Kasey ran by Chris to go back out to the car. “Did you leave anything at home, Kase?” he asked with a grin as he watched her struggle to carry in a huge, gong-like, object. “Where did you have all this hidden in your little house?” he asked as he took it from her and walked back toward the house.
“I have this lovely huge storage closet, stand back if you ever open the door.” She grabbed the last bag from her car and went to open the door for him.
“You know I’m going to have to peek inside now, don’t you?”
“Yep.”
As they walked into the room Chris cleared out to make the room Kasey asked for, they found Owen and Leena wrapped around each other dancing to nonexistent music.
“Mind if I cut in?” Chris joked on the way by.
“Not if you value your life, friend,” Owen joked and spun her the other way.
Kasey set the bag down and then watched them silently. When Chris walked up to her he spun her into his arms and began following his own silent music. Kasey smiled up at him and let him dance her around the room. He laughed and picked her up so they were face-to-face then continued to move around the room with her feet dangling in the air.
Kasey watched as Rachel and Steven stopped in the doorway and watched for a moment without saying a word. Rachel laughed when Steven extended his hand and she took it and they spun out on the floor, dancing closely.
Chris twirled Kasey around and then swayed in place. Glancing over to the door she saw Dade walk in with Cora carrying the candleholders from her car and they just stopped and stood staring at the three couples. He leaned over toward her and whispered something. Cora shook her head and smiled.
Dade stepped into the room. “Are we having a ritual here tonight or a ball?” All three couples jolted and turned to look at him.
Cora laughed and set down the candle stands. “He was afraid he’d gone deaf and couldn’t hear the music.”
Chris slowly slid Kasey to the floor, not taking her eyes off his the whole time. He cleared his throat and grinned. “Just filling the space with some good vibes.”
Dade laughed. “Keep telling yourself that, man, and you might believe it.”
Cora glared at him.
“What? What did I do now?” he asked.
Cora smirked. “Nothing, I just like to put that panicked, guilty look on your face.”
Kasey almost laughed when his jaw dropped. It wasn’t often she got him, but it was worth it when she did.
“Sneaky witch,” Dade said loud enough for everyone to hear. That made all the guilty sneaky witches in the room suddenly sober and start setting up. Throwing his head back,
Dade laughed in victory and went to help Chris.
After checking at least four times to see if everything was where it should be, Kasey went over and spoke quietly to Rachel again, who looked around and nodded. Chris leaned back against the wall. He might just leave this room empty and let her come here and flit around whenever she needed to. “Okay, ladies, how about you walk us through this before we all drop from exhaustion watching you run around?”
He grinned when they both stopped and looked at him.
Rachel stepped toward the middle. “Okay, this has been painstakingly planned, for maximum safety.” She looked down at the list Kasey gave her. “First time I’ve had a checklist for the start of a ritual. Did everyone have a spiritually purifying bath before coming over?”
Everyone nodded.
Owen grinned. “I’ve never been more pure in my life.” Leena blushed and buried her face against his shoulder. “Well, she had to show me what to do,” he added, and she smacked him for it.
“Right, well, my bath may not have been as pleasantly purifying as Owen’s, but I’d say you can check that off your list,” Steven grinned at the blushing Leena.
Owen dropped his head forward and sighed. “If we keep talking about it I’m going to need my mind re-purified.” He winked at Leena.
Kasey stepped away from the wall. “Leave them alone, love is the purest of all.” She shook her head when Rachel held the list out to her. “I don’t need it. I have done this at least a hundred times in my mind now.” She walked around the room slowly. “The candles on the outside, the white ones, are to keep the energy pure within. Rach is going to use sea salt outside of those to cleanse and keep anything unclean out.”
Kasey spoke more for Owen’s sake than the rest, because they knew more than the basics. She was nervous. “Leena has worked her usual herbal magic and brought the smudge, the smoke you ran your hands through at Beltane, so we’ll smudge every piece involved and everybody.”
She walked over to where the scent bowls were, near the four corners. “She’s also made up four different incenses for us, for protection and to hopefully strengthen what we’re attempting.” She glanced at Leena as she spoke in case she mixed something up. “They’re bistort, frankincense, elecampane, and althea... If I’m not mistaken. So, we’re going to smell awesome after this.” She glanced at Chris. “This is kind of why I requested this large space... so no one passes out from the mixed fumes.”
Kasey thought for a moment as she nervously walking around. “Oh, Leena also has made some extra protection for us and will place it on the inside of the candles, mullein and pine I think, and it won’t be the smoking variety.”
She stopped in front of the bowl where gems were placed around the edge. “I have garnet inside the bowl with the water, it will enhance all the energies, and I placed four moonstones around the outside for divination. The lists of names are under the dish, so if the person we’re looking for is not on the list, we’ll see nothing.”
She took a deep breath as she looked around. “Rach is going to work on keeping the water dark so images will come out better. Um, Steven and Leena are going to concentrate on keeping the water in a glasslike state so no energy will move it and we’ll be able to see.” Chris walked up behind her and began to rub her tense shoulders. “Relax, Kase, you’ve done an absolutely amazing job here.”
Kasey nodded and continued to lean back against him for the comfort. “We’ll all place our hands on the outside edges of the dish. I’ve used copper, as it’s the best energy conductor, but no one can touch the water or it will break the spell completely. Everyone will have to sit in a certain place, because I’ve distributed the different strengths we have around the dish so the energy flows from one to the other to bring the vision out, and we’ll get to the chant in a minute.”
Dropping her head, she looked at the floor for a moment. Then her chin popped up and she focused on Owen. “Can I get you to walk the smudge around and do all the candles and stuff and everyone when they form the circle? You have the purest energy here because of your gift, so any negative will...be gone.”
He grinned at her and nodded.
“Okay.” She walked over to the copper bowl that sat on the floor. “We can stand or kneel. I think if we kneel, though, we’ll see better. I’ll stand here, then clockwise it will be Dade, Steven, Owen, Rachel.” Kasey stepped around the dish showing them each place. “Cora, Leena, and Chris. Ah, any questions?”
No one stirred.
“Okay, we’ll get Steven lighting candles, after Owen’s smudged them. Rach doing the salt... Leena the herbs... Cora will light the incenses, then get yourself smudged and get in place.”
She turned to Chris and looked up at him. “Can you just keep doing that? I’m so nervous. This is the biggest thing I’ve ever done outside the Wiccan circle, and even there I really wasn’t running the show. Just helping.” He nodded and grinned at her. “Oh, good.” She stood there with Chris rubbing her shoulders as she tried to focus her energy as everyone moved around silently doing everything as she’d instructed.
Kasey took deep breaths, and after Owen brought the smudge to her, she knelt down in front of the large copper dish and looked into it. Part of magic, the largest part, was seeing the end result before beginning and all the way through.
Chris knelt beside her silently and waited for the others. He knew he shouldn’t touch her right now, but he still moved close enough to her so she’d feel his energy beside her. He wanted to kiss her and tell her he was proud of everything she’d planned here. It wasn’t a small task, so many variables to plan for, and she’d covered them all perfectly.
When everyone sat down, Rachel spoke softly. “The only thing I did in the figuring part of this was to find the chant. Kase is getting to be much stronger than I am with most spell work. So, the chant is... earth and air, set our sights free; fire and moon, let us see. We’ll say it three times after I set the water and Lee and Doc have turned it.”
Everyone nodded.
Kasey spoke in a whisper. “Take deep breaths, get centered, and when I place my hands on the bowl, you do it, then we’ll begin the chant.” She nodded to Rachel.
Owen watched Rachel hold her hand over the dish and focus on the water. It darkened to almost black with the red stone still sitting in the bottom.
Leena and Steven took a deep breath at the same moment and then moved their hands over the water, and it became a glossed-over black, no longer really looking like water.
Kasey set her hands on the edge of the dish, after everyone else did Owen did the same. He expected the copper to feel cool, but it was warm to the touch, and he could almost feel vibrations moving though the outer edge and into his hands.
“Earth and air, set our sights free. Fire and moon, let us see.” When it was said the third time, Kasey opened her eyes and stared at the water. She rose up on her knees above the dish and focused all her thoughts on the knife and the ring, as well as the seemingly endless lists of names.
Focus, Kasey told herself. An image began to float to the top of the reflection less water. A Bible was there. Then the knife the others described. She saw a calendar and noted the date circled. She saw dancers, but they were only women, moving around the fire... they weren’t dancing as she’d ever seen them do. They appeared to be squirming, touching themselves, and gyrating more like a stripper would than in the tribal way she knew they all danced. She sensed the others now leaning up on their knees to look deeper into the vision.
Chris’s hand gently brushed hers, but it didn’t touch the water so the vision continued.
She blinked once and stared into the bowl again. There was a very naked, dark-haired man over a very naked female, his mouth was moving down her ribs, and her head was thrown back in obvious pleasure. Her eyes widened when she saw the hair on the woman. It was her. “Oh!” Quickly she splashed a hand into the water, and the images left immediately.
Kasey dropped back and sat crossed legged with her hands over her very hot face.
“Whoa, Kase, wrong channel,” Dade said softly.
Leena and Cora were up and over to her before anyone could move. “It happens to all of us, Kase. Visions don’t always stay impersonal,” Cora soothed.
Rachel jumped up to put the candles out, then stopped when Kasey grabbed her arm. She picked up the notebook beside her. “Leave them going until we’ve talked this through.”
She handed the notebook to Dade. “Write down what you saw and pass it around, leaving out that end stupidity.” He took it without a word.
Steven looked over at her for a moment. “That was amazing, Kasey. Really, I’ve seen people that have been doing it for years, and they see nothing but foggy blobs.” He wished Chris would speak to her. He had a way about him that could calm anyone. But Chris sat there still staring at the bowl, his jaw was set. Oh, Steven thought. Oh, well that was funny. Everyone knew... at least he thought everyone realized it was in fact Chris with Kasey in the little fantasy flash. How could Chris not know? Oh, he was going to enjoy this.
He glanced at Owen who sat there with a look of awe on his face. He couldn’t blame him with everything the man had been shown since meeting this group. He supposed what had just happened was even wilder than with Cora’s fire visions, well, right up until that last part at least. Poor guy didn’t know what to do or say, so he stuck with sitting there doing and saying nothing.
Leaning back, he watched Owen get up and go over by Kasey. As he knelt down, he touched Chris’s shoulder. He pulled his hand back like he’d just been zapped. Scowling he looked around. Steven waited until his eyes met his own and lifted his eyebrows at Chris then looked at the bowl before giving him a glare and looking at Kasey.
Owen’s mouth dropped open, then he smirked at him. Giving Chris a wide berth this time he knelt down on the other side of Kasey. He didn’t say anything, just placed a hand on her shoulder. Really what could anyone say without sounding like an idiot at this point?
Kasey closed her eyes and accepted Owen’s silent help. She’d never been so embarrassed in her life. Chris hadn’t said a word to her yet. He just sat there looking at the bowl. Well, could she blame him really? How she went from a killer to projecting her unfulfilled fantasy of Chris climbing all over her, she still didn’t understand. She sighed. “I’m okay now,” she whispered to the four surrounding her. “Go back to your places in the circle and write down what you saw.”
They did silently.
When the book was handed to Chris, he spent a few moments flipping through the pages where everyone added their thoughts then tossed it in front of Kasey without looking at her. “I have nothing to add.”
Dade smiled at her. “Can we close the circle, Kase? I need a bit of a break.”
Kasey glanced at Chris under her lashes and then nodded at Dade. “Yeah, that’s a good idea actually.”
Rachel hopped up and put the candles out, muttering a chant as she did. As soon as they were all out, Chris was on his feet and out of the room before anyone had a chance to get up.
Everyone else went to stand by Kasey, who looked like she was in going to cry. “Oh, my gosh! I’ve embarrassed him so bad.”
Steven went over and hugged her, and then pulled back and looked at her for a moment. “Kase, he’s not embarrassed, he’s pissed.” Her eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open obviously confused. “He doesn’t realize, um... well, that that was him we saw, wasn’t it?” She blushed. That would be a yes. “He thinks that was someone else that you... another man was... well, he doesn’t know it was him.”
Her hands flew over her mouth. “Oh, my gosh! That’s worse than being embarrassed!” Kasey gasped and looked around at everyone to see them agreeing with Steven. “Oh, no! But, no, I have to go talk to him.” She turned to go after him.
Cora grabbed her arm. “Let him stew in it. Trust me,” she leaned over and whispered so the males wouldn’t hear. “It might be what he needs to finally... finally make that first move that every single one of us knows he wants to make.”
Kasey stood there for a moment and thought. “What kind of woman does he think I am? I practically cuddle up to him every time he’s within ten feet, and he thinks…he thought. Oh!” She walked over to the door and paused, only making eye contact with Owen.
Owen smiled at her. “I think we should call it a night, wait a few days until things calm down before we try to discuss this like adults.”
Rachel sighed. “He’s right. I’ll deal with Kasey. Doc, you go find Dade and Chris.”
Steven nodded then took a deep breath.
Kasey turned and fled out the door.
Dade leaned against the railing a few feet from Chris and stared at him. “So, you wanna share what that was in there?”
Chris snarled at him. “That was Kasey letting a man climb all over her, literally!” he growled.
“Okay, blunt works for me.” Dade leaned over and looked at Chris’s face. He honestly had no clue. Ha! “Is she supposed to wait for you to declare your undying love forever?” He thought of Coralee briefly. “You’ve been sniffing around her, my ma’s saying by the way, for how long? You tease her with words but never follow through on anything, and now you’re pissed because Kasey is human and has needs like the rest of us?”
Chris lifted his head. “Fuck off!”
“Can I use that as a quote, counselor?” Dade teased and hoped Chris wouldn’t zap him with lightning or something equally as painful.
Chris ran a hand over his face and swore under his breath.
“Do you mean to tell me you’ve never been with another woman, Larkin? I’d love to call you a liar,” Dade said.
“Me, too.” Steven spoke from a few feet away. “I’ve seen you go through two different women in a week, Chris... before Kasey came along, that is.”
“Fuck!” Chris smacked his hand on the rail.
“Yeah, I’ve heard that defense a lot these past few weeks from Owen.” Dade smirked.
Chris took a deep breath. “What is everyone else doing?” He glanced at Steven.
“Well, Kasey stormed out the other door shortly after you. She’s embarrassed, disappointed, and presently in the mad-as-hell stage. Owen, Lee, and, I think, Cora, are packing up. We’re going to resume discussion at a later, calmer, date. We’re here trying to find out what your malfunction is.” Steven crossed his arms over his chest and studied the other man. “What, in your own words, counselor, do you think, I repeat think, you saw in there tonight?”
Chris leaned back against the rail and crossed his arms much like the Doc had. “I saw Kasey with a man... and very much enjoying herself.”
“Hell, Chris, that could have been a scene from a novel she’d read or some leftover fantasy; are you suddenly an amateur? You know visions, especially personal ones, could just be a bunch of what-ifs.” He glanced at Dade with his last words then back to Chris.
“Well, fuck!” Chris spat. “I have go talk to Kasey.” He turned and walked back in the house.
Dade patted Steven on the back. “Nice wordplay there, Doc. Another minute of Kasey’s what-ifs and I would have had a hard-on myself.”
Steven chuckled and followed him in. “Good, that makes me feel better.”
Chris walked in to see Leena attached to Owen again as he spoke softly to her. He didn’t need to see that right now. He looked around. The entire room was empty. All the ritual aids were gone. “Where is everyone?”
Leena turned. “Oh. They left. Cora took Kasey and Rachel home, we didn’t know where everyone went, so were waiting to say goodnight.”
Chris stuck his hands in his pockets, feeling like a moron. “Oh.” He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry about all that earlier. My head wasn’t in the right place.” He paused when Dade and Steven came back in. “Did we decide on a meeting day to discuss the notes?” he added, still trying to get the other image out of his head.
Owen shook his head. “No. They said to message if anyone had any thoughts.”
“Wednesday night? My place?” Dade offered.
“I’ll let them know,” Leena said quickly.
“Great, I’m out of here,” Steven called out, already heading for the door.
Chris just stood there and nodded silently.
After tucking Leena under his shoulder, Owen steered them toward the door. “We’ll see you then.”
A while later Leena lay in his bed looking around the room. “You know, you men are pretty daft from time to time.”
“Yes, dear, we are,” Owen agreed quickly. He received a smack for it. “Baby, I want you to hang around here with me tomorrow. I want you to read the first book.” She rolled over on him and kissed him. “You do?” He nodded and kissed her back.
“I really want, almost need, your opinion.”
“Oh, Owen!” She sat up. “I’ve been biting my tongue and trying sooo hard not to bug you. Those two chapters you sent me left me dying to read more. Mist people! I mean, really, where does your brain come up with all these fabulous ideas? When I started reading, I was in awe. There have been books on people of the mist, from the mist, blah, blah, blah. But people that actually turn into the mist and try to live in the normal world. Awesome!” She leaned down and ran her tongue over his lips. “So, is the second book mist people also or have you found some other fantastic fantasy for it?”
He chuckled against her mouth. “Oh, you’ll have to torture me to get that information.”
She grinned back at him and began to do just that, forgetting all about the plot of the next book.