Chapter 25: Chapter 25

Diana groaned burrowing her head into her pillows. Her head felt like it was being split open, her body weak and a weird taste lingered in her mouth.

"Glad you have re-joined the world of the living." Her Aunt sassed from her bedroom door. She stood hand on the handle the other on her hip dressed beautifully in a floor length navy gown.

Diana groaned at her objecting to the volume of her voice. "What time is it?"

"Time you considered your commitments young lady or have you forgotten the investiture you are supposed to be at in an hour?"

Diana swore to herself rubbing her face.

"Exactly." Heather pursed her lips. "Get dressed; advill is on your nightstand."

Diana looked over and sure enough there stood a glass of water and two pills.

Shakily she dressed herself in a similar dress to her Aunt's while sipping water and trying not to be sick.

How are you feeling? I am outside. Stiles asked her. She paused her eyeshadow brush lingering before her face.

What? Why?

You invited me? Stiles thought back. Diana was confused. As far as she was aware she hadn't invited him.

When did I invite you? Diana asked him but there was no reply just the soft sound of voices from downstairs.

Diana hurriedly finished her makeup and sped downstairs. Upon reflection she wasn't sure why she expected Stiles to not be appropriately dressed but there he was, in his homecoming suit that had been cleaned, beaming at her next to her Uncle.

Heather stood and sighed, "Finally, now we can go. Hopefully we won't be late."

Diana grimaced at Stiles and followed her Aunt a small line of flurrying skirts.

Her Uncle clapped Stiles on the shoulder. "Today's not for us champ, though I daresay you'll never forget your first investiture."

Stiles' smile faded slightly and he followed them out slipping into the backseat of her Uncle's car silently.

"So Stiles. Goes without saying, you don't speak about what you see today." Heather said tersely as she rearranged her skirt.

Diana pinched the bridge of her nose. "If he was a Freeze he would have been to loads of these by now."

"But he's not a Freeze is he Diana? He's a boy who's gotten deep in with Wolves and is now slipping deeper still with Witches."

"I won't say anything, I promise." Stiles said and was completely ignored.

"Oh please. Where was this level of understanding when I first told you about him?" Diana scoffed rolling her eyes. Her headache had faded but was still there, lingering.

"That understanding evaporated when you began to use seriously dangerous spells young lady. Tell me who's idea was it to cast a Bacchanal? If you were intent on losing your mind, I'd have been happy to help!" Heather's voice grew in volume until she was shouting at the young witch.

"We needed a distraction, needed to keep everyone in the building." Diana defended. "Stiles pulled me out."

His hand slipped closer to hers on the back seat, gently covering tangling his fingers with hers.

"Oh so that excuses everything does it?" Heather scoffed, "You are getting deeper and deeper into something that quite frankly is terrifying. What's going to happen when he's not there Diana? When you can't pull yourself free of something?"

Diana said nothing, Heather had made her point, her reckless behaviour wasn't just affecting her anymore.

"I thought so." Heather muttered with a loud sigh.

The rest of the mercifully quick journey was spent in tense silence.

"Where are we?" Stiles asked as they pulled up on a large tract of empty land.

"Culper land. The investiture is always best when done near land they will grow up on." Diana answered.

They got out of the car and Stiles followed them into the field, on the other side there was a large group of women and men all dressed well. The men in an assortment of suits but the women were dressed all in the same shade of navy blue.

Stiles stuck close to Diana as they moved closer. Nerves seemed to bubble inside him, amplified by Diana's nerves.

A chorus of greetings welcomed them as they arrived, friendly faces, hugs and compliments giving a warm friendly air.

One by one, they all noticed Stiles.

"Everyone. This is Stiles. He will be with me until I die. Please make him feel welcome." Diana said placing her hand on his shoulder. A series of polite nods followed and a woman with a baby approached. The baby was also dressed in the same navy as the women but in the style of a christening gown.

"Oh, Diana. Thank you again for doing this." The mother, Alice smiled broadly relief falling from her like waves. Her blonde hair pinned up showcasing her slender neck and shoulders and emphasising her strong features.

Diana reached out for the sleeping child, "Absolutely no problem, little Margery will be safe with us." She beamed at the mother.

"Stiles, this is Alice. She is an old family friend and she; well she helped a lot when my mother passed." Diana explained. Stiles stuck his hand forward to shake.

Alice laughed and pulled him into a hug. "Nonsense, if you're with Diana, you're family." Stiles looked panicked to Diana, she just laughed quietly and nodded to him. Gently he hugged her back.

Just as his arms landed on her back she pulled away.

"How much do you know of this?" Alice asked.

Stiles shook his head. "Absolutely nothing." He answered looking about them. There was nothing to indicate any clues.

"In for a treat then!" Alice said and checked her watch. "Nearly time."

The group began to split then, shuffling about. The women wandered forward forming a circle, while the men and their sons lingered off to one side.

"You should go and stand with my Uncle Stiles." Diana whispered to him.

"Oh, yeah. Right." Quickly he ran out the circle to stand with the other men.

The baby began to squirm slightly but Diana took her left hand in hers and she quietened off.

"Thank you, everyone, for coming." Alice began in a clear carrying voice. "It is unfortunate that in these dangerous times we have to meet so scarcely. If Diana could please join the centre of our gathering. We will begin with a remembrance.

Diana stepped forward, the gap she left closing immediately behind her. Alice stepping into the line.

"Cum hodie sub sole stamus, sorores nostras, matres, filias non amplius apud nos meminimus." Diana said clearly.

"Numquam oblitus es" the circle chanted back.

As we stand today below the sun, we remember our sisters, mothers, daughters no longer with us. Diana quickly translated in her head for Stiles.

She took a deep breath and carefully she stepped away from the baby. Margery, all of three months old hung suspended in the air still sleeping peacefully.

Stiles could only watch mesmerised as his friend began the most fascinating bit of magic he had ever seen. She crossed to each woman in the gathering and pulled from the centre of their right palm a golden glowing thread, of which she looped under the baby, weaving each one until the tiny suspended figure was sleeping on a web of golden strands.

"We embrace you." Diana said pulling the first strand from Alice. It glowed brightest as they had the closest relationship.

The next woman she crossed to was opposite Alice, and was Alice's sister. Her thread glowed brightly but less than Alice's.

"We embrace you." Alice and Diana said.

With every woman she crossed to the chorus grew louder as another voice mixed in until every woman was speaking as one.

"Grow as you will with our love." Diana told Margery.

"Feel our love." Echoed back. Alice was crying tears of silent joy at her baby's peace within the web.

"Try as you will with our support."

"Feel our support." The strands glowed brighter.

Diana pulled from her own right palm a glowing thread. It flickered gold and silver, different from the others.

Stiles noticed it and so did all of the Freeze's and husbands who shared concerned looks with one another.

"Soar as you will, knowing we will catch you." Diana said wrapping her thread around the baby's right wrist linking it through the tightly woven mesh below her.

"We will catch you." Echoed back.

Stiles noticed that his right palm was glowing slightly, an ethereal silver. Concerned he held it up to Diana who gestured him forwards. He quickly ran over nerves bubbling inside him. She reached over her Aunt's shoulder when he drew close enough and connected her pinched fingers to his palm. Gently, she pulled away and withdrew a thin silver thread.

"As he is me, I am him." She whispered and quickly wove his thread into the mass under the still floating baby.

Nobody else reacted for fear of breaking the spell or contaminating it with nerves.

"Together as one, we welcome Margery Culper." They chanted and slowly the baby descended the last few inches into the magical cradle. Diana waited with bated breath ready to dive forward should the magic not hold, should someone have doubts.

Margery squirmed a little nestling into the golden and slightly silver cradle. It held, it held well and a collective sigh of relief came from the coven. Alice sobbed lightly; Margery was her first baby so the nerves were high.

She held up her right hand and carefully pulled the thread from her palm severing it and let go. It swung down a little then retracted to simply be a part of the cradle.

One by one they all severed the threads until Stiles and Diana were left. Diana severed hers, a now purely golden thread thicker than the others had been. She looked to Stiles and nodded once; he looked terrified but put his left hand to his right palm and gently pulled. The thread severed as the others had, contracting to the cradle but instead of forming part of the mass it looped around forming a silver trim on the top of the cradle.

Diana stepped forward then and pulled Margery and the crib from the air. Its glow dimmed to nothing until Margery was laid in a straw bassinet with a thin silver trim.

I love magic. Stiles told Diana, she looked to him then taking in his beaming face and smiled.

Alice ran forward fiercely wiping at her face grinning like a mad woman.

"Not a peep!" She exclaimed happily, "Not a peep." She took Margery from Diana and looked like she could burst with pride.

"Thank you, all of you once again." Alice said loudly to everyone, "Food and drinks are being served up at the house."

Happily people began to follow after Alice's sister up to their house through the trees.

Alice herself wandered over to Stiles, she thumbed the silver line on the bassinet.

"That was very rare Stiles. Thank you." She said warmly.

"You're welcome." He replied confidently, knowing not what had actually happened. Just as Alice moved over to her husband Heather and Diana appeared before him.

"That was weird." He said looking mildly scared. "This link thing is probably the weirdest and coolest thing in my life."

Diana laughed, "Mine too." She took his hand, his left; he kept staring at his right.

"I feel I should explain, give context to what you saw." She said.

"Seems pretty self-explanatory." Stiles shrugged. "Everyone contributes to welcoming the baby to the team so to speak. I'm linked to you so I contribute too as part of you."

"Well, when you put it that way. It kind of is I suppose." Diana smiled.

"Although, why was your thread so much bigger than everyone else's?" He wondered.

"Power, the brighter the thread the closer the connection to the baby but the thicker your thread, the more magical power you have. Hence why yours was really thin, you have a bit from me but not loads. Your cup is full of mortal human-ness, less room for magic."

"But more room in yours." Stiles said nodding. Diana smiled at him and squeezed his hand. "Still, it's nice I could put in a bit."

"Oh that's one of the most important bits. I have never seen a base form like that." Diana said. "Usually they are all gold and turn to straw but with you there and your thread not turning to straw but staying silver. I mean, it's a great blessing on that baby."

"What? Really?" Stiles asked, they drew close to the house now, as normal looking farm house.

"Yeah, that's got prosperity blessing written all over it!" Diana said brightly. "Kids going to grow up flush. Can't say with what yet but it's going to be good."

Stiles smiled brightly at that pulling open the door for Diana. They were the last to arrive and were greeted with a round of applause.

"We looked it up; there's not been a baby with a silver lined base for two hundred years." Alice announced happily cradling her baby.

"A toast to Margery." Announced Nigel, Alice's husband. "To her many blessings." He raised his glass of champagne, his broad face alight with pride and happiness.

Everyone charged their glasses and drunk happily.

Stiles thought to himself that this was the weirdest sort of christening he had ever been to. He could not understand why anyone could think that these warm, welcoming people were evil; that they deserved to be hunted and wiped from existence.

He looked to his right hand again. He supposed that included him now too.