Constance refilled her will ow-patterned teacup and poured a cup for Cassie. Then she sat back in her large rocking chair. "What's on your mind?" she asked.
"Nothing, really," Cassie said. "I guess I just came to ask your advice."
"About what?" Constance was thin and regal, but she looked almost childlike, rocking back and forth in her chair.
"I've been feeling kind of uneasy lately," Cassie said.
Constance stopped the rocking and rested her feet flat on the floor. "You'll have to be more specific if advice is what you want, dear."
"Believe it or not, I'm really trying." Cassie set her teacup down. "I guess part of it is that I know I should be happy.
The Circle defeated Black John, and my mother is well again. And I have Adam, who loves me very much."
"But?"
"But I can't seem to relax." Cassie leaned in close to Constance and began speaking more softly. "Like today, when our new principal was introduced. I started to feel all shaky, right there at the assembly. I know it wasn't about him, but how do I know, or how can I tell. . . . Oh, I don't know."
"How can you tell the difference between instinct and anxiety?" Constance smiled.
Cassie nodded.
"There's only one way," Constance said. "Years of practice. That's one of the biggest challenges of having the sight."
She leaned back in her chair and appeared lost in her own thoughts for a moment. Then her thin red lips formed a smile.
"Your grandmother was the same way," she said. "What you call nervous. If you only knew how many times she woke me up from a sound sleep, crying about a bad omen that turned out to be indigestion."
Constance started laughing so hard, tears formed in the corners of her eyes. She reached for a tissue and patted them away before she went on. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to make light of it. But it'll get easier with time, Cassie, you can be sure of that."
"So what you're saying is there's no magic way to know for sure who's good and who's evil, no spell to test the principal's true nature?"
Constance resisted the urge to start laughing again.
"Honey, if only that spell did exist, it would have been the first one I showed you." She looked at Cassie lovingly.
"Unfortunately, there's no shortcut to peace of mind." When Cassie made no reply, wrinkled lines appeared between Constance's eyebrows. "Practice your daily meditations and your invocations," she said. "Cultivate tranquility as best you can."
It was simple advice, but Cassie left Constance's house feeling just a little bit lighter.
Chapter 5
When Cassie arrived at Old Town Hall, the sun was shining down on the carnival as booths and tables were being set up for the evening's festivities. She searched for her mom among the volunteers so she could help her put up the decorations they'd finally finished making late last night.
Old Town Hall was one of the earliest municipal buildings in New Salem. When it had been in use, it housed all the town's federal offices. The surrounding area was designed to be an outdoor market, but these days it was mostly used as a public art space and, of course, to host yearly spring and fall festivals.
"Hey, Cassie." Laurel appeared carrying a tray of tulip bulbs that was nearly twice her size. She dropped it onto a nearby table and waved a few sweaty strands of hair away from her pixielike face. "Are you psyched for tonight's festival?"
"Sure," Cassie said unconvincingly.
"Well, you should be," Laurel said. "The spring equinox is important to us as witches." She looked to her left and then to her right to be sure nobody had heard her. And then, as Cassie expected, she launched into a history lesson.
History and botany lessons were pretty much mandatory when talking to Laurel. You either loved her for it or you had the urge to tape her mouth shut, but for now Cassie humored her.
humored her.
"Like many traditions in New Salem, the origin of the spring festival has roots in paganism," Laurel said. "This festival used to be called Ostara's Festival, and it was a holiday to celebrate the Goddess waking from her winter slumber. It was a time when our ancestors honored the balance of all things, the physical with the spiritual. The old books said it was a time to plant seeds in the garden, as well as a time to plant the seeds of desired manifestation."
"But what does that mean?" Cassie asked.
"It means it's a time to start new projects and put new plans into action." Laurel picked up her tray with a grunt and began to walk away. "It's something to get excited about," she said over her shoulder.
Cassie let her eyes wander around the square. In every booth was a local merchant offering samples of food or drink, or the chance to bid on some item up for auction.
Local bands were setting up their equipment on a ramshackle stage. The whole event had simply become a backdrop for the kickoff of the tourist season. But still, Cassie thought she should embrace it. It was a celebration of sorts, like Laurel said.
Cassie found her mother on the far side of the square, stapling paper daffodils along a wooden baseboard.
Across from her, Cassie saw Melanie and Constance setting up their jewelry booth. Melanie's smooth cap of chestnut hair was pulled neatly back, while Constance's gray mane feathered madly in the wind. They were quite a pair; Melanie was tall and beautiful and prepossessing, and Constance was shrunken and slumped over, bossily calling Constance was shrunken and slumped over, bossily calling out commands with her wrinkled pointer finger. But the love and compassion between them was palpable, and the jewelry they designed was a physical product of that love.
Melanie had told Cassie that the local townspeople didn't have a real understanding of crystals, but that didn't matter.
Their jewelry made for pretty conversation pieces, and Aunt Constance really appreciated the extra cash.
Cassie waved to Melanie from afar and then spotted Diana. She was wearing all white, and the way the sun was striking her blonde hair, it appeared almost white, too. My God, Cassie thought, Diana is literally shimmering like an angel. And appropriately, she was helping with the charity raffle this year. In fact, she'd organized it. Sometimes Cassie wondered if there was anything Diana couldn't do.
Cassie gave her mom a signal to let her know she'd be right there and then headed over to the raffle table to say hello to Diana. She'd felt so distant from Diana lately, she thought stopping by would be a nice gesture. Maybe even a first step in clearing the air between them.
Cassie understood the distance was because she spent most of her free time with Adam these days. How could that not make things weird, when not so long ago it used to be Diana who spent all her time with Adam?