Trina, our earth witch, wrapped her hands around her coffee cup, gazing at the dark liquid within, her eyes sad. “My mother told my sister and I that Margo stole several magickal Items that had been in our family for generations. We wanted to try to retrieve them, but she warned us from going anywhere near the shop. She mentioned several . . . incidents . . . like the ones Selma mentioned.” She lifted her eyes and let her gaze move around the table, pausing briefly on each of us, until it finally settled on me. “My sister didn’t listen. I haven’t seen her in almost ten years.” Her voice dropped to an anguished whisper. “I don’t even know if she’s still alive.”
Shocked, Sam, Rand, and I just stared. My heart went out to her. The other four must have known her story, because they didn’t look surprised by her words. How had things gotten so bad without my aunt knowing any of this? How had my aunt been able to call the woman a friend? I met Rand’s gaze across the table and saw he was just as affected as I was.
Clearing my throat, it took me a moment to find my voice. I looked at Rayna and then Willa, our resident air and weather witch. “Are your accounts the same?” They nodded. “I get the gist of it. Thank you. If any of you are uncomfortable with being involved in this . . . exercise . . . I completely understand. You’ll be excused and you can go now.”
They all started speaking at once again, each talking over one another. I held up a hand. “How about a show of hands? Any who want to participate, raise your hand.” Every hand in the room went up. I began to slide the napkin with the jewelry on it forward. “Good. Now, take a—” Before I could begin to explain, Marla walked into the room, carrying a small package.
“Here you are, ma’am. One jeweler’s loupe, as requested.” She glanced at her watch. “Sorry it took so long.”
I looked at the clock on the wall. It had been eleven minutes. “Thank you, Marla. I’ll ask Sam not to count it against you on your next performance review.” That earned me a half-smile. The woman knew she was worth her weight in gold and then some. I also suspected she had to have realized by now we knew she probably wasn’t human, as we’d all thought at first. “Take a seat please, and Sam will catch you up before we’re done here.” I opened the package and pulled out a loupe identical to the one I used in my aunt’s workshop.
“Now, if you would all take a look at these pieces and see if you notice anything unusual?” I slid the jewelry to the center of the table and sat back as they murmured. After a few minutes, I asked, “Anything?”
Rayna looked perplexed, but didn’t speak up. The rest shook their heads, looking at one another, before looking back at me. “Try joining your magick and then look again.”
They joined hands, some having to stretch across the table to reach those across from them. It was a sloppy circle, but we’d discovered that it really didn’t matter. The contact itself did. They began to chant softly and I could feel the level of magick in the room start to rise. This was going to be as much an exercise for me as it was for them.
“Do you sense anything yet?”
Rayna bit at her bottom lip. “I can, I think. They’re glowing. Are you all seeing this?” She looked around at the others.
Ruthann and Willa squinted, then nodded hesitantly. Selma shook her head. “I don’t see it, but I think I can feel something.”
“Trina?” I asked. She hadn’t said anything yet, but she was staring hard at the ring.
“Yes. I’m guessing it’s supposed to glow like that, right?” she asked. I’d figured either she or Rayna would be the most sensitive for this.
“Okay, we’re going to try something else. Join hands with me.” I tried to sound confident, even though my nerves were starting to sour my stomach. They’d all had practice joining their magick, but we hadn’t tried it with mine yet. In theory, it should work just fine, since I could do this with both Tess and Danai. To their credit, they didn’t hesitate. Rayna grabbed one hand and Ruthann the other. I reached for my magick, focusing on the ring as I had in the shop. Ruthann almost dropped my hand in surprise when the ring began to shine brightly.
“You are all seeing this now, right?” Rayna asked excitedly.
“Yes,” they chorused.
Now that I had more time to study it, I could see layers within the brightness. What did that mean? I reached out with my magick and started to peel the top layer back. It lifted from the layer below easily. And it felt . . . greasy. I heard the sharp intakes of breath from a couple of the women. Good. They could see it,
