(The lyrics from the song Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls are used in this chapter)
So as it turns out, Alec can sleep. He was so tired that he just passed out...in the middle of the freaking parking lot. To be fair to him, he did just come out of a corpse coma and then spent hours trying to adapt to life as well as go through intellectual testing with Ed. That had to be taxing on a person. It makes me exhausted just thinking about it. To set the scene, we are now standing in Alec's room that had just recently been a guest bedroom in which Lorne had quickly fixed up for a permanent stay. Ed had just gotten back with the others from the lab as Alec was waking up.
"So sleeping isn't normal?" Alec had asked, sitting up. His hair was a mess. He snores too; at least it's not obnoxiously loud.
"Nope. I mean Evie sleeps too, so in some respects it is." Hunter told him.
"Evie isn't normal, so..." Caleb shrugged. "I don't know if she counts..." I shot him a glare.
"Well Alec did drink her blood, so maybe that had some effects. Maybe we should do some tests." Ed began pacing the room, running a hand in his short, dark hair.
"Nope." Lorne and I protested at the same time.
"Why not?"
"Tests means you are going to stick me with needles for hours at the lab. Nope! Sorry, not happening again."
"Fine then we'll just test Alec."
"How big are the needles we are talking here?" Alec asked, more to me than to Ed.
"Huge." I said, raising my eyebrows at him. He shook his head frantically. Ed sighed.
"It wouldn't take too long, and I could do it right here, I brought some stuff home from the lab and..."
"Maybe we should wait a little bit, dear. If Alec's ability to sleep doesn't go away maybe then we can try to test the both of them then, alright? Why don't you show us what you guys found at the lab?" Lorne suggested. Ed nodded and grabbed a file folder from the night stand.
"I know it isn't much, but it is something. We've got occurances dating back to about 2001."
"I thought this would be some ancient shit?" Jonah questioned.
"Wait until you see what we have in the trunk. We have to see if Evie can touch it."
"You found another staff?" Lorne questioned.
"A cross bow. Here's the thing though, the humans have deemed it toxic because whoever touches it gets severe burns. They can't remember what happened before they touched it...their minds were erased entirely." Connor said excitedly.
"So you want me to touch something that can potentially erase my mind, I'll pass." I backed behind Jonah out of instinct. I could hear the old wooden floor creaking with every step. It was very eerie and unsettling.
"Well when I touched it, nothing happened other than the whole shock thing that happens when we touch that staff." Caleb shrugged. "That was before Ed told us the whole story behind it though." He shot Ed and accusing look.
"I told you not to touch anything. It isn't my fault that you didn't listen and did it while my back was turned. There is a lot of dangerous stuff in there."
"Anyways, we think that the cross bow is similar to the staff." Hunter explained. "Whatever these are and whoever made them only designed them for one person, a supernatural person. Humans were never meant to be involved in this."
"Well there's no turning back now, we know too much." Jonah replied. "And even if we could back out, there is a link to us and whatever this whole situation is."
"You can just say that I'm the reason, you don't have to be so cryptic." I mumbled.
"I probably play a part in it, it's not just you." Alec told me as he stood up off the bed. His smile was supposed to be reassuring, but I felt as though the world was about to collapse. It was rocking back and forth underneath my feet, waiting for me to trip and slip away...
"This still doesn't explain your situation though."
"I was getting to that Evie. We actually have something that does." Ed informed as he flipped through the file folder. "October 31, 2001. A man was found in Southdale park with a sword embedded in his chest. The human girl who found the man called 911. When the police got there, they found the girl drained of blood and the sword in her hand. The man was never found so the state presumed him dead."
"That could be a Halloween prank, as I said back at the lab. It may have just gone horrible wrong because a vampire came in all thirsty and shit." Caleb reasoned.
"Yeah but why would that happen on the day Evie was born?" Jonah questioned.
"Newsflash, not everything is about Evie." Connor looked to me. "No offense."
"I'd rather have this not have anything to do with me."
"Well with your connection to the staff, as the fact that you found the staff with similar weapons in the same place where you found Alec with that knife embedded in his chest, I'm thinking that whoever made the weapons was mass producing them. The staff and cross bow are something else entirely and may or may not be related to the weapons. And if it were a simple vampire attack it would have been easily covered up and the file wouldn't be placed in the restricted room. There would have been more than one body found nearby too." Ed thought aloud.
"And with the cross bow erasing human memories, it's probably the same type of magic that formed them, given that Alec also has memory issues." Lorne added.
"Which would mean the same coven of witches would be creating them. But for what?"
"World domination!" Connor shouted.
"If the witches were going for world domination, then I don't think they would erase the memories of humans. They probably want control of the supernatural world." Alec suggested. "That still leaves the question as to why they would even want that?" I was surprised by Alec's input. I'm having a hard time processing all of this, and I can't even begin to fathom how he must feel. I could barely tell when words were leaving my mouth anymore, but I still spoke anyway.
"Does it say the name of the man who was found?" I asked.
"Pauley Sutherdale...the name sounds familiar." Lorne scratched the top of his head.
"That was the name of the vampire who helped get you the bar, wasn't it?"
"Oh shit! It totally was! The short ginger guy!" Caleb clapped and rubbed his hands together. "We've got a lead!"
"We got the bar in 2015, so it would have been fourteen years since that incident. That would have been enough time to come up with an identity. Pauley is at the top of the business industry now." Ed sighed.
"What kind of business?" Alec raised an eyebrow.
"He deals in supernatural affairs...a little of this and that. Sometimes he is a realtor, other times he's in entertainment. He's at the multimillionare level now."
"Ed, there is no way that could have happened in fourteen years...I mean he would of had to have gotten a grasp on whatever happened to him first and-"
"Lorne trust me on this one. It did. It had to of. Even though it was only fourteen years, I bet a lot of supernaturals want services from like minded people rather than humans. You know how much we paid for him just to show us the bar. He was also from the city, so there are tons more supernaturals there. I think we had better talk to him."
"But what if it isn't him? Or what if we get dragged farther into this then we have to be?"
"We'll never know if we don't try, Hunter." Lorne said.
"What are you going to do? March to his office and demand he tells you everything. This guy has probably spent so much time on starting over, he'll want to leave all of that in the past."
"We'll tell him we want to get Evie into entertainment."
"What?! Lorne are you crazy?"
"You dance, you sing. It'll be fine."
"I take dance classes for fun, not to actually do it professionally, I would never make it. And with my gift..."
"And with your gift, you could have any audience enthralled by you. Don't be so modest about your dancing either, Nico has told you that you are the best in that studio, you can't ignore that."
Nico Palmer is the owner of Palmer's Studio of Dance downtown. I have been dancing there since I was three. Nico has been such a wonderful instructor to work with over the years, and he has told me several times that I should try to go into dancing professionally. He's been trying so hard to convince me that he's even got Lorne in on it. I suppose he'll get his wish now. I would love to dance professionally, but with the whole vampire never aging thing, and the fact that I'm already such a perfectionist, I feel like I would stress myself out about it and it wouldn't be fun anymore.
"I guess we can give it a shot." I said. I couldn't stand Lorne's puppy dog eyes anymore, it was making me feel bad. "For the sake of following the lead."
"You have to call Nico! He'll be so excited."
"You make the appointment with Pauley first."
"Will do!"
"What happens if the appointment with Pauley goes well? What about when he realizes that we aren't in it for the dancing or whatever the hell we're pitching here?"
"Evie..." Lorne placed his hands on my shoulders. "I have a plan! Trust!"
"Do I get to be in on it?"
"Not until the time comes!"
"Can I get some help bringing some of the evidence we brought back from the lab into the garage, please?" Ed asked, summoning us out of the room. He winked at me, as if to tell me he'll handle Lorne from here. I'm just glad Ed is able to balance him out. As we all moved to leave, Lorne decided he needed to scold Alec.
"You better be wearing shoes out there mister! It's cold!" Lorne crossed his arms and tapped his foot. Alec gave me an awkward smile.
"Right, shoes are a thing. I forgot about those." He slipped on a pair of sneakers and moved out of the room. Lorne smiled at him and patted his back as he walked by. I laughed to myself.
"What?"
"Nothing. Poor Alec, forgetting his shoes...you have to go easy on him Mother Lorne..."
"I can't help it. I have to make sure all my children are safe and warm. Call it my motherly instincts." Lorne rolled his eyes, causing me to laugh again as we moved down the stairs.
"How's the date night planning going?"
"I'm having a feeling there won't be one."
"Did you even ask?"
"No."
"How do you know if you didn't ask?"
"Ed seems stressed. He probably just wants to take it easy tonight."
"Well then you can go on a calming date..."
"What about you though? We were supposed to go to our spot tonight so you could sing for me, remember?"
"Well we can do that first, then I can help you form a text saying that you'll drop by to pick him up and you guys can go somewhere? How does that sound?"
"We'll see about that last part, make sure you grab a coat."
Lorne drove to our spot about thirty minutes in the direction of the more forested area of town. Lorne chattered about probably everything that ever existed on the way there. To be quite honest, I wasn't really listening. It was a bad habit of mine; it's so bad that I can time out the "yups" and "hmmmms" of each conversation unintentionally. I really don't mean to, but my mind just wanders. Right now it was wandering to why the hell I was the only one who could touch the damn staff.
As it turns out, I can't touch the cross bow. I feel bad for the others when they touched my staff, no, the staff. I don't know if it's technically mine. Anyways, it hurt like a bitch. I wondered how many of those weapons are out there, but I realized that wasn't what really worried me. What worried me was why I was able to touch the staff. Why me? It just didn't make sense. Or did it? I mean I'm too weird for a normal vampire, so maybe it's because of this. Maybe I have something the rest of them don't, or maybe I lack something. It was probably the latter.
Moving on from my life crisis I had while in the car, we eventually arrived to our spot. It was up on a hill just on the edge of the city. No one could see us due to the dark night enveloping the forest behind us, but we could see all the city lights that sparkled from the busy life below. It was as bright as all the stars in the galaxy, brought down to earth for our viewing pleasure. Lorne parked with the car facing the city and we hopped onto the hood. I placed my feet on the guardrail to steady myself.
"Do we even want to know?" I found myself asking after a few minutes of comfortable silence.
"Probably not."
"I don't get it..."
"Which part?" I snorted at his question and felt a small smile creep on my face.
"All of it."
"Don't look at this whole situation as a bad thing...just think about it as a really large bump in the road that we have to get over, and maybe on the other end we'll find an explanation."
"This whole thing is dangerous. We have no idea what we stumbled into...what I stumbled into."
"Don't blame yourself..."
"Well I'm the one with the freaky eyeball that led us to all this. I mean think about it, if this is really as bad as it seems..."
"Then we'll deal with it together." Lorne grabbed my hand. I was so cold that he felt pretty warm to me.
"I'm sorry."
"You don't have to be."
"Yeah we should just blame Enzo for bringing me here right?"
"Okay Enzo is...a very different sort of person. He doesn't know how to handle difficult times."
"I believe the word he used when dropping Jonah and I on your doorstep was "complications" which when you think about it was probably one of the most accurate things he could have said about me. He was wrong about Jonah though, he always was."
"I know it's hard, but you shouldn't see your differences as a negative thing. Being a normal vampire absolutely sucks." I laughed.
"Nice pun."
Lorne paused for a moment to laugh. "That wasn't intentional. Anyway, I would give anything to be able to sleep again. That was probably one of the more enjoyable things about being human."
"Eating too. I really miss food."
"See, that's something we both have in common. You really aren't that much different from a normal vampire anyway. When it comes down to it, you have two gifts and can sleep. Everything else is basically the same. Being different isn't a bad thing Evie, I promise that you'll see that someday."
"Maybe I'm not that different from a normal vampire, but everyone always forgets I had these gifts since I was human."
"You are a vampire now, so focus on the present." He said that as if it were easy. "Now, what song are we singing tonight?"
"What? You're in the mood for a duet? Won't that skew the vision or something?"
"Just trying to change the subject, but you are right in a sense. I think if I sing I end up canceling the vision all together. Better pick something quick though, before you turn into an icicle."
"Yet another difference..."
"Evie..."
"Okay, okay. Give me a second to think." I sat in silence trying to think of a song to sing. Then I thought of the perfect song.
A, B, C, D, E, F...
"You are not singing the ABC's to me..."
"But I didn't even get to my favorite part!"
"Oh really, and what might that be?"
"ELEMENO-P." Lorne rolled his eyes and chuckled.
"You could have picked any song...ANY SONG, and you pick the ABC's." I shrugged.
"I'll pick a different one then."
"Something that doesn't make me relive my childhood would be nice." He teased, running a hand through his hair. I then began sing.
And I'd give up forever to touch you
'Cause I know that you feel me somehow
You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be
And I don't want to go home right now
And all I can taste is this moment
And all I can breathe is your life
And sooner or later it's over
I just don't wanna miss you tonight
And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's meant to be broken
I just want you to know who I am
I waited a moment until I heard Lorne's faint gasp, meaning his vision had started. The visions don't usually last more than maybe thirty seconds, but this one seemed to last two minutes. It's not like this hasn't happened before but he ends up seeing a lot of information very quickly, so he is unable to retain all of it.
I can relate though. The vision I had the night we found Alec wasn't a regular vision. The ones I usually have are more like frequent flashes of images and my brain is left to piece it together. Sometimes I feel like I can't remember anything and I only remember the main point of it. I haven't seen anything majorly important though. I'm hoping I never have to.
"Well that was interesting..." Lorne trailed off.
"What? What did you see?" He gave me a small smile.
"I don't want to ruin anything..."
"What in my life would be worth you seeing so you would be tempted to ruin it?"
"Just know that we'll all be really happy for you."
"Come on! Please give me something." He laughed.
"I don't know..."
"Is it at least good?"
"Yeah, it doesn't have much to do with anything we actually needed answers for."
"Well that's terrific."
"It really is though! You'll just have to wait a little bit before you'll know what I'm talking about." Lorne sighed happily, not picking up on the sarcasm in my previous statement.
"Is that all I get?"
"Hmmm, I'll think about it."
"Fine. Next topic on the agenda, date night with Ed."
"He's not going to go for it tonight. I'm telling you, there's too much going on."
"Which is exactly why you guys should go! Take a break before it gets any worse. Besides, when was the last time you two went out?"
"It was a while ago. It would be nice to go out just the two of us again. Last time, we were walking by the pond downtown and I ended up tripping over my own feet I guess. I ended up reaching for Ed to steady my myself but the next thing I knew, we were both in the water. Then we...uh...swam...there for a bit."
"Aw, that's cute." I told him, disregarding the last part of his story to make him think I believed that whole "we just swam" thing. Truthfully, Jonah and I found a bag of wet clothes in Ed's car a day or two after that. Needless to say, we knew what we needed to know about what actually happened that night.
"Okay wait, so what do I do? Do I send him a text, do I call him? Usually when we go out we plan it first. He's very organized like that."
Thank God Lorne finally agreed to it. I didn't want him to feel forced to do anything, but it has been so long since Ed and Lorne were able to get a peaceful moment alone together. Lorne never wants to leave because he's afraid that one of us "kids" as he calls us, will need him for something. Ed goes along with whatever Lorne says about it usually. It's a relief that they take this "parenting" thing so seriously but they need to take some time off. I think the five of us can handle Alec for a night anyway. Who knows how crazy everything will get now; they may not get another opportunity like this soon.
"Calling him would probably be better than texting him." I said, rethinking my original idea. Ed barely knows how to text.
"That way he'll definitely see it." Lorne took his cell phone out of his pocket. "Here goes nothing." He went to speed dial and selected Ed's number. With the phone to his ear, he began to panic. "Oh shit!" He hung up the phone.
"What?"
"What am I saying?"
"Just ask him if he wants to go out tonight?"
"What if he asks where?"
"Ask him to guess, then take him to where he first guesses if possible. If not, go through that until you find a place you can go to."
That's what my father used to do with my mother. He would put Jonah and I on his lap and say "we're going to make your mother really happy tonight" as he would dial her number into the home phone and put it on speaker. She would be at work, probably putting data about her patients into a computer (she worked as a physical therapist assistant) and when she picked up, she sounded so tired. My father would tell her to guess where they were going tonight, then he took us all to the first reasonable place she guessed. He would then take us to this little flower shop right by the rehab center so he could buy two bouquets of flowers for her; one for both Jonah and I to give to her.
"Hey that's a good idea! Good thinking!" Lorne patted me on the back, breaking me out of my memory.
It was sad really; how much I silently reminisced. To be quite frank, I did that too often for my own good. I live in the past so often that it makes the present almost unbearable. I hopped off the hood and watched as the dirt floated up around my ankles. It was like a dusty fog fading away, so easily and so fast.
It reminded me of Alec somehow. I wondered if his memory floated away so easily and if it was actually gone. What would happen if he started to remember his past? Would he change? What was he like before we found him? All these questions swirled through my thoughts on the car ride home.
As I entered the house, Ed moved past me giddily. It was an odd sight to see him so excited about something. He ended up saying yes to Lorne's date night proposal...in fact he was thinking the exact same thing (Curtesy of Caleb bugging him about it earlier), leaving the six of us home alone for a few hours. I was almost terrified to see what Caleb had planned for this "initiation ritual" thing he talked about earlier.
"Who's ready to party?!" He asked, ushering me into the living room.
"We're throwing a party...just for the six of us?"
"Hell yeah! Best initiation ritual party ever!" Connor added.
"You guys didn't say anything about an initiation ritual..." Hunter sighed. "As long as we clean everything up before they get back it should be fine, but nothing...and I mean NOTHING, about this can be dangerous. Got it?"
"Yeah Big Daddy Hunter, sure thing." Caleb patted Hunter on the back and walked over to Alec.
"I cannot believe I have to pretend to be related to him sometimes." I laughed.
"You aren't the only one."
"They are so freaking weird." Hunter itched the side of his nose as the two of us watched the twins nearly hit Alec in the face with all their pantomiming nonsense. I guess they were trying to act out what was going to happen, but they did a really shitty job.
"Yup." He shot me a glance and then nodded over to Alec.
"We should probably go help him shouldn't we?" We both shared a sigh as we walked over to them.
"And then you'll jump in the pool..." Connor finished. Alec raised an eyebrow at the two of them.
"Is this what everyone has to do to live here?"
"What do we have to do to live here?" Jonah asked as he walked in from the kitchen and went over to the stereo. He pressed a few buttons and before we knew it, music played outside in the backyard. There was a heated in ground pool back there, which Hunter figured out how to heat so we could still use it into the autumn time.
"We have to make a dramatic speech before jumping in. Simple as that."
"Okay I'm going to tell you right now...none of us did that." I told Alec. He looked at me wide eyed with a smile on his face. There's that smile again.
"Damn, you skipped out on this sacred ritual? Evie..." He tisked three times before sighing.
"Technically we all skipped out on it." Jonah elbowed me in the ribs lightly. "I'm thinking we should have a mass initiation ritual for all of us."
"Ooooh la la...J-onah I like the way you think!" Caleb leaned over and high fived him over my head.
"Should we go get changed then?" Hunter asked. I could tell he was starting to get into this idea.
"I am going to freeze to death. Can't I just watch?" I mumbled.
"I'll turn the heat all the way up. It will be like a hot tub, I promise."
"You can't get out of this Everleigh." Connor winked at me.
"Everleigh...Everleigh..." Caleb began chanting.
"Don't do this..." I warned.
"Everleigh...Everleigh..." Connor and Jonah joined in. "Everleigh...Everleigh...Everleigh..." Hunter and even Alec were chanting with them. With each time they said my name, it seemed to get louder and louder. Every syllable was a stab in the gut until I caved.
"Alright, alright...fine I'll do it. If I get sick it's on you." They all cheered.
Once we had all gotten changed into bathing suits (because we couldn't just do it in the clothes we were already wearing according to Connor) and Hunter had the water heated up, we moved outside. We walked barefoot on the cold, lush grass uphill to the patio. We placed our towels on the cold metal fence as Hunter swung open the gate. Once we were all in, I realized how brisk it actually was. I wore a navy blue bikini which was really idiotic thinking back on it, but at the time it seemed logical. It was modest for a bikini at the very least. I felt the breeze dance against my skin as Caleb's voice roared.
"This is no laughing matter! What we are about to do is SERIOUS people! Once we do this...there is no going back..."
"GET ON WITH IT!" Hunter yelled jokingly at him.
"GET YOUR OWN RITUAL HUNTER!" He yelled back. "Anyways, newbies first. We are going by age in vampire!"
"What does that even mean? Is that code for something?" Alec asked me. He wore a pair of Connor's swim trunks since Lorne didn't think that buying swim trunks would be necessary at this time of year. They were simple, just plain black, but he looked good in black. He also looked good shirtless...
"Uh...I think that he means how long we've been vampires for, but he was trying to make it sound fancy but in the end it just sounded dumb."
I had to rip my eyes from him. I don't know what he did in his past life, but he was decently built. His arms were muscular and you could see the faint lines of a six pack on his stomach. Everyone at this point will make a Greek god comparison when describing male vampires and all their muscles and shit. I'm saving that one for a later date when it's appropriate to think of such things. Besides, he wasn't super duper built, just enough. For now, that's all I'll say. Stupid pretty vampire people...why did that even have to be a thing? Well, I mean obviously it draws in prey but for one we don't drain people, and two, it also flusters the strange vampire girl. Immortality isn't fair.
"That puts me first then since I have no clue, huh?" I nodded. "Well, Evie...if I don't survive this..."
"You will...you have to." I said, playing along with his dramatics. A teasing smile spread across my lips. "What am I to do without you here?" I put a hand to my forehead and leaned back.
"Alec! You're up!" Caleb shouted, gesturing to the diving board.
"I bid you adieu fair maiden." He bowed in a gentleman like manner and walked over to where Caleb was standing. I'm sensing nerdy vibes from him...nice. "Now what do I say again?" Caleb leaned over and whispered it in his ear. Alec nodded, walking to the edge of the diving board.
"Alecsander, are you prepared to join the cult of-"
"Hold up..." Jonah interrupted. "No one said anything about joining a cult."
"When does this cult membership expire?" Connor joked.
"Oh my goodness, just go with it."
"Do I have to sign a contract?" I asked. Alec caught my gaze and chuckled.
"This baptism is your contract. This is also where you die if you break it!"
"I don't think that's the proper use of the word baptism but cool."
"Moving on! Alecsander, are you prepared to join the cult of the infamous Morgynstein Coven?"
"Aye aye captain?" Alec looked back at Caleb who gave him a quick thumbs up. I couldn't help but laugh. I used Hunter's shoulder to stable myself.
"I can't hear you!"
"AYE AYE CAPTAIN!" Alec yelled.
"May this journey cleanse your soul and make you worthy!" Caleb bashed a metal rod against the fence as Alec jumped into the pool water, the sound reverberating in our ears. He swam back up to the surface slowly. Connor began clapping and soon we all joined in. Alec swam to the shallow end of the pool and sat himself down on the edge of the stairs.
"Well Jonah looks like you're next!" I punched his arm lightly.
"I hate this whole vampire age thing." He smirked. Jonah ran up in a gray blur to Caleb and stepped on the diving board. "And I'm NOT saying aye aye captain!"
"If you don't we start over until you do." Caleb informed him.
"You have got to be kidding me."
"Nope! J-onah are you prepared to join the cult of the infamous Morgynstein Coven?"
"Who's J-onah?"
"Huh?"
"Who's J-onah?" The dark haired male repeated, crossing his arms.
"You?"
"Nope, my name is Jonah. Ready Caleb, we'll say it together!" His big smile grew larger as he waved his arms through the air as he spoke. That earned a couple chuckles from the rest of us; even more when a low growl erupted from Caleb.
"You're lucky I don't call you something else." Jonah rolled his eyes and laughed off Caleb's response. "Jonah are you prepared to join the infamous cult of the Morgynstein coven?"
"Aye Aye Captain!" He turned around on the diving board and saluted him sarcastically.
"May this journey cleanse your soul and make you worthy..." Jonah spread his arms out and let himself fall back into the water. He didn't come back up right away. I could tell he wanted to mess with Caleb a bit.
"Guess he wasn't worthy." Connor shrugged. "I always knew he had gotten himself deep into the wrong crowd. I just figured he would have more time."
"Aw such touching words before I'm even dead." Jonah said after he had emerged from the water. He swam over and took a seat next to Alec. The two fist bumped and looked over to me. "Your turn!"
"I cannot believe we have to do this."
"It's not so bad." Alec told me.
"Yeah, the water is so warm, it feels like I'm swimming in soup." Jonah added. "Now go Everleigh."
I trudged up to Caleb, my feet slapping on the concrete with every step. I didn't like the feeling of the stares on my back as I moved. Caleb bashed the metal rod on the fence.
"I forgot about that before...oops." He shrugged and smirked. "You think he liked it?" I raised an eyebrow. "Alec." He clarified.
"Oh um...yeah looks like it."
"Good. There's always room for more brethren in this house."
"There wasn't enough of you already?"
"Hey once you do the ritual you are a brethren too."
"That doesn't really make too much sense. I think I would be a brother seeing as I'm not multiple people. It's not like I have spilt personality disorder."
"Hey! Quit the chit chat! I need another sacrifice here!" Connor exclaimed.
"So are you volunteering yourself?" Jonah asked him. Connor pushed him off the steps but Jonah grabbed his arm, pulling Connor in on top of him.
"Dude what the hell man?!" The two laughed and began splashing each other.
"Alright whatever let's do this Evie."
Caleb picked me up and placed me on the diving board, ushering me towards the edge. Standing there I did feel like some sort of sacrifice, like I was being pushed into a volcano. Very explosive, very deadly. I don't know why I felt this much pressure, this was just some stupid game cultivated by Caleb and Connor to get a good laugh. I think it was because we were sort of making a commitment to each other; that we would always be there for each other no matter what. The thought of that calmed me a bit.
"Everleigh, are you prepared to join the cult of the infamous Morgynstein Coven?"
"Aye, aye, captain."
"I can't hear..." God I couldn't take him anymore. I walked off the diving board and stood right in his face, hoping my menacing glare would get him to chill. It worked; he cowardly walked backwards with wide eyes. "Just kidding, please don't kill me." I laughed evilly to myself, even though I knew everyone could hear it, and moved to the edge of the diving board once more.
"May this journey cleanse your soul and make you worthy."
I jumped inhumanly high and felt the butterflies flutter in my stomach as I fell...closer and closer to the warm water. Inhaling a deep breath, I felt the water break against my skin and under I went, falling slowly. I fell until I felt my toes hit the rough bottom of the pool and pushed myself to the surface. The blue tinted world around me was a blur of blue-green colored tiles. I could taste the chlorine around my lips once my body broke through to the surface.
"I give that dive a ten!" Hunter clapped, encouraging the other boys to do the same. Caleb whistled.
"Boy, we've got a show tonight!"
"Really? I'd only give that performance a two..." Jonah trailed off. I knew he was teasing, but I flipped him off anyways. He acted like he was shocked but then did the same back. As much as I love Jonah and all his badass emo glory, he was a little asshole sometimes.
"You made such a huge splash!" Alec exclaimed as I swam over to where the other new "cult members" were.
"Thanks." I said quietly and moved to sit next to him. I sat on the next to last step, not wanting to move too far out of the water.
The next three sacrifices went by pretty fast once we figured out who was going to take over for Caleb's turn. Connor snuck up behind him and pushed him in as Hunter recited the oath. By the time we were all admitted into the cult, I was able to see that Alec was actually enjoying this. Good for him. He should be able to get one night of peace after the last few days. Hopefully he can settle into the new life easily and I'm glad we would all be there to help him. I have a feeling he is going to need it...