“He probably realized what a jerk he was being, when Tessa and Taryn had just found out their sister was dead,” Phoebe said, crossing her arms over her chest.
It was so windy out now that Piper’s long hair whipped around her face, stinging her skin as she, Phoebe, and Paige huddled together and rushed along the dirt paths to their tent. The moment they ducked inside, Piper plopped down on her cot and let out a loud sigh.
“Well, at least it’s over,” she said, pushing her tangled mass of hair behind her shoulders. She bent at her waist and pulled her suitcase out from under her cot, jimmying it between her feet and into the center of the floor. She flung open the top flap and started to organize the rumpled clothes inside, making room for the rest of her stuff.
“What’re you doing?” Phoebe asked, her forehead creased.
“Packing,” Piper responded, folding a T-shirt over her arm. “We did what we came here to do. We can go home now.”
She saw Paige and Phoebe look at each other warily but pretended not to notice. Instead she started grabbing clothing that had ended up hanging from the various furniture in the room, and folding it up. There was no way she was going to let her little sisters talk her into staying now. No way.
“Piper, come on,” Paige said, walking over and taking a T-shirt right out of Piper’s hands. “Now that we got rid of the kidnappers, we can have an actual vacation!”
“Paige, this isn’t a vacation!” Piper said. “It’s a nuthouse! Besides, most of the nuts have already left. There are no Wiccans left to be all Wiccan with!”
“I bet some of them come back now that we’ve vanquished the Anubi,” Phoebe said. “Word travels fast, right? And they’re not going to want to miss the rededication ceremony. It’s kind of a big deal.”
Piper leveled her sister with a stare. “You mean they think it’s kind of a big deal, right?” she demanded.
Phoebe looked away and bit her bottom lip.
“Oh, come on, Phoebe! Tell me you’re not into this!” Piper exclaimed, tossing a pair of jeans into her bag.
“Hey! I spent a lot of time and energy on that piece for the rededication ceremony,” Phoebe half whined. “I don’t want to leave before it gets read!”
“It’s two against one, Piper,” Paige said, standing next to Phoebe and folding her arms over the front of her ruffled blouse. “What do you say?”
Piper pressed her lips together and looked from Paige to Phoebe, hoping one of them would show some sign of cracking. One little trace of uncertainty. But they didn’t. They both were clearly resolved to see this Gathering of the Covens thing through.
“All right, fine, but for our next vacation we’re going to Aruba or something,” she said firmly. She kicked her suitcase back under her cot and lay down as Phoebe and Paige started figuring out what they were going to wear for the ceremony.
Please! Piper thought. If I get through this night without laughing my butt off, it’ll be a miracle.
Sitting in a circle before the bonfire with the rest of the covens that evening, Paige felt an overwhelming sense of joy and peace. The clouds had cleared out and the dark sky was filled with a million flickering stars. The wind was still kicking, blowing the flowers that decorated the altar and the circle all over the place, but no one seemed to care much. A few of the covens that had fled earlier in the week had returned, and everyone had dressed up for the occasion. Most of the women wore flowers in their hair, and some of the men wore horned helmets. Even Jasmine’s coven had gotten a little colorful in the spirit of the summer solstice, wearing purple and red scarves and crystal jewelry.
Paige herself had worn a billowing purple peasant top and had woven yellow and white blooms through her French braid. Phoebe had done the same with her hair, and even Piper, after a lot of cajoling, had agreed to a few flowers of her own, though she had insisted on wearing jeans.
“This is so cool,” Paige said, leaning in toward Piper’s ear.
“Yeah. What’s the point of this again?” Piper asked in a whisper.
Paige rolled her eyes. “We’re dedicating ourselves to the spiritual path of Wicca and to the Goddess,” she replied. “And if you laugh, I’ll kick your butt.”
Piper simply smiled and sat up straight again, turning her attention to Marcia.
Marcia read the Rededication Rite at the altar, which was decorated with a white cloth and yellow candles. Every coven had contributed its own passage, but it all flowed together as if it were one piece. Marcia, for the first time since Paige met her, looked calm, if a bit tired. She was wearing a wreath on her head, with ribbons tumbling down her back, and a white off-the-shoulder gown. Her voice was confident and comforting at the same time. Paige couldn’t have been more happy that she and her sisters had stayed for this. She had a feeling it was a night she was going to remember for the rest of her life.
“I’m getting tired,” Piper said with a huge yawn, checking her watch. “You think it’s almost over?”
“Piper!” Phoebe hissed, whacking her sister’s arm. “I think we’re almost up to my passage.”
“Besides, after this we get cakes and ale,” Paige put in, raising her eyebrows.
“Cakes and ale, huh?” Piper said with an impressed frown. “All right. I’ll stick around.”
Paige grinned, and just as she returned her attention to Marcia, Phoebe reached past Piper to tap her knee.
“This is it! This is my part!” she said giddily.
“Blessed Lady, on this night we thank thee
For all those who have come into our lives through your love,
For all those who share with us your wisdom and your light,
For all the fruits of your strength and power
And for the promise of the gifts yet to come.
We thank thee humbly for granting us peace on this night.
Peace without and peace within….”
“That was it!” Phoebe announced in a whisper, beaming as Marcia continued to read.
“Phoebe, I’m impressed!” Piper said once Marcia was finished. “You have a knack for this stuff.”
“Thank you very much,” Phoebe replied with a pleased flush.
“All that stuff about peace,” Paige said, smiling. “You knew we were gonna catch the bad guys before tonight, didn’t ya?”
“More like I was hoping,” Phoebe said humbly.
Marcia stepped out from behind the altar and raised her palms to the sky. She looked up at the stars, then closed her eyes.
“Lady and Lord, accept our words of devotion on this blessed night,” she said. “We thank thee for our faith and dedicate our lives once again to your good name. Let your power live within us throughout the season and throughout the year.”
“So mote it be!” Paige exclaimed in unison with the crowd, jumping to her feet along with the rest of the covens.
Piper and Phoebe laughed as everyone stood up and hugged and started to dance. A little band of musicians from the hippie coven, who had returned late that afternoon, struck up some minstrel-style music, and the dancing only grew wilder. Piper and Phoebe stood up, and Paige grabbed their hands, whipping them around in a circle. Phoebe laughed, and even Piper couldn’t contain herself and was soon laughing as well.
“Cakes and ale!” someone shouted. Paige whirled to see that Christian and the rest of his coven were wheeling out tables filled with fruit and luscious-looking breads and cakes. Someone started to pass out cups, and soon the wine was flowing as well.
“This is like a prettier version of a frat party,” Phoebe said, taking a cup of wine for herself.
“Nothing wrong with that,” Piper said, loading up a plate with food.
“So, Piper, I didn’t see Tessa and Taryn tonight,” Paige said.
“Yeah, they left a couple of hours ago,” Piper replied with a sigh. “Tessa said they were just exhausted and they wanted to get home.”
“I hope they’ll be okay,” Phoebe put in. “I felt so badly for them this afternoon. I almost didn’t
think Taryn was going to make it when she heard that all the witches were dead.”
“I know, but they’ll be all right eventually. It’s just going to take time,” Piper said. “For now I think we should just try to have a good time tonight. I think they would want us to.”
“Hey, girls!” a voice called out over the crowd.
Paige turned to find Jasmine walking up to them, her curly hair blowing all over the place in the wind. She had dusted her face with a light coating of silvery purple glitter and had drawn a tiny star next to her right eye. Paige had never seen her look so beautiful.
“Hey!” Paige said. “You should stray from the all-black thing more often.”
“Oh…thanks,” Jasmine said, her eyes bright. She held up a plate full of snacks. “Did you try this raisin bread yet? It’s unreal.”
“Not yet,” Paige said.
She glanced around for her sisters, looking for a way to get out of this conversation quickly and gracefully, but Piper and Phoebe had wandered closer to the bonfire. Paige hoped Jasmine didn’t want to talk about their powers again and that she wasn’t still angry about Piper’s freezing her earlier that day. The last thing any of them needed was a public airing of magical laundry.
“So, did you like the ceremony?” Jasmine asked, taking a bite of her bread.
“Yeah, it was very cool,” Paige replied. “What did you think? You guys have probably done it up better in the past, huh?”
“No! I really liked it!” Jasmine said with a nod as she looked around at the crowd. “I have to say, I’m impressed. I thought it was going to be all schlocky and hokey, but Marcia knows her stuff. I mean, I take these rituals very seriously, so it’s hard to impress me.”
“Ah,” Paige said with a small smile. Sometimes Jasmine’s ego was a little too prevalent. But at least she was talking about something other than what had gone on that afternoon.
“So, I know you guys weren’t going to see the tigers this afternoon,” Jasmine said, a knowing smile in her eyes.
Paige gave herself a mental kick. She knew that the moment she got comfortable, Jasmine would bring it up. What was wrong with her?
“What did Tessa and Taryn tell you?” Paige asked, walking a few feet away from the crowd so that they wouldn’t be overheard.
“Not much. Just that you guys found the kidnappers and dealt with them,” Jasmine said with a shrug. “Don’t worry about it, P., your secret’s safe with me. I’ve got powers, too, you know. When you’ve got ‘em, you like to use ‘em.”
Paige nodded thoughtfully. There Jasmine went again, alluding to her power. Was she just talking about the parlor tricks she and her friends had played the other night, or did she have some actual sizzle up her sleeves?
“What kind of powers, exactly?” Paige asked nonchalantly. “Anything cool?”
“Oh, nothing like what you guys can do, obviously,” Jasmine said, glancing over her shoulder at Piper and Phoebe, who were starting to dance with some of the hippie guys. “No, you three are special….”
Paige was surprised by Jasmine’s words. It was the first almost-humble thing she’d said since they met.
“I’d show you, but I wouldn’t want to freak out these wanna-bes,” Jasmine added, turning to face Paige again, her curls flying. She took a sip of her drink and smiled conspiratorially. “You understand,” she said.
“Of course,” Paige replied, trying not to smirk.
“Don’t worry, though. I’m honing my powers right now, but I’ll show you what I can do,” Jasmine said, lifting her cup to her lips again, “when the time comes.”
For some reason a chill ran down Paige’s arms at these last words. What exactly did Jasmine mean when she said she was “honing” her powers? Maybe she was more powerful than Paige originally believed. Paige looked into Jasmine’s eyes, and the smile there had somehow darkened. But then she blinked and the shadow was gone. Paige cleared her throat and looked away. Had she imagined it?
“Well, I gotta go save Chloe,” Jasmine said. “The girl gets messy when there’s ale around. It’s so embarrassing. And we do have a reputation to uphold.”
“What reputation is that?” Phoebe asked.
“We take our magic seriously,” Jasmine replied firmly. “Our coven is one of the elite covens on the East Coast, and I haven’t let Chloe’s alcoholic tendencies get in the way of that yet.”
Suddenly a loud whoop went out from the other side of the bonfire, and Paige looked up to see Purple Hair herself being swung around and off her feet by one of Christian’s brethren.
“Then, you’d better go to it,” Paige said.
Jasmine paled and shoved her plate and cup at Paige, then took off in Chloe’s direction.
As Jasmine flitted off, Paige laughed and waved her few free fingers, pushing her unease aside. Jasmine was just Jasmine, whatever powers she might have. All the girl was interested in was being the coolest girl at the ball—or the coolest Wiccan at the Gathering, in this case.
“Paige, come on!” Phoebe called out from the midst of the evergrowing number of dancing Wiccans. “Piper is actually skipping!”
This Paige had to see. She jogged over to join her sisters by the band, forgetting all about Jasmine’s temporary darkness. The kidnappers were vanquished and she was officially here for pleasure, not business. It was time to let her Wiccan hair down!
• • •
That night Piper jolted awake in a panic, suddenly unable to breathe. Fear gripped her heart before she was even fully awake—before she could even open her eyes. She felt the hand over her mouth just before her own hands were wrenched behind her and tied tightly with a length of rope that burned her skin. Piper flailed wildly, trying to get a look at her assailants, but they were behind her, tying her up, gagging her with some kind of cloth.
Grunting as loudly as she could, Piper looked at her sisters, who were somehow sleeping soundly through her struggle. How could they not hear this? How could they not wake up? Just the sound of her pulse roaring in her ears was loud enough to wake the dead. She kicked out, trying to knock something over or hit something hard, but there wasn’t much in the tent to destroy, and her powers were useless with her hands tied.
This can’t be happening! It can’t be! Piper thought, her mind racing as she struggled. We vanquished you! You’re dead! The kidnappers are dead!
Piper’s heart pounded furiously as she was dragged backward from the tent, kicking and flailing to no avail. Wake up! Please just wake up, one of you! Piper cried soundlessly. Phoebe and Paige didn’t move a muscle. Piper stared helplessly at her sisters through tear-blurred eyes until the tent flap closed in front of her and blocked them from view. Everything happened so quickly Piper wasn’t even sure they would have had time to react even if they had woken up.
The moment the kidnappers got Piper outside, she used all the strength left in her body to pull herself away, wheeling around in a circle from the force of her own motion. Hands tied, mouth gagged, she whipped her hair out of her face and got one good look at her captors.
“Oh, my God,” Piper said through her gag. It can’t be….
Then everything went black.
Chapter
11
“Paige! Paige, wake up!”
“Phoebe?” Paige muttered, slinging her forearm across her face to shield her eyes as she blinked them open. Harsh sunlight was already streaming into the tent, but Paige felt as if she’d been asleep for only a couple of hours. She was sweating like crazy, and she kicked her blankets away from her.
“What’s wrong?” Paige asked groggily as she sat up. It was clear from Phoebe’s panicked tone that something had happened, but Paige was still half asleep, and the moment she was upright, a sharp pain shot through her forehead. “Ugh…too much ale,” she groaned.
“Forget the ale,” Phoebe said sharply. “Paige, Piper’s gone!”
“What?!” Paige opened her eyes fully for the first time and looked across the tent at Piper’s cot. Her eyes watered i
mmediately from the sting of the direct sunlight, but Paige could see that Piper’s sheets were tangled and twisted. The top sheet trailed across the floor, and her pillow was at the foot of her bed.
“Well, maybe she just got up in a rush,” Paige said, standing and walking over to her sister’s cot, ignoring the throbbing in her head. “I mean, she wasn’t taken, right? We vanquished the Anubi.”
“I don’t know, Paige. I have a really bad feeling about this,” Phoebe said, wringing her hands. “It’s really not like Piper to leave such a mess. And it’s only seven o’clock in the morning. When was the last time she got up before seven o’clock?”
“Okay, just stay calm. Let’s think this through,” Paige said. Her pulse was starting to pound and she brought both hands up to press them against her forehead. This couldn’t be happening. There was no way Piper could have been taken. They had solved this whole thing yesterday!
“If she struggled, why didn’t we wake up?” Paige asked, grasping at straws. “Why didn’t she just use her powers and blow something up, or blow up whatever took her?”
“Maybe she couldn’t, I don’t know,” Phoebe said, sitting on the edge of her bed. “But all those other people who had coven members kidnapped said no one heard a thing. And we did have a few cups of that wine last night, so we were probably totally out.” She paused and took a deep breath, thinking. “Paige, what if the Anubi didn’t take all those other Wiccans? What if the kidnapper is still out there and he has Piper now?”
“But we put a protection spell on the tent!” Paige cried, starting to feel desperate. “There’s no way anyone could have gotten past…”
Paige trailed off as a suspicion started to take shape in her mind. Fear gripped her stomach like a vise and she sat down on Piper’s bed, almost unable to breathe. She clutched Piper’s cold pillow, trying to get control of her racing brain.
“What is it?” Phoebe asked, her brow creasing. “What’s wrong?”
“Jasmine,” Paige said, her voice coming out in a whisper. “She said something to me last night…oh, God, this is not good.”
Something Wiccan This Way Comes Page 12
