Chapter Eight

When Raven awoke the morning of the twenty-first, she found Deborah and Chris gazing down at her worriedly.
"Where were you last night?" they asked.
"Cassie was really worried about you," Chris added.
"I was hanging out with the guy from the party," she said, not exactly lying.
"Well, Nick came in and said you'd gone off on your own and we waited for you," Deborah said.
Raven eyed both of them. They didn't show any sign of knowing what had happened the night before.
"How was Cassie and Adam's date?" she asked.
"It was great. At least, that's what they said," Chris answered.
"Yeah well, get up, we got work!" Deborah said, grabbing Raven by the arm and pulling her off the couch.
Raven got dressed, ate and then they all went to work. Raven was careful to avoid Nick now that she didn't have her charm. The others were excited about that night and going to have a big party. Raven was going to celebrate on her own. None of them seemed to notice the careful distance Raven kept between herself and Nick. Nick was especially cold that morning, his face like a perfectly carved ice sculpture. He said nothing to everyone and was unusually curt with anyone he spoke to.
"He's in a bad mood," Marie said out of the corner of her mouth as she breezed past. Raven nodded. She just focused on being extra cheerful that morning. She noted that Cassie and Adam were extremely happy with each other, pausing by each other to exchange a quick kiss or hug here and there.
"What are they so happy about?" Del asked as he bagged some groceries.
"They're in love, Del," Melanie said patiently.
"Yeah, but they're so in love," he muttered.
"I think it's sweet," Laurel said.
"Well, they are soulmates," Diana pointed out.
"I hate that word," Raven muttered under her breath so the others wouldn't hear.

At lunch, the whole Circle was gathered in the back room having a meeting. They were talking in low, excited voices when Nick strode in, late. Raven breezed past him to the soda machine. She was standing there hunting for quarters when he saw her. Chris hissed for him to join the Circle, but he didn't seem to hear. They all watched intently as Nick paused behind Raven. She knew he was there but paid him no heed. She slotted in some quarters and stood there, deciding which soda she wanted while Nick stood behind her, looking as if he wanted to say something. He was about to speak when Raven turned, and only she noticed the shock that flared in his eyes when he saw the new crystal at her throat. Nick turned away and sat down in the Circle. They watched him for a few moments.
"What are you staring at?" Nick demanded sullenly, and they got back to their planning. Raven sat in a corner, triumphant that she'd warned Nick away, but there was no ignoring the guilty feeling that nibbled at her deep inside.

Raven stood on the back porch, watching the sunset. She gazed as the sinking orb of fire cast a splendor of colors across the horizon, foreshadowing the colors of the night. She had dined earlier on simple bread and water and waited as the sun went down. When it finally sank below the horizon, spraying a last band of ruby before vanishing, Raven hopped over the wooden railing with her basket over one arm. She was dressed in a simple white shift that she always wore on feasts like Beltane and Midsummer's Night, carrying a woven basket over one arm stocked with everything she would need for her ceremony that evening. The purples and grays of twilight were beginning to show as Raven sat in the sand. She loosed her hair from the copper comb and shook it out, the glorious dark waves rippling down her back. She stuck the comb in the sand and placed the dozen candles around her, the black on in front of her. Murmuring a spell, she lit each candle by cupping her hands around the wick and then pulling them away in a motion like a magician freeing a bird. One by one, the candles burst alight, their glows growing brighter as the twilight gave way to the night.
Raven lifted her head to face to sea, the wind blowing her hair around her face. She called on the elements, stirring each one to rise. The air around her throbbed with Power, waiting for her to use it. Raven reached out with one had and drew the wind into her grasp. Her eyes were wide and tear-filled as she sent her call across the veil of the mists of time to her parents on the other side. She bowed her head and felt her spirit go out of her, rising on the wind. It was the only night she could do this in the year. Any other night and spirits of the dead could accidentally be set free. Raven saw a single tear slide down her cheek as she rose towards to sky.

Flash of light. She was floating high, high on air, lighter than a feather and as cool as a raindrop. She felt the misty veil melt over her and she was there, in the realm of the dead. Thousands upon thousands of spirits hovered. She searched the tortured faces of the agonized souls until she saw the ones she knew.
"Mother! Father!"
"Dove!" her mother yelled. She floated close, her eyes shining with the bloody tears of the dead.
Dove stood before her, sobbing and holding her arms out for a hug. They could not touch or it would mean her death.
"I've missed you so much," she sobbed. "Why did you have to leave?"
The wailing of the anguished spirits rose around her, echoing the song of her heart in pain.
"We died that you might live, Dove," her father answered. "We left you our legacy of Power so that one day you might have a coven of your own. You have so much Power in you..."
"What good is this power if I am so alone?" Dove sobbed. "I would give anything for another day with you, and yet you left me here, unable to love, nearly unable to live..."
"Go, Dove, save yourself before you are taken," her mother warned suddenly as the spirits around her began to close in. She faded back through the veil and fell down, down, down...

Raven's eyes fluttered open weakly. She glimpsed mahogany eyes full of worry before drifting off into a nightmare-filled sleep.

Raven's eyes flew open at the sound of shuffling. Someone was advancing stealthily. Raven lay still, her hand reaching for the knife in the sheath on the floor beside her. There was a metallic sliding noise as she drew the knife. There was a rush in the darkness and a hand clapped over her mouth. Raven's eyes were adjusting to the darkness and she caught a glimpse of a face before the knife was knocked from her hand and something was tugged down over her head. Her arms were caught and held. Raven struggled, but whoever held her was strong. Something else had her feet. She tried to wriggle free but was held firmly. She was suspended horizontally in mid-air and was trying to get her breath back after the struggle when suddenly - She was being rolled over and over. She recognized the smooth cotton texture of a sheet. She was being wrapped in a sheet. She tried to struggle again, too terrified from claustrophobia to scream. She tried to lash out, but her arms were caught in the material. She tried to kick, but her feet were trapped too. Whatever had her was as noiseless as a ghost. Her eyes went wide, taking her back to her memory of the malicious spirits from the other side...It was taking her out of the house, across the kitchen and out the front porch. Coolness hit her as she was brought into the night air. She got the feeling that she was being carried by more than one person. Hands held her head, her waist and her feet. A bit of wry humor crept in as she thought, Or whoever's got me has six arms.
Her world - more of a void - was in motion, everything was moving, but suddenly she was no longer being carried, just held. Then she was tilted. Her feet kicked and met cool, rough sand. She was being set on her feet. The sheet was unwinding. She felt a breeze on her calves that ruffled the hem of her shift...she was still wearing it? Her arms were free.
She grabbed out. Hands caught hers and roughly pinned them behind her back. She couldn't see; there was something over her head, some kind of hood. She decided not to try anything until she could see her captors. She might be wearing a shift, but she could still kick. She was calculating her escape when she heard a low snicker. Two snickers.
Chris and Doug. So this was their idea of a joke. Raven smiled grimly. She would get them later.
"Walk," Chris said, and she felt a push in the center of her back. Raven found herself taking a step.
"Straight ahead," Doug ordered. Raven was sure she was on the beach now. She could hear the crash of the waves against the shore.
"Stop."
Raven obeyed automatically.
"Henderson - !" she managed to get out.
"Be quiet!" Chris snapped. His tone wasn't light and joking like it usually was. There was something serious Raven had never heard before. Chris was usually so air-headed for a guy. "Don't talk unless we ask you a question. Don't move unless we say so. You got that?" he finished.
Raven nodded.
"Now take a step forward. Turn to your left. Stop. Stay right there. Don't make a sound," Doug ordered. Raven felt hands shuffling her into place. Then the hood was lifted away. Raven took in a deep breath of fresh air...and stared.
Cassie was the first person she saw. She was wearing a thin white shift that left her arms bare. Clasped around her upper arm was a wide cuff of silver with a familiar engraving on it. Settled in her glossy brown hair was a diadem with a crescent moon, horns pointing upward. In her hand was a dagger.
"Turn around," a voice said.
Raven felt herself turn.
A circle was drawn in the sand, a big one. Inside and outside were candles, stuck right into the beach. Their flames flickered and dipped in the breeze. The melted wax was spilled all over the sand, as if the candles had been burning for a while. Inside the circle were the members of the Club. They weren't the happy group of kids you'd see every day on the street. They were witches - proud, beautiful, alien.
The ring in the sand wasn't complete. There was a gap in the northeast corner, directly in front of her feet. Raven could feel the power of the Master Tools Cassie had. She was just outside the threshold of the circle.
"Who challenges her?" Cassie asked.
"I do." Doug stood before her, his disheveled blond hair shining in the moonlight.
"Raven didn't see the dagger until it was at her throat.
"I challenge you," Doug said directly to Raven. If there is any fear in your heart, it would be better to throw yourself forwards on this dagger than to continue. So what is it, Raven, are you afraid?"
His strange, slightly tilted eyes glinted mischievously.
Raven cleared her throat and said, "Go on. There is no fear in my heart."
"Then step inside," he invited. The blade yielded before her.
"Come to the center," Cassie said. Raven obeyed. "Turn around."
Raven turned. She felt hands on her shoulders, spinning her faster and faster. She was being whirled around and pushed from side to side, from person to person. Her wrists were bound behind her. She had no way to catch herself if she should fall. Hands steadied her and turned her to face Cassie.
"You've been challenged and you have passed the tests," Cassie informed her. "Now are you willing to swear?"
Raven nodded.
"Will you swear to be loyal to the Circle? Never harm anyone who stands inside it? Will you protect and defend those who do, even if it costs your life?"
"Yes."
"Will you swear never to reveal the secrets you will learn, except to a proper person, within a properly prepared Circle like the one we stand in now? Will you swear to keep these secrets from all outsiders - friend or foe - even it if costs your life?"
"Yes."
"By the ocean, by the moon, by your own blood, will you so swear?"
"I will so swear."
"She has been challenged and tested, and she was been sworn," Cassie said, stepping back and speaking to the others. "And now, since all of us in the Circle agree, I call on the Powers to look at her."
Cassie raised the dagger above her head, pointing the blade at the sky. Then she pointed it east at the ocean, then to the south, then to the city lights in the west. Then to the north. Finally, she pointed it at Raven. She spoke.

Earth and water, fire and air,
See your daughter standing there.
By dark of moon and light of sun,
As I will, let it be done.

By challenge, trial, and sacred vow,
Let her join the Circle now.
Flesh and sinew, blood and bone,
Raven now becomes our own."

Then Cassie reached out and hugged Raven, whispering, "Welcome to the Circle." It wasn't a spontaneous gesture; it had a feeling of ritual.
Laurel came forward and hugged her as well. So did Melanie. Even though she was cool and calm, there was genuine warmth in her slate-gray eyes.
Suzan came forward and hugged her. Hugging her was like hugging a scented pillow. Raven was sure that her kiss left a smudge of cherry-colored lipstick on her cheek. Adam gave her a quick hug. Sean hung on for too long, and Raven ended up having to extricate herself from his overly-friendly hug. On some occasions, the Henderson brothers might have been worse, but instead they gave Raven brotherly hugs and thumped her heartily on the back. Diana's hug was warm and friendly. Deborah hugged like she was out to crack a few ribs, and Raven pulled away gasping for breath. Raven stared as Nick came towards her. He stood over her for a few minutes before reaching out and pulling her into a hug. Only Raven sensed his need in his hold on her. She didn't give him much more than half a second before she pulled out of his hug.
"Well, let's have the party!" Chris urged. Doug hauled a cooler into view and opened it to reveal a stock of sodas and chips.
Deborah reached over and turned on the boom box and eerie music filled the night air.
"Dancing is a very witchy thing," Laurel said as she began to move to the music. Raven closed her eyes and gave herself over to the rhythm. The music was weird and irregular, making her feel dizzy and disembodied.
"Let's go swimming," Suzan suggested.
Adam shot her a look. "Are you crazy? It's the middle of December!"
Raven opened her eyes and grinned wildly. She threw her head back and laughed.
"Here, drink this," Cassie said after taking a gulp from a thermos. The other girls took swallows. Raven took the last. Suddenly she was very hot and had to shed all unnecessary clothing.
"Is this the stuff you used on Nick's birthday?" Sean asked, his eyes locked on Raven as she slipped off her shift. All of the guys looked mildly disappointed that the girls were wearing swimsuits, but they drank some of the girls' potion all the same.
Pretty soon, the whole Circle was in the ocean, swimming around and splashing each other playfully. Raven was teaching Deborah how to body surf.
"A midnight swimming party in the middle of December," Melanie declared.
"Be more witchy if we were sky clad, though," Chris commented, shaking his shaggy hair like a wet dog.
Laurel looked at Melanie, then at Deborah, who was nearby.
"All right," Deborah said, nodding to the two girls bobbing beside her. "Why not you first, Chris?"
"Wait a minute - I didn't mean - Hey, Doug, help!"
"Come on girls," Laurel called. "Chris wants to go skinny-dipping, only he's a little shy!"
It turned from innocent splashing and paddling to a combination of tag and aquatic wrestling. Laurel and Deborah were leading an assault on the Henderson twins while Cassie chased Adam through the shallow surf. Raven could see Melanie rolling in the water with a shrieking and choking Sean in her grip.
Raven found herself being chased by Nick and she ran as hard as she could against the resistance of the water while he cut cleanly through the surf behind her. He even got close enough to grab her, and she shrieked for help. Turning, she saw Chris and Doug flailing helplessly in the water. Cassie and Adam were further out to sea, their sleek heads bobbing in the water side by side.
Nick tossed wet hair - blacker than onyx in the light of the full moon - and grinned at her. Raven had never seen him smile before.
"Surrender," he suggested.
"Never," Raven replied with as much dignity as she could muster while watching a pair of swimming trunks float by.
Nick grabbed at her again. Suddenly a waved splashed between them. Chris paddled close and grabbed at the trunks. He was pushed away and Suzan appeared behind Nick.
"Get away from her, or will I have to make you?" she threatened in as tough a tone as she could muster. Then she winked at Raven and made a grabbing motion. Raven had no idea how to grab a guy as strong as Nick so she just reached out and grabbed him around the neck, pulling him into a headlock as Suzan tugged at his trunks. He twisted and pulled away, swimming to safety with swift strokes.
They had races next, and much to their surprise Raven was an excellent swimmer. She could even out-swim Adam, and he was the resident champion.
"You're finally one of the Circle," Cassie said. "How does it feel?"
"Like I know I won't have to leave every time you have a meeting," Raven replied. "I was kind of nervous with Doug and that knife."
"I was nervous too," Cassie said. "That's the first time I've ever had to do the ceremony."
"Well, you did great," Raven told her and gave her a hug. "You kept the Master Tools, huh?"
Cassie nodded. "Yeah. We couldn't leave them on the island."
"You know that there's one more Master Tool," Raven said.
Cassie nodded. "It was Black John's crystal skull."
Raven frowned. "I thought that there was also this other thing...You have the diadem and the arm band thing and there's this knife. It looks like the one you have. I remember the old Crone showing pictures if it to me." She thought hard. "It had the moon symbol carved on the hilt. It was for life or something. I could never stay awake for the lectures."
"We ought to head in anyway," Cassie admitted with a yawn. "We have work tomorrow. And I don't want to be out here when Deb's potion wears off."
"Giggling, they grabbed towels and ran up the beach.

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