Stolen Origins (Chapter 1)

"Pentacle and Earth and North, Call the cone of magick forth..." I glanced around the circle as my vision blurred, looking at my friends, all speaking the same words. Chanting. 1

"Air and East, athame bright, Cone of magick to its height..." Four friends. That’s what we were. No, not just four friends. Four witches. 2

Four Witches spinning faster and faster in our circle.3

"Fire and South and candle burn, Make the cone of magick turn..." We were going faster and faster, vision so blurred I could only see light and dark.4

"Cauldron deep and West and Water, Cone of magick never falter..." Voice, perfectly harmonizing with every syllable each of us uttered. Each one different... Different to fit the four elements. 5

"Aya, aya Anu, aya, aya Lugh, Aya, aya Anu, aya, aya Lugh..." The chant was coming to an end. 6

"Aya, aya Anu, aya, aya Lugh, Aya, aya Anu, aya, aya Lugh, Aya, aya Anu, aya, aya Lugh, Aya, aya Anu, aya, aya Lugh!" We stopped, hands still linked, magick still swirling around us. Not actually visible, but I could still tell it was there. Like an old friend.7

Gabby, across from me, caught my eye and grinned. I grinned back, then, once again, glanced around at my friends. All three of them had a sparkle in their eyes. I think I did too.8

All four of us stood, practically tasting the power building up around us. This was perfect. Everything was working.9

The front door clicked open. 10

"Honey, I’m home!" Sypress’s mother called from down the hall. 11

Her footsteps thudded down the hallway. The magick stopped swirling and faded.12

Sypress snapped to attention. "Quick! Hide everything!"13

We released each other’s hands and took a step back, breaking the circle. Gabby took the bowl of spring water from the alter and tipped it down the sink in the en-suite off the bedroom. Sypress dashed around the room, putting all her candles and dried herbs in their hiding places, while Satin hid the alter in the en-suite and I swept up the chalk circle. We all took of our robes and flung them under the bed, and as the bedroom door opened, we threw ourselves onto the bed, Sypress clicking on the TV. 14

"Hi girls." Sypress’s mother said, coming into the room. We all said hi. Gabby started making weird gestures toward the bed.15

"Mum, you’re early." Sypress said, trying to act and sound normal, even though she was out of breath. Gabby caught my eye and pointed. Sypress’s moon water was spilt all over the floor, by the bed.16

"A client cancelled at the last minute." She explained. "What have you girls been doing in here? You’re all out of breath. And it’s freezing in here." I managed to get Sypress’s gaze toward the water. She freaked.17

"Yeah, uh... We’ve been doing aerobics. And, uh, we didn’t want to light a fire when you weren’t in the house." Satin said, while Sypress moved to block the puddle from her mother’s view.18

"Okay, you’d better get a fire going so you don’t all freeze." Her mum said, then walked out.19

We all waited until she was out of hearing distance, then...20

"How cool was that?" Satin giggled, taking out a big bag of chubba-chups and offering them around.21

An hour later, a fire crackled happily in the Sypress’s open fireplace, where we all sat, talking about our interrupted circle.22

"The magick was just so... pure." Gabby marvelled, taking out a bottle of nail polish.23

"Yeah, like it had never been touched before." Satin agreed.24

"But at the same time, ancient." I added.25

"You guys are a hoot and a-" Sypress glanced at Gabby’s choice of colour. "Red? Try black. Black is a nice, beautiful colour. Like the depth of an eternal hole, or-"26

I rolled my eyes. "She’s getting all poetic on us."27

"Uh, no offence Sypress," Gabby said. "But while you can pull off the Gothic thing, I’m totally a colours girl."28

"Hey, it’s not a Gothic thing okay? It’s me, expressing my individualism." Sypress put another log on the fire.29

"So, in other words, you’re a Goth." Gabby replied, finishing a foot.30

Sypress shrugged. I studied her. She was most definitely a Gothic. Long, straight, black hair. Skin so pale, that if she’d been on Buffy, she’d be classed as a vamp. On an average day, her out fit would be big black boots and a black jacket - preferably leather, with a strip of leather or choker of some sort around her neck. Black makeup and nail-polish completed her ensemble. Sypress wouldn’t be caught dead in anything that didn’t come from the ‘bruise pallet’. Purple, grey, dark blue and black. And that includes her bedroom. Even the stones in the fireplace were rendered grey when she first moved in, because she’d refused to have brown bricks. She also has a really weird boyfriend. Sypress was Goth through and through... And did I mention she has a part-time job as a clown?31

Gabby, on the other hand, is her complete opposite. She’s a blonde. Blonde, with these green eyes. Not hazel, green. They’re sort of fire-y. Like in Grade Seven, when you do the experiments with copper sulphate and a Bunsen burner, ands you sprinkle the powder stuff down the barrel of the Bunsen. (I did not do that!) She’s a social butterfly, always wearing something colourful. And forget all the laws of fashion. Gabby can pull off any outfit. Blue and green, orange and red. Just never tell her that orange is the new pink. Gabby loves her pink. 32

She has this habit of always saying what she thinks, damn the consequences. That’s usually a good thing, but it’s landed her in detention more than once. It also makes her very popular. She’s had more boyfriends than even I can count. That’s probably why she doesn’t have a steady boyfriend at the moment. She says she just likes the part where they buy her stuff. Not that she’s awful or anything. She’s just Gabby.33

Then there’s Satin. I’m surprised her name isn’t Lolly. She has the weirdest lollypop obsession. You rarely see her without a lollypop. She even had one in a circle once. I guess it’s like a comfort thing. You know someone is obsessed when they wear chubba-chups tucked behind their ears. That’s our Satin. Once she was dared to stop eating them for a day, and she chewed gum non-stop. What more can I say?34

She’s kind of average height, with ginger hair that she usually has gathered at the back of her head somehow. And she has these really blue eyes, that seem to draw you in. They sort of sparkle. Satin is probably among the top ten most caring people in the world. And she doesn’t care what anyone thinks of her. None of my friends do, but Satin especially. There’s something about her that’s really sweet. And no, not the lollypops. She’s been with her boyfriend for two and a half years. I guess he’s drawn to her too. Then again, he’s just as sweet as she is.35

And finally, there’s me. Rory. I’m kind of normal up against them. I have brown hair, halfway down my back, with hints of red and orange. I’m an average kid, I guess. I like sport. I read magazines. I wear those Dada jumpers or whatever because they’re ‘in’, but I still wear other stuff, tight tops, you know. Depends on my mood. I don’t consider myself a clone exactly, just, sort of a follower. Of dress sense. That’s where it stops. 36

I excel at school, I guess. I mean, I always get great grades and all. I do extra credit things, and I’m on the school soccer and swim team. And I like to surf. 37

I also write. I don’t have a way with words, like Sypress does, but I can write well. And I have a few friends, not a huge group of friends, but not as close as these guys are either. I guess things are like that.38

So that’s the four of us. All pretty different, I guess. I mean, of course we are, we’re individuals. But we trust each other absolutely and completely, and we know each other better than or own families do. Better than we know ourselves. We’re lucky to have each other.39

But there is one thing that we have in common. Something that most people don’t have. It’s different, and some people thing it’s weird, and even wrong. But it’s most definitely not. And here it is. We’re witches. Pagans. Wiccans. Whatever you want to call it. 40

Witches, with no knowledge of our ancestors. And that night, after our circle, after most normal, sane people were in bed, we were up and awake. And we decided to find some answers. We wanted to learn about our origins.41

And we got out the Ouija Board.42