The Amnesty Circle

A strange circular formation in the clearing in front of the Amnesty woods has the town of Amnesty perplexed. The witch queens and their daughters decide to investigate.

Bud R. Berkich

[email protected]

(12,500 Words)

THE AMNESTY CIRCLE

I.

A strange circular formation...

this was one of the first sights to greet Amnesty, New Hampshire residents in the clearing (just beyond the remains of the 4th Street gate) after the fall of The Fence¹.

What was it? No one knew. All that they could tell was that there was something very odd about it. Or things, as visitors to the circle would soon find out:

--nothing grew inside the circle.

--On rainy days, the area inside the circle would stay drier longer than outside, and would dry out much quicker.

-- No type of wildlife would enter the circle or visit the surrounding area.

But the strangest characteristic of the circle was its reaction to anything metal. Basically, a metal item inside the circle would be ejected out, as if someone invisible were pushing or rolling it out. That is to say, larger items placed in the center of the circle would appear to be sliding outward, almost as if someone were pushing them. If the item in question was small, such as a set of car keys, the item would basically tumble or roll outside the perimeter of the circle, where it would stop.

Although Amnesty citizens did not know what the circle was, they knew what it was not. It was not a fairy circle, as one would often find out in the Amnesty Woods. And most importantly, they also knew that it was not natural. In other words, although it had been in the clearing for a very long time, it was fairly obvious that the circle was not always there. Something had caused the circle to exist, something that possibly came from outside of the clearing.

What? Not known. Was it magical or malevolent? Once again, not known. But there was one thing that Amnesty residents did know.

It was high time to find out.

II.

When concerns about the circle in the clearing reached the mayor's office, Amnesty mayor Pandora Osbourne decided to call a meeting of the witch queen and elder board-- the governing board of Amnesty-- to determine what action should be taken. It was decided that a thorough investigation of the circle and the surrounding area should be carried out ASAP.

Two professors from the witch queens' alma mater, Rockford University, were asked to come out and investigate the circle on behalf of the town. One professor was an expert in the field of geology, while the other was a renowned botanist.

The initial data collecting session took approximately sixty to ninety minutes, with several more visits to the site taking place over the next two weeks. On the initial visit, various methods of data collection were utilized: the circle and its immediate environs were photographed from every angle. The professors took soil samples in and around the circle. They also collected plant specimens. The diameter of the circle was measured. Various devices were used to monitor the area, including a Geiger counter and a metal detector.

When the professors concluded their research, they met with mayor Osbourne and the witch queens to report their findings.

And this is what they found:

--the size of the circle in question was fifty feet in diameter.

--Metal detectors revealed traces of metal alloys that were not of earth. Indeed, they were found in heavenly bodies, such as meteors. However, a search of the area did not turn up any fragments of an otherworldly object.

--Even with the traces of these metals left over, the radiation levels in the area, both inside and outside of the perimeter of the circle, were normal. Thus, the professors concluded that 1.) the initial impact ("ground zero") of the metals was of a very short duration and/or 2.) the initial impact (whatever it was) was so long ago as to render radiation levels insignificant in the present time.

The profesors were also leaning towards the conclusion that the initial impact was not the result of a meteor. When asked by the witch queens if the circle could have been the result of an alien spacecraft landing at some point, the professors stated that it was always a possibility, but that there was no concrete evidence to prove it. They also said that, based on what little they knew about alleged UFO landing sites, this did not seem to follow the criteria, because the radiation levels and subsidiary supporting evidence was much stronger and more prominent in those cases.

--It was observed by the professors that no wildlife of any sort was present in the area, including insects. However, they believed that this was not as mysterious as it seemed. Most likely, animals and insects were not frequenting the area because there was no cover and no real food source of which to speak.

--On a rainy day in Amnesty and the surrounding area, the professors studied the rainfall and its affect on the circle. As was discovered by Amnesty citizens, the area of the circle stayed much drier than the surrounding area. It also appeared that the area within the circle dried out much faster after a rainfall than the immediate vicinity. Although this sounded unusual, the professors had an explanation, which was based on the high sodium and iodine content. Basically the high levels of these substances in the soil acted as a huge "sponge" and soaked up precipitation much faster than in the areas outside the circle.

When asked by the witch queens why the circle possessed such a high sodium and iodine content as compared to the surrounding area, the professors could not provide an adequate answer. They simply did not know, but agreed with the witch queens that most likely, the reason was linked to the event that happened inside the circle at some point.

The professors were also stumped as to the exact time of the event inside the circle. Based on the data and facts at their disposal, the only certainty was that the circle was not created in the past eighty years, because this was the corresponding time span of The Fence. Most likely, based on the trace of meteor-like metals present with no high radiation readings, the event that caused the circle was originated one-hundred to several thousand years ago. This was the best that the professors could do.

And, most importantly (and most disappointing) of course, the professors could not answer the most pressing question, "what caused the circle?"

"So, whatdaya think?" Witch queen Patience Smythe asked her fellow witch queens Charity Goode and mayor Pandora Osbourne when the professors had left for the last time. Patience Smythe was a very tall and shapely frosted brunette with hazel eyes. With Charity, she co-owned the occult bookstore in town, Pandora's Box.

Pandora shook her head. "I'm still not sure. I mean-- the professors did their job well, but I think that this calls for more than just scientific method. I think that there might be a supernatural aspect involved. Maybe one that we can answer ourselves."

Pandora Osbourne was an attractive woman with long platinum blonde hair and light brown eyes. More assertive than her fellow witch queens, Pandora's ability to make quick decisions and her take charge personality were perfect compliments to her role as Amnesty's mayor.

"You think that this could be some sort of ritualistic circle?" Charity asked. Charity Goode was tall like her friend and business partner Patience. Her strawberry blonde hair was worn long and straight. In addition, Charity featured emerald green eyes and a freckled complexion.

"No, I'm not saying that," Pandora said. "But, to me, the most interesting thing that was found by the professors concerning the circle was the trace of substances not found on earth. It makes me wonder if that thing the girls and we saw flying over the Amnesty reservoir a few months ago has something to do with this, or is at least related in some way."

Pandora was referring to a strange event that involved the witch queens and their daughters Guen,

Yarra and Connie. One early Saturday morning when the girls were out walking, they spotted an egg-shaped object in the sky, apparently hovering over the immediate vicinity of the Amnesty reservoir a half mile away. They reported the incident to their mothers. When the witch queens and their daughters drove out to the Amnesty bridge to investigate, their suspicions were confirmed. The strange object in question was indeed parked above the Amnesty reservoir, approximately a quarter of a mile from the bridge. After several minutes of nerve racking observation, the group witnessed the craft suddenly take off with vertical thrust and blurring speed.

Pandora's words sparked a memory in Charity and Patience's minds. They nodded in the affirmative.

"So, what are you thinking?" Charity asked with a glance at Patience.

"That the three of us should conduct our own investigation of the circle," Pandora said. "See if we can approach it from a paranormal angle and maybe get some concrete answers as to what actually happened and when."

"OK," Patience nodded. "For the most part, I think you're right. So, how do we go about it?"

"I think that we need to know as much as we can about that area of the clearing."

"How?"

"Well, I'm gonna bet that that circle has been in the clearing for a very long time. And if we took a look at our family diaries in our libraries at home, I'll bet we could find some sort of commentary on this thing from former witch queens."

Patience grinned. She knew where this was headed. "So, what you really want is for Guen, Yarra and Connie to get on board with us on this and do some research, see what they can find out on-line and in books."

"Exactly." Pandora said. "And then, based on what they find out, we'll decide our next move."

"Sounds like a visit to the clearing is in our future," Patience said.

"Nice forecast," Charity said with a sly smile.

"And you didn't even need the Tarot for that one," Pandora quipped.

III.

The witch queens' daughters Guen, Yarra and Connie got out of school at 3:15 PM. On Wednesdays, Guen and Yarra worked at Pandora's Box from 4:00-9:00 PM, while Connie assisted her mother at the Mayor's office. Although it was not the girls' work night, their mothers realized that it could very well be a practice night for the girls' country-rock band Glamourama. Of course, they might also have homework to do as well.

And it was both, as Charity found out when she texted Guen at school and she texted back a few minutes later. The girls would be at the Smythe house from four o'clock to six o'clock for practice.

(The three families usually ate dinner between 6:00 and 7:00.) They would be available for research from eight o'clock on, as each girl predicted no more than an hour's time for homework that evening.

"Cool," Charity texted back to Guen after getting her confirmation. "Plan on two hours research and one hour of discussion. Where, TBD."

Eventually, it was determined that the research session would be at the Goode residence, because Charity and Guen possessed the largest library of the three families.

When everyone was gathered together at the Goode house at eight, the witch queens spent 15-20 minutes filling in their daughters on what they would be researching and why. The Smythes and Osbournes brought over some of their family diaries to see if Connie could find anything written by former witch queen descendants concerning the circle in the clearing. Yarra would do work on-line, while Guen would peruse the books contained in the Goode library, as well as some related titles brought by Charity and Patience from the bookshelves of Pandora's Box.

"So, what exactly are we searching for?" Connie asked.

Constance Osbourne was a senior at Amnesty High. She was the daughter of both the county sheriff and the mayor of Amnesty. Connie was a very intelligent girl boasting a high IQ and blessed with good looks. Her full, styled black hair and mischievous blue eyes could always be counted on to catch the stare of Amnesty boys. Upon graduation, Connie planned to attend Harvard and study creative writing, with an aim to become a fiction writer.

"Connie, you're gonna try to see if you can find any indication that former witch queens before the time of The Fence knew about the circle in the clearing, and what they thought about it," Pandora explained.

"That's over two hundred years," Connie said. "And we don't have all of the diaries during that time for all three families here."

"No, I know," Pandora said with a nod of acknowledgment. "Just do the best you can. Anything will help."

"OK." Connie nodded in return.

Charity and Patience turned to their daughters.

"OK," Charity said, "you guys have two objectives, which you can tackle anyway you want. First, you want to go through the conclusions that the professors came up with and see if you can find support for them or not."

"So, wait," Guen said, confused. "You guys don't believe what the professors said? You think that they were lying?"

"No," Charity shook her head vigorously and smiled at Patience, who smiled back. "We believe that they were sincere in their findings. But we want to see how accurate they were."

"But wouldn't they know?" Yarra asked with a look at Guen.

Guenevere Goode, sixteen, was a junior at Amnesty High. She was a cute Irish girl with bright green eyes, long curly strawberry blonde hair and a heavily freckled complexion. Valedictorian of her class, Guen desired to attend the Rhode Island School of Design and fulfill her goal of becoming an architect. Her best friend Yarra Govinda-Smythe, also sixteen, was known as "YAGS" by her closest friends. An Indian girl originally from Bombay, Yarra was adopted by Witch Queen Patience Smythe and her husband Chalavera "Chevy" Patel-Smythe when the five year-old's parents were killed in a plane crash. Yarra featured styled, shoulder length black hair, alluring dark eyes and a perpetual upbeat personality. A bassist and lover of pop rock music, Yarra wanted to follow in the footsteps of her adoptive father Chevy and become a studio musician and mixing engineer upon graduation.

"On stuff concerning geology and botany, yes," Patience said. "But what we're trying to find out is whether or not the stuff that we asked them concerning alien spacecraft can be supported."

"OK."

"And, that brings us to objective number two," Charity said. "To find out all that you can concerning alien spacecraft landing sites. Could this circle in the clearing be a impression from a UFO and why. And if not, what else could it possibly be and why. Got it?"

"Got it," Guen said with a nod and a glance at Yarra.

"We think," Yarra said.

"You guys will do fine," Pandora said and glanced at Connie. "All of you." She glanced at her watch. "It's almost eight-thirty. See what you can find out by ten o'clock."

"And then we'll talk," Charity said.

It was decided by Guen and Yarra that Guen would research the findings of the professors in the books provided by the witch queens (and in the Goode library), while Yarra would use her laptop to research UFO landings and other possible explanations for the circular formation.

At ten o'clock, the witch queens and their daughters came back together again at one table in the Goode's spacious upstairs library.

"OK, so let's see what you guys were able to find out," Pandora said.

"I'm curious to hear what Connie might have found out about the circle in the family diaries," Charity said, a tinge of excitement in her voice.

"Me, too," Patience said with a nod.

Guen and Yarra pretended to be put out.

"Thanks a lot, you guys," Yarra said.

"Yeah," Guen chimed in. "Glad to hear you're so eager to hear about what we've found out."

"Sorry, you two," Patience said with an amused grin. "We didn't mean it like that."

"Nooo."

Connie, also having fun with her friends, defiantly stuck her tongue out at them. Of course, Guen and Yarra had to return the favor. It was Pandora who got everyone back together, so to speak.

"Alright, Con, go ahead."

In truth, Connie had to ask for help from her mother on her research into the family diaries several times, because they proved rather difficult to read, being written some three hundred years before. So Pandora, unlike her fellow witch queens, was well aware of what little her daughter was able to find out.

"OK," Connie said. "Well, there might be more in the diaries than what I found, because we didn't have all of them here. But I did find a couple of references to the circle. The first witch queens back in the late 1600's seemed to refer to the circle as the "sacred" circle and also as the "secret" circle. They used to perform rituals around it, and also set up the maypole on Beltane² in the middle of it and danced around it."

"Really?" Patience said with a look to Charity. "That's something."

Charity had thoughts of her own. "Wait a second. You said that they used to call it the "sacred" circle, which would make sense. But why would they call it the "secret" circle? What was so secret about it?"

"Yeah," Patience said. "It's not like it was hidden. Everyone would have seen it and known about it. What's that about?"

Connie turned to her mother. "Mom? A little help?"

Pandora was equal parts amused and excited, obviously eager to impart her thoughts on this dilemma. "That's a good point, and it was something that I was having trouble with as well."

"But not now?" Patience asked.

"Well," Pandora said, thoughtful. "Supposing that I'm right. But think about this. What if "secret" was talking about something other than whether or not the circle was visible? What if there was some kind of secret attached to it?"

"OK," Charity said. "Like what?"

"Like maybe the early witch queens knew where the circle came from, but they didn't want anyone else to know."

"Or maybe they were told not to tell," Patience said.

"By who, though?" It was Connie.

"Primarily, whoever made the circle," Pandora said. She shrugged. "But that's basically what we're trying to find out by doing this research. So, let continue."

"Well, there's not really anything else that I found out," Connie said.

"OK," Charity said. "Good work, Connie."

"Uh, huh," Patience nodded.

"Thanks," Connie said.

All eyes were on Guen and Yarra. "Alright, you guys," Patience said. "Whatdaya got for us?"

"Who should go first?" Guen asked.

"Let Yarra go first," Pandora suggested. "She did a general sweep of the subject, so it should be a good lead in to you, Guen, when you get more specific about the details of the professors' findings."

Guen nodded and, with everyone else, turned to Yarra, who brought up a tab on her laptop and consulted her spiral notebook.

"Yay!" Yarra said with a spirited laugh. "So, I tried to see what the circle might be, and I found a few different types of circular formations on-line. There's a thing called a Pingo, then there are fairy circles--"

"Which we definitely know that this is not," Pandora said.

"Uh, huh," Yarra said. "Right, because they are all over the Amnesty Woods and the circle in the clearing has no mushrooms or toadstools around it."

"Right," Pandora said. "Go on."

"OK," Yarra said, studying her notes. "So, anyway, there's also another type of circle that I call a dry circle, 'cause I don't really know what else to call it, then there are crop circles and the circles that are caused by UFO's. So, let me explain what each is."

Yarra's audience was all ears.

"OK, so this thing called a Pingo I don't think really fits the circle in the clearing, because these are full of water, most of the time. They also don't sound very mysterious to me, although some people think that they are."

"What are they?"

Yarra brought up a photo of a Pingo on her laptop and turned the device so that everyone could see.

"It looks like this," she said, pointing to what appeared to be a large pool of water out in a wooded area.

"So, what's so special about it?" Connie asked. "It just looks like a pond or something."

"Well, it's basically an intermittent pond, I guess," Yarra said. "It's sometimes dry, and then it suddenly fills up with water from glacial streams underground, so the water is way cooler than the temperature around it."

"So, why do people think that it's weird?" Connie asked.

"I don't know," Yarra said, "some people I guess feel something like something tugging on them when they're in the water or whatever."

"But that's probably the underground glacial currents," Guen said.

"Right," Yarra nodded. "Everything seems to be explainable with this circle, so I don't really think it has anything to do with our circle."

"Plus ours doesn't fill up with water, so it's not that kind," Patience said. A chuckle. "Our circle is just the opposite, it doesn't seem to like water."

"Right," Yarra said. "So, moving right along." She brought up another photo, which got everyone's attention."

"What's that?" Charity asked. "That looks very close to the Amnesty circle."

Yarra nodded. "Yeah, it does. Like I said, I don't know what they really call it, so I'm just calling it a 'dry' circle."

"Cool," Patience said.

"Tell us about it," Pandora said.

"OK. These circles are about the same size as the circle in the clearing. They have most of the same characteristics, too. Like, nothing grows inside of them, and there's a lot of sodium and iodine. They also react to metal, but it says that metallic things disappear with these circles, instead of being pushed out, like ours."

"That's interesting," Charity said.

"Uh, huh," Yarra nodded. "Now, animals and bugs don't go near these circles, as well."

"Just like in our circle," Pandora said, deep in thought.

"Right. But I couldn't find anything about high magnetism with these circles, or radiation present or anything. So, it might be a little different than ours, I don't know. But some people think that these types of circles are UFO landing places."

"OK," Patience said. "So, what else, honey?"

Yarra smiled. "Well now, we start to get into the good stuff." Once again, Yarra brought up several photos on-line, this time of very large, elaborate symbol type patterns which looked to be contained in large fields.

"Crop circles," Charity said. Yarra nodded acknowledgment. "OK, but if I'm not mistaken, as you can see from those photos, they can be something other than circles."

"And they're specific shapes obviously created by someone or something," Pandora observed, "which can't really be said about our circle. There are none of these elaborate shapes in the circle in the clearing. It's just a circle."

"No, you're both right," Yarra said. "But there seems to be a very close relationship between crop circles and UFO's."

"OK," Pandora said with a look at the other witch queens. "We're listening."

"Well, first of all," Yarra said, "there are both high magnetic and radioactive levels with these, just like with UFO sites."

"OK."

"And second, there are a lot of strange stuff about them. Like, there's been stories of strange orbs floating around them, which people don't see unless they are photographed. And these orbs also seem to be watching the immediate area and the people in it. And they also are supposed to be moving around the crop circles in some fixed pattern."

"Well, orbs are balls of energy," Pandora said. "They are thought to be linked to spirits or spiritual beings. Some believe that they are actual beings themselves. So, that's interesting."

"Right," Yarra said. "And people have said to have seen strange lights in the sky just before the appearance of the circles. And others have said that they just seem to appear from nowhere overnight."

"Aren't most of these crop circles in England?" Patience asked.

"Yeah," Yarra nodded. "And they seem to always be where there are sacred areas, like Stonehenge, or places where UFO's are seen a lot."

"Which means that they all could be connected in some way."

Yarra grinned. "Well, that was what I was on the phone to dad about, earlier."

"Really?" Patience said with a sly smile. "I was wondering what you two were gabbing about." Silence. "So, what were you two gabbing about?"

"I was asking him about HP Lovecraft, because I remembered he said something about Lovecraft believing in UFO's or something."

"Well, I don't know if he believed in UFO's exactly--" Patience began.

"No, dad said that Lovecraft believed that aliens were the gods and goddesses that ancient people worshiped and stuff. And that he also believed that the aliens also lived under the ocean and underground. The reason I called him up was that when I was reading about this stuff, it kept talking about certain areas having UFO bases, and UFO's being seen around ancient sacred areas."

"I think what your dad would say is that Lovecraft is said to believe those things," Patience corrected. "I know for a fact that he believes a lot of those things are symbolic, and/or interpreted by Lovecraft's fellow writers and fans in that way, not necessarily by Lovecraft himself."

Yarra rolled her eyes. "What-ever, mom. Just go with it."

Chalavera "Chevy" Patel-Smythe, Patience's husband and Yarra's adoptive father, was a musician, producer and manager for several local bands in the Amnesty area. In addition, he was recognized in academic circles as a Lovecraft scholar, and had written and published several critical articles concerning his work. Chevy was considered somewhat unique in the field, in that he approached Lovecraft's writing from a literary perspective, and not the usual science fiction/fantasy/horror perspective that was taken by his colleagues.

"So, it does seem to have some sort of connection," Pandora said. She smiled. In truth, Yarra's mention of UFO bases and a UFO connection to sacred areas sparked a thought in the Amnesty mayor's mind concerning a possible correlation with the circle in the clearing. She was also beginning to see where Amnesty might fit into such a scenario. But she decided to remain silent at present. "Maybe Lovecraft was on to something."

"Chevy thinks so," Patience said with a laugh that was shared by everyone present. When the laughter had died down, Pandora turned to Yarra.

"OK, so what else, honey?"

"Well, that brings us to UFO landing sites," Yarra said.

"Shoot."

"Well, these are very similar to the dry circle. They are usually about the same size and shape, and they have a lot of radiation and magnetism present. They also usually feature some sort of markings made by landing gear or an exit ramp."

"Did anyone ever say that they saw landing markings around our circle?" Charity asked.

"I don't think so," Pandora said, recalling all of the reports about the circle that had reached her desk in the mayor's office.

"And it didn't seem like the professors saw anything either," Patience said. "Unless they missed it completely."

"Or didn't know what to look for," Pandora said. The other witch queens nodded.

"Wait," Connie said and turned to Yarra. "Do these UFO landing sites have high salt and iodine present?"

"I don't really know," Yarra said, looking back over her notes and studying her laptop screen. "I didn't see anything about that, I don't think."

"Maybe the high salt and iodine comes later," Guen said.

"Whatdaya mean, honey?" Charity asked her daughter.

"Maybe as a result of a UFO landing, the area that it lands on becomes high in salt and iodine levels. You know, as an after affect, or some kind of chemical reaction."

"Interesting," Pandora said with a nod.

"Well, it did say about the crop circles that the wheat that was affected by the making of the circle was altered in some way," Yarra said. "They have even found little nodules that aren't supposed to be there in the wheat when it's examined up close. "So, there's that."

"Humpf. Anything else, Yarra?"

"One other thing," Yarra said, bringing up a site on her laptop. "Where is-- oh, here it is. It might interest you guys to know that the area that we live in is basically considered a hot spot for UFO activity."

"Really?"

"Uh, huh. Actually, one of the most famous-- I guess the most famous-- UFO abduction cases happened somewhere around Portsmouth, about twenty or so miles from here."

"Wait," Pandora said, racking her brain to remember specific detail. "This sounds very familiar. What were their names-- Hill? Betty and Barney Hill?"

"Way to go, Pandora!" Yarra said enthusiastically. "Yes. They were abducted somewhere outside of Portsmouth back in 1961 by aliens."

"What happened?" Charity asked. Along with Patience, she had never heard of the incident before.

"Basically the Hills were coming back from Canada and traveling on Route 3," Yarra said, looking at her notes. "They saw something in the sky that started to follow them. Later on, the object touched down in a field in front of their car. The aliens, who were blocking the road, pulled them out of the car and dragged them across the field to where the spacecraft was. They took them aboard and began to do tests on them."

"Whoa!" Patience said, and looked at Pandora. "And you know about this?"

"Yeah," Pandora said. "I remember my parents telling me about it or reading about it or something."

"I'll bet dad knows about it," Yarra said to her mother.

"He probably does," Patience said. "So anyway, what else happened?"

"Well, it seems that the aliens were nicer to Betty than they were to Barney," Yarra continued.

"That was most likely because Barney resisted them," Pandora said. "Betty was eventually more accommodating, as I recall."

"Right," Yarra confirmed. "But, anyway. There's some interesting things about this story."

"Well, don't keep us in suspense, girlfriend," Patience said. "We're listening."

"OK. First of all, Betty's dress was ripped, and there was some kind of red stuff from where the alien touched it still on it the next day."

"Wild," Guen said. "So there was some sort of evidence."

"Yep. And there were also marks on the Hill's car where the aliens touched the car."

"Anything else?"

"Yeah. This is the most interesting thing. While they were on the spacecraft, the aliens showed Betty a star map of where they were from. When she was put under hypnosis later on by a psychiatrist, she actually drew the map she saw."

"OK."

Yarra grinned. "The map was of a part of the sky that astronomers hadn't fully mapped yet. But when they did years later, it turned out to be exactly the way that Betty had drawn it."

"Seriously?" Charity said in disbelief. "So they actually know about the part of the universe where the aliens came from? That it exists?"

"Yeah," Yarra said, reading her computer screen. "It's a solar system with twin stars, approximately 39 light years away. It's called Zeta Reticuli."

"So, you're saying that Betty knew about this star system from the aliens long before we did on planet earth, and that when we found out about it, it was proved to exist just the way that she drew it, based on the alien star map?" Patience asked, fascinated.

"That's it, mom," Yarra said. "You got it."

"Thirty-nine light years is not that far away," Connie said. "The Andromeda galaxy is the closest galaxy to earth, and it's something like two-and-a-half million light years away."

"But this place that the aliens are from is not as close as the star system Alpha Centauri," Guen said, "which is about four-and-a-half light years away from the sun, I think."

"Right." Connie said in confirmation.

"A hop, skip and a jump," Yarra said and shared a giggle with Guen.

"That's amazing," Patience said and looked proudly at her daughter. "Way to go, girlfriend."

"Thanks, mom."

"Great," Pandora said. This case, which had always interested her, would have been gladly pursued and discussed further, under different circumstances. But a glance at her cell phone revealed that it was fast approaching eleven o'clock. "Very good work. Guen? Bring us home."

Guen nodded and looked at her notebook, as well as at several books that were open to various places on the table in front of her. Unlike Connie and Yarra, Guen was asked by the witch queens to focus specifically on certain points made by the professors in their final report on the circle. A copy of the professors' report also lay on the table before Guen.

"OK. So I tried to see how many of the statements that the professors made about the circle in their report could be backed up by other people's findings. So, the first thing that I tried to find out was if the low radiation readings in and around the circle would disqualify it as a UFO landing site."

"And?"

"And it definitely doesn't. In fact, I found a UFO case in one of the books that came to the same conclusion, that the lack of high radioactive readings meant that the UFO landed a very long time ago and/or its event time was very short."

"So the professors' conclusions about when the circle happened are right on, but they're wrong in thinking that all UFO landing sites have high radiation levels," Pandora deduced.

"Exactly."

"Good work, Guen. What else?"

"Well, I figured that the professors would most likely know about why the animals and insects did not enter the area of the circle, because that's within their fields. And I also didn't try to refute their ideas on the high sodium and iodine content in the soil, because they would definitely know all about that stuff."

"OK."

"But there was one thing that I thought was interesting. I was reading about how birds use the earth's magnetic field for navigation. So I was wondering if the high magnetic levels in the clearing and the circle had something to do with why the birds didn't go there? Maybe it throws them off, or something?"

"That's a good observation, Guen," Pandora said. "You could be right about that. And, if so, it would explain or at least give some insight into what's going on with the animals where the circle is concerned." The other witch queens nodded in the affirmative. Pandora looked at Guen. "Is that it?"

"There's one other thing that's very interesting that I wanted to mention."

"Sure. Go ahead."

"Well, Yarra was talking about how this area is a UFO hot spot One of the Ufologist guys in these books came up with this theory that certain areas around the earth are portals for UFO's."

"Whatdaya mean, like wormholes or something?" Connie asked, getting interested in the present topic of discussion.

"Yeah, basically," Guen said.

"Cool."

"But what I really wanted to say was that the Ufologist came up with four points that all portal areas have in common. And Amnesty would meet all of them, I think."

"Really?" Patience said. "What are they? Can you name them?"

"Uh, huh," Guen said and consulted her notebook. "I have them right here. The first is that the area has to be considered sacred by ancient peoples and have some sort of religious monuments. The second is that the area has to have a significant energy field different from the surrounding area. The third is that there has to be a history of regular UFO sightings and other unusual experiences. And the fourth is that there has to be a military presence nearby."

"A military presence?" Connie asked with knitted brow. "What's that all about?"

"Wait," Pandora said with raised hand as she and her fellow witch queens looked at each other. "Amnesty definitely fits these categories. OK. The first. Sacred by ancient people and religious monuments. This whole area was considered sacred to the native peoples that lived here, not to mention the Wiccan people living here for the past three hundred years."

"And we definitely have monuments," Charity added. "The temple of the Keepers in the Amnesty Woods."

"Yes." Pandora nodded. "Definitely. OK. What was the third, Guen?"

"Higher energy fields than the surrounding area."

"Well, that's definitely true," Patience said. "Ask any Wiccan or pagan in Amnesty and they'll tell you that. Even the citizens of other religions believe that."

"Well, it seems that the professors from Rockford University thought so, too," Guen said. "According to their report."

"Yeah, that's right, Guen. Read that part aloud."

"Sure," Guen said and skimmed through the professors' report. "Here it is. 'Not only does the circle and the immediate surrounding area seem to radiate very high electromagnetic activity, but the same can be said for the entire town. Our equipment would often react with above average readings even several blocks away from the area of the circle, sometimes for no apparent reason. It is also noted that the area of highest concentration seems to be in the area of the clearing and Amnesty Woods.'"

"Did they actually go into the woods?" Patience asked.

"Not that I know of," Pandora said. She smiled. "We Amnesty Wiccans love our woods, but I don't think all visitors feel the same."

"Too spooky," Yarra said with a giggle.

Patience smirked. "Well, if they think that the woods are spooky now, they should have seen them when The Fence was up."

"Yes!" Charity said, enthusiastic.

Laughter.

"Well, anyway." Charity said. "Any time you have a magical area, you're going to have a lot of power. From both the earth and the air. It's what we tap into. And it doesn't take a genius to figure out that Amnesty is different from other towns around here. It's one of the reasons so many religions come here to worship."

Pandora suddenly thought of something. "Did it say anything in your reading about ley lines?" She asked Guen.

"Yeah, I think," Guen said. "What are they?"

"Ley lines are energy lines that form a grid pattern around the whole earth," Pandora explained. "The interesting thing about ley lines is that several sacred areas are located at the intersection of these lines. Like Stonehenge. And Sedona."

"Sedona?" Yarra said, interested. "That's where Michelle Branch is from." The younger Smythe, of course, was referring to the pop and country singer, a favorite of Guen and Connie and herself.

"Really? Cool." Connie said. "Maybe she has stories to tell growing up there."

"You could be right," Guen said, looking at her notes. "Because Sedona is another place where there's supposed to be a lot of UFO sightings. And there's also been sightings at Stonehenge, too."

"Yes." Pandora said.

"Ley lines are also what's used in dowsing," Charity added.

"That's where you use those rods to find water, right?" Connie asked.

"Well, not just water," Patience said. "Occultists use dowsing to find areas of high energy concentration, so that they can achieve more power in their rituals."

"Do you guys know how to do it?" Yarra asked.

"Well, it's not so much someone doing it as it is the energy acting upon the rods. The dowser is basically just the go between." Pandora said. "But, yes, we have training in dowsing."

"Cool."

"Could that help us with the circle, somehow?" Guen asked.

"It just might," Pandora said. "We're actually on the same wavelength, Guen."

"What are you guys thinking?" Patience asked.

"I don't really know," Guen said. "I just thought that maybe the dowsing rods might be good to find energy at the circle, that's all."

"You're definitely right, Guen," Pandora said with a look at her fellow witch queens, who were not on the same page as she. "And it might also help in finding where the energy comes from, if it's coming from outside of the circle."

"What are you thinking?" Charity asked. "That we're not dealing with a UFO landing site here?"

"No, I didn't say that," Pandora said with a shake of her head. "But I'm thinking about ley lines and a possible connection."

"You think that Amnesty might be on a ley line?" Patience asked with interest.

"It would make sense, wouldn't it?"

"I guess so. But how would you know?"

Pandora smiled. "I have an idea about that, but we'll come back to it at some point. I don't want to get too far off track right now."

"OK."

"So, getting back to these four criteria," Pandora said with a look at Guen. "We have sacred areas with monuments and high energy. What's next, Guen?"

"A history of UFO sightings."

"Well, we can conjecture on this, based on the fact that first, we know that the early witch queens knew something about the circle that they didn't want to mention. Two, the area around Amnesty is considered a hot spot for UFO activity and three, we had a sighting ourselves."

"But is that enough?" Charity asked. "That doesn't really add up to a history of sightings in Amnesty."

Pandora shrugged. "Well, at this point, it's going to have to be enough. We don't have time to research an actual history of UFO activity in Amnesty now, so we're just gonna have to go on what we know."

"OK."

"And the fourth criteria, Guen?"

"A military base nearby."

"Well, for starters, there's the naval base in Portsmouth," Patience informed.

"OK, so what's the deal with the military presence?" Connie asked again.

"Well, a few things, actually," Guen said. "Most times there seems to always be a military base around a UFO sighting, or just after a sighting, military craft are seen in the area."

"Checking it out?" Connie asked, wide-eyed. "Or what?"

"Some think so," but others think there's some kind of connection between the UFOs and the military."

"Like what, they're working together, or something?"

"Yeah."

"I've also heard that the UFO's take radioactive materials from the bases to use in their spacecraft," Pandora said, in an attempt to assist Guen with her explanation.

Connie shook her head in disbelief. "This stuff is crazy," she said.

"Well, it gets crazier, Con," Pandora said with a grin.

"What?"

Pandora looked at the three teens in the room. Guen, Yarra and Connie, basically growing up in the latter part of the twentieth and the first part of the twenty-first centuries, did not experience the "golden age" of UFO phenomenon first hand. "You guys never heard of Area 51?"

"Isn't that somewhere in Nevada or something?" Connie asked. "Some kind of secret military base?"

"Yes," Charity nodded. "But, do you know why it's so secret?"

"Something to do with UFO's?" Yarra asked, cautious, looking to her friends for help.

"Big time," Charity said. "Lot's of weird stuff is said to go on there."

Connie looked confused and unsatisfied at Charity's answer. "OK. So, like what, exactly?"

"Wait, I'm bringing it up now," Yarra said, punching keys on her laptop. "Here it is. Let's see. It says something about reverse engineering and experimentation on aliens." She stuck her tongue out. "Yuk!"

"Reverse engineering?" Connie echoed, even more confused than before. "What's that?"

"It's when they take a spacecraft apart to figure out how it works," Yarra answered, skimming the article on the computer screen. "There was this guy, Bob Lazar, who was a physicist from MIT who was hired there in the early eighties. He had top clearance and access at the base. But he told the media about what he was doing there with alien propulsion systems and then took a few friends out into the desert to watch test runs of spacecraft."

"Really? So, what happened?"

"The government fired him and erased his identity."

"Whoa."

Yarra turned her computer screen around to show a photo of Lazar. "This is him."

"He's cute," Guen said, intently studying the picture of a studious, bespectacled man most likely in his early to mid thirties.

"You would think so," Connie said with a roll of her eyes. "You always go for the smart, nerdy type."

Yarra let out a short laugh. "It says here that the government has actually built and flown UFO spacecraft."

"At least, that what's alleged," Pandora said.

"That's funny," Yarra said with her hand over her mouth. She was amused at the reoccurring thought planted in her mind of government officials-- Men In Black-- building a spacecraft and then actually flying in it.

Connie shook her head, her fingers on her temples. "You guys are giving me a headache," she said. "I've had enough. I'm going to bed."

Charity perked up at Connie's statement. "Then it was all worth it," she said with a look at Guen and another at her watch. "'Cause it's after eleven and all three of you are overdue for bed."

"But we want to hear the rest," Guen said in a pleading voice.

Yarra nodded in the affirmative. "Yeah," she said. "This is interesting."

"Yeah."

"We'll fill you guys in tomorrow," Pandora said. "We promise."

"Yes."

"Uh, huh."

After the girls had left for their respective houses and/or bedrooms, the three witch queens spent some time over hot chocolate in the Goode kitchen discussing all that was found out by their daughters, and what steps to take next.

"All right, so let's talk," Pandora said to her friends. "What did we find out and learn tonight, and what are we gonna do about it?"

"Well, from what I heard," Charity said, "we most likely have a UFO landing site in our backyard, so to speak."

"I agree," Patience nodded between sips of hot chocolate.

"OK, but why?" Pandora challenged. "What makes you think so? Let's get more specific."

"OK," Patience said, accepting Pandora's challenge, "we know that the circle has been here ever since the founding of Amnesty, and most likely longer than that. "That has basically been confirmed by the testimony of the early witch queens, not to mention the estimation of the professors concerning the age of the circle."

"What else?"

"Well, based on what Yarra found out," Charity began, "the circle has all the characteristics of a UFO landing site."

"Yeah," Patience added. "It's definitely not that thing called a Pingo, it's not a fairy circle and it's not a crop circle."

"Yes," Pandora said, playing devil's advocate, "but can it be said to be a true UFO landing site? Can we say that, based on what we know so far?"

Patience nodded and began to count off items on her fingers. "Yarra said that you have magnetism, radiation and some sort of markings made by a ramp or landing gear."

"But we don't have the landing gear," Pandora said with raised eyebrows.

"We might," Charity said. "Maybe nobody is seeing it."

Pandora pursed her lips. "But even so, the radiation levels are normal."

"Right," Patience said. "Because as was theorized in one of the books, if the event was long enough in the past and/or the event didn't last very long, you could have low radiation readings."

"And what do you guys think about the magnetism?" Pandora asked, raising yet another anomaly. "We have high magnetism here, but low radiation."

"I'll tell you what I think about that," Charity said, pensive. "First of all, Amnesty has a high magnetic field to begin with. And the area of the circle is probably super magnetized, because you have a high magnetic field combined with the landing of an alien spacecraft."

"OK."

"I agree," Patience said. "And I'll bet that that's why objects both large and small look like they're being pushed out of the circle."

Pandora nodded. "Well, that was basically confirmed in the professors' report," she said as she skimmed through the report in question. "They basically had the exact same experience happen to them when they experimented with objects inside the circle as Amnesty residents." She pointed to a passage in the report. "They explained it as 'a magnetic force over ten times the normal rate, acting upon these objects.'"

"Exactly," Charity said. She studied Pandora's face. "So. Now you know what we think. What do you think, lady mayor?"

"Yeah, do tell," Patience said.

Pandora sighed with a smile, as her friends joined her in a tension-breaking fit of laughter.

"I have to agree with you guys that we have a UFO landing site in our backyard." A thoughtful pause. "Now, we don't really know if we have a history of UFO sightings in Amnesty, because we didn't have time to research the family diaries enough and the Amnesty Scryer³. But I believe that if we did, we would most likely find a history present. We know ourselves that we saw a UFO in the sky over the Amnesty reservoir just recently. There has to be a connection. What? I don't really know yet. But I do have some theories."

"Such as?"

"Well, I'm very interested in this idea of Amnesty located on a ley line. And I think I might know how to find out."

"Care to tell us?" Patience asked.

"Well, I don't want to get into that discussion now, but the stuff that Guen was talking about-- certain areas acting as portals and such-- started me thinking about Amnesty in a totally different way."

"OK. So, in light of all this, what do we do next?" Patience asked.

Pandora nodded. "We definitely have to go to the circle ourselves and do our own investigation."

"OK, but what does that entail?" Charity asked with overturned palms. "What can we do that the professors haven't already done?"

The mayor of Amnesty looked at both of her deputy mayors, in turn.

"A lot," she said.

IV.

It was Saturday mid-morning, and the witch queens, along with their daughters Guen, Yarra and Connie, were down by the circle in the clearing. It had started to snow earlier, and the clearing was beginning to become covered in a thin blanket of white.

Everywhere, of course, except inside the circle.

"OK," Pandora said, "everyone spread out around the perimeter of the circle. We're looking for any type of abnormality in the surface, which might possibly be markings from some sort of landing gear."

The group looked closely at every inch of the circle, but could find nothing indicating markings that would signify a landing gear or exit ramp for a spacecraft.

"There's nothing here," Charity said. "Except-- do you notice how the center of the circle is darker than the rest?"

"Yeah," Patience said, studying a roundish area at the center of the circle approximately ten feet in diameter. This area, although barren of any type of plant life, like the rest of the circle, was of a significantly darker hue. "What do you think that is?"

"Wait," Guen said. "I read about this in the professors' report. They noticed it, too. I remember them saying that there was slightly higher radiation readings in that area, but still within normal range. And also something about traces of carbon residue."

Pandora grinned, staring at the nucleus of the circle.

"That just might be our landing gear," she said. "Depending, of course, on what shape of craft we're talking about, here. But that could possibly be the part of the craft that made the most contact with the ground."

Her fellow witch queens and the girls considered this possibility with new interest.

Suddenly, Pandora snapped out of her focus. "But, anyway. Even if it is or isn't, the fact that we don't see any conventional markings doesn't mean there wasn't something here at some point. It could have been so long ago, the markings have been obliterated by now."

Connie looked up from her study of the dark area of the circle, a grin on her face. "Or maybe someone obliterated them."

"Like who?" Pandora asked her daughter, but knowing what she was thinking.

"Like whoever made the circle," Connie said. "Or-- maybe the early witch queens."

"She's got a point," Charity said.

"Agreed," Pandora said with a nod. "It could be part of why this area is called 'secret' and 'sacred' at the same time."

"So, wait--" Yarra said. "You mean they covered it up? Why?"

"That's what we're gonna find out," Pandora said. "Char, did you bring the rods?"

"Right here," Charity said. She placed a small, zippered velvet pouch on the ground outside of the area of the circle and opened it up. Inside were two long, L-shaped metal rods.

"Are those dowsing rods?" Guen asked, interested.

"Sure are," Charity said.

"Wicked," Yarra said.

"OK," Pandora said. This is what were gonna do. Charity, we are going to try this a few times and see what happens, from different directions."

Charity nodded, standing about ten feet outside of the circle. "Just let me know where you want me."

Pandora walked over to the remains of the Fourth Street Fence gate, approximately fifty feet away.

"OK, come over to where I am." Charity did so. "Everyone else go outside of the circle, so there's no interference." Everyone else did so as well. "Alright, Char. Get the rods into position and walk straight towards the circle. Everyone else just watch. Charity, let us know when the rods start to move."

Charity nodded. "All right, here goes."

Charity walked towards the circle slowly, a dowsing rod in each hand facing straight forward and not making contact with each other. She was nearly at the center before she announced any sort of movement.

"Now."

Seconds after Charity's announcement, both rods suddenly turned sharply to the left. She stopped dead in her tracks.

"Whoa!" Yarra said, excited. "That's wild."

Pandora, who was following approximately five feet behind Charity, stopped when she had reached the perimeter of the circle. She now walked up to Charity and closely observed the rods.

"OK. Good." Pandora said, tracing an invisible line with her eye to where the turned rods were pointing. "Does everyone see where the rods are pointing?"

"The woods," Guen said, fascinated at what she was seeing.

"Correct." Pandora said. "Everyone make a mental note." She turned to Charity. "OK, take two. I want you to do the exact same thing, but enter the circle from the opposite side, same distance away."

"We'll do," Charity said.

And she did. And this time, the rods turned at the exact same spot, in the exact same direction.

The Amnesty woods.

"I don't get it," Connie said. "Why are the rods turning towards the woods?"

"You'll see first-hand very soon, Con," Pandora said.

"This is getting spooky," Guen said, staring uneasily in the direction of the woods, some three to four-hundred feet away.

"OK, Char, last time. Do the same thing from either direction. But this time, when the rods turn, start walking in the direction of the turn."

"Sure," Charity said.

"Wait a second," Guen said. "You mean we're--"

"Yep," Pandora said. "This time, we're all going to follow Charity."

"To where?" Connie asked.

"To where ever the rods take her. And us." Pandora said.

Guen and Connie looked at each other, uneasy. Yarra however, unlike her friends, seemed to be enjoying the air of mystery that surrounded the circle and the rods at present.

"Oh, c'mon, guys," she said in high spirits. "You guys were in the woods when it was cursed. It's not cursed now, so what are you afraid of?"

"Well, ex-cuse us, little miss confident," Connie said.

Yarra laughed, good-natured. "Besides, we have three witch queens with us."

"Yes, not to mention three witch queens-to-be," Pandora said. "C'mon, you guys. Look at it as an adventure."

Guen and Connie looked at each other.

"What-ever."

"That's the witch queen spirit. Good girls. You ready, Char?"

"Let's do it."

"All right. Everyone get ready. Final take."

And, as with the first two takes, the third achieved the exact same outcome. But this time, as soon as the dowsing rods turned at the exact same position in the circle, in the exact same direction-- the Amnesty Woods-- Charity began to walk slow and confident towards what the rods were indicating. Everyone else followed closely behind.  After about five or ten feet, the rods straightened out to the position that they were before Charity had entered the circle. She led the group across the snow covered clearing to the edge of the woods.

The place that was entered was not on the beaten path, so to speak, but approximately at a point at least 30 to 45 degrees off course, which meant that the rods were leading the group into an area that was not well-known and well-tred by Amnesty citizens. There was a tangled mass of overgrowth and bramble that the witch queens and their daughters had to tackle before the woods began to manifest themselves once again on the other side. When Patience, who was bringing up the rear looked back, she realized that this area was totally hidden from view from the public trail. This obscurity would prove even more effectual in the Spring and Summer, when the woods were in full bloom.

Pandora actually positioned herself ahead of Charity at this point, to make sure that she and the dowsing rods would have a clear path free of interference, until the overgrowth began to thin out somewhat.

"Where are we going?" Connie asked, looking around at what appeared to be a viable definition of lost. "There's nothing out here."

No one answered, except for Patience, who put a comforting arm around the uncertain teenage girl.

Suddenly, after a few hundred more feet of trudging through the snowy landscape, Guen looked around her, a large smile on her lips.

"Hey, I know where we are."

"You do?"

"Yeah. You guys should, too. You don't remember?"

"Not really. Care to fill us in?"

Pandora, who knew where the group was and most likely where it was ultimately headed, turned around and eyed Guen with a conspiratorial look.

"C'mon, you guys," Guen said with a roll of her eyes. "We were just down here not two months ago."

"Yes," Pandora said, backing up Guen. "And the first time back in May⁴."

"Wait," Connie said, looking around. "This is the way to the temple of the Keepers."

"Yes." Guen said. "We entered the woods at a different spot than usual, so that's why it looks different."

"So that's where we're headed?" Yarra said, confused. "But why?"

"Well, if we are headed there or not remains to be seen," Charity said, still walking with the dowsing rods pointing straight ahead. "That's up to whatever these rods show us."

Within minutes, the group was standing on the small ridge that overlooked the courtyard of the temple of the Keepers. The temple area, a stone structure with three separate entrances, stood just beyond the courtyard.

"Well, there it is," Pandora said. She turned to Charity, standing out in front of the group. "What's the reading, Char?"

Charity shook her head. "Still straight as an arrow. Where ever we're going, we're not there yet."

Pandora sighed. "Well, let's get there, then. Lead us in, Char."

Charity nodded and began to make her way down the ridge to the courtyard. The rest of the group followed.

Charity led the group across the snowy courtyard, whose ancient nine stone monoliths looked surreal through the falling snowflakes. It became evident that the dowsing rods were leading the six women directly towards the middle, or main, entrance to the temple.

"This is getting spooky again," Guen said in a sing-song voice, as Yarra instinctively took her friend's hand in hers.

When the group was approximately twenty feet or so from the entrance to the temple, Charity made an announcement.

"Can't be long, now," she said. "I'm starting to feel something."

Pandora and the others followed Charity closely as she crossed over the entrance threshold to the temple's middle or main area. The temple of the Keepers was a large three room structure, some one-hundred feet in length and approximately fifty feet deep. Each end of the temple was built flush with a large mound of earth. Three entrances, two smaller ones to the right and left of the larger main entrance, featured three wide stone staircases of five steps each, which placed each room at least ten feet below the ground surface of the courtyard. It was determined on previous visits to the temple by the witch queens that the leftmost room served as a gathering room, while the room to the right of the main room could have been a priest's quarters.

Charity led the group down the five wide stone steps into the main room area. This room was approximately the same size as its two counterparts, some twenty feet wide and fifty feet long. In the middle of the main room were basically three things of notable interest to visitors. The first two were large archways cut into the ten foot thick partition walls that separated the three rooms, giving access to each. And the third was a large stone altar consisting of a ten foot slab placed on top of two smaller ones five feet wide.

"Now," Charity loudly announced, seconds before the dowsing rods suddenly crossed.

Exactly over the top of the altar.

Pandora grinned with a secret sigh of relief that her hunch was correct.

"This is it, everybody."

"This is what?" Connie asked, not understanding what it was exactly that she was witnessing.

"Either the intersection or the end of the ley line," Pandora said with a smile.

"Ley line?" Connie said with knitted brow. "You mean that's what we've been following?"

"Yep. And more importantly, the possible answer to the secret of the circle."

Pandora's fellow witch queens were all smiles.

Their three daughters, by contrast, were confused.

V.

It began to get colder and the snow fell heavier over the town of Amnesty and the surrounding area. But within a half hour after their visit to the temple of the Keepers, the witch queens and their daughters were sitting comfortably in the Smythe kitchen, a pot of hot cocoa brewing. Patience's husband and Yarra's adoptive father Chevy was also present.

The walk back through the woods was basically brisk and silent; each member of the six woman group lost in her own thoughts. The more familiar path was taken, because it was easier to walk.

However, even this path was not really a path, but a direction through the woods that Guen was led to when the Goodes, Smythes and Osbournes first discovered the temple a little over six months before. That is to say, that the average Amnesty citizen entering the woods on the so-called "public" path would not see this more familiar "path," let alone the obscure ley line "path" covered in a barrier of bramble. In truth, not knowing of their existence and not looking for these hidden paths, they would be missed completely.

So, when the six women returned to comfort and warmth, the thoughts that each had concerning what they had just experienced and witnessed were over ripe to be formulated into words and discussion.

"All right," Connie said when everyone was seated and enjoying their cup of cocoa, "what was that?"

"And what does it all mean?" Guen asked.

"Well, let's talk about it," Pandora said with a ulterior grin at Charity and Patience.

"Yes, let's," Yarra said with a look at her father and a corresponding giggle. Chevy, being greatly interested in Ufology and related matters as they pertained to his Lovecraft studies, was attentive and eager to hear what was found out concerning the Amnesty circle.

Pandora set her cup of cocoa back on its saucer. "Basically, we found out that Amnesty sits on a ley line. That ley line includes the Amnesty circle and the altar of the temple of the Keepers. We don't know if it extends farther in either direction." She picked her cup up once again and shrugged. "It might, or it might not."

"But what does that mean?" Connie asked, frustrated. Her mother looked at her in a coy fashion.

"What do you think it means?" Pandora asked.

"I don't know," Connie groaned with a shake of her styled raven hair. "We already know that the Keepers built the Temple, so what-- they made the circle, too?"

"No, I wouldn't go that far," Pandora said with a head shake in return. "The only thing that makes sense is that the circle is some kind of landing site for a spacecraft. Now, the Keepers are not aliens. They're most likely from another dimension, but not another planet or solar system."

"So, are they higher than aliens?" Guen asked.

Pandora turned to Chevy, who up to this time was listening intently to all that was being discussed.

"Chev, what do you think? This is your area of expertise."

Chalavera "Chevy" Patel-Smythe, a lifelong resident of Amnesty, was of average height and handsome, with shoulder-long, jet black styled hair and dark eyes.

"I would say that the Keepers are more powerful than aliens are, definitely," Chevy said. "Aliens are basically from the same universe that we are. Now, they might be far more advanced than humans, but they are still subject to the same four dimensions of the space-time continuum. And what they do, they basically do through technology, such as space travel."

"And what about the Keepers?" Guen asked, fascinated.

"The Keepers would be able to do things that the aliens would not, independent of technology, I would think," Chevy said, looking at the witch queens, who seemed to be in agreement with his answer. "They are elves and fairies, which we read in Roman and Norse myth to be ultimately descendant from the gods."

"But what kind of things?" Connie asked.

"OK," Chevy said, "the way that an alien can travel huge distances in no time, for example. They can do that because they have advanced knowledge of physics, which allows them to build superior spacecraft and manipulate the space-time continuum. But an alien, being from the same dimensions and under the same laws of physics as humans, can't do these things without technology. In other words, they are not going to be able to teleport themselves light years just by using their minds."

"And the Keepers can?" Yarra asked her father.

"Oh, yeah," Chevy nodded. "One of the abilities that you read about elves and fairies having is the power of teleportation."

"What Chevy is saying," Charity said, trying to help her friend and clarify the concept for the younger ones in the room, "is that the circle would have to be alien and not made by the Keepers, because the Keepers wouldn't need a spacecraft to get to Amnesty or anywhere else, for that matter."

"OK, I get that," Connie said. "But it still means that an alien spaceship landed in Amnesty at some point. Why?"

Chevy grinned at the witch queens. "Your turn," he said, to much laughter from Charity, Patience and Pandora.

Patience was the first to attempt an explanation. "Well, don't forget that Amnesty sits on a ley line and seems to qualify as a portal for UFOs. So the fact that they landed here at least once would not be strange, if Amnesty is, in fact like Stonehenge or Sedona."

"But they only actually landed that one time?" Guen asked.

"As far as we know," Pandora said. "Until we see another landing site or evidence to the contrary, we would have to say one time."

"But that doesn't mean they haven't been around," Charity said. "We were witnesses to that ourselves a few months ago, right?"

"Right."

"OK," Connie said. "That makes sense. But what happened when they landed?"

"That's a good question, honey," Pandora said and glanced at Charity and Patience. "Maybe there's more information in the family diaries, if we study them more. But it also depends on when they landed, which seems to be a very long time ago, based on everything we learned about the characteristics of the circle from the professors."

"So, they might have landed to visit the Keepers?" Yarra asked.

"Maybe," Patience said. "They might have landed when Amnesty was founded and met with the Keepers and/or early witch queens, or they might have landed when the native Americans were on this land, maybe before the Keepers came. It's hard to say, honey."

"And what about the temple?" Yarra asked. "How does that fit in to the circle?"

"Chevy?"

"Well, I would say that the aliens used the ley line to land on, and the Keepers most likely used the ley line to build their temple on, like at Stonehenge. One for navigation purposes, and the other to tap into the hidden power of the earth."

"Couldn't have said it better," Patience said to her husband. "You're good."

"I thought there was a reason why you handfasted⁵ me," Chevy said with a wink at Yarra.

"OK, so what's this big secret of the early witch queens?" Connie wanted to know. "What's that all about?"

"Well, once again," Pandora offered, "this is all conjecture, and a study of the family diaries is probably needed to be sure. But I would say that the secret is that the Amnesty circle was the result of an alien spacecraft that landed on a ley line connected with the temple of the Keepers. Most likely, the early witch queens were sworn to secrecy by the aliens and/or the Keepers." The Amnesty mayor studied the faces of the others in the room. Anyone have anything else?"

"Just a thought," Charity said. "Maybe 'secret,' as in occult? It's obvious that the early witch queens used this circle in their ritual. Maybe to them, the circle was sacred-- and secret-- occult knowledge that had to be protected."

"Very good, Char," Pandora said in admiration. Patience, Chevy and the others agreed. "And also, that idea also could tie into mine, with the Keepers and aliens admonishing the witch queens to keep mum about the whole thing."

"With the recent events at Salem," Chevy said, "it would probably be in their best interest to keep quiet about such things." He smiled. "There could be Puritans about."

"Uh, huh."

"Of course, you also have to figure in to the equation the possibility that the circle was made much earlier than the witch queens," Chevy continued. "It could have been during the time of the native Americans. If so, then to the witch queens, having no knowledge of the event, the circle would have been mysterious. Or sacred, or secret, or occult."

"Definitely," Pandora said. The other witch queens agreed.

Chevy stared out of the Smythe kitchen window at the falling snow, an expression of settled comfort on his face. "But it's obvious that something happened," he said. "That's definite." He looked at his friends.

"And the circle, at the very least, is both evidence and testimony to that fact."

Agreed.

ACKNOWEDGMENTS

This story definitely could not have been written without the assistance of some excellent reference works acquired from my personal library and the Bridgewater, NJ county library:

--A Field Guide To Demons (Mack and Mack)

--Lovecraft Tales, Library of America Volume 155 (Lovecraft)

--Mysterious Lights And Crop Circles (Howe)

--Mythology (Hamilton)

--Myths Of Northern Lands (Guerber)

--The Witch Book (Buckland)

--UFO Hunters, Book one (Birnes)

--Weird N.J. (Moran and Sceurman)

--Weird U.S. (Moran and Sceurman)

In addition, several episodes of the remarkable History Channel series UFO Hunters (as seen on You Tube) proved most valuable:

--Episode 1-03 "Abductions"

--Episode 1-08 "Vortexes"

--Episode 2-13 "Area 51 Revealed"

--Episode 2-05 "The Real Roswell"

Other sources:

--"Zeta Reticuli Aliens: Bob Lazar" (Four parts)-- As seen on You Tube

--Wikipedia articles on "Zeta Reticuli," "Alpha Centauri" and "Andromeda Galaxy"

FOOTNOTES

1The Fence was a ten foot high, solid brick structure containing six wrought iron gates that spanned the entire perimeter of the town of Amnesty on three sides. It was built in 1925 (on the advice of the corrupt Rockford county sheriff Stewart) after Allegra DiAmicci and her two friends Vanessa Sanchez and Rosa Conceptión went missing on their prom night. After it was found out that the girls were abducted and murdered by the Klan at the nearby fundamentalist town of Zeeland in 2005, Mayor Osbourne ordered the part of The Fence bordering the clearing in front of the Amnesty woods razed, to allow access into the woods for Wiccan ritual, as in days past. Today, the only vestage of The Fence still present on the south side of Amnesty are four large wrought-iron gates with their corresponding brick posts. In the words of Mayor Osbourne, they remain to remind Amnesty residents of "how far we've come, and how far is left to go."

2A Wiccan holiday celebrating fertility rites, held on May 1st.

3The Amnesty newspaper, published bi-monthly.

4The current trip down to the temple of the Keepers (December, 2005) was the third such trip made by the witch queens and their daughters. The first was in May, 2005, just after the events concerning the Girls In White Dresses, when the temple was first discovered. The second was in November, when the group found out from Amnesty elder and Northern mythologist Brunhilde Ingersoll that the language carved into the monoliths in the temple courtyard was actually a form of Elvish, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that the temple was indeed built by the Keepers.

5Or "married." The Wiccan term for marriage.

Author's Note

A new story to be included in my collection Amnesty Tales.