“You clearly don’t know my mother.”
As we get closer to the tree line, I see a flash of red disappear into the forest. Pan instinctively jumps on my shoulder. As it gets closer to midnight, the spirits that inhabit the woods must be getting restless. They’ve been more and more active leading up to Samhain.
The opening ceremony takes place in the main clearing to the south. Hallie isn’t as adept at flying as I am, so we walk. I watch the mermaids rise out of the lake and hear a dolphin chirping.
I giggle at the scene. “Persephone is still flirting with that dolphin shifter.”
“Aw, I think it’s cute!” Hallie beams.
“I wouldn’t get involved with a shifter,” says a voice. It’s one of the vampires from our Vampiric Arts class, coming up behind us. She tosses her long hair as she walks by. “So much drama.”
“Yeah,shiftersare the dramatic ones,” says Hallie, rolling her eyes. Hallie hasn’t been getting along too well with the other vampires. It’s hard to blame her.
The vampire scoffs, “Trust me, shifters are trouble. We should hold ourselves,” she glares at me, “to a higher standard.”
She prances off into the woods without another word.
“What was that all about?” I ask.
Hallie sighs. “Vampires are extremely judgmental. They’ve all been making comments about how I’m friends with you.”
“Really?” I had no idea. I feel a pang of guilt followed by a rush of appreciation for Hallie. “I didn’t realize you had to deal with that.”
“Well, it’s not like the witches love you for hanging out with me,” Hallie shrugs.
I bite my lip. I knew the witches didn’t like me, but I always thought it was because my mom was the vice-principal and I’m so terrible at witchcraft.
“I had no idea…”
“Plus,” Hallie smiles, poking me in the ribs. “Everyone thinks you have a crush on that wolf shifter after your moment in the clearing.”
I turn bright red. Thank goddess it’s so dark. “That was…agesago!”
Hallie giggles. “C’mon, we’re going to miss the ceremony if we don’t hurry up!”
We arrive at the clearing late. June’s already there, wearing an elaborate ceremonial robe of yellow velvet and a self-satisfied smirk.
“You’re late,” Lydia appears from nowhere, another long robe floating in mid-air beside her. This one is red, with embroidered silk lines like flames along the bottom edge. “Put this on, and follow me.”
“I’ll find you later.” I say to Hallie, but she’s already caught a glimpse of Professor Vyas chatting to some other students. Hallie hurries toward them, probably to ask about prerequisites for the vampire shifting seminar or something.
I look around the clearing, warily eying the ceremonial fire in the center. It’s enormous, its flames reaching up to the bright night sky. Several witches are humming and chanting incantations around it, cleansing the area. The vampires are hanging around the edges, trying to pretend they’re too cool for this. The shifters and mermaids bustle around, trying to be helpful but mostly getting in the way.
“And you,” Lydia snaps her fingers at someone behind me.
I turn to witness Rae shifting out of her wolf form. I try not to stare at her, or to notice how beautiful she looks, naked in the glow of the firelight.
“I don’t know if I’ll be any good at this,” she says to Lydia. “Could I just…help tend the fire, or something?”
Lydia waves her hand and an enormous indigo robe appears around Rae shoulders, drowning her in velvet.
“Trust me, this will be fun!” Lydia beams. “It’s important to have all magical groups represented at our first Samhain celebration. Plus, you agreed to do it as punishment for antagonizing the panthers.”
Rae scowls and mutters under her breath, “It was mostly Tala…”
I know better than to argue with Lydia. I step into my robe, suffocated but grateful that at least this will be over soon. Lydia collects a few more students - Orion, one of the dolphin shifters, and the vampire from earlier, who looks even grouchier than Rae about having to participate. We all take our places around the fire.
Lydia begins the ceremony, calling the quarters (the four directions) and “All Spirits on this Hallowed Eve,” etc., etc. I zone out for a bit.
