The Raven's Apprentice - Chapter 25

"Oddly... or maybe not so oddly... at the time, Gwen didn't let really on to me just how upset she was at Lucius," Cassie said.

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Foundry Cove, Willow Creek, 2000

"He's not going to help," Gwen said.

She'd spotted me waiting down the path, as she stormed away from that mysterious tree, and had come over to me. If she was concerned that I might have overheard her fight with Lucius, she didn't show it.

"I don't know why I thought he would," she continued. "He never does. I hope you've had more luck."

"Well... no," I admitted. "I couldn't find notes about this balancing ceremony."

"'You can handle it,'" Gwen said, mocking Lucius's tone. "How are we supposed to handle this?"

"Let's get the others," I said, trying to sound confident. "We'll figure something out. Like Guidry said, we're not an ordinary bunch."

Magnolia Park, Willow Creek, 2000

So, I called Carmilla and Molly and told them to meet us at the park right away.

If you're wondering, yes, by this point we were all skipping school. Saving the world seemed more important. You know how that is.

"So, to sum up," Carmilla said, "We've punched a hole into the Netherworld in Gramma D's sunroom. Cas has no idea how to do the balancing ceremony to fix it and Gwen's friend won't help. We are so completely screwed."

"No, we're not," I insisted.

"Ok," Carmilla replied. "So... can you explain to me exactly why we're not completely screwed?"

"Because we're awesome, powerful women," I said, "and we can do this."

"Much as I love seeing you connect with your inner goddess, Cas, I think we need more than confidence," Carmilla smiled.

"Goddess!" Molly gasped. "That's it."

"We find religion?" Carmilla asked.

"No," Molly laughed. "Well, kind of. Voodoo is a religion, after all."

"Maman Brigitte!" I gasped.

"Who?" Gwen asked, puzzled. 

"She's a manbo... a voodoo priestess and medium," I said. "She runs LaCroix's. It's an occult shop down in Bridgeview."

"Not the best part of town," Molly added. "Mom really doesn't like me going down there, but it's an amazing shop. If there's anyone in town who will know how to do this balancing ceremony, it's her."

"OK," Gwen said. "Let's go."

"Hey, Cas. I want to tell you something," Carmilla said, holding me back as Gwen and Molly started toward the bus stop.

"What?" I asked, puzzled.

"It's not me," Carmilla said.

"What's not you?" I wasn't getting less confused.

"The girl Gwen's interested in," Carmilla said. "It's not me."

"I... what?" I stammered. I don't know what I was expecting her to say, but it wasn't this.

"I mean it," she continued. "She said that she wasn't sure if the girl she was interested in was interested back... and she knows I'm interested. I mean, I've done everything short of throwing myself in her lap, naked... and I've considered it. It's not me. Believe me, I wish it was, but it's not. I thought you might want to know."

I just stared at her.

"Come on," Carmilla smiled at me. "Let's catch up." 

Bridgeview, Willow Creek, 2000

LaCroix's was a Willow Creek institution (and I assume it still is). If you lived in Willow Creek and were serious about your interest in the occult, you knew LaCroix's. You didn't necessarily go there, especially if you were a respectable teen girl from an aristocratic family, but you knew it. 

Like Molly said, it wasn't in the best part of town. Rumor had it you could buy lots of things at LaCroix's... not all of them strictly legal. Rumor also had it that the police left the place alone for reasons ranging from well-placed bribes, to curses, to Maman Brigitte working with them as a psychic, all depending on who was telling the story. For all I know, all three could be true.

"What brings Cassandra Goth and her friends to my little shop?" Maman Brigitte asked in a musical voice. 

I was surprised by how young she looked in person. There were rumors about that too. 

"We're looking for advice," I said, "about how to perform a balancing ritual."

"Ah," Maman Brigitte said knowingly. "I wondered if someone would come in about that. The spirit world has been very disturbed of late. Come, sit and tell Maman all about it."

"Well, you do have a problem," Maman Brigitte said after we'd told her our story. "Handsome Guidry is right. I have felt the disturbance in the balance between the worlds... the passage to the Netherworld is standing open.

"It has already begun. They swarm through. The specters... fragments of forgotten dreams... so cute, but full of mischief and anger, they come to bring havoc. With them come the cursed objects of that haunted Otherworld, dark and wicked things made of old nightmares. With every one that comes through, the tear grows wider until...

"Oh, yes... I can feel her. A spirit... terrible, dark and full of wrath. She would throw the worlds into chaos for the sake of her jealous rage. She sets her will against the balance.

"This is a great and terrible thing," Maman Brigitte concluded. "It will take more than just a medium to restore the balance here."

"It will?" I said, worried.

"It will take a powerful witch," she smiled, "but fortunately, it would take a powerful witch to cause such a breach in the first place. So you, Cassandra Goth, must be a powerful witch."

"Um, what if there was another witch involved in the seance?" I asked, trying very hard not to look at Gwen.

"The one guiding the seance has the power," Maman Brigitte smiled. "Your friends here lend you their wisdom, their strength and their courage, but the power to break or mend... that comes from your heart alone, Cassandra Goth."

I took a deep breath. "Will you teach us how to perform the balancing ceremony?" I asked. "I... I can pay you."

"Pay what your heart says the debt is worth, Cassandra Goth," Maman Brigitte laughed. "That is how you will keep the balance between us. Now I will show you how to restore the balance of the worlds."

We spent most of the day at LaCroix's, learning (and maybe doing some shopping). It was getting late when we caught the bus back to Carmilla's. 

We were as ready as we could be. I understood the balancing ceremony now and felt like I understood the Netherworld and my own magic better than I had before. I knew this wasn't going to be easy, but I was still confident. 

I was a powerful witch, and I had my friends, their wisdom, strength and courage, with me... and Gwen wasn't interested in Carmilla.

The Raven's Apprentice - Chapter 24

"I was absolutely confident in my ability to close a hole in the world," Cassie mused. "I just still couldn't handle how I felt about Gwen. The joys of being a teen."

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Ophilia Villa, Willow Creek, 2000

I woke up early the next morning, determined to figure out how to perform my father's balancing ceremony. I was sure I should be able to do that before breakfast and get to school on time.

I searched through the seance room, looking for any notes or instructions my father might have. I guess I thought I'd find a scrap of paper, with the full balancing ceremony written out, that had fallen behind a table or something. I mean, that's how it works in the movies. 

Of course, that's not how it worked. 

Undeterred, I turned my attention to my mother's Book of Shadows. Surely, Mortimer Goth's first wife had taken Netherworld Studies at Brookside Academy, but a quick scan of the pages revealed nothing enlightening. My mother's 'stream of consciousness' writing style made it impossible to find the answers I needed quickly.

I was no closer to a solution that I had been when I got up, but I was sure Gwen and her friend would have an answer. After all, Gwen was fully trained witch, and I was the daughter of Mortimer Goth and Victoria Rowan. We could totally do this. 

Still full of confidence, I dashed out the door, pausing just long enough to shout that I was going to take the streetcar today. I wasn't even sure anyone actually heard me, but I didn't give that much thought.

Foundry Cove, Willow Creek, 2000

I navigated Willow Creek's public transportation without too much trouble. I just didn't have a lot of practice. Even with my early start, I knew I was cutting it close if we were going to get to school on time. I just hoped Gwen wasn't already on the school bus.

She wasn't. 

I spotted her a little way down the path from the Brown's house, having what looked like an intense conversation with a man I'd never seen before.

"But I need your help," Gwen said.

"No, Gwen, you can handle this situation yourself. You're a talented witch. I have every confidence in you," the man said.

"I don't know anything about Netherworld magic," Gwen insisted. "I can't do this."

"Yes, you can," he replied. "You shouldn't have called me for this. I told you before, it isn't safe for me to be here... for either of us."

"Safe!" Gwen burst out. "You're Lucius Tempest, hero of the Century War! You're the greatest weather-witch in the world! You single handedly defeated Lord Sloth's invasion fleet! "

"And I live with the pain of that, Gwen," Lucius countered, "but Lucius Tempest, warrior and hero is precisely why I can't be here except in dire need."

"You don't think a tear in the Veil is dire need?" Gwen demanded.

"You can handle this," Lucius said in that patient voice that is guaranteed to enrage teens.

Which it did.

"You don't care about me at all!" Gwen shouted. "I hardly ever saw you, growing up. Mother and grandmother died... and you didn't do anything! You just stuck me out here, alone, in the mortal world! You finally got rid of me."

"Gwen..." he started.

"Forget it!" Gwen continued shouting. "You never wanted anything to do with me! Mr. Brown has been more of a father to me in the past two months than you have for my entire life. So just forget it! I can handle everything myself. I never want to see you again!"

With that, she turned and stormed off. I remember, Lucius watched her for a moment before turning away himself and disappearing... into a tree. 

I've never seen him again.

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Glimmerbrook Watch, Present Day

"Wait... 'father'?" Miranda said. "This Lucius guy is Gwen's father?! And he lives in the Bramblewood... like right up the mountain from where I grew up. Is he still there?"

"As far as I know," Cassie said softly.

"So, for the first sixteen years of my life, I had a grandfather living practically next door," Miranda continued, shocked. "Who not only have I never met but who you never even told me about..."

"He abandoned me!" Gwen shouted, her usual serenity shattering like glass. "Don't you think he knew where we were? He could have come to see you any time he wanted... could have helped any time he wanted. But he didn't."

"You told him you never wanted to see him again," Cassie pointed out gently, "Maybe he took you at your word. You've never reached out to him either."

"Why did you even mention him?!" Gwen snapped, turning her furious gaze on her wife.

"Because we agreed we were going to tell them the truth," Cassie said, "and because she deserves to know. She's deserved to know for a long time."

"Fine," Gwen snarled. "Tell them your story. I'm going for a walk."

"Gwen..." Miranda started.

"Let her go," Cassie sighed. "She needs time to cool off. Maybe we should take a break too..."

"No," Miranda said firmly. "Tell us the rest of the story."

"OK," Cassie sighed. "Well, obviously, we needed a new plan..."

The Raven's Apprentice - Chapter 23

"Because, you know, when the first time you try to impress a girl by summoning the dead doesn't work out, the logical next step is to try again... on Halloween," Cassie sighed.

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Duplantier House, Willow Creek, 2000

Edwards drove us all back to the house, pirate-Alexander having looted and pillaged Foundry Cove for all the candy he could carry. Poor Edwards. Bella was still at work, so he really had no choice but to stay with Alexander when I announced that I was heading over to Duplantier House with my friends. I know he wasn't happy about it, but I wasn't going to be stopped.

So, still dressed in our Halloween best, we trouped over to Carmilla's and headed up to the seance room. I think her grandmother was at some charity event and her mother... I seriously wonder if she was ever at home. 

At least we weren't in our underwear this time.

"Clear your minds," I commanded. "Focus on the sound of the rain - tapping against the window like phantom fingers. Focus on the wind - blowing through the bare branches of the autumn trees. Focus on the smell of the dried flowers - the smell of sweetness and death. Open yourselves to the Netherworld."

I could feel the magic filling me up... cold and dark and hungry. The magic of the Netherworld. 

"Claude René Duplantier Guidry, we call you," I chanted. "Here, in your house. Here, with your blood. We call you!"

I could feel the Veil around me, a tattered lace curtain lashing in the cold wind of that power. My power.

"Claude René Duplantier Guidry, we call you," I repeated. "Come to us. Come to us. Come to us."

"You don' need to shout, cher," said a rich, accented voice. "I heard you. Everybody heard you. This is the problem."

"You're... you're here!" I gasped.

OK, I admit it. I was actually stunned. The seances I'd performed with my father had made the lights flicker, knocked over the occasional knick-knack and called up the spectral voices that babbled nonsense more often than offering Otherworldly wisdom. We'd never actually called up a genuine, full-bodied ghost. Much later, my father would confess to me just how much he had held back.

"Who's here? You mean Guidry's here? Where?" Molly asked, looking around. "What are you guys looking at?"

Not everyone can actually see ghosts. I could. Gwen could, naturally. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Carmilla could. Molly couldn't.

"Of course I'm here, cher," Guidry said. "I live here. Well, I don't live here, obviously. I'm a ghost. I haunt here. It is my family house after all. Have to haunt somewhere. Usually, I don't make a fuss about it. You hardly know I'm here at all."

"You didn't appear the last time we called," I said.

"Well, cher, it didn't seem it would be gentlemanly of me to pop up with you all in your lovely night clothes," Guidry smiled, then grew more serious. "But that night's why I'm here now. Your lovely friend has the right of it... you've caused quite a disturbance."

"I told you," Gwen said softly.

"What do mean, we caused a disturbance?" I asked, feeling a sudden chill.

"The last time you called me, you fairly shouted down the walls of the world," Guidry said seriously, "and tonight, you've gone and finished the job. The Veil is thin here at the best of times. Now, cher, the Veil is torn."

"Torn?" I blinked. "What do you mean? Why would a seance tear the Veil?"

"An ordinary seance shouldn't, but you're not an ordinary bunch." Guidry looked significantly at all of us. "You didn't just brush the Veil aside. You punched clear through it."

"The balance between the World of the Living and the Netherworld has been disturbed," he continued, "and it's only going to get worse. Otherworldly objects are already starting to appear here. Specters - the manifestations of forgotten dreams and old nightmares - will follow. As more and more come through, the situation will get worse. The Netherworld will bleed through... and that's dangerous for all of us. The Realms of the Living and the Dead aren't meant to coexist."

"Oh," I said weakly. I broke the world. Well, that's one way to impress a girl.

"So, what can we do? I mean, you can fix this, right?" I said.

"I can't fix it, cher. I'm dead," Guidry said. "But, like I said, you're not an ordinary bunch. You can fix this. You need to restore the balance between the worlds and heal the breach."

"Restore the balance. Heal the breach... between worlds," I repeated, a little stunned.

"Before the situation gets out of hand," Guidry nodded.

"So, we ripped a hole in the world and now we have to fix it!?" Molly demanded.

Guidry, his dire warnings given, had disappeared. Stunned, we'd all gone downstairs and tried our best to explain everything to Molly, who by that point was feeling very left out.

"That's about it, yes," Gwen nodded.

"How do you fix a rip in the world?" Molly asked. "Do you have a cosmic sewing kit laying around?"

"Well, no," Gwen smiled. "Unfortunately, I don't know much Netherworld magic. It was an elective at my old school... and I took Art instead."

"Right," Molly said skeptically. "What was your old school again? Hogwarts!?"

"I started reading one of those books," Gwen mused. "I didn't like it. It felt like there was a meanness in the writer." 

"Anyway," I cut in before we got sidetracked. "I'm sure we can figure something out."

"Absolutely," Carmilla said. "It's like Guidry said... we're not ordinary. We can do this."

"How?" Molly pressed.

"Well," I said, taking a deep breath. "Oh... I know. Guidry said we need to restore the balance between worlds. My father's talked about a balancing ceremony, for handling spiritual disturbances..."

"And you know how to do this balancing ceremony?" Molly asked.

"No," I admitted, "but I'm sure I can figure it out."

"I may be able to help," Gwen said.

"I thought you said you didn't know much about the Netherworld," Molly said.

"I don't," Gwen smiled, "but I know someone who knows a lot more magic than I do. I'm sure he'll help."

"Great," Carmilla said. "Cas will figure out this balancing ceremony and Gwen will reach out to her friend for help. We'll meet back here tomorrow night and fix this. No problem. We've totally got this."

We totally didn't have this.

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Author's Note: So, the Hogwarts reference... This story is set in the year 2000, albeit in an alternate world, but still when those books were both popular and acceptable (and there are several references to them in the Sims game). It wasn't until 2018 that the author outed herself as an anti-LGBTQ+ bigot. So, it seemed appropriate for Molly to bring them up. It also seemed appropriate for Gwen to dismiss them. Gwen's comment concerning the "meanness" of the author is meant to be reflective of her sensitivity... she recognizes something most of us missed at the time.

The Raven's Apprentice - Chapter 22

 "Halloween," Cassie said. "It's funny how when things really start to happen, they happen all at once..."

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Ophilia Villa, Willow Creek, 2000

Father and I had done our annual séance to contact my mother the evening before, but my heart hadn't been in it. I felt none of the strange, heightened awareness or dark, shivering energy that had come over me during the séance at the sleepover. Instead, as my father reached out to the Netherworld, I was thinking about Roac's message, my mother's Book and my magic... it's hard to believe it had only been about a week... and I was thinking about Gwen.

Foundry Cove, Willow Creek, 2000

The next day, Halloween itself, father was off to Del Sol for some meetings with the studio about the Raven Academy movies. Bella was off working too, doing something I assumed was incredibly boring for TransWorld (which shows what I knew).

That left me and Edwards to take Alexander trick or treating... not that I minded. Carmilla, Molly and I always dressed up, and now Gwen was joining us. With all the strange things Gwen didn't get, she totally got Halloween.

So, all of us dressed in our best costumes, Edwards drove us over to Foundry Cove to pick up Gwen.

"What do you think?" Gwen asked, as she showed us her costume.

"You're... an elf princess," I said, smiling.

"Well, I couldn't decide what to wear, and you kind of suggested the idea yesterday," Gwen said. 

"You put that together since yesterday?" I said, shocked.

"Lilian did most of the work," Gwen admitted. "She had lots of the bits and pieces laying around. She even helped me with my hair."

"How did you do the ears?" Molly asked. 

It was the first time any of us had seen her with her hair back. The first time I saw the way her ears taper to a point. 

"What do you mean?" Gwen looked puzzled.

"I think you look gorgeous," Alexander said with a smile. 

"Thank you, Alexander," Gwen gave him a brilliant smile. Then she pulled my little brother into a warm hug.

I might have laughed nervously, but any suggestion that I was struck by a sudden wave of jealousy toward my 12-year-old brother is not open for further discussion.

"I really like your costumes," Gwen said, "but Molly... what are you dressed as?"

"I'm a Rebel pilot," Molly said. "You know, from Star Wars."

"Star... wars?" Gwen said, puzzled. "When did those happen?"

"It's a movie," I said hastily.

"Come on, we have candy to get," Alexander insisted.

We followed Alexander and Edwards, and Molly enthusiastically explained the plot of Star Wars to Gwen... laying the foundation for Gwen's future secret geek-ness.

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"I like Star Wars," Gwen said serenely. "Wise, Yoda is."

"Seriously?" Mariah laughed.

"I swear, half of early magical training was 'do or do not, there is no try'," Miranda smiled.

"Anyway..." Cassie said, shaking her head.

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While Molly told Gwen about events 'A long time ago in a galaxy, far, far, away,' Carmilla shared some things of more pressing concern.

"I think it worked!" Carmilla told me.

"What worked?" I said, confused. I was thinking about Gwen, and I was pretty sure nothing I had said or done had worked.

"The séance!" she explained. "The one we did at the sleepover. I think we really called up Guidry!"

"No," I said. "Nothing happened."

"But it has," Carmilla insisted. "Come on, I need to tell you guys all about it."

We let Alexander and Edwards continue around the cul-de-sac while Gwen took us over to Foundry Cove's little park.

"So, I was just telling Cas," Carmilla started again, "I think our séance worked. We really called up Guidry."

"I knew something weird happened," Molly said breathlessly.

"I'm not sure," I said. I just wasn't happy with how 'interested' Gwen seemed to be in what Carmilla was saying... or was she just interested in Carmilla.

"No, hear me out," Carmilla insisted.

"Ever since the sleepover, I've been hearing weird noises in the night," Carmilla said. 

"Well, you know how old houses are," I countered.

"Yes, I do," Carmilla said, unphased. "This is totally different. Lights flickering, footsteps and whispers... when there's no one there!"

"Whoa," Molly breathed, awed.

"What does it feel like?" Gwen asked. 

"Like someone is watching me," Carmilla said. "Like they're just around the corner or... sneaking up behind me."

"I knew it," Gwen said. "I said it to Cas... we disturbed something that night."

"You think it's Guidry?" I said, trying to sound tough and clever and not at all jealous that Gwen seemed to be hanging on Carmilla's every word.

"I'm telling you I can totally feel his presence in the house," Carmilla said. "The séance called him, and he came."

"Are you sure it's Guidry?" Gwen asked. "Because... well, are you sure the presence you're feeling isn't angry?"

"Maybe he's frustrated," Carmilla said. "Maybe he couldn't come all the way through... but tonight, tonight is Halloween. Maybe he'll finally be able to manifest!"

"I don't know much about Netherworld magic," Gwen admitted, "but tonight is Samhain... one of the liminal times when it's easiest to pass between worlds."

"I know," Carmilla smiled. "We could totally call him up this time!"

"Yes, I could," I said firmly. After all, if the first séance had contacted Guidry, it was because I was leading it. So, I was the one who could do it again... and then Gwen would be giving me that look.

"So, let's do this!" Carmilla said.