Page 102 of Ulune's Daughter

“Okay.” I pick up a silver spoon and hold it up. Darwin, Rachel, and Darwin’s sisters, who are working at the two other cauldrons, pick up their silver spoons. “Three times widdershins to clear the way and then three times clockwise to lay the new path.”

I lead them in stirring and chanting. For our monthly Circles, I lead. It’s Teddy’s hearth room, and Darwin pays for all the expensive stuff, so I’d step back if Teddy ever wanted to lead, but she never does.

Once we’ve finished stirring and chanting, we hold our hands over our cauldrons and let our Elements flow into the potions. Once everything feels right, I nod and we decant the potions into bottles to cool. I try not to waste a drop. This is a powerful ward. It should be respected.

Ladling my potion into the four flasks I have lined up at the edge of my workspace, I notice the color’s different from usual. It’s usually olive green. Today’s potion is a much brighter green, with lines of black like veins running through it.

Darwin picks up one of his flasks and inspects it closely. He sniffs it, raises his eyebrows in surprise, and puts it back down.

“Smell bad?” I ask. Things can go wrong during casting.

Darwin shakes his head. “Smells like the night breeze. That’s more you than Teddy. Her potions always have a trace of minerals. All I’m getting is petrichor.” He leans over the flasks and takes another sniff. “And maybe a hint of juniper.”

“That’s what Isla Cedros smells like,” I say, picking up a cloth I purified the night of the last new moon and wiping out my cauldron. Everyone copies me. I pick up a small bucket and carry it over to the pool in the corner of Teddy’s cave. Thanking the Mother for her bounty, I fill the bucket and carry it back to my cauldron. When everyone’s back at their cauldron, I raise the bucket and pour it very carefully into the cauldron, not spilling a drop of the Mother’s waters.

While the water heats, I ready my workspace for the next spell. This isn’t one of our usual new moon spells. It’s an unbinding to facilitate Evan’s release. We’ve cast unbindings for him many times, but they’ve all failed. With what Teddy and Rachel told me when I arrived for our Circle—that their meeting with the Aedis Astrum was a success and they’re hopeful Evan will be released by Yule—I think this year’s unbinding has more chance of success.

I add three handfuls of rosehips to the cauldron and two handfuls of geranium petals. While I wait for them to steep, I check the fire underneath, which is burning merrily. I put on an extra piece of yew kindling to keep the temperature high.

Rachel’s humming to herself as she adds rosehips to her cauldron. Sounds like that song by Usher. Something about daddy’s home.

“Hey, daddy,” I croon at the appropriate spot.

Rachel grins. “It’s going to work this time. I can feel it.”

I nod. I really hope so. “Let’s peel the lemon with intention.”

We all pick up our ritual knives and strip our lemon’s yellow rind away from the flesh within. I take a handful of lemon peel and hold it over my head while I lead the chant of unbinding. We drop the lemon peels in and follow the lemon with salt for clearing. Then we all pick up our cauldrons either with magic or, in Darwin and Orlaith’s case, their hands since they’re Fire-mages, and carry them outside. We walk quickly to the stone wharf that separates Teddy’s cave from the two-hundred-year-old canal and pour our potions into the dark water while calling on the Night Mother to release Evan from his chains.

As we return to the cave, I feel a heaviness loosen in my chest. I glance over at Rachel. Her face is wet but she’s grinning. She bounces on her toes as she walks.

“Definitely worked,” she says.

“Definitely,” I agree. “What’s the first thing you’re going to say to him?”

She grins. “Something to earn a spanking.”

I can’t help but return her grin. I know that feeling.

“Okay, I’ve been patient,” she says. “Spill the tea.”

Rachel is many things, but patient isnotone of them. “What are you talking about?”

“Last time I saw you, you were down at the mouth about the swimmer. But either you’ve fixed things or shit got real at the fires because you’re glowing.”

Am I? I check my hands, which are all that’s exposed by my long-sleeved, black hoodie. The weather’s turned cold on both sides of the Atlantic and although Teddy’s cave is a pretty even temperature all year round, it’s freaking damp and chilly, so I bundle up before we brew.

Other than the long, blue claws—which might be hag claws but I’m definitely not calling them that—my hands look normal. No glow.

“No, I’m not.”

Rach scoffs at me. “You totally are.”

“Okay, I might have met someone?—”

“I knew it!” Rachel grabs my arm and do-si-does with me down the path. I throw my head back and laugh. The night wind chases my laughter, setting will-o-the-wisps glowing among the trees. Smokeberry and fae lanterns growing among the trees light up, their blue glows rising to dance with the will-o-the-wisps.

The path in front of me opens like I’ve torn open a door into the Fae Ways. But it’s not the World Wood that rises in front of me. It’s a castle. A ruined castle. The doors and windows gape darkly. One of the towers has lost its turrets, the stone jutting up like a broken tooth into the moonlit sky.

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