Then Eva’s voice broke her deep thoughts, asking her to bring out the candles. She watched as Eva moved between two lots and drew a large circle around her. She placed the candles a foot apart around the inside of the circle, and right in the middle she set the vervain, the saffron, the incense, and the pentagon. Then Eva asked Arielle and Gabrielle to take a seat on the edge of the circle, close their eyes, breathe in deeply, and exhale several times.
“Meditate,” she said. “Try to get rid of all unwanted thoughts and problems that may be occupying you. We all need to have a clear view of what we are here to do, and nothing else.” They sat quietly for about twenty minutes, concentrating only on Juliet and Jasper, becoming more relaxed and more serene, wanting to see this matter through.
At the end of twenty minutes, Eva entered the circle and lit first the incense, then the vervain and saffron. Slowly she moved on to light the candles one at a time, starting with the black one and ending with the white.
“The light from the candles will illuminate the passageway between our worlds,” Eva whispered. “Through these candles there is truth in all communications that come to me." Then she sat between her two friends and asked them to hold her hands.
“Please concentrate very hard and try to merge Juliet and Jasper in your minds by repeating three words under your breath: “Juliet, Jasper, merge…”
They followed her instructions and began to quietly chant those three words together. Then Eva closed her eyes, and after a short pause she started to chant slowly but with a firm voice.
"Guardians of the Spirit realm, hear and guide my plea.
When the witching hour rings true, bring my friends to me.
Other souls who hear my call are not welcome in this place.
Only the ones known as Juliet and Jasper may enter the sacred space."
Eva was quiet for a short time. Then she repeated the spell two more times. Nothing happened for a long while; it seemed like centuries to Arielle. But suddenly she was jolted by very evident changes in their surroundings.
They had been well prepared to stay calm and not make any gasping noises or show any fear. Their fingers were intertwined, and they grasped each other’s hands tighter and stronger while, with their thoughts, they willed Juliet and Jasper together.
The wind picked up and the swishing sound of tree leaves became a loud whistle, so loud that it made their eardrums hurt. Arielle closed her eyes tight and pressed her lips together, not sure of what was going to happen next. Suddenly she felt heat spreading across her skin, and she snapped her eyes open as her jaw dropped.
Right in the middle of the circle there was the familiar brilliant cocoon, its light surrounding Juliet. The sight was breathtaking, her hair was moving around her face to a light breeze and her eyes were sparkling like two precious jewels. A mystical smile spread across her face as she looked intensely past their faces somewhere into the darkness, and her arms were extended, as if they were waiting to embrace someone.
Their eyes were wide open and their breath seized in their throats as they waited, still holding hands, still whispering the words “Juliet, Jasper, merge” over and over again. Not long after that, the whistling from the leaves of the trees stopped, and stony silence fell around them.
Arielle didn’t think she could describe in words what happened next. A strong sound almost like thunder was heard, but there was no storm anywhere near. A soft white cloud moved around the outer part of the circle, pausing for a short time over each one of them. First Eva, then Gabrielle, and finally Arielle, who felt a soft touch as it passed over her and moved slowly towards the center of the circle. Juliet’s eyes were on that cloud, and her smile was now even wider. But a second later, the cloud moved inside the brilliant cocoon and changed into a young man with open arms that encircled Juliet.
The brilliance of the circle was amazing, and the heat that it was producing was almost too hot to bear, but they didn’t move an inch. Their embrace was a long one. There were tears in Juliet’s eyes and there was peace in Jasper’s face. They both bent down and picked up the pentagon, their eyes never leaving each other’s faces.
Arielle was crying; she could not take her eyes away from the two souls that had found each other and could now take their final journey together.
As they moved away, Juliet looked back at Eva as if she was trying to say something, but they couldn’t hear a sound. Eva smiled back at her with a look of complete gratification on her face, tears rolling down her face.
Arielle was still trying to get over the shock of the most amazing experience she’d ever had in her life. Nothing was left but the circle and the burning candles. Eva got up and extinguished the candles in the same order in which she had lit them. With the palm of her right hand she moved the ashes of the vervain, saffron, and the incense around the outline of the circle, making it disappear. She picked up the candles and they all moved towards the car without speaking.
They all cried, touched by the beauty of the experience and the positive outcome of their effort. Arielle’s heart was calm, peaceful, and happy. She was thankful for her friends and thankful for her life.
When she was back safely in her room later that night, Arielle took her journal out of her desk drawer and climbed into bed. Her emotions were evident as the pen started to glide across the blank page.
May 29
Today I learned that there’s no greater joy than that of true love. I saw two souls that searched desperately to find each other, even after they were dead. I saw the love, the passion, the devotion, and the need between Jasper and Juliet to be one. Their merging shattered my senses down to my very core. Apparently the definition of “love” is nothing like what I thought it would be, prior to tonight’s events. The turmoil in Juliet’s face while looking for Jasper was astounding. I want so much to find that kind of love. I want the imprint of the man I fall in love with to reach the depths of my very soul. I want to fall in love and experience the warmth and the extreme sensation of exhilaration that Jasper and Juliet’s faces displayed when they found each other.
I’m voraciously curious, and I’ve every intention to try and experience the same kind of love. However I’m a bit terrified at the thought that I might not be able to find the guy that would fit the blueprint I hold so dearly in my heart and mind. What my future encompasses, I don’t know, but love is a feeling I don’t want to live without. After today I can’t possibly doubt the power of such an amazing feeling, such an astonishing commitment that exists between two souls in love.
Arielle had been awestruck by the power of the alluring concept of true love. She was lost in thoughts of pure fascination as she set the journal aside and lay back, stretching sluggishly, heart filled with wonder over such a powerful emotion. She hugged her pillow, closed her eyes, and let deep sleep claim her.
Chapter 5
THE SUMMER HOLIDAYS were over again, and the time flew by, as always. Soon, Eva, Gabrielle, and Arielle were back at home, getting ready for school. They decided to rent a flat close to campus even though their homes were only about twenty-five kilometers away from the university. They were sure this was going to be a great place for them to have privacy but to also have the luxury of going home any time they wanted to do so. They realized that this was going to be a stressful time for them, meeting new people and settling into new routines.
They moved into their new flat the week before school started, and by the weekend they were all settled in and pretty excited about the first day of school. Over the weekend they sat down, as they always did, and talked about their experiences and all the exciting things they had done during the summer holidays.
Eva went first but by the disappointed look on her face they didn’t expect to hear much. “Well, as you both know, I am a sun worshipper,” she began. “So I spent most of my time on the beach reading or listening to music. And I did get a great tan, but there was no mystery and no adventure for me. I went to a few parties and I met a very nice looking guy from Spain.
At first I thought it might turn out to be something interesting. I quickly found out that he didn’t speak a word of English, and as hard as I tried I couldn’t understand a word he said to me. I know he liked me, but how can you have anything romantic or exciting happen if you can’t communicate at all? There were a few kisses, but nothing I would call earthshaking,” she said with a sigh. “So, like I said, no adventure this year. I sure wish that one of these times I would meet someone special, someone who would bring true romance into my life.”
“Well, don’t worry about it, Eva, my summer was pretty much like yours,” Arielle said. “Except for two things. I didn’t get a great tan like you did, and I didn’t meet anyone special at all. I think at this point I would liked to have met someone even if he didn’t speak any English. At least I would have something to say about my holiday right now,” she chuckled. Eva laughed and reached over to hug her.
Gabrielle seemed to be the only one with something exciting to talk about. “I went horseback riding with my holiday friends every day,” she said with a twinkle in her eyes. “And this year I noticed a young man following us from a distance, but he never got close enough for me to see his face clearly. I could tell that he was tall with dark hair, and his horse was absolutely beautiful. His riding gear was extremely elegant and he looked very mysterious. I asked one of the girls if she knew who he was, but she said she had no idea. However, she said she had seen him following them the previous year as well.”
She looked at both of them to see their reactions, and found them listening to her attentively. “Naturally, my curiosity about him was intense,” she continued. “And what made it even more romantic was he followed us as we rode by abandoned castles and Roman ruins. I thought of him as the lord of one of those castles and how amazing it would have been if he was watching me.” The faraway look in her eyes and the smile on her lips made Eva and Arielle think that she was somewhere back in Italy again, seeing her mysterious rider off in the distance.
“There were several girls in the group,” Gabby said. “So I didn’t know who he was there for, and I wasn’t going to assume that he was there for me. But he sure made the summer more exciting,” she said with a happy sigh. “Every day I looked forward to seeing if he was going to show up and he always did.”
“Well, at least you have something exciting to think about this year, and something to look forward to next year,” Arielle said. “I never even got a tan and I spent hours lying on the beach.” She sighed with disgust as Eva chuckled.
The first day of class was a bit stressful, and they were all a bit nervous. They were now completely independent, a new experience for them. The day might have been a complete disaster if they hadn’t taken the time to buy their books and find their way around the campus beforehand.
Most students aren’t sure of their major until they have a couple of years behind them, but all three girls were already pretty well set on their course. Arielle had signed up for her classes with a firm vision of becoming an engineer; Gabby was determined to become a surgeon just like her father; and Eva wanted to follow in her father’s footsteps too, and become an attorney. When her father was alive he had owned a very successful law firm, which had been passed on to her uncle. He was running the firm for Eva until she was able to run it herself.
The second day of classes, they had chemistry class together. They sat next to each other and looked around at the faces that they would be seeing often for the next few months. Or maybe it would it even be years. Everything seemed so new, so different, and so exciting.
It was in chemistry class that they met Paul Wheatfield, a very pleasant and friendly young man. He looked at them as soon as they walked in, and smiled a big smile. He was absolutely beautiful with warm brown eyes, and it filled Arielle’s heart with pleasure just to look at him.
After class, he walked up to them and introduced himself. Talking almost in unison, all three girls started to introduce themselves, telling him they were pleased to meet him.
“So what’s the deal, you come in threes?” he said, laughing as they stopped and started again, trying not to interrupt each other in their eagerness to talk to this incredibly handsome young man. They laughed too. Almost instantly, they struck up an easy friendship, and when one of the girls needed a lab partner, Paul was there to help. Usually, Arielle worked with Paul, and Eva and Gabrielle worked together.
By the second month they had settled into a regular routine that was neither too difficult, nor unpleasant. They actually loved the classes they were taking and sometimes they would study together so they could help each other with the more challenging problems.
Paul became a close friend, and fortunately he didn’t belong to that special group of people in Arielle’s head whose thoughts she could hear. He was very reserved, dressed with extremely good taste, and preferred to protect his privacy. Arielle had a strong feeling that he liked her, but he had never come out and actually asked her for a date. She didn’t think about it too much because she wasn’t interested in him in that way. He was beautiful, but she knew he wasn’t the man she was waiting for. She liked him as a friend and figured that was as far as she would ever take it.
The girls came to learn that Paul’s father was a producer and his mother a director in the movie industry. They were both very successful and very well known. The three girls had an open invitation every time Paul’s parents visited the school and took Paul to lunch or dinner. Though they were careful not to intrude too much, they enjoyed several fine meals with Paul and his parents.
Paul also had three close friends that he introduced to the girls, Alex Durand, Robert Gibson, and Damien Sanders. They were interesting guys and the more they hung out together, the more the girls liked them.
Robert was of average height with hair that looked almost black against his white skin. He had dark blue eyes and though he was very handsome, there was restlessness in his eyes that made it clear he was burdened by something. His girlfriend, Rachel, was a little strange and hardly ever talked to them when they were together.
Alex was a little different. His moods were unpredictable. Sometimes he was full of high spirits and other times he fell into near melancholy, a character trait that actually intrigued the girls.
Damien had a great sense of humor and beautiful, friendly, warm, honey-colored eyes. His girlfriend was Danielle, and she was just as nice as he was.
Time rolled by, and they met many people with different tastes and ideas. The variety was wonderful since it created a nice mix of personalities. Some of their classmates became temporary, casual kinds of friends, and some became truly good friends.
When they didn’t have a class or didn’t have to study, they would spend time at the local pub on campus having a beer, coffee, or tea.
The girls thought they had absolute control in setting the pace of moving forward with their chosen, very challenging vocational fields. They kept up with their school routine, their socializing, and each summer went on holiday with their families. Two years into their university studies they were startled to find out that their lives were going by too fast. At the end of the second year of their studies they finally realized they had to take careful control over their lives and slow down enough to enjoy each and every day.
Coming back from their most recent summer holiday they found themselves back in their apartment, glasses of wine in hand, discussing their summer activities, hoping that this time one of them would have an exciting, magical, fairytale-like story to share. But once again the news was pretty much the same as in previous years. They had nearly given up on the notion of meeting their white knights in shining armor, the true loves that would sweep them off their feet. They all were so anxious to meet that one special man, and fall deeply and completely in love with him. But that was beginning to seem an impossible dream. They were now in their third year at the university and, except for that one missing element, they seemed perfectly content with the mixture of attentiveness to their studies, their gene
ral routines, and pleasure that consumed their lives.
Arielle knew that trust had always been the foundation of the friendship between the three of them. She was now at a point in her life that she had thoughts and desires that she could no longer share with her parents. She loved them dearly, but she felt some things had to be kept secret, which she either held for herself or shared with Gabrielle and Eva. So they became the sharers and keepers of all her secrets and she became the keeper of theirs. She was sure that she could trust Gabrielle and Eva with her life, and that they would never violate that trust.
Around the middle of the first semester of their third year, Gabby told them that she had met a guy named Marcus in one of her classes, and that she liked him a lot. She had gone out on a few dates with him, and now she wanted Eva and Arielle to meet him. She seemed to be quite taken by him and his charming ways.
So a couple of weeks later they agreed to go out together, along with Paul and Damien. They arranged to all meet at the girls’ flat first.
When Marcus walked in the door, Arielle’s lungs seized as their eyes engaged for a split second. Marcus was amazingly good looking; very tall, with perfect features and a great build. He was dressed all in black, making him look very mysterious. His hair was very dark, almost black, and so were his eyes. As he entered the flat he smiled at Gabrielle, took her in his arms and kissed her passionately. After enjoying the kiss, Gabrielle introduced him to the guys first, and then she brought him over to meet Eva and Arielle.
“Arielle, Eva, this is Marcus,” she said. Though she tried, she couldn’t really hide the excitement in her voice.
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