Blood Witch_ Book Three - Cate Tiernan [23]
“Oh!” I said in surprise. “How did you know about it?”
“I told them,” said Robbie, drinking from a carton of orange juice. “Let the cat out of the bag.”
“Speaking of cats, how’s Dagda?” Jenna asked.
Matt’s long, black-jean-clad legs obscured my view for a moment as he came and sat on the step above Jenna. She gave him a faint smile but didn’t respond when he rubbed her shoulder.
“He’s great,” I said enthusiastically. “And he’s growing really fast!”
“So your birthday’s this weekend?” Sharon asked.
“Sunday,” I said.
“Let’s have a special birthday circle on Saturday, then,” said Jenna. “With a cake and all.”
Sharon nodded. “That sounds good,” she said.
“Um, I can’t make it Saturday night,” Matt mumbled. He ran a hand through his thick black hair, lowering his eyes.
We all looked at him.
“I’ve got family stuff to do,” he added, but the words were empty.
He is the worst liar in the world, I thought, seeing Jenna staring at him.
“Actually, could we do the birthday thing some other time?” Robbie asked. “I’m thinking I wouldn’t mind skipping Saturday night’s circle, too.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Bree’s been after me to come to one of their circles,” Robbie admitted. I was surprised by his honesty, not in a bad way—but I felt a renewed rush of anger toward Bree. Robbie shrugged. “I don’t want to join their coven, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea for me to go to one of their circles, see what they’re doing, scope it out.”
“Like spying?” Jenna asked, but her tone was soft.
Robbie shrugged again, his hair falling onto his forehead. “I’m curious,” he said. “I care about Bree. I want to know what she’s doing.”
I swallowed and forced myself to nod. “I think that’s a good idea,” I said. I couldn’t believe that Bree would try to poach from our coven, but on the other hand, I was glad that Robbie wanted to keep an eye on her to make sure she wasn’t doing anything crazy.
“I don’t know,” said Cal, shifting and stretching his legs out two steps below. “A lot of what’s important in Wicca is continuity. It’s about getting in touch with the day-in, day-out stuff, the cycle of the year, the turn of the wheel. Meeting every Saturday, being committed to that, is part of it. It’s not something you should skip whenever you want to.”
Matt stared at the floor. But Robbie looked back at Cal calmly.
“I hear what you’re saying,” Robbie said. “And I agree with it. But I’m not doing this just for me, and it isn’t just because I feel lazy or I want to watch the game. I need to know what’s going on with Bree and her coven, and this is how I can find out.”
I was impressed with the air of quiet confidence Robbie projected. His acne and glasses had been gone ever since I’d put a healing spell on him. But something seemed to have healed inside him as well, something that didn’t have anything to do with my magick. After years of being a somewhat awkward geek, he was growing into himself and finding new sources of strength. It was great to see.
Cal was silent for a while, and he and Robbie regarded each other. A month ago I would never have thought that Robbie would be a match for someone as strong as Cal, but now they didn’t seem that different in a way.
Finally Cal nodded and let out a breath. “Yeah, okay. It won’t kill us to take a break. Since there’s only seven of us, if two of us can’t make it, the circle will be kind of unbalanced. So let’s all just take Saturday night off, and we’ll meet again the week after.”
“And that’s when we’ll have Morgan’s birthday cake,” said Robbie, smiling at me.
Sharon cleared her throat. “Um . . . I guess this isn’t a good time to mention that next Saturday I’ll be in Philadelphia for Thanksgiving.”
Cal laughed. “Well, we’ll just do the best we can. It’s always tough around the holidays, with everyone having family stuff. How about you, Matt? Can you make it the following week?”
Matt nodded automatically, and I wondered if he’d even heard what Cal had said. The bell rang, and we all stood. Jenna put her hand in Matt’s, staring into his face. He looked drawn, tense. I wished I