So Mote it Be (21 page)

They sat for a while watching the fire burn. Then Kate began to sing a chant she'd written for the ritual. She was nervous, and her voice faltered, but she got the words out.

“Fire crackling in the night, take what's wrong and make it right, burn away what we don't need, as is our will, so mote it be.”

She sang the chant once more so that Annie and Cooper could learn the words, then their voices joined hers. They sang for quite some time. Kate shut her eyes and listened to the sound. It was soothing, almost hypnotic. Behind their words she heard the voice of the sea as the waves crashed on the beach, and she heard the wind as it sang in the rocks. All the sounds blended together perfectly, and she felt safe and happy.

One by one they stopped singing, until Kate was singing alone. She repeated the chant once more and let the last word hang in the air before dying away. She looked at her friends and smiled. “Now for the last part,” she said.

She took the stick with the balloons tied to it and unwrapped the strings. She gave one to Annie and one to Cooper.

“I thought that since we were giving up things we . . . well, I . . . shouldn't have asked for, we should kind of start over by asking for more positive things,” she explained. “Let's each think of something we would like to bring into our lives. Then we'll put those thoughts into the balloons and let them loose. You know, like sending out energy.”

They took a few moments to think, holding the balloons in their hands. Then they stood up. Annie held out her balloon. “I wish I could worry less,” she said. She let go of her balloon and it drifted up into the sky.

“I wish I could give people more of a chance,” said Cooper, giving her balloon a little push and sending it off.

“And I wish I could be less afraid of changing,” said Kate. She hesitated for a moment and then let go of her balloon quickly, before she could grab it back. As it sailed up toward the moon, she imagined her fears trailing behind it, leaving her forever.

“Do you think we'll get what we wished for?” Annie asked.

“We'll find out soon enough,” Kate said. “But if there are any more mice in your kitchen when you get home, don't tell me about it.”

CHAPTER 16

When Kate woke up the next morning something felt different. She couldn't tell exactly what it was, but she knew that there had been a change. As she got ready for school, she found herself humming a tune. After a while she realized that it was the chant she had written for the ceremony on the beach. She sang the words to herself as she dressed and thought about the ritual. The fire really had burned away a lot of the things that had been weighing her down. But what had it left behind? She definitely had a feeling of hope that she hadn't felt in a long time.

That hope faded a little as she walked to school. This was the big test. Had the ritual worked? She was about to find out. If it hadn't, she didn't know what she would do. She was out of ideas. Annie was still suspended, and if things kept going wrong, she was going to have a miserable time.

Some of the guys from the football team were hanging out on the steps when she arrived. She approached them nervously, waiting for their reaction to her. But when she walked by, they barely noticed. Only Evan Markson, Scott's best friend, waved at her, and even he went right back to talking to his buddies.

Maybe it's working
, Kate thought as she entered the building. But she didn't dare hope for too much. She'd been fooled by the magic before, and there was a chance that it was just waiting to throw something even worse at her. As she walked to her locker she looked for any signs that the boys were still interested in her. She tensed up as each one walked by, waiting for one of them to ask her out or tell her how pretty she looked.

But none of them did, and by the time she reached her locker she was feeling a lot better. Still, she had the rest of the day to get through, so she wasn't going to consider the ritual a total success until she saw what happened. For the moment, it was time to face her next big challenge—the chemistry quiz.

Tara was sitting in her usual seat, going over her notes. “Hey,” she said when Kate sat down. “Are you ready for this?”

“No,” Kate admitted. “How about you?”

“I studied all last night,” Tara said. “I have
got
to do well on this quiz. Coach Saliers says if I pass it she'll knock a couple of days off my suspension and let me play next week.”

Kate pulled out her own notes and went over them. Just to be fair, she had studied a little bit. If she did well on the quiz, she wanted it to be because she'd put in enough effort, and not because of magic.

She looked over her notes until Miss Blackwood came in and started handing out the quiz. When she got hers she turned it over and read through the questions. A few of them she knew, but many of them were totally unfamiliar to her. She remembered going over the material in her notes, but now it was all a blur.

Taking a deep breath, she tried to concentrate on the questions and see if the answers would come to her as they had on the midterm. But the more she looked at them, the more confused she got. The magic wasn't working.

She'd never been so happy to not know the answers to a quiz. She had to rely on her own knowledge, and she did the best she could. But when time ran out and Miss Blackwood asked for the papers back, she still had three blank places on her paper and was certain about only a few of the questions she had answered.

Miss Blackwood had them work on experiments for the remainder of class while she graded their tests. Kate paired up with Tara, and was relieved when the mixture they made fizzed up and poured over the sides of the beaker. It was the first time she'd been happy to have an experiment go wrong.

Miss Blackwood handed out the quizzes as the students left the room. Tara fidgeted nervously as she waited to get hers, and when the teacher gave it to her she let out a squeal of joy. “I passed!” she said. “That means I can play again.”

Miss Blackwood handed Kate her test. “I'm afraid your news is not as good, Miss Morgan,” she said. “I'm disappointed, especially after your midterm grade.”

Kate looked at her paper. She'd gotten a 62. She tried to look upset, but inside she was celebrating. “I'll study harder for the next one,” she told Miss Blackwood as she filed out into the hall. But what she really wanted to do was dance all the way to her next class.

At any other time, Kate would have called the day a total disaster. No one singled her out for attention. In addition to her failed chemistry quiz, she had trouble with a problem in math, couldn't get the colors to come out right on her art project, and in English class she picked the wrong Brontë sister when Mrs. Milder asked her to name the author of
Jane Eyre
. But instead of being depressed, Kate was elated. She felt normal again. Things weren't coming to her just because she'd done a spell. More and more, it seemed the ritual she had done with Cooper and Annie had worked.

Then it was time for lunch. As Kate entered the cafeteria, she realized that her biggest test was about to come. She hadn't seen Jessica or Sherrie all day, and she'd spent only one class period with Tara. She wondered how they would treat her. Walking toward their usual table, she forced herself to act casual.

“Hi, guys,” she said, sitting down next to Sherrie.

“Hi,” they said in unison.

“How's your costume coming for the dance?” Jess asked her.

“Fine,” Kate said. “I just need to put the finishing touches on it. How about yours?”

“Almost done,” Jessica said. “There's not a lot to do when you're wearing a nightgown and slippers.”

“My Xena costume is great,” said Tara. “I look like a real Amazon.”

Kate waited for one of them to say something about her being queen, but none of them did. It was almost as if they'd forgotten she was even running.

“It's too bad
I'm
not running for queen,” Sherrie said. “My Scarlett dress is to die for. I even have the accent down. I've seen
Gone with the Wind
so many times now I can practically recite it.”

“Please don't,” Tara said before Sherrie could begin.

“Oh, Kate,” Jessica said. “We're all meeting at my house at six on Saturday for predance photos. You and Scott need to be there.”

Scott. Kate had forgotten about Scott. More truthfully, she'd made herself not think about him. She hadn't seen him all day, and part of her hoped she wouldn't because she was so anxious about whether or not he'd still be into her. But no sooner had Jessica mentioned him than Kate looked up and saw him walking toward the table.

“Hi, Kate,” he said.

“Hi, Scott,” Sherrie said. “We were just talking about you. Are you all set to escort our little Kate to the big dance?”

“Well, I sort of need to talk to you about that,” Scott said, looking at Kate. “I don't think I'm going to be able to go.”

Kate felt her stomach clench. She had been afraid that something like this would happen. She knew she had asked for too much when she did the spell to get Scott's attention. Now that the power of the magic was gone, she knew she would lose him.

“Not go?” said Tara, sounding mad. “Don't tell me you're dumping our best friend?”

“That's right,” added Jessica. “If you hurt her feelings, you'll have us to answer to.”

Kate was surprised to hear her friends standing up for her like this. She was even more surprised when Scott said, “No, of course not. It's just that this football scout called me and wants me to come talk to the coach at his university about a scholarship there next year. It's the only weekend they can do it, so I can't say no. It's a really big deal. But I promise I'll make it up to her. We'll have our own Valentine's Day next weekend—something romantic. Really, Kate, I want to go to the dance with you more than anything. But this is a big chance for me.”

“I say kick him to the curb,” said Sherrie to Kate. “If football is more important than Valentine's Day, then I think someone's priorities are a little screwed up.”

Kate looked at Scott. He was giving her a sad puppy dog look that she couldn't resist. “It's okay,” she said, weak-kneed with relief. “A scholarship is more important than a dance. And we can do something next week.”

Scott beamed. “I knew you'd understand,” he said. “I told the guys I had the best girlfriend around.” Before Kate knew what was happening, he leaned over and kissed her for a long moment, then pulled away. “I've got to go talk to Coach about getting my stats for the university, but I'll call you tonight, okay?”

Kate nodded, speechless. She was still remembering how his lips had felt on hers and how he had called her his girlfriend.
And me with peanut butter breath
, she thought. It wasn't exactly how she'd imagined their first kiss would be, but it was one she would never forget. And given that she'd expected Scott to break up with her once the spell was over, it was the best first kiss she could've dreamed of.

“That was so sweet,” Jessica said, sighing.

“But now who are you going to go to the dance with?” Sherrie asked, as usual turning a good moment into a downer.

But Kate wasn't about to let Sherrie get to her. She put her arm around her and hugged her. “Who needs a date when they've got Scarlett, Xena, and Wendy for best friends?” she said.

Kate couldn't wait to talk to Annie and Cooper and tell them what had happened. Then she remembered that Annie was still stuck at home. But there was still Cooper, and Kate got her chance before her history class, when they all ran into each other in the second-floor hallway.

“What do you think the thing with Scott means?” she asked.

“That you have really bad taste in men?” Cooper suggested.

“I mean about the magic,” Kate said, making a face. “Shouldn't he be ignoring me again like all the other guys?”

Cooper looked thoughtful. “Maybe it wasn't just the magic,” she said. “That's what got his attention, but maybe once he got to know you better he saw something he liked. That part might have stayed behind even when the spell was broken.” She paused before adding, “Or maybe he's just a stupid football player.”

“Do I make fun of your boyfriend?” Kate said. “Oh, wait, you don't have one.”

“But you would if I did,” Cooper said, and they both laughed.

“I just can't believe he's still around,” Kate said. “I thought for sure everything would go back to the way it was before I opened that book.”

“Including not being friends with me and Annie?” Cooper asked.

“Not that part,” Kate said. “That's the other good thing that came from this whole mess.” She corrected herself, “The best thing. Now if we can just get Annie back here, we'll be all set.”

“I'm glad you feel that way,” said Cooper. “Annie and I were talking, and we want to make this a regular thing.”