A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in five days. I've been busy with work and getting ready for applying to grad school. I appreciate all of my readers and the reviews. Hopefully I will be able to update more often. I can hardly believe that it's only been a ten days since I started this story. This chapter might be a little deceptive or hard to put the pieces together as I start putting some intrigue into the story.
Ethan stood behind the bar for the first time in ages. He was proud of his son for everything he had accomplished at the restaurant after dealing with the tragedies in his personal life. Drying a glass with the dish towel, he couldn't help but think that just like his own heartbreak over Amelia Adam was doomed to live the rest of his life carrying his own regrets over Cassie.
Ethan hadn't thought history would repeat itself; hell, Ethan had tried to prevent it by telling them that they were destined to be together. Thinking back on it now, he wondered if his interference had an opposite effect than what had been desired. Glancing at Adam who was setting up the tables with linens and place settings, Ethan thought about the future of the Conant line.
Sighing, he tried to rub his headache away. He loved his granddaughter; always had and always would, but that girl was going to be the death of his son. Usually he wouldn't interfere but Maggie wasn't giving him a choice.
The door swung open and the terror walked in, bright red hair flowing behind her. Dressed in a green silk sundress, Margaux looked like the goddess of hearth and home. There was a sun kissed glow to her skin and her freckles spread over her face like bursts of stardust had landed there.
"Grandpa," a smile burst out on her face and she leaped into his arms. "Are you helping tonight?"
"Well, it's been awhile since I've hung around town and I thought it would be nice to help out a little more."
"That's great," she said. "I better start helping out in the kitchen, though. I'm on dessert duty tonight," Margaux kissed her grandfather and bounced away.
Adam walked up and clapped his father on the back. "I'm convinced that girl has a personality disorder," he told his dad.
"You couldn't have had a boy," Ethan asked. "I know how to talk to guys."
"No," Adam crinkled his nose and shook his head, "you don't."
Celeste looked like a glamorous actress from the 1940s and Phoebe was wearing a short black leather dress with a décolletage neckline, with a black sheer overlay that came together in a boat neck top. They entered on the arms of their escorts, as Celeste preferred not to think of her cousin as her date. If Margaux was right about one thing it was that it sounded pathetic.
The gym looked completely transformed. Tons of bright white Christmas lights sparkled as they hung from the rafters, draped to create a tent look. A local band was playing live music and there were dessert tables lined up on either side of the gym. Celeste knew a catering company had been hired and because Mark had originally planned to take Margaux, Celeste was going to be eating a chicken dinner that she hoped didn't taste like rubber.
It was truly something magical, the blonde thought. Looking across the gym to gaze at Grey through longing eyes, Celeste felt her chest tighten. The only thing worse than wanting him was knowing that he belonged to the person who was quickly becoming her best friend. Turning her head back to look at the group of girls she was talking to, Celeste listened to gossip as she wished that she were the one dancing with Grey.
Grey held her close to him as they danced to Ingrid Michaelson's The way I am. Phoebe's head was resting on his shoulder and her eyes was closed as she swayed to the music.
They had always been together, he thought. From the moment they started grade school to this very moment, Grey and Phoebe had each other. She was sweet and gave him comfort and just calmed all of his nerves. Unfortunately, he couldn't tear his eyes away from the one girl who incited them.
Phoebe was everything to him; his greatest friend; a part of him that was simple and pure and as true a piece of him as his DNA. But Celeste…
Celeste walked in a room and it was like Grey had been living in night and she was the sun. For the first time he was seeing things in a way he had never thought to look at them. She radiated sunshine and his senses rose to meet her energy and connect with her.
Holding Phoebe, feeling her pressed to him, Grey realized that even her soothing nature couldn't stop Celeste's impact on him. Still, he had made his choice and Grey knew that he would be happy with his decision even when he longed for the one he couldn't let himself have.
Nick walked through the door and smiled when he caught a glimpse of Margaux. Her red hair was long and flowing in loose waves as she placed a tray on one of the serving tables.
Walking up to her, he looked around to make sure no one would notice before handing her the cool marbled stone.
Ethan was staring out through the kitchen doors while Adam finished prepping the food for tonight. While he knew that the ball would be catered, Adam knew that the kids would spend most of the night dancing and when they arrived for the after party and the bonfire that they would be jonesing for some real food.
"What are you looking at," Adam whispered and noted his father quick stumble as he tried to cover his actions.
"Nothing," Ethan blustered and turned to look at his son.
"I don't think so," he rebutted. "What's really going on?"
Ethan looked at his son and sighed. "I was just thinking about the night sky," he said, clapping Adam on the back as he made his way to the window. "It's a clear night; good for stargazing."
"Thinking of Amelia again," Adam asked.
"Why? Are you thinking of Cassie again," Ethan replied.
Chuckling, the son through his dish towel down on the island before evading the question. "Well, at least we know that there won't be any Blake-Conant for this generation. Unless my daughter isn't telling me something," he joked. "You know," Adam pointed at his dad, "I would be okay with her being a lesbian if it meant this thing with Mark would go away."
Ethan thought about his granddaughter and the older boy outside with her. "Yeah, no drama," Ethan said, trying to believe as his son did. He could only wish that his granddaughter wouldn't suffer the same fate as him and Adam.
Mark handed Celeste a glass of punch, sitting down beside her. "I'm surprised that you were able to get away from the crowd of guys waiting to dance with you."
Celeste laughed wearily. "I don't know how I managed to do it, but I finally escaped. I wasn't nearly this popular at my old school," she said.
"Well, pretty new girl comes to town and she's bound to be a hot commodity," Mark joked. "Any of them catch your fancy?"
Eyebrows raised, Celeste looked at her cousin. "'Fancy'? You sound like someone's great-aunt from an historical romance; and no, not a one caught my fancy. What about you?"
Mark leaned back in his chair trying to be smooth and debonair. "You know how I do," he tried to be serious.
"Is there even one girl you would be interested in now that you and Margaux are done," Celeste asked.
"One," he answered as he looked away. "But that's never going to happen."
"Well, who knows? Maybe one day you'll get a clean shot with someone," Celeste said. "I have a feeling we're going to need to get out of this town."
"It only took you three days to figure it out," Mark joked. "Maybe someday we'll get out of Chance Harbor together."
Celeste looked back at Grey and Phoebe. "Do you really think we could leave the circle?"
"Your mother did," he reminded her. "Why can't we?"
Celeste wondered for a minute if it were really possible. Her whole life she had been groomed to one day come back and take leadership of the coven. What if there were other options?
The motorcycle pulled up to the high school with Margaux clinging tightly to Nick. Pulling the helmet off, Margaux inhaled deeply. The night air was cool and refreshing.
"Did you prepare the altar," she asked Nick as she climbed off the back of his bike.
"Pointing to the North just like you asked. Are you sure your dad and grandpa won't miss us?"
"I think Dad's just happy to see me with someone other than Mark," she said as they walked across campus.
Reaching the altar, Margaux started taking things out of her messenger bag. "Can I have their things?"
Nick walked over and handed her a gold necklace and a brown leather bracelet. "Anything else?"
"Yeah," Margaux said. "Keep a look out."
Phoebe smiled to herself as she swayed back and forth to the rhythm of the music. It was like her entire body was humming for some odd reason. She had never felt this way before and she chalked it up to the first night of the new moon phase.
Phoebe clung to her newfound empowerment and couldn't help but visualize as she let herself go deeper and deeper into her meditation.
"You're really going to do this to her," Nick asked. "What made you hate her so much?"
"She's the reason why everything happened between me and Mark. None of it would have happened if she could have just left things alone," Margaux told him. Lighting the first circle, Margaux cast the circle.
She began by taking three long ribbons; emerald green, pink, and black, and weaving them together. She stopped to tie a knot in the braid and began the prayer.
"Venus, Queen of Love, divine. Bring the love to her that is mine."
Margaux repeated this seven times, until the ribbons were bound to each other and Margaux took the bracelet and necklace and wrapped them around the braid, binding it to it with twine.
Picking up a knife, she carved their names into a candle. "Diana, queen of love, I invoke thee…"
They left the ball and made their way to the boathouse while the chaperones stayed behind to clean up the mess.
"See Faye, the dance was perfectly lovely and nothing happened," Diana told the other woman.
Faye stood staring at her nails as Diana and Melissa walked around cleaning up. "Um, am I the only one who remembers that there's a cleaning crew for that? What is the school paying them for if you're going to clean up anyway?"
"It's the nice thing to do," Melissa said.
Sighing, she flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Whatever. Are we going to the boathouse or not? Nothing happened at the dance but I still have a feeling that something strange is going on."
"Ah," Melissa said. "Faye's spidey senses are acting up again!"
Diana laughed. "Why is it that you're always expecting the worse?"
"Something strange is going on," Faye insisted. "And for some reason I have a feeling it has something to do with Mark."
Melissa and Diana shared a strange look. Faye was usually right when it came to her motherly instincts despite being a completely different parent then the other two. They just hoped the rest of the circle wasn't involved.
Margaux and Nick walked into the boathouse where seniors had packed in for the festivities. They would spend the rest of the night on the docks and around the bonfire; most preferring to camp out there.
Leading the way, she headed up to her bedroom and grabbed for Nick's hand. Closing the door, she immediately took the braided ribbons from her bag and hid it in a shoebox in the back of her closet.
"I still can't believe that you would cast a love spell on them," he told her. "That's kind of sick."
"It didn't stop you from helping me do it," she responded.
Walking up to him she put her hands on his chest and pushed him back onto her bed.
"Yeah, well I guess I did it for myself more than anything else," he told her, brushing her hair behind her ear.
Smiling, Margaux pressed him flat against the bed and hovered over him. "Well, now that they'll be spending all of their time thinking about each other it frees up more of my time. Which means I can begin to focus on other things," she said and leaned down to kiss him.