They sat in a circle on the floor.
“We have to cleanse our minds,” Zoe instructed. “Visualize opening our chakras.”
“I never open my chakras in public.” Dana giggled, unrepentant, until Malory slapped her knee.
“And we light the ritual candles. White for purity. Yellow for memory. Purple for power.” Zoe bit her lip as she carefully ignited the tapers. “Place the crystals. Amethyst for . . . shoot.” She reached for her book, flipped pages. “Here. Amethyst for intuition. And the incense. Rose quartz for psychic power and divination.”
“It’s pretty,” Malory decided. “Soothing.”
“I think we should all take turns with the Tarot cards, and maybe try some chants, but let’s make Dana happy and do this first.” Zoe set the board between them and placed the pointer in its center.
“We have to concentrate,” she said. “Focus our minds and our powers on one question.”
“Can it be about the love of my life? I pine for Ptzbah.”
“No.” Zoe swallowed a laugh and tried to look stern. “This is serious business. We want the location of the first key. Malory should do the asking, but you and I need to think it.”
“We should close our eyes.” Malory rubbed her fingers on her pants, took a deep breath. “Ready?”
They laid fingertips on the pointer, sat in silence.
“Should we call on the Otherworld or something?” Malory whispered. “Pay our respects, ask for guidance? What?”
Zoe opened one eye. “Maybe you should call on the ones behind the Curtain of Dreams.”
“Denizens,” Dana suggested. “That’s a good word. Call on the denizens behind the Curtain of Dreams for guidance.”
“Okay, here goes. Everybody quiet, everyone be calm. Concentrate.” Malory waited ten seconds in silence. “We call on the denizens behind the Curtain of Dreams, to aid and to guide us in our, um, in our quest.”
“Tell them you’re one of the chosen ones,” Zoe said out of the corner of her mouth and was shushed by Dana.
“I am one of the chosen, one of the seekers of the keys. Time is short. I ask you to show me the way to the key so that we can free the souls of . . . Dana, no pushing the pointer.”
“I’m not. Really.”
Mouth dry, Malory opened her eyes and watched the pointer shudder under their fingertips.
“The candles,” Zoe whispered. “Oh, jeez, look at the candles.”
The flames shot up, a trio of slim gold edged with red. Light began to throb, like a pulse. Something blew cold through the room and set those flames dancing.
“This is wild!” Dana exclaimed. “I mean seriously wild.”
“It’s moving.” The pointer jerked, with Malory’s fingers trembling on it. She heard nothing but the roar of blood in her own head as she watched it slide from letter to letter.
YOUR DEATH
Her gasp was still strangled in her throat when the room suddenly burst with light and wind. She heard someone scream, threw up an arm to shield her eyes as a form coalesced out of a whirlpool of air.
The board shattered as if made of glass.
“What are you playing at?” Rowena stood in the center of them, the sharp heel of her shoe digging into a shard of the board. “Have you no more sense than to open a door to such things as you cannot understand or defend against?”
With an annoyed sigh, she stepped gracefully out of the circle and picked up the wine. “I’d like a glass, please.”
“How did you get here? How did you know?” Malory pushed herself up on rubbery legs.
“It’s fortunate for you that I did both.” She picked up the salt, and upended the box over the remains of the board.