A Chalice of Wind by Cate Tiernan Read Free Book Online Page A

impatient. Nan always said little spells when she planted things, and of course her garden, the whole yard, was the most perfectly balanced, beautiful garden for blocks. Yet there was a part of me that was thinking, It’s just okra.
    She patted the earth down firmly around the okra seed, a little smile on her face. She looked perfectly calm, at ease. I was dying. It was a thousand degrees outside, and my T-shirt was already damp with sweat. I felt totally gross. At least no one but Nan would see me like this.
    Nan looked up at me in that way that felt like she was seeing right through my eyes into the back of my skull. “Not your cup of tea, is it?” she asked with humor.
    I showed her my dirty, broken fingernails and the blister beginning on my thumb. She laughed.
    “Thank you for your sympathy,” I muttered.
    “How are you going to be a witch without a garden?” she asked.
    “I’ll hire someone,” I said.
    “Will you hire someone to study for you?” she asked, more seriously. “Or maybe you should hire someone to do your drinking for you.”
    I looked up in alarm. “I haven’t been drinking.”
    She gave me an “oh, come on” face. “Clio—your magick is very strong.” She brushed my damp hair off my cheek. “It was strong in your mother also. But she died before she could come into her full power.” Her eyes had a faraway, sad look in them. “I want to see you come into your full power. Unfortunately, the only way to get there is actually to study, to learn, to practice. The only way to practice meaningfully is to not have dulled your senses. You can be a strong witch or you can be a weak witch. It’s up to you.”
    “It’s summertime,” I said, hating how whiny and childish I sounded. “I want to have fun.”
    “All right, have fun,” she said. “But you’ll be eighteen in November. And I’m telling you now, you’re nowhere near ready for your rite of ascension.”
    Now she had my full and undivided attention. “What? Really? I didn’t know it was that bad.”
    She nodded, looking sad and wise and somehow older than usual. “It’s that bad, honey. If you work your butt off, you might be able to pass it. Or you can wait a year, when you turn nineteen.”
    “Oh, I’m so sure,” I sputtered, thinking of all the other kids who’d made their rites of ascension when they were eighteen. No one had ever failed and had to wait till they were nineteen. I would never live it down. I would embarrass my grandmother, who everyone considered one of the best teachers. I would look like a total loser, when really, I should be impressing the hell out of everyone. Damn it! All I wanted to do was see Andre. I didn’t want to study, didn’t want to practice, didn’t want to stop ingesting fun things like margaritas.
    “It’s just that sometimes, studying seems a little, well, boring,” I said delicately. “I always feel like I want lightning and sparks and big magick, you know?” I held my arms out to the sides to demonstrate “big magick.”
    Nan looked at me sharply. “Big magick is dangerous magick,” she said. “Even if it’s for good. Remember, what has a front has a back, and the bigger the front, the bigger the back.”
    I nodded, thinking, Whatever the hell that means. “Okay, I’ll try to study more.”
    Nan stood and brushed her hands off on her old-fashioned apron. “Like I said, it’s up to—” She stopped, her words trailing away. She stood very still, her hands frozen, while she looked all around us. Up at the sky, where the usual afternoon storm clouds were gathering, down the street, across the street, at our house and side yard.
    “What’s the matter?” I stood up also.
    Nan looked at me, as if surprised to see me—I mean, really looked at me, like she was actually trying to tell who I was. It was creepy, and I wondered for a second if she’d had a stroke or something.
    “What’s the matter?” I said. “Nan, are you all right? Let’s go into the