The Graces by Laure Eve

strength. Confidence. Power. They could usually fight. They were natural leaders. Their symbol was a thick cross with tapered ends inside a circle.
    Air: The seers. They told the future and could see the truth of the present. They were the ones most used as consultants by powerful people, and that was how they made their living and their money. The site speculated that Gwydion was an air witch. They were very susceptible to mental attack and tended to beextremely sensitive individuals. Their symbol was a three-pronged rod inside a circle.
    Earth: They were the practical witches, well-versed in herb lore. They took care of the everyday necessities of the witch, such as health products and medicines, home protection, magicked food. They got none of the glory, but they were the most essential of all witches; often the head of the family. They were grounded, patient, loving and forthright. Their symbol was a five-pointed star, representing the five senses, usually with a gem studded in the middle to symbolise themselves, at the calm centre of all things.
    I spent some time trying to work out which one each Grace was. Summer I had down as air. She had a thing for birds and enjoyed telling the truth. Fenrin was fire, maybe, a natural leader. But then again he surfed and loved the sea and was the most charming creature I’d ever met. So maybe more water. Thalia was earth, through and through. She looked like a dryad, something born of trees and sunlight. I let myself think about which one I would be if I were a witch, but none of them seemed to fit me exactly right.
    There was no clue as to the website’s creator. It had to be someone in town, but I couldn’t even begin to guess who it was. Was it secretly one of the Graces who had set it up? How else would anyone know anyof this stuff? I read everything on there obsessively, but I wondered if the website writer was some kind of crackpot and everything I read was a lie.
    I couldn’t deny the tingle inside me, though: an insistent rush that said ‘what if?’
    Just because it sounded unbelievable didn’t mean it couldn’t also be true.

CHAPTER 8
    Thalia was already waiting for me outside the train station.
    I was only two minutes late, but it was kind of ridiculous I was late at all considering what time I’d got up. It had taken me longer than I’d thought to settle on an outfit to wear – something that said everything I wanted to say so that I didn’t have to say it.
    Her expression was one of vague impatience, like she was already regretting the whole thing. Her hair was loose, sticking on her shoulders in shining folds, and round her hips she wore a thin belt chain with little burnished flat disc charms hanging off it, making her tinkle faintly when she moved.
    ‘I thought we could start in Summer’s favourite shop,’ she said, as soon as I was close enough to hear her.
    I cocked my head, nervous. ‘Um, hi? Yeah, that sounds good.’
    She led the way and I skittered alongside her. We cut through the back of the station, down a rough set of steps with an iron handrail that looked as if it had been battered straight into the rock. The steps ended in a cobbled alley, the stones all mismatched sizes, tripping the careless. There was nothing down here but the back of some poky shop, its doorway crammed with split rubbish bags.
    Thalia’s stride was confident. I tried to match it. Something caught the edge of my gaze, and I looked up at the wall we passed.
    There was a carving of a face sticking out of the slabby rock.
    ‘What is that?’ I said, stopping in my surprise.
    ‘Hoffy Man,’ said Thalia.
    ‘What?’
    ‘The Hoffy Man,’ she repeated, coming to stand beside me. ‘You don’t know about that? Oh, you’re new here, aren’t you? I forgot. The Hoffy Man. He’s just a local nature god.’
    I stared at the carving. The face was soft and round with big, pursed lips and hollow eyes, its forehead crowned with hair that looked more like bunches of leaves. Was