Caly had to leave after a short while; he promised Beth he’d take her brunch, just the two of them. Alone again, Jasmine dug through Tom’s collection of movies and popped one in, drowning her mind in the horrors of Stephen King. The guy had quite an imagination. She figured it must be pretty cool to get paid millions of dollars to scare people.
The time seemed to tick by very slowly, but four and half droning hours later Tom finally arrived home.
“Honey, I’m home!” He teased her mockingly. She playfully slapped his arm in retort. “Hey, where’s my dinner?”
“Excuse me?” She mocked, knowing he was just kidding around with her.
“I’m joking, relax!” He said. In his hand was a small bag from Blockbuster.
“What did you rent?” She asked expectantly. He grinned maliciously and pulled out a movie.
“Austin Powers 2? I’ve never seen it.” Tom looked shocked.
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah. I’m not much of a comedy person; I prefer horror and drama. I watched Pet Cemetery a little while ago.”
“Yeah, but trust me, you’ve got to see this. You’ll laugh your head off.”
Jasmine smiled. Tom had a crude sense of humor sometimes, so she might enjoy the movie he picked out after all. The phone bell buzzed in their ears suddenly, and Tom hurried to pick it up.
“Hello?” He paused. “Um, sure. When? Okay, see you guys in a while then.” Tom hung up the phone and glanced over at Jasmine.
“That was Sarah. She and the gang all want to come over tonight.” Jasmine quirked a brow.
“What for?”
“She didn’t really say.”
“Is something wrong?” Jasmine asked, having a mild paranoia attack. She silently scolded herself a moment later, remembering Caly’s smile and convincing tone.
“I have no idea. I guess we’ll find out tonight, huh.” He changed the subject. “Are you hungry?” Jasmine nodded.
“I am, actually. Should I fix something?” She offered. Tom sat back.
“Sure. I’m not really sure what I have around, but if you find something that looks edible in the cupboards, don’t hesitate.” Jasmine laughed, and made her way to the kitchen.
Later that evening, the whole crew showed up at Tom’s apartment. Jasmine tried not to let her paranoid thoughts effect her mood. After all, being hurt and betrayed were part of her past, not her present. “Hi!” She exclaimed enthusiastically, throwing a smile on her face. They all greeted her warmly. Everyone quickly assembled in the living room, plopping themselves on Tom’s couch and chairs. The room soon grew silent. Jasmine eyed everyone, trying to get a heads-up on what was going on but mostly everyone seemed just as clueless as she was. She didn’t mind that actually, it was nice to have something in common with the others, it made her feel like she was truly beginning to become a part of their inner-circle.
“So,” Jasmine began casually. “What’s going on?” Everyone seemed to look to each other, but finally Sarah spoke up.
“Okay, I called this little unofficial meeting because I found something today. I was at Barns and Noble, and I saw a book in the new-age section and without really looking at it, I picked it up and bought it. Later when I was thumbing through it, I found something incredible. It’s an omen, just like the scroll said there would be.” Butterflies in Jasmine’s tummy leapt up at that statement and flashed a red flag behind her eyes.
“What- what are you talking about?” She asked nervously. Sarah pulled out a book and held it up for everyone to see. The title was Unleashing the Power.
“Inside of it contains the rituals for unleashing Shiniqua, the Goddess that the scroll talked about.” Sarah paused and looked around. “Who has the scroll?”
“It’s in my car.” Tom offered before Jasmine could say a few discouraging words to stop him. He got up and went out to his car to retrieve it, ignoring Jasmine’s silent plea of uncertainty. Sarah leaned forward.
“It’s just like what the scroll said, ‘If you found this, you are meant to unfold her powers and she will come to you.’” No one said anything, only gazed at Sarah with slight concern for her. “Don’t you guys see? This is her, coming to us.” A momentary silence followed until Beth finally cleared her throat.
“Um, Sarah, it’s always been cool with us that you’re into Wicca and all, but do you have to bring us all into your magic thing?” Sarah frowned, obviously not too happy with Beth’s brush-off.
“This isn’t just my ‘magic thing.’ We were all there when the scroll was found, it was meant for all of us. It involves everyone,” She looked directly at Beth. “Weather you like it or not.” Beth and Sarah briefly gave each other mutual dirty looks, but apparently decided to drop it at the same time. Tom reappeared then, the scroll tucked tightly under his arm. “May I see it, please?” Sarah asked. Tom handed it to her diligently and she expertly unrolled it and let her eyes scan over the writing. “Yep, that’s what it says.” She set the scroll down.
“So, okay that’s all cool and all, but why does this involve us again?” Jim said. Jasmine cringed, afraid his bluntness was going to hurt Sarah’s feelings. Unfortunately, he didn’t seem to notice. She shook his words off and flipped through the book, opening it to a certain page.
“This is why.” She handed to book directly to Jim, as if trying to prove a point. Jim slightly rolled his eyes, but took the book and began to look it over. His eyes raised to silently address everyone, and he read out loud from the page.
“The six of you who have discovered Her Power must now gather and prepare to open the door to limitless oblivion.” He paused. “Whoa, how did they know there were six of us?” Now, the book had everyone’s full attention. He continued reading. “Everyone already knows their place. Gather on the next full moon, and together, say the incantation below. You will not be disappointed.” He put the book down on the coffee table and sighed heavily.
“Okay, why do I get a bad feeling about this?” Jasmine sat up.
“Me too, something about it doesn’t- click right.”
“You guys!” Sarah said loudly in frustration. “This is serious! And there’s no badness involved, this isn’t evil. It’s just a Goddess, and admit it, you all would like to get extra power, right?”
“Sarah, what you are saying is not exactly what this all means. What if we did gain ‘powers?’ Then what? Where’s the goodness, where’s the gain?” Caly said in his usual calm, rational demeanor.
“Hello! We’re obviously supposed to use the powers for the greater good of the world. We’re supposed to use them to help others.”
“Did the book specifically say that?” Caly inquired suspiciously.
“Well no, it didn’t have to. When you buy a book about magic, the writer usually already assumes that you know how to use the power. There’s no need for them to spell it out for you.”
“Don’t take this personally please, but Sarah, I just don’t believe in this stuff.”
“Ugh!” Sarah cried out in frustration, and got up and stormed out the door. Caly cringed.
“I didn’t mean to make her leave.” He said quietly.
“I know. We all know she takes everything personally, there’s no need to explain.” Beth remarked. Everyone else nodded in agreement.
“Maybe,” Jim piped up. “Maybe we should just do the spell thing with her, just to put her mind at ease.” Jasmine looked at him quizzically, confused as to what he was saying. Why did he suddenly care about putting Sarah’s mind at ease, when he usually didn’t seem to care about her at all?
“Um, I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.” Jasmine responded, the unsettling feelings the scroll gave her in the first place still vivid in her memory.
“Why not? I mean, we all know its bull, and nothing’s going to happen.” Jasmine wished she could have asked him why he was all the sudden so interested in protecting Sarah, but she didn’t know him well enough and she didn’t want to start a fight.
“Well yeah, but if we do it, and nothing happens, she’ll be even more disappointed.”
“I don’t think so, I think she’ll be happy that we at least tried it with her, you know?” Jasmine frowned, and looked to Tom.
“What do you think?” Tom waited a moment before he responded, seemingly content to simply have observed the conversation around him.
“I don’t really mind trying it if it will help Sarah feel like we care about her.” Jasmine sighed inwardly with defeat and frustration.
“What about you guys?” She asked, desperate for someone to take her side on the matter.
“I have no problem with it.” Beth responded coldly.
“I don’t know. There are pros and cons to either decision.” Caly paused. “But I don’t really believe in it, so I guess I can’t go against us doing the spell.” Jasmine’s shoulders sank. For a moment, she thought that Caly was going to help her out but he didn’t. She threw up her hands.
“Okay, fine. We’ll try the spell.” Tom snickered softly as he eyed her, receiving back a dirty look. She didn’t find this situation humorous at all, and he seemed amused by her annoyance. Men, she thought, what a waste of a good skull.
Pressing his palms against his legs, Jim pushed himself unto his feet. “I’ll go see if Sarah’s around and let her know we’ll try it for her.” He said as he hurried towards the door. Jasmine’s eyes followed him, still wondering why he developed a sudden interest in Sarah. After all though, Caly did say that they all cared about each other. Maybe Jim was just an eternal mystery, and only showed his caring side at certain times. A few minutes later, sure enough he returned with Sarah.
“Look you guys, I’m sorry for getting upset.” She began to hastily explain. “It’s just, you’re my best friends and your support is really important to me.” They all smiled warmly at her in silent forgiveness of her personality trait that she couldn’t help.
“It’s cool.” Caly said. “What are we going to need?” With a renewed agenda, Sarah picked up the book.
“We need certain candles, a pentacle for the center, and a quartz crystal.”
“Do you have all that stuff at home?” Caly asked.
“Oh yeah. I have everything. Tonight’s the full moon- you guys are cool with that, right?” Everyone nodded, trying to look enthusiastic for her sake. “Good. Then I’ll run home, grab the stuff we’ll need and come back here.” She turned to Tom. “You don’t mind if we do it at your place, right? You’re the only one with your own apartment.” Tom looked mildly uncomfortable.
“Caly has his own place.”
“Yeah, but he has roommates and we don’t know if they’re going to be coming in and out or not. It’s essential that we aren’t disturbed.” Tom sighed, giving in.
“Okay, yeah that’s cool.” Sarah’s eyes brightened at his relent.
“Okay, well, I’ll be back here at eight to set up, and why don’t we plan on casting around nine?” Everyone nodded, still trying their best to look exited. Obviously happy, she jumped up and headed towards the door. “See you in a few hours!” She called and sped away in her Toyota.
Jasmine turned around to the others when she was sure Sarah was gone. “Look you guys, I can’t explain it, but I just have a really bad feeling about this.” All the others regarded her thoughtfully. “Look, I’m not joking! If there’s one thing in life I’ve always depended on, it’s my gut. It got me through a lot of other shit, and now it’s telling me that we shouldn’t do this.” Tom put his arm around her protectively.
“Hey.” He said in an attempted comforting voice. “It’s good to trust your gut, but let’s examine this from a more distant angle. There must be something specific bothering you.” Tom eyed Caly, as if expecting the man of psychology to begin his work. Caly folded his hands calmly.
“At what point during all of this did this feeling come about?” Jasmine didn’t even have to think about that one.
“Last night, when Sarah read from the scroll. When she read it out loud.”
“Do you remember the specific word or words that she read?” Jasmine shook her head numbly.
“I don’t know, I think it was at the very start.” She didn’t understand what Caly was trying to get at.
“Okay. Do you know anything about Wicca, or magic?” Jasmine shook her head.
“No. I think my friend Kara from high school was into it, but she never talked about it.”
“Does the thought of it scare you?” Jasmine shifted uncomfortably.
“Well, a little I guess. I mean, you see all those movies about psycho evil people melting someone with their stare, I don’t know I guess I just don’t really trust any of it.”
“Do you believe in it?” Jasmine paused.
“Um, I don’t know.” Caly was silent for a moment.
“I think that you don’t know much about magic except for what Hollywood has done to it, and since it’s usually portrayed as something evil, you don’t trust it. The scroll dealt with magic and awakening power, so you’re afraid that it will work but that it will be evil. Am I right?” Jasmine slowly nodded, confused now about what her real problem with it was. Caly’s words were giving her mind a serious twirl.
“And I know you, and the last thing you want is to fear something just because you don’t know about it. Am I right?” Tom piped up. That statement hit Jasmine over the head like a ton of bricks. He was right, there was nothing she hated more than people who feared what they just didn’t understand. Was that what she was doing? Oh god, why would she ever let herself think that way?
“You’re right, I’m just being crazy.” She shook her head, laughing wryly at herself. “I’m really sorry, you guys.” Tom reached over and patted her knee.
“Hey, it’s okay. We all slip up sometimes.” Jasmine frowned slightly, there was something in Tom’s tone of voice that bugged her but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Condescending, maybe? Oh well.
The conversation quickly turned from a serious tone to a much lighter and more relaxing one. Tom, Caly, Beth and Jim all added in their two cents, trying to bring Jasmine up to speed on all of their inside jokes and sacred secrets.
The time seemed to pass so quickly that when Sarah reappeared at the door, Jasmine couldn’t believe it was already eight o’clock. Sarah’s face was very concentrated and serious, and she seemed to take slight offense to everyone’s lighter expressions. Catering to her since what they were about to do was for her; everyone wiped away their laughter and tried to get serious.
“How do we set up?” Caly asked her calmly, trying his best to be a trooper and hang in there. Reaching into her bag, she dug around for a moment and then handed him a candle.
“Put this by the window sill.” He obeyed. Everyone else watched curiously as Sarah seemed to measure in her head the exact perfect places to set everything. Finally, she sat up and brushed off her jeans. “Okay you guys, I think we’re ready.” Everyone blankly stared at Sarah, having no idea what they were supposed to do. She tentatively brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “Okay, everyone sit down cross-legged in a circle.” Trying their best to please her, they all gathered. She took a lighter out of her pocket and proceeded to light the candles and incense, motioning to Tom to flick off the lights. She then handed Tom a stack of papers. “Take one and pass them.”
“Um, what are they?” He asked, seemingly lost.
“They’re the words to the incantation.” Tom shrugged, and passed them on.
Jasmine still couldn’t get past that foreboding feeling about this spell, but she had learned to keep her mouth shut and order her butterflies to retreat. Now was not the proper time for her stomach to be in knots. As if sensing her still-present fear, Tom smiled at her with reassurance.
Sarah turned to Caly. “Can you flick off the light?” She asked him, and he obliged. In the candle-lit darkness, everyone strained to try and read the copies of the incantation. “Now, everyone relax. Breathe deep, in and out. That’s good. Imagine yourself light as a feather, floating above the earth and free from its gravitational boundaries.” Jasmine breathed in and out, but no matter how she tried, she didn’t feel like she was floating. This was all so ridicules to her that she had to force herself not to burst out in laughter.
“You are a balloon, but the string hanging underneath you is not attached to anything.” This time, Jasmine couldn’t help herself.
“Um, the string hanging underneath us wouldn’t have anything to do with our time of the month, would it?”
“Jasmine!” Tom exclaimed, trying to scold her for her inappropriate sarcasm, but he failed because laughter snuffled through his mouth. Sarah glared at them both, and Jasmine cleared her throat.
“Sorry.” She said softly, closing her eyes. She breathed deeply in and out again, trying to regain her appearance of concentrating.
“Now, at the same time, read these words aloud.” Sarah told them all. Jasmine opened her eyes, and in unison, the group repeated the incantation.
“The wall in my mind binds my ability
Who I am, my sense of stability
But I am ready to open my thoughts
And bring forth what Shiniqua has brought
I make myself able to her powers within
I pledge myself to Her, and claim her My Kin
May my strength increase for me now
And may my body be it’s instrument, to the power it bows.”
Somewhere in the middle of the chant, Jasmine began to feel strange. As if she had been running, her blood seemed to suddenly move faster throughout her body, causing her heart to beat louder and louder until the steady thumping echoed inside her eardrums. She opened her mouth to speak, but suddenly her body was not obeying her. Terror welling up inside of her, she tried to scream but once again she couldn’t even force her body to twitch.
Suddenly she wasn’t sitting on Tom’s floor anymore. She was somewhere above it. She looked down, amazed to see her own self, looking deep in some sort of meditation. No, this couldn’t be real. She must have fallen asleep somewhere during Sarah’s boring incantation thing. That was the only rational explanation.
Jasmine’s eye caught something slithering in the corner, a snake coming towards the group. “No!” She cried out, trying desperately to warn everyone, shivers running up her spine. No one paid any attention to her, and the snake slithered menacingly closer and closer. “No, don’t hurt them!” She screeched at the snake, trying to get its attention away from the others. Slowly, it turned its hideous head to stare at her with blood-red eyes. Suddenly it split apart, and when Jasmine blinked there were suddenly six snakes instead of just the one. She tried not to hyperventilate. “Oh god.. Get away from them!”
She yelled again, her voice now much more fearful then forceful. Suddenly all at once, the snakes seemed to leap towards the people and disappear into their bodies. Jasmine lurched forward, terrified and nauseous, trying to command her stomach to hold onto it’s insides.
Suddenly, Jasmine blinked her eyes, finding herself back in her body as if nothing had happened. “I- where, what ..” She said, looking around her. “What happened?” The rest of the group, seemingly just waking up as well, looked just as confused as she was.
“I don’t know. We must have fallen asleep.” Tom offered.
“We were doing Sarah’s spell-thing, then,” She shook her head. “I don’t remember.” Jasmine remembered nothing of her vision, or what she saw. All she knew was that something strange and horrible had happened, and this was one time that she really wished she hadn’t been right.