"Morgan." The melodious voice made me jump. I whirled to see Selene Belltower sitting in her car three spaces away, her window rolled down.
"Selene!" I walked over to her. "What are you doing here? Is Cal okay?"
"He's much better," Selene assured me. "In fact, he's on his way to school right now. But I wanted to talk to you. Can you get in the car for a moment, please?"
I opened the door, flattered by her attention. In so many ways, she was the witch I hoped someday to be: powerful, the leader of a coven, vastly knowledgeable.
I glanced at my watch as I sank into the passenger seat It was covered with soft brown leather, heated, and amazingly comfortable. Even so, I hoped Selene could sum up what she had to say in four minutes or less since that was when the last bell would ring.
"Cal told me you found Belwicket's tools," she said, looking excited.
"Yes," I said.
She smiled and shook her head. "What an amazing discovery. How did you find them?"
"I saw Maeve in a vision," I said. "She told me where to find them."
Selene's eyebrows rose. "Goodness. You had a vision?"
"Yes. I mean, I was scrying," I admitted, flushing. I didn't know for sure, but I had a feeling scrying was another thing I wasn't supposed to do as an uninitiated witch. "And I saw Maeve and where the tools might be."
"What were you scrying with? Water?"
"Fire."
She sat back, surprised, as if I had just come up with an impossibly high prime number.
"Fire! You were scrying with fire?"
I nodded, self-conscious but pleased at her astonishment. "I like fire," I said. "It… speaks to me."
There was a moment of silence, and I started to feel uneasy. I had been bending the rules and following my own path with Wicca practically from the beginning.
"Not many witches scry with fire," Selene told me.
"Why not? It works so well."
"It doesn't for most people," Selene replied. "It's very capricious. It takes a lot of power to scry with fire." I felt her gaze on me and didn't know what to say.
"Where are Maeve's tools now?" Selene asked. I was relieved that she didn't sound angry or disapproving. It felt very intimate in the car, very private, as though what we said here would always be secret.
"They're hidden," I said reassuringly.
"Good," said Selene. "I'm sure you know how very powerful those tools are. I'm glad you're being careful with them. And I just wanted to offer my services, my guidance, and my experience in helping you learn to use them."
I nodded. "Thank you."
"And I would hope, because of our close relationship and your relationship with Cal, that you might want me to see the tools, test them, share my power with them. I'm very strong, and the tools are very strong, and it could be a very exciting thing to put our strengths together."
Just then a familiar gold Explorer rolled into the parking lot. I saw Cal's profile through his smoked window, and my heart leapt He glanced toward us, pausing for a moment before pulling into a spot and turning off the engine. Eagerly I rolled down my window, and as I did, I heard the morning bell ring. "Hi!" I said.
He came closer and leaned on the door, looking though the open window. "Hi," he said. His injured wrists were covered by his coat sleeves. "Mom? What are you doing here?"
"I just couldn't wait to talk to Morgan about Belwicket's tools," Selene said with a laugh.
"Oh," said Cal. I was almost puzzled by the flat tone in his voice. He sounded almost annoyed.
"Um, I feel like I should tell you," I said hesitantly. "I, uh, I bound the tools to me. I don't think they'll work to well for anyone else."
Cal and Selene both stared at me as if I had suddenly announced I was really a man. "What?" said Selene, her eyes wide.
"I bound the tools to me," I said, wondering if I had acted too hastily. But Alyce had seemed so certain.
"What do you mean, you bound the tools to you?" Cal asked carefully.
I swallowed. I felt suddenly like a kid called in front of the principal. "I did a spell and bound the tools to me, sending my vibrations through them. They're part of me now."
"Whoa. How come?" Cal said.
"Well," I said, "you know, to make it harder for others to use them. And to increase my power when I use them."
"Heavens," said Selene. "Who told you how to do that?"
I opened my mouth to say, "Alyce," but instead, to my surprise, what came out was, "I read about it."
"Hmmm," she said thoughtfully. "Well, there are ways to unbind tools."
"Oh," I said, feeling uncertain. Why would she want me to unbind them?
"I would love to show you some hands-on ways to use them." Selene smiled. "You can't get everything from books."
"No," I agreed. I still felt uncertain and indefinably uneasy. "Well, I'd better get going."
"All right," said Selene. "Congratulations again on finding the tools. I'm so proud of you." Her words warmed me, and I got out of the car feeling better.
I looked at Cal. "You coming?"
"Yeah," he said. He hesitated as if he were about to say something else, then seemed to change his mind, calling merely, "Talk to you later, Mom."
"Right," she said, and the window rolled up.
Cal set off for school. His strides were so long that I practically had to run to keep up. When I glanced at his profile, I could see that his jaw was set. "What's wrong?" I asked breathlessly. "Are you upset about something?"
He glanced at me. "No," he said. "Just don't want to be late."
But I didn't need my witch senses to see that he was lying. Was he angry at me because I'd bound the tools to me and now no one else could use them?
Or was he angry with Selene? It had almost seemed like he was. But why?
My day went downhill from there. While I was changing classes at fourth period, I accidentally walked in on Matt Adler and Raven Meltzer making out in an empty chem lab. When our eyes met, Matt looked like he wanted to vaporize himself, and Raven looked even more smug than usual. Ugh, I thought. Then it occurred to me that I could never judge anyone again about anything because what I had done was so terrible, so unnatural. And as soon as I thought that, I went into the girls' bathroom and cried.
At lunchtime Cal and I sat with Cirrus at our usual table. The group was quiet today. Robbie was tight faced, and I wondered how it had gone at Bree's house yesterday. Probably not well since Bree was across the lunchroom sitting on Chip Newton's lap and laughing. Great.
Jenna was even paler than usual. When Cal asked her where Matt was, she said, "I wouldn't know. We broke up last night." She shrugged, and I was surprised and impressed by how calm she seemed.
She was stronger than she looked.
Ethan Sharp and Sharon Goodfine were sitting next to each other. After months of flirting, they were looking into each other's eyes as if they'd finally realized the other was a real person and not just a clever simulation. Sharon shared her bagel with him. It was the only cheerful thing that happened.
Somehow I slogged through the afternoon. I kept thinking about Selene teaching me to use Maeve's tools. One minute I would want to do it, and the next minute I would remember Alyce's warning and decide to keep them to myself. I couldn't make up my mind.
When the final bell rang, I gathered up my things with relief. Only half a day tomorrow, thank the Goddess, and then a four-day weekend. I walked outside, looking for Mary K.
"Hey," said my sister, coming up. "Cold enough for you?" We glanced up at the striated clouds that scudded slowly across the sky.
"Yeah," I said, hitching up my backpack. "Come on. I'm parked over in the side lot."