Soheila tilted her head, thoughtful. “Exactly.”

“We’d better get back in,” Diana said, looking impatient. “I don’t want the circle overtaxing Liz. She was up all last night talking to members of the governing board of IMP.”

“Did she get a feel for how they’ll vote?” I asked.

“It wasn’t good. One of the three fey members on the board has resigned and the remaining two couldn’t be reached. Delbert Winters, a wizard at Harvard who wrote a paper last year on the science of magic that debunked the idea that the fey taught magic to witches, is in favor of closing the door. Then she spent half the night talking to Eleanor Belknap, a witch at Vassar, who’s gotten it into her head that the open door to Faerie has contributed to global warming. A ridiculous notion, but Eleanor and Liz have been friends for years and Liz felt she had to hear her out. It took a lot out of her and she’s still recovering from her illness last winter …” She blushed and looked away from me, embarrassed at the reminder of yet another problem I had caused. It had been the liderc I let in through the door who had made Liz sick.

“Go on and check on Liz,” I said, getting into my car. But then as they turned to go, I thought of something else. “If the door to Faerie closes, does that mean …?”

“No more Aelvesgold,” Soheila said, putting her arm around Diana’s shoulder, which I could see was trembling. She didn’t have to add that, if there were no more Aelvesgold in this world, witches who had used it to augment their lifespan would suddenly age and die.

CHAPTER NINE

WELL, I REALLY messed that up, I thought as I drove out of the Olsens’ driveway. How could I have so lost myself that I hurt Ann? But that’s what had happened: that first rush of power had felt like a flame rushing through my veins burning a path to those strange images of caves and stone circles and that mysterious figure holding the curved knife. That last image had felt somehow … intimate. And terrifying. I shuddered, tasting fear in my mouth. I forced my mind away from the moment, back to the sunlit country road in front of me, the old stone bridge and the sign announcing the Undine …

“Shit!” I swore, turning into the same driveway for the second time today. I had been so busy reliving the circle that I’d gone back the wrong way again.

I wrenched the gear stick into reverse and backed directly into a pothole. I could hear the undercarriage of my less-than-a-year-old Fit grating against gravel as I maneuvered out of the pothole. I looked warily toward the house, sure the sound would have aroused the owner, but the house kept still in its enchanted silence. I looked back over my shoulder … and was blinded by a flash of gold sunlight just as I’d been last time …