text: “I just love the first day of Spring,” Willow said, looking around the park where everyone mingled. “Everything is waking up from winter.” “Plus, they say a young man’s fancy turns to thoughts of love,” Ivy giggled, her eyebrows wagging up and down. “Ivy, all you can think of is boys,” Rowan said, rolling her eyes. Ivy shrugged and said, “That’s life. Especially this time of year, when everything is being reborn.” Rowan shook her head. “Let’s just get to the rest of the group,” she said, walking toward the clearing where a large group of people had begun to gather. They saw people setting up their tables and booths for the festival and waved to everyone who called out to them. They walked up to a table with the sign “Harvest Moon Hollow Coven” written on it and went to the shaded area in the back. “Hey, Honey,” Ivy’s mother called out, opening her arms to give the three girls hugs. “Have you seen much of the festival area yet?” Ivy shook her head and said, “We just got here, so we came straight here.” Her mother glanced out at the grounds and said, “Well, it looks like everyone’s getting set up, so if you want to help here before going out, I won’t say no.” “Sure thing, Mom,” Ivy said. “What do you want us to do?” Her mother put them to work setting out the educational literature on the tables as well as the items they’d brought to sell. Once they were done, they were free to go about the festival. They stopped by the booths of people they knew and chatted while looking over the wares. Finishing up with those booths, they moved on to the newer vendors to check out their items. As they neared a bench, Ivy nudged her friends and jerked her head toward it. A cute boy there, one leg crossed over the other and one arm stretched out over the back. Willow grinned at her while Rowan rolled her eyes. “Hi,” Ivy called out as they neared him. “You must be new in town.” The boy looked up at her, unsmiling. He looked at the three of them, then smiled at them. “You would be correct,” he said. “My name is Brian and I just moved here a couple of weeks ago.” “I haven’t seen you around town and believe me, I would have remembered seeing you,” Ivy said, lifting an eyebrow at him. His smile grew wider, and he sat up straighter. “And I would have remembered seeing you too.” Shaking his head, he said, “I haven’t gone too many places. I’ve been too busy unpacking.” “I know how that goes,” Rowan said. “I’ve moved so many times, I’ve now got a system.” Brian glanced at her, then focused back on Ivy. “So, what all is there to do around these parts?” “Well, there’s the festival today,” she said, looking around. “In the fall, there are leaf viewings and going to the orchard to pick the apples.” He looked vaguely bored, so she added, “But I often go into town to go to the movies or the mall to hang out.” “Any good restaurants?” he asked her. “I’ve always been partial to Ravioli’s,” Willow said. Ivy shot her a look, then turned to him and nodded. “They do have good food,” she told him. “Maybe one day, we’ll have to check it out together,” he told her, grinning at her. She grinned back at him, then asked, “Would you like to join us in wandering around the festival?” He looked around, then glanced down at his watch before nodding and said, “I’d like that.” Rowan and Willow glanced at one another, frowning. Ivy and Brian started off toward the booths on the other side of the clearing with Rowan and Willow following behind. At the first booth they stopped at, they offered tarot readings. “I’ll have to come back here later to get a reading,” Willow said. Rowan nodded, but Brian frowned and asked, “You really believe in that crap?” All three girls looked surprised, and Ivy said, “I’ve had readings done, and they’ve been true for me.” “Same,” Willow said. “I’ve even done a few readings of my own,” Rowan said, glaring at him. He rolled his eyes and said, “Whatever. Let’s see what’s over there.” He moved off to the next booth. Ivy followed him, after shooting her friends an apologetic look. “What do you think of this guy?” Willow asked Rowan in a low voice. “I’m wondering what he’s doing at our Ostara festival,” she asked, her eyes narrowed. At the next booth, he looked over the crystals and pendants, but didn’t make any comments. He sniffed the incense at the one after that without any more comments. Ivy began to relax again. They circled the vendors and Rowan noticed he steered clear of any with educational information. She frowned as she followed behind everyone else. As they neared the booth where Ivy’s parents were set up, Ivy’s mom called out to them. “Having fun, girls?” “Yeah, Mom,” Ivy called back. “See you at the ritual then!” “That’s your mother?” Brian asked, his eyes wide as he looked from Ivy to the booth and back again. Ivy nodded, confused. Brian stared at her for a moment, then looked down at his watch. “Crap, I need to get going,” he said. “I’ll see you around.” With that, he turned and walked away, leaving Ivy staring after him with her mouth hanging open. “What just happened here?” she finally asked, turning to look at her friends. Willow shrugged, looking just as confused as Ivy. “Good riddance, I say,” Rowan said, crossing her arms over her chest. Ivy frowned and asked, “How can you say that?” “Didn’t you see the way he reacted when he found out your mother is in the coven’s booth?” Ivy looked at her mother, then at the way Brian had gone. Her frown deepened. “I hope you’re wrong about that,” Ivy said. Rowan put her hand on Ivy’s arm and said, “For your sake, I hope I am too.” They went back to the tent, and Ivy’s mother asked if they were about ready to start the opening ritual. They nodded, so her mother put up the sign saying they’d return after the ritual and headed to the center space. Just as they were about to start the ritual, shouts interrupted them. Everyone turned to see a group of young men walking toward them, shouting out protests against them. Ivy recognized Brian in the middle of the group and felt a sharp nudge in her side. “Recognize someone?” Rowan asked. Ivy nodded and frowned. Ivy’s mother walked up to the group who had stopped and stood shouting at them. Vendors had left their booths to see what the shouting was about. Ivy’s mother held up her hand. “What is the meaning of this?” she called out. The group ignored her, continuing their shouting. Ivy, Willow and Rowen walked up to stand beside Ivy’s mother. Ivy met Brian’s eyes, and he looked away quickly. She scowled at him. “You heard the lady,” Rowan called out in a loud voice. “What’s going on here?” The shouting lessened as the one who seemed to be leader held up his hand and stepped forward. “We don’t want your kind here,” he said. “You all need to clear out.” “We have every right to be here,” Rowan said. “The young lady is correct,” Ivy’s mother said, stepping up beside her. “We do have the proper permits to hold our festival here.” The man spit on the ground and said, “I don’t care what kind of permits you have, lady. You are not welcome.” Ivy’s mother looked around and said, “I see otherwise.” “You see wrong,” someone from the hostile crowd called out. “She sees just fine!” Ivy called back. “We are just holding a peaceful festival here and you are interrupting us.” “Peaceful?” the man asked, looking back at his fellow protesters. “You call devil worship peaceful? We know exactly what you’re up to and it needs to stop now.” “We are not devil worshippers,” Willow called out. “We don’t believe in the devil, so how can we worship him?” “Oh, little girl,” the man said. “The devil takes many forms and he’s tricking you into worshipping him now.” “That’s enough,” Ivy’s mother said. “If you don’t leave this clearing, we will have the police escort you out.” The men laughed and one said, “Good luck with that, lady!” Just then, Ivy heard sirens coming toward them, and she said, “We’ll see in a few minutes, now won’t we?” Some of the men in the crowd looked nervous, but the leader made motions with his hand to remain calm. “I guess you don’t realize the police don’t want you here either,” he said, grinning. “We’ll see who gets escorted out of here.” A group of police officers came into the clearing. “What’s going on here?” one asked. “We got a call about possible violence.” “We were having our festival here, and these men decided to chase us away,” Ivy’s mother told the officer. He walked over to her and asked, “Was anyone hurt?” She shook her head and said, “They didn’t touch anyone. Just made verbal threats.” The officer nodded and said, “I was afraid of this when I saw the permits being issued. I was hoping everyone would be peaceful and let you have your festival, but I was wrong.” “What?” the man yelped, his eyes wide. “You mean, you’re going to let these...these satan worshippers continue their unholy rituals here?” The officer sighed and went over to him. “Jeb, you need to leave these people alone,” he said. “They mean no one any harm.” “But-” “No buts, Jeb,” the officer said. “You and your boys need to clear out, and I mean now.” Jeb looked from the officer to Ivy’s mom and back again. “I can’t believe you’re siding with them,” he told the police officer. “I’m not siding with anyone,” he said. “These people have permission from the town to be here, while you do not, so you need to leave.” Jeb looked like he was going to argue more, but the officer cut him off, saying, “Either you leave willingly, Jeb, or we take you all down to the station to continue our discussion there.” Jeb practically snarled at the police officer, then turned to wave to the men behind him. “Let’s get out of here,” he said, walking away. The men followed behind him, except Brian, who looked back at Ivy with shame on his face. Ivy met his gaze, then turned away, walking back toward the ritual. Once the men had left, Ivy’s mother thanked the police officers. They said a couple of them would remain in case Jeb and his boys came back. Ivy’s mother thanked them again. Once everyone had left, they all went back to the ritual circle to complete their ritual. When that was over, Ivy, her mother, Willow and Rowan went back to their booth. “Well, that was quite the adventure,” Rowan said, sitting down in one of the chairs behind the tables. “It sure was,” Willow said. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so nervous!” Ivy was quiet as she rearranged the merchandise and papers. “Hey,” Rowan called out. “What’s up with you?” “I just can’t get over what bad taste I have in boys,” she said, turning around. “I mean, why didn’t I see that Brian was bad news?” Willow went over and patted her arm, saying, “Well, they do say that love is blind.” Ivy sighed and said, “That definitely pertains to me. After all, I was blind as a bat with him.” “Don’t be so hard on yourself, Ivy,” Rowan said, getting up to console her friend. “I’m sure you’ll find love again before you know it.” Ivy looked at her with hope in her eyes and asked, “You really think so?” Nodding, Rowan said, “What was it you said before? Spring turns a young man’s fancy to thoughts of love? Well, what are we celebrating today? The return of Spring! So, of course I think that you’ll find love! It’s in the very air we breathe!” The other two girls were silent for a moment, then Willow said, “That was deep, Rowan.” Rowan flushed and went back to sit in her chair. “Excuse me,” a voice said behind Ivy. “Can you tell me more about this coven?” Ivy turned around to see a boy with light brown hair and brown eyes holding up one of their flyers. “I’d be happy to,” she said, smiling at him. Willow went over to sit next to Rowan, who rolled her eyes and said, “Here we go again!”