Walking through the woods at night with only a flashlight app from her phone to guide her way, Ariel thought the place was spooky. She couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to meet in the vast expanse of trees. She didn’t even like being out in the wilderness much during the day, let alone when all the animals could hide in the darkness.
A flame caught their attention in the distance, they were getting close to where the note left in her locker told them to meet the coven. Even though she was complaining, Ariel was glad Cassidy was there with her. Wandering around on her own out there would have been a thousand times worse.
“I don’t like this. I would like it to be officially stated for the record. Especially if we get sacrificed out here or something,” Cassidy whispered as they reached the clearing.
“Relax, we’ll be fine,” Ariel reassured her, hoping she believed the words herself too. After all, she knew the witches. Kourtney, Karen, Miss Perry, there was nothing to be afraid of. Lilia was another story, but the others wouldn’t let her hurt them, right?
“Ah, you’ve found us,” Miss Perry smiled warmly, ushering them into the group. “I hope our location wasn’t too tricky to find?”
“No problem at all,” Ariel returned her smile. So far, so good.
“And you brought a friend.”
Ariel faltered for a moment, was she not allowed to bring someone? Were the instructions to come alone? Were they going to call the whole thing off because she let Cassidy come with her? “I hope that’s okay. Cassidy knows everything that’s going on.”
“Not a problem. Let me introduce you to everyone.” Miss Perry took her by the arm and led her around the circle. “You know Karen and Kourtney, and Lilia of course. This is Madeline, Ally, and Kelly.”
Ariel nodded as they waved in turn. She guessed the other women were probably around Miss Perry’s age, with the exception of Ally who seemed to be older – perhaps about forty or fifty. They were dressed in their normal clothes, not the black cloaks and pointy hats that Ariel had expected. To anyone who didn’t know what they were, it could have just been an ordinary get-together.
“Everyone looks so normal,” Ariel couldn’t help but comment. “Is this how your coven usually meet?”
“Absolutely. We only dress up for special occasions. Don’t believe anything you’ve seen in the movies,” Miss Perry said kindly. “Now we’re all here, let’s get started. We’ve got a lot of work to do tonight.”
She guided Ariel and Cassidy to join the circle as they stood around the fire. Ariel was grateful for the warmth, it was starting to get chilly as the temperature dropped in the dark night.
Taking a glance at Cassidy, Ariel cringed. Not only was she standing there with her arms crossed, but her face easily read disgust. She gave her a subtle tap on the arm, whispering, “Try to blend in.” The look she got in return was enough to turn someone into stone, yet she still let her arms fall to her sides. It was a start.
Lilia started to circle them, steadily wandering around the group. “We all know the problems we face and the challenges ahead. Our first step in freeing the Black Eyed People is to break the protection spell of the Morbose people. Only after we find them can the curse really be lifted. Kourtney, how would you suggest we break the protection spell?”
“We could try scrying?” Kourtney suggested, although it sounded more like a question. She looked around the group for some reassurance that she was on the right track. Ariel wondered if she was the newest member of their coven, she seemed to be the one least at ease – excluding Cassidy and herself of course.
Lilia nodded. “Scrying would be the first place to start, well done.” Kourtney beamed with pride.
“What’s scrying?” Ariel asked.
“You’ll see,” Miss Perry said with a secret smile. They started to move away from the fire and through the woods, Lilia holding a flashlight – a real one – to guide their way. Cassidy clung to Ariel’s side, refusing to let her out of her sight.
The trees opened up to a lake, the water so still it completely reflected the moon above. Lilia stopped them at a shallow pool of water at the edge. It was surrounded by stones, creating a rock pool effect.
“Gather around,” Lilia ordered. “Ellula, do you want to do the honors?”
Miss Perry nodded. “I would love to.” She crouched down and used her finger to swirl the still water. As she did, she chanted something under her breath. Ariel couldn’t make out any of the words, she wasn’t even sure if it was in English.
Ariel looked around at the others, each one of the women were staring at the pool intently, barely even blinking. She wondered what they were all expecting to happen, at that stage she wouldn’t have been surprised if something jumped out of the water and spoke to them.
“It’s starting,” Lilia commented, her voice barely more than a whisper.
Ariel quickly turned to watch the rock pool again, she could finally understand what they were doing. In the black surface an image was forming. She had to squint to make out the forms but they were definitely there.
“What do you see?” The old woman asked, directing the question at Miss Perry. She stared, mesmerized as she replied.
“There’s a group of people, I think they’re a family. There’s a symbol, something like a triangle. But it’s not clear. The images are all distorted, something is wrong.”
“Could it be the protection spell?” Karen asked. “Could the spell be blocking the image?”
“I don’t know, it’s strange, something is not right,” Miss Perry replied, trying to make sense of the pictures in the rock pool.
Ariel’s eyes kept flicking from the water to her teacher. She didn’t understand how she could be seeing what she was. There were definitely people in the water, it was like watching a television channel that wasn’t tuned properly. Your mind tried to fill in the blanks but it was difficult to make out the entire picture.
“Focus on the symbol, Ellula,” Lilia said steadily. “Try to find some distinguishing details that might help us.”
Miss Perry nodded and set her face in a determined grimace. She leaned in closer to the rock pool, trying desperately to focus. The water rippled under the pressure, the image momentarily swaying.
“It’s definitely a triangle but it’s got something inside it. I can’t make out what it is.”
“Try harder, concentrate. Call on the elements to help you.” Lilia crouched down next to her, talking in her ear so she could block out anything else that might be distracting her.
“It’s a circle or something. A sun, perhaps?”
“That’s good. Now what can you tell me about the people? You said they were a family?”
“It’s difficult, but there are two women, a man, and perhaps a-”
Miss Perry didn’t get a chance to finish her sentence as the pool suddenly erupted into action. Water exploded from the small circle, sending streams of cold water in all directions. All the girls were drenched right through. The amount of water that was sprayed far exceeded the amount the rock pool held.
“What happened?” Ariel asked, quickly looking at the faces surrounding her. Cassidy was fuming at her side but she tried to tune her out. Her quest for answers was far greater than their discomfort.
Miss Perry was on the ground, stunned into silence. None of the other girls would answer, either they didn’t know or they didn’t want to tell her anything. Finally, Lilia regained her footing and turned to face Ariel.
“I can honestly say I have never seen that happen before,” she said, her voice shaky and her lazy left eye twitching. “We need to discuss this further. You two better leave.”
“But I want to help,” Ariel replied, panicking at the thought of leaving before anything was really accomplished. She didn’t want to stop, not when they were trying to help her.
“You need to go, we will be in touch.”
Cassidy looped her arm through Ariel’s and pulled at her. “You heard the woman, we need to go. Come on.”
Cassidy stomped through the trees, heading back towards the fire in the distance. Once they arrived there, they would be able to find the path back to her car. Ariel let her make all the decisions, following blindly. All she could do was replay the way the water had exploded over and over again in her mind.
What had made it act like that? Why did it happen? Did it have something to do with the protection spell? The curse? Did it mean it would be impossible to break through either of them? Were the witches going to give up? Would they think it was too dangerous to pursue it further? There were so many questions flying through her mind that it was making her nauseous.
“We need to get out of here,” Cassidy said, pulling her along faster. “I don’t know what happened back there but I told you this was a bad idea.”
“It wasn’t a bad idea, we still need to lift the curse,” Ariel grizzled back. “We can’t let Gabe suffer for the rest of his life.”
“I don’t care about Gabe, I care about you. What if it wasn’t just water that sprayed us back there? What about if it was fire or something? We could have all been killed.”
“It was just water, it was nothing,” Ariel replied, wishing Cassidy wasn’t such a drama queen. Every time something happened she didn’t agree with she turned it into a big deal. It was just water, she was certain they were never in any real danger.
“Water tonight, God only knows what else another time. You need to leave this alone, Ariel, seriously.” Cassidy tripped over a branch, catching her footing just before she fell over entirely. “Ugh, this is so stupid. I can’t believe we’re out here in the woods in the middle of the night. This is ridiculous.”
Ariel let her go until she ran out of steam. There was no point in defending her position, not when she was in such a mood. Anything she said would just add fuel to the flame. Cassidy wouldn’t be listening to any reason.
They made it back to the car and climbed inside. Cassidy didn’t waste a moment before starting the vehicle and putting distance between them and the woods.
Suddenly, Ariel remembered her ruse to get out of the house. Checking her watch, they had only been there for barely an hour. “We can’t go home yet, we’re supposed to be at the movies. It won’t be finished for another hour.”
“Well I’m not staying out here in the middle of nowhere. We’ll just tell our parents we didn’t like it and left early.”
Ariel nodded, that would work. Her parents might just be relieved to have her home early and not have to worry about where she was. “I think that will work.”
“Good. I’m not turning back.”
They spent the rest of the drive back to their homes in complete silence. Even when Cassidy dropped her off, she just grumbled a goodnight to her friend. Ariel was barely out of the car before she was back on the road again.
CHAPTER 22
Ariel was still confused the next day when she arrived at school. She didn’t know what to think or what she would tell Gabe next time they spoke. The last thing she wanted to do was to give him bad news. She hoped she wouldn’t have to.
Cassidy wasn’t to be seen in the school corridors. If she needed something from her locker, she either went without or retrieved it before Ariel arrived. It was okay with Ariel if she needed some time to simmer down, she would get over it eventually without her having to grovel back into her good books.
Leaning against her own locker, waiting to spot her friend somewhere, Ariel saw Kourtney. She instantly made a beeline for her, keeping her eyes locked on the witch.
“Kourtney, I need to talk to you.” She grabbed her arm and pulled her into an empty classroom.
“I need to get to class,” Kourtney protested.
“We have plenty of time. What happened last night?” Ariel begged, unable to keep the whine out of her voice. “Please, I just need to know.”
Kourtney looked desperately at the door, pleading for an escape from the conversation. But one look at the girl and she knew she wouldn’t be able to do it. “I can’t tell you everything, it would be betraying the coven and I can’t do that.”
“Just tell me what you can then.”
“Fine,” Kourtney sighed. “Lilia thinks Shadows were involved.”
“Shadows?” Ariel asked, completely confused.
“They’re beings that live in the darkness. They feed off negative energy and can become quite powerful. If you get too many in the one place, they can do a lot of damage.”
“So it was the Shadows that made the water splash like it did?”
“We’re not sure but Lilia said it was a possibility.”
There was something Ariel still wasn’t getting. Either it was because all of it was so new to her or because it just didn’t make sense, she wasn’t sure. “But we weren’t being negative, we were all positive about being there and breaking the curse.”
“Not all of us,” Kourtney said with a tinge of contempt in her voice. Ariel instantly understood – she was referring to Cassidy.
“Cassidy couldn’t have made the water do that. She was a little annoyed but she wouldn’t do anything like that.”
“She didn’t need to, the Shadows would have fed off her energy.”
“But she was just one of us there.”
“It only takes one.”
Ariel stared at her, not wanting to believe Cassidy would have had anything to do with what happened. She refused to believe it, they had to be wrong.
The bell rang, finally releasing Kourtney from her imprisonment. Ariel just had one more thing to say before she left. “Are you still going to help me?”
Kourtney stopped at the door, turning back to face her. “Yes, but you’ve got to come alone next time.”
Ariel could agree to those terms, she would just have to make sure that Cassidy didn’t know about their next meeting. She was going to have to get a lot better at lying or her life was going to be very difficult.
She hurried off to class, hoping to have something interesting to keep her mind occupied. She didn’t want to think about the witches or the curse any longer, she needed a few hours of respite.
Luckily, that came in the form of Math class. Mr. Andrews announced a pop quiz at the beginning of the class, much to the groaning of his students. Ariel didn’t mind, one hour of focusing on equations would do just the trick.
She accepted her quiz paper gratefully and blocked out everything but what she needed to complete the test. She didn’t even glance over at Cassidy sitting on the other side of the class or wonder what she was thinking about the previous night. Her mind was too focused.
By the time lunch rolled around, her mood had improved significantly. Ariel waited for Cassidy outside her Geography class, refusing to eat lunch alone.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t Cassidy that stepped out first, it was Spencer. He stopped next to the door when he saw Ariel.
“Oh, hey, Ariel, how’s it going?” Spencer asked casually, leaning against the wall beside her.
“Fine,” she replied, wishing Cassidy would hurry up. She didn’t want her to slip past and if she saw Spencer talking to her, she might do just that on purpose.
“How are the tickets selling?”
“Good.” How long was he seriously going to stand there talking to her?
“I’m going to wear a tux, you know, to the prom. I thought I would get dressed up. Have you got your dress yet?”
“I think I’ll just wear something out of my closet,” Ariel replied distractedly. She wished he would get the hint and leave.
“You must have an awesome closet.”
She smiled, grappling for something else to say. Thankfully, Cassidy saved her. “I’ve got to go, see you around, Spencer.”
He probably said a goodbye to her too but she was gone, chasing after Cassidy. She was determined not to lose sight of her and h
ave to spend the entire lunch break alone.
“Hey, slow down.”
Cassidy turned her head, seeing her for the first time. She slowed down her pace – slightly. “Oh, I didn’t see you there. I have to get to the bleachers.”
“Are you stalking again?” Ariel asked, remembering how she was currently obsessed with Niccolette and getting on the cheerleading squad.
“Yep.”
“Can I help?”
“Fine,” Cassidy sighed and fastened her pace again. They hurried through the corridors, weaving through the masses of bodies as students went everywhere. It was like running a gauntlet.
When they finally emerged outside, the cool air was a breath of freshness. They made their way to the bleachers, spotting Niccolette and her friends on the lower rows. Cassidy made her way to the top row, giving them the perfect position to watch over them and study their every move.
“What are we going to eat?” Ariel asked, sitting down and suddenly realizing they didn’t actually stop to get some food from the cafeteria.
Cassidy delved into her bag and pulled out a sandwich. “You can have half of this. I have snacks too if you’re still hungry.”
Ariel accepted half the peanut butter sandwich gratefully, it would be a good start. She looked down at Niccolette, laughing and talking to her friends. They were all cheerleaders, the perfect type – hair neatly pulled back into a high ponytail, clothes impeccably on trend, and smiles that only money could buy. Why Cassidy wanted to be one of them was beyond her.
“Are you sure you want to be a cheerleader?” Ariel asked, to fill the boredom if nothing else.
“Look at them, they’re perfect.”
“You’re perfect too, just in a different way.”
“Well I want to be perfect in that way,” Cassidy replied, matter-of-factly. “Everybody loves the cheerleaders. Can you imagine how great that would be?”
Ariel couldn’t imagine. To her, the cheerleaders were all fake and covering the ugliness that they really were inside. But she would never say that to her best friend. She could find out for herself, she would never believe her anyway. Once Cassidy put her mind to something, it rarely changed.
Dark Eyes: Cursed Page 10