“It’s the waiting that sucks,” said Helen.

“I’d much rather be out there kicking ass.”

“But exposing our gifts would bring more than the McNeil’s. All of Scotland and most of England would join the fight to rid the region of witches.”

Lora glanced around the room. “Where’s Amber?”

“Sequestered in her room,” Myra told her mother.

“I should have guessed.”

“She’s not well. If I didn’t know what plagued her, I’d worry about an illness.” Tara walked over to the fire and placed another piece of wood on top of the flames.

“Helen and I were discussing Amber’s plight. Helen thought maybe there was some type of blanket we could place over her to dull the onslaught of empathy.”

“A magical one?” Lizzy asked.

“I guess,” Helen said. “Not that I have a clue how to achieve it, but it seems like you guys might.” Helen pointed to a ratty cord draped over the handle on the door. Myra explained that the cord kept their conversations and noise within the room silent to anyone on the outside of the door. It was something Myra and Lizzy had come up with years ago to avoid the servants discovering the MacCoinnich secrets. The cord was kept handy, but only used when private matters needed discussing. “The cord you did your MoJo on works. Why not do the same to something else for Amber?”

The women quietly pondered Helen’s words.

“I like the way you think,” Lizzy said.

“That might work.”

“We have to try. There’s no telling how long this battle will continue. I hate to see Amber suffering.” Myra glanced at Helen with hope in her eyes.

“Constructing a circle with the Keep full of knights is risky,” Lora said.

“More risky than losing Amber?”

Lora shook her head. “Nay.”

“Then talk to Ian while we plan our next move. It will do us good to be doing something to help someone. Besides, if Amber were needed now to use her gift to detect a spy among us, she wouldn’t be able to.” Leave it to Lizzy to cut everything down to the basics. No wonder Simon had grown up so well adjusted even in the mist of time travel and magic.

“I’ll be back.” Lora stood to leave.

“So, what’s all this about a circle?” Helen glanced between the three women and waited their answer.

Chapter Fifteen

Helen sat on the floor in a circle with Myra, Liz, and Tara. Lit candles surrounded them and in the center of all of it was a plain brown cloak. The goal was simple. Light the candles, join hands and therefore forces, and draw upon their individual power before forcing it into the cloak. Liz was apparently the Druid of the hour. She had the knack to come up with rhymes or spells, or whatever the heck they called them, that worked.

Unable to leave her own chamber without enduring physical pain, Amber remained in her room. Joining hands, even with family, was too much for her senses to bear. She filled their thoughts even though she wasn’t with them.

“We need to hurry,” Tara said, glancing toward the door guarded by Cian. Outside Duncan watched and planned to divert any people who might be wandering around the Keep.

Lizzy presented her hand to Helen, which she took. “I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do.”

“Just listen to my words and believe them. Concentrate on the cloak.”

“And don’t let go,” Myra added with a slight edge in her voice.

“Even when we start to levitate.”

Levitate? Helen felt her eyes grow wide. Liz squeezed her hand.

“Sorry, forgot to tell you about that. Whenever we do this, our gifts merge to some extent. Since I’m the flyer in the family, you guys come along for the ride.” Liz spoke as if she was talking about a trip to the supermarket.

“What do you mean by ride?” Helen asked.

“We just hover. Nothing too drastic.”

Myra placed a protective hand on her protruding belly. “It’s not dangerous or I’d be sitting this one out. Besides, Lizzy has more control over the hover thing. We only levitate a few inches now.”

Tara laughed. “We soared to a couple of feet at times in the beginning. The drop sucked.”

Helen’s hands grew damp. Even with the casual tone in the conversation, her anxiety about what was happening peeked. “Dropped?”

“We don’t fall any more. Lizzy controls our descent.” Tara smiled at her sister when she spoke.

“Oh.” They sounded so breezy about all this. Helen’s pulse tapped too fast, her breathing raced.

“If you’re done tutoring Helen, you might want to move along,” Cian suggested without a hint of a smile on his face. “Everyone waits.”

Scolded for their chatting, Helen shifted her focus to the cloak lying in the center of their circle.

“Ready?” Lizzy asked.

A chorus of yeses was her answer. Helen watched the others and attempted to mimic their actions, all the while hoping her presence wasn’t going to muck up the operation.

Lizzy lifted her voice and squeezed Helen’s hand. “We cast our circle by candle light and seek great help for our sister’s plight. Her gift has weakened her mortal self and all we ask is for the Ancient’s help.”

As Lizzy’s singsong voice lifted, so did their bodies. Sure enough, all four of them levitated slowly from the floor. Strange, her body didn’t feel a loss of gravity, or even the missing floor beneath her, but her dress now hung below her bent knees as did the others in the circle. The flames of the candles spiked like some special effect on a movie screen. Something in the air felt electric and the hair on Helen’s arms stood on end. It was hard to concentrate on Lizzy’s words with the strange sensations rolling over Helen’s skin, but she tried. Helen stared at the cloak and repeated Lizzy’s words in her head. She added the words, for Amber, and did her level best to ignore the fact that she was floating above the ground.

“Give her peace and tranquility when wrapped inside the cloth you see. If the Ancients will it so, give us a sign so we will know.”

They all held their breath and waited. Just when Helen didn’t think she’d see anything of importance the air in the center of the circle warmed and blew her hair behind her shoulders. Like any time in the past when her own gift led her to what she wanted to find, her skin tingled and a deep sense of knowing she’d find what she looked for settled over her.

As the air swirled and heated, the cloak drifted from the floor and stretched itself out taut. A blast of light spun with the heat, streaking amber and silver flecks that looked a lot like pixie dust Helen had seen in animated films. Sonofabitch this is gonna work. No sooner did the thought leave her head the cloak drifted slowly to the floor and settled between them.