Child of Shadows

Hidden in the Mind

I used a website to find candle color meanings for this chapter. The resource is, https://wicca.com/celtic/bri/cndlcolor.htm     

      The pace of how fast October's heart was racing was alarming. It wasn't out of fear, but a frantic mind thinking about everything all at once. She scrambled to her shelf where her Book of Shadows (BOS) was tucked so neatly away, wedged in between her other books. She basically tore it from its resting place and dropped to the floor letting her bony knees make a *thud* as she hit the rug underneath her. She picked up a pen from her small caddy which had a plethora of different colored pens, markers, and pencils. She opened her book and found the section which contained dreams that she felt may be of importance for later in life, so she wrote them down. She found a clean page and began scrawling on it. She let her thoughts transfer to her page. October tried to keep up with how fast her brain was reeling. While thoughts of why she had seen the child in her dream, then to wake up with her frail hand on her crossed her mind, occasionally distracting her. 
      She had as much detail as she could get out written down. Binx was looking at her from the foot of her bed. He was comfortably laying on a cluster of blankets while most likely thinking about why his faithful owner had been spazzing about writing something down so quickly on the floor like a maniac. Or maybe he was thinking about the next time he would eat. It's hard to tell. October looked up at him to see the judgment in his gaze. She clicked her black pen, and it retracted into itself. She put it away and closed her book, holding it close to her body like she had a mission with it. She walked over to Binx who began purring, knowing he was about to get attention. She gently pet his soft fur and told him, "you probably think I'm insane, don't you?" He paid no mind to her words. He was too wrapped up in the attention he was receiving. She opened her door and crossed the threshold, looking back to the black ball of fluff on her blankets. "Are you coming?" She asked him. He slowly began to move and stretched his arms out and yawned, letting his claws come out and grab the purple blanket underneath him. He then hopped off and followed her down the hall. 
      She found the person she was looking for. Layne, of course. She settled next to him on the floor while he was playing a board game with Charlie. It was hard to beat Charle in any game. He was always playing them. Sometimes even by himself to see if he could play it as another person in a different mindset. October opened her book and whispered to him. "She was in my dream." He seemed confused. "Who was?" He questioned. She had obviously read his emotion correctly. He was confused. "The girl in the mask. She was in my dream. Then, I woke up and she was right next to me. Her hand was sitting on my shoulder. Layne's eyes grew wide as he looked over at her. "Whaaaaat?" He said with that teenagery tone in his voice as he spoke. She nodded her head and looked him in the eyes so he understood she was serious. "Does that mean something?" He asked her while rolling the dice. "I'm pretty sure." She said. "I think she was trying to show me her last memory of being alive." She examined his face as she spoke to him, hoping to see interest from her findings. "Why would she want to show you her last memory?" He asked in curiosity. "Maybe she wants someone to understand how she died." 
"Again. Why would she do that?" He questioned. October went into deep thought for about 30 seconds. Then it hit her. "Maybe she wants to move on." "You can help her move on?" Asked Layne. She nodded. "She will just need to tell me what is keeping her here. If I can find it, she can pass through this house." "How are you going to do that?" He asked lots of questions, which verified to October that he was genuinely intrigued. "I need to talk to her. She will know what is holding her back. She just needs to tell me what it is."  
      She opened up her mother's grimoire and flipped through the pages until she came across her Spirits section. Written as beautifully as the rest of the book in her mother's elegant writing said, "Spirits can work their way into dreams. They show you what they want. Usually, so they can pass on & find their lost loved ones. After they pass on from their holding place, they can simply think about who they need to find and immediately teleport to them. Dead or alive." She read this out loud. "Can we try to talk to her?" Layne asked. "Yeah, we could. But we would have to go to my room or something, so that the energy doesn't stir and nothing can interrupt." She told him. "Alright. I'll meet you up there. I'm gonna finish this game out." And with that, she gathered her things and walked back upstairs where she originally was.
      She opened a cabinet connected to her bookshelf where she kept all her candles. And where it folded down, there were four pages taped to the inside where she had written down candle color meanings. Inside the cabinet, there were multiple colored candles lined up. She looked at them and pondered which of them would be the most relevant to getting the girl to come to them.  She ran her nimble pointer finger down the paper while silently whispering what she had written down. 
"White:
Purity
Peace
Black:
Binding
Protection
Repels Negativity
Brown:
To help mend broken friendships/ bring friends together
Silver:
Telepathy
Clairvoyance
Intuition
Dreams
Purple:
Psychic Ability
Hidden Knowledge
To influence people in high places
Blue:
Wisdom
Water Element
Protection
Calm
Good Fortune
Opening Blocked Communication
Spiritual Inspiration
Green:
Earth Element
Physical Healing
To bring in Money
Tree & Plant Magic
Growth
Personal Goals
Pink:
Affection
Romance
Caring
Nurturing
Good Will
Red:
Fire Element
Passion
Strength
Career Goals
Lust
Survival
Orange:
General Success
Justice
Gold:
Happiness
Yellow:
Air Element
Intelligence
The Sun
Memory
Imagination
Accelerate Learning
Break Mental Blocks..."

      So, with that, she decided on the white, black, silver, purple, and blue candles. She sat them on the ground around her round gray rug where she did all of her ritualistic outreaches. , lit them, and laid the grimoire down in the center. Not long after the area was set up, Layne came up the stairs and joined her. They sat facing each other like they always did. "Hopefully this works..." October said with slight reluctance and not much confidence. She closed her eyes and took both of Layne's hands. He closed his eyes as well. She said out loud, "We are wanting to talk to the little girl who shows herself to us. We would like to help you." There was bitter silence in the room, and neither of them said a word until October felt a light tap on her right shoulder. She looked up to see her there. She squeezed Layne's hand to signal to him to open his eyes. He did so, slowly. She turned her head a little bit to look at him. Nobody said anything until they knew she was comfortable. She moved over to an open space between them and sat down. October looked at Layne, who was already looking at her. Then, she looked back at the girl. 
"Thank you for showing up here." She told her. The girl nodded to her. "Are you able to talk?" October asked her." All that came out of her was a meek, "Yes". October smiled a bit. "What's your name?" She asked her. "Eleanor." She responded in an English accent. "What's your last name?" Layne asked her. "Becker." October began to ask another question. "Why did you come into my dream?" 
"I want help. I want to find my mum."