Dark Black Magic

Chapter One (b)

Skyler

It was a dark night, despite the full moon. A storm had blown inland and blocked out the moon's light. I peered out of the kitchen window into the thick darkness and thought it was wise to stay inside and perform the blessing instead of chancing the rain.

I closed the curtains to shut out the storm and sat next to the log-burning stove. The fire was dying, but the stove was kicking out a lot of heat.

The kitchen was the only heated room in the entire cabin except for my Grandma's room. Last year, I brought a small electric heater for her room after she had become ill with a chest infection. After that, the heater came on for an hour each evening to take the chill out of her room.

My attic room had no heating, and sometimes in the winter, when it was so cold, I would take a blanket and pillow downstairs and sleep next to the stove.

I wondered what kind of winter this year would bring. If the snowfall were heavy, we might be cut off from the town until the snow melted in spring.

Each autumn, we prepared for the possibility of spending the winter alone. Grandma and I would stockpile canned foods and non-perishable items. We would also browse the thrift stores for books to read and games to entertain us on the long winter nights.

I usually liked winter, but this year something felt different. Grandma's cough was getting worse, and I was worried that this might be her last winter.

I pushed the dark thought out of my head and glanced to the kitchen table where the harvest blessing was waiting for me.

It was a simple blessing, and I only needed a single black candle to perform the ritual. However, finding this candle would be no simple task as it meant going into the cupboard under the stairs.

The cupboard hadn't been cleaned in years and had developed its own ecosystem of spiders, moths, woodlice, ants and earwigs. The insects lived amongst the collection of jars and boxes that contained the items needed for our spellcraft.

I opened the cupboard and used a pair of salad tongs to lift and shift pots of dried petals, pouches of lavenders, sun-dried berries and sprigs of holly. I found the box of candles next to a jar of whithered dandelion roots. A plump brown spider sat atop the box, observing me with many eyes.

"Please move," I asked politely, "I don't want to crush you with my salad tongs."

The spider seemed to understand me and scuttled back to her web.

I retrieved a black candle from the box and returned to the kitchen to perform the blessing.

A cold wind seemed to follow me into the room, and I wondered if it was Grandpa. I noticed the blessing on the table had moved and silently asked Grandpa not to bother Grandma tonight.

I lit the candle and started to read the blessing.

Harvest blessings were typically cutesy and sweet, but this blessing wasn't even in English. Instead, the language was strange and unfamiliar. I read each word phonetically, and every syllable felt awkward on my tongue.

Outside, the wind picked up, and the rain started hammering down the cabin roof.

I continued to read the blessing, and I couldn't help feeling that the weather outside worsened with each word I spoke. The wind went from howling to screaming, and the rain now sounded like a biblical deluge sent to drown us heathens.

I pushed until the last word and blew out the candle to end the blessing. The crazy weather immediately stopped. The house fell utterly silent.

It was as if everything had gone back to normal, but deep down, I knew something was different. I couldn't place my finger on it, but that blessing was anything but ordinary.