Page 5 of A Dance with the Fae (Mistress of Magic #1)

She had lit pink and red candles, two of each, and benzoin, rose petal and jasmine incense burned fragrant smoke around them from where it smouldered on top of a charcoal disc in an earthenware holder.

In preparation for their ritual, Faye had also filled a blue-painted pottery chalice inscribed with a pentagram with half of a mini bottle of champagne.

A lover’s drink to entice a lover , she thought as she watched the bubbles burst on the surface of the golden fizz. Why not.

‘Let us first set our clear intention in our work. That we will attract romantic love to ourselves in the best way possible for us, individually; that we trust the gods to bring us exactly what we need,’ she said, opening Grandmother’s book.

The ritual additions were hers, to set the mood and create the space; the spell itself noted only the bare bones of what was needed: desire, and a poppet doll.

In preparation for the spell, Faye had told them to each make a poppet of their ideal partner.

‘They should be sexy. The men. And women,’ Aisha added.

‘Okay, okay. We’ll attract romantic love and great sex to ourselves, and we trust the gods to bring us what we need.’ Faye smiled and raised her eyebrow at her friend. ‘Good enough?’

‘Aye.’ Annie wriggled on the rug.

‘Let’s get started, then. Get out your poppets.’

Each woman laid a doll onto the rug in front of them.

Aisha put hers in front of her shyly. She had drawn a big red heart in marker pen on the white T-shirt material she’d made her poppet of.

‘He’s got a good heart,’ she explained. ‘And I stuffed him with cut-up copies of Rolling Stone . So he’ll be intelligent and into music. ’

‘Okay, well, that makes sense. Annie?’ Faye turned to Annie. ‘What have you got?’

Annie placed a Barbie in front of her. ‘This is her.’

‘Barbie?’

‘She’s got big tits, she’s blonde, she’s into fashion and she’s, like, had about a million professional careers. What’s not to love?’

Aisha laughed. ‘That’s so cool. I love it.’

Annie picked up the Barbie and smoothed out its little T-shirt, on which she’d written GIRLS RULE .

‘So, I gave her a kind of activist T-shirt because I want someone who cares about politics. And I gave her this miniskirt and cowboy boots because she still needs to be hot. And she’s carrying some little books I made because she’s intelligent and she likes reading.

And, look, I coloured in all her chakras.

’ Annie pulled up the doll’s T-shirt to show exploding stars in the colours of the rainbow going from red at the Barbie’s groin to dark blue on her third eye.

‘So, she’ll be spiritual. Into yoga or something at least.’

‘Cool!’ Faye nodded. ‘Okay. So, we present these poppets to the Good Folk and ask them to bring these qualities to us, or something better.’ She placed hers next to the other dolls.

‘Faye, that’s beautiful!’ Aisha gasped. ‘How long did it take you?’ She picked it up and turned it over gently in her hands.

‘Oh, not long,’ Faye murmured, and looked away, embarrassed. Her poppet had actually taken a week to make; she’d neglected restocking the shop because she’d been sitting at the shop counter, stitching it for days.

She had made a man’s shape; tall, long-legged, strong in the shoulders, but not too meaty a figure.

It had dark-blonde hair made of a golden wool with a dark copper fleck in it that she’d found in Moddie’s old mending basket, which she’d woven into braids.

She had embroidered blue eyes and, as it had turned out, quite a pouty mouth.

She had taken inspiration from the man in her dreams; the one she had had such erotic dreams about.

On the body of the poppet she had sewn her wishes in blue and gold. The stitching was fine and delicate; as a child, Moddie had taught her how to embroider: chain-stitch, cross-stitch, open-leaf, fishbone.

In a fine running stitch she’d written a long line of rhyming words, wrapping around the doll’s body. Let him be kind, beautiful, magical, free; let him be loving, gentle and in love with me.

Aisha read out the words; the fire crackled as her voice wove the magic that had already begun with the stitching.

‘That’s lovely, Faye.’ Annie smiled gently and took her friend’s hand. ‘I hope he comes for ye, I really do,’ she said.

‘Thanks.’ Faye blushed, and placed all three poppets on the altar.

‘Right. So, now we’ve created our poppets, we charge them with the elemental energy to give them life.

Starting with air in the east, go clockwise and imagine all four elements flowing into your poppet.

’ Faye closed her eyes and saw each element immediately, flowing and combining into a golden-white light that surrounded and filled her little doll. ‘Now! Say with me:

Bring love to me; so mote it be.

Fill my heart; so let it start.

Satisfy my desire; by earth, air, water and fire.

Blessed faerie realm, bring love to me.

Blessed Good Folk, bring me the satisfaction of

my desire.’

Faye took each poppet and wafted it through the incense smoke, then replaced them on the altar, then she took up the blue chalice of champagne and drank.

She focused as hard as she could on the desired outcome, but her mind shifted every time.

It was like trying to look through bevelled glass.

She knew she wanted someone. A lover, someone who would pull her heart open and deserve the love that lay there, dormant, waiting.

A lover who would dispel her loneliness and fill her life with companionship, sweetness, affection…

yet, her mind kept straying. She couldn’t seem to focus.

Still, she had made the doll at least. That would do its work if Grandmother’s book was to be believed.

‘So mote it be,’ she intoned, and passed the cup to Aisha.

‘So mote it be,’ Aisha repeated, and passed the cup to Annie, who sipped twice before passing it back to Faye. ‘What now?’ She looked at the door as if she expected someone to walk through it immediately.

‘Now, we close the circle and wait,’ Faye said quietly, feeling the magic spiralling around her, big and powerful. Something would come of this. She knew it, deeply, inside herself.

‘Do you think they’ll come?’ Aisha whispered.

‘Hopefully.’ Annie stretched out her legs and knelt, preparing to get up. ‘Magic works.’

‘It will be what it’s supposed to be,’ Faye said as she banished the elements from the circle, imagining each one disappearing: the fire dying and going back to the ground, the water drying away, the mountains receding, the strong breeze dropping to a light breath.

Closing the circle by walking around the outside of the space and smudging at the circle of light with her foot, she took care not to disturb the rose petals.

‘The altar can stay up overnight. I’ll take it down before we open in the morning,’ she said. ‘Let it have as much time as it can.’

Aisha murmured to Faye, ‘Will it really work, do you think?’ Her wide, long-lashed brown eyes searched Faye for reassurance and, for the first time, Faye saw something she hadn’t seen before in Aisha’s eyes: a raw need, a yearning. Perhaps Aisha needed this more than Faye had expected.

‘I’m sure it will.’ Faye reached out shyly and touched Aisha’s soft cheek. ‘Have faith,’ she murmured, and Aisha nodded.

Annie knelt in front of the altar and bent her head for a moment, no doubt adding an extra prayer to the Good Folk.

Faye watched her friend trace her fingertips over the words of the spell in the book.

If Grandmother had cast this spell, had it brought her Moddie’s father?

Had Moddie cast it to summon Faye’s own father?

And, if so, how good was a spell that summoned lovers who would desert you?

Suddenly, the door swung open and an icy winter blast of wind blew in. The bells next to the door jangled in alarm, and the old pebble hagstone charm that hung there, made by Grandmother as protection, shook violently.

‘What the…?’ Aisha was the closest to the door and instinctively stepped out into the street. As soon as she did, the gusting wind died away and the streetlights painted shining streaks on Aisha’s long black hair.

Faye ran to close the door, goosebumps prickling her skin.

She had been so sure she’d locked it. As she did so, she felt a kind of presence pass her and go out through the door.

The incense smoke which had built up in the room billowed out into the night air, but it was more than that – as if the spell had been truly released into the world.

Faye’s heart beat in a panic as she pulled Aisha inside and closed the door again hurriedly behind them both. She felt for a moment that the stone-flagged floor had dissolved under her, and now she was falling.

Aisha’s face wore an odd expression; her wide eyes dreamy and staring. Her cheeks were flushed and hot, even though it was cold outside.

‘Aisha! Aisha! What’s up?’ Faye shook her friend gently, realising that she was also hanging on to Aisha to stop the disorienting feeling of the floor slipping away under her.

The roses faded from Aisha’s light brown skin.

Her eyes cleared, and she met Faye’s gaze.

Faye felt the room right itself and her feet firmly back on the stone.

‘Nothing…I…’ Aisha gazed through the glass door outside onto the street, which was almost as bright as daylight, and smiled quietly, as if she had a pleasurable secret. ‘I’m fine. I don’t know why you locked the door in the first place.’

But Faye felt something other than pleasure at the languid yellow moonlight outside. There was a strange atmosphere out there, like the heavy warmth before a storm.

Faye pulled the blind down on the door, blew out the remaining candles in the shop and turned on the harsh electric light.

‘Back to real life,’ she said as cheerily as she could, but her voice wavered. She could feel something, now that they had released the spell into the world. Something was coming. Something big.