I know. Right? Like who’d have thought I would have remembered that?”
The four outside the circle echoed, “That we may live and breathe thy air.”
I completed the walk around the stones before dismissing the vortex with a flick of the athame. It danced overhead in a nervous sputter, collapsed into a tiny bright light and then shot off into space in the eastern sky.
The southern end of the circle is where Lilith burned a willow branch the previous night, beckoning the southern guardians. I, of course, had no willow branch. Instead, I dismantled the peach crate altar and stomped one of the crates into kindling. I then lit a piece of wood off the circle’s own flames and began my clockwise trek.
“Spirits of the south, guardians of our souls, protect us from false friend and foe. Feed thy flames and take them higher. Warm us with thy breath of fire.”
From the four outside the circle. “Warm us with thy breath of fire.”
With their words, the kindling in my hands exploded. Bits of burning wood gave rise to thermal waves. Embers sizzled. Sparks fizzled. White-hot ash drizzled down my back and arms. I clapped my hands over the southern stone and wiped them clean on my pant legs.
I continued to pay homage to the guardians of the west and north, respectively, just as Lilith had done the night before. I begged protection from false friend and foe. Made offerings of pure water and sacred earth, remembering the essential elements of nature. Funny how it all came to me so easily. Lilith later told me it was because I was a natural. It is the reason she took me through the rite of passage, the ceremony that endowed me with the powers of witchcraft. Though I seldom exercise those powers, I must admit, I feel stronger when I do.
Following the call to the guardians of the coven, it was time to open the circle to the others. I used the athame like a tent zipper, slicing through the flames and opening a door wide enough for them to enter. As soon as the last of them entered, the door zipped shut behind him.
We assembled in the center of the circle, forming a huddle with our backs to the fire. Lilith stood to my right. Ursula to my left. Carlos faced me in the huddle, and for that reason, he got to hold the black mirror.
“Is everyone ready?” I asked.
“Like it matters?” This from Lilith, whose acid tongue I recognized could be a real showstopper.
“What does that mean?”
She rolled her eyes. “It means you’re going to do things the way you want to anyways. Aren’t you?”
“What? You don’t like the way I’ve conducted the ceremony so far?”
“You lit the fire first.”
“Excuse me?”
“The fire. You lit the circle of fire before you summoned the spirits of the coven. You’re supposed to do that afterwards.”
“Then why didn’t you say something?”
“How could I? You jumped in there and started waving the athame around like a second penis, all-proud, high and mighty. Next thing I knew, whomp. Fire.”
“What now? You saying it’s not going to work?”
“No. Try it. What is the worst that can happen? The elders can strip us of our powers and banish us to the eighth sphere?”
“Are you serious?”
She looked me square in the eye, her furrowed brows scolding my incompetence. “What do you think?”
My heart sank. My eyes fell away in shame. What did I think? What could I think? I thought of Ursula. How I let her down. And Dominic, who wanted only to start fresh. A new life with his new wife. But no. I had to screw it up. My gaze returned to Lilith. She read like a stone. Cold. Emotionless. I realized then I had let her down, as well.
“You’re serious,” I said. “Aren’t you?”
Her expression softened, and in her subtle way, I knew she would find forgiveness for me. I saw her chest rise and fall on a shallow breath. She wet her lips. Parted them softly. Smiled.
“Naaah. I’m just fuck'n` witcha. Go on. The spirits are cool. They like you.”
“Lilith? What the hell?”
“What? You can’t have a little fun? Man, you’re a stick in the mud sometimes. Aren’t you?”
“Please,” said Dominic. “Can we get on with it?”
“Okay. You’re right. Let us get on with it. Carlos.” I reached out and straightened the mirror in his hands so that it angled up at me. “Hold this like that.”
I waved the athame over the black mirror three times and tapped the glass once. “Spirits of the coven, I call to thee. Show thy selves that we may see. Come forth to us this starry night to free Ursula from thy witch’s light.”
“Hey, that’s good,” said Lilith. “Did you just think that up?”
“Yeah. It came to me off the top of my head.”
“Not bad. You know I think maybe you––”
“Excuse me.” Again, Dominic. “Can we?”
“Of course.”
I waved the athame over the mirror once more and tapped it twice. Both times the blade made a solid sounding tic on the glass. On the next tap, the blade dipped into the mirror. Ripples from the disturbance radiated out in centric patterns like a pebble dropped in water. As the ripples faded, faces from the night before appeared in the reflection. They looked upon us warmly. I remember feeling a sense of welcome, a sense of belonging. This was especially so when Lilith leaned in and whispered in my ear, “Nicely done, kiddo.”
I smiled at that. “Thanks.”
To the spirits I said, “Welcome all. Merry meet and happy ties.”
“Happy ties,” said Carlos.
A soft chorus returned. “Merry meet you all.”
I cleared my throat and began. “I’m new to this, as I’m sure you know. Maybe that’s why we are here tonight. Oh hell, what am I saying? I know that’s why we are here tonight. You see, last night after the wedding ceremony, I kissed Ursula here.” I hiked my thumb up over my left shoulder. Ursula smiled and waved. “Anyway, I didn’t know better, but that kiss sparked a witch’s light between us, and well…. I was hoping you all could help us break it.”
A scratchy old voice came from the mirror. “You want to break the witch’s light?”
“Yes. If it’s not to much to ask.”
From the throngs of many came a singular face. It filled the entire picture frame like a portrait. This was the face of a witch’s witch. Not ugly. Not pretty either. But definitely a seasoned old gal with more experience than Old Man Time himself.
“Anthony of New Castle. Yes?”
I tried to answer. Couldn’t. Swallowed the lump in my throat and tried again. “Yes.”
“You are new to the ways of witchcraft.”
“I am,” I said, nodding.
“We have but few males among us.”
“Oh? I uh…I didn’t know that.”
She looked to Lilith. “Lilith of New Castle.”
“Yes ma`am.”
“Your mother, the one called Gypsy.”
“Yes?”
“She is dead?”
“You asking me?”
“Aye.”
“I think so. Not really sure. She kissed the front of a moving train you know. Never found her after that.”
“A bad seed that one was.”
“Yup, but I’m not like her. You can ask anyone.”
Ursula piped in. “`Tis true, Milady. But for the kindness of her heart I would not be.”
“That’s right. I brought Ursula back from a pile of bones. She’s some of my best work.”
Carlos said under his breath, “I always said she was a piece of work.”
The old woman scowled some. Her eyes came back to me. “Anthony of New Castle. Thou doth wish to break the witch’s light?”
“I do, Ma`am. Madam…. Milady.”
“Doth thou have another for to link?”
Lilith said, “He wants to link with me. I mean I want to link with him. We want to link together.”
The old lady maintained her scowl. Or perhaps it was simply etched upon her face through the
course of time. Either way, she clearly had not yet made up her mind to allow the transfer of links. At the risk of pissing her off, I thought I would try one more thing. I took Lilith’s hand in mine and held it to the mirror so that she could see it.
“Milady,” I said. “As mentioned, I am new to witchcraft. I have made mistakes. There were times when I could have embraced it more than I have but did not.”
“Ha,” said Lilith, though I believed softly enough that the old woman could not hear.
“The point is I love Lilith. I am truly grateful to her for taking me through the rite of passage. I know she took a daring chance in doing so. She didn’t know how it would turn out. No one had ever done it before, taken a mortal through the passage. But that’s how she is. Living on the edge all the time. For all she knew it could have killed her. And Ursula, that was a huge gamble, too. When she brought Ursula back, all she had to work with were some old bones and a witch’s key. She sacrificed parts of herself so that Ursula might know love, sorrow, pain and joy, all the emotions she knew as a witch back in ole New Castle.”
I felt Lilith squeeze my hand tightly then. I turned to her. Her eyes were pooling. “Yes. I know what you did,” I said to her. “Ursula is as much a part of you as any child could be. That’s why she looks like you. You gave her as much of the good in you as you could spare and as little of the bad.” I smiled teasingly. “But you did give her some bad. Didn’t you?”
She smiled and broke into a sort of half-crying half-laughing sputter that gave life to her tears. “Just enough to make her interesting,” she said, sniffing. “She’s a pistol, isn’t she?”
I shook my head lightly. “You have no idea.” I put my arms around Lilith and Ursula and pulled them in for a hug. Our heads bumped and we all laughed at that. I let them go before my own tears blurred my vision entirely.
“Madam. Milady. The thing is…. What I’m trying to say is that I love Lilith. She is my life. My soul mate. We have been through so much together. As far as Ursula is concerned, of course I love her, too. I cannot help but love her. She is so much a part of Lilith. But I don’t love her the same way Dominic loves her. That kiss last night that linked us; it was a kiss of mistaken identity. A kiss between two people who love each other, but only platonically.” I turned to Lilith, swept her tears away with the tips of my fingers and kissed her salty cheek. “Not like my love for this one.”
I returned to the old matriarch in the mirror. “Milady, let Ursula live her life free of my shadow. It is only right. Break the link between us and let it join instead the two people most worthy of the witch’s light. I took Lilith’s hand in mine. I love this beautiful woman. I want to spend the rest of my days with her. I want her in my heart and on mind always. As it should be. I want to make her mine.”
The old woman smiled. “This be thy wish, Anthony of New Castle?”
“It is. Yes.”
“Lilith of New Castle. This be thy wish, too?”
Lilith peered at me through eyes pinched nearly shut. “It is, Milady. I don’t know why, but I love this sentimental old witch.”
The matriarch faded back into the sea of faces. “Then so be it. The coven doth bless and recognize thee, Lilith and Anthony of New Castle, as man and wife. Go in peace, live healthy and prosper.”
With those words, the mirror went black again. “What? No. Wait a minute.” I grabbed the mirror from Carlos and shook it hard. “You misunderstood. I didn’t say…. That’s not what I meant. Hello? Can you hear me? Come back!”
“What’s the matter?” asked Lilith.
“I think she just married us.”
“Yes. I know. I was there. You asked her to.”
“I did?”
“Didn’t you?”
“No. I wanted her to....” I looked into Lilith’s eyes. She seemed genuinely surprised, if not hurt. “I mean I thought––”
“You thought? Are you telling me you didn’t want to marry me?”
“What? No. I didn’t say that.”
“I don’t believe it.” She turned to Carlos. “Can you believe this guy? Did you or did you not hear Tony propose to me?”
Carlos gave me a highbrow and a nod. “It did sound like you were asking her to marry you, Tony. Dominic?”
“Yeah,” said Dominic. “That’s what I heard. Sounded poetic. Congratulations. I guess.”
“Yeah. Congratulations, Tony.”
“Carlos, I didn’t––”
“Tony.” Lilith snatched the mirror from my hands. “Are you telling me that you don’t want to be married to me? Because if you are, I will call the coven back and have the marriage annulled this minute.”
“Lilith, no. That’s not what I’m saying at all. I’m simply saying....” I looked down at the ground. The witch’s light still ran from Ursula to me in a jagged blue line that seemed to excite the very soil beneath our feet. “I thought she was going to break the link between Ursula and me once and for all.”
Lilith looked at the ground briefly before looking up at me again. “Tony. Step aside.”
“Excuse me?”
“I said, step aside.” She grabbed my arm and yanked me back. I looked down at my feet. The witch’s light no longer connected Ursula and me. Instead, it linked Ursula to Lilith. I had merely been standing on the line between them. I looked up at the two. They were looking at each other, smiling similarly, sharing each other’s thoughts.
“I don’t understand,” I said to Lilith. “I asked her to link the light between me and you.”
“No.” She crossed her arms at her chest. “You asked that the light join the two people most worthy of the link.” She smiled. “That’s me and Ursula.”
“But that is not what I meant.”
Ursula replied, “`Tis words ye say what first we hear, not what words ye mean.”
Lilith added, “You told the coven you loved me.”
“And I do.”
“You said you wanted to spend the rest of your days with me.”
“I do.”
“And that you want me in your heart and on your mind always.”
“Yes, and that’s all true.”
“You said you wanted to make me yours.”
“Yes. I did say that, and I meant it.”
Carlos said, “Sounds like a proposal to me.”
“Yeah,” said Dominic. “Me, too.”
“Aye.” Ursula chimed in. “Doth me, as well.”
Lilith dropped her arms and softened her stance. “Well?”
I smiled sheepishly. “Well what?”
“Did you mean all that?”
In that instant, I fell into the depth of her eyes. They drew me to her. I slipped my arms around her waist and held her tight. “I did. You know I did. You know I do. I love you, Lilith. And I do want you to be my wife. I always have.”
Her eyes glistened in the sparkling glow of firelight, but she held her tears. She would not let them fall. Saving them, instead for later, after we made love for the first time as husband and wife. And though the witch’s light did not link us, as I hoped it might, our thoughts were as one, forged forever in love.
Carlos, perhaps fearing we could stand there all night locked in each other’s embrace, broke us from our lover’s trance, reminding us that we were not the only ones standing in the ring of fire. He told us we were married now, but that we still needed to make it official. His words I will never forget. They ring in my ears still.
“Can you believe it, Tony?” he said. Though I barely could. “You’re married now. What are you waiting for? Go on. Kiss the witch.”
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KISS THE WITCH
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