Cate Tiernan - A Chalice of Wind

"Your-Petra is out of town… said Jules. 'And two other members haven't arrived yet'.

"But they will," Daedalus said firmly.

"Wait a second." I held up my hand. All of you were members of the Treize?"

Axelle nodded, shrugging, and Daedalus said, "Yes."

'And now you found out that we're twins and that we're almost ready for our rite of ascension." I was, any-way. "So we'd be useful in a coven"

"Yes, my dear" Daedalus said, practically rubbing his hands together.

"Okay. Explain them" I said bluntly, pointing at Richard and Manon. Who clearly weren't anywhere close to seventeen, especially Manoru.

Awkward silence.

"She's smarter than the average bear" Richard said dryly, and I spun on my bar stool.

"Shut up, you weird kid!" I hissed, and he raised his eyebrows and looked back at Axelle.

"You're right, of course," Ouida said, glancing at the others in the room. "And being a witch yourself, you understand that there are often mysteries and things that aren't how they appear on the surface"

"Why don't we have a circle," Jules suggested. "It would be a good place to start"

Being smarter than the average bear, I knew that having a magick circle with a bunch of strangers, one of whom I thought might be trying to kill me and Thais, was not a good idea. I started to say so, and then I caught Ouida's face.

She looked accepting, as if she knew what I was thinking and it was okay. She would support whatever decision Thais and I made. Assuming we had a choice about this. I turned around, and Thais and I met eyes. Her shoulders gave a tiny shrug, as if to say, Maybe we should.

I nodded. Maybe one or more people here were dangerous to us. But not all of them. Not Ouida. Probably not Axelle, Daedalus, or Jules, according to Thais.

Thais came and stood next to me. Together we faced Daedalus. "Okay," I said.

Thais had told me about Axelle's secret room upstairs. We went up. It looked like any other witch's workroom. I stayed close to Ouida, hating being in the same room with Andre. Worse, I hated his being in the same room as Thais. All my senses were on alert, watching to make sure they didn't somehow end up together, and not just because I thought he might be trying to hurt us. I knew this was sick and paranoid of me, but I couldn't help it.

Daedalus drew a large circle on the floor. Axelle got four old wooden cups and set them in the points of the compass, with their respective elements. Feeling someone's eyes on me, I glanced up to find Andre watching me. As soon as I saw him, he looked away. He still seemed tight and angry, and his face was pale and unshaven, as if he hadn't slept well last night.

Good, I thought. I hope he never sleeps well again. I started to think about spells to accomplish this, conveniently forgetting the threefold rule, and then Axelle said,"Everyone join hands"

Ouida was on one side of me. On my other side was Sophie, who seemed nice and shy and had a stronger French accent than most of them. Next to her was Richard, then Andre, then Jules, Thais, Manon, Daedalus, and Axelle on Ouida's other side.

Daedalus started chanting, and we began to walk slowly dalmonde. I actually didnt recognize what Daedalus was saying-it sounded like it might be Old French, but I could make out only a few words: vent and pierre, cerck, plume. Wind and stone, circle, feather. They didnt make sense. The others joined in, but Thais and I met eyes and shrugged. My sister looked curious and cautious but kept in step and carefully walked right inside the large circle.

We began walking faster as their voices seemed to separate like ribbons to intertwine and lace through and under and around each other. This happened in my regular coven too, and I always loved this part, the weaving together of the whole. Wisps of magick started to swirl around us, like fine threads of cotton candy. I waited for the familiar rush of magick to fill me, but I felt dull around the edges, not fully present.

Against my will, I glanced across the circle and saw Andre watching Thais. She wasn't looking back. Quick rage filled my chest, and I realized that my anger was getting in my way.

It was almost impossible to release it. I wanted to rake my fingernails down his face-almost as much as I wanted to grab him and kiss him hard, make him forget my sister. Gritting my teeth, I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths, putting both of them out of my mind. I tried to release all emotion, all feelings, to open myself to receive magick.

We quickened our pace, and I kept my eyes closed, concentrating on being here and being blank, a blank canvas for magick to color. I caught more words: calice, Veauj cendres. Chalice, water, ashes. No idea what they meant. But at last it worked: a familiar excitement and anticipation came over me, and magick began to swell within my chest. I breathed it in like light, letting myself feel the joy, the completeness of being surrounded by magick. It dwarfed everything else, and from this exalted height, my anguish over Andres betrayal seemed far away.

I opened my eyes and looked at Thais, wondering what she was thinking and feeling. Her eyes were open wide, as if in astonishment, her face transformed from wary to welcoming. I smiled at her, and she smiled back breathlessly. She felt the exhilaration of magick too, and it was her first time, I was glad we were together now, despite all the mixed feelings I had about her, about us, about our future, I felt the lovely rush of power and life, felt myself meld with the other forces in this circle, that heady sense of connection, the joining of spirits. Our circle moved swiftly, round like the earth, like the sun, eternal like the tides of the oceans. The chant reached a crescendo and I found myself joining in: Un calice du vent, un cercle des cendres, une plume dt Pierre, un collier d'eau. Again and again we sang the words, and though I thought I got their translation, they still didn't make sense to me, I offered up a prayer to the Diesse: please help me and my sister become what we are supposed to become. Please help us keep safe.

Then, as if one, the circle suddenly stopped. We threw our hands in the air, releasing our energy, sending out our power, which is the only way to receive the power back into you, I felt stronger within myself, felt I could work miraculous spells, and then Ouida and I were smiling and hugging.

The ten of us were flushed, panting, glorying in the aftereffects of magick, Thais was hugging Sophie. Hating myself, my eyes sought Andre, His face was dark, he was breathing hard, his emotions jangled and discordant. He looked like he had when we were twined together, kissing, when I had been offering him everything, and he had almost taken it, I sent out a quick general thanks that we hadn't actually gotten farther than that.

Then Thais was in front of me, blocking my view, I saw faint tear tracks on her pink cheeks as she put her arms around me. I hugged her back, feeling less alone, less wretched, I had a sister, I think it truly only hit me right then: I had a sister, forever. We shared the same blood, the same bone. We were one person, split into two. We would never be alone again. It seemed huge and amazing in a way that it hadn't until then, and my eyes filled with tears.

"What did you think?" I whispered.

Her face, so eerily like my own, was solemn, "It was… scary," she said finally, trying to gather her thoughts. "And… so beautiful, I wish-" She broke off, biting her lip. "I wish I had never known of anything so beautiful, so powerful," Her face was almost sad,

"What do you mean? I don't understand,"

"Before, I didn't know what I was missing," she said softly, "Now I do. And now I know, I have to have it, I'll do anything to feel it again,"