The Ritual: Urban Fantasy Suspense FF Romance (The Coven Unleashed Book 1)

by Adelaide Walsh

  I put on the cloak and the ceremonial necklace we all wore. I placed my rings on my fingers. I had a few that held meaning for me within the coven, but only one had a magical jewel. It was a silver band with a large emerald. I stared into the gem for a long time. A knock at the door shook me back to reality.

  I hurried downstairs to the door. Everyone was arriving around the same time. Our head priestess, Everley, was last to arrive. She took long, meaningful strides up the sidewalk. When she came inside, she poured us each a glass of wine. It was deep red and surprisingly sweet. After we had all finished drinking, with small, quiet chatter, she said that it was time for the initiation to begin.

  Since the living room had a large bay window right in the center, I led everyone to the basement, so that we could have a little more privacy for the initiation. They formed a circle around me and joined hands. Everley led me through the process while the others chanted in a low voice. I closed my eyes and relaxed my body. I followed her instructions until I could no longer hear her voice. My body started to buzz, as if each of my cells were on its own, jumping and dancing around. I felt my feet leave the ground.

  Suddenly, my awareness of what I had previously considered the present reality, was gone. I felt a spinning sensation, like I was flying. My vision was darker than before. I felt my face gently poke through some sort of film, as if I had stuck my head into a bubble.

  “Open your eyes,” I heard Everley’s voice as if through a speaker.

  I opened my eyes to a foggy, green forest. The air seemed to shimmer in a way. There were large, red mushrooms that must have been 4 feet high. I noticed a twinkle beneath one and tried to walk toward it, to closely examine. I moved forward, but rather than walking, it felt like I was gliding. I looked down at my legs and the fog around me immediately lessened. I gasped and looked around. I held my hands in front of my face and noticed the colors in the background shift. I looked up and the mushrooms had shrunken nearly a foot.

  “Remember,” Everley’s voice came back, “this is not about you.”

  I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, remembering my training. I was not a part of this realm. As a visitor, I needed to revere the realm enough to truly allow myself the experience. What had sounded like a vague, cryptic warning now felt like a simple instruction. I held my head high and moved toward the mushrooms. When I got up close, I noticed that the twinkle had come from a fairy. When she saw me looking at her, she flitted up to eye level.

  “So the witch has come,” she flipped her sparkling green hair and popped her hip out, a look of annoyance on her face.

  “I have come to honor the land.”

  “The land shall honor you in turn.” Her face softened. “I have an important piece of knowledge for you, witch. Mother shall return. When she does, tell her all truths. Mother will know when you try deception.”

  “I don’t-“ I started, but noticed the fog clear even more. “Right. Thank you.” I bowed and continued to explore the forest. Deeper into the woods, I spotted what looked like a circle of witches whispering. Quietly, I ducked behind a tree and listened.

  “We have to come up with a plan,” one witch urged. “This is not what the guardians were designed for, or what witchcraft was designed for.”

  “But how? Who knows what Lilith could be supplying them with?” another witch whispered.

  “I have word that one of the vampire clan has a connection that could help,” a third witch spoke up. “Her name is Serena. I can get her to meet us, but we must choose a different realm next time. I fear Lilith is catching on, even now.”

  Suddenly, everything started to fade into white. I awoke on my basement floor, with the other witches staring down at me. My body had felt so light in the other realm. Coming back, I could feel the harshness of our atmosphere against my skin. I winced.

  “It’s okay,” Jesela, a healer, cooed, rushing over with a goblet full of something cool and herbal. I sipped slowly, looking around at everyone’s faces for some sign as to how it went from their side.

  “Congratulations,” Everley finally crouched down next to me. “I think it’s best we leave you, now, to write in your book and to get some rest.” She retrieved something from her cloak pocket. It was a silver ear cuff, dotted with tiny amethysts. She gently hooked it over my right ear. “To remind you to always heed the whispers, no matter the realm.”

  After everyone left, I recorded everything in one of my journals and went up to bed. I lay in bed for a while, wondering what the fairy meant and what the other witches were talking about. If the other witches were meeting in different realms, where were they from? Who was Lilith? The questions circled through my mind, taking turns in the spotlight, until finally, sleep overtook them all.

  The next day, I was jarred awake several minutes before my alarm went off. I was in a good mood for the most part, but the forest lingered with me, in the background. Part of me was concerned, but it also felt like my magic had grown. I could feel the magic in everything I did, every step I took. I arrived at work early, with few others in yet. I sat down and dove straight into my work.

  Stella arrived a little while later. I had been so wrapped up in my tasks that I didn’t notice her come in. It was the sound of her keyboard that alerted me. I paused my work to greet her.

  “Hey Stella, good morning,” I sang over the cubicle wall.

  “Morning,” she mumbled.

  It wasn’t her usual tone of voice. I wondered if maybe she was having a bad day, or maybe she was deep in thought. I elected to back off for the time being and get back to work. Eventually, I had to stop for a bathroom break. When I came back, I stopped by her desk.

  “So, by the way, you were saying something yesterday when I ran out?”

  “Oh, no. It was nothing. I actually don’t even remember,” Stella responded, never taking her eyes off of her computer.

  “Um, okay. Well anyway, how is your day going?”

  “Really busy actually. Sorry, do you mind?”

  “Alright then.” I turned on my heel and plopped back down into my office chair, a bit irritated. She seemed angry with me. I hadn’t even done anything to her. When lunchtime came, I noticed her head to the break room. I had packed mine that day too. While I normally ate out or at my desk, I decided to follow her and sit in the break room that day. I grabbed my lunch out of the refrigerator and joined her and a few others at one of the round tables. She didn’t say anything. I began retrieving my food from the bag.

  “I actually don’t feel so hot. I think I’m just going to get back to work,” Stella said, looking at someone else who had been sitting at the table. She grabbed her half of a sandwich and bag of fruit and tossed them into the garbage can, hurrying back to her desk. At this point, I was getting thoroughly annoyed and decided not to continue trying with her that day.

  It was nearly time to leave for the day, when she decided to speak to me. I had been in the supply closet, grabbing a new ink cartridge for my printer. Stella came up next to me, looking around, and folded her arms.

  “What? I was here first, I’m not following you anymore.” I rolled my eyes and continued pulling out ink boxes, examining the codes at the top.

  “No, I know. I’m sorry. Look, we need to talk, okay? Let’s grab coffee after work.”

  “Fine. Same place as usual?”

  “No, let’s get out of the city center. You know that place on our way home? It’s a coffee shop, but they also sell like motorcycle gear or whatever?”

  “Yeah, cool. I’ll be there.” I grabbed the right box of ink and hurried back to my desk, unsure of what to feel. On one hand, I was excited to be meeting her after work and maybe it would be a good talk. On the other hand, she had been avoiding me all day, so it probably wouldn’t be.

  After work, I drove straight to the coffee shop she had mentioned. I liked going there because the neighborhood outside was quiet, but inside was shiny and filled with music. I had first discovered it walking to the bus one day. It was only a blo
ck from the bus stop, and I had walked particularly fast that morning, so I remember popping in and grabbing the spiciest dirty chai I had ever tasted, and wondering what the deal was with the whole motorcycle thing.

  I leaned against the brick wall outside, wondering if she had discovered it the same way. It was quickly getting dark out. A few minutes later, she pulled down the street and parked her car a few shops down. I took a deep breath and did my best to channel confidence. She met me at the door and we went inside and ordered our coffees. Once they were ready, we sat at a table in the back corner.

  I watched Stella’s fingers tremble, stiffly floating inside the handle of her coffee mug, without grabbing the cup itself. Her lower lip quivered. Her eyes never left mine, demanding something unspoken. Behind us, espresso ground, scraped, brewed. Baristas asked, ‘what size.’

  “Stella,” I finally started. “So you wanted to meet me here. Why, because you knew I’d buy you a latte?” I smirked and sipped my café au lait, carefully aligning my mouth to the shimmering lipstick stain I had already left on the porcelain mug.

  “Camille, we need to talk,” her voice shook. “I saw you the other night. I went to your house. I was going to surprise you. I had some things to tell you, but then I saw something.”

  “Okay. Saw, what?”

  “It’s just I was so nervous,” she looked around. “I thought you might see me standing on your front porch, so I hid on the side of your house. I was pacing and practicing this stupid speech, when I noticed a green light through your basement window, so I looked inside and your body was floating in mid air. There was like a group of people and I just need to know what that was all about.”

  “You saw my body floating?” I exhaled, taking a moment to think. There was no real way around it. “Okay, look I’ll tell you, but you’ve gotta come with me. This isn’t the place.”

  “I’m honestly a little freaked out to follow you.”

  “Stella, it will be fine,” I reassured her.

  She followed me out of the café. My skin felt flushed from the shock. As I opened the door, a breeze washed over me, cooling my skin.

  We walked to my car, and again, she insisted. “Just tell me what’s going on; you’re scaring me.”

  “I will. I swear. But I want to take you somewhere. Look, you can trust me. You know that. I know you do.”

  She reluctantly slid into the passenger’s seat. It wasn’t a very long drive to the cemetery. I put a CD in the player and rolled the windows down. The guitar on the tune was heavy on the overdrive and the vocals full of reverb. I could feel the longing in the singer’s voice.

  I parked the car on a patch of grass just in front of where the cemetery began.

  “You’re kidding,” she buried her face in her hands.

  “Look, I swear,” I rubbed her back. She looked back at me with terrified eyes and flushed cheeks.

  We got out of the car and walked to the far corner of the lot. Just above the last headstone was a low hanging tree that opened up to the woods. I sat down behind the headstone, under the tree, and patted the grass next to me, summoning her to do the same. She did so, never breaking eye contact.

  “This grave is empty.” I ran my hand along the back of the headstone, the cool stone comforting, like a mother’s hug. “This is a portal, or rather, something like a mailbox.”

  “What the fuck,” her eyes widened and she started to turn away.

  “Look, I know, it’s scary, but it’s not that bad. I’m a witch. That’s why you saw what you saw. And I know you’re kind of a square, so if you want to go it’s fine, but I just really want to show you my world. It’s incredible and it would be more amazing if I had you to share it with.” I swept a curl behind her ear.

  She shivered and pulled away. I waited for her to respond, but instead, she turned to leave. My heart sunk. I couldn’t let her go. I chased after her, pulled her into my arms and kissed her slowly and passionately. Her lips felt electric. She didn’t resist. After a moment, she kissed me back, spawning a thousand new butterflies in my stomach. I slid my hand behind her head, carefully pulling a single hair and stashing it in my back pocket. She didn’t seem to notice, but still pulled away before long, and walked back to the car.

  I hurried home that night and ran up to my bedroom to stash the hair. A strand of hair was a good source of DNA and I wouldn’t waste it. I pulled my wooden box from under my bed and placed the hair inside, in a vial. As I was replacing the box, I bumped something. I pulled it out to see what it was. It had been one of the journals I started when I first joined the coven. As witches, we were required to keep a few different kinds of journals, but this one was more of a personal diary.

  I thumbed through the pages, reliving all sorts of wonderful things experienced within the coven. There were stories of coworkers, friends and family members of whom we sneakily rid deadly diseases. We helped our coven get promotions, become pregnant, or get the house they were bidding on. We brought good fortune to victims of crime and loss. We had done so much good, and had so much fun.

  It was my understanding that most covens had different central focuses. Ours was about experience. We had adventured, seen, heard and tasted. We would experience all of the amazing secrets life offered, and share them with those who were worthy.

  Chapter 3

  It was a long weekend without having heard from Stella, and without being able to enter that beautiful realm again. It seemed like all I did was wash dishes and watch television. I was actually excited to go back to work on Monday. I tucked the journal into my bag. I carried an oversized, black leather bag with a large pink bow on the front.

  As I entered our building, I spotted Stella and quickened my pace, trying to catch up with her. I was just behind her when Rachel popped up next to me. Rachel used to work in my department, but had gotten promoted and moved to another floor.

  “Cute bag!” Rachel beamed, practically bouncing with each step.

  “Thanks,” I wanted to leave it at that and walk away, but I couldn’t be rude. Rachel and I had been pretty close when we worked together. I glanced over, forcing a smile.

  “So, I never hear from you anymore. What’s new?”

  “Oh, you know, not much,” I laughed, awkwardly, “what about you?”

  “Not much,” she nodded, trying way too hard to be nonchalant. “Oh, except for this!” She held her hand in front of my face, revealing a huge diamond on her ring finger. She bounced on her toes a few times.

  “Oh my god! Congratulations, Rachel. Is this Mark?”

  “Yes, still Mark.” She followed me up to my floor, having skipped her stop altogether. “He just asked me Saturday.”

  “That’s so exciting.” I was doing my best to sound excited for her, but she had followed me all the way into the lunchroom and was standing next to me while I made my cup of coffee. She looked at me expectantly. “Oh, oh how did he ask?” I asked the obligatory question and her face lit up all over again.

  Rachel proceeded to tell me the story of her engagement, including every detail of the dinner they ate, which was actually making me pretty hungry. She had followed me to my cubicle at this point. I sat down and dug in my purse for a banana nut muffin. I unwrapped it and took a huge bite, while Rachel moved on to their post-dinner walk under the stars. This strategic move allowed me to substitute real reactions with nodding and hand gestures.

  I was happy for Rachel. I liked her. She was a kind person and a wonderful friend. When she worked on my floor, we hung out all the time. I suppose that with Stella getting scared off, engagement stories just weren’t really my thing. This brought on a small pang of guilt. I stood up, swallowing my last bite of muffin, and hugged Rachel.

  “I am so, so happy for you Rachel. Mark is a great guy. If you need anything for the wedding, let me know.” I glanced over Rachel’s shoulder and noticed that Stella was staring at us. She looked jealous. I met her gaze and she quickly turned away.

  “Thank you so much Camille. Hey are you seeing
someone, too? I saw you down the street ordering flowers the other day. Did someone die or is there a very lucky, new lady in your life?” Rachel was one of the few coworkers with whom I had gotten close enough for her to figure out I was into women.

  “Both, probably,” I joked. “There’s someone. I’m trying. I think she’s just afraid.”

  “Well you tell her that I said to stop being afraid. Lord knows if I were gay, I would’ve snatched you right up, you little fox.” She squeezed my cheek and we laughed together.

  “Thanks,” I finally replied, glad that she had followed me after all.

  “Of course. Well I guess I better go get to work, but don’t be such a stranger. I miss you.” She kissed my cheek and scurried off to the elevator.

  For the rest of the day, Stella continued avoiding me, like she had been before. I decided to give her space for the day. When it was time to leave, I followed her out to her car, to get a little bit of privacy. I had noticed going in that morning that she had parked on the third floor of the parking garage. She didn’t seem to notice me following her, so she jumped a little when I tapped her shoulder, as she was digging for her keys.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  “I know, well I should stop being afraid, right?” She looked away.

  “She didn’t know-“ I started

  “It’s fine. Really. I just need to go.” She found the keys and unlocked her door.

  “Wait,” I urged, grabbing the door before she could close it. “I brought something for you to borrow or, I don’t care, keep it if you want. It isn’t important without you.” I retrieved the journal and handed it to her.

  “What’s this?”

  “This is my journal. It’s from my first few months after joining. Just please read it before you give up on me. I need you to say that you’ll give it a chance.” I looked into her eyes, pleadingly. Her expression softened.