."
Within two weeks, posters were plastered all over town, advertising the upcoming rally to protest the Navy's sonar tests. The high school students who worked for Lily, as well as those who worked for Sage and Blossom, had shown great enthusiasm in helping. They had recruited fellow students, and now there was a mini environmental movement afoot. The school newspaper had run a series of articles, as had the local paper. Letters to the Editor were running four to one against the testing. Lily had convinced the radio and TV stations to interview her. The little town of Rehoboth Beach was attracting the attention of the surrounding counties as well.
"I am so surprised and pleased at how the kids have taken to this," Lily was saying to Jany one lazy Saturday morning as they lingered in bed.
It was looking to be another hazy, hot, and humid day. Despite her dislike of storms, even Lily had to agree a good thunderstorm helped break the triple H cycle, and in the last couple of weeks, they'd had one, sometimes two, almost daily. None of them lasted too long—an hour at most—but it was kind of uncanny. And what was even more uncanny was how Lily felt after each one—as if she herself was partly responsible for it. One day she'd even sat surrounded by her four cats while she concentrated on conjuring up a storm. Willing mind over matter, she'd focused so long and hard that she'd lost total track of time. Her next awareness was Jany coming through the door. By Lily's own account, she'd been unconscious of everything going on around her for nearly three hours.
Jany snuggled closer. "Me too. I guess we'd both written off their generation as a bunch of lazy slobs who care only about themselves."
Lily laughed. "Oh, I don't think we're off the mark too much with that, but it's good to see they have potential." She giggled as Jany licked her neck.
"You taste salty."
"It's so fucking hot. I'm sweating like a pig."
"Pigs don't sweat." She lightly bit Lily's shoulder. "I can make you sweat even more." Twisting around, she placed one arm on each side of Lily's body. "I can't seem to get enough of you."
In response, Lily pulled Jany down as she lifted her mouth for a kiss. Jany's tongue in her mouth elicited a moan. She could already feel the wetness begin between her legs. Sometimes just a look from Jany could make her wet, but physical contact almost always caused an instantaneous reaction.
"You feel so good against me," she murmured into Jany's ear. "I like being naked with you."
"Ditto," Jany replied. "That's the one thing I do like about this weather. You sleep naked."
"I suppose we could always turn on the air conditioning," Lily continued as she arched against Jany's touch.
"What? And have you sleeping in a T-shirt again? No way!"
She trailed her fingers across Lily's sensitive breasts, smiling as the nipples immediately hardened. She took one in her mouth, making Lily moan long and deep. Lily pressed against her and grabbed her hair. It made Jany suck harder. Her fingers traced their way down Lily's torso, lingering on her belly and then dipping between her legs to find Lily swollen and wet and ready. Lily arched against her fingers. "Please," she whispered, and then moaned again as Jany complied and thrust her fingers deep. Jany kissed her, going from mouth to throat to collarbone to breast. Her free hand continued to play with Lily's nipples—first one, then the other. She nibbled her way down Lily's smooth body, across her stomach to her thighs. Jany moaned herself when she tasted Lily's sweet woman nectar.
Jany sucked and licked Lily's swollen lips, teasing her before moving on to her clit. Lily squirmed beneath her, grabbing Jany's hair as she moaned. Jany used both hands to grasp Lily's hips, keeping her from thrashing too wildly on the bed.
"Jany—" Lily groaned. "Oh god, yes. Don't stop. Right there. Yesssss!"
"Just one more?"
"Not this time, my love."
Jany moved from between Lily's legs. Both their bodies
gleamed with sweat. She lightly stroked Lily's flushed skin. Lily stretched, raising up in response. "Mmmm, that feels so good," she said. She liked the tickling sensation. Even on such a hot day, she responded with goose bumps.
"I love you," Jany said.
"I love you too."
"This may sound incredibly corny, but I feel so lucky to have found you." She paused, looking deep into Lily's blue eyes. "It's no secret what I was like before I met you. If I didn't know better, I'd think you'd used some kind of love spell on me, making me blind to all other women."
Lily smoothed back Jany's damp hair and traced Jany's sensitive earlobe, making her shiver. One shoulder raised involuntarily as Jany turned her head away and smiled. "You know I'm a lot more ticklish than you."
Lily laughed. "It is such fun to tease you." She became serious. "Yes, I know what your reputation was, but when Clarissa first introduced us, I knew right then you were the woman I wanted to be with for the rest of my life. And yes, I know we sound like a sappy Hallmark card, but I look around and see our friends and know that no one is as lucky as we are."
Jany laid back against the pillows, willing a breeze to come through the open window to cool them. The curtains stayed bone still. "Yeah. You'd think though that all our Wiccan friends would be happy. I mean, they do have the power to cast spells. I saw how Judith manipulated that bowling tournament."
"Oh darling, there are just some things you don't want to manipulate artificially. I think falling in love is much better done naturally, don't you? I mean, if I had done a spell to make you fall in love with me, I would always know it was a false love. I don't know about the others, but after a while, it would no longer please me."
"If you were a witch, what would you use your powers for?"
Lily leaned over and lightly licked Jany's neck. "Wouldn't you rather I take care of you?"
"Mmmm, not this time. I feel very content right now."
"Well then, let's get up and have some breakfast. I'm famished." She pointed toward the bottom of the bed. "And the wake-up committee wants feeding too."
Jany looked. Merlin, Casper, Morgan le Fay, and Lucifer sat in a row on the footboard, their green and gold eyes unblinking. Then, one by one, they leapt off the bed and walked out of the room, tails twitching. Jany scrambled out of bed. "Sometimes those cats are too damn creepy," she said as she pulled on a T-shirt and her boxers. "I think they're familiars sent to spy on us."
Lily laughed. "You've got quite the imagination," she said, but she didn't entirely dismiss Jany's statement. After all, the four cats had come from Jacquelyn and Sage, two of the women she now knew were in Mandy's coven. She shook her head. Don't be silly, she thought to herself. Cats as familiars was a myth left over from the Middle Ages.
"Miss Anderson," Harold Jeeves was saying, "I find it admirable that you are so passionate about this cause, but the bad publicity from your campaign cannot be good for the town."
The head of the town council had contacted Lily via e-mail asking for a face-to-face meeting, and now she sat uncomfortably on a straight-backed chair in his office. "I don't know how it can be anything but good," she responded. "We've got reporters in town, plus the extra tourists. They're all generating extra income for the local businesses, and after all, isn't that what you care about? Revenue for the city?"
"After nine-eleven, it is not such a good thing to come to the attention of the U.S. military."
"Oh come on, Mr. Jeeves, you don't honestly believe they think Rehoboth Beach is a hotbed of terrorists? And think about it, would you rather have the bad publicity of an environmental disaster?"
"A couple of beached whales is not an environmental disaster."
"Maybe not to you." She took a deep breath. "Besides, protest is an American right protected by the First Amendment."
"I can revoke your permit."
"And I can take you to court!"
The coffee cup on his desk shattered, sending hot liquid spreading across his papers. "Damnation!" he yelped as he leapt out of his chair. Lily grabbed a fistful of tissues and began blotting up the spill. "Thank you, thank you. I'll take care of that," Harold said as he took the tissues from her.
"That mug must have had a crack in it," she said as she sat back down.
"Yeah, but what an odd thing—to shatter like that."
"Yeah, odd."
Lily waited patiently while he finished cleaning up the mess. She was very aware of her body. It was almost as if she'd had a minor electrical shock—the tingling in her extremities, the hairs on her neck standing up. Could she have made Mr. Jeeves' mug explode like that? Was she developing some kind of telekinetic abilities? No, that would be absurd. She wasn't even sure such a thing existed beyond the imagination of prolific horror writers. But suddenly she remembered something. Something from when she was a child. It was her fifth birthday. An obnoxious boy had been teasing her unmercifully, flinging her skirt up again and again to expose her ruffled underwear. She could recall his taunting voice, feel the bright flush that warmed her cheeks, hear the laughter of the other children.
"Stop it!" she'd said as she slapped at his hand for what seemed like the tenth time, a long time to a five-year-old mind. The flash of anger was a physical sensation as it coursed through her body. And then, the boy had been flung against a tree. The other children had gasped, their laughter stifled.
"Did you see what Lily did?"
"Tm gonna tell my mom."
"I don't like this party."
"How did you do that, Lily?"
"I didn't do anything. I didn't even touch him!"
By this time, the boy was crying. Lily stood in the middle of the yard while the other children whispered to each other. Lily's father came out, accompanied by two of the other kids' mothers.
" What's going on here?" her father asked.
"Timmy fell."
"Did not. You pushed him!"
"Did not! I didn't even touch him." She looked up at her father. "He was teasing me. Pulling up my skirt."
Her father's face turned white. "I think you've all had a bit too much ice cream and cake." The two mothers nodded, no doubt thinking all the kids were on some sort of sugar high. "Lily thanks you all for coming to her birthday party, but I think it's time for everyone to go on home." He patted the boy's shoulder. "Timmy, you probably just tripped in all the excitement. Running around the way you were, you just fell with a bit more force than usual. You okay now?"
Timmy nodded, the tears still streaming from his eyes. He hiccupped twice, then meekly followed the others into the house.
"You stay here," Lily's father said. "You can call everyone later and thank them for coming. I want you to tell me what happened."
"Nothing, Daddy. Honest."
He knelt beside her. "Baby, I know sometimes we all get mad. And that's okay, as long we don't hurt anyone with our anger."
"You mean, like hitting people?"
"Yes, like hitting people." He looked at her. "Or even thinking bad thoughts about them."
"I don't know what you mean, Daddy."
He took her hand. "Did you think about making Timmy hit that tree? It's okay to tell me."
She lowered her head, unable to look him in the eyes. "Yes, Daddy." Lily was crying now. She knew she was a bad girl.
He pulled her close and held her tight. "It's okay, Lily. I will help you so you don't do that ever again. I love you, and I’m not mad at you."
Lily sobbed into his shoulder. "I love you too, Daddy."
"Miss Ander
son, are you okay?"
Lily looked up and saw Harold Jeeves staring at her with concern. "What? Oh yes, I'm fine. My mind just wandered a bit."
"Shall we get back to what we were discussing?"
Lily pushed back her chair. "I'm sorry, Mr. Jeeves. I really have to go. I'm sorry."
She hurried out of his office and headed toward Mandy's house. Something wasn't right, and she was certain Mandy would be able to help her figure out what it was. She was remembering things she wasn't sure made sense, and it was as if an inner voice was whispering to her, "Mandy knows the answers."
Chapter 5
Mandy was in her garden when Lily arrived. Lily stood for a moment beside the white picket fence, watching as Mandy dug deep into the earth. Beside her stood several pots of miniature roses. Just as Lily was wondering how to get her attention without startling her, Mandy spoke.
"Hello, Lily." She set down her trowel before rising to face Lily. "You want to ask me about your mother."
"How did you know—"
Mandy smiled as she approached Lily. Wiping her dirty hands on an old towel, she opened the gate for Lily to walk through. "I know many things, my child. I knew this day would someday come. I'd just hoped it would be sooner."
Lily followed her up the path to the house. "Knew what day would come? I don't understand."
"Your father took you away from here in hopes you would never discover that you too are a witch, just like your dear mother. And without her nurturing to guide you, your powers never developed. At least, not so that you knew what they were."
"This is absurd. I'm not a witch." She heard the words come out of her mouth, but deep in her heart, she knew the real truth. It was just so hard to come to terms with it all. She felt quite lost.
Mandy indicated a chair. "Sit down while I make us some tea." She smiled. "Yes, I know. You want black tea." She bustled about the kitchen, putting on the kettle, getting teacups out of the cupboard, cutting up lemons. "Your mother, Rebekah, was a powerful Wicca. A healer. We belonged to the same coven, as did the mothers of all the women you saw here the other night."
Bell, Book and Dyke - New Exploits of Magical Lesbians Page 3
