I can't buy that.” He turned at the sound of another teenager calling his name. “Oh, there's Jamal. Please, Maryann, can I go hang out with him and Matt? Pleeeese?”
“Oh, fine, but you meet me back at the main gate no later than seven, you got that?”
“Sure, no problem,” he said, and ran off.
Maryann stopped at a few booths to examine the merchandise. “It is pretty expensive,” she thought, stopping at a jeweler.
A blonde girl about her age was nearby, also examining the wares. She was wearing shorts and a plain gray t-shirt. Her long hair was in a high ponytail. She was shaking her head slightly.
“It's too much,” Maryann said brightly.
“What?” the blonde said, surprised.
“Too much money.”
“Definitely.”
“Hey, the Swordsman show is starting in five minutes. You want to come watch it with me?”
“Um, okay. I guess.”
“I'm Maryann Blake.”
“I'm Isabella Nesmith. And please, please don't say, 'oh, like the Twilight girl.'”
“Okay, I won't,” Maryann replied cheerfully. “Anyway, I don't like the Twilight girl.”
“I'm glad I'm not the only one.”
They walked over to the stage and watched the comedy skit. It was funny and they were still laughing as they walked away.
“I love those guys,” Maryann said. “'Bold and stupid men.' It's great.”
They passed a fortune-telling booth and Isabella gave it a critical look. “People pay for that?”
“Yeah, they do. It's too bad too. Most places like that pull out the Major Arcana that would upset their customers, like Death or the Devil or the Tower. Even if the fortune-teller can actually tell the future, they can't do it without a full deck,” she replied.
“I guess I'm not surprised,” Isabella said. “I see you're wearing an ankh pendant. Are you pagan?”
“Yes. I'm still working out my path. It's sort of eclectic, so I know a lot about occult stuff and fake occult stuff.”
“I've been reading up on that stuff myself.”
“Really? Cool. Here, you want something to drink? We can compare notes,” she said enthusiastically.
“Um, sure,” Isabella said.
They stopped at the food court area. A band was playing on the small stage with their hats out for tips.
Maryann chatted amiably about esoteric and occult topics and showed no signs of being offended when Isabella asked her some pointed questions about paganism. Maryann took a moment to find the restroom and Isabella started to actually listen to the music.
“You know, the drummer's pretty good,” she said to Maryann when she returned.
“Yeah. Better than the other two people she's with. I can play drums, but I'm not good at it. I'm much better with a guitar.”
“Oh, you play guitar too?”
“Since I was about seven. I can also play the flute too. My high school didn't offer guitar in band.”
“I started with the violin. My high school didn't offer guitar in orchestra,” Isabella said. “I've always wanted to be part of my own band.”
“Me too!” Maryann said. “Hey, if we get that drummer and then maybe someone who can play keyboard and sing, we'd be all set.”
“I can sing, actually.”
“Oh, me too, but I don't know if I'd always want to be the lead singer. We could switch off and it'd be great,” Maryann said. “I'm going to go talk to the drummer,” she said, and abruptly ran off.
“I didn't agree to form a band,” Isabella started to say, but the redhead was gone. “Well, she's certainly enthusiastic.”
The band had finished up their set when Maryann approached the drummer. The drummer was wearing a flowing dark brown peasant-style skirt and a tan peasant blouse. Her thick brown hair was pulled back in a braid that was stuck with fake flowers.
“Hi! I'm Maryann Blake and I wanted to tell you that I think you're really good.”
“Wow, really? You know, drummers never get any respect,” the brunette replied. “My name is Leah Ramirez and I'm going to get something to drink.”
“Oh, good, you can join me and Isabella. We were just talking about a band!”
“Um, what?”
“Come on! I'll buy you lunch too.”
“Um, sure,” Leah said uncertainly, but she joined the other two. “So, what do you two play?”
They told her.
“Cool. I can play guitar and bass but no one wants to play the drums so I usually end up stuck doing it because you've got to have drummers. But at least I haven't spontaneously combusted yet.”
Isabella laughed while Maryann looked confused.
“Clearly one of you has seen This is Spinal Tap,” Leah said with a smile. “Maryann, put that on your to-do list.”
“Sure!”
“You know, I can't tell if that's sarcasm or not.”
“I'm pretty sure it's not,” Isabella said.
“Hey, can you sing?” Maryann asked Leah.
“Well, sure, I've done my time in choir. I've never done lead singing though.”
“And we still need a keyboard player. Well, I'm sure it'll come together. Come on, there are some more shows to see.”
Looking confused, the other two nonetheless followed Maryann as it was clear she was a regular attendant of the Renaissance Festival and knew which shows were the good ones. They passed by another music stage and stopped to listen. The four person band had a young woman who was playing an actual lyre.
When they finished, Maryann walked up to the young woman. She was wearing a fashionable purple jersey dress with a halter top that didn't match the costumes of the other people in the band. Her black, straightened hair was pulled into a loose, low ponytail.
“That was awesome! You really can play that thing!”
“Sure I can,” the woman said proudly. “It's just a small harp, after all.”
“You play harp too?”
“Yes, I do. And piano. My parents were very into classical musical training,” she said a bit wryly.
“Oh. Then why are you here?”
“I'm crashing in Chicago with a friend. I didn't know she worked the Ren Fair circuit and she's sick today, so she asked me to fill in. You can clearly see I don't have the right costume.”
“Can you sing too?” Maryann asked.
“Of course I can. But why do you care?”
“I'm Maryann Blake.”
“My name's Nora Jackson. So why do you care that I can sing?”
“I just had an idea. Hey, are you done for a bit? I'll buy you some lunch and show you the good shows.”
She stared at the redhead for a minute, trying to gauge her sincerity. “Sure, I guess. I am hungry.”
“Great! You can meet the others.”
“Others?”
But Maryann had already dashed off. Nora finished packing up her lyre and started to wander to the food court when the redhead returned with a tall blonde and a short brunette following her. Maryann made introductions and the girls started to talk about music. She escorted them to more shows throughout the afternoon as well.
“Maryann! Maryann!” called a young woman from a ceramics booth.
“Oh, Brittany,” the redhead said.
The young woman nearly tripped over her long, dark purple crushed velvet skirt as she joined them. Her many necklaces glittered in the sunlight. “We're doing a ritual tonight! Do you want to join us?”
“What are you doing?” Isabella asked.
Brittany gave her a disdainful look. “You wouldn't understand. So, Maryann, please say you'll join us. We really need your air energies!”
“What's the ritual?” Maryann asked.
“We're trying to get in touch with the Morrigan tonight!”
“I thought your coven worshipped Brigid.”
Brittany almost rolled her eyes. “Yes, of course, but we have t
o have a goddess of light and dark. Then we need a third one in the middle so we've got a triple goddess. Tonight's a good night to get in touch with our darker selves. Please join us.”
“I'll try, but I've got to take Skipper home and I may not have time.”
“Ok, great! We'll be in the grove at 7:30,” she said, and ran off.
“Air energies? You're a fire girl if I ever saw one,” Nora said, and then she blushed as the others looked at her in surprise. “I mean, um, that was weird.”
“Oh, no you're totally right,” Maryann said. “I keep telling her I'm totally a fire type but she insists that I'm just mixed up. Like I don't know my own energies. So, you're interested in occult stuff too?”
“Well, I'm not, not really, but some of my friends are, so I picked up a few things,” Nora explained.
“Wow, we seem to have a lot in common. Leah, do you know anything about occult stuff?”
“I'm Catholic. Depending on who you ask, my whole religion is nothing but a cult to Babylon,” she replied sarcastically.
“And we all play instruments! This is great!”
“You don't really think your friend is going to try to call on a goddess?” Isabella asked. “I mean, I'm sure it wouldn't work, but it still may not be a good idea.”
Maryann abruptly looked very serious. “Brittany is very nice, and her coven, as she calls it, is very nice too. But they really don't know much about magic or even paganism. I don't think they have a very good idea about the gods they claim to worship. I've never seen any of their spells work, but they've also never tried something like this. And the grove she's talking about does actually happen to be along ley lines. There are also so many people with so much energy here. It's unlikely something could happen, but if it did, this would be the place.”
“Um, so is this something we should do something about?” Leah asked.
“I don't