by Isobel Bird
Book
9
Through the Veil
Isobel Bird
Contents
HarperCollins e-book Special Feature
Halloween Magic
Chapter 1 Annie stood on the street, looking up at the house…
Chapter 2 “What would you like to talk about today?”
Chapter 3 “We have to do something really cool…”
Chapter 4 “So you’re really going to San Francisco?”
Chapter 5 “Kate, I’m open,” Jessica called.
Chapter 6 “Happy birthday, dear Annie. Happy birthday…”
Chapter 7 “What do you mean you don’t want to do it?”
Chapter 8 “Ladies and gentlemen, please fasten…”
Chapter 9 Kate was trying very hard to remain calm.
Chapter 10 “You’re the girl who lived in this house?”
Chapter 11 “How’s it been at home?” T.J. asked Cooper…
Chapter 12 Annie was sitting on the couch in the Dunnings’…
Chapter 13 “So, what do you think?”
Chapter 14 “He kissed her good-bye?” Sasha said, amazed.
Chapter 15 Cooper dialed Jane’s number and listened…
Chapter 16 Annie was nervous. She knew she was going to see…
Chapter 17 Two days later, on the actual evening of Samhain…
About the Author
Credits
Other Books
Copyright
About the Publisher
Halloween Magic
When many people hear the word witch they automatically think of Halloween. They may picture the stereotypical cartoon witch with her pointy hat and broomstick, perhaps accompanied by a black cat. On Halloween night you can see many trick-or-treaters dressed in that same pointy hat and black clothes, cackling and laughing as they open their bags and wait for their candy.
Halloween, with its costumes and candy, its ghoulies and ghosties, is one of the most fun holidays of the year. But for witches, Halloween is something else as well. It is the most important of the eight sabbats, or holidays, that make up what witches call the Wheel of the Year. In fact, it is the witch New Year, symbolizing the night when the Wheel completes its turn and begins to turn again.
The name witches use for Halloween is Samhain (pronounced SOW-un). Its name comes from the Irish Gaelic word for the month of November, and in traditional farming societies it marked the beginning of winter, the time when the last crops were gathered in and the animals slaughtered to provide meat for the coming months of cold.
The traditions that remain today in the form of trick-or-treating and dressing up have their origins in older, more serious, ways of celebrating Samhain. On Samhain, the veil between the world of the everyday and the world we cannot see is at its thinnest. It was thought that on this night the world of humans was visited both by the spirits of the departed and by the inhabitants of the realms of faerie, some of whom could be very dangerous.
Out of this belief came several traditions. The jack-o-lantern, for instance, was created as a means of scaring evil or mischievous spirits away from homes. People thought that if they placed grinning jack-o-lanterns in their windows and on their doorsteps it would frighten away anything trying to get in. The giving out of candy or treats symbolized the practice of making offerings to keep the spirits from doing harm. And dressing up served two purposes – originally it was to confuse the spirits who might be wandering about and, later, it was a way to impersonate these same spirits when humans began to lose their fear of them.
While witches certainly like to have fun at Samhain, it is also a night when serious magical work is done. This Halloween, you might want to think about doing a little more than going out trick-or-treating. By all means have a party if you want to. But don’t have a plain old Halloween party. Create something really magical, a celebration that captures the old meaning of Samhain. Decorate with real carved jack-o-lanterns. Tell ghost stories like people might have told one another while gathered around their Samhain fires waiting for dawn to drive the spirits away. Watch movies – like Sleepy Hollow or The Haunting (the original black and white one, not the silly newer version) – that capture an old-fashioned Samhain spirit. Use your imagination and create an atmosphere of magic and mystery. Then, as part of your Samhain celebration, perhaps do one or both of the following activities:
1. Remember the Dead
Many witches use Halloween’s thinning of the veil as an opportunity to remember – and perhaps communicate with – the souls of those who have died. In Through the Veil, Annie and her friends perform a ritual to communicate with Annie’s deceased parents. There are many ways in which you can attempt something similar. One excellent way is to set up (on your altar, if you have one) a special shrine for a person or people important to you who have passed on. Get a picture or objects connected to the person you want to remember and set them where you can look at them. If you like, you may also add candles and flowers to the shrine, or perhaps food or drinks that the person especially liked. The important thing is to create something that represents the person you want to remember.
On Samhain night, sit and look at the shrine you’ve created, thinking about the person and what she or he meant to you. If you like, you can close your eyes and imagine the person being there with you, speaking to you. Say whatever you want to say, and see if the person says anything back. Are you really communicating with the spirit of this person? Perhaps. But even if you aren’t, you’re saying what’s in your heart, and you’re celebrating that person’s role in your life.
You can do this ritual alone, but you can also do it with friends. If you decide to do it with others, have everyone bring pictures or mementos of people they want to remember (it’s also perfectly okay to remember animal friends who have died). Go around the room and tell stories about the people you’ve chosen to remember on Samhain. Share with one another, and celebrate the joy these people brought to your lives. Afterwards, you might want to have a party to remember and celebrate the joy of living as well.
2. Look into the Future
Because Samhain is considered such a magical night, it is also a night for divination, for looking into the coming year and seeing what path should be taken and what work should be done. Just as many people make resolutions and plans at the New Year, many witches like to do the same at Samhain. One fun thing to do on this night is to have a Tarot card reading for the coming year.
Take a deck of Tarot cards and shuffle them however you like. Some people like to shuffle them just as they would a regular deck of cards, while others like to swirl them around in a big pile. Mix the cards up in any way you like. Then draw twelve of them, one for each month of the coming year. Again, draw the cards in whatever way appeals to you, either straight from the top of the shuffled deck or randomly from a pile or spread.
Lay the twelve cards out and look at them as if you were looking at the calendar for the coming year. What does each card represent? Do you see any kind of pattern? Remember, Tarot cards represent the general atmosphere surrounding a situation, and not necessarily exact events. Try to see what kind of theme runs through the twelve cards you’ve chosen. Are there lots of cards indicating difficulty? Then perhaps you’re going to face a number of challenges during the coming year. Are there lots of cards suggesting relationships with other people? You might find that your year is centered around friends and family.
As with any Tarot reading, don’t get too caught up in trying to figure it all out right away. Write down the twelve cards you select and keep the list somewhere where you can refer to it every month. As each new month approaches, look at the card you drew for that month and see if it can help you prepare for what might happen. If you drew a
card that suggests your month might be difficult, use that information to be more aware of potential obstacles you might encounter. Don’t assume it means something bad will happen; consider it a reminder that you might have to work harder that month. Similarly, if you drew a really wonderful card for a particular month, don’t assume everything will automatically be easy for you that month. The card suggests what could happen if you work hard to make that month everything it can be. Use your Samhain Tarot reading as a map for the coming year. If you really pay attention to the cards and try to understand all of their possible meanings (and Tarot cards each have many, many meanings), you’ll find that your New Year’s reading will provide you with a lot of helpful information.
– Isobel Bird
CHAPTER 1
Annie stood on the street, looking up at the house in front of her. The street lamp beside her cast a warm pool of light around her feet, which were bare, and the cold night air chilled her skin. She rubbed her arms, shivering. Why am I outside? she wondered.
The windows of the house were dark—all except for one downstairs. There were white curtains hanging in it, but behind them she could see multicolored lights blinking on and off in a random pattern. They look like Christmas lights, she thought vaguely as she continued to watch the house. There was something familiar about it, but she couldn’t quite place it.
All of a sudden she saw a flash of light in the window. A moment later the curtains burst into flame as tongues of orange and yellow licked at the glass.
Fire! Annie thought. The house is on fire!
Then she knew where she was and why the house was so familiar to her. It wasn’t just any house. It was her house. Not the house she lived in now in Beecher Falls with her Aunt Sarah and her younger sister, Meg, but the house she had lived in when she was a little girl. It was her house, and it was burning.
Not again, she thought, fear overcoming her as she realized what was happening. Not again.
She tried to move, but her feet wouldn’t carry her forward. All she could do was watch as the flames in the window grew brighter. She wanted to scream, to call for help, but her voice was frozen inside of her. She knew that behind the window she was lying on the couch, where she’d fallen asleep after sneaking downstairs to plug in the Christmas tree lights and watch them twinkle. And she knew that her parents and Meg were still asleep upstairs, oblivious to the danger that was creeping toward them as the flames spread quickly through the house.
Then she saw a light go on in an upstairs window, and the shadow of a figure ran past the curtained glass.
Daddy! she cried out silently. She knew her father, awakened by the smell of smoke, was running downstairs to see what had happened.
Get Mommy! Annie called to him, feeling like the six-year-old girl she had been on this particular night. Wake her up! But she knew that her father, still half asleep, was stumbling down the stairs. She knew that in a moment he would see her, huddled on the couch, and pick her up in his strong arms. Upstairs, her mother, confused by the thickening smoke, would just be realizing the danger that was upon them.
Leave me! she screamed. Go help Mom and Meg!
The front door opened, and Annie saw her father emerge, clouds of smoke surrounding him as the fire was fed by the fresh air that was sucked into the house. A small figure was in his arms, her hands around his neck as he came down the stairs and into the garden.
That’s me, thought Annie sadly. That’s me he’s carrying.
Her father set her down. “Stay here,” he ordered as he turned and ran back toward the house.
No! Annie called out. No! You’re going to die!
But her father didn’t hear her. She saw him disappear into the mouth of flame and smoke. She saw herself standing in the garden, nightgown singed and hair disheveled, staring after him.
Why didn’t you stop him? she thought as she watched herself. Why?
But she could stop him now. She knew that. She could save him and her mother. All she had to do was run into the house. All she had to do was get her feet to move. She could find them and lead them to safety. They wouldn’t have to die because of her.
She tried to move forward, but she couldn’t. She was frozen, helpless, as she watched her house burn with her parents inside of it. No matter how much she tried to will herself forward her body wouldn’t obey her. Something was holding her back.
She woke up then, knowing instantly that the dream was over. That was how it always ended. But she hadn’t had the dream in almost three years. Why had it come back now?
Annie sat up and turned on the light beside her bed. She was in her upstairs bedroom in the big old house she’d lived in since her aunt had come to get her and Meg after the fire. She was nowhere near that other house, and many years had gone by since that terrible December night. But she could feel it all over again, the waves of confusion and helplessness that had consumed her as she’d stood in the garden, waiting for her father and mother to come out and tell her that it was all right, that it was safe to go back inside and climb into her cozy bed in the room down the hall from theirs.
Her father had come out again—once more—carrying Meg. “Watch your sister,” he’d told Annie as he’d put the seven-month-old baby in her arms and turned to go into the flames a second time.
But he hadn’t come back for them. They’d stood in the garden, Annie holding Meg tightly, waiting. But he hadn’t come. Only the neighbors had come, and then the fire trucks. The neighbors had led them away from the house while the firemen in their yellow coats and heavy black boots had gone inside with their hoses and their axes. Annie had asked them over and over again when her mother and father were going to come out, and they’d told her that it wouldn’t be long.
Of course they hadn’t come out. They’d died in the fire, overcome by the smoke and the flames. Annie had never seen them again. She’d remained with some friends of her parents until Aunt Sarah had arrived a few days later to take her and Meg back to Beecher Falls and their new life.
For years Annie had blamed herself for the fire and for the deaths of her parents. Countless times she’d relived in her mind the events of that night. Countless times she’d told herself that if she hadn’t plugged in the tree and fallen asleep it would never have happened. And countless times she’d closed her eyes at night and found herself dreaming about it all over again.
She’d never told anyone about her role in the tragedy, not until a few months earlier, when she’d faced death in a different way during a Midsummer ritual she, Cooper, and Kate had attended. She’d spent that evening acting as the squire of the Oak King, an actor playing the role of the pagan figure who ruled over the waxing half of the year. She’d watched as he engaged in a mock battle with his brother, the Holly King, the lord of the waning year, and was slain.
Although she’d known that it was all pageantry, and that the Oak King had not really been killed, watching his death had unleashed the years of pent-up emotion that had been brewing inside of her. After the ritual was over and he’d finished playing dead, she’d told him about her parents’ deaths and about her feelings of guilt. Somehow he had helped her understand, at least a little bit, that there was meaning and purpose to the way things happened. She still didn’t know what purpose there might be in her parents’ leaving her in such a horrible way, but she’d felt better.
Now, though, the full weight of those events had come crashing back down on her. In recent months she’d begun to reconnect with her parents through her memories and through some of their belongings—photographs and some small objects that had been saved from the fire—that Aunt Sarah had found in storage. Aunt Sarah also had some of Annie’s mother’s paintings, which Annie cherished greatly.
But with this reconnection had come renewed pain. Annie was happy to have the good memories come back, and she had been delighted to discover that not everything had been lost to the flames. She was particularly glad that Meg would have the opportunity to learn about their father and mother. Bu
t along with those things came some of the old feelings of guilt and responsibility.
And now the dream had returned. Annie sighed deeply, thinking about it. There’d been a time, particularly in the first couple of years after the fire, when she would wake up several times a week screaming or crying out for her father. Each time it was because of the dream, a dream in which she stood, unable to move, while her father gave his life to rescue first her and then Meg. Each time she woke up from the dream Aunt Sarah would rush in and hold her, telling her that everything was all right while Annie sobbed and thought, No, it’s not all right. It will never be all right because they’re gone and it’s my fault. But not once had she ever told her aunt that her tears and her nightmares weren’t just because her parents were dead—they were because she’d caused those deaths with her carelessness.
Annie got out of bed and went to the window. The moon, slowly growing to the fullness it would reach in less than a week, was hanging almost directly above the houses. It would be full on the nineteenth. Annie knew this because that was the day of her sixteenth birthday. When she’d looked at her moon calendar and seen that, she’d been thrilled. She loved full moons, and to have one on her birthday—especially such an important one as her sixteenth—seemed like a sign of good luck.
She still hadn’t decided what she wanted to do for her birthday. She knew her friends would do something for her. They’d already been hinting around about a big surprise, feeding her tiny clues in an attempt to get her to beg them for more information. But she’d refused to give them the satisfaction, even though wondering what they might have planned sometimes drove her crazy. As for her aunt, she’d been asking Annie for weeks what she wanted to do. So far Annie hadn’t thought of anything. Sixteen was a big deal. It felt as if she’d been waiting for it for a long time. She wanted to do something really special, but to her surprise she hadn’t been able to think of anything.
Suddenly she found herself wondering what her mother and father, if they’d been alive, would have done for her birthday. They’d always done wonderful things, like the year she was five, when they’d taken her to Golden Gate Park to fly kites, or the year she was six, when they’d hidden all of her presents and sent her on a treasure hunt through the house and garden for them. She knew that they would have made a big deal out of her turning sixteen.