Chapter 1: Invocation

Willow

    Another sleepless night and another fight with Kyle…

   “I won’t allow you to go! You can’t go. You always come back with crazy ideas in your head!” Kyle shouts as I grab my satchel and throw my cape around my shoulders.

   “I AM going! It’s the Full Moon! Tonight is the Harvest Moon Esbat!” I yell.

   “There you go with the crazy again, Willow! You know you sound batshit crazy, right?”

   Why do I put up with him? Oh, right, because I’m fat and no one else is genuinely interested. Better the devil you know than one you don’t. 

   “This is who I am, Kyle. I can't change who I am anymore than you can,” I say as I walk out the door. 

     He shouts down the stairs and I tune him out. It is always the same, but we both know that my name is the one on the lease and I pay most of the bills. My coffee shop gig isn’t exactly lucrative, but the side work I do as an artist and witch sure are.

    I catch the redline to Park street and switch to the Greenline to get to North Station and the commuter rail heading North to Salem. 

    Looking at the boards, I see my train has a slight delay and hasn’t even arrived at the station yet, although it should depart in 10 minutes. Great! Just my luck! I’ll be the last to arrive!

     When I finally board and take my seat, I take out my phone to text that I’ll probably be running late when it pings with a text. 

     Kay: I’m running late. Can you meet me at the coffee shop on Front Street in around 45 minutes?

     Me: Yeah, my train is running late, so I’ll most likely be right behind you. What has you running late? You and Buck having fun?

     Kay: No! I am baking pumpkin bread!

     Me: Yum! See you then!

     Kay has been baking pumpkin bread every September and October gathering since the day we met in college. Back then she hadn’t even started dating Buck yet, he came along a month into our school year and they have been mostly inseparable since. They are a cute couple.

     I lean my head against the window and watch the scenery go by with my shadowy reflection looking back at me and I let my mind wander. I think back to when I first started dating Kyle. 

     I was walking to his house, and a man drove past then turned around and came back to ask me on a date. My baggy jeans and oversized t-shirt were not even appealing. I was going to help Kyle clean his messy bedroom so his mother wouldn’t make him stay in for the weekend and we could go out to the movies.

A second memory comes to the forefront, about six months later we were shopping…

Flashback:

   “I don’t want to go in that store! You and your old man hoodie and freak clothes!” Kyle huffs.

   “What old man wears dark purple, Kyle?” I ask.

    “It’s navy blue! Can’t you see?”

    “Kyle, whose hoodie is it and who is the artist? I think I know dark purple from navy blue. The tag said ‘eggplant’ for the color and eggplant is a shade of dark purple,” I ask then sigh and walk into the store I plan to shop in.

     I go to a rack in the back where the plus sized clothing is and pick up a cute corset top that should be about my size and a dress then ready myself to try them on when a hot guy walks out of the fitting room and fixes me in his line of sight. 

     “How do they look? Should I get them?” 

    He breaks eye contact to turn around and the vinyl pants hug his muscular thighs and perfect ass like a second skin, and forget about that bulge! I nod and feel light-headed. He smiles, but before he can say a word, Kyle is dragging me away telling me to forget the top and dress and stay away from THAT guy.

Back to the present:

    “Salem, Next Stop! Next Stop is Salem, exit at the front of the car!” The conductor announces.

     I ready myself to get up and wait for the train to come to a full stop before standing and climbing out. Once on the platform I stretch my limbs and breathe in the crisp autumn air. Being in Salem feels good. I feel the energy or the ley lines and vortexes. I shake off the weight of my relationship with Kyle and I climb the stairs from the train station to street level and warily cross the street, tourists always seem to ignore the signals that tell them to stop and allow the pedestrians to cross. 

    I know the way by heart, picking my way down to Front Street and slipping into the Coffee House where Kay’s bright smile and big brown eyes greet me and I am wrapped in a warm hug. Her thick, straight, ash blond hair is pulled off her face, and she is wearing a green jumper. We must seem an odd pair to the casual observer, the hippie girl and goth.

    Kay orders the coffees and I stare off into the painting on the wall, something about it catches my interest.

   “Willow? Willow, did you hear me?” Kay asks, nudging my arm.

   I turn and look at her.

   “You are daydreaming. Are you fighting with Kyle, again?”

  “Aren’t I always?” 

  “You never should have trusted Jasraa to set you up on a blind date! She was manipulative when you dated her and she set you up with someone just as bad,” Kay says with a sigh.

   I nod and take the trays she hands me. She is right. Jasraa is a djinn and a drug dealer. I never would have dated her if she weren’t so persistent, then she was both jealous and manipulative. When we split up, we agreed to remain friends, but I held her at arm’s length, then she set me up with Kyle, describing him as much better looking and way cooler than he actually is. I nearly walked away when he approached me, but I felt bad and I have been guilt tripped every time I try to break things off, then he acts sweet for a week or two before turning right back to his usual self.

   The walk from the back door of the coffeehouse to Felix’s apartment is short and we run into Michelle waddling her pregnant belly downstairs to Felix’s apartment just as we reach the landing coming up. The three stragglers have arrived!

      After the bigger ritual Felix, Kay and I go to Forest River Park and do a private mini ritual. After calling the quarters and leaving offerings, we make wishes while skipping stones on the flat surface of the calm inlet along the beach.  

    “I wish that we all find peace and enlightenment in the dawning of a new era,” I call out as I release a flat stone that skips 6 times before falling below the depths of the surface and into the sea.

     “That’s a great one,” Felix says and Kay nods in agreement as I feel a wave of power jolt through me and fill me up.

      “What was that? Willow, are you okay?” Kay asks, embracing me as my body stiffens then I stumble.

     “You are the key,” a raspy voice whispers on the wind, but no one is in sight, but us three.