Broommates – Episode 15
Author: Valerie Valdes
Title: Widening Gyre
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Rating: PG
Frequency: Weekly
Ὦ ξεῖν’, ἀγγέλλειν Λακεδαιμονίοις ὅτι τῇδε
κείμεθα, τοῖς κείνων ῥήμασι πειθόμενοι.
–Simonides
Lydia did her best to keep her face hidden in the hood of the purple robes she wore. The other girls around her were dressed the same, but she was easily the eldest in the group of a dozen or so college students. Sorority girls from the local university, old enough to approach the idea of magic with cynicism but young enough to hope it might work. The air was thick with the smell of swampy earth, pine needles and the heavy smoke billowing off the bonfire in front of them. Lydia resisted the temptation to wipe sweat off her forehead.
The leader, Cynthia, stepped forward when the moon had reached its zenith; Lydia felt more than saw it because it was the new moon, black as a corroded coin. For her part, Cynthia was every inch the authority figure for this crowd: her long blond hair hung in loose ringlets to the middle of her back, and where everyone else wore robes, she wore a shimmering white dress that showed off her perfectly tanned arms.
“My sisters,” Cynthia said. “Tonight we have come to seek the blessing of the goddess. May her bright power give us strength and wisdom!”
Bright power my soggy bottom, thought Lydia. It was the wrong night entirely for this kind of spell, and that made her uneasy.
