3 . 6 . 14

Does thou Accept thy 'Humble' Request? ~ Chapter 29

(Astrid's P.O.V.)

"Maybe a slash through your arm?"
"Are you insane or somethin'!?" I retorted.
"Blood actually might work..." Kathrine wondered aloud.
"Yeah, it might, and that's why you're casting the spell and offering up this sacrifice." Ashton decided.
"Noooooo! Why me! Anyone! Anyone but me!" Kathrine wailed in protest.
"'Cause there's no other unscathed oh so amazing mage here other than you?" I stated matter-of-fact-ish-ly.
"Mhm," Ashton nodded.
"Ditto." I agreed with Perseus.
"How the hell is this a unanimous decision......." Kathrine heaved a sigh.
"We trust you, don't worry." I 'comforted' her.

~

Kathrine stood amidst the darkness, her staff in her shivering hand, ready to cast the spell. I offered her the knife, its once dull blade sharpened to perfection. The silver shone in the moonlit night, giving off a wave of terror, fear, anxiety, trauma, dread, panic, trepidation, alarm, and horror towards Kathrine. She shivered as she shakily took the 'unreal thing' (hehe) from my loose grasp.

"Ready Kathrine?" I gave her a pitiful look.
"Hai (T/N: yes in Japanese)." she nodded.
"Hai, dozo (T/N: go ahead (I think) in Japanese)." I gestured for her to slash her arm.
I made her straighten her arm, and I brought down the blade.
However, at the exact same time, she withdrew her arm in fear. "Does it really have to be me? Can't we just find some animal, cast some spell to make it seem not suspicious or whatnot and get its blood?"
"No! Remember the incantation?! It literally said "I am merely human." That means it must be a human performing the  spell!" I protested.
"Fine." She pouted angrily.
She stretched out her arm again, and once again, I raised the blade, and brought it down. I slashed her arm, my heart aching as I hurt my best friend.
She screamed in pain, and my eyes widened at the sight of the crimson bleeding out of her arm in my vision.
"Get a bucket! Faster! Please!" she cried. I gathered some blood into the bucket, and carefully patched up her arm with a small piece of cloth I had.
"Ahh... I think I'm going to need to sit through rest of this ritual." she said, glad that the bleeding halted. However, I couldn't miss her eyes remaining attached to the vibrant red staining her clothes. She's in pain.

But she stayed in the circle anyways.

"Ok. I'll offer the blood sacrifice now." I then proceeded to pour the blood into the ritual circle we had drawn on the floor. I winced as I saw all the blood pour out, cringing at the gory situation we had dragged ourselves into.
All of us watched in anticipation, impatience taking over all of us. Kathrine and I stood atop the ritual circle. Our minds braced themselves for the worst possible scenario as the tense atmosphere drained us all.

Then a minute passed.

Then another.

"Hey, are you sure we did this thing right?" I asked Kathrine, fearful that we may have messed up and that her blood sacrifice and wounded arm were all in vain.
"Yeah it shou—" she collapsed on the floor. She died...?
"Kathrine! What...." I yelled as she faded away. Her corpse disappeared from view. I suppose she died. Was that a punishment for getting the sacrifice wrong? If she doesn't appear in the cathedral...
"Oh crap." Percy said.
"Is she....dead? So...are we going to trek all the way back to the cathedral? Or retry the ritual?" I asked, hiding my fear.
"Guys." Magnus said, giving every one a little jump.
"I think Astrid's..."
"What?" I asked, intrigued.
"We need to offer your memories to the ritual." Magnus responded in a grim tone.
"My....memories? How'd you get that idea? How much of it do I have to give....?"
"Let's see if the book has a mind extraction spell." Percy said in an I-know-better-than-you-do tone.