by Isobel Bird
“We are listening, sweetie,” said her mother gently. “But you’re really not making a lot of sense.”
Kate calmed herself. “These people do rituals,” she tried again. “They help people heal themselves. It’s not weird or kooky or anything like that. They just use positive energy to encourage the person’s body to get better.”
“Sounds like a lot of nonsense to me,” commented Kyle. “Cooper listens to these people? I thought she was smarter than that.”
“How do you know so much about what they do?” her father asked pointedly. “Have you been to one of these whatever you call them—rituals?”
Kate didn’t know what to say. Should she lie to her parents and tell them she didn’t know anything about Sophia, Archer, and the rest of her friends? She knew they would believe her if she did. But that would be like betraying Cooper, Annie, and everything they were working for.
“No,” she said, feeling terrible even as she said it. “I’ve never been. But Annie has, and she said they’re really great.”
She knew as soon as she said it that she’d made a mistake. Her parents exchanged a look, and then her father said, “So Annie and Cooper go to these things with these people?”
“You’re making it sound like something dangerous!” Kate protested. “You don’t even know these people. They’re really nice. And they want to help Aunt Netty.”
“I don’t think Netty needs that kind of help,” her father said. He started to stand up, signaling that as far as he was concerned the conversation was over.
“Well, Netty wants them to help,” Kate said.
Her father sat down again. “You mean you told her this garbage?” he said. He sounded angry.
Kate nodded. “She said it’s all right with her. She’d like all of you to be there, but if you won’t come she’s doing it anyway.”
Her mother groaned. “Kate, how could you do this?” she said. “Netty’s scared. She’s looking for answers. Of course she’d say yes.”
“She’s willing to try it,” Kate said, maintaining her composure. “If she is, why can’t you?”
“Because it’s ridiculous,” said her father. “That’s why. I don’t know what these weirdos have been telling you, or why someone with your intelligence would fall for it, but I’m telling you it’s crap.”
“How would you know?” Kate shot back. She’d never yelled at her father in her life, but now she was furious at him. He was passing judgment on people he didn’t even know, and on things he’d never even experienced.
“I’ve had enough of this,” he said, glaring at her. “This conversation is over.”
He stood up again, but before he could leave the room Kate’s mother reached up and took his hand.
“Wait a minute, Joe,” she said.
Kate’s father paused, waiting for her to continue. Mrs. Morgan was silent for a moment, then looked at her daughter.
“I can’t pretend to understand everything you’re talking about, Kate,” she said. “But I’ve never heard you be so passionate about something. If you think this will help, and if Netty has agreed to it, I’m willing to give it a try.”
“Teresa—” Kate’s father said.
“Joe, this is my baby sister we’re talking about,” Mrs. Morgan said softly. “She’s probably dying. Whatever the doctors are doing isn’t working, at least not right now. Netty is in pain. I think you know what it feels like to see someone you love hurting.”
Mr. Morgan glanced at Kyle, and Kate could see he was thinking about the time her brother had been injured. When he looked back again, the anger that had filled his eyes had changed to a look of compassion.
“I don’t know who these people are that Kate is talking about,” Kate’s mother continued. “I’m not sure I approve of these rituals her friends are going to. But I’m willing to give them a chance if she says they’re okay.”
“They are,” Kate said. “They’re really nice. I’ve met some of them. And they wouldn’t do anything that would hurt Aunt Netty.”
“What do we have to do?” asked her mother.
“Just come to the hospital tonight at seven,” Kate said. “You don’t have to do anything but be there.”
Her parents looked at her for what seemed like hours. Then her mother nodded. “Okay,” she said. “We’ll be there.”
“But if this gets weird—and I mean even a little weird—those people are out of there,” her father said.
Kate left her family in the living room and went up to her bedroom to call Sophia to tell her that the ritual was on. When she was done she looked up and saw her father standing in the doorway.
“I’m sorry I gave you such a hard time down there,” he said.
“And I’m sorry I yelled,” Kate replied.
“You’re sure these people are on the up-and-up?” he asked.
“Yes, Daddy,” Kate said.
He sighed. “And you’re sure there’s nothing else you want to tell me?”
Kate looked at him. He was looking back at her with an expression of concern. She knew he was worried that she was mixed up in something he wouldn’t like. And the truth was that he probably wouldn’t like knowing that she was involved in Wicca. But it wasn’t something bad. She just didn’t know how to make him see that. Not yet.
“No,” she said. “There’s nothing else I want to tell you.”
“We’ll leave about six-thirty, then,” he said before turning and going back down the stairs.
When they arrived at the hospital, Kate saw Sophia and the others waiting in the lobby. She’d asked them not to go up before she arrived, in case Aunt Netty was nervous. When Sophia saw them come in, she walked over, smiling.
“Hello,” she said. “You must be Mr. and Mrs. Morgan. I’m Sophia. This is Archer, Thatcher, Robin, and Julia.”
The people she’d brought with her all smiled warmly at the Morgans. Kate knew all of them from class, and she had asked each of them personally to come. She’d also asked them to dress in normal street clothes so that her parents wouldn’t see them in robes or ritual gear and be freaked out. And she had, with more than a little disappointment, asked Tyler not to come. She didn’t want to have to explain to her parents how he was involved in the group.
“Hello,” Mr. Morgan said, somewhat stiffly, as he shook hands all around. “I’m Joe. This is my wife, Teresa, and our son, Kyle. I guess you’ve already met my daughter.”
Kate was spared trying to decide what to say next by the arrival of Annie. She came hurrying in the doors, and she had Cooper with her.
“Sorry we’re a little late,” she said. “The bus took forever.”
Cooper stood back from the group, but Kate went over and gave her a big hug. “You have to save me from my family,” she whispered in her friend’s ear.
Cooper squeezed her hand. “I think we can handle them,” she said.
“Shall we go upstairs?” Sophia asked, picking up the bag she had with her.
“Follow me,” said Kate, leading them all to the elevators.
They had to go up in two groups. Kate went first with Sophia and the other members of the coven, leaving Annie and Cooper with her family to take the other elevator.
“How did it go?” Sophia asked her as they ascended to the third floor.
“It was rough,” Kate admitted. “I still haven’t said the W-word to them yet. Thanks for keeping it low-key.”
“No problem,” Sophia said as they exited the elevator. “Magic works whether you’re wearing a robe or not.”
The other elevator opened, and Kate’s family emerged with Cooper and Annie. The whole group walked down the hallway to Aunt Netty’s room.
“Ready for us?” Kate asked, poking her head in.
Netty was sitting up in bed. She looked pale and tired, with dark circles under her eyes. But she smiled at her niece and waved her in. “Bring it on,” she said.
Everyone crowded into the room, and Kate shut the door. She saw that her mother, father, and brother
were standing to one side while her friends clustered around the bed. Sophia noticed it as well and turned to the Morgans.
“What we’re going to do tonight is really very simple,” she told them. “We’re going to try to create an atmosphere of calm. Then we’ll gather around Netty and form a circle of healing—a ring of light, if you will. We’d like you to be part of the circle, but you don’t have to if you’re not comfortable with it.”
“What is this supposed to do?” asked Kate’s father.
“We’re going to raise energy,” Sophia explained. “We believe that by focusing positive energy around Netty we can encourage her body to speed up the healing process.”
She then turned to Netty. “I don’t want to give the impression that we’re trying to cure you,” she said. “You might not even experience anything at all. All we’re doing is providing your body with energy it can use if it wants to.”
“Kate explained it to me earlier,” Netty said. “To be honest, I don’t know what to expect. I’ve never done anything like this.”
“Can this make her worse?” Kate’s mother asked suddenly.
Sophia turned to her. “No,” she said. “Her body is going to do what it needs to do and what it’s supposed to do. We hope that will mean healing itself. It might not, but if that’s the case it will have nothing to do with what we’re doing tonight.”
Mrs. Morgan nodded. Sophia opened the bag she’d brought and took out some tall white candles in jars. Kate saw that the others had brought some as well, and now they placed them around the room and lit them. Thatcher turned off the bright fluorescent light, and the room was filled with gentle, warm light, turning it into a cocoon of softly shifting colors.
“Let’s gather around the bed,” Sophia said, motioning for everyone to form a circle.
They pulled Netty’s bed away from the wall so that they could stand all around her. Thatcher, Archer, Julia, Sophia, and Robin took their places, and Annie, Kate, Cooper, Mrs. Morgan, Mr. Morgan, and Kyle stood in the spaces between them. Sophia was at Netty’s head, and Thatcher was at her feet. Kate found herself standing with her mother on one side and Archer on the other.
“I’m going to ask you all to close your eyes,” Sophia said when they were all arranged.
Kate closed her eyes and listened as Sophia continued.
“Imagine that we are standing in a grove of trees,” she said. “We’re not in a hospital room. We’re surrounded by trees that reach up to a bright, clear sky. The wind is blowing gently and the sun is shining on us. Netty isn’t in a hospital bed. She’s standing in the center of our circle.”
Kate let this image fill her mind. She pictured a lovely grove filled with sunlight. She saw her friends and her family there, and she saw Aunt Netty in the midst of them, smiling and happy. The picture made her smile.
“Now imagine that you have roots going down from your feet into the earth,” Sophia told them. “They stretch through the rich soil and continue down until they reach pools of beautiful white light. They enter the light, and now you can draw that energy up through the roots and into yourself. Do that now. Draw that energy up into your body, letting it fill you like a cup.”
Kate knew what Sophia was doing. She was casting a circle. But she was doing it in such a way that Kate’s family, who had no experience with such things, wouldn’t know that’s what they were doing.
“Once you feel yourself filled with light, I want you to reach out and take the hands of the people beside you,” Sophia instructed them.
Archer took Kate’s hand in hers and squeezed it gently. A few moments later Kate felt her mother do the same. I wonder if she’s really seeing the light? Kate wondered.
There was silence for a minute. Then Sophia spoke again. “Now that we are joined, let the light flow from your fingers into the circle. It will join with the light of the people around you and form a circle around Netty.”
In her mind, Kate saw the light slip from her fingertips, merging with the light from Archer’s fingers and her mother’s fingers. She envisioned the light flowing among everyone in the circle, growing stronger and brighter as the circle was made whole.
“Netty, you are surrounded by the circle of our light and love,” Sophia said, her voice low and soothing. “In this circle you are safe. Nothing can harm you. Can you feel that?”
“Yes,” Netty said, sounding surprised. “I can.”
“This light is going to grow,” Sophia said. “It’s going to fill the circle. The light is for you, Netty. You can dance within it. You can let it warm you. You can let it embrace you. It is the light of those who love you.”
Kate’s mind was filled with a vision of this circle of light. It was golden in color, and it pulsed with an energy of its own, as if it was a living thing that was moving around and with Netty as she danced inside it. Kate looked at her aunt’s face in the vision and saw her smiling and laughing, radiant with the light.
“Take the light into you, Netty,” Sophia said. “Let it fill you. As it does, imagine it surrounding the cancer inside you. Imagine it transforming the cancer, not fighting it but embracing it and changing it, turning it into pieces of light that are absorbed into the circle. The rest of you, continue to see the light flowing out of you, washing over Netty.”
Kate felt her mother grip her hand more tightly. How was she reacting to the ritual? Did she think it was nonsense, or was she really seeing the same thing Kate was seeing? She wished she could ask her, but she knew that right now she had to hold her concentration.
They stood in the circle for a long time. Kate had no idea exactly how long. Sophia continued to talk throughout the ritual, telling them to see Netty in the light and telling Netty to let the light fill her and carry off the cancer piece by piece. As it went on, Kate found herself growing tired. She knew this was because of all the effort she was putting into the ritual, but she didn’t know how long she’d be able to do it.
Then, when she was growing really tired, Sophia brought the ritual to an end.
“Netty, we’re going to open the circle now,” she said. “But the light won’t go away. It will still be within you. You will carry it with you, and it will continue to heal you. When you think about it, remember the love that you’ve felt here tonight. Remember the love of your sister, your niece, your family and friends. Remember that you always have that love, and that its power is as strong as the sun. And now I want us all to open our eyes.”
Kate opened her eyes. The first thing she did was look at her mother, and she saw that her face was damp with tears. She looked around at the others and saw that they were all smiling. Even her father looked peaceful.
“Let go of the hands you’re holding,” Sophia said. “But know that even though this circle is now open, it is not unbroken. You have created a safe place for Netty with your energy and with your love. It is a place she can return to whenever she needs to.”
Kate released Archer’s hand. Her mother continued to hold hers for a moment and then she, too, let go. Kate looked at her aunt. Netty was looking back at her with a serene smile on her face. She was almost glowing.
“I don’t know what you all did exactly,” she said. “But I feel like I could sleep for a week. That was better than all the drugs they’ve given me to knock me out.”
“We’ll let you get some rest, then,” Sophia told her kindly.
They turned on the light and blew out the candles, returning them to the bags they’d come in. The members of the coven said good night to Netty and filed into the hallway. Kate followed them.
“Thank you so much for doing this,” she said to Sophia. “All of you. I really appreciate it.”
“It wasn’t just us,” Sophia said. “It was you, too. And your family.”
Kate looked at Cooper and Annie. “I’ll call you guys tomorrow, okay?”
Everyone left, and Kate went back into her aunt’s room, where her family was gathered around the bed. She felt a little of her apprehension return as she waited to
see what they would say.
“They seemed like nice people,” her mother said.
“What did you think, Dad?” Kate asked nervously.
“I don’t think I was very good at all of that imagining stuff,” her father answered. “But it didn’t seem too weird or anything.”
Kate looked at Kyle. “Who was that cute girl standing next to me?” he asked, grinning. “And do you think she’d want to go out with me?”
CHAPTER 17
Annie stood in the graveyard next to Mrs. Abercrombie. No one else was there. There hadn’t been a memorial or anything, and there was no minister to say anything about how much Ben Rowe had been loved and how he was at rest now. It was just Annie, the head nurse, and the fresh dirt that marked where Ben’s casket had been buried earlier in the day. A simple headstone listed his name and the dates of his birth and death.
“Do you think he would have wanted some kind of inscription on the stone?” Mrs. Abercrombie asked Annie. “I couldn’t think of anything.”
“How about ‘Go Away’?” Annie said.
The nurse laughed. Despite the fact that they were the only ones there, it wasn’t a somber or depressing moment. Annie was glad that there hadn’t been some elaborate church service. This way she could say good-bye to her friend in peace, without a lot of people around.
“Are you doing okay?” Mrs. Abercrombie asked her.
Annie nodded. “It still doesn’t seem quite real,” she said. “I still expect to hear him yelling at someone for something.”
“I know what you mean,” the nurse said. “Every time I walk by his room I get ready to hear him complaining about something. Then I remember that he isn’t there.”
It had been three days since Ben’s death. Annie hadn’t returned to Shady Hills. She didn’t want to see the empty room where Ben had lived, the blue walls they’d painted together. She still cried for him whenever she thought about how they were just starting to know one another. But the tears were coming less frequently, and she had started to be able to remember all the good things about having known him.
