Chapter 70 Faye
Three nights ago-
“Tell me, prima, are you ready to own your power?” Rocky’s words played in my head like a symphony.
I zoomed through traffic so I could make it to her cottage home on the outskirts of town, knowing that’s where I’d find her.
My heart was at peace knowing Birdie was being protected by Odin’s angels themselves.
I needed to do this, not just for me, but for her, for Ma.
I was running out of time. The anger of knowing my cousin was somewhere locked away to be sacrificed, was like a steel knife to my gut.
This evil man cursed any happiness I had left.
Fuck with me, fine, but you mess with the people I love and I will bring hell to your doorstep with no mercy. I’m coming, Penny.
I pulled up to Rocky’s desert cottage twenty minutes later. I ran to the door and grabbed the large gold knob. It slowly creaked open on its own, like it was waiting for my arrival. What the fuck?
“Rocky, prima, it’s me. I’m here!” I called out to her, the darkness swallowing me whole. Meow! Elvira swirled around my legs, her collar jingling with each movement. “Where is your mama?”
I walked in closer. I could hear whispers in the distance. A glimpse of candlelight caught my attention. It led down to her basement morgue.
“Rocky?” I called out again, hoping for a response.
But, nothing, just dead silence. The whispers subtly started again.
The light flickered, casting a shadow on Rocky’s black painted walls.
The golden framed pictures reflected in the flickering shadows.
The aroma of sage and palo santo infiltrated my senses as I stalked closer, down toward the basement.
I walked cautiously down the old wooden stairs which creaked with each passing step, the whispers becoming louder.
A gust of wind gently pushed me down the stairs, the brisk wind sending chills upon my olive skin.
I descended down the basement stairs into the cold morgue, where there sat Rocky and Buffy in a drawn out Triquetra, surrounded by salt, candles, and crystals. Both of them held hands as they chanted in Latin.
“Come and sit, prima, it is time.” Buffy led me to the sigil on the floor. “Don’t be afraid.”
Buffy and Rocky grabbed onto both of my hands.
“In order for you to claim your gifts from the occult, one must make an oath to the source that possesses our very bloodline,” Rocky explained, while swirling the palo santo around me, as it left a small cloud of smoke.
“I’m ready,” I proclaimed.
Lightning struck with the venom of my words as I spoke them true.
“So shall it be,” Rocky chanted as the candles began to blaze savagely.
The windows burst open with a strong wind.
The three of us each sat upon the Triquetra corners.
Rocky then took out her dagger from her black knee-high boot, and sliced her palm open without even a wince.
I watched as her palm became a pool of crimson.
Closing her palm and squeezing it, she held it over the sigil.
“This symbol represents the threefold nature—the earth, sea, and sky. Our magic signifies all divine balance. Mind, body, and spirit. The ever-turning life and death.”
The sky above us roared in earth-shattering thunder.
“Are you ready to die and be reborn again to claim your natural state, prima? The source is waiting for your answer. You either claim your magic, or you walk away from it forever.”
The wind surrounded me in whispers. There was no thinking, there was no doubt, revenge would be mine.
My promise to Ma was my only thought. Visions of cradling her in my arms in the catacomb just hours before, her blood still fresh on my clothing, my soul forever marked by her death, my heart forever wounded by grief.
“I am a Robles and forever will be,” I said, the words laced with conviction. “Penny was supposed to be here for this.”
Silence fell between us.
“Buffy is a believer in the occult. Even the smallest seed of belief in magic is like a plant that grows over time. Some are born of it. Some are believers and can learn. While their magic may not be derived directly through the source like our blood, they can do certain incantations with herbs and crystals, drawing the source from the objects,” Rocky elaborated.
“So you're a witch, too?” I glimpsed over to Buffy, quite amazed at how brilliant this was.
“We’re called Mages, but in some ways, yes.” Buffy was gleeful at her truth.
Sudden shame attempted to wash over me at how long I ran away from it all, for so long. Maybe in denial. Tears brimmed my eyes. I wasn’t ashamed anymore. I wasn’t afraid.
We slammed our palms together around the sigil as Rocky declared, “Chant after us.”
I nodded my head in answer and listened to the chanting. On the third go around, I jumped in, “Sacramentum meum aeterno (I give my eternal oath to magic).”
Our chants became vehement, whispers in the background wrapping around me as trickling heat began to sizzle from my feet to my fingertips.
My eyes rolled to the back of my head as my consciousness left me.
My body seized and my visions splintered my mind like a film reel.
Vadon’s spiteful words thumped like a pattered drum against my consciousness.
“You will never be anything but a whore!”
Ma’s words silenced him out. “You can and you will.”
Then, darkness
Then, death.
My heart started slowly beating. Thump, thump… t h u m p.
When I opened my eyes, I was in Ma’s house, the luminous bright sunlight basking in the farm kitchen. It was so bright I could hardly see. The smell of coffee beans and homemade enchiladas infiltrated my senses. Ma stood in the kitchen with her flowy dress and apron.
“Ma!” I ran to her and hugged her so tight. I took in her scent. I’ve missed her so much. “Am I dead?” I asked, content.
Even If I was, I was here with her.
Ma held my hand and smiled. “No, mija, you are in limbo.” Ma rubbed my shoulder like she always did, to comfort me.
“I don’t understand,” I replied, so confused. Why was I here? Why was she here? Ma led me to her small wooden table. “Sit, nina.”
I did as I was told as I began eating her enchiladas. They tasted just like hers, so real. The food melted on my tongue.
“All souls come to limbo when a spell binder takes their initiation. The old you has to die before you’re reborn. But many get stuck here in limbo, that is why I am here, mija.” Ma handed me a hot cup of tea. I missed her tea so much.
“Why would I get stuck here?” I washed down my food with my tea.
“You aren’t like other spell binders, Faye. You are a hybrid. Meaning your initiation is different from ours.” She placed my plate aside and I could see the concern in her expression.
“What are you saying, Ma?”
“You are half God. You must make a blood sacrifice in order to gain its full source, just like with ours.”
I was shocked at this news. Ma was too calm for my liking. While I, on the other hand, wanted to hurl my plate back up.
“Your blood is half and half, Faye, meaning your initiation will cost you both a blood sacrifice and an oath to the occult.”
I was pissed off knowing this felt too damn complicated. Nothing could ever be simple, could it? “What if I don’t?” I protested.
Ma looked at me, weary. “If you don’t, your gifts will falter, not being at its greatest capacity and you will lose it forever.. It’s a deadly curse cast upon hybrids from our very own council,” Ma sighed. “The decision is yours for the taking, mija.”
“What happens if I do it, then what? All of this is over, right?” I pleaded to the God’s she’d say yes, for once in my whole entire fucked-up life.
“A blood sacrifice is like a poison, Faye. It’s derived from dark magic. That should be used lightly.”
“Or, you become a heretic,” I said, out loud to myself.
Ma nodded her head to me in silent acknowledgment. I felt so hopeless. “You do what’s never been done before. You siphon from both the source and your darkness. And, remember, everything needs balance.”
When my eyes opened back up, Buffy and Rocky stood over me, fanning me.
“Holy shit, girl, I thought you were a goner,” Rocky gasped.
I was back in the basement morgue. I gasped for oxygen, clinging to my chest as air tried to fill my lungs.
“What the fuck! Why didn’t you guys tell me about the possibility of being stuck in limbo? You assholes!”
Buffy and Rocky broke into a fit of laughter. “Chill, you’re a Robles. I knew you had it handled the whole time.” Rocky brushed me off.
“What if I didn’t have it, Rocky, then what?” I pushed her out of my way.
“Then I would have gone to the depths of hell myself to bring you back,” she replied nonchalantly, cleaning up the salt and candles from the floor.
For many reasons I believed her, because the truth was, all three of us would do the same for one another.
“So, what did you see? Who did you see?” Buffy asked while picking up the crystals and placing them back in her brown leather bag.
“I saw Ma. I never wanted to leave.” I could feel the lump forming in my throat.
“That makes sense. That’s what the limbo does. It makes you comfortable. The final test from the source; comfort or growth.”
“Who did you see?” I asked, curiously.
“I haven’t taken my initiation yet.” She looked annoyed by this conversation all of the sudden.
“What!? How could you pressure me to do this, when you haven’t even done it yourself!” I was so pissed off my magic began to trickle in my veins.
Rolling her eyes at me she answered, “Because you’re the strongest of us three!”
Rocky and I stood off with one another in the middle of the morgue, Buffy coming in between us and pushing us apart.
“Okay, mega sluts, break it up,” Buffy said, trying to make a joke out of a tense situation.
I stepped away, trying to calm my anger.
“The truth is, I’m not sure which source I want to draw from,” she muttered quietly, grabbing her black leather medical bag and storing some of the herbs.
“What are you even saying right now, Rocky?” I was shocked at her admission.
“Magic is not always black and white, that’s all I’m saying,” Rocky retorted.
“If you continue to source magic from the darkness, it will take you, Rocky, and you will become a heretic!” I exclaimed, not believing what I was hearing.
“And what exactly is so bad about that?” Rocky asked with an icy tone.
I looked at her in complete disbelief. “Are you fucking insane?”
Rocky chuckled. “I’ve been insane, cousin. You just haven’t been around long enough to notice! Too busy with your Reaper.” Her words were painful, like salt to a wound.
“You have no clue what you’re saying!” I was absolutely astonished at her ignorance.
“But don’t I? We’re expected to hold an oath to a realm we’ve never even been to.
A realm where we aren’t welcome! I only hold an oath to myself!
Neither of these realms are coming forward to help us, to claim us!
As if we’ve been shunned! I fight for me and the ones I love.
If that makes me a bad person, then so be it!
” Rocky’s eyes went black, her words sinking into me like a bean growing sprouts.
A single seed is all it takes to grow a plant. I have an idea. Ma’s words wrapped me up in warmth.
“You do what’s never been done before.”
My prima was right.