03 // The Conjuring

Even though it was almost three o'clock in the afternoon on the first day of school, the day was not getting warmer and the gray skies remained gray and the freezing blizzard that lashed hard against the treetops grew stronger as the afternoon progressed. The trees themselves were beating so hard against each other that the wood creaked and Kate had the feeling that they would fall on her.

"Are you sure you want to do this now," Kate asked hesitantly and looked at the black-haired girl walking on her right side. It doesn't have to be at night.

"At night you'd be even more scared than you are now," replied Camille looking with a lively mockery sparkling brightly in her green eyes. Or are you afraid that your daddy will find out that you've been skipping classes since the first day?

"Actually," Lizzie interjected, "that's a matter of concern to both of us. As long as they don't…"

"They won't!", Camille shouted irritably, "I'll deal with that later."

Lizzie and Kate staggered a bit in surprise at Camille's outburst, there are also a lot of rocks and weeds on the trail. Someone had to worry about clearing the place so that it would be easier to get to the cabin. Besides which, in heels, it was an almost impossible matter. For that very reason, Kate wished that Camille would postpone her whim to carry out her plan in the evening, when she could return to the prepared area. She had brought that day a little skirt, heels, a light blouse and a coat that she left in the car and now she regretted it. Even though it was autumn already, she would not pass up the first day's opportunity to show off her best clothes.

"Really, Camille," Kate insisted again, "tonight there will be a full moon. It's more effective with the moon...

"No," Camille refused again. We'll do this now."

At that instant, a shiver ran through Kate's exposed back and arms and she jerked, trying to wrap her hands around herself. She shook her head in bewilderment, looking up at Lizzie. Lizzie only shrugged as if to say they had both tried, but Camille was determined to perform the ritual.

They walked for another ten minutes or so along the trail, which became more and more difficult to walk as they went deeper and deeper into the forest, until they spotted the small, old cabin built of pine wood in a clearing.

As they entered the cottage, the door creaked as usual, the hinges being badly rusted, but Kate and Lizzie were surprised when they lit the kerosene lamps that the place was much more restored than it had been last year.

"How is that possible?" asked Lizzie breathlessly.

"Do they like it?", Camille asked with a smirk on her lips. "I've remodeled it and conditioned it to last a few more years. Besides, it should stand up to what's coming," she smiled mischievously, looking around the cabin, which now looked like a comfortable, clean cabin. We don't have heat, but we have a fireplace with wood.

"This is great," said Kate admiringly, sitting comfortably in a large armchair. "If I had internet and electricity, I would stay here."

"Besides," Camille continued, "Did you think I didn't think of everything?" she said, opening a closet containing clothes in the other girls' sizes, comfortable slippers, coats, blankets and ritual robes. The other girls shouted happily.

"Thank you, Camille," they said in duet, admiring their leader.

"Make yourself comfortable," said Camille, "We have to get everything ready to start as soon as possible.

Once they set up their altar as the ritual they were going to perform next merited, which would occupy at least a hundred lighted candles placed in the form of circles. The first one enclosed a large bowl where they would create the formula for the spell. Next, they had drawn a circle of salt, in which what they would invoke had to be contained in that first circle. Then another circle of lighted candles to potentiate the energy of the ritual. In the free zone, the three would prostrate themselves to perform the appropriate incantations and finally, there was a third circle of lighted candles and salt as a final seal of protection. In addition, in the four corners of the hut room, they placed shrouds with incense burning, filling the hut with a strong, thick aromatic smoke.

"Don't forget your protections," said Camille for the umpteenth time before prostrating herself in front of the altar.

Lizzie and Kate put on their necklaces and bracelets with different crystals and witch's ribbon pendants. By this time, it was after seven o'clock at night and the full moon was beginning to rise on the horizon at its peak. Camille was right to want to do the ritual as soon as possible, as setting up the altar would take several hours.

They prostrated themselves on their knees in front of the altar. They wore their robes and were barefoot, all so that they could be comfortable during the process. And despite the cold outside the hut, inside the hut, they were dying of heat, due to the fireplace and the tension they were trying to relieve. This was completely new to Kate and Lizzie who had never practiced rituals of such magnitude. What they were about to do was serious. Camille really had to be too angry with Amanda to be motivated to do something much darker.

The spells they performed previously were no more than a simple evil eye, or wishing Amanda to be ungraceful or to have headaches. But this was more. Kate and Lizzie, were ultimately afraid. They had no idea what they would do and why they needed so much protection so that whatever they were going to do wouldn't affect them.

Camille started with the herbs she brought in a handkerchief, crushing them and spreading them around the main area of the altar. Once she placed the herbs, she placed rusty nails and a small lock of black hair. Kate and Lizzie were surprised and looked at each other as Camille began to mutter some words in a completely unfamiliar tongue. A shiver ran through them as she muttered guttural sounds and furiously spat her mixture down the aisle.

The atmosphere began to feel heavy, as if indescribable energies were moving around them; the same energies that began to pull and break things around them. The hut creaked loudly from a ghostly wind, yet this wind did not seem to enter the hut and cool it. On the contrary, the place boiled and smelled like stale eggs, as if hell itself had taken up residence inside the cabin.

In spite of all that had happened, the two girls who were placed one on each side of Camille, could neither scream nor much less speak, even though they were trembling with fear. It could be worse to make Camille lose her concentration.

Camille suddenly stood upright as the flames of the candles began to burn much faster than normal.

"Repeat after me," Camille asked, making Lizzie and Kate react like robots.

"Sheelak, by the power we send you, the power of fire, the power of the full moon on the horizon, with the power of the life force of our enemy: Amanda Woodgate. Sheelak, we ask you to eliminate, consume and destroy our enemy: Amanda Woodgate. Destroy the soul, destroy the body, destroy the will to live."

Camille had the prayer repeated several times, while raising her arms high in the air. The place boiled and the strong bad smell became much more intense each time. The flames of the candles were rising high, and everything seemed to be drumming, like a heartbeat increasing its pulsations in a crescendo.

Camille suddenly lowered her arms and everything went dark as the candles went out, by the fireplace, a sepulchral silence settled in. Lizzie and Kate didn't even breathe or blink. It was as if they had gone blank and gradually felt their energies begin to drain away. Extreme exhaustion began to blur their vision and suddenly, they collapsed to the floor, falling fast asleep.

"It's done," said Camille smiling.