Birthrights (3 page)

Upon coming back around to the north, Caislyn again
bowed to the north and then continued on another revolution around
the circle, laying yet another layer of salt down. This time her
chant changed a bit. “Solidify as I walk this plane, protection is
what I seek to gain.”

Again, as she came around to the north, Caislyn bowed
and then continued on her third trip round the circle, laying yet
another protective layer of salt. As she rounded the circle for the
third time, she began to chant again. “I walk this circle thrice
around, to cleanse and consecrate this ground.”

As she finished the third cycle, the salt was all
laid about the circle in a protection layer. There was none left in
her hands. Caislyn had long ago learned how much would be enough
and she prepared carefully, as not to waste that which nature gave
so freely. Caislyn bowed, once again to the north, then bending at
the knee she picked up the green votive candle that sat there, as
she lit the candle, which represented the element of earth she
began to chant again. “I invoke the power of the earth to enter my
circle, I beseech thee”

As the candle was lit, she bent back down and placed
it in line with the circle. She stood, bowed to the earth and the
north and then walked the circle clockwise again, till she came to
the eastern facing element, the light blue candle that sat there
stood for the element of air. As she did with the north, Caislyn
picked the candle up and began chanting. “I invoke the power of the
air to enter my circle, I beseech thee”

The ritual of lighting the candles and in essence
building her circle continued around to the south where she picked
up a red candle, representing fire. Here she began to chant as
before. “I invoke the power of fire to enter my circle, I beseech
thee”

She rounded the circle to the fourth element that lay
waiting. Caislyn reached for the deep blue candle, the one
representing water. There she followed the same ritual as with the
three previous elements and began chanting once again. “I invoke
the power of water to enter my circle, I beseech thee”

She placed the candle back in its proper position
along the circle and continued back until she was facing north
again. This was the Vadoma way. Many witches start their circles to
the east with air, for new beginnings. The Vadoma's come from a
long line of earthly witches. While they didn't discount the other
elements, they had a strong affinity for the earth and that which
comes forth from it. The family had always started their circles in
the north. Ritual spell casting will always work better when you
believe one hundred percent in what you are doing. So, with the
Vadoma family, they always pay homage to the earth first and last.
As Caislyn turned and bowed to the north once more, completing the
circle, a shimmering light shot up from the ring toward the ceiling
and settled back in leaving a luminescent glow along the salt
lines. Everything was now ready for Caislyn to begin.

These ceremonies to purify and create a circle are
quite the buildup for a spell or prayer that would last a fraction
of the time, but the ritual acted as a focus so that the caster was
clear headed when it came time to perform their actual task. At
this point Caislyn knew what she needed to ask for. She felt
confident she could do it, but just under that cool layer of
confidence she began to fall apart a little, which is not something
you want happening inside a circle. 'Help me,' she thought out to
the cosmos. Her mind was a random jumble of thoughts focused around
her family for a brief moment, 'Guide my soul to where it needs to
be.' She finished her thought and an amazingly peaceful clarity
took over inside Caislyn. She finally felt at peace enough to
finish the ritual.

Caislyn used her athame to draw blood from her
finger, allowing it to drip down at the center of the circle. The
blood of the caster is known to be a small sacrifice to obtain the
knowledge one seeks. Those people that practice sacrificial arts
using animals, and even other people, do not understand that there
is no greater sacrifice than that of the self.
　

Once the drop of blood hit the circle, energy began
to zing through the area and Caislyn knew it was time to ask what
she had come for.

“With the whole of my heart and the fight in my
soul,

I seek a knowledge that is beyond my control

Let me pass through this period of strife

That I may find the two I seek, that brought me
life.

Bring to me that which,"

Caislyn paused briefly as she nearly forgot the rest
of her prayer. Then she continued on,."may convey

Truth, awareness, and subtlety

Grant me knowledge

Also, strength to follow through

The world is less without these two

Find them well and help me see

Where they are is where I need to be.”

While Caislyn finished the spell, she realized that
there may be consequences to her accidental pause after the word
"which." You never want to take liberties with a spell, even those
you write yourself when you are in the circle. A bubble of emotion
found her while she was speaking the words, and the cosmos could
feel it. How they would interpret it would remain a mystery. She
just hoped it would keep her on the path that she was asking for.
With that final scattered thought, Caislyn realized she better
bring the circle down and close this out before anything else could
go wrong.

She took a second to ground herself again and then
bowed to the north, while this time walking winder shins, or
counter clockwise, to the west. Once at the western element, she
bent to pick up the candle. As she held the candle in her hand she
began her closing incantation for water. “Element of water, that
flows so free, Let your streams hasten my plea.”

As Caislyn relinquished hold on the element of water
with that whispered absolve, the flame in the votive went out. She
placed the sleeping element back in the circle, bowed to its memory
and continued on to the southern element of fire. “Element of fire,
that lets us see, Spread like wild to ignite my plea.”

Again she replaced the candle after the flame dimmed
itself out and Caislyn continued her course to the eastern element
of air. “Element of air, which needs no key, Throughout the planes
carry my plea.”

Just like before, the flame extinguished itself and
she replaced the darkened votive on the circle. She bowed in thanks
to the element, as she had for the previous two and continued
around the circle till she was back in the north facing the element
of earth. To earth she spoke, “Element of earth, combine with these
three, I send thee forth to manifest my plea.”

The flame flickered then sputtered out as her words
were carried on the smoky tendrils rising from the votive. Caislyn
replaced the candle to its spot amongst the circle and bowed giving
thanks to it as well. The ritual was over, the spell was done and
what it would bring to her would remain a mystery, for now.
Caislyn, opened her circle, left the room and entered the bookstore
again. The night was thick with the full moon's light. She basked
in the glory of its energies for a moment before heading to the
other door in the store that would lead her upstairs, to the store
rooms and further up to the third floor apartments. Caislyn wanted
nothing more than to just go collapse in upon herself, have a good
cry and fly off to dreamland where things could be different.

Before hoping straight into bed, Caislyn had to grab
a drink, she always felt a bit parched after performing rituals. On
her way to the sink she had to walk past the phone, where she saw a
message waiting for her. She thought it odd that someone had called
her private line instead of the bookstore. In the year and a half
Caislyn had been searching for her parents, her friends had all but
given up on her and left her to fend for herself, so it was a
rarity that someone would call her private line. Caislyn stopped
out of curiosity and pushed the play button on the machine.

“Ms. Vadoma, this is Edgar Whitney, of Whitney,
Bryce, and Jones. I have some urgent business to discuss with you
about your parents will. You see, they had a clause in their will
because of their other than human status that would allow me to
petition the court to have them, well, err mm, declared deceased if
ever they were to go missing for a length of time, and under the
circumstances of their disappearance, it is highly likely. I know
that I explained this to you before, but that time has come and
gone and despite your lack of, shall we say, grace, on the subject,
I do need to follow through with my client's wishes. The courts
have been petitioned and I expect they will have the decree for us
by the end of the week. You need to come see me, Ms. Vadoma. We
have to go over the rest of your parents wishes. You know...”
Caislyn never heard the rest of the message. She pushed the delete
button before he could finish.

“How dare that bastard! How could he do this? They
aren't dead! They can't be dead, I can still feel them.” Caislyn
tossed herself on her bed and cried and screamed until exhaustion
overtook her and she fell to sleep. Her sleep was a fitful one. She
lay there tossing and turning, amidst grunts of displeasure, and
sometimes tears would escape her hold over them, flowing freely
down her cheeks and puddling up on her pillow. A few hours after
going to bed, Caislyn sat bolt upright. She reached across to the
nightstand and grabbed a sketch pad and pencil. It was a mechanical
gesture performed while she still slept. She knew where everything
was situated. Caislyn began sketching, her eyes opened, but
unseeing. She sketched out several scenes over a few sheets of
paper. When she was done she simply placed the pad and pencil back
where they had been and lay back down as if nothing out of the
ordinary had occurred.

Caislyn woke the next morning and looked at her hands
immediately, as was the norm for her. She saw the telltale signs of
graphite on her fingertips and immediately picked up the sketch pad
to see what she had done in the middle of the night. There were
five pages of sketches this time. That was a bit unusual. Normally,
when she had an auto sketching session in the middle of the night
it would only be one page and she would be back to bed. Five was a
record for Caislyn. She looked through the pages.

One of the pages struck her as odd, she was on top of
a building, and judging from the previous sketch she knew exactly
which one. It wasn't far from her apartment. The page she was
looking at though showed Caislyn grabbing onto another woman. From
the looks on their faces, they were both scared. Caislyn was
looking over the edge of the building while the other woman was
looking straight forward. She looked as though she feared for her
life. The fear in her dark eyes seemed to draw Caislyn is as she
looked. They had to be either darkest brown or black. The woman's
hair hung just past her shoulders in thick, dark, curling splendor.
Caislyn couldn't tell what color her hair was, because the lighting
was all wrong. Either way, the girl looked as pale as a vamp, but
she didn't seem to have that undead air about her, “A mystery
for another day,” Caislyn said to herself.

If Caislyn thought that the spell would work itself
out within short order, she had been mistaken. She had been busying
herself with store inventory and sketches for almost two months.
The disappointment that nothing had come of her spell was wearing
on her and she felt she needed a break from her personal reality. A
break would not come anytime soon though, it was nearly time to
open the store again today, yet another tedium tying her down to
this town, this apartment, this store, so that she could not be out
actively looking for her parents the way she wanted. She had no
doubt that her parents had been moved from this town. As small
towns go, it was a gossip mill. It was like that long before the
non humans came out and it remained that way for as long as Caislyn
could remember. She finished getting herself ready and walked
downstairs to the bookstore to open up.

Later that day, Caislyn sat slumped over the counter
in her parent's bookstore, feeling rather defeated. Tonight would
already be another new moon and yet nothing had manifested itself
since the night of her ritual. She was doodling on the sketch pad
she kept near, in case she started to get a vision. Her visions
rarely happened during the day, but on the occasion that they did,
she liked to be prepared. The wards at the front door of the store
tinkled to life announcing that a Fey had just come in. Unlike the
wards on the ritual room door, the ones on the front of the store
had a different sound for each type of being that walked through
them. Fey, vamp, witch, lycan and human, all had different tones.
Of course you couldn't distinguish between different types of Fey
or lycan, but at least you had a semblance of what you were dealing
with. The wards also kept out those who meant harm. Caislyn
couldn't see who had entered from her viewpoint so she assumed he
or she must be a small Fey. Just to be polite and keep up the air
of actual customer service she half shouted a greeting.

“Good day to you, if you need any help I'm over at
the register.” Caislyn looked at her watch; it was nearly closing
time for her anyway. She had posted new hours after her parents
went missing. Today was one of those days she had posted as an
early close so that she had time to go and check on any leads about
her parents. Just as she was thinking about the fact that there
were no more leads to follow a short, stout man with reddish hair
popped up by the register. He couldn't have been much more than
four feet tall, if that. He did have a bright smile about him
though as he looked up at Caislyn with intense amber eyes too
bright and too odd in color to allow him to pass for human.