and brighter than before.
“Who ushers Initiate Sonali into our sisterhood?” Dahlia asked.
Mei stepped forward. Tonight, she had her hair in a gray pixie cut shot through with streaks of black. It made her look witchier than ever. Especially because, even without makeup, her eyes still looked unnaturally big, her lips a perfect bow. “I do.”
“Who ushers Initiate Vivi into our sisterhood?”
Scarlett stepped forward. “I do,” she said seriously.
One by one, Dahlia called the initiates and their Bigs until they all stood slightly inside the circle.
“Kneel, initiates,” Dahlia said. “From this moment on, this ritual is binding. Once you rise, you will be full members of this sisterhood, with all the rights and responsibilities thereof. Do you accept the laws of Kappa and agree to abide by them from this day forth?”
“I do,” Vivi said at the same time as Bailey, Ariana, Sonali, and Reagan.
“Prepare to accept your sisters’ power.” Dahlia looked around the circle. “We will now raise our magic and direct it at all our initiates. If the magic becomes too strong or too much, Scarlett, you will step in to assist the initiates in grounding the excess energy. Do you consent?”
“I do,” replied Scarlett.
Vivi shivered at the words If the magic becomes too strong, remembering what had happened back in the cemetery when she’d nearly caused the tunnel to cave in. Could something like that happen tonight? Magic wasn’t all charms and glamours—it was a system connected to the most powerful forces in the universe and it had the potential to go very, very wrong, just as it had for Evelyn Waters.
Dahlia nodded and all the sisters in the circle raised their hands, facing their palms at the initiates. “Empress and High Priestess, grant them our power,” Dahlia chanted. “Empress and High Priestess, grant them our power.” The others joined in, their voices growing louder with each repetition.
Vivi felt a tingling in her fingertips, which then began to spread, trickling down her arms like water droplets, seeping slowly through her body. The chanting grew even louder until Vivi could feel the voices vibrating in her chest. “Empress and High Priestess, grant them our power.”
It came in a rush, a wild flood through her body. It felt like a first kiss, like standing outside during a lightning storm. Dangerous and thrilling all at once.
Vivi spread her arms out, accepting the magic from her sisters. Her hair rose, drifting around her forehead as if she were submerged in water. Her whole body rose, her feet floating inches off the ground. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the others rising as well, but she didn’t need to see them to feel them. A single thread bound them all now, and she experienced it with every beat of her heart. She could feel Sonali’s pride, Ariana’s giddy excitement, Bailey’s mix of trepidation and delight, and, most surprising of all, Reagan’s desperate relief.
“Empress and High Priestess, grant them our power.” The Ravens’ voices swelled into a crashing chorus. “Empress and High Priestess, grant them our power.”
Just when Vivi thought she couldn’t take any more, that she’d explode from the surge of energy coursing through her, Dahlia shouted, louder than any of them, “As above, so below. So mote it be!”
The wind died down. The flames stopped leaping toward the stars, and Vivi dropped back like a rag doll, falling helplessly until a number of Ravens caught her just before she hit the earth.
One of them was Scarlett, who gave Vivi the most genuine smile she’d seen since they’d met. “Welcome to Kappa, sister.”
Chapter Twenty
Scarlett
Tiffany had outdone herself.
Every year, Kappa organized the Homecoming Ball. As the social chair, Tiffany had planned this year’s dance, and from the moment Mason opened the door of the limo they’d rented with a few other PiKa-Kappa couples, Scarlett couldn’t stop staring.
After Dahlia’s big thank-you at initiation night for the pledges, Scarlett thought she had the presidency nomination in the bag. But she had to admit this was impressive.
“What do you think?” Her best friend swept up to greet Scarlett and Mason with cheek kisses. She wore a slinky golden sheath dress, which stood in contrast to Scarlett’s midnight-black gown. Scarlett looked like the sky on a moonless night next to Tiffany’s bright, glimmering sun.
Tiffany’s gown matched the glittering shrubbery behind her. She’d decided to throw the ball at the Coastal Georgia Botanical Gardens. It was a perfect choice. The Ravens were glamorous creatures but they never forgot where their power came from: the earth. And