The Encounter

hearing her mother murmur how the house gave her goose bumps. Luna felt furious. That house had been her father's home as a child, it was the home of the sister he had just lost. Didn't she realize that what her father needed was a hug and not harsh and harmful words? How could she be so insensitive?

  She rushed up the stairs quickly, followed by Cristina. She didn't want to face her mother just then, she might say things that she would later regret. They entered her bedroom and Luna took out the suitcases she had brought with her and handed them to her friend.

  — I need you to do me a favor— she said, whispering even though nobody could hear them—. You have to pack all of my things in here while I go and pick up some of my aunts things before my parents decide to come in the house.

  — Are you going to steal your aunts things?— Cristina asked, shocked.

  — No, I'm not going to steal anything— she explained—. Firstly, because I'm sure my aunt would have left those things to me and secondly, because she was mixed up in certain things that people won't understand and I don't want them to find out and talk badly about her.

  — What kind of things?— Cristina seemed less convinced with every word Luna said.

  — Nothing illegal, don't worry— Luna took her backpack down from the shelf and walked towards the door—. I'll explain later, hurry up.

  She ran down the stairs to the ground floor. The front door was open and she could hear her mother's high-pitched voice from where she was standing:

  — I don't know how Emma could have lived here. It's such a dreary place... I wouldn't be at all surprised if there were ghosts here. Although she would have probably liked that, she was so weird...

  Luna stopped, waiting for her father to say something that would put her mother in her place but, as always, he didn't say anything. She thought about going outside and saying something herself. She would have liked to have defended her memory, especially now that Emma couldn't do it herself, but she knew that nothing she could say would make her mother change her mind. The only thing she could do for her aunt was what she was already doing: hide the things that people like her mother wouldn't understand and that would only produce more unjustified opinions about her aunt. She tried not to make a sound as she opened the small door that led to the basement. She left the door ajar behind her and walked down the stairs on tip-toe, trying to avoid the old boards from creaking under her weight.

  The room was dimly lit by the flames of the candles. She walked over to the table without taking her eyes off of it, with revered respect. That had been her aunts last spell, maybe her last desperate attempt to lift the barrier against the being that had tried to invade her thoughts and who must have been responsible of her strange death. The doctors could think what they liked, could think that it had been a heart attack that had killed her, but Luna knew that was not what had happened. The spell hadn't worked and that demonic being that had been harassing her for weeks must have tricked her into carrying out the ritual that had killed her. She promised herself that she would find that being and avenge her death. She didn't know how she was going to do it, nor the effort or time it would take to fulfill her promise, but she would do it.

  She stood in front of the table and began to ritual to open the protection circle. The candle lights seemed to split up into thousand of golden reflections through the tears welled up in her eyes. Not knowing exactly how it happened, all of the words and gestures her aunt had tried to show her for days with no avail were now clear in her mind. She clearly remembered that the blue candle that was lit was to ask for serenity, that the black one pushed away negativity, that the red candle placed on the south of the circle was a call to the Guardian of Fire to ask for protection. With a second of hesitation, she placed herself in front of the silver candle placed in front of the statue of the Goddess and began the ritual:

  — Lady, I thank thee for your presence in my circle and sharing this ritual with me— she snuffed the candle and turned towards the statue of the God—. Lord, I thank thee for your presence in my circle and sharing this ritual with me.

  She then began to snuff the candles corresponding to the Guardians, reciting the words of the ritual without doubting, as if they had been burnt into her mind since the beginning of time:

  — Watchers of the North, Guardians of Earth, I thank thee for your presence and protection, may thee go in peace.

  Watchers of the West, Guardians of Water, I thank thee for your presence and protection, may thee go in peace.

  Watchers of the South, Guardians of Fire, I thank thee for your presence and protection, may thee go in peace.

  Watchers of the East, Guardians of Air, I thank thee for your presence and protection, may thee go in peace.

  The circle is open, never broken. Happy journey and until we meet again. So it be.

  Deep down she felt a firm conviction that she had carried out the right steps and thought to herself, smiling bitterly, that her aunt would have felt proud if she had been able to have seen her. She opened her backpack and began to put all of the things that she didn't want people like her mother to see inside: the ritual knife, the chalice, the wand, the board with the pentacle carved on it... She carefully wrapped the statues of the God and Goddess and put them on top of everything else. Lastly, she stood in front of her aunts' book, still open on the altar and read the last entry:

  It seems like the results of my prayers are beginning to show. For a couple of days now I feel a lot safer. After weeks of feeling how my mind and privacy are being attacked nonstop day and night, I am now under the impression that the being has finally backed down.

  I pray to the Goddess that the being did not achieve that which it seeked, whatever that may be. Never before have I felt so much power, so much skill to resist my visions, nor so much anger when faced with my defenses. I believe that, despite not having felt the attacks over the past couple of days, the feeling of nervousness will never go away. I believe that it can return at any time and that I must be prepared for that moment. Because of this, I will keep the candles of the last ritual I carried out and which kept this being away from me, lit.

  There were moments where I thought that I would not be able to resist any longer and if, as I fear, this being has only backed down temporarily, it is possible that the next attack will be so strong I will not be able to stop it. So I must keep preparing myself, studying on how I can defend myself, how to unmask it. It is possible that my days of tranquility have disappeared forever, that I will spend the rest of my life in fear that it can return.

  I wonder if, in a way I do not know, it was I who called this being onto me. Is it possible that during one of my travels to other plains, a being from another world has followed me back here? Or maybe I carried out a spell wrong and left the circle open? I don't know and I don't understand it. I have worked hard my entire life to only do good to those around me and, according to the power of return, I do not deserve this evil, as I have never wished wrong of anybody. Why did it have to happen now, right when Luna has entered my life and has filled it with light and new projects? It's not fair.

  I trust in the Gods and I know they will help me, I have to believe that or I will go crazy. May the Goddess protect me and give me the power and strength to not give up.

  Luna laid her hand on the book, touching the letters with her fingertips, in a vain attempt to feel the person who had written them once more. She swallowed back a sob and breathed deeply, trying to silence the voice in her head telling her that she should have done more for her aunt, that she should have insisted that she tell her what was really going on, that, if she had interrupted the ritual, she would still be alive. She looked for a feather on the table and wrote a few lines under her aunts' last words:

  I will avenge your death. I don't know yet who it was nor how to beat them but I swear I will find them and make them pay for what they have done to you. I give you my word.

  She looked at what she had written for a few seconds, burning it into her memory. Then s
he closed the book, putting it in her backpack with the rest of the things and walked up the stairs to meet Cristina. When she reached the top of the stairs she turned around and took one last glance at the altar, at the shelves full of herbs and books and whispered goodbye to a part of her life that had been taken from her even before it had begun.

  AUTHORS NOTE

  This is the first part of the book The way to Eilean from The Travels to Eilean Saga. You can find the whole book in this link: The way to Eilean

  If you have any questions or comments, you can contact me through any one of the following means:

  Twitter: @Idaean_Halley

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  I hope you enjoy reading my book even half as much as I have enjoyed writing it. Thank you for giving me the opportunity of sharing my stories with you. With love,

   Idaean Halley

  TRAVELS TO EILEAN II: ARCANA

  Luna, her aunt Emma and their new companions decide to travel to Poscait, capital of Tirean and home to the Council of Wise men, to find a way to return to Earth. Once there, they find out about an ancient and enigmatic prophecy that seems to say that Luna is the chosen one to reunite the kingdoms and return to Eilean the magic that is