Blood Witch_ Book Three - Cate Tiernan [13]
I watched him as he headed to the living room to say hi to the others. He wasn’t being completely honest with me; I could feel that even without using my heightened witch senses. Hunter’s little trick did concern him, at least to some degree.
What is Hunter up to? I wondered again. What does he want with us?
It was already nine o’clock, when we usually got started. We drank cider. Robbie played music. I tried to forget about the stone. Looking at the pets soothed me: the dogs snored and twitched in their sleep, and the cats rubbed our legs in quiet demands for attention. I realized that the only one of us missing was Jenna’s boyfriend, Matt. Jenna kept glancing at the tall grandfather clock in the foyer. As the minutes went by, she seemed increasingly ill at ease.
Her parents wandered in, met us, totally unconcerned with the fact that we were here to perform a Wiccan circle. It must be nice not to worry about making your parents mad, I thought. They headed upstairs to watch TV and told us to have a good time.
“Well, I’ll get started with the circles,” Cal said finally, opening his bag and settling down on the floor. “We’ll give Matt ten more minutes.”
“It’s not like him to be late,” Jenna murmured. “I called his cell phone, but it went straight to voice mail.”
I suddenly remembered seeing Matt’s car, parked next to Raven’s. Was that only this morning? It had been a long day. I stifled a yawn as I sat on the worn green couch in the living room, watching Cal work.
“What are you doing?” I asked. Usually he drew a simple, perfect circle in salt. When we stepped in, he closed it and purified it with earth, air, fire, and water. But tonight’s circle was different.
“This is more complicated,” Cal explained.
Slowly the others drifted over to watch him. He was drawing circles within circles, leaving an opening in each one. There were three geometrically perfect circles now, the largest one taking up every inch of available space in Jenna’s living room.
At the four compass points of the circles Cal drew a rune in chalk and also in the air: Mann, the rune for community and interdependence; Daeg, symbolizing dawn, awakening, clarity; Ur, for strength; Tyr, for victory in battle. Cal named them as he drew them but didn’t offer any explanation. Before we could ask, the front door blew open and Matt breezed in, looking uncharacteristically disheveled and scattered.
“Hi, everyone. Sorry I’m late. Car trouble.” He kept his head down, not meeting anyone’s eye. Jenna looked at him, first in concern, then in confusion as he threw off his coat and came to watch Cal. For a moment Jenna hesitated. Then she walked up to him and took his hand. He gave her a brief smile but ignored her otherwise.
“Okay, everyone, step inside, and I’ll close the circles,” Cal instructed.
We did. I stood between Matt and Sharon. I tried never to stand next to Cal at a circle—I knew from experience that it would be too much to handle or control. Sharon and Matt were safe.
“Tonight we’re working on personal goals,” Cal continued, standing up. He handed Ethan a small bowl of salt and told him to purify the circle. Next he asked Jenna to light the incense, symbolizing air, and Sharon to touch each of our foreheads with a drop of water from its matching bowl. There was a fire in the living room fireplace—and we used it for fire, naturally. My tiredness started to fade as I glanced around at everyone united for the same purpose. This circle felt special somehow, more important, more focused.
“During our breathing exercises,” Cal said, “I want you each to concentrate on your own personal goals. Think about what you want out of Wicca and what you can offer to Wicca. Try to make it as simple and pure as possible. Stuff like ‘I want a new car’ isn’t it.”
We laughed.
“It’s more like, I want to be more patient, or I want to be more honest, or I want to be braver. Think about what that means to you and how Wicca can help you achieve it. Any questions?”
I shook my head. There