"You have to go," she said pushing him out the door and reached out to kiss him. "I'll see you later—at the meeting," the girl told her lover. He kept trying to sneak back in for a kiss but she knew if she let him then they would never get anything accomplished. Pushing him out, she slammed the door; turned the lock, and pressed her fingers to her lips. Smiling, she didn't even think about what she had done.
The sun was rising and Jake knew that while the kids would probably sleep until a quarter to noon, the adults would be waking up in anticipation. The circles hadn't practiced liked this since the boat fire that had killed so many of Chance Harbors witches.
Jake looked at the object he had only dug up the night before. He didn't know why he had gone to get it last night, considering it would be months before he had a chance to confront Cassie, but he would hold it close until it was time to return it to its rightful owner.
Faye barged into Mark's room, sipping her latte and heading straight for the window. Throwing open the curtains, she smiled as her teenage son let out a howl of anger as he was suddenly extracted from slumber.
"Morning, sunshine," she practically purred.
"Mom, shut the curtains," he demanded into his pillow.
"Oh, I don't think so," Faye smiled cruelly. "Someone came in very late last night, or should I say this morning. I don't think it' too much to ask that you follow curfew considering how generous I am with it," she said and yanked the comforter off him. "Now get dressed! We're going to be late for your first lesson and we're picking up Celeste and Melissa and Phoebe—"Mark jumped up and ran to his bathroom, tripping over his feet on the way.
Faye's eyes narrowed as suspicion began to take hold. She would have to remember to find out when the rest of the kids had returned home the previous evening.
They ascended on the house, walking through the dry brittle grass. Celeste knew that while her great grandma's house had been left to her, this house had been left to her mother by John Blackwell. Why hadn't she done anything to fix it up? Her hot pink converse led her ahead of the pack and when she entered Celeste realized that Jake and Nick were already there and they had brought snacks.
"Are you all ready," Jake asked and the adults moved to join him, creating two separate lines; older generation and younger generation. "Let's get started."
They had gone over basics; common herbs and flowers for most potions and spells, verbal structure of spells, and the adults were shockingly prepared to teach as they explained how the lessons would go. The two circles would meet once during the week and twice on weekends, with each parent teaching a different area.
Jake would be handling the historical standpoint of witches in America as well as the current techniques of witch hunters and how to defend against them. Adam, ever the chef, would be going over plant life and other potion ingredients while Diana would cover dark magic. Other than Cassie's, Diana's book of shadows had the most information on dark magic and evil beings, and Diana had made a point of studying them ever since she had learned of Cassie's heritage.
Faye, the one who loved magic the most, would be exploring other kinds of magic with the kids. Over the years she had studied many different kinds of paganism, voodoo, hoodoo and others. The last parent, Melissa, would be setting up daily practice routines for the kids to practice their powers.
Celeste basically knew all of these things; her mother and their friends had taught her well. Still, she knew that it would be important to participate and build a stronger relationship with her circle. Though Celeste completely understood her mother's reasons for raising her away from this place, the teenager still wished that her mother would have recognized how important it would be to her daughter to be raised with her coven members. Glancing at Margaux, she wondered how different things would be if they had all grown up together.
Greyson walked up behind Phoebe, kissing the back of her head and wrapping his arms around me. "Can I cash in that rain check?"
Turning, she looked up at him with apologetic eyes. "I am so sorry, baby. I already made plans to have a girls' night with Celeste. Maybe tomorrow?"
"Sure," he said. "Do you want to grab dinner at D'Agostino's?"
"That sounds great," Phoebe stepped on her tip toes to kiss him. "I gotta go!"
Phoebe jogged up to Celeste who was talking to Diana and Adam. "What are you guys talking about?"
"Celeste was just showing us her book of shadows," Diana told her. "I never would have thought to keep a separate one but I must say, there are interesting spells in here and I might try experimenting with my own magic."
"Maybe once we're trained we can all start our own book of shadows," Phoebe offered.
"I think that's a great idea," Adam pitched in. "It will help you to learn more and keep track of the magic you're learning. I have to go, but maybe we can meet up before tomorrow's lesson to talk about giving the kids books to journal in for their training," he said to Diana.
"I'll set it up. Have a good night," she waved as he left.
"Um, Celeste," Phoebe pulled her to the side, "do you want to do a girls' night? I have the new Liam Howell movie."
"Yeah, I'd love to—oh, just hold on a moment," Celeste told the other girl and picked up her cell phone which was vibrating against the table it was lying on.
"Hello," Celeste answered. "Mom! What's up?" They talked for a few minutes and Celeste hung up on a giggle.
"That was my mom," the blonde told her friend. "She's on study abroad right now but she just told me that she's taking time off next month. Mom's coming back for Halloween."
"That's great," Phoebe told her. "I wonder what it will be like having two full circles in town. We should organize something special, like a rite."
"That sounds great. Hey," Celeste said switching tracks, "do you wanna stop by the general store and get some treats for the movie?"
Phoebe and Celeste left arm in arm, giggling and laughing along the way.