Phantom

"Wow," said Elena, intrigued. "Do it again."

She watched intently as he opened and closed his hand several times, revealing flower then bud, flower then bud.

"I showed Margaret how to do it with coins, switching between a quarter and a penny," he said, "but it’s the same principle."

"I’ve seen tricks like that before," she said, "but I can’t figure out where you’re hiding the one that isn’t showing. How do you do it?"

"Magic, of course," he said, smiling, and opened his hand to let the camel ia blossom fal at Elena’s feet.

"Do you believe in magic?" she said, looking up into his warm blue eyes. He was flirting with her, she knew – guys always flirted with Elena if she let them.

"Wel , I ought to," he said softly. "I’m from New Orleans, you know, the home of voodoo."

"Voodoo?" she said, a cold shiver going down her spine. Caleb laughed. "I’m just playing with you," he said.

"Voodoo. Jeez, what a load of crap."

"Oh, right. Total y," Elena said, forcing a giggle.

"One time, though," Caleb continued, "back before my parents died, Tyler was visiting, and the two of us went to the French Quarter to get our fortunes told by this old voudon priestess."

"Your parents died?" Elena asked, surprised. Caleb lowered his head for a moment, and Elena reached out to touch him, her hand lingering on his. "Mine did, too," she said.

Caleb was very stil . "I know," he said.

Their eyes met, and Elena winced in sympathy. There was such pain in Caleb’s warm blue eyes when she looked for it, despite his easy smile.

"It was years ago," he said softly. "I stil miss them sometimes, though, you know."

She squeezed his hand. "I know," she said quietly. Then Caleb smiled and shook his head a little, and the moment between them was over. "This was before that, though," he said. "We were maybe twelve years old when Tyler visited." Caleb’s slight Southern accent got stronger as he went on, his tone lazy and rich. "I didn’t believe in that stuff back then, either, and I don’t think Tyler did, but we thought it might be kind of fun. You know how it’s fun to scare yourself a little sometimes." He paused. "It was pretty creepy, actual y. She had al these black candles burning and weird charms everywhere, stuff made of bones and hair. She threw some powder on the floor around us and looked at the different patterns. She told Tyler she saw a big change coming for him and that he needed to think careful y before he put himself in someone else’s power."

Elena flinched involuntarily. A big change had certainly come for Tyler, and he had put himself in the vampire Klaus’s power. Wherever Tyler was now, things hadn’t turned out the way he’d planned.

"And what did she tel you?" she asked.

"Nothing much, real y," he answered. "Mostly just to be good. Stay out of trouble, look out for my family. That kind of thing. Stuff I try to do. My aunt and uncle need me here now, with Tyler missing." He looked down at her again, shrugged, and smiled. "Like I said, though, it was mostly just a load of crap. Magic and al that nutty stuff."

"Yeah," Elena said hol owly. "Al that nutty stuff."

The sun went behind a cloud and Elena shivered once more. Caleb moved closer to her.

"Are you cold?" he said, and reached a hand out toward her shoulder.

At that moment a raucous caw burst from the trees by the house, and a big black crow flew toward them, low and fast. Caleb dropped his hand and ducked, covering his face, but the crow angled up at the last minute, flapping furiously, and soared away over their heads.

"Did you see that?" Caleb cried. "It almost hit us."

"I did," Elena answered, watching as the graceful winged silhouette disappeared into the sky. "I did."

Chapter 10

Elder blossoms can be used for exorcism, protection, or prosperity, Bonnie read, lying flopped down on her bed, chin propped on her hands. Mix with comfrey and coltsfoot and bind in red silk during a waxing moon to make a charm bag for attracting wealth. Distill in a bath with lavender, feverfew, and motherwort for personal protection. Burn with hyssop, white sage, and devil’s shoestring to create a smoke that can be used in exorcising bad spirits.

Devil’s shoestring? Was that real y an herb? Unlike most of the others, it didn’t sound like something she’d find in her mother’s garden. She sighed noisily and skipped ahead a little.

The best herbs for aiding meditation are agrimony, chamomile, damiana, eyebright, and ginseng. They may be tossed together and burned to create smoke or, when picked at dawn, dried and sprinkled around the subject in a circle.

Bonnie eyed the thick book baleful y. Pages and pages and pages of herbs and what their properties were in different circumstances, and when to gather them, and how to use them. Al written as dryly and dul y as her high school geometry textbook.

She had always hated studying. The best thing about the summer between high school and col ege was that no one could expect her to spend any time tucked up with a heavy book, trying to memorize excessively boring facts. Yet here she was, doing just that, and she’d total y brought it on herself.

But when she had asked Mrs. Flowers to teach her magic, she had expected something, wel , cooler than being handed a heavy book on herbs. Secretly, she had been hoping for one-on-one sessions that involved casting spel s, or flying, or summoning fantastical servants to do her bidding. Less reading quietly to herself, anyway. Shouldn’t there be some way that magical knowledge could just implant itself in her brain? Like, wel , magical y?