Page 69 of Poison Sun

I glance back at Blaze occasionally as we walk, but his gaze remains fixed on the path ahead, his expression unreadable.

Finally, after what feels like miles, we spot a clearing that seems defensible enough for a night’s rest. The ground is flat, and a few large rocks are scattered around, providing some shelter from the wind. It’s not much, but it’ll do.

“I’ll set up the tent,” Blaze says, grabbing the sack attached to his pack. It’s a “Life Tent”—extremely compact to carry around, yet just big enough to fit two people inside.

Two people.

Blaze and I are sharing a tent tonight.

I obviously knew this before we set off. But I was trying to take everything one step at a time.

It looks like the next step is going to be sharing a tent with Blaze hours after he saved my life, kissed me, and was rejected.

I already wasn’t prepared for the awkwardness of sleeping next to him all night, but this just made it a million times worse.

“It won’t take me long,” he says, already starting to put the tent together. “Do you want to prepare the food while I do this?”

“We should cast a protection circle around us first,” I tell him.

“Sure.” He places the tent—well, it’s more like a tarp—on the ground, and looks to me. “What do you need me to do?”

I snap to attention, glad to focus on something I know I can do well.

“I’m going to cast the circle, and I’m going to make it extra strong with your blood,” I tell him.

Normally, my sisters and I make our circles extra strong with our blood. But I can’t reveal my blood magic, so his will have to do.

“You know how to do that?” he asks.

“Yes.” I can’t help but be slightly annoyed. Does he think that just because I needed his help today, I’m now incapable of using magic?

“Okay.” He backs up, surprised by my response. “I just didn’t know if you knew how to do it with blood magic, since it’s a new thing to you and all. How do you even know it’ll work?”

“I don’t know if it’ll work,” I say, the lie quickly slipping off my tongue. “I’m going to improvise. And I figure it can’t hurt to try.”

He watches me, studying me, and fear crawls into my throat at the possibility that he suspects me.

“All right,” he finally says after a few terrifying moments of silence. “Tell me what to do.”

I give him a small smile, looking forward to working together on something again.

From the hardness of his expression, I’m not sure he feels the same.

“Take out your dagger,” I say, and I remove mine as well, look up to the starry sky, and begin to chant, “Hear us, Hecate, goddess of witchcraft. Safeguard our ritual tonight, for it is wrought with power and peril, born of truth and fire.”

Normally I’d say “blood,” instead of “fire,” but it also works this way, and I need to keep up the pretense of being a regular witch by doing the more traditional spell.

“Now, put your blood on the tips of both of our daggers. We’ll use them to trace the circle.” I hand him mine, which he uses to slice his palm before doing the same with his.

“How’s that?” he asks, holding it out for me to inspect.

“It’s perfect.”

In silence, we drag the tips of our blades across the dirt. When we’re done, flames leap up from the circle, creating a barrier and searing it into the ground. It’s a small circle, but it’ll do for the night.

The light of the fire dancing across Blaze’s face makes him look so dangerous, so mysterious. For a moment, I’m only aware of the tension crackling between us that feels like it’s about to explode with a single breath.

But I have more important things to do than get torn up about my feelings for Blaze. So, taking my place in the center of the circle, I connect my magic with the fire around us, and finish the chant.

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