hebdomadal
\ heb-DOM-uh-dl \ , adjective;
1. taking place, coming together, or published once every seven days; weekly: hebdomadal meetings; hebdomadal groups; hebdomadal journals .
1. a weekly magazine, newspaper, etc.
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The dimmed lights cast an almost eerie shadow over the room,
aided by the flickering candles. Various
incense burned on one table, filling the air with their scents. The small group of young women gathered
around a small sheet of paper with a large circle drawn on it.
“Ok, is
everyone here?” Asked Carol, the high
preistess. One by one, the others all
chimed in, saying that everyone was present.
“Woo, nice!” Carol said happily, “First
time everyone’s been on time in weeks.
Ok, girls, let’s get the weekly meeting of the Northstone Coven on.”
The
girls clapped their approval. Talk immediately
went to what kind of spell they should try to cast. Of course, none of them were serious in the
things they said. The spells were really just for show. Still, it was fun to be able to call
themselves witches, even if it wasn’t real.
One of
the girls got out a large book with the words “Everyday Witchcraft” printed in
large gold print on the cover. They
riffled through the book to find a “spell” to cast. As they each cast their ideas of what to do,
they were interrupted by a soft, barely audible knock on the door.
“Huh. Anyone expecting a visitor?” Carol asked.
None of the other members had.
Carol got up and opened the door.
The
person standing there was a woman about the same age as they were. She was thin, but cheerful looking, and wore
bright clothes. A large red backpack
with holes in it was slung over her shoulders.
“Hello.” The newcomer said. Her voice was light and airy, but cheerful
enough, “I heard there was a witch coven
here. Is this the place?”
“Oh,
yeah, that’s us.” Carol replied. She was always happy to invite a new member
in, and this one looked interesting. “You
looking to join?”
“Oh,
very much so.”
“Great. Come on in.”
Carol stood aside and let the new girl in. “I’m Carol, the high priestess
in our little group.”
“Oh, it’s
an honor to meet you.” The newcomer said
with a light bow of her head. “My name
is Elizabeth.”
“Great. Can I call you Liz?”
“I
would prefer my full name, actually.”
Elizabeth said.
“Alright. Let me just introduce you to the rest of the
girls.”
Carol
brought Elizabeth into the room and introduced the other members in turn. Elizabeth was soon brought into the circle
made by the bodies of the others. As
they were all taking at once, a distinct sound came from her backpack.
“Is
that a cat?” Asked one of the coven
members.
“Oh
yes, that’s Molly. Hold on, I’ll bring
her out.” Elizabeth removed her backpack
and opened it. A small black cat with
white rings around its eyes hopped out and quickly started looking at her new
location. “I hope none of you mind I
brought my familiar with me.” Elizabeth
said as she extended a hand to the cat.
“O-oh,
no. That’s not a problem at all.” Carol said.
She was just glad nobody was allergic to cats. Still, this was a new one. Not only had this girl brought a cat, she
claimed it was a familiar. This one was apparently
really into witchcraft .
“Excellent.” Elizabeth said. The cat stopped looking around and jumped on
her owners lap and quickly settled down.
“So, what are we casting?”
“We
were thinking of this one here.” Said
one of the coven members. She pointed to
the page in question. Elizabeth read the
words and a look of awe came to her face.
“This
one? Are you sure?” The others nodded. “Wow.
You must be very powerful. I
could never attempt a weather change spell, even on a Sunday. And none of you have your familiars with you
either. I knew I chose the right place.”
“You,
uh, you can’t?” Asked Carol. This was starting to take a very odd turn.
“Not
alone anyway. Maybe on Samhain, but not
on a normal Sunday.”
“Samhain?” Another member asked.
“You
don’t know? Oh, I see. You must call it by a different name. I mean All Hallows Eve.” Another round of blank stares. “Halloween?” Elizabeth tried again. This time she got a reaction.
“Why
should it matter what day it is?” Asked
the coven member.
“You
don’t know? Really? Your High Priestess hasn’t thought you even
that?” Molly looked up at Elizabeth and
meowed, “Oh, yes, I see. A very good thought Molly. You must be testing me, to see how much I
know. Well, it’s like this. Normally, there’s only a little magic in the
air we witches can use. But, every
Sunday, the amount goes up. It’s still
not very much, but it’s enough to cast most daily spells with. The next best day would be the Equinoxes,
then the Solstices. But the best day is
Sam…I mean, Halloween. On that day, even
a minor witch like me can do almost anything.
So, how was that?”
“Uh,
very…very good.” Carol asked. Elizabeth was apparently much more into
witchcraft than anyone else he knew. To
go so far as to think up all that, the girl must have quite the
imagination.
“Wonderful!” Elizabeth exclaimed. “So, should we get started? I don’t know how much help I’ll be, but I’ll
do my best. I assume you’ve already cast
a forecast spell?”
“What?” Carol asked.
“A forecast
spell. You know, so you know how to move
the weather. You should all know that
weather changing only moves it around, right?”
She was
met with blank stares all around. Molly
hopped off Elizabeth’s lap and started sniffing at the paper. She soon returned to her owner’s lap and
meowed a few times.
“Oh, I
see. You haven’t started yet. Well then,
please allow me to show you what I can do.
It’s probably not like what you’re all capable of, but it’s something.”
Elizabeth
rummaged around her backpack and drew out an assortment of items. Six candles, a small piece of charcoal, and
some powders that Carol couldn’t identify right away. Elizabeth went to work placing the candles at
regular places around the circle, and then used the charcoal to draw lines connecting
them. The placed small amounts of each
powder around each one.
“Now
then, Molly, shall we begin?”
The cat
meowed once and started purring loudly.
Then, she hopped up on Elizabeth, crawled along the girl’s shoulders,
and wound up sitting on her head. Elizabeth
sat cross legged in front of the circle.
Both girl and cat closed their eyes for a moment.
“Spirits
of Time and Wind, show us what will be.”
She intoned.
Instantly, the candles came to
life, flickering in an unseen and unfelt breeze. Elizabeth opened her eyes and the mouths of
the other girls hung open. Her eyes had
taken on an otherworldly, golden glow.
Molly soon opened her eyes, and showed the same glow as her owner’s. The cat jumped down off Elizabeth’s head and
approached the nearest candle. Carol
rubbed her eyes in disbelief. For a
second, she thought she saw an afterimage of the animal as it jumped. As she watched, she found it wasn’t just then
either. It was like the cat was being
followed by itself.
Molly stuck a paw up at the first
candle. The flame rose off its wick and
turned a bright golden color. The second
did the same. The third turned grey, and
the last three became a very pale blue.
Molly looked at them and returned to her perch on Elizabeth’s head.
“Monday and Tuesday, sunny. Wednesday, partially cloudy. Thursday through
Saturday, light rain.” Elizabeth
said. Her voice seemed more distant than
it already did. Both cat and girl closed
their eyes and the floating flames disappeared.
When they opened their eyes, both were normal. “So?
How’d I do?” Nobody said anything
for a moment.
“Oh…my…god…” C arol said in
wonderment. “You’re a witch? I mean, like, the real deal, aren’t you?”
“Well,
yes. Of course I am, aren’t you?”
“N-no,
not really. I mean, we all like to say
we are, but we’re really just here to get around, eat ice cream and spread
gossip.” Carol said.
“Oh. Oh dear.”
Elizbeth said sadly. “I thought
you were real when I found out you met on Sunday. I guess I was wrong again.” Molly meowed a few times and Elizabeth perked
up. “Oh, but Molly felt some magic from
here. Maybe one of you is a real witch
like me?”
“Wait,
are you serious?”
“Oh
yes, Molly’s never wrong when it comes to sniffing out magic. She’s very good at that. I can find out if you want.”
Before
anyone had said anything, she had flipped the paper over and was already
drawing another magic circle on it. She
placed a few items from her backpack on it and got back in position. Molly jumped up on her owner’s head.
“Ok,
each of you place a hand on the circle, and let’s begin.”
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It's always fun to write about things like this. You know, making up a magic system and everything. The story format I'm using is a bit restrictive, so I can't get any real detail about it, but it's still fun, and I think I did a decent job in this one. Some people might think it's too expository and stuff, but it should work, given what's going on. What does everyone else think?
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