What lay beneath her . . . underground root system . . . she sensed a darkness coming and fought off the negative assault triggered by her thoughts. She saw them coming in her mind. Dark, muddy soil rising, something black coming to the surface, about to burst through. She shook her head. Things underground didn’t sit well with her, and she knew that this was going to be an ongoing battle.
She caught the mint scent from Zoe’s potted herbs on the breeze, and took a deep breath. Maybe the fragrance would clear her head. Underground thoughts added to her recent bad dream.
She’d dozed off and had found herself in a deep darkness, lying on her back, looking up to nothingness. The faces of her mum and dad had appeared. They looked down at her, smiled, and left. The dark nothingness returned, this time with a tinge of dark blue.
A small dim light appeared to the left. A star. She watched the star move across the blue-black sky. Bare black trees with pendants hanging on them surrounded her. She reached for one of the pendants and saw it was a crucifix. Something wriggled under her body and she squeezed the crucifix. She started sinking into the darkness. Screaming, she was jolted out of her dream, gasping for breath.
Ruby’s fists were clenched. She thought about her nightmare and opened up her right hand.
There was no pendant.
A car drove past and pulled over a short distance from her unit. She heard a door open and close then watched the car drive off, happy for the distraction. A woman was walking along the footpath towards her. Shoana. She saw Ruby and waved.
Ruby had a visitor. She stood up, walked into the living area, and waited for the buzzer so she could press the button to release the door. Was she up to this? She wasn’t sure.
Shoana looked like she’d been crying. She gave Ruby a hug and then took off her brown hooded jacket and placed it on the oversized couch.
“It’s not really cold. But it’s my favourite jacket. They say we women attach emotions to our clothes and I’m sure men do but they’d never admit it.”
“I’m with you on that one, Shoana. Would you like a cup of tea or something?”
“Tea would be nice, Ruby.”
They walked over to the kitchen and Shoana sat down on the bench stool.
“You doing okay, Ruby?”
Ruby turned from switching the kettle on. “Doing okay.” She gave a soft nod.
“I imagine it wouldn’t be easy.” Shoana let out a small cough. “I’m sorry for what I got you into, Ruby.” Shoana teared up. “I’m really sorry.” She started crying.
Ruby came around and placed her arm on Shoana’s shoulders. This wasn’t like Shoana. Ruby found a box of tissues and deposited them on the bench.
“It’s not your fault, Shoana. You didn’t drag me there.”
Shoana composed herself. “I did. I convinced you to go.”
“Did you? Did you receive compensation for me being there? Was there some kind of payment?” Ruby smiled to reinforce the jest. She wasn’t sure if Shoana was on the same wavelength.
“That’s why I’m here, Ruby. I did convince you to go. It’s your hair.”
“What about my hair?”
“The colour. Having someone with a natural red hair in the circle would enhance the magick of the ceremony,” Shoana said, squirming in her seat. “The high priestess wanted someone with red hair to attend the Circle because of the significance of the blue moon ritual. I wanted to please the high priestess, so I coaxed you into coming.”
Ruby wasn’t sure any more. “I wanted to come . . . it’s all okay.”
“Witches have red hair. There must be some power in the hair. But you were offered up as a sacrifice.”
Shoana was being insensitive here. This wasn’t helping. “Shoana, please. I’m trying not to think of what happened.”
“I’m sorry, Ruby. I wanted so much to say things over the past few days. But I’ve felt so guilty, so burdened about you and about other things.” Shoana looked at Ruby with heavy eyes.
The kettle whistled in the background. Ruby turned to see steam pouring out and knew it would click off but Shoana needed her attention. She sat down next to Shoana.
“Other things . . . what other things, Shoana?”
“Private things.”
“Private hurtful things?” Ruby placed her hand on Shoana’s leg. “If you want to talk about them, you can.”
“Not sure if I can. Not yet.”
Ruby stood up and moved to make the cuppas. “You know, Shoana, I went to the festival with you because I was tired of my life. I felt positive energy about what we were doing until I got close to the event, then something started sucking at the energy.”
Slow, silent nods from Shoana.
Ruby opened up a cupboard and found some cups. She placed them on the bench and looked at Shoana. “I think evil is involved, and I think we need to steer clear of these sorts of events because it can infiltrate other areas of your life too.”
Shoana remained quiet.
Ruby understood the desire to hold on to things in life, even things which aren’t good for us. She was trying to work her way through this herself, trying to avoid the wrong things, the wrong roads, the wrong turns. Why couldn’t someone put up a sign advising not to enter certain roads or pathways. She gave a silent laugh, knowing she’d probably disobey anyway. Something inside her didn’t like being told what to do. That spooked her.
“I think we need to stay away from this Wiccan stuff, Shoana.”
Shoana’s lips parted but no words came.
“Shoana, you okay?”
