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Septeathered in a circle, as sleek and so was another, made up of friends and employees of Summerfields Orchard, but they kept their distance and observed a respectful silence, all of the the witches Peter Octavian stood perhaps furthest of all fro, at the center of which stood a single apple tree, remarkable for the leaves and fruit which blosso instead of coan a ceremonial chant that seemed half incantation and half prayer, and Octavian studied theland to participate in a joyous occasion - the autu with it for people of their beliefs Those rituals were still to co to a different sort of ceremony: the funeral of one of their own

Several of the witches wore robes, preferring perhaps to keep to the old traditions, butin sweaters and wool coats When the breeze shifted just right, the wind carried the scent of cinnamon and cider up the hill fro donuts for visitors But no visitors were being allowed up onto the hillside thiswitches held their hands out in front of theave theain of black birds Once upon a time, a cluster of ravens had been called an unkindness, and the word felt appropriate Though the witches had convened this gray enerous and blessed of purposes, it was fate&039;s unkindness that they should have to be here at all

No rain fell, but clouds hung low above the orchard, dark and pregnant with storm Octavian would have preferred it if the rain and wind had co this small valley on the outskirts of Brattleboro, Ver away the ominous aura that filled the air with the threat of menace Keo the world The battle had been won, the casualties counted, and order restored So why did it feel like the storm had yet to break? It was rieved for Keomany, his skin prickled with the certainty that there orse yet to come

The earthwitches raised their hands to the sky as if to part the clouds, but the heavens were indifferent Together the wo the spirit of their sister to the earth and the sky There were seventeen of the Cat Hein and Tori Osborne, the married couple ned Summerfields, and who had been Keomany&039;s closest friends The others had arrived in a steady trickle over the past couple of days, in preparation for the equinox cere at the orchard

&039;Never saw this co beside Octavian said in a low voice

Octavian studied the thin, sixtyishto recall his name Patrick Tori had introduced him as the husband of one of the earthwitches, which Octavian had thought interesting A couple of the others had arrived with companions ere not witches, but for the most part they had come alone or in the cole, or they&039;d left their non-witch partners at holancing at the circle of witches to be sure the whispered exchange would not disturb them There were perhaps twenty other people outside the ritual circle, and they were all observing in silence

Patrick smiled sadly &039;We all knew her and loved her If any of us ever needed proof that Gaea loved us, that the earth mother was still with us, all we had to do was look at Keomany She&039;d been chosen, you know? It just radiated from her&039;

If he hadn&039;t known better, Octavian would have scoffed at the suggestion that the ancient sentience of the earth itself paid any attention to the huiven her eleifts hied with the elements With the earth

&039;No doubt about it,&039; Octavian said, and this seemed to satisfy Patrick, who nodded and said no more

In the midst of the witches, Cat stepped forward Tall and curvy, she reminded Octavian of the Rubenesque representations of fertility goddesses in classical art, though her stylish burgundy sweater and black jeans belied the comparison Cat&039;s face was lined with tears as she reached for the wine bottle in Tori&039;s hands - the wine bottle Octavian had brought back from Massachusetts with hied to collect of Keomany&039;s ashes

As if she could sense his attention - and perhaps she could - she shot Octavian a withering glance Though he had once saved her from a very painful death, she had no affection for him Now, in the wake of Keomany&039;s death, dislike had turned to veno Cat back into the ering look of sadness Tori wiped away her own tears and then pressed both hands to her chest as though to quiet her thundering heart Cat gave Tori a small, sorrowful smile and uncorked the bottle

Octavian had been surprised when the witches had told hi He had assuiven the renewal it represented, they would want to wait until then to perform this cere and had planted the seed of this lone, rerow it fro to maturity in a matter of minutes They wanted Keomany to be a part of this soil before the equinox so that she could be purified with it, and grow and have her spirit renewed, joined with Gaea forever

Who was Octavian to argue?

After all, in the eyes of the witches, he was the un, if Octavian understood correctly, right here in this clearing Keo her earthcraft to purify the soil, but when she had reached down into the world and tapped into nature, she had been struck by a wrongness so profound that it had shocked her into unconsciousness Chaos had infected the world and begun to spread, and Keo infection Several tier in order to combat some supernatural threat, but she had always come back alive With the crisis in Hawthorne, Massachusetts - the waking of an ancient Chaldean chaos deity called Navalica - it had been Keoe The moment she had returned to consciousness, she had called Octavian

But the witches still blaued the point, but now, as he watched Cat sprinkle Keomany&039;s ashes into the soil amidst the circle of witches, he admitted to himself that he bore at least some of the blame The first time Keoht because she was an old friend of the woman he loved But after that crisis had passed, Octavian could have kept Keoic of his own; surely there had been no need to keep putting Keoaze to the prickly grass underfoot, his own sorrow beginning to break down the defenses he&039;d erected to hold it back

No, he thought It was her fight, too With her connection to the earth, she wanted to be a part of it

And that was true, as far as it went After all, Keomany had called him, this last tis like the awakening of Navalica, and Octavian was partly to bla He had helped to tear down the church&039;s s most people called vaun to fully appreciate the consequences There were inable creatures ould have loved to bring the human world to ruin, or make a feast of the theic no one alive kne to perfor, and humankind was entirely unaware of it Fortunately, for quite some time, nor had the denizens of the thousand Hells that bordered the human world But when Navalica woke, it had been like a beacon shining out across the dimensions Octavian and his allies had captured and i off that beacon But he knew that some of the demons and uely in its direction and find that walls which had once kept them out had now fallen

Keoood a friend as she had been, she would not be the last casualty Things had been set in reat deal of help But his first duty had been to Keomany, to take her ashes home so that the people who loved her could mourn her properly He owed her that, at least

As for the rest, he decided it would be best not to mention any of it to the witches Cat and Tori and their friends, though they practiced earthcraft and had soic, had only a fraction of the elemental power that had come so naturally to Keomany Even if they hadn&039;t disliked him, and blamed him for Keomany&039;s death, Cat and Tori wouldn&039;t have been able to help him

He had done all he could for Keomany, and for the witches of Summerfields The time had come for him to be reunited with the woman he loved Nikki Wydra was a musician and had achieved a certain amount of success She had seen her share of impossibilities becoe, but she wanted a simpler,to explain to her what had happened with Navalicaand what it ed to have her in his arht, for it appeared that the witches were nearly done with their cerean to eddy so, but they bleard the base of the apple tree at its center, and that seeht

Distant thunder rolled across the sky, the stor closer It seemed the ritual had been ti overhead as if it were dusk rather than ether around Cat and Tori, all talking a away tears After a few an to talk with so hipster couple orked at Summerfields esturing first to ed theaze at the apple tree, with its fruit hanging heavy and ripe with pro more for hi Hawthorne the previous day Tonight she was due to perforht be too busy with rehearsal and sound check or a dozen other things to respond to the two es he&039;d left But he had also sent her a text asking her to let hiht, and her lack of response had hi - that she&039;d lost her phone or dropped it in the toilet - but as soon as he was back in his rental car and on the way to the airport, he intended to ring her hotel in Philly She would be grief-stricken to learn of Keomany&039;s death, and heartbroken that she&039;d missed this ceremony, the only sort of funeral her old friend would have But there were other things Octavian and Nikki needed to discuss, like how to make sure the rest of the world didn&039;t end up in ashes, like Keo off?&039;

Octavian looked up to see Patrick studying hiot a plane to catch&039;

&039;Without saying goodbye to your friends?&039; Patrick said, nodding back up toward the witches in the clearing

Octavian glanced at the to a small cluster of people

&039;Keo himself with his honesty &039;Trust one&039;

Even as he spoke, Cat see a tear frolanced over at him Her eyes narrowed and her lip curled up in a snarl Without a word to the others, she broke away and started down the slope toward him Patrick wisely retreated

&039;You son of a bitch,&039; Cat said, jaw so tight she seemed to bite on the end of each word

Octavian cocked his head slightly, not sure how to proceed Past Cat, he saw Toriafter her wife But not even she was going to be able to put out the fire he saw in the earthwitch&039;s eyes

&039;So I can do for you, Cat?&039; he asked

He saw the punch coe the blow, or siesture, he could have frozen her in place or knocked her backward But he could feel the fury and grief pouring out of her and he knew that if he let her connect, it would at least give her a ured he deserved it

Cat hit him so hard that his neck snapped to the side and he turned, staggering a few steps before he was sure he wasn&039;t going to fall down He&039;d heard and felt one of her fingers break on i that quickly enough

&039;What the hell do you think you&039;re doing?&039; Tori shouted, grabbing Cat by the arm to keep her from further violence