Cate Tiernan - A Chalice of Wind

"Yeah, thanks for the tea and being here," I added inadequately. Racey patted my shoulder, picked up her purse, and left.

And Clio and I were left alone.

If I looked as bad as Thais did, I was seriously going downhill. Her face was pinched and bloodless, and her shiny black hair lay limply on her shoulders,

"I think I'll go too," Thais said, starting to get up, "I just want to go to bed,"

"How are you going to get homer

"Streetcar," she said, putting her teacup in the sink,

"Not this late. I'll drive you home,"

She looked like she wanted to refuse, but she was too sensible to, "I wish I'd never come to New Orleans!" she burst out.

That makes two of us.

My skin was crawling: Andre had actually meant what he'd said to Thais, and I had been just the good-time girl. He might even love her. Hen He hadn't left until shed come down and talked to him. Even out on the porch, it was her understanding he'd wanted, not mine. He'd kept talking to her, explaining to her. Oh yeah, I'd been beautiful and exciting and fun, Yay for me. But he'd cared about her. I felt like I was going to shatter into sharp, bitter shards, like colored glass.

I drank my tea, trying to think about anything else.

Unbidden, the image of the crying newborn popped into my mind. Why had we seen that? Why had it all been so real? Because we were doing it together?

"Who do you think that baby was earlier?" I asked, and Thais blinked at the shift in gears, “Ah, I don't know," she said, "I was thinking maybe our mom? Dad told me that Mom had this same birthmark," She touched her cheekbone lightly, "He thought it was so strange that I had it too-birthmarks aren't usually inherited."

"So you think it was real, what we were seeing?"

Thais looked up, surprised. "You mean, maybe it wasn't? Do you usually see real things or just possibilities, or even stuff that never happened and couldn't happen?"

I thought, "All of the above" I decided. "But that one felt so real, more real than they usually do. Sometimes it's like watching TV, kind of, where you're still aware of your surroundings. That one was so complete. I wish Nan were here to talk about it."

"Where is she, anyway? Isn't she coming back tonight?"

Amazingly enough, it was barely ten o'clock. It felt like three in the morning,

I shook my head. "She had to go out of town for a little while. She should be back in a day or two," I hoped. Memories of how Id planned to spend my free days-and nights-made my teeth clench.

"You're lucky," said Thais, "I wish Axelle would go out of town. For a long time.' Suddenly she looked over at me, "Did you love him?" she asked in a broken voice, her face miserable,

I let out a slow breath. "No. I lied. "I was just using him. He was hot, you know? And I wanted a fling. But I'm still really pissed" I added.

She nodded. It was so obvious that shed really loved him too. She sighed and I could practically see her heart bleeding inside her. I wondered if we were linked somehow-I'd heard of twins who could finish each others sentences and did the same things at the same time, even if they were in different cities. And those twins weren't even witches, like us.

"Can I go home now?" she said. "Are you sure I shouldn't take the trolley?"

"Not this late. Its not safe. Hang on and I'll get my purse. And I'm going to change." I hated this skirt, hated this top, never wanted to see them again. I headed upstairs and heard the front door open.

"I'm going to wait on the porch" Thais called. "Get some air."

"Okay," I called back. In my room I put on gym shorts and an old T-shirt and pulled my long hair back into a ponytail.

Pathetic, desperate thoughts swirled around me like dust devils. Maybe Andre was still outside. Maybe they would both be gone when I got out there. Or maybe after I dropped Thais off, I would see Andre on the street, and he would be so miserable and tell me he had been trying not to hurt Thais s feelings, but it was me he loved…

I raced out through the house and found Thais by herself on the front porch, looking up at the stars.

"It was cloudy earlier" she said, sounding like she'd been crying. "Now its dear."

"Yeah." There was a bitterness at the back of my throat that I couldn't swallow away. My blue Camry was parked on the street; hardly anyone has a garage in New Orleans, and not many people even had driveways.

Thais went out through our front gate while I locked the door behind me. I felt drained, totally spent and exhausted, and just wanted to get rid of Thais so I could go collapse in bed and cry without anyone seeing.

I started down the front steps, and just as I reached the front gate, I heard a dull buzzing, humming sound that was growing louder with every second. I looked up at the overhead telephone and electricity wires-was something going funky? Was it music from somewhere?

Clio!

I snapped my head down to look at Thais, then gasped, A huge dark cloud was moving toward her fast. "Thais!" I yelled. "Get back inside the gate!"

But it was too late-the dark cloud enveloped her, and she screamed. In horror I realized it was a cloud of wasps, a huge, droning mass of angry wasps, and they were attacking her. In the next second I realized that this was unnatural, that wasps didn't do this. Which meant they'd been sent on purpose, to harm Thais or me or both. Rushing out the gate, I started a dispelling spell, drawing the powerful protective sign of ailche in the air, followed by hay, the sign for wind.

"Clio!" Thais shrieked, the sound muffled.

“I’m coming!" I yelled, and then I dove into the middle of the cloud and grabbed her. If I could pull her back inside the gate, the protection spells should help. Suddenly it felt like a thousand hot needles plunged into my skin, and I cried out. Thais was crying, waving her arms, lurching around, and I started pulling her back toward the gate.

I was frantic: my eyes were swelling shut, one wasp stung me inside my ear-my entire being was a mass of burning pain. I shouted a banishing spell, and it seemed the droning let up for just a second, but then the wasps were around us again, so thickly that I couldn't even see the gate or the house. The two of us stumbled off the curb into the street-we'd gone in the wrong direction!

"Thais!" I shouted. "Give me your energy!"

"Wha-I can't!" she cried, sounding hysterical.

"Just send me your energy, your strength-any way you know!" I yelled. "Think!"

I had her by both shoulders. My hands were so swollen and numb that it felt like my skin was splitting. Everything in me wanted to scream my head off and run a hundred miles, but I forced myself to stand still and concentrate, trying to ignore the pain, ignore the burning, salty tears running down my swollen, stinging face.

"Ailche, protect us!" I said, crying, my tongue thick. "Bay, dispel this swarm! Deesse, aidez-nousf I concentrated on Thais, pushing past her outer, terrified body and into her core, where her unawakened energy lay. It was familiar to me, similar to mine, and I sought out the power she didn't know she had. I joined my power to hers and repeated my banishing spell:

Force of darkness, leave us be Your powers gone, your secret found- My twin has given strength to me Three times this curse on you rebound!

My eyes were almost completely swollen shut, but my ears heard the droning lessen, and I thought I felt fewer new stinger jabs. I risked opening my eyes and saw that the swarm had in fact started to disperse, untidy clumps of wasps staggering through the air as if unsure of how they d gotten there or what they were doing. Our feet were covered with wasp bodies.