Betrayal by Gillian Shields Read Free Book Online Page A

to you? That she was sealing her powers in the necklace so that they would be guarded for you to use? I’m not sure if she meant us to be part of that.”
    “But we could try anyway, couldn’t we?” said Sarah.
    “Well, we’ve nothing to lose. Let’s try.” Helen gave me an encouraging smile and took some candle ends from the niche in the rock and arranged them on the ground. As she lit each one, she chanted, “May this light guide our steps, may it illuminate our minds, may it cleanse our hearts….”
    At last the candles were burning in a ring of quivering flames. A thrill of anticipation ran through me. In the Sacred Circle our powers would be united and magnified; we would be stronger, ready for anything. I stepped inside the ring of fire, undid the shining necklace, and laid it carefully on the rocky ground. Then Sarah and Helen stepped into the circle and we held hands. Helen began to speak in a low voice: “We call on you, our sisters of wind, earth, and sea. We call upon the fire of life. Blessour circle. Guide us.” Then Sarah began to chant softly, “The air of our breath, the water of our veins, the clay of our bodies…”
    We raised our arms to the moon and the stars, which wheeled above us unseen.
    “Sacred Powers,” I called. “Permit me to use the gift that our sister Agnes bequeathed to me. Let me know its strength; let me understand its secrets. Open the Talisman to me, I beseech you.” Then I knelt down and placed my hand over the crystal at the heart of the Talisman. A silver-blue light flared out from the jewel as I touched it, making the mosaics spring to life with a thousand reflections. My heart began to race. “Water of life, I call on your powers to open this path to me. Agnes, Sebastian, help me….”
    I tried to focus my mind on the great and boundless ocean, as deep as my love, as wild as my dreams, as powerful as my enemies. I heard the sigh and roar of the waves. I heard Sarah and Helen chanting and I joined in, summoning my secret self as I had when I had raised the lake from its quiet bed: “I think, I feel, I desire…I command the Talisman to hear my call…. Mystic Powers, come to our aid…help us now….”
    But the light from the crystal died away and nothinghappened.
    Reality.
    The Talisman remained beautiful and lifeless in my hand. The moment had passed.
    “It’s no good.” I sighed. “This isn’t going to work.”
    I fastened the necklace around my neck again and stepped out of the circle. Helen blew out the candles on the ground. The grotto looked like a dank cave, not a place of wonder. All my excitement had evaporated.
    “I’m sorry, Evie,” said Helen said quietly. “But somehow I never felt it would be as easy as that.”
    “What are we going to do?” asked Sarah. “Every day, every hour and second is precious. We have to make some kind of progress.”
    “Perhaps that’s the problem.” A thought had struck me. “Maybe we haven’t progressed far enough in the Mystic Way. When Agnes made the Talisman, she was at the height of her powers. I know Helen has been in tune with her gifts for a lot longer than we have, but you and me, Sarah—well, aren’t we really just beginners? Perhaps I need to develop my powers more so that I have the same power over water as Agnes had over fire. She had all sorts of amazing abilities. Won’t I need the same?”
    Sarah seemed struck by what I had said. “It seems tomake sense. But we’ve so little time—”
    “Then we’ll practice as much as we can,” I interrupted. “We can come here every night if necessary, or find somewhere in the school where we won’t be seen. What do you think? Is it worth trying?”
    Helen and Sarah placed their hands over mine, as though they were taking an oath. “We won’t stop until the Talisman opens itself to you, Evie. We’ll make this happen; we promise.”
    And we didn’t stop. The first week at Wyldcliffe went past in a blur as I threw myself into my studies, by