A Feather of Stone #3 (20 page)

“Tonight is when a lot of different elements come together,” Petra explained. “The phase of the moon, the position of the stars, the time of the year—apparently it’s all just right, perfect for the rite to happen tonight.”

“But what’s going to
happen
?” I asked pointedly. “What will happen to
us
?”

“I think you’ll get a huge surge of power,” Petra said. “After the rite, I believe your magick will be much stronger, though neither of you has gone through your rite of ascension.”

“What else?” After Récolte, I’d felt terrible.

“I don’t think you’re going to become immortal,” said Petra. “Is that what you’re worried about?”

“Among other things.” I couldn’t believe this conversation was part of my life. “I thought I would have a lot more time to think about this. Why don’t you think we’ll become immortal?”

“No one will be spelling you to be.” Petra looked into her tea mug, as if the answers lay there. “I’ll be spelling you to be protected, to be safe. But no one will be trying to make you immortal.”

Clio looked disappointed, but then her face became determined, which gave me a bad feeling.

“Can we refuse to go?”

Petra looked thoughtful. “We could, of course, but actually, honey, I don’t think it would make much difference. There are reasons to do the rite—to become more powerful, more in tune with magick. To help our friends if we can. To learn. Because I’m sure you won’t be harmed, it seems pointless to refuse to go.”

I didn’t know what to think. I’d been hoping that if enough time went by, I could ride out Clio’s plan to become immortal. Maybe with time I’d feel more prepared, more braced. Now it was happening much too fast. I was somewhat reassured by Petra’s promise of safety and the knowledge that no one could spell us to be immortal. But I was worried about what Clio was thinking, what she might be planning to do.

Q-Tip jumped up on the kitchen table, rubbing against Petra’s arm.

“Hi, baby,” Clio said gently, reaching out to pet him. He shied away from her, hurrying across the table and jumping off next to me. Clio gazed after him, looking upset.

I got up and put my mug in the sink. “I’m going to take a hot bath.”

“Good idea,” said Petra. “Put some rose petals and lavender in the water and relax.”

That didn’t seem too likely.

Upstairs I got my robe and was heading into the bathroom when Clio appeared at the top of the stairs.

“Can you come into my room for a sec?” she whispered.

In her room I sat down on her bed, the only clear surface. She shut the door and sat next to me.

“I don’t want to do the freaking rite,” I said.

Clio nodded. “I need more time to get ready. But still—if we have to do it tonight, I feel like it will be okay. I do know how to protect from Daedalus taking our power. And Nan’s covering the other bases.”

I shook my head, not convinced.

“I do,” she insisted. “I won’t be trying to get anyone else’s power. All I’d be doing is protecting us.”

I put my head in my hands. “You can’t make us immortal?”

“I don’t think so,” she said regretfully. “Maybe in another month . . .”

“I’m just . . . afraid.”

“So am I,” Clio surprised me by saying. “I’ve never been part of anything like this. I mean, you know—things like this just don’t happen. Not anymore. Not that anyone would hear about, anyway.” She leaned back against the wall, her legs straight out. “This is some freaky stuff, Thais. But . . . I believe Nan. I believe that she’ll make sure we’re safe. She may have lied about a lot, but she’s always protected me. I know since you’ve discovered magick, you’ve seen it get all wonky pretty easily. But remember, this is different—these are people who’ve spent all this time working on their powers. And I can protect us too, guard against our power being used. I mean, isn’t it kind of exciting in a way? Tonight is the culmination of hundreds of years of history.”

“Tonight is why they killed my dad. Our dad.”

Clio’s face went white. “What?”

“I talked to Axelle. I’m pretty sure Daedalus killed him to get me here,” I explained. “So how can I do this? Just on principle, I hate everything about it, don’t want any part of it. It would be like justifying what they did.” My poor dad. From the time he’d met our mom, he’d stumbled from one lie to another. That she was a witch. That he’d had two children, not just one. That we could live a normal life if we weren’t in Louisiana. And then he’d been killed. What a bad deal he’d gotten, just because he’d fallen in love with our mom. And no one ever talked about her. I had no idea what she’d been like.

“Yeah, I get what you mean,” Clio said. “But . . . see, if we do this, but play by our rules—it’ll show them that they can’t control us like they think they can. We’re strong, Thais. We’re weirdly strong together. The two of us can show them that they can’t mess with us, that we’re calling the shots for ourselves, now and for the rest of our lives.”

I gazed up at the ceiling, seeing the fine cracks in the old-fashioned plaster.

Clio was silent for a minute, regarding her sparkly purple toes. “It might not even work,” she said finally. “Who knows if they’ve really re-created the rite the way they need to? But as long as we’re there for each other, with Petra watching out for us, you and I will be okay. And if we don’t go . . . we’ll never know who’s trying to kill us. They’ll just keep trying, and what if it works next time?”

I shivered, already knowing there was no point saying anything else.

We were going to this rite.

Please Forgive Me

Sophie gripped the steering wheel tighter, hoping Manon would assume she was tense because of the rite. Which she was, of course. She and Manon had talked everything out exhaustively, over and over. She felt like she’d been crying for years. But now she knew without a doubt what Manon planned to do.

Next to her, one small hand reassuringly on Sophie’s leg, Manon was oddly calm.

Sophie swallowed and peered into the darkness, looking for a road sign. She only hoped that someday Manon would be able to forgive her for what she was about to do.

A Burst of Divine Power

“Are you all right?” Ouida’s concerned voice was soothing in the car’s darkness.

“Yes, quite. Thank you.” Marcel felt more all right than he would have thought possible, thanks to Petra. Now he was quietly exultant, filled with hope and anticipation. At last, at last, his hope and dream, his longing would come true. It would serve Daedalus right.

Had He Learned Nothing?

P
etra glanced at the twins in the backseat. Thais looked sad and afraid. Clio looked both calm and expectant . . . which was worrisome. What was on her mind?
Please, goddess, don’t let her be planning anything stupid,
Petra prayed silently. Well, Petra would just have to be alert, ready to circumvent it.

Petra was sure Thais was regretting every aspect of her new life, new religion, new relatives. But after tonight, things would settle down some, at least for a while.

It wasn’t hard to find the site. Daedalus had written very clear directions, and besides, Petra had been here recently. She turned in to an unmarked, unpaved road; its crushed white shells practically glowed in the bright moonlight. She glanced up at the sky through the windshield. It was perfectly clear, the stars popping brightly.

That would change soon.

Two miles down the road, they were deep in a wooded area, the trees so close on either side of the car that leaves brushed the windows. Then they suddenly gave way into a rough-mown meadow where several other cars were parked. Petra stopped her Volvo next to Ouida’s rental and killed the engine. Turning in her seat, she looked back into the solemn identical faces of her descendents, her adopted granddaughters, the people she had chosen to value above all else.

“From here we have to walk a bit,” she said, her voice sounding loud in the still night. “Are you guys okay?”

They nodded, and Clio muttered, “Yeah.”

Together the three of them walked down the narrow path that led into the blackest, most unlit part of the swamp. The air was cool and damp here, and mosquitoes buzzed all around them.

Behind her, the girls were quiet, trying not to stumble on the uneven ground. They were unusually subdued, despite Petra’s promise that they would be safe. It was almost as if they knew what Petra had done: someone had to die tonight for the rite to work.

And Petra knew who it would be.

Clio

After a tense, silent car ride, Petra finally parked and told us to follow her through dense woods. I walked with her and Thais toward the spot where we were meeting the rest of the Treize and almost froze when I realized we had reached the Circle of Ashes, the place Thais and I had seen several times in dreams and visions.

It was creepy and amazing to be standing here, and I was so wound up I could practically feel the earth’s energy entering me through the soles of my feet.

I wished I’d had more time to work on my spells. I hadn’t gotten far enough in Hermann Parfitte’s book to really understand about achieving immortality. But I could at least keep Daedalus from using my power if he tried. Nan would keep us safe from harm; I would keep us from being used.

That awful scene with Richard had replayed itself in my mind twenty times while I got ready for tonight. Again it had struck me how unlike myself I felt lately—weaker, less brash, less bold. And Thais was seeming just the opposite—stronger, more sure of herself.

I blinked as something hit me. That spell we had done to join ourselves. What if it had gone farther than we intended? I frowned, thinking back to the limitations I had put on it. Had I forgotten some aspect of the limitations? Were Thais and I merging or, worse, becoming each other?

I didn’t want to be Thais. It was hard enough being Clio.

Maybe it had been the spell. Or maybe I was just turning into a huge crybaby wuss. That was going to stop tonight.

I had taken extra care with my appearance, like old times. My hair was glossy and shiny, parted in the middle, hanging down to frame my face. My makeup was subtle but effective and counteracted the pale, drained, weepy look I’d come home with. I wore solid copper bracelets to cover the bruises on my wrists. For magick like this, no mixed-metal jewelry could be worn.

Finally, I wore the
bouvre
that I’d been saving for my rite of ascension. Tonight seemed important enough for it. It was made of heavy green silk several shades darker than my eyes. The sleeves were long and tight to the elbows, then flared out in bells around my hands. It fitted more closely than most
bouvres
and had embroidery around the waist, like a belt, and around the hem. We would be barefoot, but I wore solid copper anklets.

I looked fabulous. Very much like the old Clio.

“Petra.”

A young woman stood next to Jules at the edge of the circle. Her hair was wild, spiky, and dyed pinkish red. Her ears gleamed with lots of silver earrings.

“Hello, Claire,” Nan said kindly. They embraced, then Nan introduced us.

“Thais I met this afternoon,” said Claire, coming to shake my hand. “So this is Clio.” She gave me an open, slightly mocking smile, and I realized I liked her right away. She didn’t seem as stuffed-shirty as some of the other Treize did.

“Hi,” I said. She had green eyes, like we did, but a different shade.

“Welcome, all,” I heard Daedalus say, and I turned to see him, arms outstretched, at the opposite edge of the circle. “Thank you so much for coming.”

“Your guest speaker will be Father Daedalus,” Thais murmured in my ear. “Refreshments will be served by the Ladies’ Altar Guild.”

I stifled a laugh.

“It’s now almost midnight,” Daedalus went on. “And we’re all here.”

I hadn’t looked around, hadn’t looked for Richard or Luc. Now I shook my hair back over my shoulders, chin up, looking calm, cool, and collected. I hoped. I kept my eyes on Daedalus, but it was torture not examining everyone’s expression.

“My friends and our two newest members, two hundred and forty-two years ago, we first began this journey together,” Daedalus began. And basically he went on like that for ten minutes, droning on about their incredible voyage of discovery that made it all sound like a National Geographic special.

I eased myself behind Nan and surreptitiously looked around, my eyes passing across everyone there. Sophie looked white-faced and tense, Manon calm and unafraid. Ouida and Nan both looked alert. Marcel stood next to Ouida, and he seemed okay, almost excited. Jules was impassive, head lowered, listening to Daedalus. Axelle moved from foot to foot like a racehorse impatient to take off. Claire’s expression was outwardly calm, but the tight lines around her brightly painted mouth hinted at more under the surface.

Luc. The one time I glanced at him, he was looking at me. At me, not at Thais. He looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here. Across the circle, opposite Luc, Richard stood, his face hard, his jaw set. He was looking around at everyone, and I thought I saw a glance pass between him and Petra. For a moment his eyes met mine, and I got a jolt of emotion from him, which then immediately shut down. I glanced away, confused. During a circle, if people have a connection, you can pick up feelings from them, but we were just standing here.

“So let us join hands,” Daedalus said, “around our ceremonial fire.”

One by one we walked into the large circle he had drawn around the charred circle of earth. A small fire blazed in the middle, and four smallish, beat-up wooden cups held the four elements around it. Next to the fire was a slab of white marble, and on the marble was some kind of a stone knife with a carved handle. Daedalus closed the circle around us, and at that moment an unexpectedly cool breeze rustled my hair and brushed against my skin. Clouds had rolled in while Daedalus was speaking, and now every star had been wiped out. The sky was dark purple, and in the distance, I saw clouds lit up by lightning.