Hooked [Complete]

5. Hangover Cure

Author's Note: 

Song for this Chapter: Steal My Kisses  by Ben Harper

https://open.spotify.com/track/4cIwg5VY8Lo1NYwq7llOth?si=42NPuDjEQzGUWjCe3G4YMg

The day was thankfully short for Dru. One o'clock found her finished with classes. Her schedule would normally include a chemistry lab in the afternoons today, but labs didn't start until the second week of class. She wandered back toward the dining hall, wondering if there was anything appetizing for lunch. Finn had interrupted her attempt to eat this morning. She was still hungover, and now hunger had increased her nausea three-fold.

Sean met her coming from the other direction, took one look at her green face, and turned her away from the campus dining hall.

"Unh-huh, you don't want to go in there, looking like that. It's all salads and tofu and stuff made with avocados today. Let's go to Malone's. Greasy pub food is the best cure for a hangover."

Malone's was a five minute walk and a no-wait at lunch. In no time at all, Dru was sipping on a ginger ale and snacking on homemade potato crisps. Between the ginger, the salt, and the grease, she felt better already.

"First hangover?" Sean said sympathetically, after gulping down half his coke.

Dru couldn't help the laughter that erupted. "Ha! No."

His eyes were curious, but he didn't press her for more information. Dru liked that about Sean; he was comfortable to be with.

"I partied a little too much in high school," she offered. "I turned over a new leaf my senior year. I'm trying to keep it turned."

Sean nodded. "I guess it makes it a little easier to be here where no one knows your history."

"You have no idea," Dru murmured, taking another bite.

Sean let the subject drop as their food arrived.

"So what do you make of Hearne?" she asked.

Sean's face darkened a little. "He's not what he seems to be, I can tell you that."

Dru leaned forward, "What makes you say that?"

Sean looked away, and shrugged evasively. "It's hard to explain..."

Dru stirred her drink, and watched the struggle on Sean's face. It was the same kind of struggle she had felt moments ago, when talking about her past. In that moment, she realized. Sean had a secret. Just like she did.

He'd been kind to her and not pushed her about the details of her past, so she returned the favor. Finally, he said,

"Do you know that a hundred and fifty years ago...back when Sabit was barely a college, and universities didn't even exist, that this place had a different name? Well, the same pronunciation, but the spelling was different. Sabit was spelled S-A-B-A-A-T."

"I didn't know that," Dru said, not sure where he was going with this.

He smiled. "You don't what a Sabaat is, do you?"

She shook her head.

"Some people called it a Witches Sabbath, but it's really a holy day for pagans. There are eight of them. Imbolc—yesterday—was one of them. And every festival we have here at Sabit, is really a pagan Sabaat."

"Are you serious?" Dru exclaimed. "You're saying Sabit used to be a witches college?"

Sean laughed. "Well, not really a witches school, but a pagaan gathering place. This whole area was colonized by Scots and Irish people, you know, back in the 1700's. They had been Catholic for hundreds of years, but they still practiced the pagan rituals and a lot of traditions that they brought from the Old World. Another tradition they had in Scotland was called a Gathering, you know, where all the Clans would get together once a year? This place—where Sabit College is now, it used be the Gathering place for all the mountain communities. Except they didn't just come once a year. They came eight times, at every Sabaat."