Chapter 10 (Raven)

We were in no rush to get home. Despite Beth's urgings, Adrian and I enjoyed each other's companyband we wanted to spend more time together. When we left the cafe we decided to take a walk to my house. All the way, we talked about our common interests and our dreams. When we finally got to the front door, we paused on the threshold. The boy looked straight into my eyes. I looked back at his, losing myself completely in his their chocolate color. I felt his warm hand on my face as he brushed a strand of my hair behind my ear.

"When this is all over, would you like to meet and go out somewhere?"

"Sure, why not." My words clearly pleased the boy, and a smile lit up his face.

He stared at me for a moment, then slowly brought his face closer to mine. Our lips were millimeters apart when suddenly the door flew open.

We jumped apart scared of the sudden event. I felt my shoes slide on the marble steps and I fell from the stairs and landed in the bushes. I felt branches and leaves scratching me all over my body. When I looked up I saw Adrian, who probably hit the wall as I crashed into the bushes, rubbing the back of his head and moaning in pain. My sister stood in the doorway with her head held high, raised eyebrow and an expression on her face that said she couldn't believe what she had just seen. Behind her stood Ashley, who was just laughing her ass off out of us.

"Whatever just happened here, move your asses and come in. We have some hocus pocus to do." Beth said and disappeared inside the house, passing Ashley in the doorway. The blonde stepped outside and helped me get out of the bushes, although she was still laughing.

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing. But couldn't you two wait a little longer in this house? My head hurts because of you." mumbled Adrian and disappeared behind the door, causing even more laughter of the girl. ********************************************

"The ritual requires quite a lot of floor space, a map of the city assuming our would-be killer was casting a spell near us, and a pentagram drawn in human blood." said Adrian as soon as he found himself in the attic with us. We figured the attic was a good place to cast spells. Despite the dust, there wasn't much stuff there, and after a few minutes of sweeping, we could have drawn a pentagram in the free space.

"Okay. But who is going to give the blood?" Beth asked. We looked at each other. I could feel my sister's sight on me. I also saw Ashley glance from me to Adrian.

"Seriously?" I asked, annoyed. "Okay. I'll do it." I grabbed the knife and put the sharp part to the palm of my hand until I saw red drops. Adrian walked over to me, took the blade and cut his own skin.

"I will help you. I don't know if your blood is enough to paint a pentagram. And if you bleed out, who am I going on a date with?" The teenager and I knelt on the floor and began to draw a symbol.

"Alright, so while you're painting this thing, I'll read the Latin words so I don't mix anything up during the ritual." said Ashley and then approached the book brought by Adrian. After half an hour, Ashley had memorized the words, and we drew a red star on our attic floor.

"So what now?" Beth asked. "Ashley is going to say some Latin crap and we are gonna know who tried to kill me?"

"Maybe. According to the book Adrian brought, we're lining up in a circle, that will probably be crooked, around this crookedly drawn star.

"We tried," I interjected, but Ashley continued her speech.

"Alright! Everyone line up at the corners of the star. There is four of us, so put the paper that hed been attached to the bracelet on the empty space."

Everyone, even Beth, did what Ashley said. Before I stood on my assigned place, I put the piece of paper that Beth's would-be murderer had touched, on the unoccupied corner. Adrian walked over to the center of the pentagram and placed the map of our city on the ground before returning to his seat. Ashley sat cross-legged, and all of us followed her lead. The girl closed her eyes and after a moment Latin words came out of her mouth. Even though the girl spoke softly and quietly, I could hear every word clearly. I couldn't make out the Latin gibberish, but with each word, bigger goosebumps rose on my skin. I shivered violently as I felt a cold wind on my back, which soon turned into a gale. I looked worriedly at Adrian, but the boy's eyes were closed and he joined Ashley in the incantation. I also wanted to join them but i wasn't working for the witch and I didn't have time to momorize to words, so I just stayed silent amd looked around the room. When I glanced at the blonde girl, the teenager was persistently pronouncing the words of the spell, despite the wind blowing her own hair in her face again and again. My sister, on the other hand, looked just as scared as me. I began to wonder if the teenager would not get up and run down the wooden ladder, leaving us alone.

Suddenly the map, that was miraculously untouched by the gale, burst into flames. Without standing up, I moved as far away from the fire as I could, but quickly slammed my back against the wall. I watched in horror as the flames consumed the paper. I started looking around for something to put out the fire, but before I could do anything, the wind abruptly stopped and the fire was gone.

Ashley and Adrian slowly opened their eyes and looked around the room. The four of us exchanged glances, then everyone rushed to the center of the room. In the center of the pentagram laid a small scrap of burnt paper that had once been a map.

"Did it work?" Beth asked, looking at the boy.

The teenager took the paper in his hand, stared at it for a moment, then smiled.

"Ladies, we did it." He said showing us a piece of paper. It was burned on all sides, the only thing left was a pale page with the lines marking the street.

"Black River Street," I whispered, feeling a smile forming on my face.

"Over there has to be that house with a red door."

"What house with the red door? What are you talking about?" Beth asked looking at me as if I was crazy.

"Oh! Right! I didn't tell you. In short, the person who performed the spell did it in an old house where there is a red door leading to the basement. The witch contacted with me this morning. Via Adrian of course." I said to the girls, that were looking at me with their surprised faces and big eyes.

"Okay, so what now?" Beth asked. "Because I'm not going to some spooky house of some guy who wanted to kill me." "I can go," Ashley offered. "But not now. It is getting dark outside and no matter how much i love you, I won't break into anyone's basement at night. I've seen horror movies and I want to live. But I can skip class tomorrow. I mean I have a test during the first lesson that I will have to write, but then I can just pretend that I am sick and go."

"Good idea." Adrian said. "I will ask people. I have some friends in the city. Maybe someone knows who this house belongs to."

"I can help you." I offered hoping the boy will say yes. I wanted to spend more time with him. Luckily teenager returned my smile, agreeing to my proposal.

"I'll cover for you at school." said Beth. "If anyone asks Raven has a fever and is too sick to get out of bed and Ashley had a really bad stomach ache and had to go home."

Ashley hugged my sister in response and I sent her a smile in return.

Everyone nodded in agreement to the plan and got up to prepare for the next day.