It really didn’t. It looked like decorations. The cake was two towers, but each tower looked like a stack of presents. The one on the left was yellow with blue polka dots, had a giant 1 candle on top, and in the middle said Chutney with The Fool and 0 beneath it. The one on the right was blue with yellow stripes, had a giant 6 candle on top, and said Willow, The Magician, and I on the middle.
They were really, really pretty.
And as everyone moved in toward them, I realized this was my chance.
No one was looking.
My mom and dad were leaning against the far wall talking to Kessler. The former Coven Leaders Constance and Timothy were hovering by the food table, stuffing their faces while their partners Daniel and Katherine were deep in conversation a few feet over.
The current Coven Leaders were cuddled up in the large recliner chair in the far corner. Tennessee and Tegan were my biggest issue. They were infamous for not missing a thing. But if there was going to be a time this was it. They were both completely focused on the birthday girls.
And we had a plan.
But I had to move fast. They were waiting for my signal.
I skipped toward the cake to where Ryan Walcot was standing between his father and his sister, Willow. “Hey, Ryan?”
He turned and smiled that goofy smile of his and his dark strawberry blond fell into his face. “Hey, Aspen.”
“I wanna show you something.” I grabbed his hand and tugged. “Come here.”
Neither Willow or her parents were paying any attention to us. We were just little kids after all. I dragged him to the back of the living room where the open kitchen started, then stopped at the drink table.
“Go get us set up in the other room,” I whispered and poured myself a drink. “I’ll get Sean and Kaelynn.”
“I have everything ready, so it’ll only take a second.” He nodded and then sprinted off. He got a few feet away when Cooper rounded the corner. “Is that bathroom free?”
“Yeah, kid.” Cooper laughed and shook his head…then walked into the crowd.
I stepped to the side and tried to look between all the people. My window was closing. We needed to start before the singing.
“Kaelynn knew cake time would be go time,” Sean Burroughs said from behind me.
I spun around and found both Sean and Kaelynn standing there. I grinned. “How?”
Kaelynn shrugged and tied her blonde hair into a ponytail. “Because my brother is bound to make a scene, because that’s what he does. Which means no one will be watching us.”
Her brother…Easton Corey, the Lovers Card in The Coven.
Sean rolled his blue eyes. “And my sister will be encouraging him.”
“Perfect. Okay, go in the other room, Ryan is already there.” I glanced around. No one was looking at me. “I’ll grab some cookies.”
I turned and strolled over to the snack table. Grabbing cookies was just a cover, but there was no reason I couldn’t take these Publix chocolate chips with me.
“Are you stealing all the cookies?”
I gasped and froze with one cookie half in my mouth and the rest of the package in my hands. Slowly, I turned and the cookie dropped from my mouth onto the plastic tray in my hands. I swallowed and tried to catch my breath but I was out of practice seeing him. “B-bentley…h-hi.”
Bentley Bishop.
I used to think boys had cooties. I thought they were smelly, annoying, and gross…and then Bentley moved to town. He was smart and funny and really cute. He wasn’t crazy like Ryan or Sean. He was always calm. I liked that about him. I liked everything about him.
He arched both eyebrows and smirked. “What are you doing?”
My face burned. Lie to him. He can’t know. I shrugged. “Oh, we’re gonna play a game in the other room…d-do you wanna play with us?”
He cocked his head to the side and his shaggy brown hair swayed. “Who’s we?”
“Me, Kaelynn, Sean, and Ryan.”
The younger siblings to The Coven. Also known as the kids no one else wanted to play with because they thought we’d tattle on them to our siblings. Bentley used to be our friend, used to play with us…and then he turned out to be one of them.
“What are you playing?”
“Oh…just a board game.” I smiled and handed him a cookie. “Want to?”
“Aspen are you coming — oh…hi Bentley,” Kaelynn giggled and waved. “I like your hair long like that.”
He blushed. “Thanks, Emersyn keeps trying to cut it but Tegan won’t let her.”
“Let it grow long and you can look like Tennessee,” Kaelynn said with another giggle.
He chuckled. “I’ll have to work on my intimidation skills —”
“Bentley!” Cooper shouted from across the room. “Come here!”
Bentley sighed and shrugged. “I’ll see you guys later.”
I sighed as he walked away.
“Do you still have a crush on him?”
“What? No.” YES. I shook my head. “Come on, let’s just play.”
We hurried across the living room, around the corner into the hallway, then into the guest bedroom in Kessler’s house. Sean and Ryan looked up and froze. I gasped. They had a salt circle drawn on the hardwood floor and the board between them. They had five white candles set up to take the points of a pentagram.
Kaelynn groaned beside me. “Are you sure this is a good idea? I thought Ouija Boards were dangerous?”
“Yes, but we’re summoning one specific spirit. It shouldn’t be that bad.” I flipped the lock on the door and then walked over and dropped to my knees between the boys. “This is our only chance. There’s so much magic going on out there that no one will notice us. AND we have to tap into The Coven’s magic in order to summon the spirit of a former Card. I told you that.”
Kaelynn whined and sat down on her knees across from me. “I’m scared, okay? Aren’t we too young to be playing with this?”
Sean and Ryan glanced back and forth between us.
“Kaelynn, you promised.” I reached down and picked up the planchette. “I just wanna talk to my sister one more time, is that really so bad? What if it was Easton or Willow or Chutney who died, wouldn’t you want to talk to them again?”
They hung their heads and nodded.
“Libby was taken from me…I just…I just want to talk to her. That’s it.” I placed the planchette in the middle of the board and put my fingertips on it. “Please, guys?”
Ryan put his fingers on it. “I’m in.”
“I bet this is how Tom Riddle got people to follow him,” Sean grumbled, but he put his fingers on the planchette. “Guess that makes me a Death Eater.”
Kaelynn groaned and joined us. “Okay, now what?” She asked once all four of our fingers were on it.
I didn’t blame my friends for being scared of this…but they didn’t understand what it was like to have their sister die. Libby was stolen from me. I just needed more time. There were things I didn’t get to say to her, to ask her, and I wanted that.
“Oh, shoot, were we supposed to turn off the lights?” Sean nodded toward it.
Ryan looked down and frowned. “Are the candles supposed to be lit?”