This choice: Recruit some girls as allies • Go Back...Chapter #13Casting the Coven by: Seuzz   "I know what we should play!" You grin as you draw the board and glass triad from your sleepover bag. "I know because I brought it. Supernatural Truth or Dare!"
"What is that?" Gracie McGraw asks.
"It's a Ouija board," Sophia Wilson squeals. Missy Taylor turns a little pale.
"Here's the way it works," you start. "We ask each other questions, and if we think the answers are bullshit, we challenge the spirits to tell us the right answer. So," you shrug, "I guess it's more like Truth or Bullshit, with the spirits playing judge."
"Oujia boards are all bullshit," Missy says with transparent distaste.
"I guess, but it's still fun," you laugh. "Anyway, what's the harm?"
Actually, Missy is quite right: ouija boards don't work as advertised. But they are easy to manipulate if you set things up right.
"Now, this is a special board I made myself," you explain. "You have to put this special oil on your fingertips, or it won't register. Give me your hands." Gracie and Sophia eagerly put their hands out, and you delicately trace the symbols onto their index fingers. You have to give Missy a long look before she reluctantly extends her hand.
"Okay, now we put the glass piece in the middle, and we each put an index finger on it. No, your other one, Gracie. That's right. Okay, now who goes first?"
"Don't we have to invoke demons or something," Missy asks.
"Don't be such a Sunday school girl," you retort. "I'll go first. Be the first subject, I mean. Ask me anything."
There's a pause. Then Gracie jumps in. "Were you really in love with Seth Javits?"
You hesitate. "No," you reply firmly.
"I call bullshit!" Sophia exclaims.
"No, you say 'Spirits, resolve the question!'"
She rephrases her challenge. There's a pause, and then the glass triad wobbles and slides to "Yes." You turn red as everyone laughs. "Okay," you say hotly, "it didn't take a spirit to see I was lying. Who's next?"
"Me!" Gracie says. "Ask me anything."
"Did you cheat on that algebra test?" Sophia asks.
Gracie gasps. "Of course not!"
"Spirits, resolve the question!" The triad slides to "Yes."
"Oh, Jesus!" Gracie hops back, letting go of the triad. "It's not cheating if Marcus drops his test and you pick it up and you see you did half the problems wrong."
"The spirits are real sticklers, aren't they?" you chortle. "Come on, put your finger back on! Sophie's turn."
Grace glares at her. "Did you cheat on that algebra test?"
"No, I didn't!" Upon the challenge the triad slides to "No." Sophie looks very smug.
"Okay, now a question for Missy." You eye your one reluctant player carefully. "Are you in love with anyone?"
She turns very red, and everyone holds their breath. "Yes," she says.
No one challenges her. "Who?" Gracie asks, her eyes shining.
"I answered the question. It's someone else's turn. Cindy, do you really believe in this spiritual crap?"
"Do I believe in magic, you mean? Oh, definitely." No one challenges you. "Gracie, who are you most in love with?"
"Oh, God." She grins in embarrassment. "Um ... Lee Reynolds?"
"Spirits, resolve the question!"
All but Missy lean forward eagerly as the triad traces a complex pattern. "G. E. O. F. F. D. Geoff Dunholm!" There are squeals all around, and Gracie gasps.
Surreptitiously, you slip your middle finger onto the triad. "Sophie, who is your true soulmate?"
"Oh wow, how would I know that?"
"Well, who do you think it is?"
She ponders long and hard. "I think that ... Chuck Johnson probably is."
There are grimaces all around; he's just the kind of stolid, not-quite-ugly, Future Farmers of America kind of guy that Sophie would settle for. "I think the spirits need to be heard from," you say. "Spirits, resolve the question!" The triad traces out a quite different name. "Scott Bickelmeir!"
"No fucking way!" Sophie leaps up and throws herself excitedly on the bed. "No fucking way!" Scott is a wide receiver on the football team: hunky and handsome in a shaggy, laid-back way.
"Why are you teasing us this way," Missy says in an accusing voice. "You're doing it. I can tell."
"I'm not doing anything, Missy," you say quietly. You hold her eye. "Do you think you'll ever have a boyfriend?"
Her jaw clenches, and the room becomes very quiet. She starts to shrug, but then she says "No, I don't," in a raw voice.
"Spirits, resolve the question."
The triad trembles and then violent jumps in the air and flips upside down. Everyone draws a sharp breath.
"That means they can't answer," you say coolly. "It means it's up to you, Missy. There is someone out there for you. You just have to open yourself up and be receptive. Or you can choose to close yourself off."
Missy doesn't say anything, and she doesn't put her finger back on the triad when Gracie turns it back over again. "Cindy, how do you know how all this works?" she asks when it has been reactivated.
"Because I'm a witch," you smile. The triad, upon challenge, slides over the letters W, I, T, C, H.
Missy leaves the room; the other two exchange glances. "I know lots of fun tricks," you say, leaning back. "This game is just one of them. And it's just a toy. If you want, I can show you some more." Gracie and Sophie lean forward eagerly. "But not tonight. I don't want to upset Missy any more." You nudge Gracie. "But you and me should get together next week. How about Monday after school?"
* * * * *
You've chosen your acolytes well, you think: Gracie and Sophie, at least, will be highly receptive to your plans. Three lower-tier girls, all astonished when you invited yourself to their Saturday sleepover. Dumpy, taffy-headed Gracie; Sophie with her weirdly-shaped breasts and second-hand clothes; and plain-jane Missy, crushed by her own lack of confidence. Well, Missy might be problematic. You didn't realize she would have such an aversion to magic. Still, that might just mean she'll take to it with a vengeance once she's exposed to its possibilities.   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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