Initiate

by Bill Bennett

  Kritta had heard stories about them, heard of their brutal methods and their joyful sadism. If you transgressed a Baphomet law and the Twins were assigned to you, then you were dead. It was just a matter of how you would die, and when, and how much pain you would suffer. And with the Twins, there was always the distinct possibility that those you loved would die too, even though they might be completely innocent. The Twins would often kill them just because they could. And because they loved their work.

  They always worked together. They were inseparable. Rumour had it that they’d sold their souls to Satan to head up a very successful fashion label in the Czech Republic, and with the fortune they’d made, they were actively financing Neo-Nazi activities on the side.

  Kritta looked across at the Hag, who was sitting on the steps of the porch, staring up at the Chalk Mountains. She was scared too, Kritta thought. She’d been quiet these past few hours, as they waited for Andi to return. Good, Kritta thought. She had every right to be scared. Because the Golden Order would make her the showpiece of their fury. They would kill her in such a way that everyone in Baphomet would hear of it, and they would know that this once great witch had paid the price for not completing a task. And then it would be Kritta Kredlich’s turn. She too would be obscenely killed unless she did something to quickly redeem the situation. There had to be a way to get to the girl before the Twins arrived. That was her only chance. Perhaps the schoolboy – KJ – could help.

  A shadow fell over Kritta. She heard a thwack thwack thwack of feathered wings, and Andi suddenly landed beside her in a backflap of dust. Kritta turned away, shielding her eyes from the dust, then swiftly changed her back into her imposing human form. The Hag got to her feet and shuffled over. Bess came out of the house, licking a lollipop. She too walked up, curious to learn what Andi had discovered.

  ‘The Chalk Witch has taken her to a cave higher up the mountain,’ Andi said. ‘The girl got changed into a robe, and disappeared inside. Then the old witch went home.’

  ‘And left her alone in the cave?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Did she put a spell on the cave?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘And what about the boy?’ the Hag asked.

  ‘I didn’t see him.’

  The Hag looked up to the white conical mountains. ‘I don’t like this,’ she said. ‘Why would the Chalk Witch leave the girl all alone up there, without protection? This is a trap. It has to be. It’s too easy.’

  ‘Did you ever think maybe there’s another way out of the cave,’ Bess said, her split tongue wrapping itself either side of her lollipop. ‘Maybe she’s escaped out a secret passage?’

  ‘There’s only one way to find out,’ said Kritta. ‘We go up, check out that cave, and if she’s in there, we grab her and bring her back here, then we tell the Grand Master to call off the Twins.’

  ‘No, you idiot rat-girl, it’s a trap, I’m telling you,’ the Hag hissed. ‘The Chalk Witch put her into a robe for purification. She’s preparing her for initiation. The girl’s not going anywhere. You go up there, you walk straight into their trap.’

  Kritta turned on the Hag. ‘Do you want to just sit here on your bony arse and do nothing? And wait for the Twins to come and turn us into dung beetles? Is that what you want to do?’

  The Hag didn’t answer. The rat-girl was right. They had to do something. If the Maguire girl had escaped through a back exit, then they needed to know sooner rather than later. But if, as she suspected, the Chalk Witch had taken her up to the cave to prepare her for initiation, then she wouldn’t be allowed to step outside until it was all over, so there’d be no chance to grab her before she acquired powers. Either way, they had to go up to the cave.

  The best thing to do, the Hag thought, was to send the rat-girl up there with her familiars. If the cave was booby trapped with spells, or if there was a Cygnet assassin waiting in the dark, then rat-girl would die, along with her disgusting familiars. Good riddance to all of them. But if rat-girl did manage to capture the girl and bring her back down, then when the time was right she, Davinda Vaduva, would end rat-girl’s pathetic little life and take all the credit herself. Either way it was a win-win.

  She looked over at Kritta, and smiled through rotted teeth. Her breath was rank. ‘You’re right. Why don’t you go up and take a look? I’ll stay back in case the Twins get here early.’

  Kritta quickly thought it through. If she went up to the cave and got the girl, then she’d come back down and stick a knife in that old Hag’s gizzard, and claim all the glory with Baphomet. And if the girl had escaped, then she and her familiars would escape too, and leave the old bitch witch to the Twins. Either way it was a win-win.

  It took Lily a few minutes for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. She began to see that the cave opened out into a large space with a high ceiling and walls that disappeared into a limitless black. She wondered if her mom, at this very moment, was in the dark too. Was she in a dank cell somewhere? Was she cold? Was she scared? Was she even still alive?

  The thought that her mom could be in some horrible place, hurt and suffering, or even dead, momentarily ripped through Lily like a crippling knife. I can’t do this, she thought. I can’t let myself get upset about Mom. If I do, I’ll weaken, break down, and I won’t get through this. And then what use will I be to her?

  She heard water flowing. She tried to follow the sound, but tripped and fell. She picked herself up. She had to be more careful. If she injured herself, broke a leg or wrist or something, then she’d be in real trouble. She had no first-aid kit, no painkillers, nothing. Plus, she could be stuck here for weeks before Luna came back. And by then, her mom would most probably be dead, if she wasn’t already.

  She slowly picked her way towards the back of the cave, to where she thought the spring must be. She clutched her tin cup. Her eyes were getting used to the soft dark, and as she approached the source of the sound she saw a flow of light – tiny dancing pinpricks of light.

  A stream of water gushed out of a crack in the rock wall and tumbled into a small pool. The water must have contained phosphorescence, because it shone with a light that made it look truly magical. Lily filled her cup with the glittering water and took a tentative sip. It was cool and fresh and sweet, and she felt the light within the water begin to seep into every cell in her body.

  She considered her future.

  What was she going to do in here? she wondered. She would have to find something to do, otherwise she’d lose her mind. If she was in a prison cell, at least she’d have overhead lighting and a daily routine. She’d also have some interaction with guards and other prisoners. Here, she had nothing. It was like solitary confinement in a black hole. What made it harder than prison though was that she was here of her own volition. If she wanted to leave she could. She could walk out into the sunlight at any time. And even though it might be incredibly difficult without her boots, she could probably walk back to Luna’s cottage, have a bath, have a meal, tend to the cuts on her feet, and call the whole stupid thing off.

  But then she would have failed.

  She would never be initiated.

  And where would that leave her mom?

  She had to take control of her mind. If she allowed her mind to control her, then she’d either go nuts, or she’d give up and walk outside.

  Meditation.

  She’d never been big on meditation. Perhaps it was a reaction to her mother. Her mom meditated twice a day. Lily never saw the point. To her, it was something that old people did when they had too much time on their hands.

  I’ve now got too much time on my hands, she thought. And she laughed. But at least it would be something to do. And it would help me control my mind.

  Through her study of aikido, she’d learnt how to focus and concentrate, but full-on meditation was something else. First, you had to still your chattering mind. She knew that much from her mom. The best way was to use your breath; if you put your focus on your breath, then you’d rid your mi
nd of any other thoughts. It sounded simple enough, but Lily had tried a couple of times years ago and found it near impossible to focus for more than a few second before inane thoughts took over again.

  She folded her blanket, sat cross-legged, and allowed her hands to drop into her lap so that her fingertips gently touched. She’d seen her mother do that when she meditated. She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on the movement of her breath; as it entered her nostrils, as it moved down into her chest and lungs, as it settled there, and then as it moved out again when she slowly exhaled.

  She started thinking about her mom. Had they hurt her? Or are they looking after her, keeping her in good condition in readiness for this obscene sacrifice they’re planning? Lily shuddered at the thought.

  Hold on. I’m barely five seconds into this and I’ve lost my focus already.

  She tried again. She slowly inhaled through her nose, feeling the air shift into her body. She relaxed her mind, allowing the breath to clear away her thoughts.

  Skyhawk. It was so wonderful sitting with him on the rock last night. And how sweet of him to put his jacket over my knees to keep me warm. Was he just being polite, or did he really care for me? He must have been cold without his jacket, yet he felt so warm. It felt like we belonged there together, on that rock. And what did he mean when he said his destiny was the same as mine? Did he mean we’d be together sometime in the future? Or did he mean he’ll be doing the same kind of things I’ll be doing? What will I be doing?

  Damn it! I’m not supposed to be meditating on Skyhawk!

  She tried again. She held her concentration for all of ten seconds, and then she thought of the picture above Luna’s fireplace, of the Goddess Artemis. The torch and the sword. And her feet turning into tree roots. Why did I feel such a connection to her?

  No – I have to keep my mind on my goddamn breath!

  She breathed in again through her nose, felt the cool dry air move into her body. She focused her mind on the sensation –

  I’m hungry. I should have eaten more for breakfast.

  NOOOOOOOOOO!

  Lily started to laugh. She closed her eyes once more, found her breath, examined it without judgment, and sometime later she slipped into a meditative stillness. When she opened her eyes, it was late afternoon.

  She stood just inside the mouth of the cave and let the afternoon sun warm her body. If only I could step outside, she thought. Just one step. But Luna said that if I left the cave, then it was all over. I’ll have failed purification. Which means I can’t be initiated. Which means I can’t help my mom.

  Yes, but how would Luna know? She’s not here. Surely she hasn’t hung around to spy on me. What’s the problem with just stepping out into the sunshine for a few minutes? Just a few minutes. She’d never know.

  Luna would know.

  Lily knew that instinctively. She would know. She was a powerful witch, and she didn’t have to hide among rocks to spy on her. She would know everything she was doing, everything she was thinking. Lily couldn’t deceive her. She couldn’t cheat this.

  Suddenly Lily saw Luna in her garden at the back of her cottage, picking vegetables for dinner. She saw it all very clearly in her mind’s eye. As she watched her, she could sense that Luna was thinking about her, and should Lily wish to, she could swap thoughts with her. Luna suddenly looked up from the garden, surprised, as if she was looking straight at Lily, and then the image was gone, the connection lost, as if Luna had cut her off.

  What just happened? Lily wondered. Was she becoming clairvoyant? Or had she always had this ability, but hadn’t realised it? She thought back over how lately she’d been able to intuit things about people. How she’d been sensing things, feeling things. And she remembered how her mother had said that she was becoming a ‘sensitive’. Did this mean she was starting to become a witch already?

  A deer walked up outside the cave, among the rocks. It stared in at her. As Lily watched, it grew a large stack of antlers. Did that just happen? she wondered in stunned disbelief. Or am I starting to hallucinate? Or is this a trick of Luna’s to try and unhinge me? Is she somehow playing mind games with me?

  The deer tossed its head at Lily, as if mocking her, then it sauntered off. Lily tried to see where it had gone, but it had disappeared. Could she be starting to see things? Was she imagining things that simply weren’t there? Was she starting to lose it, mentally?

  She was hungry.

  She hadn’t eaten since breakfast and she was starving. She’d been hungry before, but never like this; probably because she’d always known where the next meal was coming from. Here in this cave, she didn’t know when she would ever eat again. There was fear in her hunger, and that just made her even hungrier.

  Her mind began to race.

  What if Luna never comes back? What if she has a heart attack, or she trips in her house and gets concussion? She’s old, after all. Plenty of old folk die that way. They have a fall, and the next-door neighbour finds them months later and they’re just shrivelled skin and bones with maggots crawling through their ribs. But Luna has no neighbours, no visitors. She could fall and die and no one would know for years.

  Lily checked herself. I have to stop thinking like that. It’s pulling me apart. Of course Luna will come back. Nothing will happen to her. When the time is right, she’ll return.

  Standing just inside the edge of the cave, Lily closed her eyes and let the late sun fall on her face. Then she turned and walked back into the darkness. She saw the sparkles of light spilling from the spring in the rock wall. She walked over and drank the light-filled water and felt energised.

  She meditated.

  Or did she dream?

  She was running through the castle again, racing down the long corridor to the studded door. The two-headed beast was hurtling through the dark somewhere behind her. She could hear its clomping hooves, smell its snuffling breath.

  She rushed up to the door, grabbed at the latch, but it wouldn’t open. She tried again and again. The beast was almost upon her. And then the latch gave. She pushed open the door, threw herself inside, and slammed the door shut just as the two-headed creature rammed its massive tusks into the thick oak panels outside. The door trembled and shook on its hinges. She could hear the boar roaring and the goat bleated in rage as it charged repeatedly.

  She was now in a bedchamber. It must have belonged to the lord of the castle because it was huge, and opulently decorated. Against the far wall was a large four-poster bed, with fine lace curtains cascading down in misty veils. The bed was covered with a silk brocade spread, and at its foot was a hand-carved walnut chest, rimmed with burnished gold.

  Lily instinctively knew that what she was seeking, what would save her life and the lives of others, was in that chest.

  She began to lift its heavy lid, but then behind her the door opened and a man entered; a beautiful young man dressed in velvet and silk, with shiny thigh-length leather boots and a wide belt studded with gold. His skin was pale and his lips were full and red. His eyes were hypnotic. He smiled and it held her in thrall.

  She gently lowered the lid of the chest and turned towards him. All thoughts of her search were gone. She beheld his beauty and charm. She stood motionless as he walked towards her, slowly, his smile transfixing her, holding her in its allure.

  He held out his arms to embrace her, but she suddenly saw him for what he truly was: evil incarnate.

  She stumbled back until she could retreat no further. She pressed up against the rear wall. And as he approached, he turned into the beast, the beast with two heads. It stamped the stone floor with its cloven hooves, and then it charged.

  Lily snapped open her eyes, her heart palpitating. She felt something stirring in the folded robes in her lap. She looked down and saw a dark mound. It moved slightly, then she heard a deathly rumba sound.

  A rattlesnake.

  Her first reaction was to jump up and scream and race outside – but she froze. If she stayed still then perhaps it woul
d leave her alone and slither away. The snake uncurled its head and looked up at her, rattling its tail like it was shaking a canister of dried corn husks.

  Her blood went icy cold.

  The snake’s slit yellow eyes looked into hers, its tongue flicked in and out, in and out, in and out, and then it lowered its head back into the serpentine coils of its body, and settled back into the warmth of her lap.

  Is this a dream? Or do I really have a rattlesnake resting in my lap? Lily could feel it shifting, moving, slithering. Yes, it’s real.

  She closed her eyes again and tried to calm her breath. If I just keep still, try not to fall asleep, then maybe it will leave me alone. She breathed in, felt the air course through her nostrils, and settled into a deep meditation.

  In the evening, her mother came to her.

  Or did she?

  Was it real?

  There she was, standing at the mouth of the cave, silhouetted against the evening glow.

  ‘Mom?’ Lily called out. ‘Is that you?’

  She got to her feet and rushed to her and gave her mother the biggest hug she could ever remember. But Angela didn’t respond. Lily stepped back, and looked at her.

  ‘Mom, are you all right?’

  Angela stepped around Lily and walked further into the cave. She turned back, and stared at her daughter, perplexed. ‘What are you doing here, Lily?’

  Lily was taken aback. ‘What do you mean, Mom?’

  ‘This. Here. Why aren’t you at Freddie’s, where it’s safe? I told you to go to Freddie’s. I never told you to come here.’

  Lily hesitated. ‘But Freddie told me . . .’

  ‘Since when do you listen to your uncle ahead of me?’ she snapped. Lily couldn’t remember the last time her mom had snapped at her.

  ‘He told me to come to Luna’s and . . .’

  ‘Yes, but don’t you see? All he’s done is put you in danger. You were protected at his house. That’s why I sent you there. You have no protection here. And the Chalk Witch has no powers anymore. She can’t look after you. When they come for you, and they’re on their way, you’ll have to fend for yourself. And you’re not ready. Lily . . . you silly girl.’