by Y G Maupin
“Are you sure this is what you want to do?” she asked.
“Yes. “ T felt stronger in her answer now.
Turning to the Tree God a sudden thought came to her. “Do I have to die to go to the other side?”
He laughed. “No. Nothing dies in our realm. There is a constant rebirth and a cycle moves forward, but you will not have to die to be my Queen.”
Looking back one last time, T took in her home, the tear streaked faces of her friends, the look of wonder from the new acquaintances and stepped forward with the Tree God.
The lights ended and the flames returned to their normal heights and just as quickly as it all began, it ended.
“Everyone grab a bottle,” Alice choked out. “We have some notes to compare.”
“Wait!” Sarah cried out. “No one move until we close this circle.”
Carla had made it to the edge of the orchard of pecan trees when she saw the flickering lights of fire ahead of her. As she got closer, she could see she was at the edge of a yard that had looked like a garden party had just ended. The last few people straggled inside through the patio doors and closed them. She heard the distinct sound of the lock click. Moments later, the porch light was turned off. Dammit, she thought and skimmed the edge of the yard. There were empty wine bottles, pieces of bread loaves scattered about and carnations on the ground. There were several lit tiki torches and two cauldrons had their fires burning out.
An owl hooted, early hunting for the time of night. Then a voice. “Woman. Come closer. What has brought you here?” Carla heard behind her, and she jumped at the sound. Looking over her shoulder she saw a feminine looking creature. It was too thin to be human and its shape had substance, so it couldn't be a spirit. It weaved its way towards her and for the first time in a very long time Carla was scared. Carla turned shakely and answered.
“I don't know exactly why I'm here, but I'm trying to get back. I need to find a body,” she replied, looking down as if she should be ashamed. She was actually feeling tired from the constant searching.
“I know why you are here. I was only wondering what had brought you here. Are you responding to an invocation? A request for revenge?” Carla shook her head confused by the questioning. “It looks like you will be needing my help and I'm going to help you, as long as you can help me,” the serpent woman spoke, and her shape took on more of a human form and less of that of a snake.
Carla folded her arms. “I can find a body on my own. I don't like owing anyone.”
“You can do me this favor, similar to a job,” the serpent woman countered, with a smile revealing her fangs.
Carla stood her ground. At this point, fangs on a person were no longer a big deal, she had seen a talking cat for christ’s sake. “I don't like working for people either. So unless you have some spiritual blow to share, I’m going in there,” she finished, pointing to the house.
At that, the serpent woman reared up and grabbed Carla, who had thought she was untouchable as a spirit. The serpent woman moved quickly and with an unnatural strength that Carla had never felt before since she had made the crossover to the shadowscape. Panic struck her face as she felt the coils circle her body holding her tight and in one spot. If Carla still had breath in her body she would have been losing it at this point.
The head of the viper was at the nape of her neck and its tongue flickered at her earlobe.
“Oh you do like to play games. Let's play one I like to call little bunny.”
Carla whimpered at the idea and the serpent woman hissed. “The way you play is I hold you like this,” she said, tightening the coils. “And you are trapped until you agree to do everything I say or else, like a little bunny, I crush you and swallow you whole. But then the game would end and that would be no fun for either of us,” the scaly beast shimmied, rubbing its coils over Carla.
“Ok, fine. Just get off, I'm not a lesbian,” Carla said, freeing herself and stepping outside the coils that were morphing back into the thin figure.
Laughing, the woman replied. ” Oh I just bet you are, little one. You just haven't shed your old skin yet.” She stepped closer to Carla, close enough to see the spirit woman was still trembling.
“Let’s make plans. I want to have this within my grasp before the season changes in ten days.” She beckoned Carla to follow her and they walked back towards the orchard, into the dark.
“What just happened?” Birdie said, pacing the living room in a daze. Her friend was gone!
“T has left our world to be a Tree God’s Queen,” Beryl calmly answered, chugging back a bottle of Malbec.
The others were in a similar state of shock after the events of the night. Sharon was quietly weeping in a corner with Anesta comforting her. Tyler and Yvette were in another corner, conferring to themselves. Sarah and Alice were holding each other on the sofa, while Godfrey stared ahead, also in a state of shock.
“We shouldn't have let her go!” Sharon shouted. “ We have no idea what those people are like. We have no real guarantee that they will let her come back other than a promise, and what do we even know of that! What are we going to tell people when they ask what happened to her?”
“We’ll say that she needed to take a mental health break, a sabbatical. No one would question given the things that have been going on around town, They would just assume that T, like many quiet people that keep to themselves, had a very sensitive and fragile psyche that couldn't tolerate the violence and sadness that had happened. That’s all they would need to know until we find out more,” Anesta explained.
“But we know the truth!” Sharon started again. “ We know the how and why of her disappearance. I just don't know how long we will have to keep this game up?”
“It's going to last as long as it takes for us to resolve another pressing matter,” Godfrey spoke from the rocking chair. “Have we forgotten that other entity that showed up?”
“Yeah, what the hell was that all about?” Beryl slurred. Alcohol on an empty stomach was not helping her tonight.,
“Hell is exactly right,” Yvette said. With crossed arms she approached them.”I have never seen so evil a spirit come across. This one seems to believe she has some kind of power to command demons. From my past experiences, demons are not to be invoked or to be believed.” The tall woman huffed and moved around the couch to face Godfrey. “As you know, they are great liars and revel in causing us pain. It seems that we have invoked them, starting with T and now we have to pay the price and fight them!”
Sarah sat up indignantly. “I beg your pardon? Please don't speak ill of my friend even if what you say she did has a minor possibility of being right. She is no longer here to defend herself. WE all promised when we came together for this event that we would work together to resolve whatever came of it. It would behoove all of us to get a grip, gather what we can remember from this whole debacle and strategize a plan,” she paused, taking a deep breath. “I don't want my friend to have sacrificed herself for something she didn't cause and to save us all. I want to know that we have done all that we can to get her back, that is one of our main goals.”
Beryl sat up straighter. “But she’s not coming back.” groans all around. “No hear me out. The tree God said that she was his chosen bride and that he was giving her the gift of peace. WE get her back, does that mean we have to lose our peace? I'm not saying she was our bargaining chip, but now we know. And I say we wait for her to contact us again.”
“You’re quiet, Anesta. What do you think?” Alice asked her,
Anesta looked up. “I think Beryl is right. We wait. And in the meantime, we formulate how we overcome or conquer, whatever we need to do, the demons. I still have that cat. At least, I hope he’s still in the laundry room.”
“You’re all nuts!” Sharon shouted. “This is just crazy insane in the membrane! We have a missing person that people will truly be looking for and that's just too much,” she cried, agitated and pacing the floor. “I just can't! I just can't pretend that sh
e’s away on vacation somewhere. She’s my friend,” she began to sob, and slowly crumpled to the floor.
Birdie flitted over to the weeping woman and hugged her. “Shh, I know sweetie. We were all friends with her. And as her friends, the best thing we can do is to fight our fight here and wait for her to come back because I know that she will come back. She’ll be back before you know it and by then, if the goddess is on our side, we will be here waiting for her to have saved the day.” Birdie spoke.
Sharon lifted her head, her hair a mop of brown and grey curls. “But how can you be so sure?”
Birdie smiled. “Because I will it to be so, And you need to will it as well. We all do,” she answered, looking all around them at the group.
Quietly, the room contemplated their next move and ate from the trays they had prepared in advance. Sharon got up to reheat the stew she had made at home and brought over when the doorbell rang, followed by a knock on the door.
Surprised looks all around, Birdie went to open it, but Alice put her hand out. “Who could it possibly be this late at night? No one is expected.” Alice looked at Anesta, who shrugged her shoulders.Godfrey nodded to Tyler, who took a deep breath and looked out the window.
“It's some guy,” he said. “Looks harmless.”
“Doesn't mean he’s harmless,” Beryl and Sarah both replied, and pointed to each other.
Looking over his shoulder, Tyler waited until everyone was suitably armed or in the case of Godfrey, hiding. Puffing himself up to his biggest build, he threw open the door.
“What!” he demanded, in his brute sounding voice.
The man was of regular build, older than thirty but younger than fifty. In reality, it was hard to determine what his age could be. He appeared nervous but his body spoke of confidence.
Alice appeared at Tylers side, who opened the door a tiny bit more. “Yes, may we help you?”
The man looked over the room. The people looked tense like they were ready to fight, except for the older man crouching near the sofa, he looked positively frightened.
“I don't know, uh. Is T here?” he asked. He appeared a bit confused by the congregation gathered in the country home. There were a few gasps and murmurs.
”It's me, Jackson. Sharon?” he inquired at the woman standing in the kitchen with a wooden spoon lifted in the air. Sharon screamed and fell to the floor in a dead faint.
End of Book 1
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I want to express gratitude to the following people who took the time to help me review, edit and read this work as it progressed and in its final stages. Their help cannot be measured.
Dee L Haven, for reminding me of the day to day actions a practicing witch would do to keep safe. Emma Nicole Hall for the moral support. Renee Fisher for adding the final touches in a gentle way.
Finally, Kevan ….your belief in my abilities scared me at times because the pressure was high. You have supported me through this whole process. I am forever grateful.
About the Author
Y.G. Maupin has been writing for over thirty years for friends and family. Witchscape is her first published novel in the Southern Coven Series. She currently lives on a farm in North Texas with her husband and youngest son, six dogs, one obsessive cat and a menagerie of farm animals. When not writing witchy novels, she is busy reading tarot and researching for her next new series.
Please follow her at YGMaupinBooks.com
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[1]Tighten
