Hallowed Moonlight

chapter one

It was a quiet night at Adrian Community Library, as most nights were. Leaning my cheek against my hand in boredom, I sighed. All of my work had been finished hours ago and the only other living soul around was my vapid co-worker, Rilee. Don't get me wrong, she was a very sweet girl but most of her conversations came back to her boyfriend and how great he was. Nevermind the fact that they were always making out in the stacks when they thought that I didn't know.

"Hey Kat, can you close up for the night? I gotta get go meet my boyfriend for a little dinner date!" Surprise, surprise.

"It's alright, I got it. You go have fun." I answered without a trace of the annoyance I actually felt. I always was a bit of a push over.

Rilee squealed with excitement and spilled over with thank yous. Then grabbed her bag and waved good-bye. I picked up the last couple of put-backs on the counter and headed to their designated sections. Passing by the religion section, my hand reached out and traced the words of a wiccan book. We kept very little books dealing with wicca but it was started to become more widespread.

I felt a tug on my heart as I thought about that, my grandmother easing herself into my memories. Missing her was painful but I knew what I had to do and knew it was the only way to protect my coven. Isolation was my only friend nowadays.

Resuming the last of my work, shoving a book back into the shelf. I headed back to the counter to start closing down for the night. Once I had finished shutting down all of our equipment and grabbing my things, I set the alarm for the building before heading out.

Autumn leaves fell from the trees around me as a cool breeze licked my ankles. I couldn't help but pull my jacket tighter around me. My apartment was only a couple blocks away from my job at the library, so I usually found myself walking through the dark on cold nights such as this. It didn't particularly bother me like it did some people.

Looking up at the full moon, I tilted my head to the side. I drew slight energy from its light as I felt the spirit of the goddess bless me. I didn't particularly know why considering that I had turned my back on all things magick and my way of life as a witch. Still - I was thankful for it since it seemed to remove the cold from my body and gave a warm feeling that almost felt like if love could be bottled.

My grandmother was a highly praised witch, known all over the world and leader of the largest coven in the US. She had raised me for most of my life considering that my mother went missing when I was five and my father was far too busy. Grandmere had taught me everything I needed to know, from multiplication to how summon a spirit from the beyond.

When I was training, I was expected to be the next high priestess of our coven, Mystic Grove. I actually ended up surpassing most of the adult witches by age ten. Magick used to come quite easily to me. Some of the other witches claimed that my birth was blessed by the goddess. Though that felt like a lifetime ago.

I continued down the sidewalk towards my home, trying to ignore the persistence of my past. Caution filled my every step. Why had the goddess decided to bless me tonight of all nights? What strength was I going to need?

Passing the local bar, I gripped my purse closer to my chest. The music was booming so loudly that the ground was shaking with the rhythm. I never liked to pass this bar at night, mostly because many of the customers that were outside would be shit faced and try to pester me when I walked by.