stand in judgment. I will not harm them. Their condition was caused by their own ignorance of the magic of the place, the position of the stars, and what they tried to invoke. They would not be strong enough to do any such magic had the stars not been in their proper alignment or they had not tried such an act in a sacred place. They will recover in due time and I can only hope they will awaken a little wiser.”
“What happens to you?” Maryann asked.
“I am neither alive nor dead. Even though I entered the door, I never fully left my own realm. In due time, I will fall asleep and leave this world again.”
“But what about you? You've got no followers and no home,” Isabella said.
“Would you worship me, airy firefly child?”
“Er, don't take this the wrong way, but no. No I wouldn't.”
The pinpoints flashed in the depths of the hood. “Would you worship me, fire-haired worshipper of many pantheons?”
“I, er, don't know,” Maryann said. “I don't know anything about your pantheon and you make me nervous.”
“Then I will be forgotten again. But I will exist in the land and the trees and the birds until the stars spin in the sky to the right alignment and I fully awaken. Then all will know my name again. Farewell, strangers all who banded together against the ruler of the raven, rook, and crow.” With a shower of feathers and clamor of a hundred birds, the ancient deity disappeared from the circle.
The four girls ducked their heads while birds shot through the trees. In a minute, they straightened up and looked at each other.
“So, now what?” Leah asked.
“Let's check on the others,” Isabella answered, and walked over to the unconscious girls. However, the first thing she did was rip the invoking spell out of the high priestess's Book of Shadows and stuff it in her pocket.
Maryann walked over to her friend Brittany, who was already stirring. “Hey, Brit,” she said. “How do you feel?”
“Whoa. I was having the weirdest dreams...hey, did I really fall asleep during the ritual?”
The other girls were starting to regain consciousness.
“It looks like you did,” Maryann replied. “And I guess I didn't miss much after all.”
“Oh, damn it. I was really hoping for something special,” she said, completely oblivious to the unusually large amount of bird feathers that were now in the grove. “Oh, you brought your friends too?”
“They wanted to see a ritual, so I was going to ask. I wasn't just going to barge in.”
“Oh, I know you'd never do that, Maryann,” Brittany said.
“But I'm sort of curious; what would you have done if you actually contacted the goddess?”
“Talk to her, I guess.”
“But she's a goddess. Why would she want to talk to you?” Maryann asked gently.
“Because we asked, of course.” Brittany rubbed her forehead. “Maybe that's not such a good idea after all. I don't know. We'll talk about it the next time we meet.”
“Okay. Well, me and my friends are going to head out. It's getting dark and the Fair's going to close soon.”
“Sure, sure,” Brittany said vaguely.
The four young women made their exit from the grove.
“Wow!” Maryann said once they were more or less alone. “Do you know how few people I've met that really understand the arcane and occult? I mean, you two are Christian but you weren't even a bit surprised. And Isabella, it sounds like you're atheist but you're a medium.”
“I'm not atheist, not exactly. I just don't see a reason to believe in gods anymore than I see a reason to believe in the mailman,” she said defensively.
“That doesn't bother me at all,” Maryann said. “How about you two?”
“That is the least of things that occurred this evening that is going to bother me,” Nora replied.
“Who am I to judge?” Leah said with a shrug. “But, um, what do we do now? I'm pretty sure we just met an ancient death god. I'm no stranger to weird happenings, but I have to say that was way weirder than anything I've ever seen.”
“Me too,” Nora said.
“Yeah. I mean, I have spirit sight and that's way beyond anything I've ever come across,” Isabella said.
“I think we should stay together,” Maryann said.
“And do what? Go around solving supernatural mysteries and bailing out stupid people?” Nora asked wryly.
“I'm pretty sure that's the plot of a 1970s Hanna-Barbera cartoon,” Leah said.
“Well, we could do that too. I mean, magically we all fit the Western elements. But actually I was thinking we'd make a great band!” MaryAnn replied.
“I'm pretty sure that's also the plot of a 1970s Hanna-Barbera cartoon,” Leah said with a bit of a laugh.
“We can play all the instruments, we can all sing at least a little, and it would be the best thing ever,” Maryann said.
“You're making some pretty big assumptions here,” Nora said.
“Well, look, you can come over to my house for dinner and we can talk. Skipper won't be home so there will be plenty of room.”
“All right, I guess,” Isabella said.
“I have to tell my band but otherwise it shouldn't be a problem,” Leah said.
“I need to let my friend know I'm coming in late,” Nora said. “But sure, why not?”
“That's great!” Maryann said.
“What would we even call ourselves?” Nora said as they walked towards the main gate.
Isabella picked up a black feather. “Maybe the Ravens?”
“How about Nevermore and the Ravens?” Leah suggested. “Just to get that whole Goth feel to the band we haven't decided to form yet.”
“I like it,” Maryann said. “I know this is the start of something great.”
The Lyrics:
I see you hippie dippie chickie
With your silver jewelry and black lipstick
Keeping your necklaces untangled must be tricky
You're not empathic; you're dense as a brick
Leather-bound journals and athames of plastic
Spangles and bangles on polyester gauze
Casting spells with your coven of the clueless
With no reason to use magic than just because
Refrain: Emo, poser, faker, fluff bunny Goth wannabe
You don't know magic, you don't know ennui
Pretending to be cool but you're such a disgrace
Prancing around in crushed velvet and black lace
You have plenty of religion
All pantheons are open to you
Whatever everyone thinks is cool
Well, those are your gods too
Yesterday you worked with the Greek gods
Today you're into Celts and fae
The gods and spirits guide you to enlightenment
By telling you to do what you were going to anyway
Refrain
You're so clueless you don't think this song is about you
You've don't need trite props; you have a different view
Your words of full of wisdom; you're so mature
Well, your words are full of something; that's for sure
As long as facts and logic are incidental
And no one is the least bit judgmental
Except of course to things you find detrimental
Then depth and substance are merely accidental
Refrain
If what you believe is complete fabrication
And orthopraxy and orthodoxy have no place
Nor does reason nor does investigation
Then you're just crushed velvet and black lace.
Track 8: Tintinnabulation
The Interview:
Brad: The song “Tintinnabulation” really shows your Gothic literary influences.
Lee: If you say so.
Brad: This is clearly referencing a poem by Edgar Allan Poe, and your name also references a poem by Poe.
>
Lenore: Poe was an underrated author. Most people associate him with Gothic and dark romance, but forget he created the modern detective story. However, I'll admit we utilize the more well-known dark aspects for our stage personas.
Brad: But “The Bells” is not particularly dark and receives a lot deal of criticism.
Belle: The first two verses are not dark but the third verse is about a fire alarm and the last is about funeral bells. The literary merit of the poem is not under consideration as far as inspiration.
Anna: Although to be fair, the music is not particularly dark.
Brad: No. It's kind of an upbeat folksy indie rock tune with, of course, lots of bells in the background. So what was your inspiration?
Belle: To showcase a different instrument. Bells are pretty much everywhere and almost no one thinks of them as musical instruments. Everyone's heard church bells, or at least electronic chimes imitating bells.
Lee: Or we could be writing it about Belle. You never know.
Brad: That's why I'm asking you!
Lenore: And we'll never tell.
Brad: [laughs] You may be the oddest band I've ever interviewed.
Lee: Is that a compliment? I can't tell.
The Flashback:
The band called Nevermore and the Ravens was on the road again.
“Why can't Mr. Rafel book our December gigs in Florida?” Leah sighed, staring out the window at the snowy night and pulling her brown jacket more firmly around her. “I'd love to go the beach around Christmas instead of sleeping with the instruments so they don't freeze in the van.”
“Mr. Rafel gets us the work, and that's really all we can ask from an agent,” Isabella said.
“Although it'd be nice if he'd remember what kind of music we play,” Nora replied drily. “But I get to visit Sabra, and that'll be nice. I haven't seen her since, well, since we all got together.”
“Oh, she was the lyre player?” Maryann asked.
“Sabra has an interest in all sorts of weird