Birthrights

by Butler, Christine M.

  The Other Than Human Society members had gathered and gone over the scene after the police released it. They tested the magical traces that were left and gave Caislyn some directions to look, however the people who had used the magicks had covered their tracks effectively. She had been unsuccessful in tracing the signature back to any particular user. Her probes about the brown robed figures were always met with curious stares or mocking jokes about Friar Tuck and his merry band of men.

  Caislyn was hoping to change her luck tonight. Plans were already in the works to close the store early. Tonight she would do a full moon ritual. She would seek the knowledge from the source of all things, and hope that something good would come from it. Caislyn shifted listlessly as she checked her watch yet again to see if it was time for her to close up shop. Mrs. Miller, one of her usual customers, was still checking out the new inventory shipment that Caislyn had received the day before. She vowed as soon as Mrs. Miller left she would lock up the store and get started.

  “Alright dear,” Mrs. Miller said to Caislyn as she placed her finds up on the counter. “I think I am ready to check out now.”

  As Mrs. Miller laid her books out, Caislyn asked her, “Did you find everything you needed, Mrs. Miller?” Inside Caislyn was hoping Mrs. Miller would say yes, pay for her books, and leave so she could get on with her ritual already.

  “Actually,” Mrs. Miller began, “I was looking for a rarity, 'She Walks with Mist’ by Benson and Miller. No relation to Mr. Miller, of course.” The old woman smiled up at Caislyn, who couldn't help but return her smile in kind.

  “No, Ma'am, I don't recall that one.” Caislyn began jotting down the title and authors. “I will research it for you and give you a call if I find anything though.”

  “Thank you, dear, your father taught you well.” She smiled at Caislyn, yet the smile seemed to wane to a bit of pity as she thought of Caislyn's father. Everyone assumed by now her parents were dead.

  “That will be $72.59.” Caislyn said, ignoring the pitiful look Mrs. Miller had been giving her. “Thank you,” she said when she took the money from the old woman. “Let me walk you to the door.”

  Caislyn proceeded to see Mrs. Miller out to the door, when suddenly Mrs. Miller turned to her and grabbed Caislyn's hand into her tiny fragile ones. The old lady's eyes appeared to glaze over as she stared through Caislyn and began speaking in a far off voice.

  “Shadows and secrets are what you'll find, when the ultimate power you unbind. First you must find death's only witch. Look for her under blackest lights And nights of pure dark sky. Seek the truth through the heaviest lie.”

  Mrs. Miller seemed to come back to herself before adding, “Oh my, look at the time, I must be getting back. The ladies will surely be upset if I miss our bridge tournament. Good night dear.”

  Caislyn had stopped being puzzled by prophets years ago. Most of the time, it seemed, they didn't even realize they had prophesied anything unless someone was there to catch them doing it. She made a note to remember what the woman had told her, even though it made no sense to her at the time. Caislyn walked back to the register and beneath the counter she took out an old sketch pad she kept there, just in case she needed something to write or sketch in. She opened it up and quickly flipped past the many sketches and almost poetry that she had done over the last few months. On the next to the last page, which happened to be the first blank one, Caislyn started writing down what the old woman had told her. As she wrote the prophecy she wished her dad was there. He was always good at deciphering what they meant. Then she chided herself because she had a sneaking suspicion that this particular prophecy was for her only, because of her parents being gone. Time would tell, but for now, Caislyn had some answers to gain through this ritual, and she could feel it was time to get started.

  At the back of the store there were a set of solid, double, French wooden doors, hidden off to the side of the stairs. They lead to a back room that the Vadoma's kept private. There were no locks on those doors, only wards that kept anyone out that was not supposed to be there. Caislyn had begged her dad to teach her how to place wards before he had vanished, but he had always told her that he wasn't sure it was a talent she would have as a witch. She had always hated when he said things like that, like he was such a better witch than her. Still, she would give anything to be having that same argument with him right now. Caislyn slipped her shoes off, pulled open the sturdy doors, and walked through shutting them quickly behind herself. She stood a moment, with the doors to her back as she always did, eyes closed, and took in the smell of the earthen air all around her. Along the west and east walls were trees who's branches breached the high vaulted ceiling of the room and bent with it towards the glass portion of the ceiling. There were natural made cabinets tucked in between the trees that held racks of drying herbs and jars of this and that. This place was where Caislyn and her dad came to hang out and learn about herbs, it is also where her mother taught her to cast a circle. They spent so long working on just the right way to cast a circle that they wore a circular pattern into the grass which covered the entire expanse of the floor in the room, minus one small area to the south behind the circle where a natural pond stood. The north wall in the room, the one through which she had entered was entirely unadorned, save for the wooden doors at the west end of the wall and the ivy vines that crawled their way to cross its entirety. Caislyn looked again to the circle. Childhood memories came flooding back to her.

  "Don't think on it, Caislyn," her mother had told her, "nature doesn't mind moving a little out of our way when we brought so much of it inside with us." Vesta smiled at her daughter, "Besides,the circle is there in our heads always, so it might as well have a chance to manifest itself this way too."

  Caislyn tried to block the onslaught of memories this room always conjured up about her mother. Caislyn did not really need to physically walk the circle anymore. She was able to draw the circle with her mind and it would be just as strong as one that was physically manifested. Tonight, with the emotions that were rolling through her, she felt the ritual of it all would help ground and focus her. She stood for a moment, closed her eyes and concentrated on breathing, in through her nose, out through her mouth, slowly. She repeated this until it was all she was thinking of. Then she opened her eyes and saw the white sage smudge stick waiting on the wooden shelves. She walked over and grabbed one, lighting it on one of the candles she already had burning in the room. The other marvel of this room was that aside from being a lavish garden area there was nothing in it that was not made of nature, that included electricity. The only illumination came from the beeswax candles they burned or the skylights above. The sage stick, now throwing off its sweet scent, was ready to be put to use.

  Caislyn, starting at the north point of the circle, and began to walk a wide birth around it in a clockwise fashion. As she walked the outer edges of the circle with the sage billowing its smoke around her, she chanted, “With this sage, I purify this place, all negative energy be gone, leave not a trace.” Slowly, she worked her way around the entire room cleansing and purifying it. As she finished, she took what remained of the stick, which was not much, and placed it on a special holder allowing it to end its course on its own. Caislyn continued back to the northern most part of the circle again, only now she was ready to build the circle.

  Caislyn stepped in line with the worn pattern on the floor, and as always when she did this, she felt a little jolt of energy rush through her. She smiled and bowed to the north, then faced east and began laying down salt as she went along the circle for protection. As she was completing her first time round the circle she chanted, “I walk this circle to transcend between the worlds all time can bend.”

  Upon coming back around to the north, Caislyn again bowed to the north and then continued on another revolution around the circle, laying yet another layer of salt down. This time her chant changed a bit. “Solidify as I walk this plane, protection is what I seek to gain.”

  Again, as
she came around to the north, Caislyn bowed and then continued on her third trip round the circle, laying yet another protective layer of salt. As she rounded the circle for the third time, she began to chant again. “I walk this circle thrice around, to cleanse and consecrate this ground.”

  As she finished the third cycle, the salt was all laid about the circle in a protection layer. There was none left in her hands. Caislyn had long ago learned how much would be enough and she prepared carefully, as not to waste that which nature gave so freely. Caislyn bowed, once again to the north, then bending at the knee she picked up the green votive candle that sat there, as she lit the candle, which represented the element of earth she began to chant again. “I invoke the power of the earth to enter my circle, I beseech thee”

  As the candle was lit, she bent back down and placed it in line with the circle. She stood, bowed to the earth and the north and then walked the circle clockwise again, till she came to the eastern facing element, the light blue candle that sat there stood for the element of air. As she did with the north, Caislyn picked the candle up and began chanting. “I invoke the power of the air to enter my circle, I beseech thee”

  The ritual of lighting the candles and in essence building her circle continued around to the south where she picked up a red candle, representing fire. Here she began to chant as before. “I invoke the power of fire to enter my circle, I beseech thee”

  She rounded the circle to the fourth element that lay waiting. Caislyn reached for the deep blue candle, the one representing water. There she followed the same ritual as with the three previous elements and began chanting once again. “I invoke the power of water to enter my circle, I beseech thee”

  She placed the candle back in its proper position along the circle and continued back until she was facing north again. This was the Vadoma way. Many witches start their circles to the east with air, for new beginnings. The Vadoma's come from a long line of earthly witches. While they didn't discount the other elements, they had a strong affinity for the earth and that which comes forth from it. The family had always started their circles in the north. Ritual spell casting will always work better when you believe one hundred percent in what you are doing. So, with the Vadoma family, they always pay homage to the earth first and last. As Caislyn turned and bowed to the north once more, completing the circle, a shimmering light shot up from the ring toward the ceiling and settled back in leaving a luminescent glow along the salt lines. Everything was now ready for Caislyn to begin.

  These ceremonies to purify and create a circle are quite the buildup for a spell or prayer that would last a fraction of the time, but the ritual acted as a focus so that the caster was clear headed when it came time to perform their actual task. At this point Caislyn knew what she needed to ask for. She felt confident she could do it, but just under that cool layer of confidence she began to fall apart a little, which is not something you want happening inside a circle. 'Help me,' she thought out to the cosmos. Her mind was a random jumble of thoughts focused around her family for a brief moment, 'Guide my soul to where it needs to be.' She finished her thought and an amazingly peaceful clarity took over inside Caislyn. She finally felt at peace enough to finish the ritual.

  Caislyn used her athame to draw blood from her finger, allowing it to drip down at the center of the circle. The blood of the caster is known to be a small sacrifice to obtain the knowledge one seeks. Those people that practice sacrificial arts using animals, and even other people, do not understand that there is no greater sacrifice than that of the self.

  Once the drop of blood hit the circle, energy began to zing through the area and Caislyn knew it was time to ask what she had come for.

  “With the whole of my heart and the fight in my soul,

  I seek a knowledge that is beyond my control

  Let me pass through this period of strife

  That I may find the two I seek, that brought me life.

  Bring to me that which,"

  Caislyn paused briefly as she nearly forgot the rest of her prayer. Then she continued on,."may convey

  Truth, awareness, and subtlety

  Grant me knowledge

  Also, strength to follow through

  The world is less without these two

  Find them well and help me see

  Where they are is where I need to be.”

  While Caislyn finished the spell, she realized that there may be consequences to her accidental pause after the word "which." You never want to take liberties with a spell, even those you write yourself when you are in the circle. A bubble of emotion found her while she was speaking the words, and the cosmos could feel it. How they would interpret it would remain a mystery. She just hoped it would keep her on the path that she was asking for. With that final scattered thought, Caislyn realized she better bring the circle down and close this out before anything else could go wrong.

  She took a second to ground herself again and then bowed to the north, while this time walking winder shins, or counter clockwise, to the west. Once at the western element, she bent to pick up the candle. As she held the candle in her hand she began her closing incantation for water. “Element of water, that flows so free, Let your streams hasten my plea.”

  As Caislyn relinquished hold on the element of water with that whispered absolve, the flame in the votive went out. She placed the sleeping element back in the circle, bowed to its memory and continued on to the southern element of fire. “Element of fire, that lets us see, Spread like wild to ignite my plea.”

  Again she replaced the candle after the flame dimmed itself out and Caislyn continued her course to the eastern element of air. “Element of air, which needs no key, Throughout the planes carry my plea.”

  Just like before, the flame extinguished itself and she replaced the darkened votive on the circle. She bowed in thanks to the element, as she had for the previous two and continued around the circle till she was back in the north facing the element of earth. To earth she spoke, “Element of earth, combine with these three, I send thee forth to manifest my plea.”

  The flame flickered then sputtered out as her words were carried on the smoky tendrils rising from the votive. Caislyn replaced the candle to its spot amongst the circle and bowed giving thanks to it as well. The ritual was over, the spell was done and what it would bring to her would remain a mystery, for now. Caislyn, opened her circle, left the room and entered the bookstore again. The night was thick with the full moon's light. She basked in the glory of its energies for a moment before heading to the other door in the store that would lead her upstairs, to the store rooms and further up to the third floor apartments. Caislyn wanted nothing more than to just go collapse in upon herself, have a good cry and fly off to dreamland where things could be different.

  Before hoping straight into bed, Caislyn had to grab a drink, she always felt a bit parched after performing rituals. On her way to the sink she had to walk past the phone, where she saw a message waiting for her. She thought it odd that someone had called her private line instead of the bookstore. In the year and a half Caislyn had been searching for her parents, her friends had all but given up on her and left her to fend for herself, so it was a rarity that someone would call her private line. Caislyn stopped out of curiosity and pushed the play button on the machine.

  “Ms. Vadoma, this is Edgar Whitney, of Whitney, Bryce, and Jones. I have some urgent business to discuss with you about your parents will. You see, they had a clause in their will because of their other than human status that would allow me to petition the court to have them, well, err mm, declared deceased if ever they were to go missing for a length of time, and under the circumstances of their disappearance, it is highly likely. I know that I explained this to you before, but that time has come and gone and despite your lack of, shall we say, grace, on the subject, I do need to follow through with my client's wishes. The courts have been petitioned and I expect they will have the decree for us by the end of the week. You need to come see me, Ms.
Vadoma. We have to go over the rest of your parents wishes. You know...” Caislyn never heard the rest of the message. She pushed the delete button before he could finish.

  “How dare that bastard! How could he do this? They aren't dead! They can't be dead, I can still feel them.” Caislyn tossed herself on her bed and cried and screamed until exhaustion overtook her and she fell to sleep. Her sleep was a fitful one. She lay there tossing and turning, amidst grunts of displeasure, and sometimes tears would escape her hold over them, flowing freely down her cheeks and puddling up on her pillow. A few hours after going to bed, Caislyn sat bolt upright. She reached across to the nightstand and grabbed a sketch pad and pencil. It was a mechanical gesture performed while she still slept. She knew where everything was situated. Caislyn began sketching, her eyes opened, but unseeing. She sketched out several scenes over a few sheets of paper. When she was done she simply placed the pad and pencil back where they had been and lay back down as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.