The Collectors

Newfound Freedom

       The group makes their way to the sorority house where a party is in full swing. Big Latin letters hang from the top of the southern-styled house, and the inside is lit with bright flashing strobe lights. The group darts out from the bushes, all of them splitting up to surround the house. Crouched in the darkness, Glitter runs around handing everyone small pouches. Chen opens her pouch and sees that it’s filled with a white powder,

“What am I suppose to do with this?”

“Spread it around the house so it forms a circle around it.” Bigby explains, as he and Jeff start sprinkling the powder in a curved line.

Chen follows suit, slowly emptying her pouch as Glitter takes out the herbs and starts scattering them inside the circle we’re creating. She finishes off her preparations by placing candles on each corner of the circle, “Everybody ready?”

The group collects at various spots around the circle. Chen hangs back just to watch, she’s already more involved than she’d like to admit.

Facing the circle, the others stretch out their arms and close their eyes as Glitter recites,

“Powers of those cast out, we call you.”

A slight breeze picks up from the normally dry, windless air. The gusts seem to be contained to their location, as it flutters Chen’s hair but doesn’t affect any of the nearby trees.

“We ask that you lend your power.” she continues.

The flames on the candles flicker and spark, and a small trail of smoke begins rising from the herbs. Are they on fire?

“With these offerings, we ask for your assistance. Hear our plea!”

The herbs seem to melt into the ground, as if they’re being absorbed by the earth itself. I heavy mist rises from the dirt in its place, to the point where Chen can’t see a thing. With her hands, she tries waving the mist away, but it seems to swirl uncontrollably around the circle they’ve created.

Finally, the mist clears, and the wind dies down as well. Everyone is still in their previous spots, although their hair and clothes are a little disheveled from the wind.

“Wha...what was that?” Chen asks in amazement.

Emily leaves the circle, smiling as she places her hand on Chen’s shoulder, “That my friend, was a ritual.”

The group confidently strides into the house, where nothing seems to have significantly changed. But Chen feels something is different about the atmosphere the minute she steps pass the circle encompassing the circle. Things appear to slow down just a little, and colors become sharper and brighter.

She watches as her group immediately takes over the party. Glitter and Emily seem especially aggressive, grabbing the first boys they see and pulling them into a passionate kiss. Vlad is a little more selective, carefully scouting out the crowd before choosing a guy who Chen swears is in her English class. Their partners instantly comply with the Supernaturals, stopping whatever they were doing in that moment to engage in sexual activity. Chen makes a beeline for an empty corner stairway to huddle on, while still having a fair view of the spectacle that’s unfolding in front of her.

She watches in equal amounts of horror and astonishment as the rest of the party seems to fall into the same erotic rhythm as the Supernaturals, hooking up with the Supernaturals and each other. None of them seem to notice Chen, luckily, she wouldn’t know how to respond if they did.

“Not in the mood?” it’s Bigby, leaning against the wall, as Chen realizes he hasn’t been participating in any of the recreation as well.

She nods, “I mean...parties have never really been my scene to begin with.”

“Then what is your scene?” he asks, sitting on the stairway beside her.

She pauses, “...you’ll probably find it weird, or boring, or both.”

He raises an eyebrow, “Hey, I’ll be honest, the only reason I hang out with these guys is because they’re Supernaturals too, they understand that part of me. But I don’t have anything else in common with them. My idea of a good time, is to play video games, and read comic books, as cliche as that sounds.”

“I...I like to go to the library and read through their manga section, or you know, use their computers. I never had a computer at home.” she confesses.

“You like manga? Same!” he chuckles, “Wait...shonen or shoujo?”

She shrugs, “I don’t discriminate.”

He smiles, “I like that.”

Emily walks over to them, clothless in her Lynx from with a shirtless boy nibbling at her shoulder, “C’mon you two, join in. Don’t let a good ritual go to waste.”

While Chen could certainly feel the seductive mood of the party, it isn’t enough to push her out of her comfort zone, “No thanks, I’m good.”

Just then, police lights and sirens blare from behind nearby houses and trees, as the cars begin pulling up to the house. The group looks up as a total of two cars arrive, with at least two officers per car.

“Who the hell called the police?!” Glitter asks, throwing her partner off of her disconcertedly.

“Who cares, let’s go!” Vlad declares, running for the back door.

Emily, Vlad, Glitter, and Bigby all start running at an inhuman pace, leaving behind a trail of light where they just were a few seconds ago. Chen runs after them, and while several paces behind, she sees that their appearances have changed somewhat. Emily is in her Lynx form, Vlad is slightly paler, Bigby now has more hair on his head and arms, and Glitter...where is Glitter? All she can see in the place of Glitter is a small green spec floating in the air. She did say she’s a Pixie, is this one of her powers?

Chen struggles to catch up with them as she hears the officers with flashlights hot on their tail.

“Hey you, come back here!” one of them cries.

She sees Emily slow down considerably to reach her, “Change into your Lynx form!”

Chen grabs at her bracelet and her fingers find the small gemstone. Yanking it off of her chain, she instantly feels herself change as a bright light encompassses her while she’s still running. Now in her Lynx form, she instantly feels herself picking up the pace, zipping past Emily and catching up with the rest of the group.

“Nice!” Emily laughs, returning to her normal pace and meeting up with the group.

“Back to the Grove?” Glitter asks, referring to the enchantment where Chen and Emily had met them.

The rest of the group nods in agreement, and they speed off, leaving their pursuers in the dust.