The Divide Page 0,22
purple, for power and wisdom."
As she bent down to light the candles, she recited a chant from Diana's Book of Shadows: "Divine Goddess, God Divine, if evil dwells within this place, make it now leave our space." She then positioned the book on the ground beside Diana and took her spot within the circle next to Laurel.
Diana stood in the center of the circle holding up the cauldron. "In order for this to work," she said, "you all need to picture a white light around you. Let it surround your whole body as I recite the chant."
Everyone agreed and closed their eyes. Diana raised the cauldron high up to the sky and said, "By the power of the Source, no evil shal enter here."
Then Cassie closed her eyes, too, and pictured a white light wrapping itself around her like a warm winter coat.
Diana's voice dropped an octave, and the chant left her throat like thunder.
Psychic hunters in the night
Psychic hunters of the day
Destroy no more what I achieve
Destroy no more what I receive
There were a few seconds of quiet, hindered only by the Bill owing wind and crashing waves. Then, Cassie heard the bell-like echo of Diana stirring the mixture inside the stone cauldron.
Diana continued.
With this potion, I anoint this Circle
To be protected from you, this magic I do Cassie opened her eyes and watched Diana rub a smudge of the inky blue mixture upon her forehead with her thumb. Then she did the same to Faye's forehead, and Cassie's, and all the others.
When she finished anointing the group, Diana asked Cassie and Faye to join her in the center. The three of them held hands around the cauldron and candles, with closed eyes. Cassie pictured the white light surrounding not only her own body now but the whole group as one. She imagined it encapsulating them like a giant helium ball oon and floating them up to the safety of the cloudless sky.
Diana finished the spell.
By the power of this ocean, wide and deep, By the power of day, and night, and powers three, This is our will, so let it be!
Little by little, everyone opened their eyes.
"Did it work?" Sean asked, raising his fingers up to the blue smudge on his forehead.
"How long do we have to walk around with this oill on us?" Suzan asked. "It probably causes breakouts."
"We can go wash it off in the ocean in just a minute," Diana said.
"So that's it?" Faye asked, picking up the dagger from the sand and re-sheathing it beneath her skirt. "We're invincible now? Why didn't we do this long ago?"
"There are conditions," Diana said.
" W ha t conditions?" Faye asked, mocking Diana's measured, proper tone of voice.
Diana wasn't bothered by Faye's ridicule, probably because she was so accustomed to it. "We'll be safe from bodily harm inflicted by the hunters," she said. "But the spell only protects us on the island of New Salem. If we step beyond that, we're vulnerable."
"So nobody leaves the island," Adam said. "Under any circumstances."
He glanced over at Nick, who had taken to disappearing for days at a time, but Nick ignored him.
Diana dug a deep hole in the sand to discard the remaining potion. "It also doesn't mean the hunters can't find us. So everyone has to be extra careful. We have to do everything we can to remain undetected." She stood up, wiped the sand from her hands, and looked directly at Faye. "We can't practice magic at all. The hunters will be looking for anything out of the ordinary to find out who we are."
"What?" Faye charged at Diana like she might tackle her to the ground. "Our magic is the only power we have. How else are we supposed to defeat these guys if we can't use magic?"
Diana squared her thin shoulders to Faye and matched her gaze with equal ferocity. "We find them before they find us," she said. "That's how we're going to defeat them."
"Faye," Melanie said, stepping between her and Diana.
"These are my aunt's murderers we're talking about. You're going to put your magic on hold, because if you don't, you're putting the whole group at risk. And we can't have that."
Cool-headed Melanie had never threatened anyone in her life, but here she was, an inch taller than Faye, ready for a fight.
Adam got between them before things had a chance to escalate. "Everyone needs to take a deep breath and calm down," he said. "We can't afford to be fighting each other right now."
"No,"