Free BloodMoon by David VanDyke, Drew VanDyke

that of the rising sun and the sunflowers that open to meet the day. Come place of new beginnings, refresh us as we gather. Welcome East.”
    “Welcome East,” we all intoned.
    The bottle spun again. Another, Sister Nayala, stepped forward.
    It seemed witches really enjoyed emphasizing their sisterhood. Girl power!
    “Come Spirit of the North. Whose color rides in shades of green. Whose bounty speaks of death and rebirth, resurrect our hearts and minds. Let us maximize our time and potential as we gather. Welcome North.”
    “Welcome North,” we repeated. I looked over at my sister and I had to stop and take a breath. She was usually so high-strung, but tonight, she seemed at peace. And we hadn’t even drunk the kool-aid. I mean, the tea of tranquility.
    The bottle spun again and surprising, it stopped aimed toward me. Now, I wasn’t a witch, but I have seen the movie The Craft a few times, and so I stepped into the circle and went with it. I am a writer after all. Hell, I eat metaphors for breakfast.
    “Come Guardians of the Watchtowers of the West, we invoke you. Come blue tinged waters and deep azure skies, let the tempest be stilled and our emotions run deep under ebony stars. Come West.”
    Ebony stars would be dark, lupa, Siegfried thought at me from the garage. He must have pretty good hearing. Of course he did! He was a dog, or at least inhabited the body of one.
    Everyone’s a critic, I thought back at him and returned my attention to the matters at hand.
    “Come West,” the sisterhood of witches repeated and with shining eyes I stepped back into my space in the circle.
    My own sister shot daggers at me and I realized I might have made a serious error in judgment. Not my circle. Not my show. And I just stole it. But come on! What was I supposed to do, refuse? If she didn’t want me involved, why invite me?
    That was sisterhood for you too, the bad with the good.
    The bottle spun again and another sister claimed the stage and we welcomed the south, with its fiery reds and passionate fire, amazon warriors and keepers of the hearth. But all I could see was the fury in my sister’s eyes. Nothing like stealing your sister’s thunder in her own house. I winced and saw a storm cloud headed my way.
     
    After the circle, Amber laid out piles of paperwork with the Street Witches logo on everything to be stuffed into the registration packets. The witches began passing out iced teas to each other, along with snack plates of cucumber sandwiches and petit fours .
    Don’t muzzle the ox while she is threshing , I thought, then I took Sister Bertrille aside – hey I liked her name and at least she wasn’t wearing the wimple – and began quizzing her about familiars. Okay, well, I pretty much dumped the load onto her shoulders and begged for her help.
    “Can you please, please, please help my sister with the familiar communication spell, because I need to get that damn dog out of my head and right now, I’m the only one he’s talking to!”
    Sister Bertrille made the appropriate sympathy sounds, then told me that she would see what she could do. Before I knew it she pulled Sister Lena aside and whispered in her ear. A short while into the small talk and stuffing, Sister Lena turned to Amber and said, “I hear you have a standard poodle as a familiar. Siegfried, is it? Where is he?”
    “Oh, we put him and Spanky – that’s our miniature schnauzer – in the garage for the afternoon. They are so rambunctious and the last thing I need is to have these piles rearranged for us by the animals.”
    “Oh please, can we see him?” Sister Nayala asked, and a few of the other witches chimed in.
    “We’ve only heard of a few dog familiars, and a standard poodle is definitely a first for us,” Lena added.
    Guess we were having show and tell. It was about time.
    Amber squinted her eyes at me over her reading glasses and then went to the garage door. “Spanky, no,” she said. “Siegfried, come.” And I heard the