Page 25 of Obsession

We celebrate the longest day

and shortest night.

We gather to celebrate your strength

and power.

Accept our offering, the golden sunflower.

The women toss their flowers into the fire and I follow suit. They begin chanting and dancing. I don’t know the chant, but I just wing it. Moving my body organically, I feel the energy crackling all around us.

Next, Lucy performs a ritual to bless the cake and mead, and then everyone breaks out into chatter as the refreshments are served. The coven’s ritual isn’t that different from something our circle would do, just with a bit more pomp and circumstance.

Lucy’s busy milling around, so I don’t have an opportunity to ask her more questions. I say my goodbyes and drive home, not having learned much of anything, except that I don’t care for mead.

Chapter 12

My phone chimes and I check the message.

Julia: What’s this business of you abandoning us for a coven?

Me: Vivian needs to butt out!

Julia: If you’re thinking of leaving us, I’m going to stage an intervention.

Me: Relax, I’m not joining a coven.

Julia: Good, because trust me, a coven isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. If I wanted to follow that many rules, I’d have stayed Catholic.

This is the first I’ve heard about Julia’s past. She’s extremely tight-lipped about it, and unlike other boundary-challenged individuals around here, I respect that.

Me: Rest assured I’m not leaving the circle.

“I just wanted to find out more about my mama,” I inform Elvis, who’s hopped up on the counter. “Honestly, their Litha ritual was a bit too over-the-top for my taste. I’m a circle kind of witch.”

Elvis begins grooming. “Get down,” I tell him, and he responds by ignoring me.

Julia: Glad to hear it. You still need a trim.

“Good grief, my hair isn’t in that bad of shape!”

Elvis meows.

“Oh, now you want to weigh in?”

Later that evening, I call it an early night. Alone in my room, I continue to read through Mama’s book of shadows. I come across a cloaking spell.

Seen only by those with no intent to harm me.

Otherwise darkness shall cover their minds

like a stormy sea.

Eyesight blind and forgetful mind.

My babe and I Are safe from those who seek to find.

Why did my mama need this spell? The better question is who was she hiding us from?

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