Before she could answer, a grotesque sound of a snake shedding its skin overtook everything, and no one was looking at us anymore. I followed the eyes across the ring of stones, to the bloody puddle where my doppelganger had evaporated into thin air. In her place, in a tangle of grim repose, lay my best friend.
We stood side by side, with my arm crossed in front of his chest, holding on to his hand. We stepped together in perfect unison, like he’d always been my dancing partner. We bowed to the line of couples facing us and switched places. Eyes like magic stones: sapphires and emeralds and amethyst like William’s watched me with a mix of curiosity and contempt. This time there was no questioning their meaning.
They looked at me like I was stealing something of theirs.
“Don’t mind them,” he whispered to me. “They are envious of the strange girl on my arm.”
“I’m not strange,” I lied.
“In my world, strange is the highest compliment one can give.”
“Oh?” I cocked my head and grinned as he twirled me under his arm.
His voice broke me out of the sensation as he pulled me in closer for a more intimate part of the dance. “This is an interesting jewel, Rose. Where did you get it?”
It must’ve slipped from under my cape when I spun. “My mother,” I said honestly. “She gave it to me tonight. It was a gift.”
The warlock’s eyes lightened from amethyst, fading into a near lilac, like they had in the carriage. In the candle-lit ballroom they were effervescent; and in that moment, I never wanted to be far from his enchanting gaze.
“Shaped like a heart, this rare jewel. How telling. I wonder why she chose tonight,” he said thoughtfully, staring at me intensely, so intensely that I felt my blood might boil right out of my skin, “to give you such a precious gem.”
“Mother said…” I worded it carefully, trying to read his eyes as they absorbed my words, “the necklace would keep me safe.”
“From what, I wonder?”
“Not a what, a who,” I said, fingering the heart-shaped charm.
“Any ideas who this dangerous person could be?”
“I suspect it could be you.”
“Ah, that couldn’t be it, because I would never hurt you.”
I sucked in a breath. He was so close, my hand in his; fitting so perfectly like it’d always been there. And the way he looked at me…so…knowingly. It both confused and delighted me. I wasn’t like Mother. I wasn’t afraid of him at all.
“How is it that I’m not stepping all over your toes?” I grinned. “I’m two left feet in our parlor.”
“Perhaps,” Will said, his eyes like stars, “it’s because we aren’t touching the floor?”
Then maddeningly, the words disappeared. I wondered what happened next. If that was a hundred years ago, right around the time of the curse, if William’s father was insisting his son court humans, then that must’ve been the beginning of the end of the utopian society of Spellspinners.
I knew Rose’s clue had something to do with the amulets. But I couldn’t figure out what.
I stumbled down the stairs for some coffee, and when I was in the kitchen brewing a fresh pot, I heard the sounds of arguing coming from the backyard by the fountain.
“I know what you did. You sent in a doppelganger! You drugged the coven with a potion and gave me an extra dose. I’m her mother! I’d never fall asleep while Lily was on such a dangerous mission! How dare you?”
My ears were keen; I could hear everything even without Listening.
“As she admitted to the entire coven, and to you, Lily refused to go in and complete her task. We had to find out if this boy was the one.” Camellia’s voice.
“The doppelganger couldn’t draw the mark! It had to be Lily. So foolish of you! What if Jacob had followed Logan into the clearing?” Had she known it was a possibility? “What if he had caught one of the girls? Then where would we be?”
“Better off than we would’ve been knowing nothing! Entering the Gleaning without knowing if the Rognaithe was among us? How would that be better?”
Iris rushed her, pressing her swordfingers into her chest. “Don’t you forget where you got your powers. What I gave you, I can take back.”
“You’re going to hang that over my head forever, aren’t you?”
“If you’re going to abuse it by going off on your own without the greater coven’s consent, then yes. I will have to.”
Camellia was silent for a minute. “Now that we know Logan is the one, when will it happen?” she asked finally.
“During the Gleaning. I believe from what the Seven Sisters have revealed, the first step toward breaking the curse will happen within the Ring of Stones.”
The first step? What did that mean?
“What will you tell Lily?”
“I’ll tell her what she needs to know to prepare herself.”
They stopped talking and began swirling the birdbath fountain with their fingertips, causing a vortex of spinning water. By spying, I knew I might be compromising their attempt to communicate with the Seven Sisters about Logan. So I poured my coffee and stole back to my room to wait for Mom.
“Hi, honey,” she said about twenty minutes later. “I’m glad you’re up. I need to talk to you.”
“About the first step in breaking the curse?”
She stood behind me, her hands on my shoulders. Her calm reflection in the mirror told me she wasn’t mad that I had overheard. It was hard to keep secrets from other witches, especially those in your own family.
“That and a few more things.”
“Did you tell the Seven Sisters about Logan?”
Her smile was wide. “Yes. But they already knew, of course.”
“And what did they say?”
“That they are thrilled. They predicted this day would come. That they were happy you were the one to find him.”
“Did Camellia admit to her trickery?”
“She didn’t have to, my love, The Seven Sisters see everything.”
“Then why didn’t they know I would find the mark?”
“Seeing and controlling are different things, Lily. You were given a choice to act, and the fate of our coven came down to the decisions you made.”
“What if I had made the choice to betray Logan and meet him while under the influence of the Enchantment? Is it possible that he wouldn’t have revealed his mark under those circumstances?”
“I suppose it is. While it unnerved me at first that you disobeyed your orders, I’m proud of your choices. You obeyed your instinct and followed your heart. That quality will serve you well as you mature and your choices become more and more important.”
“Thanks,” I said. The air was heavy in that ‘we’re having a serious moment, pay attention’ kind of way.
“But it scares me to think how close Camellia came to ruining everything. She prevented you from helping me, Mom. If Logan’s totem creature hadn’t clawed me out, I might still be stuck in the quicksand.”
She sighed. “Camellia has really broken the trust in this coven.”
“That scares me, Mom.”
“Lily, there’s something I need to tell you.” Iris’s chest rose and fell in deep, meditative breaths. Her youthful skin and hair seemed to glow in the morning sunlight, but her eyes looked world-weary. I gripped the sides of my chair, bracing myself for whatever she was about to say. My instincts warned me it wouldn’t be good, but at least it’d be something.
“Have you ever wondered why Camellia is the Mistress of Light, even though we’ve obtained the same level of magic?”
“I assumed it was because you didn’t want to be Mistress.”
Her look held me like I was glass—if I moved, I would slip from her grasp and shatter.
“Not want the top honor in our coven?”
“Well, yeah…I don’t mean to be insulting, but you are sort of more a…um…”
“What?”
“I just never see you in a leadership role. That’s all.”
“Oh.” She looked hurt. “I wasn’t always like this, Lily. How you see me. Scattered, is that it? Absent-minded? Unfocused?”
“No, Mom—you aren’t scattered. You’re awesome. We love you just the way you are.”
“I know you do. But you need to know that Camellia is the leader of this coven because I gave up my place.”
It took me a moment to respond. “But why?”
“For you.”
“For me? Why? To raise us?”
I was flooded with guilt, but it did made sense. Being a leader took absolute fortitude and concentration. You can’t raise two active daughters AND be the leader of the greatest coven on earth simultaneously. Right? You’d have to choose, and Mom chose us.
“Raising you girls was my number one priority, of course.”
“I know, Mom.”
“But the reason I gave up my place was to protect you, in particular.”
I was reminded of Rose’s mother, giving her the mysterious necklace for protection. “Protect me? From whom?”
“From the dark forces,” Iris said. “From the cruel magic threatening to consume you if I unveiled your whereabouts even for a moment. I made a d…” She stopped and rephrased. “The veil that hides your identity from the Sons of Darkness was…costly.”
My heart hammered. “Costly, how?”
“Nothing good comes without sacrifice.”
“And you sacrificed your place as leader for me?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Thanks,” I said, confused by the revelation. “But why do I need extra protection against them?”
She paused as if deciding how to phrase the next bit. “Because you are special. And because they wouldn’t give up until they claimed you.”
“They?”
“Jacob.”
Logan’s father.
“What would he want with me?” I shuddered to think.
“That’s for another day. I told you this, because I need you to know that Camellia isn’t the stronger of the two of us. I am just as strong and just as fit to lead. And from now on you’re going to have to trust me as if I were not only your mother, but your Mistress as well.”
I saw a ripple of strength in my mother that wasn’t there before, or maybe I hadn’t noticed because I wasn’t thoughtful enough to look for it. I felt another rush of guilt as I recalled how much I’d underestimated her over the years. That had to stop today if we were going to rise against Camellia. Suddenly, like Grandma Rose, I felt stronger, just knowing that I was half of someone born to be the Mistress of the Daughters of Light.
Then something picked at me…I had to ask. “Why isn’t she more grateful to you? I mean, if Orchid became Mistress, but had to step down for her kid, it wouldn’t feel right poaching her spot like that. I’d still consult her and let her have equal say in things.”
“The difference between you and Orchid and Camellia and me is that we were never friends. We didn’t choose each other like you did as little girls. I don’t trust her the way you trust Orchid. And I doubt she trusts me.”
“So none of this surprises you? What I’ve told you? What she confessed?”
“It did alarm me at first. But now I understand. Those who crave power never stop craving it. Once they are on top, once they’ve conquered everything worth conquering, they simply change gears and set their eyes on new prospects. There are always new heights to conquer, Lily, as you are discovering.”
“Camellia is in such an awesome position, though. Why does she want more?”
“She got the job she has by default. She got it because I was forced to give it up in exchange for your protection. She knows this. She knows I can never be more powerful than her, because I wouldn’t risk exposing you, Lily. For someone like Camellia whose only goal in life is power—she never married, she never gave birth to children, she never had to sacrifice as much as I did for her magic—to be given that position by default? That’s not something that’s ever been easy for her.”
Iris’ face was red and ranty. This was way personal, and wow, it explained a lot. Why Camellia constantly undermined Mom during coven meetings, why she was so dismissive of, and even patronizing, toward me. Why she was harder on me than the other girls. I always assumed she was tough on me to improve my skills as a witch. What if it was really to knock me off my game? I shuddered at the treasonous motives behind sabotaging your own underling. And when had it all begun? Years ago? Weeks? We had so much to find out. And so little time to do it.
“There’s more you aren’t telling me, isn’t there?”
Lily
“There are some things you aren’t meant to know just yet.”
She stroked my hair. It felt good, comforting.
“I just had a strange dream.”
“About what?”
“Logan. And losing my ability to Breathe underwater. I drowned.”
“It’s just nerves, sweetie.”
“Maybe.” I nodded, but couldn’t shake my fear. “I’m really worried about him. What he says Jacob did to Chance…I need to make sure he still has my amulet. It’s the only thing that can protect him against Jacob’s spells.”
“Chance?”
“His best friend. Jacob poisoned his mind before with his freaky fire breath.”
“Your amulet is the only thing that can protect
you
from Jacob’s spells. You have it now, right? He gave it back to you?”
I pictured us together on the beach, his palm outstretched, the moon shining down on the jewel as it sparked on his skin.
Then us losing it under the water.
And him returning it to me.
Only to have me return it back to him in the Grove last night.
I shook my head. “No. I gave it to him last night. To protect him from Jacob.”
“But from what you said, it
didn’t
protect him.”
My faced flushed. “Last time I saw him, he was fine.”
Better than fine, actually. I flashed on us in the magic made bath-simmering pool and blinked.
Her sigh froze in the air then shattered into crystals. “We need to get it back before you fight in the ring. The amulet is the only thing that can protect you from Jacob.”