Chapter 8

For the first time in weeks I went to bed not thinking about my repeated nightmare and for the first time in weeks I woke up naturally as my room brightened in the morning light. I was confused at first, so used to waking up covered in sweat and injured somehow. I stretched luxuriously in the warm, untangled sheets. I could smell the coffee all the way to the back of the house and realized it must not be all that late yet, another nice surprise.

I wandered down the hall after slipping on my Jack Skellington and Sally slippers, making a beeline for the coffee pot. My mom was curled up on the couch under a flannel blanket reading a book, bi-focals perched on her nose, and my dad reclined in his Lazy-Boy with the paper open and the morning news on the T.V.

“Morning, honey,” my mom called lightly as I passed the living room. I waved in her general direction, my sights still set on the coffee pot.

“New reports this morning are coming out of Ojai as Ventura County Sheriffs are still baffled by the findings of another apparent animal sacrifice.” I heard the anchorwoman say loud and clear all the way in the kitchen. Luckily, I hadn’t picked up my coffee cup yet; I probably would have dropped it in the shock that surged through my body.

“Not this again,” I heard my dad’s rough grumble.

“A quiet Saturday night was marred by the findings in the woods of a park and this morning. Four hikers stumbled upon the remains of blood and feathers. Concerned for the local wildlife, they called park rangers who then informed the local police.” The composed anchorwoman continued. “A spokesperson for the parks department has said that the animal blood appears to be from chickens, which they are certain do not live in this area. A deputy sheriff stated that the findings of a possible ritual from Friday night were not found this time.”

“They appear to have taken the time to clean up after themselves this time and we believe were possibly interrupted during the cleanup, which would explain why the blood and feathers were left behind.” The cool, monotone voice of the officer said.

“What makes you think they were interrupted?” an on-scene reporter asked, thrusting the microphone in the officer’s face.

“The area was trampled down and there were signs of a struggle.”

“Do you think this is a serious group of individuals or possibly just some wayward kids doing this?” The reporter asked.

“Whether or not it’s a group of adults or kids it doesn’t really matter, this is serious. They have killed animals twice that we know of and we are asking for any information from anyone who may be able to lead us to these individuals before they progress to more serious acts of violence.” The officer’s face looked almost gray.

“Are you saying, sir, that you believe these individuals would possibly move on to murdering people?” You could hear the saliva building in the reporter’s voice.

“We wouldn’t want to speculate or accuse anyone of that, but the fact is that they are slaughtering animals and that is enough to raise concern.” The officer was backpedaling; his monotone voice suddenly had a different quality to it, almost fear. “Thank you, I think that’ll be all.” The officer stepped quickly away from the reporter before she could stop him with another question.

“Well, there you have it, adults or children, the local police department is at a loss and obviously concerned. If you have any information leading to the detainment of these individuals please call your local police department.” They cut back to the newsroom and the local weather report detailing another week of clouds, wind, rain and below average temperatures. I went back into the kitchen and made myself a cup of coffee. I snatched up my cell phone once back in my room and hit the speed dial.

“Hello?” A groggy voice picked up.

“Steven! How can you still be sleeping! Have you seen the news?” My voice was an octave higher than normal.

“If I’m still sleeping, how could I have seen the news?” his voice was muffled. I had the mental image of him talking into his pillow.

“There was another ritual last night!”

“What?” He’d come out of the pillows.

“Yeah, well, they could only find some animal blood and chicken feathers this time, but it was really close to the same place as Friday night.”

“A second ritual so quickly?” he sounded as confused as I felt.

“Well, they think they only got interrupted when they were cleaning up this time, so maybe they got interrupted the first time before they could finish, so they did it again last night and got through the whole thing.” I speculated. It did sound plausible; risky, but plausible.

“What ritual is so important that they’d risk doing it two nights in a row?”

“I don’t know, but that can’t be a good thing…” my voice was distant to me, like a fading echo. “Hey, is Jodi feeling any better?”

“What?”

“Oh, she cancelled last night, too, because she was sick from the game. I figured you’d know.”

“Oh, well if Jay was there she wouldn’t be calling me, distracted yanno.” I could hear his grin in his voice.

“Yeah, well, listen, I’m gonna jump in the shower. Call her and see if she’s better, we need to go see Deb and talk about this.”

“Yeah, see ya in an hour or so?” Steven asked through a yawn.

“Yeah, or so.” We both hung up and I hurried to the bathroom, calling out to my parents that I was getting into the shower to keep them from running the water while I was in there.

I rushed through blow drying my hair, not wanting to go out in the cold with wet hair, but i didn’t bother with make-up. I threw on a pair of jeans, a sweater, a pair of boots and my coat and scarf before rushing out of the house. I called out to my parents again that I was going shopping at the mall for the day, slamming my door on the way out, cutting off my parents’ goodbyes.

 

We walked into a very crowded Oak, Ash and Thorn. Jodi had made it out with us after hearing the news reports herself. She was mainly suffering from the sniffles now, but we stowed her away in the backseat to keep her from breathing on either one of us. I wasn’t entirely surprised to see so many people crammed into the tiny store after the coverage the animal slaughtering and supposed Satanic cult was getting on the news; superstitious people come out in droves when something like that happens.

We waded through the press of hot bodies, looking blindly for the counter. I saw the usually full basket of sage bundles was empty except for a few stray leaves and broken thread. The amulets that hung from the necklace display were picked over and only a few still hung there. The crystal display was depleted, with fragments and dust from broken stones littering the carpet at the shelves. It was like a hospital waiting room when a meat recall hit the news. People went freaking nuts.

I felt Steven grab my left hand and I knew that Jodi was holding on to his right, making a chain out of the three of us as we pushed through the crowd. Ugh! There are so many people touching me! Steven’s bright red thoughts hissed in our minds. I didn’t blame him though. I, too, had a problem with this many people popping my personal bubble, but what could we do?

This has got to be a fire code violation. How the hell can this many people fit in here and not break something? Even Jodi’s thoughts sounded a little congested.

I don’t know… I gave a mental sigh with my response. How are we gonna talk to Deb privately about this with all these people around?

Seriously. Steven responded, sounding as annoyed as I was. I didn’t blame the people for being scared. After hearing the stupid police officer allude to the possible attack on people, there was bound to be chaos. I was sure that the Christian bookstores in the county were being ravaged just the same.

Hey, I see her! I told the other two. Really, in a store this small the front counter was only about ten feet from the door, but, with twice the capacity of people inside, it felt like miles.

“Hey! Deb!” I called out to her, standing on my toes and waving my free arm over the heads of the people in my way. Deb was trying to explain the differences between two amulets to a bitty old lady who didn’t seem like she could hear all that well, even in the quietest of rooms. Deb obviously hadn’t heard me. “Deb!” I called to no avail. I gripped Steven’s hand a little tighter, Ok, one, two, three!

“Deb!” the three of us called out in unison. Deb’s head snapped up immediately and the ten or twenty people around us went quiet and turned to stare at us. We all stared resolutely ahead, right at Deb, refusing to acknowledge their admonishing stares. I tried to convey a look of urgency on my face and, luckily, she seemed to understand.

She nodded ever so slightly and then grabbed a poor part-time employee who didn’t do too well with crowds and pushed him in front of the customer she was trying to help. Deb pointed to the back room where they gave tarot card and palm readings and shuffled along behind the counter, making her way there much easier than we were going to.

I gripped Steven’s hand tightly and pulled. He did the same to Jodi. I turned my body and led with my right shoulder and just started pushing. I heard the grumbling of some of the customers, but I ignored them, continuing to cut a path to the back of the store. In less time than it took us to get close to the counter, we were stepping through the door that Deb held open to us.

“And why do a group of children get special attention over the rest of us?” An angry middle-aged woman demanded of Deb when she started to pull the door closed.

“Because, ma’am, they have an appointment. If you had an appointment for a reading, I would be stepping away to help you as well. There is nothing special about this.” Deb always sounded sweet, even when she was talking down to someone. The woman tilted her chin up, not fooled by the tone, and turned back to her friends.

As soon as I got inside and Deb finally pulled the door shut, I doubled over, grabbing the table for support. I took deep, fast breaths, expelling the noxious air that I had to breathe with all those bodies. It had almost been too much for me, like holding your breath underwater when the water is swirling violently around you.

“Too many…” I managed to gasp, cradling my stomach with one arm. Deb walked over to me, Steven and Jodi standing out of the way; she placed her hands just over my shoulders, but not touching me. It felt like she had slid her hands under the collar of my coat, but I knew she hadn’t. She curled her hands around something and pulled swiftly away from me, like pulling a tablecloth off of a table. A gust of wind rushed through the room with her flourish; she whispered something and then threw her hands into the air, opening her fists.

I took one long, deep breath and felt a hundred pounds lighter. “Thank you,” I moaned and fell into a chair, my shoulders sagging with relief. Another time where being an Empath totally sucked. When caught up in a situation with enough adrenaline you could ignore pain and fatigue, but once you get out of it, it all catches up to you and that’s exactly what was happening to me now.

“Any time,” she smiled at me and took a seat on the other side of the table and motioned for the other two to sit with us. “I don’t know why this always happens. Those people out there try to pretend this store doesn’t even exist most of the time, but give them a good demonic scare and we’re more valuable than their pastors or priests.”

“It’s stupid really,” Steven’s usual bright face looked gray and moody.

“It really is,” I agreed. “They can buy all the amulets, crystals, and sage that they want, but if they don’t believe in them, they’ll do them no good.”

“Well, at least it’ll do something for our revenue. So, kiddies, I take it that’s why you’ve come?” Deb looked so calm and relaxed, it seemed out of place in the maelstrom of people outside.

“Yeah. Do you know anything, or heard anything?” I sat up straighter as I asked, Steven and Jodi following my lead.

“Well, no one is sure who it might be, but people are saying that they’re new people, not anyone who’s been working up to this.” Deb stood and walked over to a table against the wall where a coffee pot with hot water was sitting and started to make us some tea.

“Wouldn’t we have noticed if new people moved into town?” Steven asked, putting special emphasis on the word since we all knew she was referring to individuals who performed magic or had special powers.

“Haven’t you?” Deb turned, one cup of tea in her hand and walked it over to Jodi. “Here, this’ll fix you right up.”

“Thanks,” Jodi smiled a tired smile and cupped her hands around the mug, breathing in the steam. Deb was a healer; she could feel sickness and injuries like I could feel emotions. She knew exactly what Jodi needed without hearing a list of her symptoms.

“What do you mean?” Steven asked, accepting the cup of Green tea from Deb after I took mine.

“Honey, you three are better than that. What’s the temperature today?” Deb asked, stirring her cup idly.

“I heard it’s like around 48 today,” I answered.

“Well?” Deb prompted.

“You think the people slaughtering the animals are the same people causing the weather change?”

“Honey, when you mess with the dark arts, you throw everything out of balance,” Deb paused to sip her tea. “So, you throw everything out of balance and nature is going to respond.”

“What is wrong with me?” I was staring blindly ahead. Why hadn’t I thought of that?

“Well, honey, don’t beat yourself up. After all, it’s not like it’s July or anything. It is pretty close to winter, so people just figured it’s the whole global warming thing throwing the seasons outta whack.” Deb shrugged as if our misperception was no big deal, but it bothered me, just as I knew it bothered the other two.

“Ok, so, new people, what else? I mean, does anyone believe the possible human sacrifice that idiot cop mentioned?” I set my cup down, scooting to the edge of my seat. Deb took a moment before responding, not looking at any of us.

“Well…” she started after what felt like an eternity.

“Yes?” the three of us said in unison.

“Some of us have been casting for answers and well…” Her brows knitted together, like she was searching for the right words. “It’s like looking into a black hole.”

“What?” Steven asked before I could.

“We can’t see them.” She finally looked at us, but her gaze lingered on me the longest, as if willing me to understand. “We get close to where they are or what their intentions are and then it’s like someone switches off a light, they’re just gone.”

“Oh that’s just great!” It was like my emotions were right at the surface these days and I was having a hard time holding them back.

“What?” Steven and Jodi asked together.

“That means they aren’t freaking amateurs. They aren’t stupid wannabe Goth kids trying to piss off their parents! They know what they’re doing. They’re good enough to block out a county’s worth of witches!” I was standing now, slamming my fist on the table, and I couldn’t even remember when I had stood up. Deb nodded in agreement before taking another sip. Steven and Jodi had lost a little color from their faces, looking back and forth from Deb and me.

“Well, now, just because they’re good doesn’t mean they aren’t kids,” Deb corrected.

“What?” Steven asked again.

“Look at the three of you. People call you kids and you’re three of the best I’ve ever known.” That was a huge compliment coming from her.

“Oh good, well, let’s not try to narrow down the list of suspects or anything,” Steven said sarcastically.

“Ok, so new people, screwing with nature, probably just gonna get worse, may or may not be kids,” I listed off a little angrily. “Anything else?”

“Well, there is the general consensus that it’s all male energy that we’re getting.” Deb said carefully.

“Wait, if you can’t see them, how do you know that?” Steven was leaning over the table now.

“We have someone on the inside in the sheriff’s department. She’s let us know exactly where the crime scenes are and people have been investigating the residual energy there and everyone agrees it’s probably all men.”

“Wait! How come we don’t know where this is happening?” I demanded.

“Because I don’t want the three of you charging in like the Three Musketeers gone to save the day!” Deb sounded very much like a mother just then.

“But we could be helping!” Jodi finally interjected. I could hear her voice was stronger and she hadn’t sniffed in over five minutes.

“No.” Deb’s voice held a tone of finality. “We don’t know how many people are doing this and, while you three are very, very good, you’re not going to risk your lives over this.”

“But Deb, you said yourself your coven hasn’t been able to do anything,” Steven said. “We don’t use Wiccan magic, maybe we can figure this out.”

“No,” she said again, shaking her head. “You may not be your average kids, but you are still minors. You can’t expect me to just stand by and watch you guys risk your lives.” We all stiffened at that; Deb wasn’t our mother no matter how maternal she was and we couldn’t help but feel a little offended at her telling us what we could or couldn’t do.

“Deb,” Jodi started, but I shook my head at her to stop when Deb looked towards her.

“Ok, fine, Deb, you win today,” I said, pushing my chair back under the table. “But will you keep us informed if you hear anything else? Even the smallest thing? Every one needs to be watching out for this.”

“Of course, Shayna, of course.” Deb watched my face for a moment, a crease forming between her eyes. I could feel her anxiety rolling off of her – she didn’t believe we would stay out of this, but she also knew there was little she could do to stop us. We all stood to leave, Deb hugging us each in turn. She hugged me a little longer, lending me energy and power to reinforce my shields to get through the molten mass of people on the other side of the door. “Please,” she whispered to all three of us, holding my hands, “Please, be careful.”

 

We drove straight to my house after leaving Deb and the mob. Jodi called Jay on her cell canceling their lunch date and rearranging for a dinner later in the evening. We stopped inside to be polite, letting my parents know we were there before stealing some food and drinks and making our way out to the tree house. After opening the windows and pulling the food up on the rope we had attached on the inside, I pulled a map of the county out of my storage box and grabbed an amethyst pendulum that was hanging on the wall.

We spread the map out between us and found Ojai. I let the pendulum hang loosely from my right hand. Taking a deep breath to steady myself, I forced myself to not think of the point of the crystal and stared blankly at the map. Jodi and Steven were sitting back on their heels watching expectantly as the crystal circled slowly over the map. We were concentrating on the idea of finding the location the slaughtering had occurred. The crystal started making smaller and smaller circles, pulling harder and harder on my hand. Dowsing with a pendulum is a delicate balancing act of letting the pendulum guide you without compromising it by directing it with your own intentions.

Suddenly, like an arrow shot from a bow, the point of the crystal came to a stop on a spot on the map in a wooded area of a public park. It was far off of the marked trail for hikers and the markings on the map indicated it was probably very hilly there. “Wow, that’s like a mile off of the trail,” Jodi commented.

“Well, if you don’t want to get caught…” Steven said.

“Still got caught. Twice.” Jodi corrected him.

“You know…” I started, rubbing my chin with my free hand.

“What?” Jodi prompted.

“Well, it could’ve been an animal that interrupted them, but then again, if they’re new to the area like Deb said, then maybe…” I chewed the inside of my lip thinking about what I was saying.

“Maybe they aren’t picking well concealed spots?” Jodi finished for me.

“Yeah.”

“That’s totally possible,” Steven agreed. “But then, if they’re careless enough not to pick well concealed spots, then who knows what they’re doing up there.”

“We don’t exactly pick concealed spots,” Jodi said, looking back and forth between Steven and me.

“But we’re careful!” Steven protested.

“Even still, we cast on the beach and in open fields!” Jodi continued, her voice rising a little.

“But we’re careful,” I said calmly. “If it’s too open we have a look out. Otherwise we take precautions to keep people from stumbling upon us; these guys don’t seem concerned about that.”

“That’s true,” Jodi conceded.

“And we don’t do blood magic and they are,” Steven said.

“And that’s what really worries me,” I said, finally pulling the crystal away from the map and marking the spot it pointed to with a pin.

“How can anyone be so confident, so arrogant as to not worry about being caught? Do they think they’re that powerful? That they’re above concealment?” Jodi asked.

“You know, I really didn’t think of it that way,” Steven said, worry creeping into his voice.

“So you think they’re doing something to the person or thing that interrupts them?” Jodi asked.

“I don’t know,” I was getting frustrated. “That’s the thing! Whatever or whoever is interrupting them mid-clean up, right?”

“Right,” they said in chorus.

“So if they were taking the time to do something to it or them then they should still have time to clean up. Unless…” I stood and walked to the window, looking out to the orchards.

“Unless?” Steven urged.

“Unless they’re so violent and erratic that they get consumed with dealing with the interruption that they just totally forget what they were doing.”

“That’s comforting,” Jodi said sarcastically.

“Exactly.” I wrapped my arms around my chest, hugging myself against the cold air and wondering what exactly had intruded upon our sleepy little town.

 

It was going to be a crappy day at school tomorrow, or rather today. It was just past midnight and we were headed to Ojai. We had to wait until after Jodi was done with her date with Jay, who was feeling neglected, and our parents were asleep so they wouldn’t ask us where we were going. We also wanted to make sure the coast would be clear of reporters and police. We knew the police would’ve cleaned the area but physical evidence wasn’t important to us; we knew the residual energies would still be there and we were hoping to figure out what the point of the ritual was.

“So do you really think we’ll be able to figure out who these people are?” Steven asked from the back seat.

“No, not really, but maybe we’ll pick up an aura. Then, if we see them out in town, we’ll recognize them. But really,” I explained as I turned onto the Ojai freeway, “the most important thing to find out right now is why they’re doing what they’re doing. Maybe it really is just a bunch of kids getting mixed up in something they don’t realize is dangerous.”

“You don’t really think it’s kids, do you?” Jodi asked skeptically.

“Honestly, I don’t know,” I said, shaking my head a little. “Deb’s right, we’re still considered kids. Maybe these people are too.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Jodi said with a sigh. She was feeling much better after finishing the tea Deb made her. I would have to remember to ask what she’d given Jodi.

I hated driving into the woods at night, even if I was going there by choice. It was always creepy, like the beginning of a bad horror movie. Jodi had the map from the tree house, keeping track of our progress carefully, trying to get us as close to the ritual spot as possible without walking. None of us were too thrilled with the idea of hiking a mile in the dark.

“Ok,” I said, rolling the car to a stop and putting the emergency brake on. “It’s too thick through here to drive any farther.” I sighed, staring at the dense blackness of the forest, the headlights not making much of a dent in the foliage.

“Great,” Steven muttered unhappily.

“Yeah,” I echoed his feelings. We climbed out, all three of us armed with Maglite flashlights that doubled as handheld weapons. Three beams of light swept the area around us before we popped the trunk and pulled out our supplies. We’d brought some consecrated water, five white pillar candles, a scrying bowl and an athame. We didn’t need anything for earth or air being in the forest. We each carried part of the load and Jodi kept the map in front of her, folded to only show our path to keep her from getting confused.

“Fae?” I turned to Jodi and she nodded, setting her flashlight on the ground. She turned towards the direction we would head in, hands open at her sides and her eyes closed. Steven and I each placed a hand on her shoulder, lending her our energy. In a few moments a swirling, seeking wind gusted around us and flew out into the trees. We waited while Jodi worked. It took a few minutes but she finally opened her eyes as the wind died away.

“No one here but us,” she confirmed.

“Well that’s something at least,” Steven said, bending to pick up Jodi’s flashlight and handed it to her.

“Ready?” Jodi asked, checking the compass she pulled from her back pocket.

“Guess so,” Steven said. Jodi took a step and broke the tree line, Steven and I following closely behind. We were able to find the area we were looking for with little trouble, making the map almost pointless. The forest reeked with the scent of burnt frankincense, myrrh and old blood. I had reached out tentatively once we caught that scent to see if anything was lingering and was almost instantaneously burned with the residual energy. I wondered if this was the same energy Deb’s coven had felt telling them it was male energy.

“Great,” I grumbled.

“What?” Jodi asked in a whisper.

“They were angry, at least at the end, and left that energy lying around.” I heard Jodi shiver. If you allowed your emotions to get out of control so much so that you left an imprint of them behind, you could create entities, angry or mischievous things that are hell bent on causing torment or chaos for their own entertainment.

“So we’re gonna be cleaning before we leave. Fabulous.” Steven’s voice reached me in the darkness. I nodded before I remembered he couldn’t really see me.

The clearing was almost a perfect circle, as if it was created for casting and rituals. We hesitated on the very edge of the circle, not really wanting to step inside a circle cast by enemies unknown. I opened the bottle of consecrated water and poured a little into my hand and flung it into the open area in front of us. The water landed on the ground, soaking into the forest floor without a sound. “At least they banished their circle before leaving,” I said before taking the first step into the clearing.

“If they even bothered with a circle,” Steven said darkly. The thought that someone was casting with the intent of evil without a circle was just plain scary. The purpose of a circle was not only to protect the caster inside but also to contain the magic being worked within; without the circle the magic and energy could run wild.

“Let’s get started.” I said, pulling the scrying bowl out of the bag I had slung over my shoulder.

“We are going to do a circle, right?” Jodi asked. I caught a hint of fear in her voice.

“Of course,” I said, walking out into the middle of the clearing, setting the bowl down. “I’d actually like to do a double circle again for extra protection.” We drew the circle the same way we had at the beach the other night.

I sat down cross legged. Jodi sat on my right, her knee nearly touching mine, and Steven sat on my left after he set the candles at five points around the circle. In our triangle inside the circle, we joined hands and I grounded our energies into the earth below us. I had to reach deeper than normal until I found clean earth that was untouched by the previous nights’ workings. I felt Steven raise his energy, concentrating deeply, and then suddenly sent it out to the five candles, each bursting into flame. In chorus, the three of us invoked protective shields around the circles and around us. When we were ready, I poured some of the consecrated water into the bowl.

“Fae, if you please?” I asked as I watched a fine mist appear, rolling over the surface of the water. Jodi opened her eyes to stare at the water, her brows kitting together in concentration. A few moments passed and I could hear leaves rustling softly around us just before a gentle breeze caught the ends of my hair and swirled over the bowl, blowing the mist away. This was a good sign; we were blowing away things that were clouding our visions.

Slowly the water began to ripple and change color. As one, we leaned closer to the bowl to watch as the scene took form. The reds, yellows, and oranges of fire were predominate inside the bowl. There were gilding black shapes that seemed to be in some haphazard formation, either a circle or a line, in the bowl it was difficult to tell. Although we couldn’t actually hear anything, I had the sense of chanting in some forgotten tongue, like an echo in the back of my mind, just out of hearing.

The scene shifted and a tall black clad figure was standing behind a table with his hands held high and a glinting silver knife gripped in his right hand. There were two chickens laid on the table and, after a pause, the figure with the knife made a fast, slashing motion, killing the first chicken. I felt Jodi start next to me, forcing herself not to look away and break our concentration. The hood of the robe obscured the killer’s face in shadow, but with the length of pauses between slashes, I knew he was speaking, possibly chanting a spell. It was terribly frustrating not being able to hear what was being said. After the second chicken was killed and the table dripped with blood, the scene rotated and we saw the top of the table.

The black cloth covering the table was saturated with blood. Through the bloodstains, we could see the white embroidery of symbols decorating the cloth, glowing with magic. There was an inverted pentagram in the center with symbols drawn in each space made by the star and circle. I realized I was grinding my teeth and tried to relax my jaw; seeing an inverted pentagram bothered me as much as an upside down cross. Why couldn’t these creeps get their own symbols rather than pervert ours?

Jodi’s fear was cat claws in my stomach. A wind started whipping around us, leaves and dirt swirling and obscuring the view in the bowl. A trickle of sweat rolled down my cheek as Steven started to lose his concentration. We had had enough.