Dahlia - The Velvet Witch and Her Dark Spirit

PART 9 - THE FEAR GAME

"How is it that I can hear you humming in my head, Dahlia?"

We're perched opposite each other in the window of my flat, sipping from a tall glass of iced whiskey. It's early evening with the Moon high in the night sky. It looks like it should be deathly cold, but oddly, the chill is holding back.

"The third eye," she says, playing with my fingers. "Yours is very in tune for someone that's never deliberately practised."

"Can we practise now?" I ask, taking a sip of the smooth liquor.

"Oh—"

"What?"

"Well, you aren't initiated."

"Into your coven?"

"Yes, you need to be part of the inner circle before you can accept the dangers."

"What kind of dangers can there be hanging out in your head?"

"Well, you've seen firsthand what happened with the Dark Spirit when we journeyed with Ayahuasca."

"Ah, so that trip wasn't a trip at all."

"No, it wasn't. That was a journey to the spirit world," she says, swirling the glass of whiskey around.

I pause and think for a minute. "Well, I want in."

"Hmmm, I'm not sure you're ready, Levi."

The comment deflates me.

"Oh, sorry. I'm not saying never. You just need to travel further along the path before I'd be comfortable taking you the rest of the way."

"That's OK."

She leans in to hug me, but it feels cold, so I repel away.

"Well," she says, "maybe we could practise a little. You seem to be able to handle a lot."

"I just want to hear your voice in my head. Can we just play with that and learn how to speak through our minds? I've never felt more connected to someone when I hear you in there. It's like you're a ghost living in my head."

"That's closer to the truth than you think."

"How do you mean?" I ask as I run my fingers up the bare skin of her arms.

"Well, that's their world. The realm of the spirits."

"So, ghosts?"

"Ghosts are spirits the untrained eye can see. The third eye is so powerful it can project into the physical without the person knowing. The first journeys into that world can be very chaotic, even out of control."

Dahlia is staring into oblivion with her mind locked onto a deep thought. I reach out and touch her face, snapping her back to reality. She sees my worry and explains further.

"It's because you've suppressed it for so long that when you finally connect with it, you're opening a set of flood gates. Spirits that are good, bad and indifferent are all waiting to take a bite of the new meat. On top of that, it's not without a tax on your physical being."

"How do you mean? It requires a lot of energy to use?"

"To use deliberately? Yes, a massive amount. A big session will take me to the edge, and I've been going there all my life."

I swallow hard. Maybe I shouldn't have been so bold with my request. But it's too late now. She's putting her faith in me.

She reads all this and says, "Let's have some tea."

I look at her funny.

"Normal tea," she adds with a grin.

"It's not raining. We could take it up on the roof and watch the night roll over?"