Wicked Tempest: A Kate Waters Mystery (Kate Waters Mysteries Book 2) (33 page)
A moon hung at the horizon, fat, round, and full of brassy gold light. Above, a few dark clouds wisped a cool breeze through the outskirts of the park where Kate and the Blue Moon Coven gathered. Thea assured her nothing would happen to her, and with another sighting of the aurora borealis, the night was perfect for initiation into the craft. The surrounding woods thickened the air with the scent of fresh blossoms and pine.
Kate stood at the edge of the field dressed in a sheer, sleeveless, blue gown. In the center of the circle, an altar had been prepared with white candles, herb bundles, salt, water, and frankincense. Donna, Erika, and five other girls circled around it.
“I don’t know if I want to be a witch,” Kate told Thea, fanning the smoke that rose from the smudge stick in Thea’s hand.
“You already are a witch, Kate. You have the power in your narcoleptic visions. You make things happen around you.”
“No, I don’t,” Kate argued.
“Yes, you do,” Thea said, lightly smacking her on the shoulder. “You direct energy in a way that is uncommon. Jev could do it too when she focused herself, though that often proved to be difficult for her most times.”
“I miss her,” Kate said.
“Me too.”
Thea led Kate to the circle. The cool evening breeze broke gooseflesh across Kate’s arms. Thea told her to stand in the middle, where she drew a pentacle with salt. Kate shivered doing so, having everyone’s eyes on her. Thea started the rite as she did the others, chanting the elemental rhyme. Then, she had Kate repeat vows about walking the craft path, the Wiccan Rede, the principals of witchcraft, and the Wiccan Rune. She drank from a cup, fortunately only strong tea and not whiskey, and then Thea blessed her with the elements: salt, smoke, flame, and water. The wind gusted around them and the sky darkened to a deep periwinkle.
An electrical sensation brushed over Kate. She smelled sulfur in the air, followed by a tingling at her scalp and neck. Her mind transported back to the day she and Nick ducked for cover outside of the PNGS in the parking lot, just before lightning had struck over them.
“Oh no,” Kate said.
“What is it?” Thea asked.
An enormous bright light exploded around them, a blast of hot, crackling air. Kate jerked at the burn of a shock racing through her. A bolt of fire coursed through every part of her body. She screamed at the heat radiating around her. A deafening ringing stung her ears and scraped through her skull with a pounding madness. Her body fell to the grass.
Over the ringing in her ears, she heard Thea and Donna shouting her name. At first, she couldn’t see anything. Static flickered across her eyesight and burned in her eyes. She tried to move her feet. Both of her legs kicked. She pushed herself up on her hands and sat up. Thea kneeled in front of her and checked the pulse at her wrist.
Kate glanced down at her body. A hole in her gown revealed a large, blood-oozing wound on her leg. The pain intensified when Erika touched it.
“What just happened?” Kate said to Thea.
Erika spoke to her. “You were just struck by lightning, Kate. What are you feeling?”
“I hurt, but I think I’m okay.”
Thea helped her stand. She turned to the girls surrounding them. “Sisters, meet your new priestess, Kaitlyn Waters.”
END
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Erin Cole grew up in the Pacific Northwest, where dusty combines, water skipper-filled rivers, and shadowed forests were her playgrounds. After obtaining her B.S. in psychology she naturally progressed into penning mystery and horror. She is the author of the
Kate Waters Mysteries
the dark fiction collections,
Of the Night
,
After Dusk
, and
Between Feathers and Fins
, a short horror,
The Shadow People
, and the novella,
Feral Things
. You can visit her at www.erincolewrites.com
