The Spell of Salacity

Chapter 2

The next day, Harmony had a normal chat with Dawn and their mother over breakfast. There was no mention of the previous nights strange initiations. They just chatted about Harmony's fictitious sleep over and how a bellyache had ended her fun. Harmony knew to keep it as simple as possible. Even with the most creative of schemes, the problem was remembering all the details.

Traci came to the door dressed as a baseball player, her Halloween costume. She was invited to join them for some breakfast, but she was waved off by Harmony who said they had to meet some friends. Harmony quickly put on her own costume, that of Barney the purple dinosaur. Barney was very popular with the kids and it seemed everyone her age watched Barney on TV. Harmony was pretty thrilled to have gotten the opportunity to be her favorite TV star.

As soon as Harmony was ready they made their way to the library. Once there they searched the library computer to find books on witches. They found two sections where most of the books were at. The first aisle they found books on wicca, witch covens and some history stuff about Salem, Massachusetts, a town renown for witch lore. Grabbing a mix of different books they made a pile in a table in the corner where they had stored their costumes for the time being.

The next aisle was a little more interesting. They found books dedicated to odd things such as werewolves, vampires, ghosts, demons and a few other strange creatures of the night. The girls also found that in some of the books here, satanic rituals and wiccan spells had some connection. It seemed a star called a pentagram was used in a circle to cast spells. These books were a little more interesting because it dealt with witches as mystical and powerful entities. They thumbed through a few books trying to decide which was the best of the lot, when Traci found a rather old thin book on the bottom shelf, barely noticeable between the larger collections. It was called, "Book of Shadows".

Sitting on the floor with books scattered around them, the 8-year olds opened the book, but the pages were old and yellowed. The book was almost written like a diary, in fact, the girls thought it was a journal of some kind. How the book ever found its way here was a mystery. There was no library due card in the back, nor any reference number on the binder. No library stamp on any of the loose pages. From what they could tell, the book was not a library book at all.

Looking through it, they saw rhymes, but it was more riddle than anything they could decipher. Everything was written like that with various symbols and pictures hand written that were unfamiliar to the girls. They kept turning the pages when a slip of folded parchment fell out of the book. It was quite old and very much similar to the look of the declaration of independence. It was written in red ink, and at the top of the page in plain english was the words, "The Spell of Salacity". The parchment went on to describe a circle with a pentagram, and had a poem to speak aloud on the night of a full moon. There was a short list of items they had to have to finish the ritual.

"You thinking what I am thinking?" Harmony asked.

"No way," Traci rebuffed her best friend.

"Listen, we got a gift here, and it has fallen right in our laps. We can't just let it go to waste. The moon is still full, we can go back once the sun sets, work around the tree where they were and try it out and see what happens. Come on Trace."

"I don't know," Traci sighed.

"We can have a blast," Harmony argued. "It's Halloween, what better time to play witch than to do it now? Please Trace, I really want to do this with you. Don't make do it alone."

Traci rolled her eyes and shook her head as to indicate her indecisiveness. She was going to speak when Harmony interrupted her.

"I bet when we are older we are going to look back on this and laugh. I know you want to play witch with me. I can see it in your eyes. You are just afraid of what might happen."

"That's right," Traci agreed. "Who knows what might happen. Do you know what salacity even means?"

"We can look it up. Who cares? It probably won't work. Look at the item list, we might not be able to get all the things anyway. I am just saying let's give it a try. See what happens."

"So what is first on the list?" Traci asked wryly.

"Trick-or-Treat of course," Harmony smiled. "We can't go home empty-handed, and I need some chocolate." The girls giggled aloud before the librarian shushed them quiet in the empty cavernous library. They started to giggle again at that very thought.

They returned with a sizable bag of candy. The girls ran upstairs to dump the candy and make arrangements for the night's festivities. Having Halloween fall on a Sunday this year was fun, but they had school tomorrow so they had to have a good excuse to leave the house after the sun went down. Traci's parents wouldn't really care as long as she said she was with Harmony and her family. Harmony on the otherhand needed an excuse. So the plan was made and executed. There was a haunted house show after sundown at one of their neighbors houses and they were being driven by their other friend Kathy's Dad. Mr. McKenzie was a nice man and Harmony's Mom would have no problem with that.

"You know you are very good at this lying thing," Traci remarked.

"I got to be good at something, right" Harmony laughed.

"You shouldn't lie so much, it might get you in trouble one day."

"Ah, whatever," Harmony shrugged off.

"Okay let's look at the list and see if you have it in the house somewhere,"

"I know my Mom and Sister are big into candles," Harmony stated. "They have a bag full of them in the basement. I will just have to look for them. I will take my laundry downstairs and she will think we are doing laundry."

"On Halloween?" Traci questioned as she unfolded the parchment on Harmony's bed.

"She will be happy enough that I am doing it, but we can wait until the next time the doorbell rings for trick-or-treaters."

"Good idea," Traci agreed. She tapped a finger on the picture and said, "We also need to write that upsidedown star on purple cloth. It doesn't say what kind of cloth, but it just has to big enough for all the people doing the spell to sit on. You have any kind of…"

Traci stopped and stared at Harmony's costume and smiled. Harmony understood right away.

"If I can't find anything in the house first then we can slice Barney up. I am not cool with losing my Halloween costume for a spell that might not work."

"You planning on wearing Barney two years in a row?" Traci asked. She found the idea very funny, and she laughed in response to her question.

"I guess not," Harmony giggled.

"There are numbers here on how the star symbol has to be drawn. It says there are seven points of the pentagram."

"That must be the symbol," Harmony announced.

"Yeah that's it. We have to write this symbol with red or black candle wax. Who has a black candle?"

"We can check," Harmony said, "but I wouldn't think they had any until last night. Who knows now?"

"True," Traci agreed. "It doesn't mention anything about the wood carving thing, but it does have the bowl of water, but it has to be in a wooden bowl made out of birch. Why birch?"

"I don't know, but we will use the wooden bowl we have and hope it is made of wood."

"How are we going to do this spell if we don't have the right stuff?" Traci asked.

"Either way it will be fun to play witch for a night," Harmony countered.

"Okay," Traci said continuing to read off the parchment, "so we need to find some salt, incense, will that be a problem?"

"No," Harmony said. She was begininng to realize how there was a connection to witchcraft that she never knew existed even with all her spying. How could she have overlooked it? There must be some secret stash she had not uncovered yet.

"Next we need a red ribbon it says for protection. Protection from what?"

"Maybe its just to make the spell work who knows. They wrapped one around the tree yesterday remember?"

"Yeah, true. Maybe its still there?"

"Could be, but we should look for one anyone in the basement."

"Is everything in the basement?" Traci laughed.

"Pretty much," Harmony smiled. "What else do we need that might be a problem?"

"What is an athame? We need one of those too."

"I don't know," Harmony replied puzzled.

"Let's look it up in the dictionary," Traci offered.

"Good idea," Harmony replied.

Harmony went to her closet and grabbed a small dictionary her Mom had bought as a present. Harmony had ofter read books and came across words she didn't understand, but the dictionary helped. She thumbed quickly through it, but the word did not appear.

"It's not here," Harmony announced.

"Now what?" Traci inquired.

"What does it say to do with it?" Harmony asked.

"Let me see," Traci said, looking back at the parchment. "It says you take the athame and draw in the air a circle going clockwise around your body where your circle will be, as you do you say something. Nothing in those words to give a hint."

"So it could be anything, rats." Harmony proclaimed.

"Maybe we should forget the whole thing."

"No, we can substitute something. I'll just use my finger or a twig or something. Come on Trace don't give up on me now."

"I'm with you Harm, all the way," Traci reassured. "Okay, hmmm it says we should wear black clothes. They all wore white yesterday; what is up with that?"

"Small stuff," Harmony countered. "I will let you borrow my clothes, I have black shirts and sweats and jeans. I will even let you pick first."

"Solid," Traci said. "You think we will have fun?"

"Trace, it will be a night we won't forget."

The friends gave a high five to each other and went over the rest of the list. After a while they went to the basement. They found more than needed there including a black and red candle, so they took them both. They found a bag for what Harmony thought could have been for last night. It contained a feather, a wooden bowl and some goblets. They also found some different colored ribbons. Including red, the one they wanted. They would have to get scissors to cut it later. They could also use it to cutup the Barney costume since there was nothing for the purple cloth. They just needed some salt upstairs and they had it all. Except of course the athame.

After telling her mother all about the plans for the evening, they left for more trick-or-treating. In their Halloween bags they placed the things they needed including the scissors to make Barney into an altar of sorts. The only thing they neglected was the red ribbon which they noticed as soon as they got to the clearing before sunset.

Chapter 3

"Harm, it says it is for protection" Traci argued.

"Look, we don't have the athame, whatever that is. We are using a purple dinosaur for our purple cloth. We are using a wooden bowl made out of unknown wood. Not to mention salt from a salt shaker. We are only having fun here. It would be real cool to see something happen, but I doubt anything will happen. If we get a puff of smoke I will go nuts."

The girls laughed and they continued to place all the items in their proper place. They took off their costumes and had all black jeans and t-shirts underneath as was part of the spell rules. It wasn't too cold yet, but if they got cold they had brought light jackets with them. Cutting up the costume, they made a mess of it, but Traci was good enough to flatten it out despite the tears of the cheap clothe.

When everything was done it was dark out, and they looked around the area and all was clear. The candles were lit in their proper place. Traci read the instructions and Harmony performed the various tasks. She used a small branch she found in the woodsy area of the park in place of the athame. Peeling off the bark, she was pleased that she had a wand of sorts.

"Okay," Traci began, "this is where we use the athame to draw the circle in the air. You move your finger in the air in a circle going clockwise around your body where the circle is intended to be and you say this…"

She handed Harmony the parchment and pointed to the small paragraph she was to read. She moved her head up and down and gave Traci the okay sign. Then she spoke:

"Maiden, cast your circle white

Weave a web of healing light.

Mother, cast your circle red

Weave the strands of family threads

Enchantress, cast your circle green

Weave the fiber of worlds between

Old Crone, cast your circle black

Weave the wisdom that we lack.

From the East to South, and North to West;

I call you to attend and bless.

To brew my spells and honor you well;

With hands steadfast, this Circle is cast."

"That's good," Traci remarked. "Now we set the altar and the pentastar."

"You mean pentagram," Harmony corrected.

"Yeah, pentagram. It's got five points with the top point in the south. It looks upside down in the picture to make sure you know where the southern point goes. We use the black or red candle to make the pentragram with the wax drippings. It says to go slow and gives you a diagram to how you are to make it. I will hold the purple clothe down while you drip the candle.

"Wait a minute. It says we have to drip our blood into the center of the circle. I ain't doing that."

"I didn't see that before," Harmony chimed in.

"Neither did I. Didn't you read it before?"

"I guess I just skimmed it over, trying to make sure we had all the stuff for the spell."

"Well, now what?"

"What if we just drip a little blood?"

"You got to be kidding me Harm?"

"No, I think it's no big deal, really. I got a scab on my knee, I'll just pick it and I should be able to wipe off some blood in the center of the star."

"You're a retard," Traci chastised and started laughing at her friend. "Should I pop the zit on my chin? I could get up some zit juice. Ha ha ha!"

"Yeah, pop it."

"You are sick, I was joking."

"No really, you will get some blood from that."

"Harm this has gone too far girl. I am not doing that."

"Please, for me," Harmony begged.

"I really don't want to pick my zit. I will end up with a scar."

"No you won't, come on Trace, for me, please? It's ready to pop anyway."

"You owe me big time girl," Traci said.

"You got it!" Harmony happily agreed.

After the pentagram was finished the girls moved about trying to finish off the altar on which they were to begin. Placing all the materials in their proper places and order, they were ready to start the actual spell reading.

"You know we had the dictionary open and forgot to look up the word salacity," Traci said.

"Oh man, I completely forgot about it," Harmony responded.

"It would be nice to have some clue as to what we are casting."

"True. Maybe it's a love spell, and you will fall in love with crusty old Mr. Ash, the Vice Principal."

"Ha-ha, very funny," Traci laughed sarcastically. "Maybe it's a spell to make you clean my room."

"I think it's a spell that might you smell better."

"Maybe it's a spell to give you a brain…finally." Traci put both hands on her hips, shrugged her shoulders, tilted her head, rapidly tapped her foot and gave her best pissed off look. The girls broke out laughing.

"Ahem," Traci said mockingly clearing her throat. "Are we going to do this or we going to wait until the sun comes up again? We are wasting very good candy eating time you know?"

"Okay Piglet," Harmony responded, "give me the spell."

"What's the magic word?" Traci teased.

"I think it's more than one word. Let's see, hmmm…Traci has nose zits?"

"Wrong again diaperpants. It hasn't changed it is still Harmony drools."

"Well aren't I smart today." Harmony said.

"When did this start? You must have been taking brain pills or something."

"Don't make me hurt you," Harmony warned.

"Bring it on tubby," Traci replied.

"Tubby? Who you calling tubby, lardbutt?"

"At least my butt isn't as big as your head. It looks like one of those floats in a parade."

"Ha, good one! Now give me the spell, loser."

Traci handed over the parchment as Harmony playfully swiped it from her.

"Okay, it says that the spell must be cast extra…extra ne o usly. Extraneously. Extraneously to the circle," Harmony shook her head, pretty much butchering the word. She asked Traci to pronounce it, but she had the same difficulty. Neither one of them knew the word's meaning and it made things more confusing.

"Well the word extra is kind of like more than, so maybe we are to do more stuff in the circle. What you think?"

"More of what?" Harmony asked.

"God if I know," Traci replied.

"It's probably just for something like being really into the spell casting within the circle."

"It doesn't say within the circle, it says to the circle," Traci argued.

"Yes, I think I got it. Let me read it again. The spell must be cast extraneously to the circle. Then it says, the candle must burn at the center of the altar while the spell is read aloud. So, I think if we are to do the spell, we must be in the center by the star with the candle. I think extraneously means center of the circle. Extraneously to the circle. Center to the circle. It seems to fit."

"I like it Harm. You are smarter than you look."

"Don't start. Let's get serious."

"Gee whiz, give a girl a compliment and she becomes a teacher."

"Ha," Harmony giggled. "Okay brat, let's begin."

"Ready Freddy," Traci agreed. "Let me light the candle." Traci passed the lit black candle to Harmony and she went to the center of the circle at the alter of the star on the purple cloth. She leaned towards the bowl which was now filled with water. Holding the candle over it she spoke:

"I bring destiny to this circle

With the Spirit of this water;

I add this magick of love

And complete the rites to order."

Traci grabbed the salt shaker and waited for the next spoken phrase. She held it over the water. Harmony continued:

"I bring energy to this circle

With the Spirit of the Earth;

I add this magick of love

And surrender it from birth."

Traci sprinkled the salt into the bowl of water. She placed that down and grabbed the incense and lit the tip of it. A nice smell of jasmine filled the air. She placed it over the water. Harmony continued:

"I bring essence to this circle

With the Spirit of the Air;

I add this magick of love

And welcome you to my lair."

The unlit tip of the incense was placed into the water carefully so it didn't slide all the way in. Harmony then leaned the candle over the bowl and read further:

"I bring strength to this circle

With the Spirit of Fire

I add this magick of love

And with it we will not tire."

Harmony dripped the wax into the bowl. She looked up at Traci and she gave Harmony a nod to stop, so she placed the candle onto the altar within the star. Pointing to her chin she confirmed it was time for Traci to pop her zit and Harmony to pick the scab on her knee.

Traci shook her head, but for her friend she grimaced at the pain as she plucked at her chin until their was liquid then blood on her finger. There was more blood than she expected and she leaned over the center of the pentagram and dripped her blood there. Harmony was quickly joining her as her knee dripped surprisingly too. Traci pointed to the parchment and Harmony read on:

Chapter 4

"I bring life to this circle

With the Spirit of the Mind

I add this majick of love

And in words together we bind."

The girls felt the ground shake and then a gust of wind swirled around them. They tried to remain standing but quickly lost balance and fell to the ground. Traci held a worried look upon her face and although Harmony too felt the same anxiety, she was more intrigued than anything else. A wisp of black smoke suddenly surrounded the outer edge of the circle. They tried to see beyond, but their vision was obscured. Harmony with the parchment still in her hand, tapped it at Traci to get her attention. They had failed to say the last verse.