Felicia paused in her primping and turned. “You’re twenty-five years old. I hardly think that falls into the category of me taking care of you.”
“And you’re almost thirty.” She almost spit the words. “Old enough to know better. You’ve been dabbling in witchcraft for years, but this is different. Dark magic is not the innocent tinkering anymore.”
“Tinkering?” Felicia threw her head back and laughed. “Is that what you call it?”
“You are dressed like you’re going trick-or-treating; I find it hard to say you’re a practicing witch. Don’t you think the witch hat is a little overkill?”
Felicia spun around. “Nope. Dress for the job you want, not the job you have. And I want to look the part.”
“Witchcraft is not a job, you idiot. It’s a... a... thing. And it’s dangerous.”
“You’ve never worried before.” Felicia stared at her with a rebellious glint in her eyes.
“It’s always been a hobby, Felicia. You guys have never actually decided to try to cast a spell or do much in the way of magic.” Tori shrugged. “You’ve always been more talk than action. This sudden shift in your normal way of doing things isn’t the right direction.”
The doorbell rang. Felicia gave Tori a little push. “That’s Rosie. Go let her in.”
Tori shook her head as she headed toward the door. She pulled it open and let Rosie in without speaking.
The newcomer rushed into Felicia’s bedroom. “She still pissed?”
“Oh, yeah. She doesn’t think we should be tinkering in the dark arts.”
Tori folded her arms and leaned against the doorframe. “Someone is going to get hurt.”
Rosie giggled. “Oh, come on. It’s not like we’re going to accomplish anything.”
“That’s exactly why it’s dangerous.” Tori pointed at Rosie. “You have no idea what you’re doing, so you have no idea of what you may accidentally do.”
“It’s a statue, Tor.” Felicia rolled her eyes. “A friggin’ statue. And a small one at that. It’s not much bigger than a chihuahua.”
“It’s about the size of three chihuahuas, actually.”
“Whatever. It’s not like it’s a mummy that we might accidentally bring back to life.”
Rosie laughed. “I think that would make it a zombie chihuahua, wouldn’t it?”
Tori took a deep breath and tamped down her temper. A cold chill sizzled up her spine, the same one that she had felt ever since Felicia had told her about the statue. “It’s not just a statue. It’s a gargoyle.”
“Tomato, tomahto.” Felicia spun around, so her skirt floated. “A stone. It’s just a fancy piece of stone.”
“Maybe.”
Rosie stared at Tori. “What do you mean, maybe?”
Anger spiked in Tori’s voice. “Gargoyles could just be statues. But legends say that they’re actually demons who were imprisoned into the gargoyle form by actual witches centuries ago.”
Felicia copped an attitude. “As compared to us non-actual witches?”
“If the shoe fits.” Tori raised a brow at her sister. “My point is, you may be releasing a demon that none of you will know how to put back.”
Rosie shook her head. “Helena found it at a thrift store. How evil can it be?”
“You really think a demon cares where its prison was found?”
“If it’s a demon, which I highly doubt, our coven will figure it out.”
“Coven? You’re a coven now? Was there some sort of initiation or did you just Google the word?” Tori’s voice rose to a shrill pitch. “Which, by the way, I hope you’re using loosely to define what it that y’all do once a month while you sit around drinking wine. A real coven is not normally four wannabe witches.”
Felicia grabbed her bag. “We’re out of here. And don’t be running your mouth like that around Helena. You know she’ll just get on my ass about my little sister ruining everything.”
“Coming from someone who doesn’t know her ass from a hole in the ground, I wouldn’t be too worried.”
Rosie patted her on the head as she passed. “Stay home, little sis. We don’t need you in the way.”
Tori watched them pull out of the driveway. She slapped the wall in frustration.
“Dammit. This is not good.”
She checked the moon chart. “Not only is it a full moon, it’s a blue moon. On the 13th. During autumn solstice. Worst case scenario for them is doing crap they have no idea about. This is really, really not good.”
She paced back and forth as she tried to decide what to do. If I go after Felicia, she’s going to kill me for interfering and embarrassing her in front of her friends. If I don’t, and something happens, I have to live with myself for not trying to save her. She knew her sense of guilt would eat her alive if that happened.
Tori sat back down and read some of her research on gargoyles. Another chill raced through her veins. Something was not right about that statue.
She finally pushed her chair backwards and growled, loudly. She resisted punching the wall as she hurried out the door. She knew where Felicia and the others were meeting.
The coven. She rolled her eyes again. I can’t even say the word and take myself seriously.
The walk to the park took far longer than she intended. The last little distance was uphill, and Tori cussed with each step. I have got to buy a car. Maybe walking off my anger wasn’t such a great idea. At least the dark keeps it from being totally miserable.
Regardless, she was sweating as she cut down the little path through a patch of woods to the field where the witches held their get-togethers. Tori couldn’t even bring herself to say “practice their witchcraft.”
The moon was rising, but there was still an hour to go before midnight when Tori finally reached the clearing. She could make out Felicia and Rosie sitting with a bottle of wine near a firepit while Helena, the head witch, added another log to the flames. Luna, the fourth member of their newly dubbed coven, sat nearby with a book on her lap.
I wonder if they actually call it a grimoire.
The whole setting made Tori nervous as hell. She set out across the field, determined to take Felicia home. I wonder if this is how Mom felt when she had to drag me out of the woods to get me to go home.
Helena saw her first. Tori read the flash of anger that crossed the woman’s face.
“What are you doing here?”
Felicia groaned. “Tor, really? Go home.”
Tori ignored Helena. “Not without you.”
Luna stood. “She can’t leave now. We’ve already started the spell. It requires all four of us.”
Near the fire sat a pot. It was too shadowed for Tori to see what it contained. Next to it sat the gargoyle.
It’s staring right at me.
Tori tore her eyes away. “A cauldron? You guys have lost your minds enough to have a cauldron?”
Rosie shrugged. “As close as we could get anyhow.”
Tori stepped toward it. “What’s in it?”
Helena stopped her. “Don’t worry about it. You need to leave.”
“Not without––”