by Pat Esden
Juliet prowled up the stairs, not letting Chloe gain any distance. “I didn’t hear the door buzzer.”
It had been less than twenty-four hours since Chloe left her apartment, but in a way it felt like decades. More than anything, she wanted a hot shower and time alone to think.
“All right.” She surrendered, as they reached the door to her apartment. She wouldn’t get any peace if she didn’t. “It was the guy from the coven.”
Juliet stabbed the master key into the door’s lock. “Inside, now. You’re going to tell me absolutely everything.”
“I’m exhausted. Can we talk about this later over some Chinese? My treat. You can order whatever you want.”
“You’re not going to buy your way out of this that easily.” Juliet opened the door and propelled them both inside. Once the door was shut, she plopped onto the couch and patted the spot next to her. “Sit. I want details. All of them. Then maybe Chinese.”
Chloe sunk down on the edge of the coffee table. “His name is Devlin. He’s really nice.”
“Older?”
“Not that much. Twenty-four. Maybe twenty-five”
“You didn’t ask him?”
“There wasn’t exactly time.”
Juliet’s eyes bulged. “So he’s as cute without his clothes on as with?”
“Well, yeah.” Chloe hugged herself. She was dying to tell someone. Juliet would figure it out eventually. “He’s amazing, but it wasn’t just about him. I disappeared because there was this initiation. I joined the Northern Circle.”
Juliet rose partway to her feet, like a cat ready to jump and claw. “You were supposed to go to the Wiccan meeting with me on Wednesday. You said you were going to give it a chance before you went all fancy-snobby coven on me.”
“The Circle’s not like that. They’re into discovering ancient cures, medicine and magic. That’s something I’m interested in. They’ve been around for a long time. They know what they’re doing.” She closed her eyes for a second, then added one last defense. “I didn’t join because of him if that’s what you’re thinking.”
A red bloom of anger slashed across Juliet’s cheeks. “Medicine. Ancient cures. Didn’t you ever think I might be interested in that?”
Chloe swallowed hard. Shit. She shouldn’t have mentioned the coven’s mission. Juliet was aiming to be a veterinarian, as long as the cat toy business didn’t intervene. Chloe thought fast. “The coven’s not into animal medicine.”
The lameness of her reasoning wasn’t lost on Juliet. “In case you’re wondering, I’m not an idiot. I could have gone to an Ivy League university if I wanted—Cornell or Harvard. I was valedictorian of my high school class—and it wasn’t some hick school either.” Her eyes burned into Chloe. “Or am I too ugly or weird for your rich-witch friends?”
“Of course, not. I—It sounds self-centered, but I never thought about you. You’ve got the Wiccan group. You seemed happy.”
Juliet huffed. “I am. But that doesn’t mean I’m not curious about the Northern Circle.” She leaned forward, her voice going quiet. “One technique cults use is isolation, building walls between people and their friends.”
Chloe closed her eyes, a dull headache beginning to pinch behind them. The last thing she needed was for Juliet to become convinced that she’d been brainwashed by a cult and tell the university administrators or health services—or, worse yet, call her parents and tell them about the Circle. She forced a level tone into her voice. “How about if I ask the high priestess if you can come as a guest?”
“You’d do that?” Juliet gaped at her.
“It might not always feel like it to you, but you are my friend. One of my only ones.” Chloe contemplated how she could pull this off. She’d have to explain the situation to Athena, then bring Juliet by the complex for some May wine or tea—maybe not Athena’s special ginger tea. They could tour Chandler’s art studio. Athena could lie, tell Juliet that they weren’t taking any more members for this year. Let Juliet down easy.
A loud knock sounded on Chloe’s front door. “Which one of you morons left the downstairs door open?” Greta shouted from the hallway. “Do you want every creep in the world to get in?” She stomped off.
“She really needs to mellow out,” Chloe whispered.
Juliet pressed a hand over her mouth, stifling a laugh.
Relief washed over Chloe. One of the good things about Juliet was that she never stayed angry for long. Unfortunately, she wouldn’t be as quick to forget about the Northern Circle.
* * * *
The next morning, instead of sitting in the front of Folklore class, Chloe sat in the back with Keshari. When the class finally ended, they hurried out of the room ahead of everyone else.
“You won’t believe everything that’s happened,” Chloe said, as they went outside into the sunshine. “I planned on calling you last night. Actually I planned on doing a lot of things, but I was so exhausted I fell asleep super early.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Keshari smiled broadly. “I was busy myself. My neighbor’s appendix ruptured. They rushed her to the emergency room. She isn’t good with English, so I went to the hospital to help translate. Friends look out for friends, even when they don’t ask for it.” She said the last part like a motto, then dismissed the story with a wave of her hand. “Enough about that. Everything is fine with her. Tell me what happened to you. You are talking about the initiation, yes?”
“That and more.” Chloe patted her messenger bag, indicating the package she had safely tucked inside. “I need to drop something off at the Mail Center. It’s for my mother and I’d like her to get it right away. Want to go to the café after that and talk? I could use a coffee in the worst way.”
As they headed across the campus green toward the Waterman building, Chloe gave Keshari an overview about what had happened at the quarry and about spending the night with Devlin.
When they reached the building’s front steps, she glanced around to make sure no one was close enough to hear, then told Keshari the news about Merlin.
Keshari stepped back, almost stumbling off the steps. “You are not serious. Merlin? The Merlin.”
Chloe nodded. “The one and only.”
“Are you sure they are capable of something of that scale? You would think, if it were possible, some larger and more powerful coven would have done it by now.”
“It’s not just about power. No one else knew his staff crystal still existed. Athena’s planning on using it somehow.”
Keshari lowered her voice even further. “Are you sure the act of bringing Merlin into this world won’t disturb the balance of the universe? Yin and yang. This could be connected to the orb’s warning.”
“I don’t think so. But, maybe.” She blew out a loud breath. “You’re making my head spin.”
“Good. You have much to think about. This is huge.”
Chloe went into the building first, leading the way through the busy hallways to the Print and Mail Center. The idea of taking time to send her mom a package right now felt totally out of step with the rest of her life. But her mother was going to love the straws. Hopefully they’d also make up for the fact that she didn’t want to call home right now. She didn’t want to lie to her mom about what was going on in her life, but it wasn’t like she wanted to tell her the truth either.
Once the package was sent, they went back out into the hallway. Keshari pulled out her phone, reading the café lunch specials as they walked. “Pumpkin soup. Braised kale and feta pizza…”
A sharp crackle of nearby magic prickled Chloe’s skin. She snagged Keshari by the arm, pulling her to a stop. “Did you feel that?”
Keshari went stock-still. “What?”
Chloe cocked her head; beneath the hubbub of voices and footsteps she heard a slight snap-crackle. Magic for sure. She focused on the sound, scanning through the crow
d of students and office workers until she pinpointed it. A burly guy with long dreadlocks lounged against the frame of a closed door with his back to them. A backpack hung over one of his broad shoulders. At first glance it looked like he was focused on his phone, his thumb moving against the screen. But then—despite the fact he’d angled himself in an attempt to shield it from view––Chloe noticed that his other hand rested on the door’s keycard lock. She was also certain who he was now.
She pulled Keshari into a doorway where they could still see him but weren’t quite so obvious. “That’s Midas.”
“He was an initiate too, yes?”
“Yeah and he’s really skilled.”
Keshari craned her neck, taking another look. “You think he can pick that lock with magic?”
“Definitely. He used it combined with physics and magnetism to get through the maze.” She took another look. “It doesn’t make sense though. I don’t know him very well, but he doesn’t seem like the kind of person who’d risk getting thrown out of the university for something stupid like breaking and entering.”
“People do strange things for strange reasons,” Keshari said.
“That’s true, but what do think he’s after?” She licked her lips, thinking for a moment. “That door’s right next to the Administration offices. There might be computers. Files. Student records.”
As they watched, Midas opened the door a crack, tilted his head as if listening for a second. Then he opened the door wider and crept inside, leaving his backpack in the doorway so the door couldn’t swing shut all the way and lock again.
“Let’s go see what he’s doing.” Chloe glanced back at Keshari. She did a double take. Keshari was clutching something that looked like a short celery stalk with tiny bells glued onto it. “What’s that?”
“Protection,” Keshari whispered.
Chloe shook her head. She couldn’t imagine what the celery stalk thing was, but this wasn’t the place or time to ask for details.
With Keshari beside her, she pushed the stalk from her mind and strolled down the crowded hallway to the door. No surprise, the sign on it read: EMPLOYEES ONLY.
She nudged the door open a little wider and peeked inside. The windowless room was small and cramped, every inch jammed floor to ceiling with bins, file cabinets, and stacks of boxes. Faint light, voices, and general office hubbub trickled in from an open doorway in the furthest wall. But there were no signs of life in this room, only the steady tick of a clock.
Sweat dampened Chloe’s armpits, but she hoisted her messenger bag up higher on her shoulder and crept inside. Midas had to be here somewhere.
A rustle came from near the distant doorway.
Chloe’s breath caught in her throat. She inched a few more steps forward, then craned her neck, looking around the closest stack of boxes. Near the doorway, a coat rack and a couple of work carrels sat against the wall. Midas was hunched in front of the carrels, rummaging through a large, tangerine-orange handbag. It had a gold clasp and the initial J decorated one side. What the heck was he looking for?
Tension pinched between Chloe’s shoulders as she watched him unzip a side pocket and dig through it. She needed to get out before he spotted her or before some office worker came in to get something. But she had to know what he was after. Money. Credit or ID cards. If he was ballsy enough to steal like this, he’d swipe stuff from the coven for sure.
She snuck forward, around the stacked boxes. She had to get close enough to see better. This was really horrible. She liked Midas. Devlin did too. It seemed unlikely, but maybe Midas was doing something innocent.
The pad of light footfalls sounded behind her. Keshari. Damn it. One person spying on Midas was bad enough, two doubled their chances of getting caught.
As if in rebuttal, Keshari’s words came back to her. ‘Friends look out for friends, even when they don’t ask for it.’ Chloe gritted her teeth. Maybe it was time for Keshari to scrap that motto for something safer or at least not take it so seriously.
Midas turned the bag upside down, his face fraught with desperation as he shook everything onto the floor. Lipsticks, pens, tampons…spewed across the floor. He snagged a phone from the rubble and shoved it up his sleeve. He straightened up, as if readying to leave.
Chloe’s pulse flew through the roof. She wheeled, shoving Keshari ahead of her as she rushed out the doorway and back into the hall. She grabbed Keshari’s arm, towing her into the flow of people. They had to blend in, play it cool.
Keshari brushed her arm. “Do you think he saw us?”
“I don’t know. But I bet he heard us leave.” Chloe glanced back. There were a lot of people, but she couldn’t see Midas anywhere.
As she turned back around, shock crushed the air from her lungs. No more than a dozen yards ahead, walking down the hallway in the opposite direction with a group of older women was Jessica, dressed in conservative slacks and a dressy blouse.
Chloe did a double take. Jessica’s formal clothes. The women she was with. No jackets. No backpacks. Unhurried strides. Plus, she couldn’t help but think of the orange handbag with the initial J on it, as in Jessica. Everything screamed that she and the women worked in the building.
Chloe started to duck her head and look the other way. But it was too late for that; Jessica’s icy gaze was already slithering over her.
A sour taste crept up Chloe’s throat, she swallowed it back and met her cold stare. When they got close to each other she flipped a friendly wave. “Hey, nice to see you.”
The group of women kept going as if in a hurry to get back to their offices, but Jessica paused.
“I didn’t realize you worked here.” Chloe plastered on a smile.
Jessica jutted her chin in the direction of the Administrative Offices—the ones attached to the room they’d just escaped from. “I’ve been here since last winter. Boring but the pay’s good.”
“A good paycheck never hurts.” Chloe was stunned by how calm she sounded, despite the sweat flooding down her sides.
Jessica’s gaze flicked to Keshari, then back to Chloe. “I’d love to stay and chat, but some of us have work to do.”
Chloe forged another smile. “See you later.”
Neither Chloe nor Keshari said a word as they walked down the hallway and around the corner. The further they went, the more certain Chloe was that the phone Midas had swiped couldn’t have belonged to anyone other than Jessica. He must have been keeping track of her and waiting for the perfect moment to strike. But why would he do that and risk being caught or worse, thrown out of college and the coven?
A lump lodged in Chloe’s throat. Why was she even worrying about Midas? Holy crap. Jessica hadn’t seen Midas, but she had seen her. She was sure to discover her spilled handbag and missing phone. What if Jessica thought she stole it?
Chapter 15
There is light and darkness within all of us, controlled by will or breath—or tongues, let us not forget them, a weapon with more power than all the rest, except perhaps the heart.
—Soliloquies of Merlin
“If Jessica thinks I took her phone, she’s not going to be satisfied with getting me thrown out of the coven,” Chloe said, as she and Keshari sat down at a table in the café, “At a minimum, she’ll screw with my college records. She’ll go after yours, too, if she figures out who you are.”
Keshari cradled her tea, her voice low. “Can you talk to Devlin about it?”
“I could, but I’m wondering if I should confront Midas first.” She rubbed her wrist, thinking. “The only thing I know for sure is that we weren’t Midas’s intended targets.”
“What do you know about Midas?”
“Not much, really. He’s a graduate student. Kind of domineering. But Devlin seems to like him. Why?”
“Are you certain the phone he took belonged to Jessica? It could be his girlfriend’s. The J could
stand for Jasmine or Jade. Stealing it could be part of an elaborate prank.”
“Do you honestly believe that?” Chloe’s phone chirped. She glanced at her messenger bag where the phone was stashed, then at Keshari. “You don’t think that’s someone texting about the phone, already?”
Keshari’s eyes mirrored her fear. “It could be. But it cannot be Jessica, unless she borrowed a phone from someone.”
“Guess we’ll never know if I don’t look.” Chloe took a steadying breath, retrieved her phone, and glanced at it. “It’s from Athena.”
Gathering this afternoon about Merlin. Can you come?
Keshari scuffed her chair up close to Chloe, peering at the phone. “What are you going to do?”
Unsure if she should go or not, because of Jessica, Chloe texted back: I have a class until 4.
It’s fine if you’re late. But we could use your help.
Chloe raked her hair back, thinking out loud. “I could call Devlin and tell him what we saw, or I could go and tell him then.”
Athena sent another text: Don’t worry about dinner. I’ve ordered pizzas.
Chloe gritted her teeth. Why was she even considering not going? To hell with Jessica. It wasn’t like she’d done anything wrong. She texted back: Sure. If late afternoon is okay.
I’m so grateful we can count on you. See you soon.
Keshari frowned. “I don’t like this.”
“If Jessica accuses me, Devlin will be there. He’s on my side.”
“Don’t forget,” Keshari said, “you can always call me—for any reason.”
As Keshari settled back in her chair, Chloe caught a flash of the mysterious celery-like stalk peeking out from her pants pocket. She nodded at it. “Okay, I’m dying to know. What is that?”
A proud gleam sparkled in Keshari’s eyes. She slid her hand into her pocket and pulled out a keyring. A small atomizer was attached to it as well as a thick, braided length of celery-green plant stems decorated with pinhead-size copper bells. She lowered her voice to a whisper. “The atomizer is filled with special water-soluble incense. One spritz will temporarily scramble a demon’s brain. The stems are a lotus-stalk wand. It won’t make a sound until I channel my magic into it, then watch out.”
