ENDGAME

This has been a great honor for me. Autumn Moon stretched my creative muscles and I owe her a huge debt. I've grown to love her world, the world of Cairnwood Manor and its preternatural inhabitants. But more than that, I have become enamored with Autumn's voice. I was surprised to find it inside me and as I type these words I hear it speaking to me even more. This is not the end of Autumn Moon... this is but the beginning.

I hope you enjoyed this little tale because I enjoyed the hell out of writing it.

I wish you a merry Mother's Night and a joyous Yule...

And now... without further ado...


Autumn Moon and the Book of Secrets

Chapter Six

“All Hallows”

We met just before midnight on All Hallow’s Eve with a large autumn moon obscured by heavy clouds. We parked our bikes in the darkened bough and slid through the ancient iron fence that protected Cairnwood Cemetery. It was a chilly night and we were all underdressed. Fashion over common sense has always been the way of youth. We made our way through the maze of headstones and crypts, Sean and Greg leading us through the dark with a cheap discount store lantern.

“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” Cassie whispered.

“You can’t believe it? You’re kidding me, right?” I growled. I was on the verge of a teenage meltdown. The book of spells was tucked uncomfortably under my arm. It was a large, leather bound behemoth and thick with yellowed vellum and seemingly weighed a quarter ton. I was only marginally thankful when the boys came to a stop before a large circular scar in the cemetery lawn.

“Here it is, the spot where White Feather was put to the torch,” Sean said with glee. “The grass won’t grow here. No tree will take root. No weed would consider it home. Moles burrow around it. And the worms stay far away. This is where White Feather was put to death by the very tribe he served as Medicine Man and he cursed this spot and he cursed the Miami and tonight we’re going to call him forth and he’ll do our bidding.”

“All right girls,” Vickie said turning toward us. Her breath stank of trick-or-treat candy. “It’s show time. Let’s see this spell you’ve got hidden under your arm there.”

I was a fool. I guess deep down I wanted to belong as much as Cassie did. It was why she gave up the secret of our little book, and it was why I stepped forward into the center of the circle and opened it. It was why most kids do what they do. They want to belong.

“Can I have the Shaman’s ashes, please?”

“Yes you can, “ Sean said bringing the totem bag to me.

“Dump the ashes on the ground then everyone form a circle around me, holding hands.”

Sean did as I asked and then joined the others. They encircled me, hovering on the border of the scarred earth. Sean, Vickie, Cassie, Nancy, Greg, and Angela locked hands and gazed at me with wide eyes, anticipating goddess knows what. I turned the pages of the book until they fell on the proper spell. Overhead the clouds parted and the magic words were illuminated by moonlight.

“By my Will alone I erect a tower
Of defense charged by the ancient powers
Of Earth and Fire, Water and Air
And of the Spirits that dance bare
Beneath moonlight in the silent places
Here kindled by what time replaces.

Across the threshold of life and death
I call forth that which takes no breath
But Life anew is granted to it
Turn to before when Death withdrew it.

Remove the touch of Death’s dark gift
Pull back the soul that was cast adrift
Return it to its flesh and bone
Let the severed skein be sewn.”

I remember quite vividly the tickle of power as it coursed from the book and into my hands. I trembled with the power and fell to my knees, dropping the book to the ground. As my hands and the dirt met a jolt of esoteric energy snapped, the air smelt of burnt hair, and a wave of ghostlight expanded from our circle, racing across the ground until it was out of sight.

What I didn’t know was that Sean Duncan was full of shit. He’d not dumped the ashes of White Feather upon the earth. He’d dumped ashes from his father’s wood-burning stove. He had made the story up. Sean was looking for kicks and he got kicks in spades. Let this be a lesson in why magick is not a game and not to be played at.

The spell was cast and directed, but the ashes were bogus, so the spell sought to make a connection, to become whole and complete and since we were standing in the middle of a boneyard, well I’ll give you two guesses as to what happened next.

The first thing we noticed was the sound. It was horrid. The night became filled with a sickening sucking sound as the moist earth began to give up its dead. They crawled out of the ground on their hands and knees, lumbering to stand upright. The dead were such no more. The foul smelling corpses had become animate and rose from their eternal slumber and shambled toward us. We gathered close, terrified and glued to one another. There was quite a bit of screaming, not all of it my own.

The first of the undead to reach us was just under six feet and more skeleton than flesh and blood. It had been aground for quite some time. It reached out and grabbed Sean and drew him in despite the redhead’s best efforts to beat it away. Its skull descended and bit into the boy’s shoulder and warm blood sprayed across our faces. Nancy fainted and hit the ground hard. Angela ran wild into the night and was never seen from again. Greg was tugging at the skeleton that had latched onto his friend but was getting nowhere fast. My thoughts were simple. We were all as good as dead. There were more than a dozen of these creatures coming toward us from all sides and we were but children in the midst of preternatural horrors that were not some bedtime fright story. This was real and immediate.

I felt a cold, wet hand clamp hold of my wrist. Cassie screamed as a fresh corpse spun me about. I couldn’t find my voice to scream. I was frozen and my eyes were locked on the inhuman thing that had grabbed me. It pulled me closer and fear kept me from resisting. I was two months shy of thirteen and sure that my life was over.

Suddenly a blur of gray and black struck hard into my undead assailant and I was thrust back into the arms of my youthful companions We watched in amazement as a young wolf tore at the head of the fresh corpse, cracking its skull open and spilling its gray matter onto the Cairnwood lawn. The wolf then turned toward Sean and the skeletal attacker.

Sean screamed as the creature was pulled from him, taking a huge chunk of flesh with it. The wolf had the skeleton on the ground, pulling its leg from the rest of its body.

“What the hell do we do now? They’re still coming!” Greg was livid and near spastic. “Rin Tin Tin can’t stop them all. Oh God! Please! Somebody help us!”

“Autumn.”

The voice was calm and ethereal, floating across the lawn like a dream. It is as real to me today as it was unreal to me then.

“Autumn, Sebastian can keep them at bay for but a little longer and I will only be able to control myself for an even shorter time than that.”

It was my mother.

Dirt covered and bloodless, her white gown and hair in disarray, there was still a beauty and majesty to her presence. It was my mother and she was alive. All the pain. All the loss. It all came flooding back in a wave of guilt and shame.

“Mommy?” I felt Cassie’s grip tighten on my arm.

“Send us back, daughter. Back into the ground.”

“Mommy, please…I don’t want you to go.”

My heart was breaking all over again.

“My precious child, I’ve never left you. Not once,” she said. “Now, pick up the book and recite the ancient words in reverse. Send us back to the earth before it’s too late.”

I picked up the book of spells and did as my mother commanded. I undid what I had done and the fiendish undead staggered back to their places of rest. All of them but my mother. She fought the spell for as long as she could for there was work left to do.

She bade me cast another spell. A spell of forgetfulness. None of my newfound friends would remember what transpired this night. At school come Monday there would be no bond for having endured and survived a horrible adventure. I would not become a part of their circle. Poor Angela had disappeared into the night and after months of searching by authorities she was presumed kidnapped or worse. Sean’s shoulder wound was said to be from a dog attack and for a time people were forced to keep a tight leash on their animals. Only Cassie and I would remember what happened that terrible night. Only we two would be forced to live the lie. It would shape our lives and lead us down paths I had imagined were but fairy tales and myth. Such is the world of magick.

One thing that did come from that night was being able to have closure with my mother. I got to tell her one last time that I loved her and I got to hear the words roll off her undead lips that she loved me too. But her last words to me, as I followed her to her grave, stayed with me for years to come. “Beware where your heart may lead you, for the magic of the tongue is the most dangerous of all spells.”

As I turned away from her I came upon Sebastian and my Aunt Astrid standing together in the moonlight. He had Aunt Astrid’s shawl wrapped around his waist, though I’m sure it was more for my benefit than his.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Keep my secret safe, Autumn and I will keep yours.”

“I will,” I said, choking back the tears. “And Sebastian… thank you.”

He smiled and raced off into the night. I loved him then and, in a way, I still do.

Aunt Astrid took the Book of Secrets from me and the key from around my neck, but as she kissed me on the forehead and led us back toward Severe House she said, “All things must pass. Tonight was a night for lessons learned. Tomorrow your true education begins.”

And I was a very good student.


FIN