I felt relieved and embarra.s.sed at the same time. And when I saw Lilith standing over us, hands on hips, foot tapping, I felt afraid as well. I looked up at her and stifled a guilty grin. "Lilith. It's not what you think. It's funny really."

"Is it? You and Ursula lying naked on the floor together? That's funny?"

"No, that part isn't funny. What I mean is...."

"Just get up, Tony, and stop taking advantage of Ursula's naivete."

I looked at Ursula. She smiled back at me the way Lilith does when she knows something I do not. I suddenly got the feeling the joke was on me and that the whole coven thing was a setup. Maybe in some weird witchy tradition Lilith was throwing Ursula a bachelorette party and I was the entertainment.

I looked up at Lilith again. Her face had grown several shades redder in the moments it took me to think about it. Another look into Ursula's eyes and I realized that she had not a clue. Every second I wasted only made matters worse.

"Okay." I released my finger-lock hold around Ursula's waist and pushed her gently off me. "Back to work now."

I saw Lilith's eyes checking out my mid section after Ursula dismounted to make sure I had not picked up my spear again. Fortunately, I had not.

We returned to the altar in the formation I mentioned earlier, Ursula to my right, Lilith to my left. Ursula picked up the salt dish and poured it into the water. She then picked the bowl up and handed it to Lilith.

Lilith dipped the athame into the water and flicked it at the fire bordering the east. She began walking the perimeter of the circle, flicking water from the athame onto the fire and throughout the circle as she progressed clockwise. Her mantra, as before, in whispered rhymes, the likes of which I could not understand.

That done, she returned the bowl to the altar and set it on the empty salt dish. Ursula placed the black mirror against the bowl, leaning it back in a way that she might see her face in it if she stooped slightly.

Lilith waved the athame over the mirror three times. "Hear ye spirits through this gla.s.s," she said, her words decidedly louder and more p.r.o.nounced than before. "Turn to night and let us pa.s.s." She pressed the tip of the athame to the face of the mirror.

"Let us pa.s.s," said Ursula, and after she elbowed me lightly, I echoed her words.

Lilith took my left hand. Ursula took my right. All around me, tiny lights began flickering in fleeting specs like shooting stars. I felt a tingle in my stomach and a numbing in my feet. The room outside the circle faded to black and disappeared entirely.

Lilith pressed the athame again to the mirror. Only this time the tip did not stop after touching the gla.s.s. Instead, it pa.s.sed through it like an open window, the emptiness swallowing the blade to the hilt, leaving no reflection and no image beyond.

She withdrew the blade, and the sleek finish of the black gla.s.s rippled. She hesitated briefly before plunging the blade forward again without stopping. Her hand pa.s.sed through the mirror up to her arm and then her shoulder, and in a blink, we all pa.s.sed through the rippled blackness and found ourselves suspended in the middle of absolute nowhere.

I looked down at my feet, felt and saw nothing holding me up. Above and all around me, but for Lilith and Ursula, I saw nothing. Felt nothing. Heard nothing. A dim light illuminated our bodies, though its source proved undetectable.

I started to say something, ask where we were, when Lilith squeezed my hand and whispered it was all right. I turned to her. She smiled rea.s.suringly. I looked to Ursula. She appeared positively radiant, her eyes twinkling in the phantom light, her skin glistening with iridescent brilliance. I looked down at my feet again and noticed I could point my toes into the emptiness. We were floating. Dead, I thought, and I did not care.

It is hard to say what I expected next. I guess I didn't know, a light I suppose, maybe at the end of long tunnel. You hear stories like that all the time from people who have near-death experiences. But then this was not a near-death experience. This was an experience of a lifetime.

While looking down into the depths of darkness, I saw it coming, a train of fog rushing up from below. It came at us in a silent rage, encircling us in a column of air so cold it raised goose b.u.mps on my skin. Behind it came the wind, trailing the fog like a restless shadow and blowing loose strands of Lilith and Ursula's hair from their neat buns.

I watched in awe as the swirling tempest slow to a meandering ring of drifting curiosity. I knew it had intelligence. It coiled around us like a serpent, one end the head, the other the tail. As the shifting presence settled in, faces of millennia began to appear. The mothers of the coven were upon us.

The wind lightened to a nuisance breeze when Lilith let go of my hand and took a step forward. She arched her back, her hands high above her head, stretching on tiptoes as if reaching for the impossible.

"Oh, mothers of the coven receive us. Hear our plea. Embrace us thee as thou wilt."

At once, a thousand souls appeared in human form. Women of all ages materialized before us, all naked and glowing in the thick of the fog from which they came. Some looked like Lilith and Ursula, tall, young beauties with black hair and dark eyes, and bodies so perfect only a witch would know they were dead. Others looked older, graying, hunched and feeble, as if death advanced their years only after they crossed over.

And then there were the children, prep.u.b.escent girls who, like Ursula, bore rope scars around their necks. I let go of Ursula's hand and covered myself. She smiled thinly at that, panning a side-glance down at my hands.

"'Tis no shame here," she said. "They appear as we do for our sake, is all."

I smiled back. "They are still children," I said. "And last I looked, we were not in Europe."

"Aye, that we are not." She looked around at the emptiness. "We are not of that world at all."

Lilith dropped her hands by her side and relaxed her stance. "Have thee the will to receive us?" she asked.

One of the women who I thought resembled Lilith the most stepped forward. The two embraced, and a feeling of deja'vu struck me. I had to look to make sure Ursula was still standing beside me. She was.

"Lilith of New Castle," said the woman. "Thou art well I see."

"Katharine of Newburyport," said Lilith. "It has been a few years."

"Aye, sixty and one hundred, I believe."

"Shush now, Katharine. You spill my age to my man and he may leave me for another yet younger."

The two laughed. Katharine came around Lilith to me, stopping at arm's reach. "And by what name doth he answer to?"

"That's Tony of New Castle."

Katharine reached for my wrists and pulled my hands away from my body. After gathering a full look at me, she said, "Tony of New Castle. Thou art a witch?"

"Yes," I said, feeling conspicuous about things.

She looked back at Lilith. "You have done well, Sister."

Ursula said, "Oh, and he can do a most amazing thing with it, too. If thou wish, I can show thee"

"Thaaat won't be necessary," said Lilith. "Ursula, I'm sure Katharine knows what it can do."

"Ursula?" said Katharine. "Ursula of Salem?"

"Aye, of Salem before New Castle. Dost thou know me?"

"Only by lore. How is it you are flesh and bone? You were hanged, were you not?"

"She was," said Lilith. "She moved from Salem to escape persecution, only to be hanged in New Castle for being a witch. I came across her bones a couple of years ago and cast a resurrection spell."

"You returned her to flesh?"

"Yeah, it seemed like the thing to do at the time."

"Oh my, Lilith of New Castle, thou art truly a worthy pract.i.tioner of the craft."

"I know," said Lilith. "That's what I'm talking about. So, what do you say? Are you going to let us form a new coven under the guidance of the great mothers of the coven?"

Katharine turned to the sea of faces watching us, presented her hand in a broad sweep and asked, "What say you all?"

A soft but clear response from all around us cried out, "So say us all."

"Okay, great," said Lilith. "That was easy."

"Wait," I said. "Is that it?"

"That is it," said Katharine. "Go forth now, Lilith of New Castle, be strong in thy coven and may thy mothers guide thee always."

"And may they guide thee, too," Lilith replied.

She stepped back in line and took my hand as before. Ursula took the other. Lilith pointed the athame at Katharine. "Would you do the honors?" she asked.

"Of course," she answered, and she touched the tip of the athame with her index finger.

At once, the faces, the naked women, the mysterious fog; it all disappeared in a swirling blink of light. I felt a quick tug and the sensation of falling as if the bottom had dropped out from under me. I gasped, but did not scream, feeling inexplicably safe as long as I held Lilith and Ursula's hand.

The next thing I knew, we were back in the house. The room was spinning, or perhaps it was my head. I could not be sure. The candles had burned down to almost nothing, and the ring of fire, though still alight, had faded to a sputtering flicker.

I let go of the girls' hands and splayed my arms to keep my balance until the room steadied to a reasonable drift. Eventually, the numbness in my feet disappeared and the tingle in my stomach subsided. I looked at Ursula. Her expressionless face made me wonder if what I had just seen really happened.

I turned to Lilith and asked, "Now what?"

"Now we're done."

"Good, because I have to pee."

"No wait."

"What?"

"We have to close the circle."

"Huh?"

"You can't step out of the circle until we close it."

"I really have to pee."

"It only takes a second." She pointed the athame at the candles on the table, waved it over them once and they went out."

"Cute," I said.

She handed the athame to me. "Want to try it?"

"I don't know. You think I can?"

"Sure, why not? You're a witch. Go ahead. Close the circle." She motioned toward the eastern edge of the circle. "Start there."

I pointed the athame at the spot where the yellow candle once stood, and simply pa.s.sing the athame over a quarter ring of fire and thinking about it, I snuffed it out.

"Wow," I said. "Did you see that?"

"Yes, that's good. Now finish it."

So I did. I pointed the athame at the southern point of the circle, and in one broad circular stroke, I extinguished the fire all the way around. I handed the athame back to Lilith, grinning like a fool. "How's that?"

She took it, tossed it on the table and threw her arms around my neck. "You know, you're very s.e.xy when you perform witchcraft all oiled up in the buff like that."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. What do you say we make a little fire of our own in there?" She gestured toward the bedroom.

"All right. What about Ursula?"

"Excuse me? Ursula is not going to bed with us."

"What? No. I didn't mean that. I meant it would be rude to leave her out here while we"

"That's not what you meant and you know it."

"Are you insane? I didn't"

"Look, you know what. I think we had enough fire for one night. I'm out of here."

She turned and started away. I called back. "Wait. Where are you going?"

"I'm going to take a shower."

"No. Lilith. Please."

"Aye," said Ursula. "Methinks a shower sounds merry." She turned and headed for the other bathroom. "Goodnight, Master Tony."

"Fine," I said. "Goodnight, to you both."

I watched Ursula walk away, letting her hair out as she faded down the hallway. And as she disappeared into her room, I thought to myself how quickly things change. I knew I would wake up in the morning and see Ursula at the kitchen table as usual, but I would never look at her the same again.

SEVEN.

Sometime in the middle of the night, Lilith slipped into my bed and woke me in a most pleasant way. Apparently, she had second thoughts about lighting another fire between us. As I eased from my slumber to a more conscious state, however, I found myself whispering Ursula's name. I had not been dreaming of her or of anything in particular that I remember. I only know that I caught myself before uttering her name loud enough for Lilith to hear.

Later, she laid a trail of kisses from below the covers up to my neck and chin before resting her head on my pillow. "You were saying?" she asked.

I brushed her cheek with the back of my hand, and though I knew it was Lilith, in the pale glow of moonlight stealing through the window, I entertained the notion that I could not be entirely sure.