The Witches of Marble Falls

XIV

'Valerie!' Agatha called, fear in her voice. Kittie walked into the front hall and leaned against the wall, looking at her sister. Agatha turned and tried to give her sister a smile, but her concern for her niece had taken over. 'Something happened to Emilia. She is unconscious in the dining room.' She looked back to the second floor and called for her niece again. Valerie appeared at the top of the stairs, her face bewildered.

'I was trying to call nine-one-one.' She said, lifting the cordless phone up. 'She just fell, Aunt Agatha.'

'But why is there a salt circle around her?' Agatha questioned, moving away from the stairs to help Kittie to the den. Valerie followed and tried to find the words to explain what had happened without giving away the contents of the box. She wanted to research them, to look into the grimoire before she brought it to their attention.

'There was someone in the side garden; he gave Emi a strange feeling so we put a protective barrier around us. Not long after that, she fell and started seizing, like she did at Professor Hale's office. I don't know who the man was.'

'You should have called the police, Valerie.' Agatha closed her eyes and took a deep breath. 'But you did a good job of protecting yourselves, though it seems whoever it was had a darker energy than basic salt could keep out.'

Valerie nodded. 'Should I call nine-one-one?'

'No, Alaric will be here soon. Help me take Emilia upstairs to her bed. We need to make sure that she is comfortable before we can consider how to heal her.'

Heal her, Valerie thought. Of course! She was sure she could find a healing spell or ritual to help her sister, she just needed the time to look for it. She followed her aunt to the dining room and helped her lift Emilia from the floor. They carried her up the stairs and set her in her bed, covering her with the comforter.

'You stay with her, I'll go wait with Kittie. We will gather in the den once Alaric arrives.' Agatha said, closing the door as she left the room. Valerie put her ear to the wood and listened as her aunt descended the stairs and spoke in a hushed voice to Kittie. Satisfied that they had been left alone, Valerie went back to the closet and removed the clothes—the box sat, ominous yet inviting, in the dim light. She dragged it out and sat, cross-legged, before it; opening the box, she lifted the grimoire and placed it on her lap.

'There has to be something in this grimoire.' She mused to herself. She opened the book and began flipping through the pages, searching for keywords that would indicate a healing spell. She found a few, but upon further inspection, her sister's current state would not be fixed by the spells provided.

With an exasperated sigh, Valerie flipped a few more pages before she stopped, her eyes wide.

The Animus

An Animus is a person who is highly sensitive to the subtle energies around them. These energies are capable of affecting an Animus in a way that the average person will never experience. At times, we will need to heal an Animus because of these energies. A typical healing spell will be useless in this situation, as the Animus is an oddity. Where most healings are for a physical ailment, what needs to be done here is something on the spiritual level.

The following ritual was adapted by our ancestors, based on a ceremony performed by the Mountain Crow tribe.

Healing of an Animus

Gather together salt for the circle of protection, a bundle of dried sage and lavender and cedar and sweet-grass, an abalone shell, a wooden box or glass jar, and a hollow bone.

Valerie leaned forward, looking into the box. There were bundles of wrapped objects, tied with ribbons, in the box. She pulled one out and unwrapped it. Inside were odd looking tools with inscriptions burned into them; she pulled another out and unwrapped it, revealing a wooden box that contained the items listed in the book. Her heart skipped a beat—the man that had left the box knew something; he left the box because he knew what was happening. She shook the thoughts from her mind and checked each item, making sure that everything was there.

For a moment, she sat on the floor, one hand closed around the wrapped objects, the other on the book; she questioned herself, what she was doing, and whether she would be capable of performing the ritual on her own or if she should tell Agatha everything.

Resolved to perform the ritual alone, Valerie stood from the floor and placed the book and items on Emilia's bed.

***

Valerie cleared a space on the floor large enough for her sister's limp body, giving just enough room for her to walk the circle without disruption. She lifted her sister from the bed with care and placed her on the floor. She crossed her arms over her chest and put her legs together. She moved the book and the necessary items from the bed to Emilia's side and opened the jar of salt; she walked counter-clockwise around her sister and whispered the same circle casting chant Emilia had used before opening the book. When she finished, she checked the spell and grabbed the bundle of dried herbs.

Take up the bundle of herbs and light the end on fire. Place the burning end in the abalone shell. Bathe yourself in the smoke first, ensuring that it has covered you from head to toe—use your hand to waft the smoke over you. Say:

'Air, fire, water, earth. Cleanse and dispel any and all darkness around me and within me.'

Once you are finished with yourself, begin at the head of the Animus and use a sweeping motion to push the topmost layer of darkness from their body. Sweep down to the feet and out of the circle. As you are bathing the Animus in the smoke, say:

'Smoke of air and fire and earth, Cleanse and bless the soul and body of this Animus. Drive away all harm and fear, Let no darkness remain here.'

Leave the bundle of herbs to smoulder in the abalone shell. Take up the hollow bone and hold it between your hands, over the body of the Animus; say:

'With this hollow bone I will remove all residual darkness and negativity from the body of this Animus. Let this hollow bone absorb those energies which would cause home to me or to the Animus.'

At the forehead, the clavicle, between the breasts, just below the abdomen (between the hip bones), at the knees, and finally at the feet, suck in through the hollow bone.

After each stop, make sure to blow what you have removed into a container—a box or a jar is best. Do not breathe those energies into the air around you; this would likely allow the energies to re-enter the Animus.

Valerie followed the instructions, but as she blew the final breath into the box and placed the hollow bone in it as well, she felt an odd sense of foreboding. The air had changed around her, and something felt off about the house. She couldn't place it, so she moved the thoughts to the back of her mind and closed the box. She then closed the circle and cleaned the salt from the floor.

She didn't move her sister for what seemed like hours—she sat, cross-legged on the floor beside Emilia, her hands clasped together in her lap. She prayed, for the first time since she was only a few years old. She prayed to the Universe, to Spirit, to allow her sister to come home.