The Séance

Chapter 6

Anestasia felt hopelessly unprepared.  Yes, I can sometimes contact spirits, but look how big a disaster that can be!  Yes, I sometimes have prescient dreams, but never enough to give clear answers, only enough to get bad feelings.  On the other hand, I can ward things and make them stick. I did manage to cast that ice bolt, or whatever it was. I'm pretty sure I could do it again too.  I'm learning all this magic a lot faster than I learn other things, too.

Anestasia heard a loud bang come from her room upstairs.  She sprang to her feet and ran.  When she reached her room, Anestasia saw Steve standing over The Book, which was laying open on the floor.  "You're not just a cat are you?" she asked.  Steve butted his head against her calf, then twined around her legs purring madly.  "Are you under a curse?"  He huffed.  "Not important right now?" Once again, Steve rubbed up against her leg.

"Well, should I be reading the book?" Anestasia asked.  The cat gave her a look, then walked back and forth between the book and the bed.  "Ok, got it."   She carefully picked the book up and saw that it was open to a passage on protection charms.  She sat on the bed to start reading it, and Steve immediately set his paw on a specific section  "Protection From Spirits."  There were two variations, one for a place, and one for a person, and the paw covered both.   This book always seems to open onto something immediately useful.

Bind together agrimony to deflect hostile magic, cloves to repel evil spirits, St. John's Wart to create a protection shield, with mandrake for extra strength, and a fire agate for protection from psychic intrusion, and place in an amulet to protect a person.  For a building, use powdered angelica root and mullein sprinkled in corners to drive evil spirits and demons away, and a wreath of blackberry vines, ivy vines, and rowan berries at the door to gain a shield against all evil.

This sounds easy enough, but do I actually have any of these things, and how much can I gather myself.  I don't have a lot of money laying around.... The house protections should be pretty easy, we have ivy plants, blackberry vines, and rowan trees here around the house.  I have a handful of agates that I like to worry with my fingers, and  I have some angelica root and St. John's Wart in my hidden cubby. Agrimony grows around here, so mandrake and mullein are all I need.  Anestasia went downstairs to the computer in the den, and checked prices for the missing herbs.  Oh my gosh!  $35 for a mandrake root, and $23. per pound for mullein, on Amazon!  Can I find it cheaper at an herbalist's shop?  If not, I'm asking the girls to chip in.  It's for their own protection anyway.  I can make the wreaths and four amulets when it's too dark to read that journal.  Surely it's just a precaution anyway.  While it didn't feel finished, we may not be specifically targeted.  I can't cast for the whole town, can I?

When her mother came up for dinner and saw Anestasia working on the wreaths, she asked if she could help.  "That looks like fun, and I need to unwind.  Did you get the casserole from Friday into the oven yet?"

"No mom, I didn't think about it.  We could order Chinese...." Anestasia suggested ruefully.

"No, I'll go preheat the oven now.  The casserole was precooked, so it should warm up fairly quick.  It has also been thawed long enough that it needs to be eaten," Anestasia's mother said, walking into the kitchen.  Anestasia quickly warded the house while her mother was occupied, then, while dinner was heating, the two of them finished making up the wreaths.

"The boys will be back after school tomorrow.  I don't know how to feel about that.  I will be glad to have them home, but the uninterrupted time in the lab has been very productive," her mother sighed.  "Your father won't be home until Friday.  After that, life can get back to normal."

"Mom, can we discuss the transportation issue?  I have been caught out in storms three times this week.  I would like to borrow the car a couple of days a week, and for part of the weekend."

"That should be fine, but we will further discuss it when your father gets home," she answered mysteriously. 

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The next morning, Anestasia woke up exhausted.  What have I been dreaming? I don't think my mind stilled at all last night, but I can't remember anything! It feels important, too.  She watched the forecast while eating breakfast.  The weather was supposed to be sunny and unusually warm at 60 degrees.  Anestasia brought a bowl of cream up with her, when she went up to dress. The windows were shut, and Steve was sleeping on her pillow, but the curtains were askew. She looked at the cat in suspicion. "Did you go out again?" Steve looked up at her, then lay his head back down, his eyes falling closed. She sighed in exasperation.  She put on a lacy poet shirt in blue cotton, and paired it with a tan linen twill skirt, getting dressed in the closet.  

"Don't forget your lunch!" her mother called as she started for school.

"Thanks, mom!" Anestasia called, running back to the kitchen to grab it.    On the walk to school, Anestasia started remembering bits and pieces of her dreams.  I was an observer in my own dreams, she thought in wonder.  The scenes were hazy and sepia toned like old movies.  The women wore dark clothes with white caps on their heads and white scarves over their shoulders.  The men also wore dark clothes and hats with buckles on them.  Many of the houses were one story with steep roofs, but on the two story homes, the second floor was wider than the first.  I still can't remember any of the action though.

 It was a shock when Anestasia noticed she had arrived at school.  When she reached her locker to put her afternoon books back, and get her morning books in her leather knapsack, she saw the journal in her bag.  "I thought I left that in my wall cubby...." Anestasia murmured to herself.  I guess I can read it in class after I do my work, or at lunch.

Her first two teachers lectured for the entire hour, and there was only ten minutes left after finishing all her work during third period.  Anestasia decided to wait until lunch.  She ate quickly, then sat in the courtyard to start reading.

Arlo Janni is gone.  I have questioned Braun, but he says only that Arlo left in the night.  When I asked the neighbors, they said that the brothers went off together two days ago, like usual, but only Braun came back.  I have gone to the island where I saw them meeting the bearded man, but the man and his cabin are gone like they had never been.  There does appear to have been a fire there, and the earth has been disturbed.  I will bring the minister and the village elders.

When I told them what I have seen and heard, they agreed to dig in the disturbed earth.  We discovered bones.  Some look very old, but some are new and still smell like fire.  When we found the first skull, we dug more carefully until we found no more bones.  Three of the skulls are from children, and the new one is clearly from a man.  The minister has blessed the bones and they have been buried.  The children in one grave, as we could not separate the bones.   The man was buried on his own.  Perhaps the child ghosts will now be quiet.  The man we all assume was Arlo.

What has been wrought?

The next several pages were blank, and then the writing continued, but as it was written in agitation, it is even more difficult to read.  Anestasia went back to the book, but was startled by the bell.  "Is school already over?" she asked Janet wonderingly.

"Yes, where were you?"  Janet responded.

"I've been reading the journal I've found.  It looks like there were human sacrifices in the area, but who all were sacrificed, and to whom, I don't know yet.  I didn't see Nancy today...."

"She didn't come to school," Janet answered grimly. 

"Let's stop by her house on our way to mine.  My mother is baking us cookies for a snack during our meeting,"  Rachel said, joining them.  The walk to Nancy's was silent, and when they knocked on the door, Nancy's mother almost dragged them inside.