Johnny was right, she was tired. Her mind played tricks on her. She looked at the line she’d drawn on the map again and worried if she had missed the right angle. What if the criss-cross was imperfect? Surely it wouldn’t be that obvious? Fire, water, earth, air. Fire, water, air, earth. No matter how much she googled them, no particular order flashed up. Some ancient texts suggested earth first, some water. Then, allegedly, Aristotle decided to add a fifth: aether. Or, in her case, spirit.

Five.

What was it that Demi had said about the number five?

She stretched and took off her shoes, first checking that her carriage was still empty. She slumped forward on her table and put her head in her hands. It was comfortable for about a minute, and then she yawned and settled back into her seat.

Her eyes flashed open and she looked at her watch. She must have nodded off, but she’d only been asleep for five minutes or less. Nevertheless she felt refreshed. Fred’s altar came to mind and she returned to his description of all of the magic tools and how he described them.

There was one missing.

She’d added to Rob’s sketches and the images they had of Mary’s disturbed altar, and all this time, she’d known that something was amiss. None of the altars they’d been shown were complete. They’d seen the honours to the four elements: fire, earth, air and water. They’d been shown the celebration of balance in the candles and the yin and yang, and they’d shared the beautiful items used to purify the group’s gathering: the plate that Fred told her was called a paten, which was full of pine, the two ornate knives, sometimes a wand, chalice and even a cauldron. But the most important item of all was the one that had been missing on both altars. It was so important that Mary had chosen to protect hers (or it had been taken along with her athame) and Fred had most definitely hidden his.

She googled pictures of it. It was the most important shape for worship: the circle. The circle had to be blessed before all ceremonies and Kelly couldn’t believe that she’d allowed Fred to lead her away from this fundamental fact. The group had sat in a circle in the garden at Fred’s house. The magic tools were set out in a circle and the elements all belonged inside a circle.