I knew it was going to be a doozy the moment I received the invitation. I had been reading in my dorm room when there was a knock at the door. I opened it and immediately got something shoved in my face by a brunette. The thing--which was a piece of paper--fell to my hands as she explained herself.
Her name was Bethany, but she asked that I refer to her by her ‘witch name,’ Sylvia. “Don’t give me that look,” she said. “I figured you were interested in this sort of thing.” Evidently she had seen me reading occult books at the library or cafetaria. It was mostly for my own amusement, though. Seeing idiots in pointed hats does wonders for the soul.
“I was wondering if you’d be interested in joining my coven next week for a ritual,” she said. “You seem knowledgeable on...certain subjects that’d be of help to us. That is, if you’re interested in joining. We’re very serious, you see.” She emphasized the words ‘very serious.’
“Of course,” I said, using every ounce of my strength to hold back the onslaught of laughter. “I’m in.”
“Great! I’ll be seeing you then--all the info’s on that paper, so don’t lose it!” Then she turned and left.
I went back inside and leapt onto my bed. The paper read COVEN MEETING in gothic lettering. Underneath was the date, time, location and summary of the meeting. It seemed like it would consist of your typical suburban wannabe pagans sitting around a pentagram with Walmart candlesticks.
Still, it would be a doozy to behold.
Bethany--or Sylvia, whichever one--lived in a cabin in the forest. It wasn’t too far from town, you could still see it from here, but it wasn’t exactly near, either. You definitely couldn’t hear anyone out here even if they screamed.
I suppose I should’ve expected that. Bethany seemed like the kind to live in a cabin in the woods, if only to maintain the illusion of her being dark and mysterious. I wondered if her parents bought it for her. Probably.
I knocked on the door. A redhead opened it. She introduced herself as Kimberley, but asked that I refer to her as Katherine. “With a K,” she said, as if it were the most important thing in the cosmos. “Are you the one Sylvia invited?”
“Yep.”
She perked up a bit. “Come inside. We have a few hours before we begin.”
We went to Bethany’s bedroom, where I met the third and final member of her coven. Strangely enough, he was a boy with black hair. He introduced himself as John, “but please, call me Azrael.”
Bethany suddenly looked like she was about to have a coronary. “I can’t believe I forgot! What’s your name?”
I told her my name. Kimberly seemed surprised. “Wait, waitwaitwait, hold on,” she sputtered as she looked at something on her phone, “isn’t that the name of, like, an angel or something? No, it was a goddess, right? Or maybe it was…”
I shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Bethany clasped her hands together. “Anyway…”
As she went on about something, I noticed for the first time what everyone was wearing. They were all wearing different things, but they seemed the same if you squinted hard enough. Mostly black clothing. Chains coming out of a pocket. Pentagrams on necklaces. There was a poster of some obscure band and several books about witchcraft. None of them were authentic, of course.
Most of the day was uneventful. We talked about college, our interests, you know how it goes. None of it particularly interested me. Soon it was nearing dusk, and soon dusk became night. When I looked out the window I realized why Bethany had chosen this particular day; there was a full moon.
John looked where I was looking and said, “Hey, it’s almost time.” The rest looked out the window and nodded. Bethany seemed determined. She whispered to us, “Everyone, downstairs. I’ll be getting the stuff.”
We went downstairs to the living room slowly. Bethany arrived with ‘the stuff,’ which consisted of a matchbox, candles, salt and a book. John shut off the lights. Bethany spread salt across the floor until she made a pentagramish shape. She set down a candle at each of its points and let Kimberley light them. Once that was over with, we sat around the pentagram and held hands (or touched hands).
Bethany opened the book before her. She looked at us grimly, and spoke, “We all need to contribute, or else it won’t work. Understood?” We nodded, although I wasn’t sure what ‘it’ was. ‘It’ was too generic to narrow down. A pentagram and some candles could’ve meant anything.
I did not say any of this out loud, of course, lest I be kicked out of the house, or, as Bethany would probably say more dramatically, banished! We closed our eyes and listened to Bethany speak some gibberish. A moment later I realized it was actually butchered latin. Something about the Dark One and “grant us thy power” and whatnot.
I decided that now would be a good time to execute my master plan. I decided to start off light--no need to jump straight ahead to death and doom. Something more subtle, like a sudden draft. I hardly needed to focus--changing the temperature was relatively easy. I looked around the room with my mind (eyes still closed) and saw John shiver with goosebumps. He didn’t comment on it, though. Probably afraid we would chew him out.
Now it was time to get serious. Let’s see...a thunderstorm wouldn’t be too out of place, would it? A little more energy was needed, but it was a negligible amount. The room flashed white, and rain slammed the windows like bullets. A distant crack of thunder rang in our minds. Bethany faltered for a moment, but kept going. She was the leader here, she needed to keep cool or she would look like a coward.
Still, I felt like there was more work to be done. Come on, come on...oh! I grinned. This was going to be better than I planned. I concentrated hard and…the winds grew more intense, rocking the trees back and forth...Kimberly heard whispers all around her...John swore he felt a cold hand on his shoulder...Bethany saw in her mind something terrible rising from the earth...the storm grew stronger, the rain was now falling in sheets, the wind was as high-pitched as a train whistle...!
I concentrated and forced their eyes open. I concentrated and tore away my mortal form, showing them all my true self. Why were they screaming? Wasn’t this what they desired? They could scream all night, but they couldn’t look away from my next act!
