Adamo spoke again. “This is a statement and response ritual. I will say one paragraph and then you’ll hear me say, ‘repeat after me’. There are four sentences. I will say them one at a time and I want you to repeat them. I’ll have another paragraph to say and then I’ll slowly raise my wand. Witches and wizards, you know what to do. For you non-magical people, I want you to concentrate all your energy and thoughts on Happy being out of your lives. Direct all that energy toward the tip of my wand. When my hand is all the way up, I want you to push all that energy out and say ‘Done’ with emphasis. The whole thing is only going to take about ten minutes; then Cassandra has a small repast on the patio for us.
“Is everyone ready? Good. Take the hand of the person next to you or if that’s not possible, put your hand on the shoulder of the person in front of you. We must all be connected. Now, focus.”
I found myself holding hands with Jack and Cassandra; someone’s hand rested on my left shoulder. Although I wasn’t that surprised to see him, Tommy was on the other side of the circle from us, next to Bella and behind Adamo. The rest of the crowd was a mix of those who appeared human and some types I’d never seen before. The person standing next to Bella was shorter even than me, androgynous and distinctly snake-like, with scales for skin. I was willing to bet the eyes only had slits for pupils, too. I wondered where he/she came from. I could see Ev, his grandfather and a few other ogres towering over the back of the crowd.
Adamo stood tall and cleared his throat. “Spirits of the East, I ask that you watch over our endeavor.” He lit one candle. “Spirits of the South, I ask that you watch over our endeavor.” He lit a second candle. “Spirits of the West, I ask that you watch over our endeavor.” He lit the third candle. “Spirits of the North, I ask that you watch over our endeavor.” With this he lit the final candle. I felt a tingling in my hands and a slight pressure in my ears.
“We ask the Universe to heed our collective will.
“Repeat after me: What was dark shall be light.” We intoned “what was dark shall be light” as he sprinkled something powdery into the small silver dish.
“Banish this demon from our sight.” He added a dark, strange-looking item – probably that mandrake root.
“Crush this spirit from form to dust.” He poured something liquid from a glass bottle into the dish.
“Send it back and away from us.” He lit a match and set the dish’s contents on fire.
We all said our lines right on cue. The entire time, I felt pressure building up, sort of like you feel in an elevator zipping its way from the ground to the fiftieth floor without a single stop. I took a peek at the others I could see around the circle. Every single person’s face was a picture of intense focus.
“I call on the powers of the Universe to banish the demon Jormundallr from this realm. [I heard something that sounded like a scream.] Dissolve his unwanted form and send it back to those who sent it to us. Keep Jormundallr from us. [He touched his wand to Cassandra’s cauldron, then raised it shoulder high and turned a complete circle. As he came back to his original place, he started raising his wand toward the sky. I saw all sorts of colored tendrils of light tethered from various points in the crowd – including a faint one from me to the tip of his wand.] By our will, begone, Jormundallr! And I say it shall be DONE!”
I released my breath and felt a sort of ‘pop’; no, more like a ‘boom’ as I shouted “Done!” along with everyone else. Those tendrils of light combined into one and shot skyward from the tip of Adamo’s wand, like a multicolored searchlight. At the same time, the fire that he had lit in the dish flared and went out. I heard a scream again just as the fire extinguished itself. Then something like a little bell rang in my head. Just a “ping” mind you, but something. I felt Cassandra almost lose her balance.
“Are you OK?” I whispered.
“Yeah. Just felt a little dizzy for a moment.”
Adamo pinched the flame of each candle with a quiet thank you and then sagged against the makeshift table. Tommy and Bella broke the circle and went to make sure he didn’t fall over or pass out.
Everyone else quit holding hands, shoulders, whatever. Cassandra called out, “Hot apple cider and cinnamon cake over here if anyone wants some.” Although it may have been spring-like, it was still night, January, and Minneapolis. Hot cider was welcome. Although we all lined up, we let Adamo go first. There were some in the crowd who looked spent but he seemed like he needed it worse than anyone else.
“A little sugar and I’ll be fine,” he assured me as I raised my eyebrows to him in an unspoken concern for his well-being. “I am not as young as I once was and rituals like this take a toll on the old man. Sweets perk me right up, I promise.”
He turned to Tommy. “Would you kindly dispose of the taglocks for me?”
“Sure thing. Here, sit.” Tommy gestured to a chair he’d brought from inside the house, then retrieved Cassandra’s cauldron from the birdbath/table and poured the contents into the flames in a raised firepit they had on the patio. It smoked a bit and smelled like burning hair, but only briefly, then the usual scent of burning cedar returned.
Some of the people had left immediately, while others stood around talking in low voices. I even saw a business card or two exchanged. It had turned into a cocktail party again. Ev and his grandfather said their goodbyes to me, Ev telling me his bestefar was leaving in the morning and he’d see me in the office Monday. The rest of the ogres trooped out after them.
Jack said goodbye, too, telling me Sally would be very pleased with the results of the ritual. I kissed him on the cheek with a “thanks” before he left. Rhys said something to Tommy then let himself out the gate.
“So, is it done?” I couldn’t help but ask Bella as we stood around, waiting for the crowd to disperse.
“Oh, honey, is it ever. Didn’t you feel at least a little something?” I admitted I felt the release of pressure but nothing else. Bella wasn’t a close enough friend for me to share what I felt or knew.
“It doesn’t matter. Take my word for it, he’s gone, and will be for at least the rest of your lifetime.”
I hung around until everyone had left, then helped haul the trash bags over to the dumpster behind the deli’s building. For this event Cassandra stooped to using disposable cups and plates but naturally, they were all made of biodegradable materials. Tommy doused the fire while Cassandra and I carried the serving dishes back into the house.
“I’d say that was a spectacular and successful ritual, wouldn’t you?” she asked as we washed the serving dishes and put them away.
I shrugged my shoulders. “I guess. If you say so. I still don’t know what I’m seeing or feeling. And what about the stuff that was on the birdbath table?”
“Adamo and Bella took the remains from the dish with them. Adamo will dispose of the ashes in the river after he’s dropped Bella off. Running water, y’know. [I didn’t.] Tommy’s clearing the rest of it now.”
We’d just finished the dishes when Tommy came in, rubbing his hands together to get some warmth.
“It’s warm over by the fire,” Cassandra told him. “Why don’t you go thaw yourself.”
Tommy and I both froze in place and looked at her. She had a sheepish look on her face as she turned to him. “I know I’ve been an ass these last couple of weeks and I’m sorry. Maybe it was just the stress of wanting the ritual to go perfectly or something. Forgive me?”
Just as he took her in his arms, my cell phone rang. It was Tony. Oh m’god. I’d forgotten about him! “Hi Doll,” he said when I answered. “Did everything go alright?”
“Everyone who knows says it did so I guess so. But what about you? You weren’t here. How are you covered?”
He laughed. That nice, deep bark of his that I liked so much. “No worries, Doll. I gave Cassandra some of my hair before we left the New Year’s Eve party. She said she wanted it for a variety of reasons – to track me in case you got worried or to curse me into oblivion if I ever hurt you. T
hen she smiled and told me about the ritual and said if I couldn’t be there, the hair would tie me to it.
“I’d have given it to her for the first reasons but the last one was OK, too. At that point you didn’t have a date for the thing so I couldn’t commit. Turns out I couldn’t have made it tonight, anyway. So, I take it we’re free of the creep. Can I call you mine publicly, now?”
I blushed. Cassandra came up for air long enough to yell, “She’s all yours, Tony. Think you can handle her?”
“We’ll talk about it later,” I said quietly. “I love you.”
“Love you, too. Tell Cassandra I can handle whatever you throw at me. Call you tomorrow.”
I left the two love-birds-once-again and walked back to my apartment. I felt like a huge weight had been lifted and I slept like a log as soon as I laid my head down. For the first time in a while, I didn’t even remember dreaming.
The next morning dawned brightly. It had snowed sometime the night. The light dusting made everything look clean and fresh. It was going to be a wonderful day.
Postscript
Humans are such silly animals, don’t you think? My human, Amy, is a witch even though she denies what she sees and feels. Oh, not a real powerful one but a witch nonetheless. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been assigned to her. For five long years, I’ve been nudging her, trying to get her to acknowledge her abilities but no.
If I could speak her language, I’d ask her why she’s never succumbed to any of those vampires she meets. She reeks of them when she comes home from those fancy-dress parties and I’m glad when she takes the clothes away to the dry cleaners.
I’d also ask her if she thinks mundanes can see and feel the flow of energy. Perhaps she should ask that smelly ogre of hers if he can do that. (I’d also ask her not to ever invite him into the house again. Although I’m finally used to the smell clinging to her when she gets home from work, it’s a hundred times worse when he comes to the house. It takes days for his smell to go away.)
At least she’s resolved her feelings about the human dog. When she gets jittery, I get jittery. That’s not a good feeling for an otherwise calm cat to have. And if she’s going to have a relationship with someone, I guess he’s better than the others she’s brought home. At least he cares for her. As long as he’s in his human form when he’s here. I don’t do full-on dogs.
I spoke with the Familiar Council and asked to be relieved of my assignment. If she’s not going to do magic, I don’t see why I need to continue hanging out at the computer while she writes her foolish stories. I could be having fun helping another witch who actually does magic. They denied my request. It appears this human will need my services at some point.
Soon, I hope. I’m bored.
“Fudge”
Acknowledgements
Every major character in this book is loosely-based on someone I have known in my life. I won’t name names except to say that Fudge is an amalgamation of several cats who have owned me over the years. If anyone happens to recognize themselves, I won’t apologize for making you look better!
Laura Perry, editor extraordinaire, did a bang-up job of correcting all my writing faux pas. When you get all wrapped up in your story, it’s difficult to see grammatical, punctuation and formatting errors.
My thanks to my beta readers (you know who you are) for being a cheering section. Friends like you gave me the intestinal fortitude to actually go public.
Finally, head cheerleader and husband, Pete, is the best support a woman could ask for. Without his prompting, my off-the-top-of-my-head short story would have stayed just that … and buried on my computer.
About the Author
A semi-retired accountant, Master Herbalist, author and witch, Deborah J. “DJ” Martin is the author of non-fiction books about herbs as well as this fiction series.
She abandoned frozen Minnesota many moons ago and now lives in the woods of the southern Appalachian Mountains with her husband, four cats and numerous woodland creatures. If you can’t find DJ in the garden or visiting her grandchildren, check Facebook http://www.facebook.com/authordjmartin, Twitter @authordjmartin, or her website http://www.authordjmartin.com.
A personal note to the reader:
On the next page, Kindle will give you an opportunity to rate this book on Amazon and share your thoughts about it on Facebook and Twitter. If you enjoyed this book, would you take a few seconds to let your friends know about it? Word of mouth is the best way for an author to build an audience and I’d really appreciate the help. Thanks!
Stressed! Page 22