“Rigdon is super chill and wicked nice. I’ve taken many potions classes with her over the years and a few random classes.” Lennox tapped her neon-yellow fingernails on the book’s cover. “I know she was trying to help you the way she would a Cup, but Seamus was right, it doesn’t work that way for you. She’s never taught a Card before, so don’t be too hard on her.”

I nodded. “Okay, that’s fair. I won’t. But I don’t know what to do now.”

“Well, let’s see if we can work that magic for the quest at hand.” Lennox pointed to the air above her head. “Since it worked for the nausea⁠—”

“Except I can’t remember the symbols I saw during initiation. They stopped showing. So, I don’t know what I’m needing to make⁠—”

“I don’t think you need to for this step.” Savannah stood up straight and narrowed her eyes on me, which made me squirm because as the Death Card I knew this girl was seeing more than I wanted to share. Especially after last night’s dream. But Savannah wasn’t talking about any of that. Instead, she said, “Try to close your eyes and think about that moment during initiation when you saw all the symbols. Even if the details are fuzzy, just bring yourself back to that moment.”

Bring myself back to that moment. Right. I can do that. Totally.

I squeezed my eyes shut and pictured Holy Ground out behind Headquarters. I saw my Coven-mates lined up in a circle around me with five of them standing at points of a pentacle shape. They were all smiling and laughing about that wild story of Tenn’s initiation during a hurricane. It almost made me chuckle thinking about it. Clouds that hadn’t been there slid over our heads and roared. They flashed, then lightning sliced through the sky and slammed right into my chest. Electricity shot through my muscles. I clenched my teeth and groaned. Sharp pressure pierced through my heart and down my spine. Magic sparkled along the ground like light shining through tree branches. The pentacle drawn on the ground turned bloodred. My heart stopped again just like it had that day. A gust of wind swept sand across the field that felt like little shards of glass when they hit my skin. The sand caught in the blood of the pentacle.

No, no this is too early. Not this part, brain. Skip ahead a few seconds.