13:3
Ben stood and dusted off his hands on his legs. “I’ll go to that store and get the bowls and candles.”
Siobhan rose from where she’d been sitting. “I’ll go with you.”
“You said there’s salt in the basement?”
Ben turned at Abe’s question. “Kitchen. Should be some.”
“Enough?”
Ben shifted his gaze around the empty club. “Big venue. A lot of food. We go through salt. We always have a big stock of it. Don’t forget the water too.”
Their various parts of the mission defined the group scattered. Ben and Siobhan walked down the length of the club. Abe walked over to Ivan and spoke in a low voice. A moment later Ivan excused himself from Dempsey who’d been standing next to him and lead Abe off behind the altar slash stage and disappeared through one of the side doors flanking it.
Dempsey settled his shoulders against a column, propped his shield against his legs, and crossed his arms. He tracked Gwen and Kim with his gaze as they walked over to the march of columns opposite and disappeared into the slight shadows between the columns and the wall.
Their sound of their voices carried in the excellent acoustics of the space though their words were indistinct. Prairie considered calling after them, suggesting they meditate or otherwise build their energy for the upcoming ritual but she trusted they had already come to that conclusion and that was why they’d withdrawn slightly from the group.
Patti stood in front of the stage. After a few moments of shifting foot to foot she looked over at Al. “Care if I join you?”
Al quieted his hands on the guitar strings and gave her a measuring look. He played his fingers over the strings, tilted his head, and looked around like he was measuring something on the tune that only he could understand. Maybe he was. Then he jerked his chin upwards in the affirmative.
Taking that for what it was, Patti stepped up onto the altar and walked towards the back where several chairs were propped against the wall. She skirted Erik’s still form though her gaze did travel over it then linger before she grabbed a chair and carried it over to place near Al’s.
“He’s so still.”
Prairie looked at Erik, then at Patti, then shifted her focus back to Erik. Focusing inwards for a moment she sent her Magick out and over him. With a flex she sent her Magick skimming beneath his physical body, seeking out the Spirit form that lurked beneath. Where when they found him in that ice castle she’d had a strong sense of him being an individual, albeit similar to Al in the way that twins or even siblings could be similar to each other and subtle echoes of their parents, now there was a homogeny. Like their closeness awakened the ‘Al-ness’, for lack of a better description, in Erik. Almost like one Spirit in two places. She had to wonder if that was the reason for Erik’s lack of animation. Like the closer he was to Al the less individuality he retained, becoming a true echo of the other man, with what made him unique suppressed.
His existence formed a moral conundrum for Prairie. It was in her nature to protect Spirits. She saw herself as a conduit for them. Their champion when needed. So that part of her insisted Erik should be protected. As a unique individual. But was he one? Or was he simply a part of Al, separated too long, and reconnecting them was in the service of Al’s splintered Spirit?
The debate had taken over a chunk of her thoughts since recovering Erik. The cost of Al’s help was reintegrating him with Erik but, honestly, if it was at the detriment of the individual Spirit that was Erik that cost was not something Prairie could support. Yes, saying no would mean Al would not help them. She had no illusions about that. But, also, the slight inferences he’d made to what Mary used her influence over him to do sickened her to her core. Could she, in good conscience, knowing or at least suspecting what the other necromancer was doing allow it to continue?
And yet. Her gaze lingered on Erik’s still form propped against the wall.
And yet. If Erik was truly just an extension of Al’s Spirit would reuniting them not be a boon? Would it, instead of obliterating Erik, return him to his natural state. Could she curse he and Al to being less?
She debated this long enough that when she blinked to clear her thoughts and her vision which was slightly hazy from her gaze locking on Erik she saw that Patti was settled in the chair near Al and was leaning forward with head cocked to listen to the music he played. As Prairie watched Patti said something too low to carry. Al looked up and nodded then lowered his head again so his long hair fell in a curtain that partially obscured his features.
The music he coaxed from the guitar flowed through the empty space, weaving around Prairie. She found herself swaying slightly as she let the rhythm speak to her. Her Spirit quickened. So much so she imagined it a dog, lifting its head and leaning towards something invisible and intriguing.
Was he influencing them with the song? It was within his skill set to do so. But to what effect? He had them there. They had agreed to help him. She had agreed to help him. Certainly there was still the option to back out, but she had the sense that Al didn’t entertain that. There was about him a certainty, a belief that what he wanted would come to pass. Confidence? Something more than that though that was a part of it. But, whatever name it had that intrinsic part of him that Prairie read in his very Spirit didn’t harbor doubt that Prairie would help him.
It wasn’t that he held all the cards. He did, but he didn’t. They could walk away and abandon the information he held, though it would hamper them. But, the sense of bone-deep sorrow that she read from his Spirit. It was more than it being fractured, though that was probably a part. No, what it was felt like someone holding on to hope by the thinnest of margins. Someone so beaten down they had given in to the inevitability of oblivion.
If she could help, was there any way she could rationalize not doing so? Intrinsically she accepted his certainty that she, out of all the other necromantic magickers in the world, might be able to save him. It wasn’t ego. She was around a lot of egotistical doctors dia in and out. She knew that level of arrogance. And that was not what she felt. No, it was certainty. Rightness. Understanding.
Now, if it was possible Al was manipulating her with his Magick to feel that? She didn’t know. But she also wasn’t sure she’d condemn him if he was. If he really believed she was it, the only one who had a chance of freeing him from the grip of his long-time abuser, could she fault him for encouraging her help?
The only real question was if she did help him would it hurt others. And for some reason, with no good evidence to support it, she believed it would hurt no one. It would, in fact, free him from pain. And, it would free Erik of the half, no not even quarter but maybe a tenth, life he lived.
The certainty of it, perhaps fed by Al’s music and Magick and perhaps not, buoyed her and she knew with absolute certainty that this was the correct course for her.
That it helped she and her friends was just an added benefit but the most important part was it helped Al and Erik. Any doubt she had of that she swept away. She could do this. She would do this. Even if the only benefactor was Al it was the right thing to do. It was why she had her Magick. She believed that.
“Prairie.”
Prairie started when Dan said her name. She turned at the sound of his voice then reared back slightly when she realized he had pulled in close enough that there was barely a hand’s span between them.
She blinked hard, shoving the last of her musings to the back of her mind. “Dan?”
“What do you need?”
Again Prairie cast her gaze over the space. The floor was swept clean. The marble gleamed as if it had been polished, though it did show signs of heavy usage in the way the black of the black and white pattern appeared slightly faded. Due to the size of the room there was a feeling of space. Space to breath. Space to move. Space for the living and the dead. She might not have selected the old church as the place to do a ritual but looking over it now she couldn’t think of a place better for it.
Moving her attention from the floor to Dan she said, “I need to draw the diagrams with my chalk.”
“How much space do you need?”
In her head she ran over the plans she’d been designing since Al first presented his issue. A flick of her gaze over the floor. Some mental measuring. Then she looked at Dan.
“I need to draw five circles. The first will need to be a size to accommodate Al and Erik in close proximity, with the mirror between them. From there the other four circles will radiate out, equidistant from each other.”
Dan lifted his book, giving it a laconic wave which Prairie read as a request. As soon as she nodded he flipped it open and started writing. While he did so she continued.
“I have a rope with knots to keep the measure even. I’ll need someone to stand at the center of the space, holding the end and someone else to hold the other end while rotating so I can follow and mark points to draw the diagram.”
“It doesn’t have to be a necromancer?”
“Holding the ropes? No. The diagram is just a diagram until it is embued with my Magick. Until then, as long as the lines aren’t smeared, anyone can be in the space. It will be consecrated after it is drawn.”
“I can hold the center.”
A small smile curved Prairie’s lips. “That feels very apropos.”
“I’ll do the exterior.”
Dempsey had wandered over while she’d been woolgathering. Prairie turned and nodded in acknowledgment of his offer.
“I appreciate that.”
She pulled a black cord from the pocket of her hoodie. She wasn’t sure why she’d thrown it into her pocket that morning but now she was glad for the impulse because it meant they didn’t have to acquire some other measuring device and spend the time to measure out the units she’d need.
The rope had knots, evenly spaced the length from her shoulder to her wrist. There was more than the five she needed because the cord was used for various rituals, she hadn’t prepared it specifically for this one. She found the length of her arm was the one that felt right for her Magick to breathe within.
She held the one end of the cord out to Dan and then walked out to the end of the length. When she butted into the stage before she hit the end she asked Dan to move back. He did so, taking up a wide-legged stance and she began the pacing again. This time the circumference of the circle didn’t hit any obstacles though it did stretch a good portion of the distance between the sets of columns going the length of the church’s floor. Once the fifth circle was drawn there’d still be room for the others not part of the ritual to move around without running into anything or risking smudging the diagram.
Yes, this would do. Prairie turned and called Dempsey over. When he reached her side she held the end of the rope out to him. He looped some of the extra length around his hand and up his wrist then nodded to her. She smiled softly and then turned her attention back to Dan.
“Please don’t move.”
“Won’t.”
Certain that was true she walked back until she was within touching distance of Dan then walked out to the first of the knots. She stooped down and placed a mark on the floor with her chalk then walked to the next knot then the next until she had five marks on the floor. Then she looked up at Dempsey.
“Please move around the circle a bit.”
When he did so she made five more marks. The sound of Al’s guitar and Patti’s voice picking up the melody while Sass trilled along carried from the stage, lending a cadence that instructed Prairie’s movements.
She hadn’t known she’d needed it but as the sound settled over her it felt right. Maybe it was that Al was part of the entire process, from the point of creating the diagram. Maybe she’d just always been missing music in her rituals. She was fairly certain moving forward she’d want it. That was how right it felt to her Spirit.
She pushed the loose strands of her hair away from her face as she duckwalked, careful to tuck it behind her ears and out of the way. Then she made another mark on the marble floor. The bright yellow chalk stood out stark against the black and white.
Looking up at Dan she explained, “It is important to keep the distance between the lines exact. Different practitioners prefer different lengths. For me this is the one that feels right.”
He shifted his toothpick left to right and nodded. The fingers of his free hand twitched and Prairie suspected he’d want to write this down. To that she added, “I can repeat the explanation after, when both of your hands are free.”
“I’d appreciate that.”
“Of course.”
Different practitioners used different colors of chalk. Some people ascribed strict rules to the colors used but others, like Prairie, picked ones that resonated with their Magick. For Prairie that meant yellow. Why? She didn’t know though considering she had intrinsically understood she was to stand for Air which was associated with the color yellow maybe it made sense.
She kept her attention on the chalk but also kept up her commentary for Dan. “This diagram will act to conduct, concentrate, and build the energy needed for the ritual. The lines both contain it and amplify it. After anos of M–” she stopped, changed to, “you know who having control of Al I suspect we’ll need all the energy we can get. It’s also why I am going to have Kim, Siobhan, and Gwen be part of the ritual. Normally it would be enough to have the candles and objects associated with the elements but,” she shrugged a shoulder then frowned. “Have I already explained this?”
Dan’s “Repetition is fine,” suggested she had. Oh well, repeating it helped cement the ritual in Prairie’s mind. She turned her attention back to marking dots on the floor in chalk then indicated Dempsey should rotate again.
In this way she, Dan, and Dempsey moved around the entire circle until Prairie came back to the original markings. Then she looked at Dan.
“You can move now. Please clear the entire space. I’ll be connecting the dots to make solid lines and once they are formed I’d prefer if no one moves into the diagram and disturbs them before Al enters.”
Dan stepped carefully across the floor, avoiding the dots of yellow chalk, and Dempsey reeled in the length of the cord so when Dan reached him it was already coiled neatly. When he lifted it in Prairie’s direction, she said, “Keep it, please. I’m going to finish the lines now.”
There was a tugging near her ribs and then Kirby materialized at her side.
“Because of the size of the diagram we can’t be beside you, but we will be with you,” One said.
“Hello!” Hello said really loud, drawing a smile from Prairie.
“Thank you, my sweet friend.”
“No thanks are necessary,” One said then lowered his head to butt against her thigh before Kirby’s form dissipated. A moment later Prairie felt them settle against her ribs once more.
Kim and Gwen must have wandered over at some point while Prairie was marking the diagram because Kim drew Prairie’s attention from the chalk marks with a question. “Is it going to work?”
Prairie lifted the chalk off the floor, holding it hovering above the marble, and looked at Kim. “Of course it is. I won’t accept anything else.”
The steely determination in the words made Prairie stop a moment. Wow. She hadn’t realized she was feeling herself that much!
Shaking off her momentary ‘hmm’, she turned her focus back to making sure she drew the diagram perfectly. Long practice kept her from smudging or smearing or otherwise disturbing the chalk as she made the five perfect circles on the floor.
By the time she was finished her knees were aching and her lower back had a twinge that was probably going to call for soaking in Epsom salts but for now the anticipation of the ritual buoyed her, making the ache feel like purpose rather than pain.
Rising slowly to her feet, she dusted off her hands while pivoting to run an assessing eye over the diagram. A sense of satisfaction filled her as she noted the precision of it. Once she acknowledged it was done to her specs, she looked beyond the diagram, starting as she realized Siobhan, Ben, Ivan, and Abe had returned in the time it took her to finish.
She shifted to look to Dan. “Was I long?”
“An hora.”
“No wonder my back aches!” She pressed her fists to her lower back and stretched then carefully picked her way out of the diagram. A quick glance confirmed a big box of salt in Ivan’s hands while Abe balanced a flat of water bottles. Siobhan held a fairly large bag Prairie assumed held the bowls and candles from the alchemy shop.
As she ran over the inventory of things already collected and added the new acquisitions to it a thought occurred to her. “Mirror. We don’t have a mirror!”
“How big does it have to be?” Gwen asked while digging in the pocket of her jacket.
“Preferably large enough for Al and Erik to hold between them.”
“Oh,” Gwen bobbled a pretty enameled compact she’d pulled from her pocket. “So, this is too small?”
Prairie eyed the compact. Then she shifted her attention to Al then to Erik. “I’m not sure. I’d prefer something bigger.”
“How about this?” Dempsey pulled a hand mirror from his bag. The reflective surface was probably four or five times bigger than the compact could provide. Much more to what Prairie’s brain said was right. But–
“Is it Magick?”
Dempsey gave a little shrug. “Yes.”
“Then, no we can’t use it.”
“But,” Dempsey spoke at almost the same time Prairie did. “It requires an activation phrase. Without that it’s just a mirror.”
“Oh,” Prairie considered that for a moment. Would the intrinsic Magick, even locked down, cause issues? “What does it do? When its activated?”
“Mirror-Mirror.” At Prairie’s confused look Dempsey added, “Like in Snow White.” Dempsey waved the mirror a little, catching the light from one of the candelabras lining the space defined by the columns.
Dan leaned in to eye the mirror. “It says who is the fairest in the land?”
“Not quite.” Dempsey gave a visual shrug. “It tells the truth. You can ask it a question, any question, and it gives a truthful answer.”
“So.” Ben sauntered over, hands in pockets. “Any question? Any answer?”
Dempsey gave him something bordering on stink eye. “Any chance I’ll give you the activation phrase?”
Ben hummed. “That is a hurdle.”
“M’hm.”
Dempsey turned and held the mirror out towards Prairie. When she didn’t immediately take it, he waggled it so the surface caught light, causing a beam to slide across Prairie’s face. She walked over and took it from him. “Thank you.”
He nodded then leaned back against the column again with his arms crossed. Prairie shifted her attention to Siobhan. Or more specifically the bag Siobhan held.
“Did you get the bowls and candles?”
“Yes.”
“They will need to be cleaned.”
“Cleansed?” It was clear Siobhan had done a ritual or three in her time if she asked for that clarification.
“No. Just cleaned.”
“Any requirements on that?”
“Salt water?”
Abe held the box of salt up and shook it so the salt within rattled. “There is more where this came from. Sinks too.”
“Well, then,” Siobhan lifted the bag from the shop with her palm under to the take the weight and walked over to Abe. “Show me?”
“Don’t get the wicks wet!”
Siobhan turned her head at Prairie’s call. “Don’t teach your granny to suck eggs.”
Based on context and Siobhan’s expression, Prairie guessed that meant “I know”.
While they waited for Abe and Siobhan to return, Prairie walked the circumference of the diagram with Dan on her heels.
“Is the color of the chalk significant?”
“It is.” Realizing this wasn’t really what he was asking, she added, “to me. It’s unique to every practitioner though there are some that follow the standards or white or black. For me yellow works.”
“At least it isn’t pink,” Kim piped up.
Prairie grinned. “At least it isn’t pink.”
She paused and studied the space between the Spirit and Water rings. For a moment she thought there was a slight discrepancy, but she was wrong. It looked fine. Before she could start another circuit Abe and Siobhan returned. Prairie gave the diagram one last hard look then with a decisive nod, she turned to look where Al and Patti sat on the stage.
“It’s time.” She pressed her voice louder than it would normally be so it carried to them. Then she held her hands out to Siobhan and Abe. “The bowls please.”
Once Abe placed the bowls in her hands, Prairie walked around the diagram, stopping and placing a one at each of the cardinal points. As she did so she began the process of centering her Magick. She imagined it a liquid flow, willing it to flood her Magick channels. With each bowl she placed she pressed a small amount of Magick into the bronze. Then she turned and looked at where Siobhan, Abe, Kim, and Dan followed behind her.
“I need the salt, incense, bark, and water now.”
“I got them!” Abe broke off from the group, stooped to set the box of salt down, and then ran over to the edge of the stage where they’d placed the other items. It was barely a mikro before they were back with the items in their outstretched hands. “Here!”
“Thank you, Abe.” Prairie took the items, sticking the bottle of water in one pocket and the incense and bark in the other while holding the box of salt in one hand.
She walked the diagram again. Stopping at North, she poured the salt into the bowl there. Then she turned and held out the box, releasing it into Abe’s eager hands. After that she moved to East and placed the amber resin. South got the cinnamon bark and at East she pulled the bottle of water out, untwisted the cap, and poured it into the bowl.
The bowl was deep and wide enough that the bottle filled it halfway. Perfect. She stepped back with a satisfied nod and gave a close-mouthed smile to her human train.
“Siobhan?”
“Yes.”
“Can I please have all but the green candle? That one is for you.”
“Sure.” Siobhan held out the other four candles to Prairie. She took them then turned to Kim and handed her the red. The blue went to Gwen and she pocketed the yellow for herself. Then she walked over to Al with the black candle.
“It’s time.” Quiet as her statement was Al clearly heard it over his music. He stilled his fingers on the guitar strings and then lay the instrument down on the floor next to his chair. He gave Patti a look. “Thank you.”
Patti blinked in confusion. “For what?”
“For keeping me company. If these are my last meros I appreciate spending them with someone who shares music with me.”
Prairie stiffened. “These won’t be your last meros!”
Al lifted an indolent shoulder. “But if they are I pass them in good company.”
Sass oozed out of the house on Patti’s belt and scampered down the leg of her jeans then ran up to Al’s shoe. They looked up at him then patted his foot. A small smile curved his lips, drawing attention to how solemn his expression had been prior.
“Thank you, little friend.”
Sass gave a peep then patted his foot several more times before turning and running back to Patti. She stooped down and offered the mouse her palm and it crawled into it before turning three times and curling up.
Al turned his attention on Prairie. “What do you need me to do?”
Prairie looked to where the essential oils stood on the edge of the stage. She walked over, picked them up, then rejoined Al. “You will need to be cleansed.”
“Just anointed.”
“With intent.”
“Yours or mine?”
“Both.”
“What should I focus on?”
A soft smile curved Prairie’s mouth. “Success.”
Al inclined his head. “That’s a good one.”
“It is.”
Enter The Woods 