“You did indeed,” Mrs. Kendricks told her solemnly. “Banish the circle and join with us in perfect love and perfect trust.” She gestured and the cord around Melissa’s wrists unraveled and fell to the floor.
Melissa closed her eyes and took another breath before holding out her hands with her palms down and fingers spread. “Extinxit ignem,” she breathed and the flames faded away one by one, taking the silver lines with them. She cautiously opened her eyes and then broke into a wide smile at her accomplishment.
Mrs. Kendricks took Melissa’s hands and lifted her up to her feet, kissing her on both cheeks. “Welcome, Fawn,” she said warmly, “to a brand new world.”
“Thank you, for everything.” She kissed Mrs. Kendricks in return and then turned to me with a shy smile. “And thank you, Peter, for being here with me. I couldn’t have done it without you.”
“Well, I don’t really understand what just happened,” I admitted, “but congratulations, I guess. When did you decide to become a witch?” I threw an accusing glance at Mrs. Kendricks but she just smiled that smile of hers again.
“With Anastasia heading off to college, we were going to be a bit short-handed,” she said mildly, “but this was all Melissa’s idea.”
“I felt so helpless that night,” Melissa confessed, reaching out and twining her fingers in mine, “when I saw everyone just lying there and Dr. Bellowes caught me. And I remembered you running out of the ice cream shop after you got your memories back, trying to save everyone even you didn’t have any magic then and I thought – I thought I wanted to be strong and brave like you.” Her eyes were very bright when she looked up. “It’s just like you and your new job. I wanted to be able to do something. I wanted to make a difference. Now I can.” She searched my face. “Are you okay with this?” she asked hesitantly.
“If it makes you happy, I’m okay with it,” I told her. I leaned closer to kiss her cheek but she stopped me and pressed her lips firmly against mine, wrapping her arms around my neck to keep me from pulling away.
“Well, well,” said Mrs. Kendricks murmured over the sudden thumping of my heart. “Isn’t this interesting?”
Melissa broke away and I gasped for breath as she looked at Mrs. Kendricks doubtfully. “What do you mean, interesting?”
“Nothing,” I told her hurriedly. “It doesn’t mean anything, does it?” I shot a warning glare at Mrs. Kendricks but she just smiled enigmatically.
“This ritual is ended,” she declared formally. “We’ll see you next Wednesday, Melissa? The others are looking forward to welcoming you properly.”
“I’ll be there,” she promised. She released me and knelt by the box, restoring the objects to their proper places. I retrieved the blindfold and the cord and Mrs. Kendricks took them from me, rolling them up absently.
“I suggest you take her straight home, Peter,” she said. “This was just a minor working but she’s not used to drawing from her own life force. She’ll feel the effects soon.”
“I feel fine,” Melissa insisted, rising to her feet with the box cradled in her arms. “I feel more than fine. Everything’s –” she looked around, searching for the right word, “everything’s so bright and sharp and – and real and –” She blinked at me. “Peter, you’re glowing!”
I looked down at myself but I seemed perfectly normal to me. “Glowing?”
“Here.” She touched her fingers to the middle of my chest, feeling the ruby crystal hanging under my shirt. “Oh! Is that your Philosopher’s Stone?”
“The ritual opened your eyes wider to the world around you, Melissa,” Mrs. Kendricks explained. “It can be a bit overwhelming. Some people compare it to tripping on acid,” she chuckled, “but that feeling will pass as you get used to it. Come on, let’s get the rest of your things.”
She led us out of the room and down to another office with her name on the door, containing a modern desk with a computer monitor, a trio of chairs, and a row of filing cabinets. Melissa’s dress was neatly folded on one of the chairs with her purse perched on top. Melissa handed me her box and wiggled her feet into her shoes before gathering up her other belongings.
“You’re not going to change?” I asked doubtfully. Not many people wandered around Hellburn at night in white robes.
“I just want to enjoy this feeling for as long as I can. If that’s okay?” she asked Mrs. Kendricks with a worried look.
“It’s fine, if that’s what you want,” she assured us, lifting her circlet from her head and setting it on her desk. “At least it’s still warm out. I wouldn’t recommend it in the winter,” she noted dryly. She started untying the cord around her waist.
“We, uh, we should get going,” I suggested nervously. Mrs. Kendricks didn’t have a shy bone in her body and I really didn’t want her doing anything that might make Melissa think there was something going on between us, because there absolutely wasn’t. The problem was, I wasn’t sure Mrs. Kendricks knew that. “Good night!” I steered Melissa towards the door as Mrs. Kendricks laughed quietly to herself.
4
It’s hard to figure out what people are really like inside. At least it is for me, anyway. They’re usually on their best behavior when they’re out in public, showing you the face they want you to see. It’s not until they take off that mask that you see who they really are, but sometimes that mask is stuck on really tight and no amount of familiarity will shift it.
In the two years I spent admiring Melissa from afar, I always saw her as a strong and secure young woman, filled with confidence in herself and willing to defend others – often with the use of excessive force, as I discovered. It wasn’t until she got herself falling-down drunk trying to exact revenge on her boyfriend for cheating on her that I saw the real Melissa: a shy and lonely girl with deep-rooted insecurities, severe trust issues, and a truly impressive command of profanity.
Despite all that, I still like her. The fact that she’s rich and beautiful certainly doesn’t hurt but I think it’s mostly that she likes me for who I am, despite my own lengthy catalog of flaws. I could easily envision myself spending a lot of time with Melissa, maybe even the rest of my life, which could be significantly shortened if she ever comes to the realization that, despite everything, I’d rather be with Dara.
I tried to hurry Melissa down the hall but she seemed to be in a bit of a fog, gazing at every mundane object we passed and marveling at it. She stopped in her tracks when we reached the foyer and stared down at the star for the longest time with a strange expression on her face but she just shook her head when I asked her what was wrong.
Outside, the moon was nearly full, turning everything around us to shades of gray, and she gazed up at it with a rapturous expression. “Oh, Peter,” she breathed, “isn’t it beautiful?”
“Um, sure.” It looked exactly the same to me. She thrust her dress and purse at me and I juggled them and the box as she spun around in a circle with her arms outflung.
“Everything’s beautiful!” she declared joyously. “I wish I’d done this sooner! The moon is beautiful and the stars are beautiful and the world is beautiful and you!” She stopped abruptly and gazed into my face. “You’re beautiful too,” she said softly. Her pupils nearly swallowed her irises as she stepped towards me with her lips parted.
“Ah, I think the proper word is handsome.” I swallowed nervously as she placed her hands on my chest.
“No, I mean your heart is beautiful,” she told me earnestly, “and your soul is beautiful. I see them so clearly now. I want to touch them. I want them in me. Make love to me, Peter.”
“What?” Melissa tried to pull her robe over her head, but the cord around her waist stymied her efforts. “What are you doing?”
“I need you to make love to me, Peter.” She struggled frantically with the knot. “Right here, right now. I want to feel you inside me. I want to feel our hearts beating as one. I want to create a new life with you with the Moon Goddess giving us her blessing.”
“Melissa!” I dr
opped everything and grabbed her hands. “This is just the side-effects Mrs. Kendricks warned us about. We can’t have sex on the library steps!”
She stopped and looked around. “You’re right,” she murmured and I released her with a sigh of relief. “We need to feel the earth on our backs. Over there!” she pointed. She took off down the steps before I could stop her.
“Melissa!” I picked up her stuff and ran after her but she reached the small plot of grass in front of City Hall before I even made it across the street. Floodlights lit up the area brighter than a late-night football game and Melissa’s robe shone like an angel’s wings.
“This is perfect, Peter!” she exclaimed as I finally caught up to her. “We have earth and air and fire all in one place!” I didn’t see any open flames so I presumed she meant the lights. She yanked at my belt and tried to unbuckle it. “Hurry, Peter! I need you right now!”
“Wait, wait, wait!” I didn’t have enough free hands to fend her off as I tried to come up with some way to get her to rethink this whole plan. “We don’t have any water!” I told her desperately.
She stopped. “Water?”
“Yes, we need all four things, right? Earth, air, fire, and water.”
“Oh, you’re right.” She frowned at our surroundings as I dumped my armload on the grass and hastily refastened my belt. “There’s no water here,” she said doubtfully.
“Thank God,” I muttered under my breath. “Look, why don’t I just take you home? I’m sure you’re starting to get sleepy,” I added hopefully, although she didn’t look it. “We can, um, come up with a better plan in the morning.”
“Home,” she mused. “Yes. Yes, that’s perfect! We can use our pool! Come on!” She sprinted down Milton Street back towards Goodwin’s.
“Oh my God. Melissa!” I grabbed everything again and chased after her.
The Moon Goddess and the Horned God must have pumped her full of every last iota of energy they could spare during the initiation. She easily outdistanced me and then danced impatiently beside her classic Thunderbird convertible, hopping frantically from one foot to the other like a toddler with a full bladder. “Hurry, Peter!” she begged me. “Where are my keys? I’ll drive.”
“Oh, no, you won’t.” I shoved everything into her arms in the hopes that would slow her down a bit if she decided to bolt and propelled her along the sidewalk to where I’d parked. “I’m driving. You’re just going to sit still and – and just sit there!”
She looked at me in shock and then her expression softened. “Peter,” she breathed, “I’ve never seen you this forceful before. It’s ... exciting.” Her tongue traced a wet line across her lips.
“Oh my God.” I fumbled in my pocket and found my key fob. Up ahead, the Mustang’s headlights flashed in the dark. “Look, just – just get in.”
Melissa complied, thankfully, slipping into the passenger seat and settling her belongings in her lap as I got behind the wheel and started the engine. I tried to ignore her big, dark eyes staring at me longingly as I pulled out onto Milton Street, wondering, not for the first time, why these things kept happening to me.
I hadn’t been to her house since the night of prom but I remembered the way. I also remembered Carl the security guard, who stepped out of the little office by the gate and eyed me suspiciously. He motioned for me to roll down my window.
“Who are you here to see?” he asked tersely. “It’s getting pretty late for visitors.”
Melissa leaned across me. “It’s me, Carl. Peter and I are going to honor the Moon Goddess tonight.”
“Are you now?” He looked her over. “Toga party?” he guessed.
“No, I’m a witch now!” she proclaimed proudly.
“It’s a bit early for Halloween,” he observed sourly. “License,” he told me, holding out his hand. I dug it out from my wallet and he compared it to something on his tablet before handing it back and taking a photo of my thankfully-no-longer-LVRBOY plates. “What’s your code, Miss Andrews?”
“Code?”
“Your passcode,” he said with long-suffering patience. He probably had a lot of practice dealing with residents under the influence of some mind-altering substance, although I doubted magically-induced euphoria was on the usual list. “Or should I call your father to come get you?”
“No! No, don’t do that. It’s, ah, it’s, um –” Melissa looked completely flummoxed and Carl clearly wasn’t going to wait very long for the answer. While I really wouldn’t mind her father taking her off my hands, I didn’t have a good explanation for why I was returning her in this condition. I tapped her leg to get her attention, keeping my hand out of Carl’s line of sight, and held out two fingers. “Two?” she said doubtfully. I tucked one finger away. “One.” I added the finger back. “Two.” I made a circle with my thumb and forefinger. “Zero. Two-one-two-zero!” she announced triumphantly.
“Hmm.” Carl favored me with a skeptical look but he tapped his tablet and the big iron gate began to swing open. “I suggest coffee,” he told me dourly. “Lots of coffee.” He waved us on and silently watched us turn down Lancaster Drive.
I pulled into the circular driveway in front of her house and she jumped out and leapt up the steps to the front door before I even got my seatbelt unbuckled. I picked up all the stuff she left behind on her seat and caught up with her just as she finished punching in the access code on the door and pushed it open.
I held out her dress and purse to her and something white fluttered to the ground between us. I stared down at it, convinced I was seeing things, but there was no denying that there was a pair of lacy panties lying there, as well as a matching bra dangling by its strap from my fingers.
“Uh, Melissa,” I said carefully, “what are you wearing under that robe?”
“Nothing!” she told me cheerfully. “I’m skyclad! See?” She reached for her hem just as a male voice called from somewhere inside.
“Honey, is that you?”
“Yes, it’s me, Daddy!” she shouted back. “I’m home!” she added unnecessarily.
“Did you have a good time?”
“The best!” She beamed at me in delight while I estimated the odds of her father owning a shotgun.
“That’s great, honey, I’m glad. Don’t stay up too late, we have church in the morning.”
“I won’t!” A door closed somewhere upstairs and Melissa pulled me inside and shut the front door before I could retrieve her panties. “Shh!” she told me in an exaggerated whisper. “He doesn’t know about the witch thing. The pool’s out back.”
“Wait!” I looked around for some way to stall for time. We stood in a long rectangle of moonlight coming through the leaded glass in the door. “The, uh, moon isn’t over the pool yet,” I guessed desperately. “We have to wait an hour – or two – yes, at least two hours. So that everything will be perfect.” I nodded with what I hoped was an encouraging smile and she looked down the hallway with a pensive frown.
“I guess,” she said slowly, “but I want you now, Peter. We’ll just do it in my room,” she decided abruptly. “The Goddess will understand.”
“Wait!” I lunged for her but she was too quick for me. She bounded up the steps to the second floor and disappeared down the hall, reappearing a moment later when she realized I wasn’t following her. She beckoned me impatiently and I seriously considered making my escape. Until the ritual’s side-effects wore off, though, I wasn’t entirely certain what her hypercharged neurons might lead her to do. All I could do was fend her off for as long as possible until she finally came back down to earth.
She grabbed my hand when I finally reached the top of the stairs and pulled me down to the second door on the right, She shoved me through and locked the door behind her, setting her back to it as she kicked off her shoes and worked on the knot in her belt again. This time she didn’t have any trouble with it and it slithered to the floor at her feet. She reached out to the side and turned off the ceiling fixture but enough moonlight leaked in
through the window to turn her robe into a flowing luminescent ghost.
“The Moon Goddess rules the night, Peter,” she told me, her voice husky with desire as she walked towards me. “She’s the female Trinity, the Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone, the three phases of a woman’s life.” She stood right in front of me, gazing up into my eyes as she took the box from me, setting it on the floor, and then grabbed her other things from my hands and cast them aside. “She’s the goddess of birth, of love, of magic. Her spirit flows through my veins and tonight,” she whispered, stepping back and grasping her robe with both hands, “I am the Maiden.” She stripped the robe over her head and let it fall. All she wore was my fairy charm, glittering in the pale moonlight.
“Oh my God.” I struggled to swallow as my heartbeat pounded in my ears. I couldn’t move or look away as she took my hands in hers.
“Love me, Peter,” she whispered and then her eyes rolled back in their sockets.
I grabbed her as her knees buckled and I suddenly found myself trying to hold up a hundred-plus pounds of unconscious naked female. It said a lot about my state of mind right then that my first thought was How am I going to explain this to her father? followed immediately by Can I get out of here without him seeing me?
I came to my senses, though, and I carefully lowered her to the floor before gingerly touching the side of her throat with my fingertips. I breathed a thankful sigh of relief when I found her heartbeat, strong and steady.
That still left me with the problem of what to do with her. Hopefully she’d wake up in a few hours no worse for wear and I seriously considered just throwing a blanket over her and leaving her there on the carpet. I doubted she’d appreciate that when there was a perfectly good bed just a few feet away, though, assuming she remembered any of this in the morning. I couldn’t take that chance.
“God help me,” I muttered to myself as I knelt at her side and gently worked my hands under her shoulders and knees. The touch of her smooth, supple skin sent tingles all the way down my spine but I levered her up against my chest and staggered to my feet. Her breasts, so much like Dara’s in size and shape, were right there, pale mounds of perfection in the moonlight, and her nether region was a shadowed valley of mystery and temptation below her navel. “Please don’t let her wake up right now,” I prayed to any God or Goddess who might be listening.
Soul Mates Page 4
