THANK GOD I CHECK AFTER I UPLOAD CHAPTERS! I'm such an idiot. I left my notes for this chapter at the top and uploaded it. If you see the notes, I fixed it so go ahead and refresh. Please review, even if it's to laugh at my error. So, so dumb of me.

"Headache?" Alyce asked, coming around me to fill the plastic pamphlet holders with information about Samhain coming up.

"Right behind my eye." I confirmed, dabbing the essential oil blend I had concocted on my forehead and temple.

Alyce just laughed and went around to the front of the register to organize the counter. "You could bottle it—it would be a great seller."

"That's not a bad idea," I agreed, putting the cap back on the bottle and rubbing the remainder of the oils on my fingertips across the back of my neck.

When she was done and seemed pleased with her handiwork, she straightened and went to the door to unlock it and flipped the sign to OPEN. "It's still so warm for October," Alyce marveled, looking at the bright orange-leaved trees outside. "Almost cruel, knowing that winter is just around the corner."

I grinned at her. "It'll be spring before you know it."

Alyce smiled in response. "Do you mind working register today?" she asked.

I nodded. "Can you take care of ordering supplies? I think we're about tapped out on orange and black candles."

"And herbs and incense. I think we've been busier than normal this time of year." She commented, shaking her head as she made her way to the backroom.

"I wouldn't doubt it." I murmured to myself. I grabbed one of Alyce's carefully hand-folded pamphlets and set about reading it, waiting for customers to arrive. It was a Saturday, so I was expecting a long day in which I couldn't sit and read and instead had to interact with people.

By the time 10:30 rolled around, my mom strolled casually into the shop. She handed me a cup of hot spiced cider and a slice of pumpkin bread, which I gratefully accepted. Ten minutes that felt like an hour went by, and the jingling of brass bells over the entrance startled me—I hadn't felt anyone coming near the shop.

I assessed the incoming customers from my stool behind the register. Welcoming them didn't seem entirely necessary—they were kids, teenagers. The girl looked about my age, the guy slightly older, maybe eighteen or nineteen. Both were gorgeous, stunning to look at. She was tall with shoulder-length dark hair falling in layers to frame her picture-perfect face. The guy almost knocked the wind out of me. Besides being sexy in a carefree way, with choppy dark hair falling over his eyes, full lips in a natural smile even when resting, and clothes that appeared like he just rolled out of bed but somehow looked okay. I could feel power coming off of him in waves.

We had blood witches in here all the time, as we were the only full-stocked shop this far away from New York City. But it was rare to run into one this young here. I had resigned myself to being a spinster due to my lack of desire to leave my small town. And if I did end up meeting someone here, they would be just a regular person, and I could kiss the idea of children goodbye.

I sipped my rapidly cooling cider and pinched off a piece of soft pumpkin bread while watching the couple as they walked through the aisles, the girl giggling every now and then. The girl, though very pretty, was average. She wasn't a witch, which made me wonder why he was with her. Could he be with her for her looks? In all fairness, she very well could be interested in Wicca and wants him to teach her. Or, from the look of him, he could've chosen her not only for her beauty but to also hold all the power.

I stood up straight and pulled down the hem of my sweater as the couple came to the register several minutes later.

"Find what you were looking for?" I asked, glancing between the two.

She nodded; he stared at me, almost as if trying to figure me out. My eyes narrowed and I shut him out as I felt him casting his senses to me. A flicker of surprise sparked in his eyes at my refusal of him. The witches I'd grown up around knew that I was a private person and tried to keep from prying—both from my mother being their high priestess and my being a "moody" teenager. The fact that this guy had the audacity to try and read me made irritation course through me. When I read people, it's subtle and from a distance. I never imposed myself on another witch.

"Ooh, I like your necklace," the girl said, glancing at the stone resting against my chest while she set their items on the counter. "Where'd you get it?"

Absently, I grabbed the chunk of wire-wrapped garnet in my hand. "Thanks," I said. "I made this one, but we have a few tables of stones and crystals and a jewelry section towards the back."

"I didn't see that," she replied, then turned towards her partner. "Cal, do you mind waiting real quick?"

"Sure." He said with an easy smile.

"I can show you, if you want." I offered, and was thankful when she accepted. I didn't particularly want to be alone with Cal.

She seemed almost in awe of all the stones, organized alphabetically per my insistence—Mom and Alyce had wanted them sorted by property and color, but as I was the one who constantly had to put back the tags careless customers had knocked down and fill the trays in the first place, I had won that argument.

"I had no idea these actually serve a purpose. I just always thought they were pretty." She said as she raked her fingers lightly through a tray of Amethyst.

"They're both," I agreed. She read the description of the Amethyst, and then moved on. "Looking for something in particular?"

She shrugged. "I don't really know, this is all so new to me, but it's… fascinating." She looked to me as if for approval, and I nodded. "What's your stone for?"

"Garnet?" I asked, and then led her down to the G's. "It helps dispel negative energies, relieves depression and past traumas, helps balance your mood, and enhances sexuality."

"Does it really work?"

"For me it does." I said. "There's a stone for everything."

She glanced back to the register quickly. "So say I wanted to enhance someone's attraction to me, what would I use?" she dropped her voice as she asked this.

I bit my lip. "It depends." I said slowly. "Purely for sex or do you want him to fall in love with you?"

She looked uncomfortable, and I knew it was the latter. As confident and self-assured as she had seemed before, she looked wholly fragile and vulnerable now. "Rose quartz is great for pure love and for opening yourself up to love." I said softly. "But Garnet is the way to go for immediate results." She nodded at the implication. She found one about the size of a quarter and held it in her palm. "I wouldn't recommend wearing it every day—sleep with the rose quartz under your pillow, and I would alternate garnet with an amethyst. It can be a pretty powerful stone if you're not used to its magickal properties."

She chose a stone from each of the trays I listed. "Would it be easier to just buy a necklace already made?"

"Easier, yes, but less effective."

"Okay," she seemed to accept this answer. "Is this book any good?" she asked, picking up the display copy of Meredith Drake's Crystal & Stone Magick.

I made a face, and she laughed and set it back down. "It's not my favorite, and I met her in New York after this had been published. She's a hack—it's basically bullet points with pretty pictures. Think Magick for Dummies." I bent down to one of the half bookshelves and pulled out a new copy of Elsie Ferndale's Guide to Crystal & Stone Healing. "Elsie knows her stuff." I handed her the book, and she flipped through it. "It gives extensive descriptions, properties, and uses, as well as spells to perform with each."

"Wow," she murmured to herself. "There's so much to learn, I don't think I'll ever get it."

My heart broke a little at her dismissal of her abilities. "I can help, if you'd like." I offered. "I've been practicing Wicca all my life, and while I don't know everything, I know a lot."

She smiled. "Thanks. I really appreciate that."

I returned her smile. "I'm Morgan, by the way."

"Bree."

We walked back to the register and I added the stones and her book into her purchase.

"Hey, are you doing anything tonight?" Bree asked.

"My mom's coven is having a circle and I usually go."

Bree glanced up at Cal, and he seemed to understand her silent question. "We just started a coven a few weeks ago," Cal started to say. "Think you might want to come check it out?"

My eyes flicked to Cal. "If you keep your mind to yourself." I said pointedly, and he looked mildly embarrassed.

"Sorry," he apologized with a self-deprecating grin. "It's a habit when I meet people."

"What time are you off?" Bree asked, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Six."

She smiled. "Cool. We can pick you up here and go? I'll give you a ride home."

"Sure."

They exited, Bree leaving with a wave and Cal throwing a last, odd look at me.

When we arrived at the house the circle was being held in, I walked into a situation I never would've imagined. Kids, regular teenagers, sitting around to practice a circle. It was so…bizarre. They were so ordinary, yet as I spoke to them, got their feelings for Wicca and their genuine interest, I realized how wrong I had been. I had judged them before I'd even met them.

Cal was the leader I assumed as he was the only other blood witch present. He had such a cool, easy authority with his peers and it was easy to imagine him as a cult leader—charming, confident, and deadly persuasive. A perfect face with a sense of calm and grace unlike anything I'd ever seen.

Bree introduced me to everyone in the coven, and I tried hard to remember their names, but as soon as we were forming the circle, most were gone from my memory.

As the circle started and I stood between Bree and a boy named Robbie, I felt my energy rise and tried to damp it down. Getting swept up in a circle with strangers was not the ideal—not when I had problems grounding myself. It had gotten so bad for a while that before my initiation, Mom had helped me put a limitation spell on myself. The intense wave of energy I conjured scared the both of us, and as much as I wanted to embrace it, my power frightened me. Mom never let her hear show, but I knew it affected her. She was almost more afraid for me than afraid of me. It was the difference of being a child of Maeve and a child of Ciaran—both exceedingly powerful; one good, and one evil. I was on a constant tightrope over pools of right and wrong, waiting to lose my balance and fall into one side versus the other.

My eyes stayed centered on Cal as we walked in a circle, gaining speed. The top three buttons of Cal's shirt were opened, and I could see smooth tan skin with a pentacle charm centered at the base of his throat. He looked so familiar and ethereal and peaceful. I could swear I knew him from somewhere.

My mind continued to swim as the circle reached maximum speed, and the revelation of Cal was shadowed by one singular thought: banish limitations. Those two words were all I could think, and as I lost my focus on Cal. My vision blurred and the thoughts rushed to the surface. I felt them slip from my lips in a dizzying whisper and lost their hands, falling to the ground outside of the circle.

I felt all the tension leave my body as I breathed out the last few tendrils of the carefully crafted limitation spell. This had been a serious mistake. I got to my knees, palms resting on the floor as I grounded myself.

When I looked up moments later, the circle had been taken down—some members were laughing, a light layer of sweat covering their faces, looking energized and happy. No one had noticed my little show except for one.

Cal had the most extraordinary expression on his face. He was in awe.