The Day of the Summer Solstice, 1938

  “Now honey darlin’, you really ought to get ready for the Solstice.” Shaina Grey told her daughter as she stood in the doorway.

  Elise was lying in bed, spell book in hand. Her hair a mess, she hadn’t even begun to prepare for the day. It was the Summer Solstice, the day she would be presented with brand new members of Grady’s Posse. She would be expected to make a pact with one of them.

  There was, in her mind, this hypothetical young man. Some Six-Gun who would get on his knees in front of the Coven. She would approach him and be immediately struck by his presence, then as if he was some precious treasure she would lay claim to him. A man, completely and totally hers. They would walk side by side, and he would be there for her in all her endeavors. He would kill every spider in the world, just for her. She could be free, walk this country with the trust and admiration of a handsome sorcerer-gunslinger. This was the ideal version of events which the more fanciful districts of her mind had constructed. A dramatic mock-up to get her excited like the other girls.

  However, the rest of her mind had other ideas. A man, supposedly coming here to offer himself. This was ludicrous. She wasn’t dumb, she knew what it really meant. She would have to leave home and follow HIM, not the other way around. So then, she thought, who claimed who? Why did the Posse do this? These were smart men, their magic came from logical thought and sharp decision making. Surely they benefitted from this relationship more than the Coven did. A support donkey, this was all she could see in herself in this arrangement. He would go about his business with a pretty, quiet witch to clean up his messes and satisfy his need for feminine company. This was the other reality Elise had generated in her mind.

  It didn’t matter that her sister Winona had one of these Six-Guns for herself. Elise had listened to Winny gush about her man; this confident and mostly attentive cowboy, gentlemanly and smooth, with a delicious little mean streak. Elise often lied to others and herself as she declared she didn’t care for the Guns. She had never even met one.

  “Mother, do I really have to do this?” Elise closed the book, “Is it really necessary for my studies?”

  Shaina had heard this song and dance before, from the older of her loudmouth daughters. The very same one who sat that morning at the table wearing a pout as her gunslinger had been gone just a little too long for her liking.

  “We have been through this, Elise.” Shaina shot her a flat look, “It’s not absolutely mandatory no, but it is standard practice for us to do field studies in a pact with the Six-Guns. I promise, you won’t regret it.”

  “It’s just so degrading! I have to give myself to one of those filthy boys!”

  “Oh yeah, real degrading… Young men are gonna line up to be judged by you and beg for your companionship. Women have never had it so hard in this country.” Shaina couldn’t hold the sarcasm down.

  Her daughters had not gotten their attitudes from their father, the mild-mannered blonde plumber who had maintained the Coven’s toilets for the past two decades.

  “Now if you don’t get up I’m gonna flip that bed over.”

  Elise decided to obey. Her mother had the final say on these things. The younger witch knew better than to get on an Arcane Superior’s bad side. She hobbled out of bed and prepared herself. Shaina, satisfied with her obedience, left Elise to her own devices.

  At the breakfast table Elise ate her oatmeal in silence, shooting quizzical looks at her sister. Winona hardly touched the food. She leaned on an elbow sulking.

  “What’s got you in a mood?”

  Winona sighed. “Joe keeps taking jobs without taking me. Says it’s Posse business. He’s gone more and more now, I wish he’d take jobs that require me to stay close…”

  Shaina chuckled a bit. “You’d better let him know he’s in the doghouse if he keeps leaving you behind, Winny darling.”

  Winona’s mother had taken a liking to Tornado Joe, the aspiring apprentice to the Sunshine State Southpaw. He wasn’t perfect, it was clear to her that the Southpaw hadn’t trained him to manage the feelings of a Coven witch. But she could see that Winny was head over heels for him, and that the feeling was mutual. Shaina was presented with the very real possibility that Joe would join their family. As he had no last name, he would take the Grey name. Shaina wanted that for Winona. She also wanted something similar for Elise, who had done everything she could to be stubborn on the subject.

  “I can’t believe you actually like those gun-toting madmen.” Elise decided to jab at her.

  Winona shot her a withering look as she tapped her spoon on the table.

  “I heard they drink and smoke a lot, and punch each other in the face,” Elise continued, “Total gentlemen, huh?”

  “You’re really dumb.” Winona groaned.

  “I’m just informed.” Elise beamed, happy to squeak out a response from her sister.

  “You’re really not.” Winona lifted her head, “Today’s the Solstice. You’re gonna take one look at these guys and realize you’re being an idiot right now.”

  “They can’t be that pretty.” Elise rolled her eyes. “They have to stink.”

  Winona chuckled, “It’s not how they look, though some of them are handsome. No, see that’s how I know you’re uninformed.”

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  Elise crossed her arms. “So tell me what’s so great about a bunch of gunslingers.”

  “These are magic men. They have powers. They’re amazing.” Winona thought about her blue-eyed partner.

  “We have magic too! Did you forget?”

  “Not like theirs.” Winona turned to her, “These men spend years honing arts that defy comprehension. I’d be kind of scared if they weren’t on our side.”

  Elise hated the idea that the cowboys could outdo her. “I’ve been practicing. I bet you I’m stronger.”

  “Honestly, you probably do have stronger magic than the boys you’ll meet today. And I believe in you, sis, I really do. But you’ll come across a few of these guys, see their Resolve, and realize what they actually are. I know you don’t believe me, you’ll just have to trust me.”

  Shaina had to butt in, “Elise, it’s not that they have stronger magic. If that was the case, they wouldn’t need to make pacts with our Coven. No, honey. They just do different stuff. The kind of sorcery we perform is unavailable to them. It’s apples and oranges, honey.”

  Elise listened carefully, hearing the logic in her mother’s words. It made sense to her. There was one rebuttal she had, however. She opened her mouth to respond.

  “No, Elise,” Shaina cut her off, “They don’t keep us around for that. They have plenty of working girls to take care of them if they need it. You really need to clear these offensive misconceptions from your heart before you go to judge them today.”

  The young witch felt as if her mind had been read. She turned her head, bitterly accepting defeat.

  Her mother continued, “And furthermore, you ought to understand something else about these boys. They’re young, like you. They have thoughts, feelings. Unlike you, they will do their very best to hide them away. This is how men are, especially Grady’s men. You must keep in mind that a man no matter the age is a hard thing to fully understand. They’re quite subtle and they definitely don’t understand themselves. I don’t want you to harm these boys with this kind of attitude. They are tough, but they are not unfeeling machines or tools.”

  Elise felt she had a lot to think about, having fully absorbed the words of both her mother and sister. Later that day, she decided to visit the closest male in her life, her older brother Ezekiel.

  Ezekiel Grey, Shaina’s oldest child, could not become a witch. The kind of sorcery the Coven dealt in was incompatible with men. Zeke had grown up like many of the boys born to Coven witches, helping with the chores and keeping the Coven grounds functioning. He had grown up with strong values learned from his father, and when he came of age he joined the United States Marine Corps to see some new places and serve his country. After four years in Central America, Zeke took his discharge papers and came back home to Emerald Lake. He now served as a mechanical technician for the Coven. With Shaina’s silver hair and his father’s deep brown eyes, Zeke was not unpopular with the girlies. However, it was his easy going and sunny demeanor that made him a real prize to be won.

  When Elise arrived in his shop, Zeke was working on a bicycle of all things. Not just any bicycle, however. This was Marta Den’s bicycle, which had mysteriously broken three times that week.

  “I told you last time, Marta, you only have to drop it off.” Zeke shot the witch a smile, “There’s no need to wait here for me to repair the chain, sunshine.”

  Zeke had a habit of calling young women his age ‘sunshine’, a habit Marta Den would not have him break. She sat on a little bench seat by the wall, watching him work. She wore an oddly elaborate black frilly outfit. Of course, Elise understood what was happening. She decided not to contribute to that area of discussion.

  “Hey Zeke!” Elise floated over to his workbench, “What are you up to?”

  “Oh hi, sissy!” Zeke threw an arm around her, “I’m workin’ on Marta’s bike again. It’s a great bike, a shame the chain keeps going. That’s a headscratcher too!”

  Elise shoved him away, “Ew! You’re sweaty!”

  In the humid June morning, Ezekiel had to wear a sleeveless shirt. He had gotten sweat from his arm on Elise’s dress. Marta watched this, green with envy. The sweat and bike chain grease would be more than welcome on her outfit, if it meant they were conferred to it by that bare arm with its many freckles and shoddily done Marine Corps tattoo.

  “Oh fine, I’m sorry!” Zeke laughed

  After popping the chain back on the bicycle and studying the action of the chain-swapper mechanism, he looked to Elise again.

  “It’s the Solstice. This is your year to make a pact. You excited?”

  “I wanted to ask you about that.” Elise poked the bike tire with a finger, “What do you know about the Guns?”

  He tapped his chin, leaving a black mark, “Oh, a bit. I know their magic helps them shoot. Would have been helpful in Nicaragua!” He chuckled, patting his side where a bullet had ripped through him.

  Marta wanted very badly to see that scar, and Elise could feel it from where she stood. Zeke, insensitive to both magic and women, could not.

  “Yeah, I get that. But I hear they’re no good.”

  Zeke tilted his head, “No good? The Coven loves them. They’re great! You having second thoughts about all this?”

  Ezekiel had to put everything else on hold to hear his sister out. There was no way he would let his work interfere with his loved ones. Winona and Elise meant so much to him, he would lay down his life for them. He saw them as free spirits, powerful like summer storms, just like his mother. Zeke loved his mother most of all, so it helped that Winny and Elise were so similar to her.

  “I just… I wonder if we are getting taken advantage of, ya know?”

  Zeke remained quiet. He could tell these were genuine concerns.

  Elise continued, “What if I take a pact and I go around just playing cleanup for some guy’s exploits? What if he’s cold or mean? What if he’s just boring. What if years go by and I look back on them and see I wasted time?”

  A grin grew across Marta’s face. She could tell Elise had never met a proper member of Grady’s Posse.

  “Well, sis, I totally get where you’re coming from. But let me ask you this. What do you lose by showing up today and seeing what you can get?” Zeke raised an eyebrow.

  “What do I lose?”

  “You don’t lose anything, ‘cept an afternoon.” He chuckled again, “Look I understand what you’re saying. I do. But enough of the witches love having pacts with those guys. Winny loves her Gun to death too. I say you show up and just laugh at all the dumb little guys who are nervous to be around you. That’ll be fun.”

  Elise tried to stifle her laugh. She had to admit that idea was funny.

  “Maybe one will be interesting enough to actually make a pact. And when you do, you don’t have to kiss him or nothing. Just mess with him, see if he’s fun to prick and poke. The Guns are supposed to master emotional control, unlike us Marines. He can handle it.” Zeke smirked, “At the end of the day, you’re the powerful one. He came here to meet you, not the other way round. Why not have a little fun?”

  She hadn’t thought about it that way before, but Elise was starting to see his logic. She had to admit, he was making sense. Zeke always knew what to say, that as why she decided to visit him.

  “I think you’ll like them.” Marta jumped in from her spot across the shop, “They try to be cool, but at your age they’re as green as grass.”

  “Did you snag one?” Elise could not resist the instigation.

  “Oh, sister, I have particular tastes.” her eyes flicked to Zeke

  This went unnoticed by the mechanic in the shop.

  “I see.” Elise nodded, “Maybe I need to think about this a little more.”

  Zeke shrugged, “I don’t know, but I do think you ought to at least check it out. I know you, you’ll pick the best of the bunch.”