Visions of the Witch - [Whispers 04]

by Tara West

  “But you’re alive. And we’re here…” She threw out her arm. “Salem is gorgeous. Small town meets big city full of witches. Did you see that woman in the long black robe we passed a minute ago?”

  I laughed. “I did.”

  “Now where else can you have prime people-watching in cloaks?” Krysta winked.

  We turned into the dark alley that led to Bell, Book, and Candle. The gate and fence that surrounded the tiny speck of land around the cottage was hung with white Christmas lights, and the cottage itself was lit from within. It looked peaceful.

  “You think Tony is cute,” Krysta stated as I shoved open the gate.

  I felt the blush in my cheeks and hoped Krysta couldn’t see in the darkness. “Do not.”

  “You can’t lie to me.”

  “No, I can’t lie to Sophie.” I stuck my tongue out at her.

  The heavy door of the cottage creaked open and a familiar pale face peeked out. “Hey. Thought you guys weren’t coming,” Deb said, stepping back and opening the door wider.

  “Krysta’s makeup takes twice as long as a normal human being’s,” I joked, earning a sharp nudge in the ribs from my best friend. There was a relieved smile on her face though, so I knew she was happy I wasn’t being sullen.

  “Whatever. We’re totally glad you’re here,” Deb said.

  As we stepped into the cottage, I realized how tall she was. I wasn’t short in any sense of the word, but Deb towered over me in her flat combat boots. She was wearing a skin-tight corset that squeezed her waist to tiny proportions over a long, lacy white skirt. I tried not to stare at her heavy black makeup.

  “Thanks for inviting us,” Krysta said with a vivid smile. “We’ve only been here a few days, but I was going batty. Nothing to do.”

  Deb waved a hand. “We’ve been short for a long time. Just the four of us. Now you make six.” She punctuated her words with a smile, but there was something weird about it. An almost…predatory nature to it.

  She shut the door behind us with a thud.

  Tony was behind the counter again. Obviously he worked there. If not, he sure liked to pretend he did.

  He came out to greet us, his hands in the pockets of his blue jeans. He was wearing some strange shirt that tied at the neck, but the ties were open and I could see muscles in his upper chest. It was kinda hot, and yeah, I thought he was cute.

  “Hey, AJ. Krysta.” He nodded at my best friend, but turned back to me. “Good to see you. You done ritual before?”

  I shook my head, noticing the tiny dimple in his cheek as he smiled. “Not really. My aunt is teaching us some pretty basic stuff at home, but I’ve never done a big elaborate ritual.”

  “We aren’t very elaborate,” Deb cut in, chuckling. “We’re half-ass, at best.”

  “DeWan and Olive are already setting up in the back room.” Tony hooked a thumb over his shoulder toward an open doorway that danced with flickering candlelight. “I’ve gotta lock up. Deb, you wanna take ‘em back?”

  “Sure thing, boss.” She saluted, clicking the heels of her heavy boots together, and motioned for us to follow.

  “Wait.…” Tony said, gently grabbing my arm. He touched his forehead. “Completely forgot. I need to lock the back gate. You wanna help?”

  I glanced at Krysta, who shooed me on.

  Shrugging, I said, “Okay.”

  I silently followed Tony back out into the night.

  “Do you like Salem?” he asked, leading me around the corner of the cottage.

  “Do you?”

  One eyebrow disappeared beneath his shaggy bangs. “Born and raised here. I like it. It’s home. But there’s more world out there.”

  I liked his philosophy. “I feel that way about Greenwood. But I still should be there, finishing my first year of high school.”

  “You’re a freshman?”

  “No, sophomore. School years are weird back home.”

  “I just started my junior year.” The privacy fence at the back of the property was tall and thick, but the heavy door stood open, showing the side of another building. “There’s a museum back there that sends business our way. We like to keep it accessible.”

  I nodded. Why was I tongue-tied around this guy? With Bob, I was always in charge. But this lanky guy with the mussed hair and dimple and a really cute butt…he pushed my buttons in a good way.

  “So, AJ. Are you a witch?”

  “Are you?” I replied, and then wanted to stomp on my foot for answering his every question with my own.

  Tony chuckled. “Yeah. But I asked you first.”

  “Wait…” I stopped walking, my feet planted on the grass. “You’re a witch?”

  Tony held up his hands—he had big, square palms. “Yeah?”

  “But…you’re a guy. Aren’t you like a warlock or something?”

  Tony guffawed, his laugh echoing off the buildings around us. “You really are new to this stuff. I guess I just thought you were being modest.”

  “I don’t get it. What’s funny?”

  “There’s no such thing as a warlock. A male witch is still that—a witch.” He punched me lightly on the shoulder, another chuckle sneaking into the night.

  My face flushed. “I didn’t know.”

  “That’s okay.” Tony’s lips twisted into a charming half-smile. “It was cute.”

  ***

  Krysta

  It was time to start, and I was a tad nervous.

  I’d dressed the part. Back at the house, I had even got on my laptop and fenced off the pub’s Wi-Fi to Google Wicca and witchcraft rituals, so I wasn’t going in completely blind.

  But nothing prepared me for it.

  The stock room was cleared of debris, all boxes, chairs, and various other pieces of crap shoved against the walls, and a large chalk circle was marked on the floor. In the center stood a tall table littered with magical tools like Aunt B’s: a cauldron, an incense burner, and a giant metal pentacle, among other things. The chalk circle was lined with a couple dozen white pillar candles, the only light in the room.

  Deb, Tony, Olive, and DeWan were a well-oiled machine. I could tell they’d been practicing ritual together for a long time. Everybody had their part to play, and they did it with precision and beauty. As soon as Tony and AJ got back from outside, everybody jumped into action.

  Deb lit the three candles on the altar: one red, one black, one white, and the charcoal incense. DeWan walked clockwise around the circle, a bowl of salt in one hand as he trickled salt on the chalk circle. Olive picked up a binder and a long, black-handled knife from the table, and Tony lifted his hands to the ceiling, his low voice booming.

  “We gather in this place between the worlds, where the worlds meet, to honor the great Goddess, mother of the dark and fertile earth, and the God, horned hunter of the night. Let us begin by calling the four directions.”

  AJ and I stood perfectly still as a complicated ballet played out around us. Olive, book in one hand and knife in the other, walked to the edge of the circle where a yellow pillar candle sat surrounded by white. She pointed the knife at the ceiling and read, “Guardians of the east, spirits of air, we call on your intellect. Blow through our circle with the winds of change and creativity. By all that is sacred, so mote it be.”

  As one, DeWan, Deb, and Tony replied, “So mote it be.”

  Olive moved forward to a red candle at another quarter of the circle and lifted her knife again. This time, she addressed the south and fire, and called for the flames of determination and rejuvenation. Next was water in the west, and this time, AJ and I parroted “So mote it be!” along with the rest of them.

  At the green candle, Olive held up her knife. “Guardians of the north, spirits of earth, we call on your protection. Steady our feet and hands, and give birth to knowledge. By all that is sacred, so mote it be.”

  “So mote it be.” The heat was back from earlier when we’d learned how to smudge with Aunt Bertrice, only this time it felt like an inferno.

&n
bsp; “Was that the ritual?” AJ hissed.

  I swayed on my feet a smile touching my lips as I watched the others return to the central altar. “No. That was only the beginning.”

  “Tonight, we celebrate the full moon,” Tony said. I could feel his voice all the way to my toes, and from the gooey look on my best friend’s face, so could AJ. “The full moon is a time of joy. A time to ask the gods to provide that which you need the most, because the power of the moon can help it come to pass.

  “Deb,” he continued, nodding at the ebony-haired Goth. “Deb will lead us tonight in the working.”

  “Witchcraft has always been a path of secrecy.” Deb’s sultry voice was a perfect complement to Tony’s in-charge one. She stepped forward, a pack of playing cards appearing in her hand as if by magic. “Witches prize their secrecy—secrecy from those who would harm us. Secrecy from those that would try to change us. And secrecy from those that would use our powers and words against us.” Deb opened the pack of cards and with a deft flick, sent them careening to the floor of the circle.

  “Pick the card that speaks to you,” she intoned. She fell to her knees and crawled forward, eyes closed.

  I didn’t hesitate to follow. It felt natural, sinking to my knees, one hand hovering above the cards, but AJ didn’t move.

  Tony circled the mess of cards to get to her. “Are you okay?”

  They were behind me, so I couldn’t see them, but I heard her answer, “Yeah. Just a little freaked.”

  “Don’t be. Magic is as natural as praying. You don’t even have to believe in the same gods we do to practice magic. The path you choose is your path, and your path alone.” There was a pause. “It’d be cool if you joined us.”

  I felt a tingle in my palm as it passed over a certain card. I moved my hand away and then back, testing it—yep. Another tingle. I lifted the card from the floor and turned it over.

  A three of Diamonds.

  As I stood up, I noticed AJ getting down on the floor and smiled to myself. Maybe a little crush on Tony was just what she needed to open her mind to Salem.

  When everyone had a card in hand, Deb walked around with a coffee mug that held pens. “Your card is symbolic of what you want to bring in to your life. You picked that card. Out of fifty-two cards on the floor, that card spoke to you. Called you. And you answered the plea. It is symbolic of what you strive for, and only you know what that is.”

  I plucked a pen from her mug, nodding my thanks.

  “Write on your card. It is yours to keep. I want you to write on it something that represents your desire. If you desire money, you could draw a dollar bill. If you need strength, an anvil. Something that—for your purposes and understanding—represents what it is you’re asking the gods to bring you.”

  I clicked open the pen and stared at my card. What did I want? The answer was so simple. So easy. Always the same.

  In big, bold letters I wrote MOM.

  Beside me, AJ was scribbling on her card, her tongue between her teeth.

  When everyone was done, Deb tucked her card in her corset. “Put your card as near to your heart as possible. You need your hands free,” she said, addressing me and AJ. “We’re going to raise power for the spell now.”

  DeWan broke away from the group to sit on the floor by the altar. He pulled a drum from beneath the table and perched it between his knees.

  Deb nodded to him. “Everyone hold hands.”

  DeWan started a slow, tribal beat. Thud. Thud. Thud.

  I entwined hands with AJ and Deb, who began to pull as soon as Tony and Olive had attached themselves to the line. She began chanting, her fellow coven mates joining in. It took me a minute to catch on, but as soon as I did, I jumped in.

  “Isis, Astarte, Diana, Hecate, Demeter, Kali, Inanna!”

  I only recognized a couple of the names—Isis, an Egyptian goddess, and Hecate, the Greek goddess of witchcraft. I thought Demeter was Roman maybe, and she had something to do with grain. But the power of the words flowing from my lips was mesmerizing. I heard AJ’s voice singing too, strong and sure. My playing card rubbed against the skin of my chest just above my bra, reminding me of its existence, and of why I was dancing, twirling a circle around an altar, my body heating up with every step we took.

  We circled faster. Both AJ and Deb’s palms grew scalding against mine. My feet moved fast, but my mind was flowing in slow motion. I saw every movement of DeWan’s hands as they beat on the drum, a bead of sweat streaking down his mocha skin. I watched the play of Deb’s black ponytail on her neck, the flash of white skirt around her black boots. I looked back, laughing as I sang, and caught my best friend’s eyes.

  She was smiling, Tony’s hand on her shoulder and a look of peace on her face.

  The drumming increased, and with it, the chant.

  “IsisAstarteDianaHecateDemeterKaliInanna…”

  Faster and faster, we whirled, the room becoming so hot, so unbearable. I clutched at AJ, pulling her as Deb pulled me, following Deb’s lead. Circling, twirling, whirling, bending…

  Suddenly, Deb’s hand yanked away from mine and she threw her arms up in the air as DeWan banged both hands on the drum one final time. Without warning, without even thinking, I mimicked the motion and opened my arms to the ceiling.

  The power surged from us. It didn’t just lift and dissipate, off to make its merry way to set the spell into motion. It railroaded through the circle and burst from inside us as if we were conduits of the universe. It formed a cone of energy that, had it been physical, would have knocked the ceiling off. The release was shocking.

  In the wake of the power surge, I collapsed, but I wasn’t the only one. We all went down as a single entity, giggling like loons, everybody babbling over one another.

  “AJ, did you feel it?” I gasped out.

  AJ could barely breathe as she answered, “Did I feel it? I lived it!”

  Deb clapped a hand to my shoulder with a gleeful grin. “You guys fit! You fit our circle. That was the most powerful I’ve ever felt.” She shook her head. There was a fine sheen of perspiration on her pale forehead. “You have to join us. Permanently.”

  I glanced at AJ. Tony’s arm was draped across her legs as he talked to DeWan. The way he leaned against her wasn’t really sexual, but it was affectionate. A little more, “Hey, I like you, and I kinda want to share your space and see what happens.”

  “What do you think?” I asked AJ. “You wanna join?”

  She gave me a big thumbs-up.

  Chapter Ten

  AJ

  The mid-day sun cast long shadows across the ground as we sat on the back patio of Aunt B’s tiny backyard, watching the cats play together in the sunshine.

  Aunt B had given us the morning off while she ran errands. Krysta had used that time to visit her favorite blogs and catch up with the latest celebrity gossip. I had gone down to the park a few blocks away and shot some hoops. Aunt B had worked her magic on my arm again after breakfast and it almost felt like new. There was a slight pain when I rotated my elbow too far to the left, but who was I to complain? I stifled a yawn as I stretched in my chair. Aunt B had told me to rest after the healing, but how could I rest when I hadn’t played ball since before the accident?

  “So ritual was fun last night?” Aunt Bertrice asked. She put her feet flat to the ground as Wicce jumped up into her lap and draped his long body over her thighs for a snooze.

  Krysta’s face lit up and she launched into a detailed explanation about the store and the circle, even going on to describe all four of our new friends.

  “They asked us to join their coven,” I spoke up when she was done.

  Aunt Bertrice beamed. “Oh, girls! How lovely. You will absolutely love practicing with other kids your age. But you must maintain your lessons with me in order to keep your privileges with your new coven. Capeesh?”

  We agreed. I didn’t know about Krysta, but I felt like such a newb in that ritual. I needed Aunt B’s lessons to prepare me for more, so I defini
tely wouldn’t argue.

  Aunt B turned her face up to the sun. “It’s such a beautiful afternoon, but we really mustn’t sit out here all day. Once I finish this mug, I think we should go inside and start lessons for the day.”

  “What are we going to work on?” Krysta asked, eyes wide with excitement.

  I couldn’t help it—I was excited, too. The coven had opened up this brand new world to me.

  “We’re going to spend the day on banishments.”

  I wrinkled my nose. “What does that mean?”

  “You’ll just have to wait and see!” Aunt Bertrice teased.

  We sat in silence for some time. The sun was hot on my skin. For the first time since we’d arrived, I didn’t need to wear a light sweater to go out. My fitted tee was enough, and my bare toes weren’t cold on the flagstones. Aunt B’s yard was quiet, for once. It almost felt like we were on vacation.

  “Is it just me, or do Sif and Cemi look crazy big compared to when we first got them?” I asked, eyeing my raggedy calico ball as she rolled over on her back and clamped her teeth playfully on Cemi.

  Krysta, who had been staring into the sky, looked down at the wrestling felines and squinted. “You know, they do!”

  Aunt Bertrice traced a palm over Wicce’s head lovingly. “Your familiar does grow much faster than a normal cat. However, they’ll also live much longer. They will be with you until the day you pass from this plane of existence.”

  I let that sink in, watching Sif crouch low and chase Cemi’s tail. Sif jumped on Cemi’s back, and the two rolled playfully across the gravel.

  Something had been bugging me ever since we’d gotten our familiars, but it wasn’t until I noticed the comfortable way my great-aunt and her familiar cuddled that I realized what it was. “Aunt B, why does Mom not have a cat?”

  Aunt Bertrice’s grip tightened on her familiar as she tucked the cat closer to her abdomen. Her face grew sad, and Wicce’s ears lay back against his head. “Your mother’s familiar was killed when she was very young.”

  The pain that rushed through me was frightening. As if she sensed my distress, Sif came bounding up the gravel and launched herself into my lap. I cuddled her fluffy body against me, comforted by her weight.