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involved,” Aunt Cate said sharply. “Not yet. Our people might be being targeted by someone out of simple, mundane human evil.”
    “That’s why we came to you, Cate,” the Evanston priestess said. “To find out where we have to look for this monster—among strangers, among supernatural folk, even among ourselves.”
    There was some protest after the woman added that. An argument began between the priestesses from Evanston and Barrington. Ivy found herself holding the grieving woman from DeKalb, patting her shoulders comfortingly. They all went quiet at the sound of steps on the staircase, relaxing when Paloma entered the room.
    “Locked up and warded,” she announced. She took a seat on the couch. “I did the regular protection spell, and Karen did an energy circle. She’s standing guard downstairs.”
    “Then we will begin,” Aunt Cate said.
    Everyone settled quietly back in their places. Lawrence turned out the lights. Paloma murmured a spell to add another layer of privacy to the ritual as she lit the candles.
    Ivy knew very well that any normal person could walk into the room and ask them what the hell they were doing. But anyone with the slightest bit of psychic ability, maybe a tenth of the population, would react very differently if they tried to approach. The mental equivalent of an asthma attack would be the least reaction they could expect. Anyone with the slightest control over their psychic abilities would sense the barriers and stay out of the danger zone.
    “Join hands,” Cate said.
    Ivy linked hands with the women on each side of her. When she closed her eyes, she was able to feel the ribbon of energy that passed through each person, joining them, sealing them into the ceremony.
    But what was the ceremony? What part was she expected to play? Group magic wasn’t exactly her—
    “Ow!”
    Ivy’s eyes flew open to see a thin line of blood welling from a cut on the inside of her left arm. She hadn’t noticed when the hands holding her tightened, but she couldn’t break away when she tried to pull her hands back.
    Ivy took a deep breath, forced herself to relax, did not throw a dirty look at her aunt. If her blood was necessary, she had to accept the rationale for it. But she sure as hell wished she’d been asked first.
    But it was the sort of magic that needed a hint of darkness, a bit of pain. Not black magic, but that night Caetlyn Bailey was stepping into shades of gray. It had to be very serious for her to do so.
    Since she’d made herself part of the circle, Ivy accepted her duty to participate, and obey. But she still wished they’d asked.
    Her aunt dabbed blood from Ivy’s arm onto a square of gray silk. Then she wrapped the deck of cards in the silk. After a while, Cate began to lay out the cards in a complex pattern. Ivy grew dizzy when she saw the colors of the first card, dizzier with the next, and passed out the moment the last card was put on the table.
    Even though she was unconscious, she heard the questions. Something came through her and used her voice to answer them.

chapter five
    G od damn, I hate when that happens!”
    “Don’t swear,” Aunt Cate told Ivy.
    Since she had not taken in vain the name of the great Goddess they worshipped, Ivy didn’t see how it was swearing, but she said, “Yes ma’am,” just to keep the peace.
    Aunt Cate was always irritable after a major working.
    “And don’t be facetious; it’s not as if
that
has ever occurred before. I’ve never performed blood magic on y—”
    “I was joking!” Ivy shot to her feet. “Trying to cut the tension.” She rubbed the cut on her arm, aware of dried blood and the remnant of—something…
wicked this way comes
? “You’re not the only one stressed out by this, you know!”
    Paloma looked up at Ivy. “Your eyes are glowing.”
    “Trick of the light,” Ivy answered, but she blinked a few times. Were her eyeballs warm?
    “I was joking,” Paloma said. “Trying to cut the tension?”
    The