Merry Meet

by Isobel Bird

  A young woman was standing in front of Anya and the others, answering their questions. Kate realized that she was the only one left standing in the circle. Everyone else had stepped forward. When the girl was done, there would be no one else to go instead of Kate. Her heart beat faster as she listened to the young woman finish her statements and take her word from Sophia’s bowl.

  “Who will come to the cauldron?” Anya called for the last time.

  Kate couldn’t move. She was scared. What if she was making the wrong decision? What if she really wasn’t cut out for this? She’d thought she was sure, but now her mind was flooded with questions. Then she looked over and saw Annie and Cooper standing with the others who had taken part in the ritual. Their candles glowed brightly, and they were smiling at her.

  She stepped forward. Once she made that first tentative step, it was easy. She walked up to the cauldron and faced Anya.

  “What gifts do you bring with you on your journey?” she asked.

  Kate lifted her head and looked into Anya’s eyes.

  “I bring with me the gifts of willingness, friendship, and doubt,” she said.

  Anya’s eyes sparkled as she stepped aside, and Sophia moved in front of Kate.

  “These are very good gifts, indeed,” she said, giving Kate a private smile. “Now, choose your challenge.”

  Kate took a deep breath and reached into the bowl. Her fingers moved among the many different pieces of paper until she selected one and took it out.

  “Truth,” she read.

  As Sophia handed her a candle and she went to stand beside her friends, Kate thought about what her challenge might mean. Did it mean that she had to start telling the truth? She pretty much already did that, at least most of the time. Maybe it meant that she had to find out the truth about something else. But what? She had no idea. Was it possible that she’d chosen the wrong word? She didn’t know. I suppose I’ll find out, she thought to herself.

  “Your journey is now begun,” Rowan said. “As you travel, remember your gifts. Remember also your challenges. They will appear to you in many forms, some recognizable and some not. But however they come, your gifts will help you to face them.”

  “And as you travel,” Sophia said. “Remember that there are others traveling the same path. Some of them are with you here tonight. Others you have yet to meet.”

  “But when you do,” Rowan said, concluding the ritual, “remember the words with which we open all our circles.”

  Kate joined the others in saying the phrase that was quickly becoming familiar to her: “Merry meet, and merry part, and merry meet again!”

  With the ritual over, the lights were turned back on and the participants talked freely with one another as they helped blow out the candles and put the furniture in the room back into place.

  “That felt so great,” Cooper said as she, Kate, and Annie carried a table into the center of the room.

  “I’m a little confused about my challenge, though,” Annie said. “Healing? What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Try getting connection,” Cooper said. “It sounds like I’m going to be set up on a blind date or something.”

  Kate was glad to hear that her friends were as perplexed about their challenges as she was about hers. At least that way she wouldn’t be the only one with no clue about what she was supposed to be looking for while she studied Wicca.

  “You guys were so cool!” said a voice behind Kate.

  She turned and saw Sasha standing there. She was wearing new clothes, and she looked better than Kate had ever seen her.

  “Hey,” Kate said, hugging her. “How is everything?”

  “Pretty good,” Sasha answered. “Thea has been great. She’s helping me sort everything out. I’m still not sure exactly what I want to do, but she says I can stay with her as long as I need to.”

  “That’s fantastic,” Cooper said, giving Sasha a high-five.

  “I really want to thank you guys again,” Sasha said. “Especially you, Kate. You could have just given up on me, but you didn’t.”

  Kate shrugged. “And let you run off to tour around with Jack and No Doubt?” she said. “I don’t think so.”

  Archer had pulled back the curtains that separated the ritual room from the rest of the store. People were leaving, and Kate noticed that Tyler was standing by the door talking to someone.

  “I’ll be right back,” she said to her friends. “There’s something I have to do.”

  As she walked toward Tyler, she bumped into someone who was crouched down, perusing some books on a lower shelf.

  “Oh, excuse me,” Kate said, realizing suddenly she was looking down at the back of one of the girls from the school cheerleading squad. Before Megan could turn around, Kate spun around in alarm and continued toward Tyler. She didn’t see me, Kate told herself. She couldn’t have.

  Chapter 18

  It was not a date.

  Kate sat at a booth in the back of the burger place on the pier, waiting for Tyler to arrive. She’d decided that she needed to explain things to him. It was time for her to tell him about Scott and about why she had acted so strangely on the night they’d gone out. She hoped he would understand. She really did like him, and she wanted to be friends, especially if she was going to run into him at rituals or at the bookstore.

  She hadn’t told Scott that she was going to meet Tyler. Luckily, she hadn’t had to make up any excuse, either. Scott was out with his friends. He assumed that Kate was home doing homework, and she didn’t see any reason to tell him otherwise.

  While she waited, Kate played with the new ring on her finger. It had been a gift from Scott, to replace the one she’d thrown into the ocean when he broke up with her. But there was no chance of this one getting thrown away. She’d learned her lesson. Scott was definitely the guy for her, and now that things were all set with his school, she was perfectly content.

  “You got the same booth,” Tyler said, sliding into the seat across from Kate.

  “It wasn’t on purpose,” she said. “I just asked for one in the back.”

  Now that Tyler was there, Kate decided to just say what she had to say. “I’m glad you came,” she said. “I thought maybe you’d be mad.”

  “Not mad,” Tyler said. “A little confused, maybe, but not mad.”

  “I don’t blame you for that,” Kate said. “You deserve an explanation.”

  “It’s okay,” said Tyler. “You don’t have to explain. I’m just not your type, right?”

  “No,” said Kate. “I mean, no, that’s not it. It’s just that I have a boyfriend.”

  Tyler nodded. “Boyfriend,” he repeated.

  Kate played with the salt and pepper shakers. “Yeah,” she said. “His name is Scott. He’s a football player.” She didn’t know why she was telling Tyler all of this, but she was nervous, and when she was nervous she talked too much.

  “Football player,” Tyler said. “Should I watch my back?”

  Kate laughed in spite of herself. “Don’t worry,” she said. “He doesn’t know. And anyway, we were broken up when you and I had our . . . when we had dinner. But we got back together.”

  “Well, that explains everything, then,” Tyler said. “Shall we order?”

  Kate looked up at him. “You still want to be friends with me?” she asked. “After what I did?”

  “You didn’t do anything,” said Tyler. “Remember?”

  Kate blushed. “You know what I mean.”

  “Look,” Tyler said. “I think you’re great. That doesn’t mean I have to date you. If all we can be is friends, then that’s fine.”

  “Are you sure you’re a guy?” Kate asked.

  Tyler laughed. “Try growing up with a mom and a sister telling you how you have to be sensitive your whole life,” he said. “It rubs off after a while.”

  They ordered their food and continued talking while they ate. Kate was so relieved that Tyler wasn’t angry with her that she was much more comfortable being aro
und him than she’d been the first time they’d had dinner. She even found herself stealing fries off his plate when she finished hers.

  “Hey,” he said. “You owe me for those.”

  “How about I buy you an ice cream after dinner?” Kate suggested.

  “You’re on,” Tyler agreed.

  When they finished, they walked over to the Frozen Cow, and Kate made good on her promise by getting Tyler a butter pecan cone and a strawberry one for herself. Because the ice cream parlor was crowded, they decided to walk along the beach.

  “Ice cream in April,” Kate said as they walked. “Maybe not the best idea.”

  “Yeah, but just think how cool it still is,” Tyler said, giving his cone a lick. “At least the ice cream won’t drip.”

  They walked until they came to the giant boulder. Climbing the rocks leading to the top, they sat down to finish their ice cream. The night was clear, and the sky stretched out above them filled with stars.

  “I liked what you said at the dedication ritual,” Tyler said to Kate. “About doubt being one of your gifts.”

  “I don’t really know why I said that,” Kate admitted. “I’d actually planned on saying positivity, but someone else did. I thought it would look like I was copying if I said it too. Doubt just kind of popped out at the last second.”

  “And do you have doubts?” Tyler asked. “About Wicca, I mean.”

  “Some,” Kate said. “But that’s why I decided to do this year-and-a-day thing. I want to find out what it’s all about and whether or not it’s for me. I don’t know that I can believe all the things your mother does, for example. Or that you do. But I want to find out.”

  “That’s one of the great things about witchcraft,” Tyler said. “You don’t have to believe any one set of things. You’ll discover pretty quickly that people believe all kinds of things. People who say that their way is the only right way are probably afraid that their way really isn’t the right one.”

  “Do you ever have doubts?” Kate asked.

  “Sure,” Tyler said. “All the time.”

  “And how do you deal with them?”

  Tyler crunched his cone. “You just have to take risks sometimes,” he said. “Sometimes things seem really safe, you know? You think you’ve made the right choice or you know exactly what you want. Then something happens and you’re not sure. It’s easy to run back to that original thing instead of taking a chance. But sometimes you need to take a chance too.”

  “Like Sasha running away instead of taking a chance on us helping her,” Kate said.

  “Right,” said Tyler. “But she did take a chance, and now she has a lot of people who care about her.”

  They sat in silence for a while, looking at the stars and the ocean. Do I take enough chances? Kate wondered. She’d definitely taken a chance when she approached Annie about checking out the spell book in the school library. But she’d only done it when she had no other choice. What about other times? Did she usually stick with what was familiar, or did she let herself try new things?

  She thought about her life. Sherrie, Jessica, and Tara were familiar. And she was having a hard time letting go of them, even though part of her thought she would be better off without them. She also was having a hard time letting go of some of her beliefs about religion and what it should be. But she was doing it, slowly, and it felt good, even when it was hard. So maybe she was making progress after all.

  But what about Scott? a voice in her head asked.

  What about Scott? Scott was the one thing she was sure of. Or was she? She asked herself why she was really with him. Was it because he made her happy? Or was it because he was safe? Did being with him make her feel secure because it meant she didn’t have to take any risks?

  She looked over at Tyler. She remembered the first time she’d seen him, and how she’d been drawn in by his golden eyes. It was true—he was really cute. But there was more to him than that. A lot more. She’d never talked with a guy the way she talked with Tyler. He made her ask questions. He made her look at things in a different way. He made her look for the truth.

  The truth. Wasn’t that what her challenge was—the truth? She hadn’t really understood what that meant. But maybe this was part of it. Maybe she was being asked to look at herself and find out what the true parts were and what parts were holding her back.

  But was being with Scott holding her back? She felt the ring on her finger. She’d been so happy when Scott said he wanted to get back together. She was sure they were meant to be together. But was it because she missed having him in her life, or because having him back made things feel more normal? And where did Tyler fit into all of this?

  “Tyler?” she said suddenly.

  “Yeah?” he responded, wiping ice cream from his chin.

  “There’s something I didn’t tell you the night we went out,” she said, feeling her pulse begin to speed up as she made a decision.

  “What’s that?” asked Tyler.

  “This,” said Kate. She leaned over and kissed him, catching him off guard. Her lips pressed against his, and she put her hands around his neck.

  She knew what she was doing was crazy. She’d just finished telling him that she had a boyfriend, and here she was kissing him. What was he going to think?

  She didn’t care. It felt so good to have her mouth on his, and to feel him in her arms. When he slid his hands around her and pulled her closer, she knew she’d done the right thing. He held her tightly, kissing her lips, then her chin and her cheeks.

  She didn’t know what she was going to do about Scott. All she knew at that moment was that she felt as if she and Tyler were the only two people in the world. Nothing else mattered. She had taken a chance, allowed herself to risk making a mistake. And it felt wonderful.

  When Tyler finally pulled away from her, she found herself staring into his eyes, unable to say anything. She was afraid that anything that came out of her mouth would ruin what had just happened.

  “Was this a good thing?” Tyler said.

  “Yeah,” Kate said. “It was a good thing.”

  “Okay,” Tyler said, grinning. “Because I’d really like to do it again.”

  When she got home, Kate went to her room and flopped onto her bed. She and Tyler had spent a long time on top of the rock at the edge of the ocean, talking and kissing. But mostly kissing, she said to herself, trying to remember exactly how Tyler tasted, smelled, and felt.

  She put her hands to her face, breathing in the scent of him. The ring on her finger scratched her nose, and she thought suddenly of Scott. She would have to talk to him, and soon. There could be no putting it off. She knew that being with him wasn’t what she really wanted, even if it was the easiest thing to do. But what was he going to say? He had changed his college plans just to be near her. He had given up a scholarship to the school in New York. And now she was going to have to tell him that she didn’t want to be with him. Thinking about it, the joy inside her turned to icy fear. Breaking up with Scott—again—was going to change a lot of things in her life.

  But she knew she had to. And she knew that she could do it. She’d learned a lot about herself in the last few weeks. She’d been able to put aside her fears and help Sasha. She’d taken part in the dedication ritual and accepted the challenge of going deeper into Wicca. This was just one more challenge.

  Better sooner than later, she told herself. She might as well call Scott and talk to him that night. If she waited, she would only worry about it. She started to pick up the phone to dial his number, but it rang before she could.

  “Hello?” she said.

  “Oh, you’re home.” It was Sherrie.

  “Hey,” Kate said. “Can I call you right back?” She wanted to get the conversation with Scott over with before she did anything else.

  “Oh, this will take just a second,” Sherrie responded.

  “Okay,” said Kate. “What’s up?”

  “I’m just sitting here with the girls,” Sherrie said. “
And we were thinking about you.”

  “Really?” said Kate. “Why?” It wasn’t like Sherrie to just call for no reason. Something had to be going on.

  “I had an interesting talk with Megan at practice today,” Sherrie replied.

  Megan. The icy feeling in Kate’s stomach got worse.

  “She said she saw you at that witch store in town the other night,” Sherrie continued. “You and your friends. She said you seemed awfully friendly with the people there.”

  So, Megan had seen them at Crones’ Circle the night of the ceremony.

  “I can imagine Crandall and Rivers hanging out with freaks like that,” Sherrie said when Kate didn’t respond. “But you? What’s with that? Are you becoming a witch or something?”

  Kate started to tell Sherrie that she was being ridiculous and that Megan had blown things all out of proportion. But then she stopped herself. Her challenge was truth. She’d already told the truth once by admitting that she wanted to be with Tyler. Now she had another chance. But telling Sherrie that she was studying Wicca would be like publishing a notice in the newspaper. Could she really do it?

  Kate took a deep breath. Sherrie was waiting for an answer.

  An Interview with Isobel Bird, Part Two

  Part One of “An Interview with Isobel Bird” is available in the HarperCollins e-book edition of Circle of Three, Book 1: So Mote it Be

  Isobel Bird, when did you first begin writing?

  I first began writing when I was a teenager. I found that it was a wonderful way to express the things I was feeling. I also liked escaping into the worlds I could create in stories.

  Which character (Kate, Annie, or Cooper) are you most like?

  Each character has a little bit of myself in her, so it’s hard to say which one is most like me. The one who is the most unlike me is Kate. I was never good at sports, or popular, the way she is. But I certainly relate to her insecurities and her relationship to her family and her friends. I think probably I was most like Annie when I was a teenager, a little introverted and something of a bookworm. Now I’m more like Cooper, but perhaps not as reckless.