by J J King
What are you doing? Cate demanded of herself. She clenched her hands into fists tightly and relished the pain of her nails cutting into her skin. You’re useless like this. Snap out of it! Cate paused her long strides and closed her eyes tight. It was true. She was useless to Morpheus and everyone else like this and others were depending on her. Selene was depending on her. She gritted her teeth and pushed the pain down. It wouldn’t work for long but she didn’t need forever.
“He’s a god,” she repeated forcing her panic and heartache as far down as she could manage. She turned to Poseidon and Medusa. “Which means he’ll survive until we find a way to get him out of wherever he is.” She took a deep breath and continued even though she felt like throwing up. “But we’re running out of time to save Endymion. If Zeus already knows we’re up to something, it’s only a matter of time before he comes for us. We have to do the spell now.”
Artemis’ eyebrows shot up. “Now? Right now?” She sounded unsure.
Cate nodded sharply. “I’m awake so I assume it's night time.” Night time. The realization of what that meant sprang to mind and she inhaled sharply and muttered, “Shit.”
“What?” Medusa, Poseidon, and Apollo asked together.
“You didn’t happen to notice Selene’s absence?” Cate replied with ample snarkiness, channelling her emotions into annoyance. She arched an eyebrow at them. “Without the dreamscape, we’re confined to the same body, which means we can’t do the ritual.” Her mood darkened with every passing moment.
There was a long silence, followed by a muttered, “Fuck,” from Medusa who then huffed out a frustrated sigh.
“Is it over, then? We can’t do the ritual without the three of you, right?” Apollo gestured to his sister, Cate, and then upward toward the sky where Selene presided.
“We need all three,” Cate confirmed, surprised she was able to talk through the heaviness in her heart and stomach.
“I can do it,” Medusa spoke up, stepping forward with a determined look on her face.
Artemis shook her head immediately and offered the gorgon an appreciative smile. “It’s sweet that you’d offer, but we need Selene to complete the circle.”
Cate stared at Medusa and bit down on her inner cheek as the cogs in her mind cleared and finally clicked into high gear to puzzle over the possibility. She and Selene had considered the idea of transferring one of their consciousnesses into another body fairy early into their merge but it had never worked on a permanent basis. Cate gasped in wonder. “I’ve got it!”
Every head turned to stare at her.
“What do you mean?” Poseidon asked, coming to stand next to Medusa. The concern on his face was evident.
Cate worked through the idea in her mind one more time, getting steadily more confident that it was possible. “I mean I think we can actually transfer Selene’s consciousness into Medusa for the few minutes we’re together during sunrise.” She turned her back on the group and began pacing as she tried to think of possible pitfalls to prepare for. “Selene and I tried transferring one of our consciousnesses into another body many times but every attempt we made failed to stick. It didn’t matter if we sent my consciousness or hers to the other body, it would snap back into place as soon as the sun finished setting or rising.” She rounded on them with a huge grin. “But we don’t need permanence now. If we can complete the spell just as the sun begins to rise, transferring Selene’s consciousness into Medusa, then she, Artemis and I should have time to complete the triple goddess ritual and unite our magic to free Endymion.” She laughed in manic triumph.
All was silent for a few seconds, then everyone started talking all at once. Cate answered questions as fast as she could, reassuring them that the host bodies they’d used, mortal or immortal, had never been harmed in any way. They hadn’t even remembered the switch, there’d just been a gap in their memories.
The biggest issue was securing all the ingredients they’d need to put Selene’s consciousness in Medusa and then to complete the spell to free Endymion. Sunrise was just a few hours away and they’d need to split up to get everything since some of the ingredients were rare and not easily found in nature. There were plenty in her home on Mount Latmus but it was too dangerous to return with Zeus’ eyes turned toward them. Endymion was safe inside the wards she and Selene had erected and if she did chance returning, she’d have to momentarily lower them to enter. She wouldn’t do that.
Cate blinked back sudden tears and turned away from the others as they went over the details and decided who would get what, giving her a moment of solitude to think. She rubbed the skin over her heart and wondered how she was still managing to breath through the pain. The smile she’d pasted on her lips was in place, too tight to be natural, because everyone was trusting her to be in control. She was running the show and she wouldn’t let her breaking heart derail Selene’s chance at reuniting with her love.
But she was cracking at the seams and didn’t know how long she’d be able to hold back the pain.
Cate closed her eyes and whispered an incantation. Her magic bubbled up inside her, moving through her veins to surround her heart. She didn’t want to cut her emotions off altogether, that would be folly, but she needed to breathe and think straight.
The moment she finished, a soothing quiet filled her mind like a balm and she wiped a final tear from her cheek. There would be time to think about Morpheus later, after she’d fulfilled her promise to Selene.
“I’ll need to prepare,” she said just loud enough to be heard. “In private.” Cate saw Medusa watching her intently with a slight frown and offered her a nod of reassurance. “Gather the ingredients and meet in the clearing by Artemis’ home as soon as you can. The sun will rise within two hours and we’ll need ten minutes to complete the transfer. I can start the spell before the sun begins to rise and finish just as Selene descends. I’ve done it before so that’s nothing to worry about.” Cate swallowed down the apprehension she felt about what she didn’t say. It was the other spell that would press them for time and power, but there was no point belaboring that now.
She walked away from the group to find a quiet room where she could think and prepare while the others set to work.
*****
“Okay.” Cate squared her shoulders, ready to pull off a miracle. “We have ten minutes before the sun rises, so it’s imperative nothing disturbs this ritual.” She looked at Poseidon and Apollo who nodded solemnly.
Cate stepped up to the altar she’d requested be created and rechecked all the ingredients. Everything was ready, it was time.
She turned to Artemis and nodded. Together, they moved to each of the five elemental points, calling in turn to earth, air, water, fire, and spirit. At each point they laid a virgin candle, obsidian, and clear quartz to protect against negative energies and focus their magics. When the outer circle was complete, consecrated in the name of night, Cate beckoned Medusa forward. She stepped into the sacred space clad only in her skin, just as Cate and Artemis were.
The night sky began to lighten.
Cate retrieved a mortar filled with a deep blue paste from the altar and anointed both women’s foreheads, breasts, and abdomens, creating on each a winding symbol of the triskelia, the triple goddess.
“Celastrus Paniculatus to aid in mental strength and lucid dreams. Blue lotus to connect with the divine perspective. And Xhosa dream root to open the pathways of communication.” Cate turned Medusa and Artemis towards one another and began to chant just as the first rays of sunlight peered over the horizon.
“I call upon the moon goddess mother,
To willingly slip into another,
To fill this vessel with her power,
In this time and in this hour.
Luna, mother of the night,
Fill this host with all your might,
So she may be divinity,
As I will it, so mote it be.”
Cate pushed their foreheads together, completing the physical connection and
let her magic pour through her hands.
She felt the transfer, from her body to Medusa’s and, instantly, felt the loss of Selene. Cate pulled her hands away and peered into Medusa’s face, seeing the light of her best friend’s spirit behind them.
“Hey.” she smiled, feeling genuine happiness for a moment.
“Hey back,” Selene said in Medusa’s voice with Medusa’s lips.
It was weird but there was no time to dwell. Cate extended her hand revealing three silver amulets that glinted under the morning light, each showing off an intricately carved symbol. She placed one in Selene’s outstretched palm and another in Artemis’. “I forged them with night magic so they’re imbued with my strength.” She closed her fingers around her amulet and stretched her hand out to take Selene’s. Her other hand she offered Artemis.
They closed the inner circle, one hand at a time, each woman holding their amulet tight. Equal part light and dark moved through Cate, neither good nor bad, both parts of the whole. She closed her eyes and let it fill her, then spoke the words that echoed in her mind.
“By the call of darkest night,
And the will of blessed light,
I call upon the waning moon,
To bless us now with her fortune.
I bond us now, maid, mother, crone,
That our gifts the earth might hone,
From three to one,
My will be done.
As I will it, so mote it be.”
Medusa’s voice filled the air next, determined and full of power. She spoke the same words that Cate had, only changing “waning moon” to “pregnant moon” to represent Selene’s status as the mother. As she finished, Cate felt a shift in her power, as if it suddenly jumped from Selene to her. The last time she’d felt their magic separately like this had been when they’d joined to save Endymion. Tears streamed down her cheeks at the intimacy and beauty of the moment.
When Selene finished, Artemis picked up the chant and called to the waxing moon as she was the maiden in the triumvirate. Her power joined theirs, washing over and through Cate like a soothing balm. It felt like spring and rebirth, like life itself. Cate smiled broadly at Artemis whose eyes were wide now with the wonder of their combined magics.
It grew around them, spiralling out of the earth, out of their blood, out of their very souls. Each of their magic was tinted a different color. Cate watched them dance through the air with fascination. Hers was green mixed with black smoke, so dark it looked like shadows and had sparks of electricity running through it.
Selene’s was pale gold, like the full moon she represented, and softer than Cate’s could ever be. It pulsed with an internal light and rubbed up against Cate’s, sometimes blending so that they became temporarily one, before flitting away.
Cate smiled at Selene and squeezed her hand tighter.
A pale blue magic poured from Artemis, hesitant and sweet. It hedged around the others, dancing close then shying away. Cate watched Artemis’ face and saw the nervousness there. Her heart swelled with appreciation and affection for the reclusive goddess, for the choice she’d made to help them free a man she knew nothing of. Cate squeezed her hand tighter and was sent an appreciative smile.
Their magics swirled closer, joining with Artemis’ until all three blurred together. Cate’s heart sped up, racing wildly inside her chest as the power in her doubled, then tripled, multiplying faster than she could keep up. She’d expected more than her own, more than what she remembered of her and Selene’s combined magic, but as their magic merged, it felt as if her mind and soul were being stretched to capacity and beyond. She cried out while the pressure, agonizing and euphoric, remade her one cell at a time, as she clung to her sister goddesses.
Their voices combined to fill the air, spreading like thunder through the trees.
“Three in one, maid, mother, crone,
We forge our strength as one in stone,
Our magics now through us unite,
To free Endymion at this break of night.
Magical light burst from their combined hands and Cate threw back her head, almost mad with power. The words flowed from her lips but it wasn’t her voice that said them. Through a haze of pleasure and pain, Cate felt the very magic she wielded speak through her and the others.
Flow now through us to him awake,
Our power that his bonds may break,
Release him from eternal night,
Bring him and us into the light.
As we will it, so mote it be!”
They screamed the final words into the morning sky as the magic poured through their bodies and blasted an explosion of power that rocked the Steni forest. Cate squeezed her eyes shut against a brilliant flash of light, then felt her body collapse as everything went dark.
CHAPTER TWELVE
A burst of power shot out, like a sonic boom, throwing Cate back several feet, breaking the connection between the three women. She landed hard and heard the sound of her leg breaking before she felt the pain. Cate blinked in shock and shook her head to clear the ringing. She tried to stand up and finally felt the searing pain in her leg. As if in a dream, she looked down to where her femur had splintered, puncturing muscle and flesh. She raised her hand, which felt like lead, and murmured a simple incantation to heal. When her hand passed, ineffective, over her wound, she slumped where she sat, utterly drained of power.
Voices buzzed around her, but they were muffled, as if she were hearing them through a pillow pressed over her head. She watched blood pour from her leg and wondered absently how long a queen witch could bleed. She’d been through worse, she decided, remembering one particularly memorable time that had ended in her being torched by a demon.
Her mind cleared slowly, allowing her time to let the details sink in. She was hurt, but that wasn’t important. Medusa and Artemis were on their feet, whole if worse for wear. Poseidon and Apollo were tending to them, using their magic to heal their wounds. They’d come to her in a moment, she thought, relieved.
Morpheus was probably in pain. The thought came unwanted and with enough force to steal her breath. Cate gasped and clutched at her chest, wondering if the blow back from the spell had damaged her heart as well. Beneath her palm it beat furiously, pounding in a staccato rhythm that told her it wasn’t physical.
Zeus had Morpheus and she didn’t know how to save him. Cate rotated her neck and let her head loll back as tears poured from her eyes, streaking down her dust covered cheeks. She no longer cared about looking strong in front of these people or anyone for that matter. She was empty, now, totally stripped of power and praying that what they’d done had been enough.
Poseidon started towards her with concern clouding his features. He was handsome Cate thought with a smile, so handsome. And nice, she added to herself, pondering the idea of telling him that she thought he was pretty great for an Olympian.
“You’ve got pretty eyes,” she heard herself say in a strange warbly voice that didn’t sound like hers. Cate blinked slowly, wishing the glare of magic would clear from her eyes.
“Cate. Are you alright?” Medusa squatted down in front of her, frowning. She pushed back a lock of Cate’s hair, making something on Cate’s head burst into brilliant white lighted pain. She cried out and swayed, nearly falling.
“Concussion I think,” Poseidon said quietly, thankfully, since the pain was throbbing now and trying to drag her under.
But that was right, Cate thought. It was almost time for her to slip away. It was Selene’s turn now. She closed her eyes and whispered an apology for the mess Selene would be stepping into.
“I’m still in Medusa,” Selene spoke through Medusa’s lips and touched gently with Medusa’s hands. “The spell will be over soon and then you’ll go to sleep. Don’t worry,” she soothed like a mother, “just let it go.”
Cate opened her eyes now and looked at her best friend. It didn’t matter that she was in a different body, they’d long since come to terms with the weirdness of their lives. Sh
e tried to lift a hand and touch Selene, but her arms were too heavy and her head and leg hurt too much. So, instead, she just smiled and whispered the words that her heart had been holding back for far too long. “Don’t leave me.”
Selene frowned and shook her head, making Medusa’s snakes hiss. “I won’t. I’m not going anywhere.” She wiped the tears from Cate’s cheeks.
It took effort, but Cate managed to shake her head slightly. “No,” she explained, unable to stop herself from finally telling Selene the truth. “When you’re you and I’m me, and you have Endymion. Don’t leave me.”
Understanding dawned in Selene’s eyes and she shook her head sharply. “Never!” she exclaimed, taking Cate’s hands and squeezing. “You listen to me right now, Hecate.” She almost never used Cate’s real name so it jarred her enough to clear her mind a little. “You are my sister. You’re my best friend and the only person in this entire world that understands me more than I understand myself. It doesn't matter if we’re a world apart physically, you will always,” she slapped her fist against her chest, “be right here. I love you and that will never change.”
