“Have you ever been to Russia?” I asked.
“No? I don’t think so.”
“You’d take that back if you ever met Ivanov. He was my Russian guide when I went to Moscow. They do this thing where they carve holes in lakes—you know, because they freeze over in the winter—and they go and have dips in the water beneath the ice.”
“That’s insane.”
“Well, the makeshift pool is warmer than the ice and the surface. It’s like a hot spring. He strong-armed me into doing it,” I said, displaying my travel experience in order to avoid Damien’s question.
Damien fell quiet and sipped his hot chocolate. “This isn’t Russia, though.”
I sighed. “You’ll think I’m weird if I told you why I did it.”
“Okay, how about you tell me and I decide whether you’re weird or not?”
“Something strange happened to me,” I started, “First this Raven cawed at me, almost as if the bird was trying to get my attention. So when the bird fluttered off I went after it and wound up at the riverbank. Then it’s as if something grabbed hold of my neck and squeezed so tightly that I couldn’t breathe, like a panic attack.”
I had Damien’s attention, although I’m sure I sounded like a mad woman.
“Next thing I knew I was in the water pulling something from out of the mud, and you pulled me out.”
“What did you grab?”
It seemed as though, perhaps, Damien didn’t need to ask the question but went ahead anyway. “A bracelet,” I said.
“Can I see it?”
I nodded and produced the bracelet from my pocket. Damien took it, and his face turned a deathly white.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” said Damien. He sighed. “Listen, you don’t look too hot right now.”
“Thanks.”
“No, I mean, you’re tired. You’ve just been through hell. I should probably get out of your hair.” He handed the bracelet back to me.
“You’re leaving?” I asked.”
“I probably should.” Damien stood.
“Yeah… sorry, I’m actually exhausted. I didn’t feel it until you mentioned it.”
Damien nodded. “Thanks for the hot chocolate, though. I’ll see you in class, rest up okay?”
With every step Damien took towards the door my eyes sagged further. I heard him get into his car and pull out of the drive. By then my body was a weary mess. I wanted my bed, screw having a shower. White feather pillows embraced my head lovingly as I hit the bed. I drifted off.
He didn’t even take his clothes.
CHAPTER 7
I didn’t do much after my three hour afternoon nap. Eliza kept me company online that night. We hadn’t properly spoken since I started class and only saw each other in the crossover during lunch at the bookshop. She’d then go home for the day and I’d stay behind to cover the afternoon shift. It was enjoyable to catch up and tell her how things were going, although I omitted mention of Damien and my strange experience at the river. I had nothing to say which didn’t make me sound like I had a screw loose.
Leaving the house the next morning in a red and black tartan skirt, a black sweater and my Doctor Martens, I didn’t feel as rough as I thought it would. Playing with the stones on the bracelet I found in the river kept the memory of the event fresh enough to write them down in my dream diary, even though my mid-morning dip wasn’t an actual dream. I hadn’t seen Damien all day, and without his deep eyes to distract me my mind found no reprieve from what happened on the banks of the Geordie.
After class, in the shadow of what I’d decided was my Sycamore tree, I swallowed several chapters on the religious traditions of Ancient Sumerian tribes. The words on the page slipped from my mind, and retaining information was about as difficult as trying to catch a trout with one’s bare hands—my dad caught two in ten minutes once. Still, my keen interest in the subject matter spurred me on. I’d never known much about ancient humans, at least not in a theological sense, but this fascinated me enough to urge me into turning another page.
Rustling grass alerted me to a presence fast approaching. My stomach churned expecting awkward conversation with a random. I raised my book further and hid behind its cover.
“Hey,” said the tall shadow.
I looked up and spied Damien’s dark silhouette breaking the sun’s light. “Hi.”
Damien smiled. “Mind if I join you?”
I nodded and cleared a space for him in front of me.
He set his backpack down next to mine and sat on the grass. Denim jeans, Nine Inch Nails on his shirt, black leather jacket and a pair of Doctor Martens. I wondered if they still smelt like the river.
“About yesterday,” he said.
“Don’t mention it. You were right, I needed the rest.”
Damien smiled.
“How was going home in a rainbow colored shirt?” I joked.
“Oh, right, that—”
“Don’t worry, your clothes are safe and sound. Dry, last I checked.”
“Thanks.”
I shrugged. “I didn’t have to do much. Only, I slept like a log, so they may have shrunk.”
“Serious?”
I flashed a grin. “A joke!” I said, smiling.
Damien seemed to be a little on edge. I didn’t know him well enough yet to make that observation but he’d always shown me a cool front. I wondered what was wrong.
“Look, can I be totally honest with you about something?” he asked.
I brushed stray copper strands out of my face. “Sure, what is it?”
Damien paused. “You’re wearing the bracelet?” The charms distracted him. I didn’t think that’s where his line of inquiry was headed.
“Yeah. I don’t know. Why do you ask?”
“Nothing, it just caught my attention,” said Damien. He ran his hands through his hair and narrowed his eyes at me. “Yesterday, at the river, you felt something didn’t you?”
“Yeah, like, I felt compelled. Like I had to be there, I had to dive into the river and pull this bracelet out of the water. I have no idea who it belongs to, but I’m thinking she could’ve been Wiccan.”
“A Wiccan? What makes you say that?”
“These stones are amber, amethyst and rose quartz. They’re semi-precious, but they’ve got symbolic meanings. The amber and the amethyst help with emotional healing and getting rid of negative emotions and the rose quartz helps to balance someone out, especially if they’ve just gone through some emotional stress. I have a feeling the person who made this was dealing with some issues.”
Damien stared off into the tree line down the hill.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Did it freak you out?” he asked, facing me again.
“I’ve never felt anything like that in my entire life, it totally freaked me out.”
“You’re Wiccan, though, right?”
I nodded, proudly. There are more shocking religions in the world to associate with. Being Wiccan wasn’t out of the ordinary, but admitting it to someone not of the craft was taboo, we simply didn’t do it.
“I noticed the Triquetra around your neck and… you used the word Mabon in your notebook,” said Damien.
“So you know what a Triquetra is?” I asked.
Damien nodded. “It’s also called the trinity knot. Christians use it to represent the trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”
“You’ve basically been spying on me,” I joked.
“You sit next to me. It’s difficult not to notice what you’re doing.”
He found me interesting enough to notice, and not in a bad way. I beamed on the inside.
“And what religion do you hail to, if you don’t mind my asking?” I asked, resuming the conversation which had fallen into a silent but comfortable lull.
Damien smiled. “I’m Wiccan too.”
My eyebrow involuntarily arched.
“Is that true?”
“Bide the Wiccan Law ye must, in per
fect love, in perfect trust.”
My lips curled into a grin. “Go on,” I said, testing him.
“Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfill,” Damien continued, “And ye harm none, do what ye will. What ye sends forth comes back to thee, and ever mind the rule of three—”
“Follow this with mind and heart, and merry ye meet and merry ye part.” I felt obliged to finish the creed with him, our voices speaking in unison. “I’ve never met a non-Wiccan who knows our creed.”
“I’m not surprised. It’s pretty long.”
My heart threw itself into a steady but heavy lub-dub. The words Damien recanted, perfectly, formed the Wiccan’s code of ethics. The information can easily be found online, but the ability to recant it on cue meant Damien was the real deal.
“So if you’re Wiccan too, where’s your Coven?” I asked.
Damien shook his head. “I don’t have a Coven right now, not here. To be honest I hadn’t thought about needing one before moving out here. I’m happy to do my own thing when I have to.”
“But that’s no fun, and it isn’t as the Goddess intended.”
He smiled again. “You couldn’t have said it better.”
“Why don’t you come round and meet my friend Eliza tonight? I have this bookstore on Rosella; we’ll all probably be there. You can meet them, maybe even join us?”
“You’re sure you and your friend would be okay with that?”
“She’ll be fine with it—just come hang out with us.”
“Alright,” he said, brushing one side of his hair over his ear.
“It’s the least I can do, and besides I want to know more about what happened at the river; just promise me you won’t run off again,” I said, smirking like a sly fox.
Damien nodded and stood with a smile on his face. He seemed a little more relaxed, but he couldn’t fix his eyes on my face for some reason. Maybe he was just awkward like that; awkward like me. I stood with him and collected my things.
“I have to go,” said Damien, “But I’ll come to the bookshop tonight. Is six okay?”
“Six is fine,” I said, smiling.
He disappeared down the stony path and into the mess of students who had also stuck around after class, chatting and laughing. What an enigma. Those hazel eyes of his could draw you in and never let you leave, and they’d make you believe it was your idea to fall into them in the first place.
CHAPTER 8
The long stroll from Raven’s Hall to the center of town by way of Briar Park became my favorite. Raven’s Hall consumes more than a third of the grounds, the rest of it is littered with benches, winding pathways and small ponds full of wildlife. Going far enough into the park takes one to the banks of the Geordie. In the summer people come in throes for a dip, but the park rapidly declined into an early winter this year.
Back at the bookstore I met up with Eliza. She was a saint for taking on the responsibility all on her own. I needed to repay her somehow, but I wasn’t sure how yet. I convinced her to spend the afternoon at the shop with me.
“What are you going to do when I have the baby?” asked Eliza. She would hand me this week’s hottest sales from out of a box and I’d place them on the display window. The job required more stretching than I would’ve liked to impose on her pregnant body.
“I don’t know, I was thinking I’d just replace you with some other, equally sexy assistant.”
I glanced at Eliza when I realized she hadn’t yet placed a book in my waiting hand. “You okay?” I asked.
“You haven’t told me how your day was,” said Eliza, arms folded.
“Oh, right, yeah, what is there to say? Things are going good.”
“Just good? You’ve been ranting and raving about how excited you are to finally take the plunge into this whole school thing and it’s just good?”
“It’s only been a week, Eliza.”
“That might be so, but Jesus, you’ve been so quiet these days.” Eliza pouted. An urge to hug her overcame me, like seeing a mom on the brink of bursting into tears.
I stepped off the ladder and brought myself to her level. “I’m sorry,” I said, claiming my hug.
“Would it make you feel better if I told you there was a guy in my class?”
“Go on?” she said. Her eyes narrowed inquisitorially.
“It was, like, the only fun thing to have come out of this whole thing. Well, besides the time I spent reading.”
“Really?”
“Yeah,” I said. I grabbed a book and deftly clambered over the main display window to prop the hardcover into its proper place. “The lecturer could’ve bored me to death, and at first I thought this guy was staring at me like some kind of weirdo.”
“And just what was this pervert staring at?” asked Eliza, sternly, like a concerned mother.
“No, no, it’s not like that,” I said, “He’s a Wiccan too.”
“What makes you say that? Did he make the weather change for you?”
“No… but if you looked at him you’d be forgiven for believing he could call storms with a single thought.”
“That good, huh?” Eliza walked around the main counter and I followed her.
“We just click on so many things. We sit next to each other in one of our classes, sometimes we see each other after.”
“And when will you be taking his last name?”
I laughed. “Shut up. I actually invited him here tonight.”
“The cat’s out of the bag. You want me to meet him, right? That’s not like you.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I’m just saying. You normally aren’t that willing to let a guy in.”
“No, but this one’s different. And we’ve been talking about bringing in a fourth, haven’t we?”
She pursed her lips. “How hot is he?”
I slapped her arm in jest. “Elizabeth Green, you’re spoken for!”
“So? I’m not asking for me. You—Amber Lee—have a horrible taste in men.”
“I do not! I’m just selective.”
“Yeah, and you consistently select douchebags. Anyway, come here a second.” Eliza walked around the front desk, reached beneath the counter, and produced a book cover I’d been all too used to seeing lying around lately; Twenty Thousand Leagues. “Guess what I found in the back room last night.” she said.
I picked the book up and examined it. “I put this book back twice.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I did. Look.” I produced my phone from my pocket and flipped to the picture of the row of books on the shelves, Jules Verne still sitting where I’d left him.
“Do you think we have a ghost?”
“I don’t know, but this book is moving around.”
An unexpected chime at the front door startled us both. A gust of wind slipped into the shop, brown autumn leaves followed on its back and Damien stepped through.
“Hi,” I said.
“Hey.” He had an awkward smile about his face, like someone who’d just walked into his parent’s bedroom. “Sorry, did I catch you at a bad time?”
“No,” I said, dropping the on the counter book and shoving the strange incident to the back of my mind.
“Hey,” said Eliza, who was much more capable of keeping her cool than I was. “Eliza, pleased to meet you.”
Damien and Eliza shook hands over the counter. “Likewise,” he said, “I’m Damien.”
“I heard! How’s everything at college?”
“Good,” said Damien. “Busy, but fun.”
“Seems like a pretty involved course. Amber’s been busy all week too.”
“We don’t get a break. You have to know your material if you’re going to impress our professors.”
Eliza smiled and loaded her next question. “So, Amber tells me you’re a Wiccan?”
My stomach dropped, but the smile on Damien’s lips soothed my nerves. “News travels fast.”
“It does,” said Eliza, “She also told me you wanted to join
our Coven?”
“Really? Just like that?”
“We can’t afford to be picky in this town, Damien.”
“Small towns,” Damien agreed.
Eliza twirled strings of black around her fingers and threw me a suggestive smile, a gesture I’d learned to recognize from our many nights spent club hopping as her seal of approval. More specifically, the seal of “snatch him up before I do.” I’d seen it before, and I’m well aware what she’s capable of; pregnant or no.
“So, Damien,” I said, bringing him a stool, “you said you aren’t in a Coven right now. Did you have one in San Francisco?”
“Thanks. I did,” said Damien, “One of us owned a small boat. We’d take it out to a little island not too far from the shore and spend the entire night talking, calling the quarters, invoking the guardians.”
“That sounds pretty neat.”
“We had a good time, but mostly we made sure to play things safe, kept our noses clean, helped people out. We all volunteered at a homeless shelter.”
“Wow, that’s admirable.”
“We didn’t do it for admiration, only to give back.”
I smiled. He just got better and better.
“How often would you meet your Coven?” asked Eliza. She sat down on the stool behind the counter.
“We were all good friends, so we met often. But for rituals… maybe about once a week?”
“Sounds like us,” I said.
“Weekly too, huh? Do you have a sacred place?” asked Damien.
“Well, it’s just the three of us so we tend to just meet in my attic. It’s a powerful place.”
“You should see it,” Eliza threw in, “I’m sure Amber wouldn’t mind giving you the tour.”
Damien smiled. “I’ve already seen it.”
Eliza, caught completely off guard, shot me a look. “Have you now?” she asked, “Amber failed to mention that.”
“Would you like to know what I had for breakfast too?” I asked.
“Grapes and black coffee, because you’re out of milk.”
A lucky guess. I frowned.
“—you single, Damien?” asked Eliza.
“I—”
“—don’t answer that, Damien,” I said, interrupting, “We’ll have plenty of time to get to know each other another day.”