While Tara poured the salt, Moondance removed a candle from her large misshapen cloth bag, placed it on the coffee table, and lit it. Leon Botwin removed a dagger from his pocket and laid it next to the candle. Joan Ryan opened her briefcase and removed a metal bowl, a plastic water bottle, and a small glass vial. She poured the liquid into the bowl and added a pinch of gold dust from the vial. The scent of honeysuckle wafted through the room.

“Is that Aelvesgold?” I whispered to Liz.

She glanced at me, surprised. “How do you know about Aelvesgold?” she asked.

“Liam explained it to me when were in Faerie.”

“Ah, that makes sense. Yes, we only have a little of it. We use it to enhance the power of our circle. It’s dangerous to handle, though. You didn’t bring any back from Faerie, did you?”

I assured her I hadn’t, thinking she’d be relieved, but instead she looked disappointed. “Pity, we’re almost out of it.” Then she turned her attention to Joan, who was whispering over the bowl.

Joan struck a match and held it to the liquid in the bowl. Blue flames danced over the surface and then suddenly flared gold. The light from the flames was reflected in the faces around the circle, making each face glow golden. Tara stepped inside the circle and finished pouring the salt. I felt a little snick of energy when the circle was completed and a change in the air pressure, as if we were in a sealed plane cabin and had just changed altitude. The flames from the bowl leapt higher into the air. My fingertips tingled and I was suddenly aware of the beating of my heart and the effort it took to swallow. I looked around the circle of faces, telling myself that I had nothing to fear. I knew half the people here, but in the gold light of the flames not even the faces of my friends looked familiar.

“Join hands,” Liz said, reaching for my hand. I put my left hand in hers and my right hand in Ann Chase’s, being careful to cradle her arthritic hand gently. Her fingers felt like a bundle of broken sticks. She reached for Tara Cohen-Miller’s hand and then Tara took Leon’s hand … and so on, even the Norns putting down their respective occupations to join the circle. I noticed that Moondance made a little moue of distaste when Skald took her hand. When Urd took Liz’s hand, the circle was complete.

Heat pulsed through our hands. I felt Ann’s crumpled fingers relax and become supple. She sighed with relief. I briefly wondered what she must be saving her energy for that would keep her from using it to relieve her own pain, and then my body was flooded with a wave of blinding gold light that wiped every thought from my head. I opened my eyes and saw that the mist that the Norns had woven hung like a shroud around the circle. The gold light from the burning bowl filled the circle like shimmering, sun-struck water. I felt as if I were inside a cave …