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seen, with a wire basket on the back. There was a large purple bow on
the seat.
    Mom clapped her
hands together in excitement. “Isn’t it great?” she said, smiling.
    I wasn’t sure if
my facial expression was giving anything away as I nodded in horror, trying to
keep my fake grin in place. Should I be excited about a granny motorcycle?
    “We know how much
you wanted a car, but this was something we could really afford, and they’re so
easy to drive,” my mom prattled on gushingly. “As soon as you get your license,
you can start driving it to school every day!”
    I couldn’t deflate
her excitement. “Mom, words could not possibly express to you what I’m feeling
at this moment.”
    “Oh! I knew you’d
like it!” She threw her arms around me in a giant bear hug. “She likes it,
Sean!” she called out the window to my dad.
    A lovely picture
flew into my head of Vance Mangum on his massive beast of a motorcycle, and
then suddenly there I was next to him on my little green moped.
    I laughed so hard
I cried.
     

 
    Chapter 6
    I hung my head
over my book, pretending to read Shakespeare’s Hamlet , in my
English Lit class. My thoughts, however, kept drifting back to the previous
night.
    I had been
inducted into the coven. I’d watched with amazement as Grandma cast a circle,
and the whole group called the elements. Then a candle representing unity was
lit on the center of the table.
    After that I was
presented to the entire group again, only this time I called them by name back
and kissed their knuckles, while whispering the Blessed Be incantation. Then I
was placed in a spot next to Vance. A chalice was passed around and everyone
took a sip of the wine inside.
    When that was
done, my Dad explained how God created the Earth and we’re to respect the
things on it, both spiritually as well as physically. He said when we use the
things the Earth provides for us in a proper manner, we surround ourselves with
the powers of creation and goodness. If we misuse the things we’ve been given,
it calls forth a dark magic that can overtake us.
    Grandma then
explained the Law of Three, saying how we’re blessed when we use good magic. She
also explained how sometimes the consequences of our magic may not show up
immediately , so we should always be careful in what we do because the
results of our magic can be far-reaching.
    When they were
done explaining things to me, the group began discussing Vance and his father.
    Grandma filled me
in on how Vance had been raised by a powerful warlock. They did not speak the
name of his father, because they did not want to call his dark energy to them.
    My dad said he’d
been observing Vance’s dad from a distance. He felt that he was still
desperately looking for Vance but hadn’t found his location.
    Grandma explained
to me in detail the story of how Vance had begun to manifest his magic at an
early age. His father was delighted and had begun using him in their rituals.
    Vance’s mother
noticed through the next few years his dad would often disappear with Vance for
long periods of time, several times a week. She started to wonder what was
going on and began to watch them closer.
    She began to
question Vance about what the pair of them were doing when they disappeared
together. He would tell her about going to get ice cream, or going to movies
and such, and it seemed like father and son were having a great time bonding
with one another. But his mother just couldn’t shake the bad feelings she was
having, so she decided to follow them on their next outing.
    She tailed them to
a wooded area on the outskirts of town, staying quite a distance behind them to
avoid detection as they walked through the trees to a small clearing.
    His mom watched as
his father cast a circle and called dark elements in around him. She was
horrified when she saw him put Vance into a trace. Then he took his athame and
sliced into the young boy at the wrist. He filled a chalice with Vance’s blood
before