the candle flame and the answering light in the stones. She gave the adder stone back to Annis. “It speaks to you,” she said. “It’s better you hold it. And now we must concentrate. The words of the cantrip don’t matter nearly so much as the strength of our intention.”
Annis folded her hands around the adder stone and held it just in front of her solar plexus. Harriet set a match to the candle wick and then to the incense in its burner. As the pungent smoke began to curl upward, they both closed their eyes.
Harriet had not felt the resonance with the adder stone that Annis did, but as the herbarium filled with the scents of sandalwood and cedar and thyme, she felt something else, something just as powerful. She sensed Beryl’s presence first, and then others of her kind, the ones who had come before. She felt the touch of her ancestresses, no longer in the body but still present with her. Present with Annis, who represented this new age of witches. They were all bound together by blood, by love, by pain, by magic.
The power of ageless warmth and infinite energy made her sway on her feet. She had to remind herself to breathe. When she spoke her cantrip, the words seemed to echo down the years as if she had spoken them before, as if she remembered them from long, long ago.
Guide us both in heart and mind.
Our missing sister help us find.
Hide her face and hide her form
So we can bring her safely home.
She didn’t repeat it. It was complete upon the instant. Her bones sang with the knowledge, and her blood tingled with it, the electrical thrill of accomplished magic coursing through her body.
She opened her eyes.
And saw that she was floating several inches above the floor of the herbarium.
How many times, she wondered, as she settled slowly, gently down, how many times have I done this, and never realized?
She glanced to her left to see Annis still rapt, eyes closed, adder stone pressed close. Harriet had been slightly dismayed that Annis felt the vibrations of the adder stone and she did not, but this—this levitation—this was a testament to her power. It was vanity, but she was proud of it just the same.
She whispered to Annis, “It’s done. We must go while the magic is strong.”
Annis opened her eyes, nodded, and held up the adder stone. “Do we take it?”
“We need it with us. Can you secrete it in your bodice? Are you wearing a corset?”
“I never wear corsets if I can help it,” Annis said matter-of-factly. “Frances used to buy them for me, then never noticed if I didn’t put them on.” She opened the top button of her shirtwaist and slid the adder stone under the sprigged cotton. “It will be safe in my chemise.”
Moments later, in coats and hats and boots, they were on their way. Annis had come in the Allington carriage, with Robbie at the reins. The carriage impressed the Dakota doorman, who gave the two ladies an elegant bow as they crossed the courtyard.
As the carriage wound out of the courtyard and into the park, Harriet said, “I see your driver knows the quickest way to the East River. You’re sure he won’t mind our destination?”
“No. I’ve told him we’re going to visit Frances, but that we have to do it in secrecy, so Papa won’t complain.” She gave a wry smile. “Robbie is accustomed to helping me keep secrets from Papa.”
“I hope he can find the place. This won’t be much of a dock.” Her friend Tom, the shepherd, had found a boat and a boatman for her without asking any questions. “It won’t be much of a boat, either, Tom says. I hope you’re not subject to seasickness.”
“Not in the least.”
Both dock and boat lived up perfectly to Tom’s warning. The dock was of the floating sort, splintered gray wood loosely attached to two rickety, waterlogged pilings, with a single bollard at the end. The boat itself was a rowboat, without amenities of any kind, but it proved to be river-worthy. It was hardly a pleasant cruise, but it was a blessedly brief one. The boatman, pressed into service by the faithful Tom, tied the boat up at the commercial pier just north of the asylum and helped both ladies out, all without speaking a word.
Harriet told him they would return as soon as possible, and he nodded acknowledgment.