Ritual Magic (30 page)

"Shadow demons? Did they get into the
circle?" My voice asked the question although I was positive of the
definitive answer.

"No." Celeste turned around again to look me
in the eyes. "She has returned to her time. We shall see her
again." She turned back to eye the shadow demons. "We still have
much work to do." She shrugged my arm off and I immediately felt
dejected, unneeded.

Celeste walked along the perimeter of our
circle, eyeing the men inside our cozy ring in between glances
towards the hostile entities eyeing her hungrily.

"Hmmm, this will not do."

She returned to the center of the circle and
held her hand out to Mortisha who was standing just out of her
reach now. "I will need your assistance." She nodded at Mortisha as
she kept her hand outstretched in her direction. Celeste didn't
even offer a smile.
That is definitely NOT Celeste
.

Mortisha's lips formed a thin line as she
walked over to Celeste, grasping her hand and turning towards Von.
"You too, Von. We need your magical energy as well."

"And Henry." Celeste said simply as she
turned her eyes on the albino. "You will assist." She wasn't giving
him a choice.

The albino tugged slowly on his black
glasses as he eyed Celeste with reserved respect. "Of course." He
walked over and took Celeste's free hand.

That one simple gesture made me instantly
uneasy. I didn't want this man anywhere
near
Celeste. There
was something
off
about him, besides the fact that he was
completely foreign from everything I had ever seen or known.

The four of them turned so that each was
facing a corner of the world—North, South, East and West. Celeste
began to glow and the rest of them followed suit, filling with
energy and light.

For a moment it seemed as if nothing was
happening, but we all knew better than to assume that. The air
around us eventually began to crackle, building up energetic
tension, and then a huge explosion sounded all around us in a
burst.

BOOM!

The ground shook and the barrier wavered.
There was a wave of force that was so strong that shot out from the
center of the inner circle that it threw all of us surrounding them
down to the ground as it passed over us in an expanding halo of
power and destruction. Smoke filled the clearing and swirled past
my head as I pushed up on my shaky arms.

Once the air cleared of magic, and the smoke
on the ground began to curl and dissipate away, I reached for my
sword...but it was nowhere near me. Cursing myself for allowing it
to fall from my hand, I darted to my feet, ready for a fight. But
there was nothing left to fight—everything outside our circle was
gone. There were no shadow demons left to dispatch, there were no
bodies littering the ground—they were simply gone.

"What? What happened?" Jack's voice coughed
out from the other side of our clearing. "Where did the shadow
demons go?" He sounded completely oblivious to what magic had been
wielded right in front of his own unbelieving eyes.

Celeste turned around the circle and nodded.
"Yes." She reached over to the albino and laid her hand on his
shoulder. "You. We will have a conversation in the future." He
nodded back at her. "Just not now." She sighed and then suddenly
collapsed on the spot.

My blood ran cold as I raced to catch her in
my arms.
Please! Not now!

Celeste

It was like I was standing outside my body
watching myself do things that I would never try or even think to
do.

What? I'm cold and dispassionate towards
Solomon? Am I kidding myself?! What did I just do with that sword?
What is a mirror image spell? What in the HECK was I wearing before
and AFTER the shadow demons attacked? How did I do that conception
spell? How the HECK did I just knock out all of those shadow
demons?! CRIPES!

I felt so out of control that I wanted to
cry—but my face was as cold and hard as stone. There was no
expression that I could get across to anyone. I felt separated from
everyone, a prisoner, even though I could have reached out and
touched any one of them.

I was overwhelmed with frustration and
fear—I felt like my body had a mind of its own, and it was a little
witch. I heard myself ordering people around, acting arrogant,
strutting around like I was lethal.
Was I lethal?
That was
reason enough to pause and assess what was really going on. Was I
actually alone?

Hello!
I called out in my mind.
Who's there?
I can feel something is different—I'm not an
idiot.
I thought to myself. Well, maybe I was, because I was
trying to have a conversation with myself.

No, you are not an idiot—it will all be
over soon. Just sit back and relax—you won't be harmed. Trust
me.
The voice sounded in my head.

It's off-putting to hear someone else
talking in your head. The sound could be extremely familiar or
absent of all familiar markers. This voice was clear as a bell and
easy to recognize—it was my own.

What the hell is going on? Why am I
taking over my own body?
I wanted to shake my head but
Other
Me was in control.

Because you don't know what to do and it
is much too complex to do by yourself. Don't worry—I have been
preparing for this for a very long time and you are not alone. You
have never been alone.
The voice sounded reassuring.

What's your deal with Solomon? You can't
be me if you are treating him like that.
I shivered mentally,
as if a knife's edge was shearing down my thoughts, attempting to
strip my mind of all happy memories of Solomon. It was as if Other
Me was attempting to purge my memory of all warm thoughts of
Solomon. I pushed against the invasion and struggled to hold onto
everything I held dear, as far as memories went.

If you only knew what that man is capable
of, you wouldn't allow him to touch you.

My thoughts raced. What in the world could
he have done to cause such...loathing?

What did...you know, maybe I don't want to
know. I think I'll just enjoy the dance while I can.

I thought about it for a long while as I
watched Solomon take his position across from me in the circle. He
was North—my true North. I could not, for the life of me, imagine
what could have instilled such hostility and angst from my future
self towards him.

The DANCE. BAH! What does Garth Brooks have
to do with anything?

I was angry, hurt. It felt as if an old
Garth Brooks song seemed to rip off old scars, leaving them open
for the world to see and gawk at.

The dance—the chance to experience love with
Solomon. He loves me and I won't ever believe otherwise.

Believe otherwise, Celeste. Don't be a fool
and set your heart on someone that isn't dependable. Stop putting
your faith in the bad boy when a bad boy is all he will ever be.
He's a vampire—Father told you that.

My mind made a big clicking noise.
Father? FATHER?! Are you saying that Dylan influenced you to
keep you away from Solomon? What a jerk!

I wanted to start pacing the circle and
begin pulling out my hair in huge fistfuls. That old man of mine
was really beginning to get my goat and I wanted to give him an
earful. He wasn't going to sway my opinion of Solomon no matter
what. I could see how fickle and hostile I had become after
Dylan's
influence. I was going to do everything that I could
to ensure that my opinions stayed my own. There was so much more to
this than I could have ever guessed. This was something that I
would have to take measure of in the future—something to pick
apart.

I stood helpless as Other Me did all of the
work. Really, she was one powerful nutjob. She blew away a clearing
full of shadow demons and cleared the path for our future in a
short, thirty-minute period. She deserved some respect, but I just
couldn't trust her—she didn't love or trust Solomon.
Or maybe
she does still love him and he hurt her...terribly.
I shuddered
mentally again.

After everything was done, my vision went
black and my body fell loosely into someone's arms. My conversation
was broken and my thoughts began to haze as I struggled to gain
consciousness. The darkness seemed insurmountable, though. Like a
velvet tomb that had been wrapped around me to fit me perfectly and
remove all of my will to struggle. But I
was
struggling—my
mind, my body, every inch of my hope was struggling for control.
Eventually I gave in—the darkness overtook me and I lost all
consciousness.

The world began to swirl in a gust of
motion. I finally found myself sitting in the mist...the mist that
I had transported myself to before when I had a long heart-to-god
conversation with Dylan, my father. Pushing off of the ground, I
tried to lift myself onto my feet but I had to struggle to get even
to my knees. Sitting there on all fours, I panted and looked at my
hands, stretching out and gripping the misty floor like I was
holding on for dear life.

Pushing out a gusty breath, I imagined
myself standing—first up to my knees, hunching over, and then
finally standing at my full height. I shrugged off the thoughts
that were washing over my mind. Confusion, chaos, anger—all of them
wanted to be at the forefront, but I couldn't allow them to take
over my self-control. I had to be in charge.

Shaking my head, I cleared my mind and took
a labored step forward. I wasn't pinned to my spot as I had been
before, but I was
thinking
about every step as if it was my
only thought. Just by doing so, I was able to control the prison
around me. Well, I guess it wasn't truly a prison, but it felt like
one because I honestly didn't want to be there. Closing my eyes, I
released a cleansing breath.

"Well," a deep voice rose behind me, "it
seems that you have survived no worse for the wear."

I turned around to eye Dylan standing before
me in all of his ocean god glory.

"What do
you
want
now
?" I
tried not to sound disrespectful, but I wasn't in a good mood, so
it just came out that way. "I don't remember thinking about coming
to this...place." I looked around to see if I could recognize the
beach that had been in the background the last time that I had seen
him.

"Ahhh, Celeste, you must know that I cannah
keep away from mah daughter." He smiled down at me with his ocean
orbs for eyes. They swirled in beautiful greens and blues that gave
no semblance of anger. He was actually happy. No, I looked again.
He looked...proud.
GRRRRR!

"Tsk, Tsk, Celeste. You have done what you
have set out to do." He nodded down at me as his hair swirled
around him in undulating waves.
That looks so very familiar.
"I will soon have a granddaughteh." He leaned back and bellowed a
deep, gusty laugh. "Ahh, it's been so long since I have had a
little one on mah lap!" His eyes began to glow as his Scottish
brogue became thicker and richer, mixed in with other random
inflections.

My body shook in anger to his laughter.
"Will you just stop it please?" I tried to keep from leaping across
him and yanking on his annoying hair. "What do you
want
?"
When it came out of my mouth I shut it tight to keep from saying
anything more.

Dylan paused as he heard the tone in my
voice and eyed me cautiously. "Hmmm, yes." He reached up with his
huge hand and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well," his accent was
back to American now, "I have brought you here to discuss your
powers."

I eyed him suspiciously. "You know, to be
honest, I don't think I could really say that it was
me
doing all of the work at the ritual. It was me but it wasn't me.
Ahhhhg," I shook my head frustratedly, "I know it was me but I
didn't do all of that—it was me from the future. At least I think
it was me from the future." I was confusing myself.
This is all
just so very Twilight Zone that I don't know if it's me talking
right now.

Dylan laughed deeply as he continued to eye
me. "Well, yes, it was you from the future. I understand what you
are talking about." He smiled down at me with kind eyes.

"Really?" I squeaked. "Can you explain it to
me?" I must have looked pitiful because he nodded gently down at me
as he reached out for my hand.

I looked down at his huge glove of a hand
and gulped loudly before I placed my tiny hand in his. His fingers
wrapped around mine like they were holding the handle to a bicycle,
squeezing ever-so-gently. It was amazing to think that this
ancient god
knew how to be gentle at all. My mind eased
slightly at the thought that I was actually safe in his hands.

"Look, at this point you just don't know
enough about magic to control all of it yet. You can't control the
pent-up energy and swirling magic like a true master can. At least,
not yet."

"But..." He put his other hand up in the air
to silence me.
Really? My father's telling me to 'talk to the
hand'?!
My eyebrows furrowed at the hand and he switched it to
holding up just his index finger. It was like he was saying 'I'm
number one and don't you forget it.'
Silly
.

Dylan frowned down at me and I knew that he
was reading my thoughts yet again.

"Your daughter has been conceived. And now
it is time that you relinquish...
some
of your powers." His
voice was level. He was trying to give me bad news kindly and I
knew it, but I didn't know if it really
was
bad news. I
honestly didn't want all of the power that I had wielded at the
clearing—it was frightening to think that I was actually that
powerful. And with that power, I had accepted crazy notions like
Solomon wasn't good for me. THAT was the kicker. I
knew
that
Solomon was good for me and I was good for him. We were
meant
to be together. But staring down at me was one of my
largest roadblocks to that beautiful future—my father, the
stick-in-the-mud.