Chapter 21: Living a New Reality

22 September 1974, Carles Castlerigg Stone Circle

MAGDA, former high priestess of the coven, rose from the gathering and approached the northern gate of the circle. There she opened the wards enough so that her one-time lover and father of their daughter, Ryan McGuire, could stumble in.

“Who comes before the dread mighty ones?” she demanded, placing her Athamé against his chest. He looked at the knife and then at Magda.

“It is I,” he said. She did not waver and he felt the knife bite more deeply into his chest. “A ... a child of earth,” he finished. This was an initiate’s greeting and the first sign to Ryan that he was no longer a part of this circle and would have to earn his way into it. He fell to his knees in front of Magda. “I come with perfect love and perfect trust.”

22 September 1974, West Virginia at dawn

Prometheus, the Bound, woke from his trance to cold ashes in the firepit and an aching back. He groaned as he struggled to his feet and looked out across the mountains and the rising sun. Hell of a night!

“Coffee. I’m too old for an all-night vigil without coffee,” he muttered. His mind set about reconciling the reality of a brisk September morning with the visions of his trance, wondering if the experiences of all the parties had been similar or if each wove the experience into a tapestry of understanding that could co-exist with their reality. He would need to investigate. Interview. Talk to the parties involved.

He would need to leave his rock.

A tattered spiral notebook he’d been using to record his visions lay on the table in his underground home and he sat with his cup of coffee to write.

The astral plane is not a single location or state of being. Rather it is a complex network of realities that can be accessed by both spirit and body. Distance is meaningless. Earthly miles dissolve. One may move from reality to reality with a simple turn of the head. The gateways between the worlds are many and the witch who casts a circle and raises her power may travel freely.

22 September 1974, Minneapolis

“Serepte! Phone!” Meaghan called through the closed bedroom door. Serepte moaned and rolled away from her lover. Pol lifted his head enough to kiss her before she grabbed her robe and ran to the living room.

“Serepte, it’s Mom.”

“Mom! Are you still in Greece?”

“Yes. Honey, I have him. Your father. I finally found him.”

“Mom! Really? That’s wonderful! When will you be home?”

“We’ll have to go to Athens and sort out some paperwork. He’s been missing for nineteen years.”

“I’m so happy for you, Mom. I can’t wait to meet him.”

“You don’t remember?” Rebecca sounded perplexed over the phone. Serepte couldn’t tell why.

“Remember what, Mom?”

“We’ll talk as soon as we return to Indy. You’ll come down, won’t you? And bring Pol.”

“How did you know about Pol?” Serepte asked. “Your information network is entirely too invasive! But, Mom, he’s sooo dreamy. I’m in love. Of course I’ll bring him with me to meet you and my father.”

“Honey, we’ll have a nice long talk when I get back. I love you.”

“Love you, too, Mom. See you soon!” Serepte hung up the phone and looked at it with a puzzled expression.

“I had the strangest dream last night,” Serepte said when she cuddled back in bed with Pol.

“Really? Tell me all about your dream, sweetheart.” He slowly stroked her arm, kissing her bare shoulder and sending shivers along her neck and spine.

“I dreamt I found my father. And then my mother just called and said she had him in Greece. And then I dreamt we had to negotiate with Zeus in order to get everything sorted out. I felt like a princess. No, a Goddess.”

“You are my Goddess and I will always worship you,” he said, pulling her to him for a kiss.

“Pol, I know something has changed. Like I know your real name now and that in some way we’ve known each other forever, even though it’s only been a couple of weeks. And, something inside me is different. I ... I don’t feel people’s pain anymore. When I was on the phone, Elizabeth stubbed her toe in the kitchen and I couldn’t feel it at all. I couldn’t reach it. I’ve had this compulsion to heal people for the past five years or more, but now I reach out for it and there is nothing there.”

“A lot happened last night,” Pol said. “You healed me. I have all my memories back. I remember your mother and father, my father, even people you have mentioned like Doc Heinrich. I know him.”

“Do you know me, Pol?”

“Yes. I know that even if you don’t have the ability to take another person’s pain and heal it, you are still my Goddess of empathy and compassion. We, together ... we released a lot of pain last night and sent it home. I’m not sure about everything that happened. Maybe your circle will remember more clearly. The things I remember have nothing to do with my show and performance. I can’t remember how I got you suspended in the air! But I remember being with you when we released your father. It wasn’t just a dream, Serepte.”

“I traded, didn’t I?” Serepte lay back looking blankly at the ceiling. “I fell truly and hopelessly in love with you. I didn’t heal you because I was compelled to. I healed you because I love you. It is almost as if my mission in life was fulfilled and I could move ahead. I heard it said once that the price of a rite of passage was to leave a part of yourself behind. I did that, didn’t I?”

“Yes, my love. But between your memories and mine, we will piece together our lives and our love.”

“I love you, Pol.”

“I’m not too old for you now, am I? I mean, my birthday—my real birthday is Friday and I’ll be thirty-two. You are...”

“Old enough to know I love you, Pol. I don’t think that adding thirteen years of childhood memories to you has aged you at all. I love you. I love you. I love you.” Serepte punctuated her words with kisses and soon the two were wrapped up in their lovemaking.

22 September 1974, Minneapolis, afternoon

“My mother called, too,” Judith said after Serepte shared the good news of her father’s recovery in Greece. “She wants the high priestess and the Fifth Circle present at Castlerigg for Samhain.”

“What’s the big deal?” Serepte asked.

“My father—The Blade—stumbled into the circle just before dawn this morning.”

“Oh, my Goddess! I thought we dealt with him last night!” Meaghan cried.

“Apparently, we gave him rebirth into the circle,” Judith said. “She wants a full circle to ensure that he is purified and ready to become an initiate. She says he has no standing in the circle and has come on bended knee.” Judith sighed and turned to Wayne. “Babycakes, that means you, too. We are only the cauldron when you pull us together.”

“Hmm. That might work well. I’ll be right back.” He left the room for his workshop.

“What about me? Am I supposed to be there, too?” Serepte asked. Her brow was furrowed and she looked near rebellion.

“Little one, you are our charge, not our captive,” Elizabeth said, embracing Serepte like a mother would. “You’ve been instructed, you have your tools, and you have us as your sponsors. You are ready for full initiation into the Great Circle. It has always been and still is up to you to decide if and when you will join us.”

“I ... I think I’ll wait until Beltane,” Serepte said. “My nineteenth birthday. It’s just too cold to run around naked outdoors in Northern England before that!”

“There’s so much to be done in the next few weeks,” Judith sighed. “It’s like a new world has dawned and we don’t know what the day will bring.”

“This might help,” Wayne said as he re-entered the room with a small box. He called the four witches to him to sit in the middle of the floor, leaving Pol, Serepte, Mark, and Lil sitting on the sofa and chairs. The five focused on the box as Wayne pulled a brass brazier from the box. It was about eight inches across and stood ten inches high on three legs. The polished sides of the vessel were intricately engraved with symbols of the coven.