brie and Layla's sliced apples and ate like the starving.
As darkness settled, Fox broke out the Little Debbies while Cal checked the flashlights. "Go ahead," he told Quinn as she gave the snack cakes a wistful look. "Indulge."
"They go straight to my ass. If we live, I have to fit into my absolutely spectacular wedding dress." She took one, broke it prudently in half. "I think we're going to live, and half a Little Debbie doesn't count."
"You're going to look amazing." Layla smiled at her. "And the shoes we found? So exactly right. Plus, Cybil and I aren't going to look shabby. I love the dresses we found. The idea of the plum with the orchid's just-"
"I feel an irresistible urge to talk about baseball," Fox said, and got an elbow jab from Layla.
Conversation trailed off until there was only the crackle of wood, the lonely hoot of an owl. So they sat in silence as the fat moon glowed like a white torch in a star-struck sky. Fox pushed to his feet to gather trash. Busy hands packed away food or added wood to the fire.
At a signal from Cybil, the women unpacked what Layla thought of as the ritual bag. A small copper bowl, a bag of sea salt, fresh herbs, candles, springwater.
As instructed, Fox poured the salt in a wide circle around the Pagan Stone.
"Well." Cybil stepped back, studied the arrangement of supplies on the stone. "I don't know how much of this is visual aids, but all my research recommended these elements. The salt's for protection against evil, a kind of barrier. We're to stand inside the circle Fox made. There are six white candles. Each of us lights one, in turn. But first, the springwater goes into the bowl, then the herbs, then the three pieces of stone-in turn. Q?"
"I printed out six copies of the words we need to say." Quinn took the file out of her pack. "We do that one at a time, around the circle, as each one of us draws his or her own blood with Cal's knife."
"Over the bowl," Cybil reminded her.
"Yeah, over the bowl. When the last one's done that, we join hands, and repeat the words together six times."
"It should be seven," Layla said. "I know there are six of us, but seven is the key number. Maybe the seventh is for the guardian, or symbolizes the innocent, the sacrifice. I don't know, but it should be seven times."
"And seven candles," Fox realized. "A seventh candle we all light. Shit, why didn't we think of this?"
"A little late now." Gage shrugged. "We got six, we go with six."
"We can do seven." Cal held out a hand to Layla. "Can I borrow your froe?"
"Wait. I got you." Fox pulled out his knife. "This'll work better. Let me see." He picked up one of the thick, white columns. "Beeswax-good. I spent a lot of time working with beeswax and wicks growing up." After he'd laid it on its side, he glanced at Cybil. "Any reason for the dimensions of these? The height?"
"No, but my sources said six." She looked at Layla, nodded. "Screw the sources. Make us another candle."
He set to work. The wax was going to do a number on his blade, he thought, but all things being right in the world, he'd be able to clean and sharpen it when he got home. It took time, enough that he wondered why the hell Cybil hadn't picked up a half dozen tapers. But he cut off three inches, then took Layla's tool to dig a well for the wick.
"Not my best work," he decided, "but it'll burn."
"We light it last." Layla scanned the other faces. "Light it together." She had to take a breath to keep her voice steady. "It's almost time."
"We need the stones," Cybil began, "and the ritual Boy Scout knife," she added with a faint smile.
The boy came out of the woods, executing cheerful handsprings. The claws on his hands, his feet, dug grooves in the ground, and the grooves welled with blood.
"You should know we've used salt before." Gage drew his Luger from the small of his back. "Didn't do squat." His brows lifted as the boy's hand brushed the salt. It squealed in pain, leaped back. "Must be a different brand." Even as Gage aimed, the boy hissed and vanished.
"We need to start." With a steady hand, Cybil poured the water into the bowl, then sprinkled the herbs. "Now the stones. Cal, Fox,