Chapter 54: The Spell

Corrie’s mom lit one candle and placed it above her head. Corrie could just see the glow of the flame, though it was faint in the light from the windows. Another candle was lit and placed below her feet. She hoped neither of them fell—they were in precarious positions if they did—but she couldn’t help smiling at the thought that if they did, she could quickly extinguish the flames by creating water.

Her mom pushed some desks back, then started walking in a counter-clockwise circle around Corrie on the floor. She was humming something Corrie didn’t recognize. After two circuits, she paused and bent down by Corrie’s side. Corrie didn’t want to lift her head, so she couldn’t see what her mom was doing, but there were little clicking sounds that she suspected were some of the seeds being set on the floor.

She stood up again and made three more circuits, then drew the athame and stopped at Corrie’s head to pass it three times over the candle flame. She did the same over the candle at her feet, then walked around to blow out the candle at her head, then the one at her feet. “Okay,” she said a little breathlessly. “It should be done. You can get up now.”

Corrie stood up, looking around. On her left was the pentacle, a seed placed at each point of the star. The candles had both melted significantly. She felt a little bit lighter, but that might have been psychosomatic. “Do you think it worked?” she asked, pulling herself to her feet with the help of the teacher’s desk.

“I think so,” her mom said. “It felt like something happened. And it should help that the moon is still waning and almost the opposite of full.”

Corrie grinned. “See, you know your phases too. Did you do the original spell on the waxing moon?”

“The full. I wanted to make sure the block against your werewolf side was complete, so I did it when it should be strongest. But of course you were only a few days old then.”

“Well, I guess I should test it out.” Corrie went, mostly out of habit, to the desk on the left of the classroom that she always used during class. “Don’t talk to me for a few minutes, okay?”

“Okay. Will it disturb you if I clean up the spell components?”

“No, go ahead.” Corrie closed her eyes as her mom bent to the floor. She breathed slowly, wishing she had Professor Agnew’s CD of instructions. Still, she’d attempted this often enough that she should be able to do it. She steadied her breathing and tried to imagine the roots, but she couldn’t calm her mind enough to focus on it. She was too anxious. This was the moment of reckoning, she realized—either she could do trance now, or she couldn’t. But Professor Lal thought there was another way, she reminded herself. This wasn’t her last chance. She could do this.

That helped, and her breathing slowed further. Then she grounded herself. Then she opened her eyes and tried stretching her awareness out…

She almost laughed with surprise and relief. This had to be it. There were things vibrating all around her, glowing and colorful. Her mother had a huge globe, glowing blue, inside her. The magical tools all glowed white, and vibrated as well. She started to reach for some of it, then stopped herself, remembering that Professor Lal had told the class not to try using the magic their first time. Dawn and Edie had been successful, but that didn’t mean she would. It was all new and shiny. She should take a little time to get used to it.

She turned to her mom, who was grinning. “Did it work?” she asked.

Corrie nodded. “This is so cool. I know you do trance stuff sometimes. Can you see the magic around you when you do that? It’s like… everything has a glow, and a color.”

Her mom shook her head. “But when I go into a trance, it’s usually to work within myself. I don’t even open my eyes.”

“Well, you should try it next time.” Corrie took a deep breath, released her connection—the sudden vanishing of all the magic around her was disappointing, but she was sure she could get it back—and stood up. “Okay. Let’s go have some pizza.”

Later, at the restaurant with her friends, Dawn mentioned that she’d tried going into trance while they were waiting for their food. “And you know what, Corrie? You and your mom have almost the exact same magic. It’s different colors, but you both have the same big spheres, in the same place.”

Corrie grinned and squeezed her mom’s hand. “I guess now I know where it comes from.”