Caged in Darkness

by J. D. Stroube

  My heart flipped and a tear slid from my eye. “You’re going to make me mess up all of Willows work.” I laughed awkwardly, while he brushed the tear from my cheek. Ash walked around me, but turned back to deposit a kiss on my nape. I leaned back into him and he wrapped his arms around my middle. “Thank you.” I whispered and he left.

  When I walked into the circle, it was mere minutes until the 16th anniversary of the moment I was born. I stood in the center, surrounded by the Meadows Fall coven and their sister covens. In front of each of the five boulders, were five people I chose to represent each element: Willow for earth, Alice, who was Willow’s mother for air, Ash for fire, Maye for water, and Josephine for spirit. They would ground me during my ascension.

  I brushed my hood back from my face to reveal the delicate scrollwork and symbol for wisdom that Willow had painted. I faced Josephine to await the inevitable. I was terrified and hoped no one could see my hands shake. I knew what to expect; Maye spent years preparing me for this, but hearing about it and going through it were two separate things.

  The joined members began to sing a high pitched song in Gaelic. It was a song filled with hope, love, and the acceptance of change. Their voices were melodic and calmed my anxiety. I drifted into a waking sleep; until my skin tingled and I opened my eyes to see a cone emerge from the coven. It was a cone of power and would serve as protection from outside influences.

  My ascension tore into me suddenly.The cone eclipsed the world around me in an icy mist. I screamed; begging someone, anyone to hear my pleas, but my voice had been extinguished and left me with a slight wheeze from what little oxygen I had. I could glimpse the field of energy, as it shrank through the safety of my circle to envelop me in a blazing grip. I was alone; unbearably separated from my haven.

  The cone shuttered, as though it were pulling against an invisible force that refused to allow it purchase. It began to fold into my physical self by plying my skin and sinking through my pores, nourishing its hunger on my soul. It burrowed through my barriers, until it found my core and coiled around my essence. I was consumed; each of my senses extended to their limits.

  I was no longer me; my energy merged with everyone and everything around me. The oxygen I had been deprived, exerted pressure and dug its way into my chest. The world blazed brighter, as if taking its own breath. My feet became the roots that ground the trees; my hands were leaves that extended towards the sky; my skin was each and every member of the Meadow Falls coven. Here there were no secrets; here we were one. Being able to sense my coven and hear their voices once more, calmed me.

  The covens magic pulsed into one purpose; one conscious goal, to merge my essence with my inner power, while building a bridge to my mental self. My power was held within me. Until now, I had been unaware of the electric blue fire at my core. My youth had protected me from irresponsible use of my power, but now it would weigh me down with each choice I made. I would be confronted by temptation to use my powers for personal gain; it was in my blood. My parents had proven that to me; I had seen what unlimited power could do to a person.

  The pain came in waves. At first, I felt miniature pin pricks against my temples, but then my skin felt like it was being scraped raw by sandpaper. I could feel each layer of skin burn away. The small ball of energy within me had grown to the size of a softball. I could feel the worry emanating from the coven. I knew that it wasn’t normal for my power to increase to the extent. It shouldn't be this intense; this overwhelming, and yet it was. It strained against the chains that bound it within me and raged when it could not be freed.

  Confined to my petite frame, the power was enraged and pulled against my taut skin. Growing bolder, it tore through to lay flat against the outer edge. It solidified and lengthened to mold itself to my frame and contained me in a transparent cocoon.

  My fingers flexed against the waxy surface, while I panicked. I was cut off from my coven now; their thoughts distant echoes. Concern showed on their faces, as I fell onto my side; convulsing within my cocoon. A seizure racked my body, while I blended into the agony. I was going to die; the old saying was true, children do pay for the crimes of their parents. I was going to be exhibit A in that time old trial.

  ASH

  I desperately wanted to go to Savannah, but I knew it would be foolish. Every member of the coven needed to remain in place or Savannah’s life would be in jeopardy. We had to hope that she would come out alright in the end. The elements would overwhelm her if even one of the five representations of the elements moved. The other members were joined and if they broke the circle, hell would rain down on Savannah's vulnerability. To protect her, we needed to allow her ascension to finish, even if it meant watching her scream in anguish.

  I couldn’t watch Savannah any longer and instead looked at the other witches. Willow held a hand over her mouth, while tears streamed down her face. Maye’s arms were crossed and I could see her fingernails digging into the skin of her arms. The expressions on each face contained worry, distress, and horror. Watching everyone else run through the emotions Savannah’s pain evoked, was as bad as watching it myself.

  I looked back at her. The strange substance coating her skin kept me from hearing her screams, but I could see them. She lay on the ground, while her body was taken by wave after wave of power; enough to shatter bones. The coating hardened and gained pigment. It terrified me that she was no longer visible. My only confirmation that she remained alive was her movements within the cocoon.

  After the ascending hour had passed, we closed the circle and immediately rushed towards her. I knelt at her side to touch the object coating her skin. It felt like a bats wing; a hybrid of leather and wax.

  “How do we get her out?” Willow knelt at my right and I looked up to see Maye and Josephine on the other side of Savannah.

  “I don’t know. Does anyone have a knife?” I looked around, but Josephine protested.

  “You have no way of knowing how deep this goes. You might cut her. Besides, since we don’t know what this is, we can’t risk removing it. What if it’s protecting her somehow?”

  I ground my teeth. “What if it’s hurting her somehow? Have you thought about that?”

  “Here man.” Griffin came to my shoulder and handed me his pocket knife. I flipped it open and touched the cocoon with it. Pressing gently, I tried to ease the knife in, but before I could slice my way through, the cocoon began to stretch. I could make out two hands pushing against the substance, try to claw their way through the layer.

  “Move back!” Maye pushed everyone away from Savannah and we all watched as she emerged.

  Somehow, I expected her to be coated in slime, but instead she her skin was decorated with a golden sheen. While that was stunning, I still wasn’t prepared for the other changes. Savannah stood completely nude, but it was no longer the Savannah I knew. Her hair was long before, but now it hung to her thighs in wild curls. Maye placed a robe around Savannah’s shoulders, but it had already seen that her body had matured. The silver in her eyes was almost blinding and her face had sharpened. Savannah had always looked young for her age, but now she looked exotic and womanly.

  Maye ushered her back into the house, while the rest of us stood outside in shock. I sat on a boulder to wait for the other part of the ceremony, but I really wanted to take Savannah away and protect her. Everyone else stood around gossiping about the ascension, but Isis, Griffin, and Willow came to stand near me.

  “What happened?” Isis proposed the question all of us were afraid to ask.

  “I don’t even like Savannah and that scared the hell out of me. You okay? You look like death.” I looked up at Griffin's voice and tried to allay his fears with a forced smile.

  “I’m fine. I don’t know what that was, but I have never heard of something like that happening during an ascension.” I looked over at Willow, who was staring at the house with wide eyes. “Willow, she’ll be okay.” I grabbed her hand to offer comfort and she looked down at me in grief.

&nbs
p; “What if she’s not f-ine? What if what happened to her has chang-ed her some-how?” Willow’s voice broke several times, but I understood her fear.

  A short while later Maye exited the house with Savannah at her side. Luckily, Savannah was clothed in a sundress that hid her body, but I knew it would be engraved on my mind for the rest of my life. The problem was that I knew it would stay with every guy in the coven too.

  Savannah offered us a smile, as she entered the circle. Willow ran and threw her arms around Savannah; nearly knocking her over in the process. Savannah pulled Willow back, “I’m okay, really.” She then wiped the tears from Willows cheeks and sat on the stool someone had placed in the center of the circle. The inscriptions had been washed from her skin, but it still glowed with an inner light.

  Matthew, who was Josephine’s husband, came to sit behind Savannah, while Josephine brought him a kit. He took the objects out and placed them on a cloth. The objects were to give a witch the symbol of her lineage on the day of her ascension. Today, Savannah would receive a permanent tattoo that only a member of the Cross family was allowed to wear. Matthew would use the ink that I had taken from the passageway. It was a mixture of blood from the founders of the Cross family and some other ingredients, which only a member of the Cross family was allowed to know.

  Savannah didn’t flinch when the boned needle pricked her flesh. She remained with her head slightly bent forward, and her hair tossed over her shoulder, while the symbol was tattooed onto the back of her neck. When Matthew was finished, Maye came forward to perform a healing spell to seal in the ink and prevent infection.

  10: Summoning

  SAVANNAH

  Willow wanted to perform the summoning a few days after my ascension, but I didn’t feel up to it. Instead, I lazed around the house reading and practicing my magic. Now that I was more powerful, I needed to be more subtle when I tried to do something or I risked it spiraling out of control.

  Liam came over every day to bring flowers, chocolates, and entertainment to keep me from boredom. While I appreciated Liam's efforts, whenever Ash saw him in the house, he went to Griffins. This meant I barely saw Ash, while I recovered from my ascension.

  Willow and Izzy frequently dropped by after my ascension. Willow was filled with energy at solving my parents’ mystery, but Izzy looked exhausted. I used deductive reasoning and figured Izzy was tired of Willow’s enthusiasm. It wasn’t exactly something to be excited over.

  The night before the ritual would take place, I had a terrible dream. The demon was there. When he touched my skin, I could feel my essence flowing into him, while I became weaker and weaker. I was grateful when my cell phone woke me up. The clock said it was two in the morning, but I didn’t care. Whoever was calling at this hour had saved me from a horrific nightmare.

  “Hello.” My voice was groggy, but I pushed to remain awake and sound coherent.

  “Sa-van-nah…” The voice on the other end was pushing through tears. The sobs were loud and heavy.

  “Izzy, what’s wrong?”

  “My mom died tonight.” My entire world came crashing down in that moment.

  “Are you at home?”

  “Yeah…” The sobs continued. I climbed out of bed with the phone to my ear and threw on some clothes. I then walked through the bathroom to bang loudly on Ash’s door.

  The door clicked and Ash looked around it. “What is it?” He sounded concerned and then confused when he noticed the cell at my ear.

  “I need you to drive me to Izzy’s. Her mom passed away.” He nodded and closed the door.

  “Iz, I am coming over okay? Call Willow and stay on the line with her until I get there, okay?” Izzy was silent. “Promise me you will call Willow.”

  “Promise.” The sobs had abated, but Izzy’s voice sounded dead.

  Ash was determined to get me to Izzy’s as quickly as possible; he ran stop signs, the occasional light, and went 15 over the speed limit. He asked if I wanted him to come in with me, but I told him it was better if I went alone.

  I thanked him and rushed to the door of the apartment building. I climbed the stairs and opened the door to Izzy’s apartment. Once inside, I stopped in confusion. The apartment was unnaturally quiet. Izzy lay alone on the sofa, with the phone against her ear.

  “Where is everyone?”

  Izzy sat up with her arms tucked around her knees. “Take your pick; Dad’s at the hospital filling out paperwork and Aunt Jen took the others back to her place. I didn’t want to go anywhere until I got a chance to talk to you.”

  I nodded and sat beside her. She turned to sit with her back propped against the arm of the sofa. I could tell she had something important to say, but was reluctant.

  “Izzy, it’s okay. Just tell me what you want to say.” She turned the phone off and placed it between us.

  “I saw it.”

  “What did you see?” I looked in her eyes, while she searched for words.

  “The demon was here.” My eyes widened and before I could speak, Izzy motioned with her hand for me to remain silent. “I’ve been having these nightmares lately; about the demon. I thought it was because you and Willow were telling me about them. Tonight I got out of bed and saw a shadow moving in my mothers’ room. My Dad was at work and my mother wasn’t big enough to have a shadow that large. When I looked in the room, I saw it…” She broke into sobs.

  I pulled Izzy into my arms and soothed her hair away from her face. “It’s okay. I’m not going to let it hurt you.”

  “Savannah, it took something from her. This white smoke came out of her mouth and flowed into its mouth. I think Willow is right and the demon is feeding on people to gain power. It killed my mother and I bet it killed Jessica. Plus, a lot of other people in the surrounding towns have been dying mysteriously too.”

  Oh God. I couldn’t stand to think that I was responsible for their deaths. I was the clumsy one, who tripped over the box. If I hadn’t knocked the lid off, those people would still be alive. Izzy’s mother would be alive. How was I ever going to fix this?

  “Willow’s coming over. She wants to do the summoning tonight. She’s bringing the supplies.”

  Izzy sounded calm now. The summoning gave her a small portion of control in the face of this horrible event. I was not going to take that away from her, which is why I didn’t protest performing the circle tonight. I thought it was a bad idea, but reasoned that the sooner we learned everything, the better we would be.

  Willow arrived an hour later. We moved around the dining room furniture to create a clear space on the wooden floor. Izzy sat in one of the kitchen chairs, while Willow and I prepared the circle. Candles were placed to represent the five points of a pentacle. Symbols were etched into the wax of the candles to provide protection. Willow took a jar of dirt and poured it in a circle to connect the candles, but left an opening for Izzy to walk through.

  Willow drew a pentacle within the circle, while I used an athame to slice open my palm. Witches rarely used blood in a ritual, but it was powerful and we needed protection from a demon. I allowed the blood to drip into a chalice, dipped a brush into the blood, and began drawing symbols within the star of the pentacle. We places object that represented the five elements at each point of the star to draw on for extra power. The outer circle would be for us, while the demon would be confined to the inner one.

  “Izzy, were ready.” Willow spoke in an absentminded voice, while she paged through her notebook.

  Izzy took her place by the representation of air, while I closed off the outer circle. I then sat between spirit and water, which I would draw power from. Willow sat between earth and fire.

  “Okay, what we need to do is clear our minds of outside influences. Your mind needs to be completely focused on the elements, my voice, and our task.” Willow looked at Izzy as she spoke. I already knew the way to do a ritual, but Izzy was new at this.

  I closed my eyes and concentrated on my breathing. When it was a steady rhythm, I sought my orb of power and e
ncouraged it to spin. As it spun, I grasped threads and braided them together. I made three braids and sent one towards the spirit element and the other to the water element. The moment the braided strands collided with the elements, they lit up as bright as a star.

  The end of the braids were attached to the elements, while the roots remained attached to my core. I grabbed the elemental braids, pulled to make them longer, and braided them with the third braid. I tied them into a lasso and I sent it out to wrap around the inner circle.

  My braid of magic was like an electric blue current, while Willows was a soft green. Izzy’s was barely noticeable against ours, but it was a pale orange. We exhibited some pressure and our braids expanded and spun to form a whirlpool. Willow began to speak the spell in Gaelic. Gaelic was a language of power, which was used for the most powerful spells. Her voice rose as the whirlpool gained speed and the apartment filled with a roaring sound.

  A spark glimmered in the center, but it continuously shorted out before it could build enough power to remain stable. The spark resembled a lighter that had run out of lighter fluid, but created minor sparks when the metal was rolled. I willed more of myself into the braids and watched as the spark brightened to a constant glow. The eyes glowing within the whirlpool paralyzed me. It was watching us; it could see us. Panic set in, but I knew it was too late to turn back. Soon, the demon would step through the portal we had created. We were on a course that could not be broken; the point of no return.