Chapter 10

When I came back out of Laura’s room, I found everyone eating at the dining room table. I had forgotten how hungry I was, and quickly remembered when my stomach growled so loud the Goddess in Summerland could hear it.

Kane must’ve heard it, as he got up as he saw me and came racing over. “Are you ok?” he asked worriedly.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I assured him. But he looked at his mother for confirmation.

“She’s fine.” Laura said, smiling wickedly. Kane frowned in confusion and looked at me. I shrugged. Now I could tell that Laura was right. Kane was in love with me, or at least in some form of attachment.

“Anyway,” Kane said, shaking off his confusion as he handed me a plate with a salad and a smaller plate of crackers and cheese, “we were just talking about forming a coven. We have enough people to cast a circle, and me and Melanie can be the High Priest and High Priestess.”

He looked at me, “only because you don’t have enough experience with covens, or Wicca for that matter. It’s not going to be a traditional coven, and we are not going to be traditional leaders.”

“What does that mean?” I ask.

“That means we won’t be, like, a couple or anything, and we won’t perform the Great Rite. We will just be a male and female leader, counselor, teacher, etcetera.” Said Melanie.

“Oh. That’s what usually happens?” I asked. “And what’s the Great Rite?”

“Yes, the High Priestess and High Priest are like the parents to the coven mates, and with that comes intimacy. We can’t promise that there won’t be any intimacy between us, that’d be impossible. But we won’t be kissing, having sex, etcetera. And the Great Rite is a sexual ritual. It’s symbolic of the God and Goddess joining. The High Priestess invokes the Goddess into her body, and the High Priest invokes the God. But that only happens, usually, if the coven is in great need. Or if they just want to do it at a Beltane rite, sometimes they invoke the God and Goddess.” Kane said.

“Oh,” I said. Kane and Melanie laughed good naturedly, and me and Penelope joined in.

“I’m so proud of you!” Laura, who we hadn’t known stood there listening to us, exclaimed, throwing her arms around the back of Kane’s shoulders. It was his turn to blush. “My coven will be your mother coven! Ooh yay! When we go to the next sabbat gathering, I will formally introduce you as my sister coven! Ooh, this is awesome! I never thought I’d see the day!” Laura was so excited, it was contagious.

“So, we will keep the elements the same people as we did with the ritual. As in, Penelope, you are air, and Chloe, you are water. Everyone ok with that?” He asked. We all nodded. “Good. Then the healing ritual is the first ritual of our coven. I will write that in our coven Book of Shadows. Now, we need to discuss initiation. It’s a long process. You need to think upon it, meditate, pray, whatever, for the day you want to be initiated. Me and Melanie have already been initiated into the Warriors of the Sacred Water coven. That’s my mom’s coven. We already have our third degree, so we are legally able to be the leaders of the coven. We will give you at least a month to think about it, and we don’t want you to tell us before that.

“Also, we need to vote on a coven name. So what we are going to do is write our own coven name on a piece of paper, whatever name you want the coven to be called. Nothing silly! This is a serious matter. So, let’s begin.” Kane ripped a piece of paper into fours, and handed each of us one piece of paper. “Only put one name.” He said.

I thought for a while, then wrote my favorite idea down, and put it in a bowl that Kane had brought around. He shuffled the papers in the bowl, then plucked one. He smiled. “Coven of the Rising Phoenix.” He announced. I blushed. “That’s mine.” I said.

“I like it,” he said truthfully. “It inspires hope. Does everyone agree that the name should be Coven of the Rising Phoenix?” He asked. Everyone agreed. “You are so creative!” Penelope said, proud of her best friend. “Thanks,” I said, blushing.

“It’s a beautiful coven name. I’m proud of you.” Laura said, hugging me from behind my chair. Kane’s mouth literally fell open. He was shocked that his mom liked someone that he liked. That had never happened before, apparently.

“Now, as your mother coven, I will ritualistically hand you your coven book of shadows. Once I get it engraved.” She smiled.

“It’s going to be personally engraved?” I asked, awed.

“Yes. It will say, in gold or silver letters, Coven Book of Shadows. Like how Kane’s personal book of shadows looks like.”

“Oh wow, that’s cool.” I said. We finished our little pow wow meeting and scattered, Penelope going to the bathroom, Melanie going off to the living room to watch a movie, and me and Kane staying in the kitchen. He looked at me and blushed.

“So,” he dragged out the word, “what were you and my mom talking about?” I blushed. “Oh...just… how you were conceived.” I said. I didn’t want to tell him about anything that we were talking about, I didn’t want to make him uncomfortable and I didn’t yet want to admit that I knew he liked me.

“Ah. That’s what I thought. Something about lessons and stuff right? Yeah, she’s a high priestess, so she likes helping people with their struggles, especially something like this that is personal to her.”

He wasn’t at all uncomfortable, and he voiced that.

“I’m not uncomfortable with this conversation. I don’t consider the man, no, boy, no that’s not right either. The thing that is not even considered a human being in a lot of people’s eyes. I don’t consider that to be my father. Not even my sperm donor. I don’t see that thing as anything, because I don’t give it the privilege of being on my mind. And you will learn to do that too, eventually.”

“The one’s who created me are the Goddess and God. Laura, my earth mother, I treat her as my mother because she carried me for nine months. She had to go through painful labor. And she decided, before she even gave birth to me, that she wasn’t going to hurt me. Ever. And so I thank her for that. I am grateful for her, and I owe her. She is also my elder high priestess, which a high priestess is considered a mother to the coven. And she raised me. She has done everything for me. So. Did she say anything else?”

I blushed from his question, and from the intensity of his speech. It was beautiful. I wish my parents were like that.

“Umm, no, not really.” I whispered self-consciously. He looked at me strangely for a few seconds, then the look dropped from his face. “It’s ok. You don’t have to tell me. I won’t make you do anything that you don’t want to do.” He said, and by the look of his face, he meant it as more than what we were currently talking about.

I blushed and looked down, knowing he was referring to me being raped. It brought me back to reality, and forced me to remember that that was our sole purpose of being here, so we could do a healing ritual for me. Was that his way of saying he was sexually attracted to me?

I picked my head back up to look at him, his intense gaze searing me with heat. Then he looked worried. “Did I make you uncomfortable?” he asked.

I shook my head. “No,” I said.

“It’s just, you were so quiet….” he whispered.

He stared at me for a while, then his gaze drifted to my lips. Or maybe it was my hopeful imagination. His eyes looked hungry. I could’ve sworn he was about to kiss me. But then his eyes narrowed in anger, and he turned his head away.

“Sometimes I hate the fact that I’m a guy. It makes me feel guilty for the things I could do. Of the things I am capable of. For just being a guy. I feel guilty for the things I think and fantasize about. Now that I know you, I know two women who have been raped. And it makes me sick to know that I am capable of that.”

My mind went a complete blank, and I didn’t know what to say. Then I said the most stupidest thing I could’ve said. “Well, you know, I have pretty weird fantasies too.” Then my face blanched. Did I just say that?

It took a moment, but then Kane busted out laughing. Soon he was doubled over with his arm covering his side, laughing until he was hurting, and laughing still. I blushed, my whole body going hot with embarrassment. “Well, I’m glad I made you laugh.”

Laura came out from hiding, and walked over to us. “What’s going on?” she asked, confused. Kane stopped laughing and we became serious again. “Just...talking about things. Chloe said something funny,” he said. Laura looked at her son worriedly; she knew there was more to it. But she didn’t pressure us, and left us alone eventually.

Kane sighed. “Sorry for being weird,” he said. I shook my head, “no, it’s fine. We can talk about it,” I encouraged. He shook his head. “No. Let’s just forget about it.” He got up and walked away. He came back a few minutes later and told me it was already seven o’clock. I gasped. I was terrified of what my parents would do.

“What’s wrong?” Kane asked, looking concerned. A little too concerned, like any little thing would break me.

“My parents. They are going to kill me. I mean literally, they’ve been physically abusive before.” I told him. As I said it I realized how it would sound to him and quickly shut my mouth, but the damage was done. Kane’s eyes got wide, and the last of his pigment went away. He was completely pale now, and not in a good way.

“Are they religious nuts,” he asked. “If so, I might have an idea.”

“Yeah, you could say that. But that’s an understatement. What’s your plan,” I asked.

“I’m going to get my mom to write your parents a note that you were dragged into a religious meeting or whatever. More like a church meeting. It wouldn’t be lying, we just won’t tell them that it wasn’t Christian. My mom will drive you home and talk to your parents.” Kane ran into the other room where his mom was. They talked for a few minutes, and then they both came out.

Laura came over to me while Kane held back. “Do you need me to call anyone? The police or CPS,” she asked. I shook my head, “please no. It would just make things worse.” Laura looked at me, sadness in her expression. “Ok. I’ll take you home now then.”

We walked to the car and drove to my house silently. Laura got out and opened the door for me. Then she went into a regal pose, a pose that would demand respect. I had seen it before, and not on good, friendly people.

She knocked on the door and my nerves spiked. What if this didn’t work? What if they knew that she wasn’t a Christian? My life would be over. And not in that melodramatic way that most teenagers feel when they get their phones taken away and their privileges revoked. I mean literally. If not, then I will wish for it to be over with all the spiritual, physical, and emotional abuse they do to me.

The door opened, and I knew it was my father before he even showed his face. My dad didn’t let anyone but him open the door. This might not work out after all. He saw me and growled, “get in.”

I almost passed out. I started hyperventilating, but then Laura squeezed my hand.

“Hi sir. I’m just bringing your daughter home from a church meeting. We dragged her into it and on behalf of the church we are sorry for not contacting you sooner.” Laura said with a loud, clear voice. A leader’s voice.

My father’s jaw dropped, stunned, until he remembered  his manners, manners that he only had for church leaders. He opened the door wider and said “come in.”

“Call me Mr. Johnson,” my dad said as Laura sat down. After a few moments I sat down beside her. “So, Chloe went to a church group today?”

“Yes,” Laura replied. “And we are sorry we didn’t contact you earlier. We were so busy worshipping and healing. The time just flew by.

“Yes, that does happen when you do something you enjoy. Mary, get down here. There’s a church leader here that brought Chloe home,” my dad called.

My mom ran down the stairs to see the new, godly person. She gasped, surprised to see it was a woman.

“I am the youth group leader,” Laura explained. I could see it was getting harder and harder for her not to lie. My mother shook her head in disbelief. “How do you do it,” she asked. “How do you get my daughter, of all people, to go to church with you? It’s a fuss every sunday just to get her up, and then even more of a hassle to get her to go. She always has an excuse of why she doesn’t want to go.”

“Well, maybe it’s that she’s not as used to me as she is you. And we do try to make it more fun for the kids.” Laura explained as best she could.

My mother got angry. I could see it in her face the moment it happened. “Well, she should live with you then. You are a better parent for her than us. She can have a better spiritual life with you. Just take her and leave us alone. I never want to see that brat again.”

The room went silent, and then my father started to calm down my mother. “I don’t agree with how she spoke to you,” this was toward Laura, “but I do agree with her. Chloe would have a better life with you. Take her. She’s almost eighteen. We don’t need to do any paperwork.”

My father shooed us out, and then shut the door. Me and Laura stared at each other in shock. I didn’t dare break down until we got home.

Author's Note

Re-uploading all chapters