The Encounter

by Idaean Halley

she was walking, alert and sneaky, that made Luna think that it was something much more important. Her instinct, with the strength of a premonition, insisted that she would not walk the other way. Luna waited for her aunt to walk a bit further and then she began to follow her, hiding behind the tree trunks on each side of the path.

  Emma jumped over the fence and entered the park. The pale light of the moon reflected on the white sculptures, highlighting the dark and empty eye sockets. She tried to keep her eyes staring at the ground as she walked to not get any more nervous than she already was. That place had always unnerved her. Years before, she had felt the power radiating from its ground, but she had resisted using the place to carry out her rituals. It felt like, in a way, the power there had been corrupted, there was something dark and wrong about the place. However, she understood why the woman had chosen that place to carry out the ritual to pass over plains, she had to gather all the power she could manage in order to carry out such a complicated spell.

  When she found a clearing she thought was adequate, she dedicated a few seconds in concentrating and expulsing all of the negative energy from her. If she were willing to try to help them, she had to leave both fear and doubts behind her. Any thought tying her to her own plain would prevent her from making the leap. When she felt ready, she drew a protection circle around herself, murmuring the words. She looked up at the moon, held her arms out in a cross and, feeling how the wind blew through her hair and giving her strength, she raised her voice to pronounce the rite:

  Invisible goddess travelling through the mist

  In the darkest times I call for the sacred power.

  Hear on this night the word of the witch.

  The great work of magic is needed in this hour.

  Listen to these words, listen to them rhyme

  To you I send this fiery sign

  For our brothers I seek to find

  In another place and another time.

  That both mind and body soar

  Until we discover a whole new land.

  To places never reached before,

  Let the limits stretch and expand

  Spirits of air, earth, water and fire.

  I offer to the wind this rhyme:

  Chains time and space let me undo.

  Allow this mortal to cross with this plea.

  Know my desire is pure and true

  May my portal be opened by thee.

  A small white light appeared in front of her, floating in front of her face. Emma was surprised, the rite seemed to be working. She knew that she was not strong enough to carry out such a complex and powerful spell. This could only mean that the story the woman told her in her dream was true, that there was somebody on the other side helping her with the ritual. She forced herself to keep concentrated, while she watched how the light grew, taking the shape of a door made of light. When the portal was big enough, she lifted her face towards the sky and shouted the name that the woman had given her in her dream:

  — Eilean!

  She felt the strength of a bolt hitting her and knocking her to the ground. Her mind became blurred for a few seconds. With great effort, she stood up and crossed through the door.

  Luna knelt down on the floor, unable to remain in the squatting position she was in any longer behind the bush. She had no idea of the aim of the ritual her aunt was carrying out, she had not understood anything that she had shouted into the wind. Nor did she know what the bright light was that had appeared in front of Emma and that grew by the second. It seemed like the spell was working how her aunt wanted because she had not seen at any point that Emma felt scared or lost her concentration, but Luna felt deep down that something was going wrong. She felt her stomach grip and the nerves throughout her body completely on edge, as if they were pushing her to run up to her aunt and stop her. But she didn't dare move. Emma would be angry if she knew she had followed her, so she remained alert, prepared to jump if things got complicated.

  Her aunt shouted a strange word and fell to the ground motionless, as if something very powerful had hit her. She lay still on the ground, as lifeless as a broken rag-doll, with her eyes staring up at the sky and one of her arms under her body in an unnatural position. Luna jumped out from her hiding place and ran over to her, feeling tears stinging her eyes while she prayed that her aunt was okay.

  She reached her aunt's body. She continued in the same position, completely still. A soft and thin column of grey smoke seemed to rise up from her body and passed through that circle of light which was growing smaller and smaller. Luna knelt down at her side and shook her, trying to reanimate her, but she received no answer. She continued to call her, hug her, look for her pulse and breathing for what seemed like forever, even after the strange light had disappeared, leaving them alone in the dark field. Luna fell to the ground, sitting there staring at her aunt, unable to accept what had happened.

  She squeezed her hand one last time before running away. She hated the idea of leaving her there alone but she had to reach the town to look for help. Maybe it wasn't too late. It couldn't be too late.

  She ran from the park, looking for somebody to help her. She ran down the path without stopping to take a breath, feeling desperate, until finally, she saw the lights of Estella. Knackered, she continued to jog, murmuring a prayer, wishing that it had all just been a nightmare.

  5. The promise

  She wasn't even capable of calculating how much time she had been sitting on the stairs in front of her aunt's house crying. She did remember how the first rays of sun had appeared from behind the mountains, lighting up the ambulance that drove her body away. Now the sun was high in the sky, it must have been almost noon, but she didn't know what she had done during all those hours, as if the time didn't pass as it would normally do.

  She dried her eyes on the sleeve of her t-shirt, although new and fresh tears began to run down her cheeks minutes later. She felt so confused and lost, so reluctant to believe that what she was going through was real... She tried to organize her mind, to remember the events and her thoughts of the past hours, but she wasn't able to. All she could do was think over and over again that none of what happened was possible or fair.

  She remembered the ambulance and the police car and the man standing next to her asking her questions. But she didn't know what he had asked, or the replies she had given him. All she remembered was that he had asked her if she wanted to go to the police station while she waited for her parents to arrive and that she has shook her head while sobbing. The man had told her that her parents would arrive shortly before he got into his car with a sad look on his face.

  Luna stood up and started walking around the garden, pacing back and forth like a caged beast. She had to try to calm down, so she forced herself to think only about the steps she was taking, putting one foot in front of the other and looking at the floor, trying to stop the memories from rushing back. A tiny plant caught her attention; she bent down and picked it up, holding it tightly in her hand. She could almost hear her aunts' voice telling her that plantain could be used to prepare cough syrup or teas to help with headaches. She closed her eyes and could see her standing next to her with the plants in her hands with her smile that lit up her entire face.

  The sound of a car engine made her open her eyes. Seeing her father's car driving up the path, she stood up straight and walked over to it. The car stopped and, even before the engine was cut off, the rear door opened and Cristina appeared, running towards her to embrace her. Luna jumped to her friends' arms, sobbing harder than before while Cristina whispered soothing words and stroked her hair.

  She felt a hand on her back and turned around. Her father was standing behind her, his eyes shining from fighting away tears. Luna hugged him and felt how he stifled a sob. She had never seen her father cry before and, all of a sudden, as if she hadn't been aware of it until that very moment, she realized that Emma had been his sister. If she, who had only been with her aunt for a few weeks, missed her so much, it must have b
een terrible for her father. He must have been torturing himself with past memories and, above all, for the years that had passed without seeing her and all the things that he would have liked to have said to her and now didn't have the chance to.

  — You have to hurry up and pack your things Luna— her mother's voice brought her back to reality like a slap in the face—. We have to go to the funeral home to sort everything out.

  Just the mere thought of the funeral home made her stomach turn. She didn't want to see her aunt in a coffin, she would have liked to have remembered her laughing, walking through the forest while talking to her. Unfortunately, the last image that she had of her, her body lying motionless in the middle of that field, wouldn't leave her mind, as well as the feeling that she should have done something, that she knew something bad was going to happen and she had done nothing to prevent it.

  She nodded at her mother and pulled away from Cristina. Her friend followed a few steps behind her without saying a word. Luna turned around, reluctant to leave the light behind her and walk into the house which now seemed so empty and lifeless.

  — Do you need me to help you pack?— her mother asked, taking a step towards the house.

  — No thanks. Me and Cristina can pack in no time.

  They walked into the house, while