Everyone in the room looked as though they had something to say, but Lemuel motioned them all to be silent so he could finish this story.
“Colconnar emerged from his realm in the circle where the witch was waiting, but instead of permitting him to have sex with her, the group threw a magic net over him, imprisoning him in our world. He was sealed in the circle. Then a shaman had sex with the virgin witch on top of his prison, sealing Colconnar in the earth with virgin blood. That magic was strong enough to keep the demon buried for two hundred fifty years. But now he stirs. And we have to reenact the ritual to rebind him.”
There was a long silence.
“Is there a virgin in Midnight?” the Rev said. “I am not one.” His gaze went to Diederik. The boy turned red and shook his head.
“Me, neither,” he said.
They all exchanged glances, but it was so evident that Lemuel, Olivia, Quinn, Bobo, Joe, and Chuy did not qualify that everyone looked hopefully at Manfred. Manfred said, “Sorry, not in the club.”
“Um,” said Fiji.
All eyes went to the witch.
“I appreciate your assumption that I couldn’t possibly be, ah, untapped. But actually, technically, I am. A virgin.” She couldn’t have been more embarrassed if she’d said she was a shoplifter or an embezzler.
Sylvester nodded happily, but everyone else was clearly flabbergasted.
“Unbreached,” Lemuel said, as if he could not quite believe she understood what ‘virgin’ meant.
Fiji nodded, her lips pressed in a grim line and her eyes fixed on the floor.
“Well, damn,” said Quinn as if he were having a very pleasant fantasy.
Bobo stared at her, but she did not see him.
“Sooooo . . . what does this mean she has to do?” Manfred asked his father.
Lemuel said, “The moon is waning, and Saturday is in three days. It is also very close to Halloween, Samhain. So it’s even more powerful a day. But since Fiji has her annual party, we have to think of a way to seal off the town so no bystanders will become involved. Also, we have to draw a magic circle of large dimensions that includes the crossroad, and that circle must be reinforced with . . .” He bent to look at the translation again.
“Salt and ash. Hawthorn, probably. We can find it here,” Fiji said. She still avoided looking at anyone else. “I’ve got bulk salt from Sam’s Club.”
“Thank you, Fiji.”
“Yay, a modern twist,” Olivia muttered.
“Once the magic circle is drawn, one of us—not you, Olivia—must enter it with Fiji before it’s activated. The rest of us must focus our own power and magic and will on the circle. The one inside it with Fiji must join with her just as the demon emerges, so Fiji’s virgin blood will reinforce the spell.”
“The suicides will stop,” Chuy said with some relief.
“Yes,” said Lemuel. “Maybe some of you didn’t know this, but the Rev and I have been disposing of animal bodies every morning. Since the humans haven’t been coming, the animals have. They simply die on top of him. He’s getting their essence, and it’s strengthening him.”
“As much as people?” Bobo asked.
“I think Fiji has been turning all her will to keeping people away,” Lemuel said. “Is it not so?”
Fiji nodded. A tear ran down her face. “When I realized that most of the people he was pulling in were people who hadn’t thought good thoughts about me, or who’d actively tried to do me harm, in Price’s case, I cleansed myself of bad intent over and over. Especially after I punished Teacher for searching my house. I was scared he’d be next. Then the animals started. But that was better than the people.”
Lemuel had a hard time looking compassionate, but he did his best. “The demon fears you and he hates you, but he must not have you. If he does, it’s the end of Midnight.”
“We would all be honored,” Sylvester said abruptly. Fiji looked directly at him, surprised. “To be chosen to enter the circle with you,” he explained.
Fiji appeared to be completely flustered by all this attention and Sylvester’s obviously sincere compliment. “How will you pick?” she asked in a choked voice. “I mean, is it a magic thing, or can I . . . ?”
And then they all fell self-consciously silent as every man in the room wondered if he would be the one in the circle with Fiji.
“You can, my dear,” Lemuel said. “But I am out of the running, as wonderful as I’m sure the experience would be. The Rev and Fiji already know that Olivia and I are hitched.”
This was another stunning piece of news.
“And the hits just keep on coming,” Quinn muttered.