Ian’s eyes narrowed.

“Never mind.”

With Todd’s abrupt end of his little speech, everyone laughed harder.

Except for Ian, who appeared to bore holes into Todd’s skull with a look. Although Todd and Myra were now married, it hadn’t happened soon enough for Ian’s liking. His eldest daughter was still his baby.

“Tomorrow I will take Elizabeth, Simon, Myra, and Todd to scout out a private location where we can practice.”

Briac fussed in Amber’s arms.

Tara dropped her napkin in her lap and pushed away from the table. “Let me take him.”

“I’ll meet you in Lizzy’s room after I feed him and put him down.”

“You’re tired, Tara. Maybe we should try a circle another night.”

“You just finished convincing everyone here that we needed to practice our powers more. We’ve held off our circle for too long. It’s time we flexed our magical muscles.”

Duncan snorted a quick laugh. Tara glanced at her husband and heat rose to her cheeks. Liz assumed Duncan’s magical muscle was of a sexual nature by the look on Tara’s face.

Liz could tell they were talking to each other in their heads, keeping everyone at the table guessing about their private joke. The sacred vows they’d shared when they were married connected their thoughts.

“You’re bad, Duncan,” Tara said.

Yep, definitely sexual. Liz glanced at Fin, whose eyes monitored her every move.

****

“In this day and in this hour, we call upon the Ancient’s power.” Their circle cast around them, the candles lit, the lavender soothed. The women hovered.

“Give us strength to help us see…” Lizzy led the chant, waited for the others to repeat her words.

“Where the hell Grainna is, oh, please.”

“Come on, Lizzy, do you really think the Ancients are going to appreciate your humor?”

Tara’s voice had Lizzy opening her eyes.

“I don’t care if they like it or not. We’re cleaning up their loophole. Grainna wouldn’t be here had they vanquished her completely instead of sending her into the future. Besides, I couldn’t come up with anything else that rhymed.”

The others repeated her words, even Amber who giggled when she used the word hell. Every once in a while Liz needed to remind herself how young Amber was. At thirteen, she was the same age as Simon, but the girl’s maturity matched the others in the circle. Liz supposed growing up in medieval Scotland did that to the women. Then again, Grainna, and the threat of death daily, made the children grow up in a hurry.

Liz sat, holding her sisters’ hands, all of them silent, concentrating.

Moments passed, minutes.

Nothing.

“This isn’t working,” Myra stated the obvious.

“I know,” Liz bit out, frustrated.

“Should we stop?”

“No,” Amber’s voice sounded distant, yet she sat there among them, holding hands, hovering above the ground.

Liz watched as Myra and Tara snapped their attention to the youngest. Her eyes closed, her grip firm. “In this day and in this hour, we call the Ancients for more power. Through the night and through the day, grant a plan to send Grainna away.”

Liz nodded toward Myra and Liz before closing her eyes to see if Amber’s chant would bring them any images.

Liz watched the dots twinkling behind her eyelids as the fire in the hearth cast images beyond her lids. The waves of fire felt fresh and clean like that of the ocean. The smell of salt water and rush of waves reminded her of home.

I need to concentrate. Dreaming of California isn’t going to get rid of Grainna.

“Does anyone feel anything?” Tara asked.

“I see something,” Amber told them. “I don’t know what it is.”

“What does it look like?”

“Grass, thick grass. Moving in the wind, I think.”

Liz gritted her teeth. The highlands were filled with grasses blowing in the wind. “Anything else?”

“Blue. Sky, I think. I’m not sure.”

“Anyone else?”

“No, nothing. Myra?” Tara sighed.

“Nay.”

Liz opened her eyes and stared at the sisters, disappointment shown on their faces. The family would hope they’d come up with something for their troubles.

They hovered in a circle three feet off the ground.

“At least, this time, I don’t have to worry about going into labor when we hit the floor.” Tara’s words had them all laughing at the memory of her holding her nine-month belly every time they came together.

“Still, I sure would like to know what elevated us so we could use the reverse power to bring us down softly,” Myra said.

Liz glanced at the floor. “Are you ready?”

A chorus of voices agreed. They let go of their hands and fell to the floor.

“That was a waste of time.” Myra extinguished the candles and picked them up off the floor. “Maybe we should try something new.”

“We keep practicing. Daily.” Liz removed Seventh Sense from under her bed. “There’s something else we might want to try.”

Amber crawled up onto the bed and rolled onto her stomach. “Outside,” she said. “That’s a good idea.”

“I hadn’t suggested it…yet.” Amber’s ability to read people bordered on scary. “But, yeah. Mayfair talks about the connection with the elements all over this book. She believes that with the industrial revolution and the ability for people to live without ever going outdoors, witches and their powers diminished greatly.”

“It makes sense to me.”

“I’m not sure about the naked thing, though.”

“Ah, what naked thing?” Tara’s brow rose in question.

“Mayfair insists that on the holy days of witches, the solstice, etc. that witches in a coven come together, cast their circle and become one with nature.” She took a breath. “Naked.”

Amber giggled, hiding her innocent smile behind her hand. Myra also began to laugh. When Tara started in, it was all Liz could do to keep from laughing herself. “I’m serious. Not that I’m suggesting we run around in the buff. However, I don’t think we should dismiss anything we haven’t tried.”

“So you are suggesting it.”

“No, not really. I’m just saying…it’s something we haven’t tried.”

“Summer solstice is past.”

“I don’t want to freeze my butt off in winter.”