Day 1 - Beltane - part 6
Thorn: This is the first time I've been greeted with screams without being on stage...
Velma and Marcie said nothing, just hugged Thorn tightly, showing some relief to see her. They were so frightened by what they had witnessed that they could not keep their typical skepticism. Plus, Marcie didn't question why Velma had asked Thorn to come to the mansion – after that strange phenomenom, she probably understood her reasons.
Marcie: Geez, you won't believe what we have just seen!
Thorn: Shhhhh… I know, hun… I can feel a lot of suffering in this place… and… a desperate soul…
Thorn took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Velma and Marcie looked at each other warily, fearing the girl's psychic powers.
Marcie: Look, I'm not catholic or anything like that, but I won´t mind if you make an exorcism here... just feel comfortable to send this soul back to its place…
Thorn: Exorcism? No! There are no demons here… just… some… unresolved issues… and a lot of anger in the air… oh, calm down dear, I'm here to help you…
Thorn slowly walked around muttering words as if she were talking to someone. Velma and Marcie, however, didn't have enough courage to follow her, they just followed Thorn with their eyes.
A few minutes later, the intercom rang again and the doorman´s voice announced Miss Madelyn Dinkley, Velma's youngest sister, and Miss Alexandra Cabot, a sophomore in Crystal Cove high school. When they opened the door, Velma scolded her sister.
Velma: YOU TOOK 28 MINUTES TO ARRIVE HERE! And brought someone with you! Forget about your fifty dollars!
Madelyn: First: I didn't bring someone with me, I brought Alexandra because she is my alibi. Second: the contract sent to your email has a term that allows a twenty-minute tolerance for my arrival time, so, tecnically, I´m not delayed, and it´s your problem if you didn´t read all contract before signing it… and there´s also a term that says I can bring helpers to…
Velma: YOU KNOW I CAN'T BRING ANYONE HERE! IF I DON'T GET THE THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS, IT'S YOUR FAULT!
Madelyn: Duh! So what the hell Marcie is doing here with you?
Marcie: Are you getting $3000 and paying Madelyn $50 just to make her stay here with you?
Madelyn: Yeah… per day…
Thorn: Just passing by to remember I charge for my psychic services…
Marcie: Why the hell is everyone getting paid to be here but me?
Velma: Because I didn't ask you to come, you tracked my fucking cellphone and came here by yourself!
Alexandra: Relax, Fleach, I'm here for free too...
Marcie: But you don't need money! You're Josie McCoy's father's stepdaughter!
Velma: Do you really live in the same house as Josie McCoy?
Alexandra nodded in confirmation, with a disgusted expression on her face. Since the death of Mrs. McCoy five years ago, Josie's father began a relationship with Alexandra's mother. When the happy couple decided to get married, Mrs. Cabot and his twins Alexander and Alexandra have moved to the luxurious McCoy mansion. The result? Josie and Alexandra hate each other.
Thorn, Marcie, Velma and Madelyn simultaneously: My sympathies…
Marcie: Damn, she's so spoiled! You should get a reward for having to breathe the same air she breathes!
Alexandra: I just wish she didn't make it very clear every day that the house is hers and that me, my mom and my brother are not welcome...
Marcie: And she gets a lot of times worse when she is around her friends Shelly, Bubbles, Melody…
Alexandra: Melody is kind of nice to me… but Valerie is the kind of person unbearable to live with!
Thorn: I have nothing against any of them... but they think they're great vocalists and they just can´t sing at all... both their bands suck...
Velma: They're ridiculous! Period!
Velma had so much hate in her voice that all the girls looked at her. Velma wasn't the popular girls´ biggest fan, but she wasn't the type of girl who slander or get angry at the A-listers either.
Marcie: Well, that little friend of yours, Daphne Blake, isn't much different from them...
Velma: Oh, come on! Daphne is nice, she's not like the other cheerleaders...
Marcie: Oh, for sure, she was really nice when she´s started calling me Hot Dog Water in 7th grade!
Velma: It was Dawn, her sister!
Marcie: And she didn't do anything to stop her sister! How different from the others is she, uh?
Velma: She didn't because she doesn't talk to her sister! And obviously she doesn't even know you exist, there are more than 100 students in the senior year, even I don´t know all the names…
Marcie: Very nice of her to not know that a person who's been studying in the same class as her for more than ten years exists, uh?
Velma: Maybe if you introduce yourself to her…
Marcie: Josie McCoy never had to introduce herself to me to make me aware that she's been in my class since the 1st year of elementary school… that's called empathy and common sense! And politeness too...
Velma: Marcie, what I mean is: if you give Daphne a chance, you'll realize she's a lot nicer than the way she seems to be...
Alexandra and Marcie laughed.
Alexandra: For God's sake, Velma, you know these girls do it all the time to us unpopular people… they know we exist, but they pretend we don´t! I live in the same house as Josie and she treats me as if I were invisible... and that's really sad...
Velma: Josie is cruel, but Daphne is not like that!
Marcie: Daphne has only started talking to you when she needed you... after all, you're her boyfriend´s friend and you're the founder of the mystery club... likewise, Penelope Pitstop only noticed you when she needed a doggo to watch over her mansion… when you´ll be no longer needed by either of them, you will return to anonymity… welcome to reality…
Velma: Daphne is not…
Madelyn: SHHHHHHHHH!
The girls were unexpectedly silenced by Madelyn and glared angrily at her.
Madelyn: Can´t you idiots realize that right now there might be a camera somewhere filming everything you are saying? And that content can be used against you at school?
Alexandra: Oh, this is so typical of these girls, Josie secretly films me all the time and send the videos to her friends so that they can laugh about me…
Marcie: See? I know you're getting $3,000 to say nice things about these girls, but reality tells a very different story...
Velma: Marcie, I despise them as much as you do, and I will never agree with the way they treat other people, I'm just saying that Daph...
Madelyn: SSSHHH!
The silence imposed by Madelyn was followed by a long sigh that Velma let out. Marcie, however, didn't seem to care and continued.
Marcie: You're not being yourself anymore because of Daphne...
Velma: What? You're just jealous because she is my friend and...
Thorn: Hey, can we please stop with this super relevant talk and start our psychic session? Today is Beltane and I need to meet my coven to celebrate.
Marcie: Psychic session? Did you really hire a psychic? I told you! You're totally unrecognizable since you started being Daphne´s friend! You´re being as irrational as her!
Velma: I called a psychic because I was in trouble and my best friend was dressed as a werewolf inside a ghost train tunnel! And you know very well why I called Thorn, you saw what I saw upstairs, and you got scared too!
Alexandra: Wait… is there something up there?
Thorn: Yes, there's a poltergeist... I feel...
Madelyn: Wait, did you hire a psychic because you were afraid of a ghost?
Madelyn started laughing mockingly and Velma was embarrassed.
Velma: I didn't call "the psychic" Thorn, I called MY FRIEND Thorn. I just wanted her to keep me company because I was afraid of being alone in this huge place!
Thorn: No way! When you called me, I emphasized that my psychic services are paid and you said you would pay me…
Velma: No! I… I… I just wanted you to stay here, Thorn!
Marcie: So… now that you're friends with the popular girls you pay people to keep you company?
Madelyn: And she's also afraid of ghosts!
Madelyn cackled like a three-year-old for some minutes, but Velma couldn't do anything to stop her. Thorn just rolled his eyes and grabbed her belongings.
Thorn: Well, apparently I came here for nothing… but I've got better things to do than put up with a 12-year-old girl's jokes… so, I have to go… BYE!
Marcie: I'll go with you, Thorn… now Velma has enough money to buy new friends, so she doesn´t need her old friend anymore…
Madelyn: I'm leaving too! I can't believe I missed an entire hour of game streaming because of the stupid fear of my stupid sister! Don´t worry, I won´t tell mom and dad… I mean, provided you leave my payment under the cookie jar when you get home…
Madelyn giggled like a baby again and Thorn, annoyed, smacked the brass lock to open the door. Alexandra began to fiddle around with the mansion´s luxury objects, and then took several selfies everywhere to post on her social networks. Meanwhile, the clock struck ten o´clock and Marcie continued to express her jealousy with incomprehensible mutterings about the popular girls of the school. All that, combined with the fear of the possessed door moving by itself upstairs, was the spark needed to blow Velma's patience up.
Velma: STOOOOP!
Velma's scream was so loud and so harsh that the girls immediately stopped what they were doing and looked fearfully at her.
Velma: NO ONE IS LEAVING THIS MANSION!
Madelyn: What? I have to…
Velma: NO-ONE-WILL-LEAVE-THIS-MANSION-TONIGHT! AM I BEING CLEAR? I HIRED YOU, SO YOU WILL STAY HERE WITH ME AS LONG AS I WANT! And as for you two, Cabot and Fleach, you came here because you wanted, and now you're staying too!
Marcie: That´s fucking absurd, Dinkley!
Velma: A "fucking absurd" is to track down your best friend´s cellphone!
Madelyn: This is ridiculous!
Velma: "Ridiculous" is to charge fifty dollars to help your own sister!
Velma was so angry and out of her mind that the girls sighed and remained silent. None of them had the courage to face her. After a few minutes, Thorn dared to say something.
Thorn: Okay, that's totally fair. You are right, you hired me, so I'll have to offer you my services. Come on, let's make Sneekly talk! I need to get the hell out of here as soon as possible...
Thorn quickly took her belongings out of her backpack, including the ouija board. The other girls froze and looked at each other, but their apprehensive gaze couldn´t make Thorn stop lighting candles and preparing the altar where she would perform her ritual. Velma felt a shiver run down her spine and stuttered while she tried to utter words that could make the ritual stop. When Thorn finished, she asked the girls to form a circle and hold hands. The girls reluctantly obeyed, and looked desperately to Velma, pleading for an intervention.
Thorn: All right, clear your minds and close your eyes...
Velma: NO!
Velma's intervention made the girls open their eyes. Thorn expressed her anger by looking seriously at Velma.
Velma: No, we won´t do that, Thorn!
Thorn: Are you scared?
Velma: Me? No! NEVER! This is ridiculous, rituals are not real, I just… I just don't think we should do that! Penelope will be furious if she finds out…
Marcie: There she goes! Why do you care about what stupid Pitstop thinks?
Thorn: Ok, no problem. But your refusal means a breach of our contract, and I'm free to go now.
Velma: YOU'RE NOT LEAVING, THORN! I…
"… I hired you to stay here " was what Velma would like to say, but at the same moment, a very loud gunshot sound echoed through the room and scared all the girls. Then, they heard the door slam and some glass shatter. Madelyn, Alexandra and Marcie screamed and hugged each other tightly, and Thorn just looked at Velma questioningly, waiting for an explanation that Velma couldn't properly formulate. Instead, Velma just muttered.
Velma: Thorn… please… please… PLEASE! I need you here… we all need!
Thorn: I would love to stay and help you, Velma, really! But I can´t! It's not that I don´t want to help you, it's a serious religious need. Today is Beltane, the most important festival of my religion, and I have an entire coven waiting for me right now to lead the rituals… if I miss the festival, I can be banned and lose my mystic powers…
Velma: Thorn, for God´s sake, you're the only one who knows how to deal with… with… these things!
Thorn: Velma, I'd love to help you, but I have no choice! I'm a witch, I need to perform this ritual… these rites are important for a witch and I love being a witch, you can't just deprive me of being who I am!
Velma wanted to argue, but fear and despair took over her body and made her burst into tears. Velma's tears didn't arouse compassion in Thorn and she continued to gather the belongings. When Velma realized that Thorn wouldn't change her mind, all her despair turned into hate and she hit the ouija board with one of her hands, making the board fall off the table and take all of Thorn's belongings and candles with it. Thorn looked at Velma in astonishment, unable to believe that uncharacteristic aggressive attitude.
Thorn: Excuse me?
Velma: I SAID YOU'RE NOT LEAVING, UNDERSTAND? I took this job for the benefit of the Girls' Science and Technology Club! I'm here doing my duty as a president, sacrificing myself in the name of our club! The least you should do as a club member is help me! ALL OF YOU SHOULD! AND THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT YOU WILL DO! OTHERWISE, YOU WILL BE EXPELLED FROM THE CLUB! Am I being clear?
The hate in Thorn's glare was an evidence that, yet she nodded, she didn't agree with anything she heard. The other three girls looked at each other confused, fearing Velma's behavior.
Velma: Now try to entertain yourselves!
Velma backed away from the group a to avoid further arguments. Thorn calmly gathered her belongings on the floor and did not say a word for a long time. Alexandra dared to break the silence imposed by Velma, murmuring to her friends.
Alexandra: Uh… I don't know if everyone has read that Stephen King´s book in which a family goes to a hotel and the father starts getting psycho because the place is full of dead people who possess his body, but… like… don't you think that we are living something similar? A psycho person... a dead person possessing her body... a place that looks like a real hotel...
Marcie: What? She's not possessed, she's just being a spoiled bitch just like her new friends Blake and Pitstop...
Madelyn: SSSSSHHHHHHH!
Velma stared indifferently at her sister, making clear that she had heard everything before Madelyn asked for silence.
Velma: That was the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, Alexandra...
Marcie: The most ridiculous thing ever was the way you treated Thorn!
Velma: Marcie, for God's sake, can't you understand? None of you? Is it that hard to understand that a small fortune and an appoitment with Elon Musk are at stake and I really want to win both for our club? You work more than six hours a day at your parents' amusement park, have you ever gotten $3000 for that? And as for you, Madelyn, how many stupid magic shows do you have to do to get that amount? And you, Thorn, how many shows and psychic sessions? This simple job is like winning the lottery, the smartest people would recognize that…
Velma's speech encouraged and convinced all the girls except Thorn, whose eyes were still full of hatred.
Madelyn: Yeah… I hate to admit it, but I think you´re right…
Velma: Plus, this place is amazing! Let's enjoy!
Velma's command brought a smile to the girls' faces and they started walking around. Thorn was the only one who remained seated, unsmiling face, arms folded, staring seriously at the wall. However, none of them had the opportunity to start an activity at some luxurious part of the mansion. Within minutes, the mansion inexplicably lost power, the girls screamed and immediately joined their arms in a big hug. Thorn didn´t hug anyone, she just yawned impatiently and showed boredom. The power did not return, so the girls looked for lanterns and lamps with their cellphone lights, in the end, they decided to light the beautiful candles that were in a silver chandelier next to the fireplace. Then, they settled down and sank back in the cushions around the fireplace and started talking and laughing – except Thorn, who remained annoyed in a corner of the room, fiddling around with her cell phone. The minutes turned into hours, and the darkness remained. Around 1am, they fell asleep together on a super soft rug, Thorn was the last one awake. Before joining her friends on the makeshift rug bed, she walked around the sleeping Velma muttering mysterious words and slowly pouring into Velma´s body the herbal powder she had prepared for Beltane. Then, she touched Velma´s forehead with her index finger and remained there for a few seconds, muttering incomprehensible words. When Thorn finished saying all the words, she withdrew her index finger and said aloud:
Thorn: Velma Dinkley… you didn´t let me attend pagan culture´s most important event… and deprived me of being a witch and being eveything I love and admire… you did it in the name of a selfish, arrogant desire to be noticed by a tech genius, then cynically said that everything was "for the good of all club"… Now it´s my time: You´ll stop being who you are until you put your selfishness and pride aside and take a truly selfless attitude… I condemn you to be the kind of person you hate the most! Beltane spell, make Velma be someone else!
Thorn's loud command set off a gust of wind that rushed through the large windows and blew the sleeping girls' faces and hair. The herbal powder that had been dropped only into Velma scattered around, then it lit up in a bright blue light and disappeared seconds later. The only one who showed a reaction was Madelyn, who scratched her nose right after the herbal powder touched her. Thorn surveyed the scene with satisfaction and laughed.
Thorn: Oh, how awful! The curse has taken a toll on you too, Madelyn… well, maybe it will help you think psychics are not that funny, uh?
Thorn gathered her belongings and walked away laughing. When she touched the heavy brass doorknob, she saw the sleepwalking Velma hold the curved white banister and walk upstairs. That made Thorn laugh and celebrate the sucess of her spell.
Thorn: Well done, Thorn! You´re an excellent witch even when someone deprives you of being a witch!