I think it's great! I love the pacing- it really does look so innocuous at the beginning, and then suddenly that guy has a needle in his eye... nice job!

I'm getting witchcraft and wizardry vibes from the group - subtle hints, and the like. "Silly witch", the knot in the yarn, Colin's reaction, Wards being put up right as Ciara shows up, a seemingly mental link between Emma and the future to come, Trudie's constant speaking to the wind, it seems, at improper times...

Old fashioned magic, I'll assume? Before the idea of magic became such a grandiose notion?

I like it.

It seems, though, as if some characters are speaking in a jumble. You were good about listing who was speaking when, but at the point before Ciara appears in the story, and onwards, there are portions where it all seems to clutter up and cram for space rather than read coherently.

I might advise, in the case of such dialog as what occurred after Alan mentioned a Purushamriga, putting in something to space out the sudden influx of conversation. Emotional reactions aside, perhaps some more detailing of physical responses would help even things out there.

If I might plug an example of mine:

"It's a purushamriga," Alan said, sounding a bit defensive. His arms retracted to his torso, nearly folding the square inwards.

"Gesundheit," Trudie said.

Now, this is just me, but do you notice that it seemed easier to transition from one speaker to the next during that small dialog? Maybe keep something like this in mind for future stories of this sort, and add your own twists where you feel they're needed.

Outside of that, there were only a few grammatical glitches that I took issue with.

Whether or not my advice was coherent is up to you. It's two in the morning where I am, and I'm beat from long hours of traveling.

The effect I'm trying to go for is that, at first it seems like a normal gathering of old friends, but as it goes on it's revealed that there's something supernatural about them; seeing the future, hearing ghosts, one's a fairy, and so on. If anyone has any advice on how to improve the pacing and get that effect, maybe make things clearer without giving it all away too soon, I'd really appreciate it.