by Aline Riva
She placed her hands on his shoulders and they felt stiff and solid as if laying hands on a mannequin. She closed her eyes and leaned in, planting a kiss on his frozen lips. As she pulled back from the solid, cold, clay-like feel of his mouth, she gave a gasp.
“Sorry!” she said, then she stepped back, closed the case, secured the catches and looked at him through the cabinet as he stared towards the wall.
“I don't know why I did that... I just know I want to change so much for you!”
It was all she could say. She placed her hand on the glass, wishing she had the power to make him turn his head and meet her gaze, but his corpse sat there in the stiff postured illusion of comfort and relaxation as his head stayed turned away from her, his eyes gazing at nothing.
Cherry turned away and walked out of the room, through the archway and then her pace quickened as she raised the back of her hand, rubbing at her lips to try and lose the memory of kissing his cold, dead mouth. He had looked so warm but his flesh had felt like clay.
That was the moment she made up her mind:
She was going to fetch that book and take the advice of the ghost of the witch of Nell Pepper. She was going to read the translated pages and find all she needed for the ritual. This was a witchcraft museum – she ought to be able to find everything required within easy reach. She didn't know if it would work, or if it was dangerous but she knew she had to try, because Drake had died too soon. She wanted him back. If it took raising a demon to get him back, that was what she would call upon – she was listening to her aching heart now and ready to try just about anything, what ever it took to bring life back to the man she loved...
Chapter 5
Cherry's search began with the notes translated from the book. She stood in the room dedicated to contact with the dead and opened up the case, took out the notes and studied them:
“Resurrection spell to be held at midnight...” she said aloud, carefully studying the handwritten translation of pages from the book that was still bound shut and under glass, “The deceased must be recently dead. Three items belonging to the person must be placed on or around the body. Six black candles must be set in a circle around the deceased. Burn dried dandelions – dried dandelions? It's the middle of winter!”
She paused, then recalled the many bottled herbs and dried flowers on the shelf in the mock up of the witches cottage.
“Maybe...” she murmured, then she continued:
“The moon must be full...I'll need to check that one. The one who works this ritual must be wearing white and in a circle of salt for protection. The symbol of the demon Ezaroth must be drawn on the floor with white chalk.... that looks complex...” she paused to study the drawing beside the translated note, it was a circle within a circle that contained a five pointed star and in the point of each start was a symbol, some were circles with shapes inside, others squiggles with intricate strikes through them and lettering drawn at the end of spirals.
“But I can do that...I think,”she added, then she read on, “The spell caster must use their own blood representing life to cover each drawn symbol in the demons circle – it wants my blood? Then the caster must stay within the circle until the task is completed and the demon has departed. The soul trader will return for payment – payment? Oh Drake, I don't think I took it all in when you did that talk on demons because those kids were running about in the corridor and the little one kept trying to get back to the voodoo display so he could climb in the cauldron... Never mind, we'll sort that out when it comes to it... What's next...” she turned the page over, “The resurrected will be confused at first, memory loss is to be expected - a complete absence of the recollection of death, but this memory will return as the subject recovers. Once the task is completed, the resurrected has four days, ending at midnight on the fourth day, to repay the demon for the gift of the restoration of life and the gift of power - if the gift is not repaid, Ezaroth will take back the given life...What? This demon thing wants payment? What kind? And what power?”
She searched through the papers, but found no more information. Then her gaze fell on the book. She took it from the case, unbound it and opened up the heavy leather cover. Turning the pages carefully, she saw many strange drawings and text in old English that was written in flowing ink and barely legible to one with no experience of such ancient text.
“I really don't know...”she said, frowning as she searched through the book. The final pages suddenly made sense as the drawing of the demon's circle stood out, then she turned the next page but it was thick and heavy and on the back of it was a yellowed, blank page.
“I guess that's all there is,” she said, then she put the translation in the back of the book, closed the pages and took to the book from the room. On going back down the corridor and then through the display section, she passed through the darkened area where Drake was under glass and she smiled as she glanced at him.
“Not long now,” she promised, then she headed for the main hall and the corridor that led upstairs, because she had a list to make and she needed to know when the next full moon would be – for that, the internet seemed the best option to find the answer.
After studying phases of the moon and finding out the next full moon would be on the 20th of December, she made a note of it, then looked at her own paper and the to do list she had drawn up:
White chalk
Salt
Dandelions and burner
Six black candles
Three items belonging to Drake
Blood
Wear white
Use page three of translation to read demon summoning spell.
“Oh, this is crazy...”she murmured as she sat at the kitchen table drinking tea that made her think of Drake as she looked at the oddest shopping list she had ever put together. Then she thought about the blood. There was no easy way around this – she guessed a cut to her hand would be best, and using a proper ceremonial dagger – she had enough time to find a suitable blade from the many in the displays and she would sterilise it first and have a dressing to hand to cover it up.
Cherry opened up the ancient book and turned to the page that contained the demon summoning spell. She looked at the drawing of the strange, dark figure in long robes, its shape seemed to be female with noticeable breasts and long flowing hair. The eyes glittered darkly and the mouth was wide with razor sharp teeth as it extended an arm, fingers curled, nails long and sharp as if grasping at an invisible power...
She gave a shiver, not wanting to think about the dark place that creature had been called up from. It looked fearsome... She was also unclear how to make the thing go away again, but all she could do was follow the translated pages and hope for the best... Maybe nothing would happen, perhaps that was what she ought to fear the most – no hope left to bring Drake back from the dead. She focussed on hope, seeing this as the only shining light in a long dark tunnel – yes, it was dark magic, okay, black magic if she was honest – she was summoning the help of a demon. But the possible outcome was all she focussed on as she sat there making her plans. She was going to try, it was all she could do, she was going to see this through carrying love for Drake in her heart and hope for the best outcome in the form of a miracle...
The next three days passed slowly for Cherry. Each night she went to the window where she looked to the sky and caught glimpses of the fattening moon as snow clouds drifted obscuring the view of the silver disc as now and then, its rays escaped through gaps in the winter night sky and shone down on to a snow covered world making that snow look tinged blue and sparkling and strangely magical.
Since making plans for the ritual she had been more aware somehow of the strange and the magical all around her, as if she had already tapped into something unseen yet powerful. This new awareness was too vivid to be pure invention of the mind – the stillness in the museum, the measured spaces between the ticking of the clock in the entrance hall, the whisper of something in the crisp cold air when she stepped outside.. Eve
rything suddenly had deeper meaning.
She had already thought out the need to be sure she would be undisturbed, the night before she had gone through the back exit to the corridor that led to the parking bay, where Glen the security guard was in his booth watching monitors for the front and back of the museum. She had introduced herself and between bites out of a huge, sauce loaded hot dog he had said Hi and chatted about how easy it was to keep watch here at night. He was a heavy guy and going by the old food wrappers scrunched up in the corner of the booth and over flowing from the waste bin she silently wondered how the hell he could run for a bus, let alone run after a would be burglar – but he had the monitors and could alert the police if anyone tried to break in, so the security system did seem pretty much okay, he told her about the cameras front and back too – the place was well covered.
Cherry was under the impression that everything was taken care of – until Owen called later on that evening, on the day the moon was due to be full.
“Don't forget you need to unlock the doors at five to let the caterers in – send them down to the cafe and have them leave the buffet on the tables in there. The wine is included and there's bottled water too so keep the shutters down on the serving area. The party of thirty are only using the back room next to the cafe so keep the display areas locked in case of accidents or damage to collections.”
She had stood there in the office with the phone in her hand feeling confused, then she recalled what Drake had told her about Raine Zinck. He was having a gathering here, tonight. On the night she needed to carry out the ritual...
“I said the doors to the displays need to be kept locked, did you hear me, Cherry?”
“Yes, I heard you,” she said quickly, “I'll have everything ready, thanks for reminding me.”
“And report any breakages to me if there is damage,” he added, “Zinck is usably careful but where there's booze you can never be sure.”
“I'll do that,” she replied, then he ended the call.
Cherry looked down at the desk and grabbed the diary where Drake had kept his notes.
“Shit...”she muttered, leafing through the pages until she reached December and then she read what he had pencilled in:
Raine Zinck, party of possible 30 - 50 (check numbers closer to the day) back hall booked 8 -11.30 pm.
She breathed a relieved sigh. So the place would be empty by half eleven – that was better than nothing even if it meant she had little time to set up the ritual. She thought about the complicated circle with its symbols and then had a sudden idea...
A short while later she was on her hands and knees on the bare boards a short distance from the display case that held Drake's body. She had the book open in front of her and the diagram on the notes to be sure of accuracy as she drew a wide circle, then added the star and began to etch in the complicated symbols.
“I don't think it will do any harm to make the circle early,” she said as the chalk scratched against the boards and she glanced up at the seated body in the cabinet as she worked, “I mean, if I don't start it until midnight, it's not going to work until the right time... I'm going to make the circle and then cover it up to cut down on preparation time because the back room is booked for a party...Raine Zinck, you remember him...”
She was looking down now, then at the diagram, then double checking with the ancient book as she began to draw another symbol.
“I don't know if this will work, Drake. I'm hoping this time tomorrow I'll be talking to you and you'll be able to look at me and listen and reply... it feels so weird, so, so weird, speaking to a dead body... I'm almost done...”
She finished the final symbol then snatched up a velvet curtain she had taken down from the window at the end of the hall and carefully draped it over the finished circle. Cherry then placed a chair from the entrance hall on top of the curtain. It looked strange, a curtain on the floor and an empty chair on top if it, but she was sure with the guests in party mood, no one would bother to think twice about it... She would be spending most of the evening hovering about the archway, keeping an eye on that covered circle.
She gathered up the chalk and the papers and the book and stepped around the curtain and lifted the rope and went under it, walked up to the display case and looked inside.
“If this doesn't work, I tried,”she told him sadly, “But I have nothing to lose by giving it a go. I don't even know what this demon is capable of – but I see instructions to raise it and it's said to bring the dead back to life. That's good enough for me. I have to try. If it doesn't work, I have to accept you're gone. But not yet, not until I've tried this, because it's a very last resort and I know it's desperate and crazy but what if it worked? There's nothing to lose.”
Then she turned away from the case went under the rope and left the body alone in its silent glass display as the spotlights shone down and the light inside the case glowed, illuminating the remains of the man who had stolen her heart, now frozen in that seat, staring at the wall.
As the afternoon gathered its shadows and dusk crept in, Cherry locked the doors to the display rooms and opened up the cafeteria. By the time the caterers had arrived to set up the buffet, the sky was dark and that darkness brought to mind the darkness she would attempt to summon at midnight. While she kept a smile on her face and thanked the caterers and then saw them to the door, she was still thinking on her plans. Once she was alone again she shut the museum door and stood there in the entrance hall as the ticking clock sounded louder than ever:
She was going to use black magic to bring Drake back to life.
Black magic, evil magic...
She was going to summon a demon.
What if it took possession of Drake?
What if it killed her?
What if the life it gave to Drake wasn't life but some kind of reanimation?
So many what ifs - and none of them good - as she pictured Drake opening his eyes, but still dead inside as he reached for her...
A chill spread over her flesh, making her shiver as she tried to push away her fears.
“Stop it,”she said under her breath, “It's probably bullshit anyway, it won't work...”
Then she went back down the corridor and headed for the flat, still feeling chilly despite the warmth of the central heating.
By the time the guests had arrived, Cherry was feeling nervous but the bag containing all she needed was ready upstairs, she had carefully gathered everything together and double checked her list. Beneath her jeans and her thin knitted jumper decorated with festive white sparkles, she wore a white night gown – it was thin and short but comfortable, almost as sheer as the one she had worn in the dream, too. It wouldn't take long to strip off her outer layer of clothing and make the circle and light the candles and start burning the dried dandelions. She had worried about the drawing blood part of the ceremony, but after choosing a sharp silver handled blade from a display case and sterilising it, her main concern was once again, exactly what she would be messing around with – ancient dark forces were no laughing matter, not something to be taken lightly even though she had until now, not believed such things existed. But she did believe she had seen the ghost of the witch and if that was possible, anything was possible... Cherry was fully aware it would not be long until she found out the truth of the matter – the evening was moving along quickly, it would soon be coming close to midnight and the ritual would begin...
From where she stood in the entrance hall close to the archway, she had a perfect view of the covered magic circle. The guests had gone straight down the main corridor, led by Raine, who had looked his usual dashing self dressed all in black, with an attractive woman on each arm. He had paused to explain to Cherry that tomorrow was the festival of Yule, which would be celebrated at his house. Tonight was an evening before the event celebration. There were a few males in the group, all looked to be in their mid twenties, none of them looked remotely mystical and she guessed they were friends of Raine. The rest of the group
was made up of attractive women who were clearly thrilled to be around the famous magician-teacher on this special night.
Cherry had watched as the group made their way through the darkened area and headed down the corridor towards the buffet. She noticed Raine had paused, turning his head and looking to the case as he passed it, he eyed it curiously, then looked away and walked off with the two women who flanked him, flirting all the way. She put his glance at Drake down to seeing him in the case for the first time and was thankful he had not been curious enough to lift up a corner of the curtain that covered the hidden circle.
The buffet was quite a well behaved affair, then Raine took a few select guests in the small room at the back where he said he had set up an altar and wanted it do some positive group mediation. Cherry had wandered in to the buffet, seen Raine go out the back room with a few friends and then gone back up the hallway and took the route all the way around the darkened room where the circle was still covered and Drake's body was sat in the case, staring blankly at the opposite wall. As she looked at him and imagined his life miraculously restored, a shiver of excitement ran through her that melted away all thoughts of fear. Perhaps black magic wasn't evil at all, maybe it depended on the motive. Maybe it would work. Maybe everything would be okay...Sometimes, life wasn't all shit. Sometimes, happy endings actually existed...
She watched the clock, then she watched the floor and the hidden circle, but the guests didn't come back up from the buffet until almost half past eleven, when they did it was a relief to see although some were merry, none seemed drunk – and Raine assured her they had cleaned up as best as they could and there would be little to do regarding clearing up the place.
