Path Of The Flames

Chapter 2

"Ophelia, it's time to pray. Get up." My mother called from downstairs. It had just turned 5:30, the time for empowerment in our community. A time where we would go to our altars and pray. Pray to the Gods who helped our world to continue to live on. Oftentimes we prayed to Hecate, the goddess of the Craft. However, we were not strictly forbidden from praying to others. As long as Hecate had blessed us with the words.

I walked downstairs into the altar room. A boring room with nothing much in it other than the massive Hecate altar itself. Black walls, brown wood panel flooring, with no pictures, no furniture. Only the large space filled with foods and goods as gifts to our goddess. We chose what to pray for. Knowledge, protection, or power. I had deemed knowledge as the most important one. It would help in the further to protect Coven.

"O holy Hecate, I pray you, grant me knowledge of what is hidden in the depths of the cosmos. Grant me understanding of the secret thoughts of the heart. Let me know what is concealed within the innermost recesses of the soul. O holy Hecate, reveal to me the truth of the future. Show me the way to immortality. Guide me in the path of the divine. Lead me into the path of the stars. Let me walk in the footsteps of the Gods. Let me behold the faces of the Gods. Hecate as protector." I silently stood up. Bowing to the altar, I made my way to the door. We had to be respectful. Once she had given us the powers of our ancestors, we had to respect her. Our powers could be ripped away easily. I had watched it happen.

I went into the kitchen. My mother was still praying in the room so I began working on dinner. I went with mashed cauliflower, grilled asparagus, and mushrooms that tasted like chicken. Witches were vegetarian. One of our largest values was to protect living things. Those that needed our help. We would eat animals, that would mean killing them first. Not happening. Eventually, my mother emerged from the room. She always prayed longer. Praying for our ancestors and our friends and family. She prayed for me. Prayed for all. She was kind like that. She knew those that needed help needed prayer. My mom was the best.

My mother was beautiful. She had soft green eyes that seemed to get darker when she was angry. She had long, flowy black hair that she normally kept in a bun on the top of her head. My mother was tall and skinny, however she had these hips that made her look like a Barbie doll. She always wore a gray cardigan with a long black dress. Sandals with a strap that hugged her ankle. Everyone loved her. They called her Maia, Great Mother. She was in charge of all of those that lived in Salem. I was destined to take after.

The role of leader had been passed down in my family for years. Ever since my great great grandmother had fled Salem in the 1600's and led the actual witches away from Cotton Mather and the others of Salem. The witches fled as soon as the trials started. If they were killing random women who were innocent, why would the real witches stay around. They had no hopes of dying alongside the humans. The original coven had tried to save some but the men had so much anger and fear that there was no listening to them. That's when the rules had become the law of being a witch. No witch ever dared to betray those rules for almost 400 years. Of course, someone had to eventually. And all magic comes with a price.

My mother was seated at the table already by the time dinner had finished cooking. I made plates for the two of us and carried them over to the table so that we could sit and talk while we ate. It wasn't normally a long dinner. We just had small talk in between bites. It normally was the only time we could talk. Between work and school starting, we didn't see much of each other. "How was work?" I asked my mother to get our conversation started.

"It was fine. We had a few problems happen today, but they were fixed relatively quickly. Mrs Lambien stopped by the town hall. She says hello." My mother said before she took a bite.

"Oh, that's nice. How is she? I heard Mr Lambien had some issues this year with his heart. I hope he's okay and ready for school to start back."

"He's doing fine, had a heart attack a few months ago. Doctor Cartwright had him on bed rest until he was better." She said and I nodded in response. Mr Lambien was our principal at Coven Prep. He had been there for about 32 years and was planning on going for even longer. He was in the same class as my grandmother so he had always been around for my family. Not that other people weren't. Everyone was there for my mother. When my dad left us she took it hard. My grandma said that she had locked herself in her bedroom for almost 2 weeks. I hadn't been old enough for it to really phase me. I guess that helped me get through it even when I was older. It helped that I knew the exact reason too. We were witches. He was human. He wanted to keep his normal life and that's okay. I understood it.

"That's good. I'm glad he's okay." I responded. Although Mr Lambien had been around for a while, he wasn't that old. Only about 67. He was getting there slowly though. Mr and Mrs Lambien were both descendants. They had a lot of power that way. "So what went wrong at work?"

"Nothing you need to worry about, honey. Just a little mixup. Now why don't you finish your dinner and head off to bed. I'll clean up tonight." She smiled. I finished eating so that I could run to my room. The night was my personal alone time. I could do anything in my room. I often just ended up reading though. I went ahead and put my plate in the sink. Clearly my mom had something on her mind if she wanted to clean up tonight. Nights that she had come home from work I was normally the one who cleaned up. I just let her though. I didn't want to bother her. I went ahead and went up to my bedroom.

My room was dark. I had little paper bats that were all over my walls. My bed had black sheets and a black comforter. There was a giant blanket on top of it that had little white bats all over. I made it very obvious that I liked bats. Two bookshelves lined one of my walls. A desk sat in the corner with shelves that looked like spiderwebs. I had a little aesthetic that I liked and I made it my entire personality. On my floor was a giant, fluffy black rug that covered almost my entire room. I had LED lights that went on the crown molding. They were normally red. I liked the red and black coloring mixing together, although I ended up having to turn my normal lights on and the red lights off when I was reading. When the red lights were on it messed with my eyes.

I sat on my bed for a few minutes with a copy of Edgar Allen Poe's book, Nevermore. I was getting bored though. You can only read a book so many times before it gets repetitive. I looked outside my window to the sky. The stars were beautiful. I got up, taking the book and a blanket with me. I opened my window and climbed out. I pulled myself out onto the roof with my stuff. There was a little spot on the roof that was perfect for sitting. It was perched at the best spot for looking at the sky.

I stared out at the stars. They were beautiful. Little speckles scattered everywhere with a sky that was a mix of purple, blue, and black. Constellations littered the sky. Everywhere I looked there were more. Coven tried to keep the lights low normally. Light pollution was the reason that most people couldn't see the stars but to us the stars meant so much. My grandmother and all of the ancestors before her were in the sky. They were the little balls of gas that were everywhere. We could talk to them even when they were gone. Staring at the newest edition to the sky right next to the moon, I knew who it was. Ms Cynthia Colestines. She was a member of the Council until a few years ago when she was diagnosed with alzheimers. They moved her into an assisted living facility until she passed last night. Coven was grieving, not terribly, but most of us knew Cynthia. She was kind. Her house was right down the street and she had been around to help raise me. Luckily, most of us knew it was coming so it wasn't very hard. Death was something we all had to deal with. We had gotten used to it. We all died eventually.

"Welcome, Ms Cynthia. Meet my grandmother for me. She'll welcome you. I hope you feel better there. Sleep well now." I whispered as a tear rolled down my cheek. I didn't normally cry for death but it felt more real when it was someone close to you. You never know who it will be next. You'll never know who Hades would take with him next to the underworld. You won't know who was going to be in the stars.

The street was calm. No one came outside at night unless a family member had passed that day. Almost everyone came out when Ms Cynthia's death was announced. We wanted to see as the star became visible. This night was silent. Everyone was getting into bed. It was only 7:30 but Coven was an early bird. We all went to bed earlier so that we could get up earlier. The stars had just started to appear only 20 minutes before. It was beautiful as the sun set but even more when the sun was gone.

I looked down the street. Across was Raven's house. Inhibited until she came back in a week with her mom and dad. Cynthia's house is two houses down along with the other members of the council. They all lived in this neighborhood. There were protective spells around it and unless you were a council member you weren't allowed in. However, a light in Cynthia's house was on. It was inside, on the top floor. My eyes drew over to it. In front of the house was a figure. Small, but maybe it was just the angle I was at. I tried to lean over until I could see.

There was a boy there.