Perfect Coven Three
Book Three of the Shaman, Water, Bard Trilogy
Author: M. L. James
A young and extremely talented Bardic witch sits in his apartment preparing for the most important performance of his sophomore year at college. He creates multiple versions of an illusion of a young man, the main character in the story he is to sing at his mid-term performance.
Jasper Howison is deeply involved in his Bardic practice and music classes. He is working hard – almost every minute possible – on preparing for his mid-semester performance exam. His problem is that he has become emotionally attached to the subject of the historical tale he is setting to music and illusion.
On the night of his mid-semester exam – a live performance in a local club – Jasper and his friends encounter a series of unfortunate events that hinder all preparations for the show. In the midst of the series of crises, Luc, Shelley’s less-than-pleasant ex-boyfriend, shows up and tries to gain Shelley’s attention. When soundly rebuffed, Luc goes into the club and performs what he intends to be a minor hex to embarrass Jasper and Shelley during the working. As Jasper sings the song he crafted from the ancient Celtic legend and weaves an illusion of the story’s events, he loses control of the working. For some reason, the power of the witchery grows beyond what it should be. In a violent wrenching of reality, the man from the song – and from several centuries in the past – appears in the flesh.
As Jasper, Shelley, Charlie, and Mars attempt to deal with the appearance of a man from another time into their lives, they learn about him. Ian of Raeburn, from thirteenth century Scotland, makes it known that he does not wish to return to his home time and place. He explains that not only is he a failed witch – he has no familiar and thus dares not use his witchery – but he was cursed by this clan’s Druid and is an outcast from his own people. An evil spirit, known as an Aze, is bound to him, but now that he is in the twenty-first century, the spirit cannot find him.
Despite his fear of loving a Bard, Ian finds himself attracted to Jasper. The crime of loving one above his station – again, a Bard – was the reason for him being exiled and cursed. For his own part, Jasper is absolutely smitten with Ian in every way imaginable.
The witches have placed a working around Ian that protects him from the Aze, and they feel that there is no longer any immediate danger from the spirit.
While the coven works to find a way to permanently bar the Aze from reaching Ian, the Aze finds Ian. As stated as part of the Druid’s curse, the spirit turns its power upon any to whom Ian has given his affections. This includes the entire coven, not just Ian. Each of the witches and Jarvi find themselves deprived of a vital sensory ability or awareness.
With the help of friends not attacked by the Aze, the coven manages to overcome the handicaps the spirit has placed on them. Seeing that his friends are in danger because of him, Ian flees the place he has been staying in order to lure the Aze away from the coven. He takes refuge in an abandoned boathouse at a marina, not realizing that several homeless people have claimed it as a shelter. The Aze stirs up the refugees until a riot breaks out.
As the riot grows in fury, the coven gathers on the lakeshore to sever the Aze’s connection with Ian. The power they summon is far beyond what they planned, and the lake itself responds to the witchery.
At last, the link binding the Aze to Ian breaks. A two-tailed dog that had been seen in the area rushes in to bond with Ian as his familiar. Jasper and Ian realize there is no longer anything standing between them, and join in a kiss as Ette makes one final sarcastic comment.
Perfect Coven 