MELIA POV
Nana reached her hand out to us and we each grabbed her arm. She snapped her fingers and all of our dresses were gone, replaced by a thin piece of black hand-sewn cloth that didn't leave much to the imagination.
If we had not practiced for the ceremony the whole last year, I would have been embarrassed to walk out in front of our coven in such a minuscule amount of clothing.
Unfortunately, it's a tradition and it is something everyone in the coven had to do when they either turned eighteen or when they joined the coven.
Nana started herding us towards the pavilion where the elders and the inner court members from both ours and other covens were gathered.
As we reached them, Nana cleared her throat.
"I apologize for the delay, it will only be a few more moments."
The elders nodded their heads.
Nana's eyes fluttered back to open her mindlink.
A couple of minutes after her eyes opened back up, mom shimmered herself and dad to the pavilion.
Mom looked over at my sisters and me, "Are you girls ready?".
We shook our heads and smiled.
Mom wrapped us in a hug and then walked to the side of the circle that was positioned in the center of our coven's territory. It was made specifically for important ceremonies and events like initiations, commencements, and awakenings.
She cleared her throat, getting the attention of everyone gathered around the coven grounds.
"Good Evening, I apologize for the delay but with it being two minutes before midnight and the blood moon already making her descent, I would love to get started if I could have everyone's attention, please. "
All the outer court members squared their shoulders and gave a slight bow to their high priestess.
Mom reached her hand out to our father. Walking towards her, he took her hand before she spoke.
"Your High Priestess and High Priest are here this evening to invite Maisie, Melia, and Margot Kingston to become official members and dedicants of the Crescent Moon Coven with the blessing of our elders and the acknowledgment of our inner and outer court members."
Right on cue, the elders stood up and moved from under the pavilion to their positions around the circle.
Nana wasn't the eldest but she was the most powerful elder, so she was at the top of the circle. The top of the circle is north-facing, directly below the blood moon.
Mom, being the high priestess of the coven, moved toward Nana and stood to the right of her, and dad, being the high priest, moved and stood to the left of her, along the circle.
Our coven's six inner court members made their way around the circle, finding their positions in between the elders.
At the same time, everyone around the circle opened up their arms wide, stretching them out toward one another.
Nana held her hands out in front of her and a white orb of her power manifested and was levitating above her palms. Dad held out his hands and a dark blue orb of his power levitated above his palms. Then, one by one, each elder and inner court member around the circle repeated Nana’s actions until they all held a unique colored orb of their own levitating above their palms. Mom was the last witch in the circle. She held out her hands and a gold orb appeared above her palms.
Mom then started to speak, "Maisie, Melia, and Margot Kingston please come and join me."
Hand and hand we walked toward the circle.
"Who approaches this sacred space?" Nana questioned.
"I bring thee ones who wish to know the mysteries of this coven, and who wish to honor the Moon Goddess." Mom replied.
Nana looked at Maisie, "By what name will you be known within this sacred circle?"
Maisie responded with her name.
"The goddess has deemed you worthy. Please enter the sacred circle, and kneel in her presence." Nana announced.
Maisie released my hand, walked to the center of the circle, and knelt.
Me and then Margot are invited into the circle and we kneel after we provide our names.
"Before you are initiated as dedicants, are you ready to be purified?" Nana asked.
"I am." We answered in unison.
We were then ritually purified with the four elements of earth, air, fire, and water by the elders washing their power orbs over us.
Nana spread her arms out wide and her whole body was engulfed by her white power orb. She nodded to our dad and one by one each witch around the circle was engulfed by their colored power orbs.
Nana clasped her palms together straight above her head and with that her white magic shot to the sky, and each witch repeated her actions.
“BEGIN!” Nana shouted.
Then Nana lowered her arms slowly, outstretching them to mom and dad on the left and right sides of her.
All the witches around the circle repeated this at the same time and their magic intertwined with one another's. Creating a protective shield in the shape of a dome, enclosing the circle. Once the circle was enclosed, the dome lost its color and faded until it was invisible to the rest of the coven so they could witness our initiation.
Mom started the ritual.
"By joining this coven, you become part of a greater spiritual family. As such, you are part of an endless circle of kinship and hospitality. Hail ye, the Moon Goddesses! Hail to kinsmen and clan, to the ancestors who watch over us, and to those who may follow."
"Here before you kneel, Maisie, Milena, and Margot Kingston, soon to be sworn parts of this coven."
"The mysteries of the Moon Goddess are many. We can never hope to learn them all, but we can indeed follow them on our journey through this life and the next. As a dedicant, you will learn and grow and evolve every day. You will seek new knowledge, and attain it in direct proportion to your efforts. Let the Moon Goddess and the Ancient Ones guide you on your travels."
"Are you willing and able to uphold the values and principles of this coven?"
"I am." We answered in unison.
"Are you prepared, to be born anew, to begin this day on a brand new journey, as part of your new spiritual family, and as a child of the Moon Goddess?"
"I am." We answered again in unison.
"Then rise, Maisie, Melia, Margot, and emerge from the womb of darkness, and be welcomed into the light and love of the Moon Goddess. You are now a dedicant of the Crescent Moon coven.
The elders snapped their fingers and the black cloth we were wearing disappeared and was replaced by our white consecrated ritual robes.
"These white robes represent your role as a dedicant within this coven. It marks you before the Moon Goddess as ones who wish to follow her path."
"We give you these robes, and bid you use them wisely, and always in accordance with the mandates and guidelines of our traditions."
"Welcome, Maisie, Melia, and Margot, to the Crescent Moon Coven. May you be blessed by the Moon Goddess".
Mom finished the ritual.
"Blessed be." Everyone around the circle spoke at the same time.
Nana started to speak but she was speaking in Latin, so I wasn't entirely sure what she was saying, but from what I knew, she was calling our ancestors and asking for their guidance.
As she spoke, twinkling sparks of all different colored lights suddenly appeared and started swirling all around us.
After every initiation, the ancestor's essence provides insight into what each dedicant’s future might hold within the coven.
Maisie's lights were the first to change, like a light switch. All the lights circling Maisie stop flashing and brightly shine a sparkly gold.
The outer court members from outside the circle started cheering.
Gold means that Maisie will be the coven's next High Priestess when mom retires.
Next, Margot's lights stopped flashing and started to change.
Gold? What in the Goddess’s name?
Everyone gasped.
Then my lights stopped flashing.
Oh, my Goddess, my lights were gold.
The outer court members all started speaking at the same time.
"What could this mean?"
"There can't be three high priestesses, can there?"
People were starting to panic.
"Quiet!" Mom ordered.
Everyone fell silent.
All at once, the elders lowered their hands to their sides, and then the inner court members followed, breaking the circle.
The dome disappeared along with the lights that surrounded my sisters and me.
All of a sudden, a deep pain in my temporal lobe started to throb, my heartbeat speeded up erratically, a harsh buzzing sound was in my ears and my palms were sweating.
I can't breathe!
I was terrified so I tried to reach out to Maisie but she wasn't paying attention to me.
It felt like time was standing still, my whole body was on fire and my lungs wouldn't work.
I started gasping for air.
Then everything stopped, my breath caught in my chest, my headache was lessening, my heartbeat returned to normal and my mind cleared itself like it was waking up from a very long and deep slumber.
Then the craziest thing happened.
Something started howling. I looked around to see if anyone else was hearing what I was hearing.
But no one seemed to be hearing it.
They were all listening intently to my mom as she spoke, but I couldn't hear what she was saying.
"Hello, Beautiful!"
Something deep inside my mind spoke to me.
I jumped back, tripping over my own feet, and fell to the ground.
Both Maisie and Margot dropped to their knees and were both talking as me but I couldn't make out their words.
"Don't be afraid, lovely, my name is Ember. I'm your other half. We are one and the same, I'm your wolf."
"My what?"
Before I could get an answer, I looked up into Maisie's shocked eyes, and then everything went dark.
ATHENA POV"Please, everyone calm down. We all know the essence of our ancestors do not make mistakes. I understand we are confused by the essence color surrounding the girls, but it could be as simple as the girls marrying another coven's upcoming high priest. So please, let's not panic. We will figure this out, there is no need to worry."I had to say something to calm the members of my coven. Even though I knew what I was saying was logical and it seemed to comfort people, I know there was a far more complicated meaning behind my girl's essence color."MOM, DAD, NANA!" Margot screamed hysterically.I turned towards her and when my eyes finally reached her, my heart dropped to the pit of my stomach.I immediately shimmered to my girls."Melia honey, what's wrong?""She passed out and I couldn't get her to wake back up, she was mind-thinking to someone about her wolf," Maisie said frantically."Her what?" Baine questioned Maisie. "That's what I heard her say. I only heard the end of
ATHENA POV "Do you think the girls are awake yet? It's going to be a long day, maybe we should let them sleep in?" I questioned myself more than Baine. "Procrastination won't save you, baby. It's time!" I rolled my eyes at my husband. He kissed me on the forehead as he pulled me off our bed and then swatted me on the butt as he pushed me out of our bedroom door. I crossed my eyes at him and he stuck his tongue out at me before I took off toward the girls' rooms. I love that man. I'll never understand how he can make me smile and feel like everything is going to be just fine on one of the worst days of my life. As I opened the door to Melia's room I was not prepared for what I had seen. "Leporem" I whispered. My camera appeared in my hand and I snapped a couple of pictures of my beautiful girls. This was a memory I wanted to keep forever. Maisie was hanging off the edge of the bed, Melia was hanging on to Maisie for dear life, Margot was all sprawled out with her head resting
MELIA POV I’m glad I'm not the first one to speak. Even if I knew it was what my sisters were expecting of me. My head was spinning and my brain was running wild with unanswered questions, but when I finally opened my mouth to speak, nothing came out. Biologically, Lily and Vera aren't my sisters, but in all other respects, they were as much my sisters as Maisie, Margot, and Kira. Even though all this information was hard to wrap my head around, I'm glad mom decided to share it with all of us because I really need my sisters right now. Vera was the first of us to speak up and it was like she was reading my thoughts. Vera looked down at her hands and when she lifted her head back up to look at us, she had a grin on her face. “From birth, I was raised as your girl's sister, it was like our moms were sister wives from the very beginning. I don’t think we have ever spent more than a day apart from one another.” “I know Aunt Athena isn’t my mother, but after my mom and Aunt Rosalie
ATHENA POV“Baine, where could she have run off to?”“We will find her, honey. All of the warriors are out looking for her now.”“It’s been five hours since she left the coven house. The rogue activity has been at an all-time high for the last couple of months, they could kill her!”“Athena!” My husband grabbed my shoulders, holding me in place.“That is very far from the truth and you know it! Our girls may be young but they are fighters, they have trained their whole lives to protect themselves.”“Don’t you dare snap at me!” I pushed myself out of my husband’s grip.“My child is missing and the only thing you have to say is that she can take care of herself!”“I’m sorry to tell you buddy boy, but training to fight and fighting are two completely separate things!”Baine rubbed his face and took a deep breath before he spoke.“Yes, honey, I know and I’m sorry, but I’m just as scared for her as you but worrying to death isn’t helping either one of us.”I knew he was right, but I would n
MELIA POVI opened my mindlink."Roxy, can you hear me?""Melia, where are you?""Rox, I'm at the corner of the territory next to the standing stones. Will you please come and get me? I'm beat!""I'm on my way."I closed my mindlink as I waited for Roxy to come and save my ass."Mia."Without any questions, Roxy pulled my arm around her neck and helped me to her cottage. "Lightning or Thunder?" Roxy questioned."Lightening"Roxy smirked but said nothing."Lay down for a little bit and I'll get Abuela's broom."I couldn't help but chuckle."Shut it, you know it helps." Roxy raised her eyebrows at me as she walked back into the room with her Nana’s old handmade broom.Roxy started shuffling around the room, sweeping forcefully. As she kicked up a mass amount of energy in my direction, it shimmered and sparkled in the setting sun's light that was shining through the window.I couldn't help but belly laugh at her as all the energy literally swept her up off her feet."Alright, alright, t
MELIA POVSpending a night with Roxy cleared my head. I had to go home to face my mother at some point or she would hunt me down and drag me home.But what exactly was I to say to her?I couldn’t believe she would hide something like that from us.I get what she did was forbidden, but to bind our wolves so that she could keep us in the dark just pissed me off.She was the one that chose to do things that she knew were wrong and I could even forgive her for that, but to wait until we were eighteen then and say "Oh, yeah, by the way, you're a werewolf and you have to be Luna to some strange man's pack" that was supposedly our biological father was just so messed up on a dozen different levels.I could always run away or refuse to do any of what they are asking.I wasn't exactly sure what the consequences of that would be, but I am now an adult and I refuse to let anyone make any more decisions for me!I sighed and let out a breath I hadn't even realized I was holding. On the other hand,
MELIA POVI couldn't breathe, something was clawing at my neck and face.I sat straight up in bed, feeling for any claw marks on my neck. What a terrifying dream I had been having. I hated feeling like I couldn't breathe like I was being suffocated or drowned."Please moon goddess don't let me go out that way!"I let out a yawn and stretched before I threw my covers off and got to my feet. I looked down at myself.Why was I wearing day clothes? Where were my pj's?I looked around my room and nothing seemed to be out of place, so I decided to get ready for the day.As I walked towards my bathroom, I walked past my window and I didn't see any light trying to escape from underneath my curtains. Wait a second, was it dark outside?I started to panic.Something was wrong.I turned on my heels, moving towards my bedroom door. I had to find my mom.The door was locked.What in the hell was going on here? I was really starting to freak out, pounding on my door."Hello, what the hell is go
ATHENA POV "High Priestess." Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I opened my mindlink. "Good Morning Marty!" "Good Morning Ma'am. I'm sorry to disturb you so early but Alpha August is at the front gate requesting to speak to you." "Thank you Marty, I'll be right there." I closed off my mindlink. If August wasn't the biggest pain in my ass! I shimmered to the front gate. "WHAT?" "Good morning to you too, Athena." "Kiss my ass August! It's way too early for your bullshit." "Don't tempt me." August cut his eyes at me. If I wasn't so irritated with him I'd have blushed. "I guess you might as well come in since you insist on being such a nuisance." August belly laughed as he strolled through the front gate, then smiled that bread-winning smile directly at me. He had always looked just like a movie star. Perfect complexion, perfect white teeth, silver-green eyes, high cheekbones, square jaw, and a whole head full of thick silver hair that he has had since birth, I've been told.