"No," Alisa whispered. "I'm sure Charlie wouldn't be able to come all this way. But I want Mary K. to come-I've called her twice, but she's never home."
And she obviously hadn't returned Alisa's calls. My sister was still pretty uncomfortable with the whole Wicca/blood witch thing, though she seemed to have accepted it as far as I was concerned. Maybe finding out that her best friend was some kind of weird, wichy creature, in addition to her sister, was just too much for her. Mary K.'d been really upset when Alisa had discovered her heritage. I hoped she wouldn't give up on their friendship.
"She's been seeing Mark Chambers a lot lately," I said neutrally. "But I'll remind her."
"Thanks."
Matt passed us on the way to the pool house and said hey, and then Raven stomped down the hallway in her Doc Martens. She was wearing a vintage rayon dress with huge gaps held together by safety pins. This, her cornrowed black hair, and her clunky shoes added up to a picture that was totally Raven.
Then the back of my neck tingled, and a whole cascade of responses, emotional and physical, burst through me like sparks. My head was already swivelling as Hunter said, "Morgan?"
He was standing at the foyer entrance to the hall. Alisa melted away toward the pool, and I tried not to run and fling myself into Hunter's arms. I'd spoken to him just before dinner, and he'd told me that he'd finally truly quit the council. I was dying to talk to him. Among other things.
"Hi," I said, walking toward him, admiring my incredible self-restraint. He came to meet me halfway, and then my restraint broke loose. I put my arms around him, backed down the hallway, and drew him into Mr. Warren's office. With the door shut behind us, I let my huge, goofy smile show. He drew me closer, smiling also, and then he bent down and I went on tiptoe to meet his kiss. I pressed closer to him, molding myself against his lean body, feeling the strength of his arms as he held me tightly. My hand reached up to touch the short, light blond hair at the back of his neck, and my fingers traced the smoothness of the skin there. Hunter. Everything about him spoke to me. The timbre of his voice, the scent of his skin, the depth of his green eyes. The way his jaw tightened and his eyes narrowed when he was angry. The sound of his breathing when we were making out on his bed. The pressure of his hand as he splayed his fingers across my back, urging me closer. His quirky, dry sense of humor. His incredible intelligence. His strong and controlled magick. I admired and respected him. I felt incredibly tender love and incredibly strong desire for him. I trusted him implicitly. I shivered as Hunter pushed his knee between my legs. I coiled one leg around him as we kept kissing each other over and over, as if we'd been separated for a year instead of a day. I wanted to drink him in, imprint him on my skin, be warmed by his touch.
Eventually we slowed down and came up for air. My lips felt swollen, and I was breathing hard. Hunter's eyes glittered down at me.
"Well, hello to you, too," he said in his soft English accent. "Did you miss me?"
I grinned and nodded slowly. "Just a little. But enough about me. Tell me everything that happened with Kennet."
Hunter shook his head and let out a breath. "I told him I was quitting. He said witches don't quit the council. I said I did. He asked if I'd consider it a leave of absence. I said I quit. He said I would no longer have the council's protection and that I had made a lot of enemies, being a Seeker."
"Nice," I said with a grimace. "Glad he was so understanding and supportive."
He shrugged. "He wasn't bad, really. I suppose he didn't know what to do."
I stood close to him and rested my head against his chest. I heard the strong, steady beat of his heart. "I'm sorry," I said. "But how do you feel about it? Are you glad you did it?"
"I don't think I should reconsider," Hunter said, stroking my back. "I gave quitting a lot of thought. I know it's right for me."
I leaned up and kissed his cheek. "We should probably get back to the others, but if you want to talk about this more later, we should, okay?" I asked.
He nodded, his chin against the top of my head. His fingers trailed smoothly down my shirt.
"Where's Morgan?" I heard Sharon say out in the hall. "Didn't you say she was here? Isn't Hunter coming?"
We waited until the hallway was quiet, then slipped out. I ducked into the powder room, and Hunter headed to the pool house as if he'd just gotten here. Quickly I splashed water on my face, seeing the flush of Hunter's kisses there. Then I pushed my brown hair off my shoulders and went to join the others.
"Welcome, everyone," Hunter was saying as I walked out onto the enclosed patio that surrounded Bree's pool. Dim stars shone overhead through the tinted glass ceiling, and Bree, with her usual flair, had arranged perhaps fifty pillar candles of various heights all along one edge of the pool. Their flames were reflected in the dark water and provided our only light. The effect was beautiful and mysterious.
Several people turned to greet me silently, and I smiled and nodded, then took a place between Jenna and Raven.
"Bree, thanks for hosting," Hunter said. "It's always nice to be here."
"No problem," said Bree.
"Now, before we cast our circle tonight, does anyone have any announcements or questions?" Hunter asked. "Where are we meeting next time?"
"It can be at my house," Simon offered.
"Right, cheers," said Hunter. "Since we're coming up on Beltane, the next official circle won't be for a while. But in the meantime, we have one of our most festive celebrations to look forward to. Have you guys read about it?"
"Yes," said Thalia. "It's a fire festival, and with Samhain, it's one of the most important Sabbats."
"Right," said Huinter. "Like Samhain, Beltane takes place when the veils between the worlds are thinnest. At Samhain we celebrate and honor death and endings, the closing of a circle, the end of a cycle. Beltane, the last of all the spring fertility festivals, is all about birth, new beginnings, life. Traditionally people make bonfires, have maypoles, and celebrate all night. It's when the Goddess, ripe with fertility after the long winter, joins again with the God, who has now grown into manhood."
There were a few somewhat embarrassed giggles at this, and Hunter acknowledged them with a grin. "This is when the Goddess conceives the next God and so propagates the life cycle once again. Does anyone know the symbols of Beltane?"
I did, but I didn't say anything. My covenmates knew that Hunter and I were going out. I usually stayed pretty quiet at circles-I didn't want to be seen as the teacher's pet. When Hunter was in Canada and Bethany Malone had led our circle, I had been more outspoken.
"The maypole," said Robbie, and Bree raised her eyebrows suggestively, making people laugh.
"Doesn't it have some of the same symbols as Ostara?" asked Sharon. "Like bunnies and eggs?"
Hunter nodded. "Symbols of fertility."
"I read where people actually have sex outside, to bless their fields or their animals," Raven said.
Hunter laughed. "Well, that's one tradition we don't have to feel obliged to perform."
I saw Bree and Robbie exchange glances, Sharon and Ethan making faces at each other, Jenna and Simon smiling quietly and looking at their feet. Jeez, had all of them already done it? Was I the only seventeen-year-old virgin left in Widow's Vale? Hunter and I had planned to make love a couple of times, but something had always happened to keep us from going through with it. Now we both knew that we were ready-we were just waiting for the time to be right. I hoped it would be right very soon.
"Before our next circle," Hunter went on, "I'd like all of you to do some more reading about Beltane." He listed some useful sources, then said, "Now, if there's nothing else, we can cast our circle."
We stepped forward. Hunter quickly and expertly drew a perfect circle on the slates with a piece of chalk. We went on through the opening he'd left in it, and then he closed it behind us. We'd set up four bowls, one each at east, north, west, and south. They held dirt, to symbolize earth, a smoldering incense cone to symbolize air, a candle for fire, and water. With the four elements represented, our energy would be balanced.