Kasey had checked her bag four times now. What time were they supposed to be picking her up? She was tired from being awake all night working a spell. Nervous and scared about going to Solstice, where a killer was expected to be, she glanced at the clock again and tried to exhale slowly. She was even more excited and nervous about getting to spend some quality time with Chris.
Kasey had decided she was tired of waiting for him to make a move, but she had no idea how to make any move.
You can do this, Kasey girl, she told herself for the umpteenth time. Maybe, just maybe, if she could manage to get a midnight stroll with him, she could come back looking as thoroughly kissed as Lee had at Beltane.
Her stomach lurched. The thought of kissing Chris, other than a quick one, tied her stomach in a complete nest of knots, like a macramé planter.
Owen’s Jeep pulled up, and she was halfway out the door before it stopped. She smiled at Leena briefly, but her eyes quickly caught the dark-haired man in the backseat as he pushed the door open for her. She stroked a hand casually over the fairy pendant hanging at her waist and then looked back to Chris to give him an inviting smile.
Chris glanced at his watch as Owen finally pulled out on the highway. Not bad, only a half hour behind.
Chris looked over at Kasey again, his mind still stuck on how she looked as she came running out of her house. Her hair actually hadn’t been helter-skelter for once. She had left it so short, the choppy ends were soft and it flitted about with each movement of her head. She’d done something with the color too, it was darker than normal. He wanted to run his fingers through those short locks and see if they felt as silky as he imagined.
In the front, the newly engaged couple, of one-day were talking softly and holding hands. This only made him turn back to look over at Kasey again. What was this, the tenth time he’d glanced at her since she got in the Jeep? She almost looked sleepy.
“You look tired, Kase.”
She nodded. “I am. I ended up staying up most of the night trying to charm a talisman, took me forever to work everything out.”
He touched her hand softly. “We’re going to recharge the gris-gris bags...”
“Oh, no, it’s not for me. I made it for Cassidy, only she’s going to think it’s a gift, which works out with Solstice gift exchanges.” She rubbed her eyes. “If I did it right, it will keep her safe.” Her eyes were so sad when she looked back at him. “I don’t want her to be the next victim. Ever since we saw her in that vision...”
Squeezing her hand, he grinned at her. “I’m sure you did it just fine, Kase. Your gifts are getting stronger with each day, soon you’ll be able to take on anything you want.”
“Thank you, Chris. Gosh, I am tired!”
He reached over and undid her seat belt. Without any effort, he slid her over to him. “Lie against me and catch a nap.” He kissed the top of her head. “I’ll keep you from slipping off the seat.”
“Thanks.” She slipped right down and rested her head in his lap. Shifting around until she fit her small body easily in the backseat next to his larger body, she closed her eyes.
Resting his hand on the bare skin of her exposed waist, Chris grinned down at her. She was already drifting off.
“So...” Owen said, drawing his attention forward. “What is this about gift exchanges at Solstice?” He glanced in the mirror at Chris, and then turned his head to look over at Leena.
Chris nodded. “It’s an old tradition, exchange a magical gift or tool at Summer Solstice with friends.”
“Oh.” Owen’s eyebrows moved down before he looked towards the road again. “I didn’t get gifts.”
“Yes, you did,” Leena whispered quietly beside him.
“I did?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Thank you, baby.” He lifted her hand and kissed it.
“You’re welcome.”
Owen turned back to watch the road. a puzzled look on his face. He was most likely trying to figure out where to get something for Leena.
Chris studied the woman sleeping on him. She looked like a cherub when she slept. He stared intently at her face for several moments. Her small hand rested on his bare thigh by her head. She had perfect hands.
Lightly, he ran his hand over her hair and almost groaned out loud. It was like silk.
An ugly aggressive feeling came to him each time he’d thought of Kasey being at risk at this gathering. Were they all crazy to be going to another one if the killer from Beltane was going to be there? They did have advantages that few were aware of; hopefully the killer wasn’t one of those few. He pictured how Leena looked when she and Owen returned from finding the bodies of those two women, he’d die before he ever watched Kasey go through that.
His eyes caressed her bare waist, imagining his hands doing the same thing. Having his long fingers lay across her belly button, and he could feel the fairy he’d given her dangling there and keep it still was taking a lot of self-control.
He’d had to curb the urge drop to his knees and kiss it when she came out dressed in a tight belly top and short skirt.
As she walked to the jeep, he’d seen her hand caress it and make eye contact with him, ensuring he would notice she was wearing his gift.
He had no fear she wouldn’t like the Solstice gift he’d spent days deciding on for her, it was meant for her.
While allowing his eyes to wander leisurely over her bare legs, he noticed she’d kicked off her shoes. Her toes were painted at least four, no five he counted, different colors.
By the time they pulled into the gates at the gathering site, Chris wanted to jump out and stretch. He’d barely moved a muscle the whole trip, not wanting to disturb Kasey. Running a hand up and down her arm, he spoke softly. “Kasey, we’re here.”
She opened her eyes and turned to look up at him. His heart literally hammered in his chest when he looked at her sexy, sleepy expression.
“Thanks,” she whispered with a raspy voice.
He touched her cheek with the back of his hand, brushing his knuckles lightly over the soft, glowing skin. “Anytime, sweetheart.”
Kasey smiled as she pushed herself up. “I feel so much better.” She brushed her lips against his cheek, lingering for a short moment. “You are quite a comfy pillow, Chris.”
“You can use me anytime you need, little Kasey,” he said in a low voice, almost drowning in her pale green eyes as she looked at him.
“Are you getting out sometime today?” Dade looked in the driver’s window at them.
Steven winked at Kasey as she got out. “Kase, you look good enough to eat today.” He walked over and hugged her, ignoring the glare Chris was giving him.
Chris was almost certain Doc was doing that just to annoy him.
“Oh! I love the belly ring, Kase! Where did you get it?” Rachel squeaked as she was bending down to look closer.
Kasey smiled up at Chris. “It was a gift.”
Chris grinned down at her, liking the way she kept it between the two of them.
Cora walked over and looked too. “Oh my, those have to be real diamonds. Fake ones wouldn’t sparkle like that.” She reached out a finger to touch it and got a small zap. “Oh!” She put her finger in her mouth and laughed. “This dry weather is so awful for static charges.”
Chris stuffed his hands into his pockets when he noticed Owen raise an eyebrow at the Doc, and then they both turned to stare at him. He glanced down at the ground, pretending he didn’t understand the knowing looks they gave him.
Kasey chuckled. “I guess I’ll have to call her my electric fairy.” As everyone started moving towards the registration, she pulled him back a bit and looked up at him. “The stones are not fake, are they, Chris?” He just shook his head. “Great!” She puffed out her cheeks. “I need an insurance policy on my belly button!” He threw his head back and laughed as she headed quickly after the others.
Chris followed along behind, still close enough to hear Owen as he leaned closer to Steven. “Can he do that to an object?”
Steven nodded. “Yes, and I’d say he definitely did.”
Owen laughed.
“Who did what?” Dade asked, pushing between them.
Steven glanced towards the women and then whispered to Dade.
“No way! Really?” Dade chuckled. “Sneaky bastard,” he muttered and then immediately walked ahead of them when Cora turned to give him that look.
Leena stood by the registration, she noticed the site was even more natural and beautiful than the pictures had shown. There were herbs and grasses growing wildly around the whole camp. She couldn’t wait to wander through the trees and along the creek to discover what was there. Harvesting herbs for her magic was very important to her.
She started a mental list of the herbs she most wanted to find. Wild catnip, of course, was always better. Would there be motherwort here? Oh, and the ground ivy would be at the perfect point to harvest. Grinning, she sighed and leaned back against Owen, now seemed as good a time as any to get him playing in the weeds. She was just turning to tell him of her plans when Gwen, in her vintage flowing hippy skirts, came flying out of the little registration building. She ran over to Leena and hugged her.
“Cora just told me. Congratulations!” She picked up Leena’s hand and looked at the ring. She then kissed Owen. “This is so lovely!” She smiled at them both. “It makes my heart so much lighter to know something so wonderful came out of the Beltane gathering.” She kissed both of them again. “Oh! You’ll be dancing your first coupled union tomorrow night. Oh, this is wonderful!” She sniffled as she walked back into the building.
Owen looked down at Leena. “Coupled union?”
Leena laughed and started towards the building. “I’ll explain later.” Justin was walking over towards the group. She could see the strain of the past few months in his eyes.
“Justin, how nice to see you.” She hugged him briefly.
The older man grinned back at her. “Gwen just told me the news, congratulations you two.” He shook Owen’s hand and grinned. “You’re a lucky man, but you know that.” He turned to nod to the others standing closer now. “It’s great to see all of you here. Thanks for coming back.” He rubbed his jaw and glanced around. “You’ll need to meet Mr. Blaine, the detective they’ve sent. I’m not sure where he is at the moment, but stop by at dinner, and I’ll point him out to you.” With that he offered a small grin. “It’s certainly drier this time.” He turned and went back into the building.
“Poor guy,” Cora mused as she went into the registration building again.
When Chris walked out to where the others waited, he noticed a few tense stares.
“Chris,” Kasey said in her sweet tone. “Did you happen to pay for all of our registrations and the cabin?”
He grinned down at her. “What could be more magical then the eight of us together at a gathering? My Solstice gift to you all.” He looked at them knowingly. They couldn’t refuse this gift.
Owen stepped forward until Leena put a hand on his arm and shook her head. “You can’t refuse a Solstice gift, or you’ll bring bad luck to the season.” Unhappy blue eyes looked at Chris, and then Owen looked back at Leena and sighed in defeat.
Chris walked past them. “Shall we go check out the lodgings?”
Cora caught up to him and kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”
Rachel did the same.
Kasey just looked up at him and frowned.
The outside of the cabin wasn’t really cabin-like in appearance. It was a simple square building with dark siding and white trim. The deck, or the white boards that could be referred to as the deck, were large enough for two or three people to stand on, but not sit.
Once inside the cabin, they all stood in the small sitting area and looked around. There was a woodstove in the corner, doubtful it would have to be used judging by the sweat on everyone. The floor was well-polished wood that had seen many feet over the years, Chris decided.
There were two large armchairs, one faded blue and one red, a large brown wicker chair, comfort would be questionable, and the green couch that wasn’t quite a couch, more of a loveseat that wanted to be a couch.
“Well, at least we won’t all have to sit on the floor,” Dade muttered as he walked over and opened a door. “And people, we have a bathroom. Okay, a tiny sink and a toilet.” He turned and grinned at Owen. “You, big guy, might have to go in and out sideways, but at least it’s not sixty feet away outside.”
Leena stood there and looked at the closed doors. Sighing, she went and opened the first. “Double bed and a tiny TV-table-sized table. The wall is a foot from each side of the bed,” she reported.
Opening the next, “Single, possibly a twin-sized cot-like bed, in this room. Nothing other than that, including space.” She lifted her brows at the others as they peeked in the rooms after her. The next door revealed two cots and a tiny window more the size of a vent.
Chris looked in the last door over her shoulder. It had three narrow cots and almost a half-sized closet. “Well.” Leena grinned at him. “We have four rooms, double bed, a single bed, two singles, and three singles, in addition to a closet-like space.”
Owen grinned. “I’m calling the double bed that I’ll be sharing with my fiancée.” Everyone smirked, not arguing because it did make sense.
“I’ll take the single then,” Chris added as he stuck his head in and looked at the tiny space and realized Leena hadn’t been exaggerating. He leaned against the wall beside the door.
Dade walked over and looked into the other rooms. “Guess Doc and I’ll take the two beds in there, unless you ladies want to mix it up?” He lifted an eyebrow at the three women.
They laughed and walked into the room with the three single beds.
Leena dropped her purse on the chair. “Guess we’d better go haul everything in.”
Dade shook his head. “I’ll just drive the van over and park it beside the cabin. There’s enough space.”
It only took half an hour to get everything sorted out. Cora set the last package on the shelf they’d discovered behind a curtain they thought was a window. She looked over at Owen. “Were you expecting us to feed the whole camp?”
Owen shrugged and then grinned at Chris. “Just didn’t want anyone to go hungry. You never know when those middle-of-the-night munchies will get you.” Cora laughed.
Rachel was already putting some of the food back in bags. “If no one objects, I’m going to take this to the children’s area. Munchies always come in handy there.”
Steven nodded. “I’ll go over with you and see if any of my fest kids are here.”
Straightening from setting up the little travel table, Leena glanced at the women. “Before anyone goes anywhere, ladies, shall we cleanse and protect?” The women nodded and went into their room.
Leena looked around at the men. “A little tradition, although we could use this to recharge the gris-gris too, I suppose.”
Cora nodded as she walked back out. “Yes, good idea.” She stepped forward and placed a wooden carved mask on the table. “To watch over all,” she said and stood to the side of the table.
Rachel stepped up and placed her large blue and black candles on the table. Holding her hand over them, they smoldered and then caught fire. “To protect and repel negative.” She took her place beside Cora.
Kasey stepped to the table and set a large piece of raw jasper down. “To bring courage and tranquility to us all.” She stepped to the side of the table.
Leena stepped up and opened her hand over a small dish. Herbs floated from her palm, then settled in the dish, immediately smoldering. She waited for the smoke to rise and then lifted her hands. “To cleanse and protect us all.”
Chris watched as the smoke swirled around the small table and around each of them before circling the room and coming back to the dish. Cora motioned them to form a circle.
The four women joined hands with the men, as soon as the circle was complete, a warm tingle shot through his hands before everyone let go.
“That should also strengthen the gris-gris bags,” Cora said as she went to sit down.
Chris raised his eyebrows at Kasey. “Tranquility?”
She nodded. “I didn’t know if everyone else was as uneasy as I, after Beltane, so I thought it wouldn’t hurt.” She looked down at her clasped hands.
“A perfect choice, Kasey, thank you.”
Dade sat on the edge of the little couch and sent Chris a determined look. “To test your stone out, Kase, now would be as good a time as any to discuss what Justin asked the men to do, before we all head in different directions.” All eyes were on him at once.
Dade glanced once at Cora quickly. “Justin says this undercover cop asked if the four of us would help by making rounds off and on throughout the next few nights.” The other three males nodded, but Chris noticed none were jumping in to help Dade explain.
“Alone?” Cora asked. Dade nodded and started to speak when she stepped in front of him and looked down at him, hands on hips. “I don’t think so.”
“Coralee, the killer isn’t after men, obviously from that vision...”
“No,” was all she said and then sat down, crossing her arms in front of her.
Chris looked around at the women. He had been sure this wasn’t going to go over smoothly. “I have a suggestion.” Everyone looked at him. “We could take turns going out as couples and wandering around. It would look less suspicious.” He grinned over at Kasey. “I don’t know about you, men, but I’d feel safer knowing little Kasey was there with me. If we saw anything, she could blast anyone up into a tree while I ran for help.” Kasey laughed and put her hand over her mouth.
Owen chuckled. “He’s right, well, for the most part. I’d feel better with Leena beside me than worrying about her.”
Dade laughed. “You just want to sneak off and have sex in the bushes with her, bro. Tell the truth.”
Owen grinned back at him. “Hadn’t thought of that, but not a bad idea there, thanks.” Leena lifted a cushion from the couch with a brush of air and tossed it towards him.
Ducking, Owen laughed and walked towards her. “Behave, woman.” He grinned.
Steven stood up. “Other than the sex thing, which does have some merit, I agree with that idea.” He looked over at Rachel and smiled. “Well, warrior woman, you want to protect me from the dark shadows?”
Rachel laughed and then shrugged.
Cora stretched. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m going to go try to grab a nap. It’s going to be a long night, and getting up at dawn to light the Solstice fire will be even more difficult if we’ve all been in and out all night.”
Dade nodded. “I’ll head over and let Justin know what we’ll be doing. I also want to see what this undercover cop looks like, so we don’t attack him thinking he’s the killer.”
Leena sighed. “See if you can get the list of registrants too, Dade. We could check them with the Beltane list before dinner.”
Dade saluted her and walked out the door grinning.
Rachel grabbed the bag of munchies and headed to the door. “You know where to find me.”
Steven followed her. “Me too.”
Leena grinned at Owen suggestively.
Owen held up a hand. “I know that grin says, ‘Come get me,’ but the eyes are saying, ‘Owen, honey, I need a hand with something.’”
She laughed. “I do need your hand, to hold mine while we walk through the woods and meadow looking at the wild plants.”
He shrugged. “I can do that.” He took the bag she held out and opened the door.