The reaction to my statement doesn't get nearly as much cheering and support as I thought it would. I envisioned a triumphant hurrah, followed by an elevation onto people's shoulders as we marched outside or to wherever a discovery ritual happened to take place. Everyone enthralled in the experience as the family gathering quickly became the event of the century as bets were taken on just what kind of Caster abilities I'd somehow landed myself, with no thought for how I actually ended up with these powers. No such reaction followed, besides a small cheer from Cassie herself. Most people look unimpressed, as if me finding out my powers isn't the single most important thing to ever happen to them in their lives. They actually dare to value themselves and the wider consequences and implications of this over my own happiness. The cheek of them all, I tell you.
After my outward show of excitement gets minimal support, the elders of the group start to converse in a small circle, out of earshot of me and Cassie. They're doing a horrible job of being surreptitious, looking back at us every so often and gesturing between themselves. I catch a few words, like 'circle' or 'power.' I think they're muttering something about safety while me and Cassie just stand there for about a minute sharing looks of bemusement between us. Since this does concern me, and by extension her, I decide to try and approach them, Cassie in tow. As we do, and they notice it, Wilbur turns around to address us, It's obvious he's about to deliver some less-than-ideal news, given the stern look that was plastered across his face. I brace myself for what he has to say as Cassie grabs my hand giving it a little squeeze in the process.
"Mr Carter" he begins. "Apologies for keeping you in the dark, we just had to discuss a few issues. The ritual will begin momentarily, but unfortunately, due to the rather sudden and presumably unpredictable nature of your powers, we need to keep Cassie away from you during the ritual for both of your safeties."
"But…" I go to protest, but I'm cut off by Wilbur.
"It's the safest thing to do, and I know Cassie will agree."
I turn to her, and she nods solemnly.
"Uncle is right, but I'll be waiting for you after you're done."
I'm deflated and give a sigh indicating as much, but my excitement balances it out.
"I understand" I say. "What else?
Wilbur continues again. "We will conduct it outside, with Macon and Dorothea assisting me. You will not be conscious for it, an induced coma if you will, for a few minutes before coming back."
Before talking again, Wilbur changes his tone, probably accommodating for the worry that must be plastered over my face right about now.
"Please do not be worried Joshua, if everything goes according to plan, in about 10 minutes time, you will know what power you possess."
"And what if it doesn't?" I ask apprehensively.
Macon steps forward and starts to speak. "There are risks involved, you were not born with power, it has been imbued in you somehow and so there may be some unforeseen consequences to this, this ritual is usually completely safe, but for you there may be some risks involved. Nothing serious, but you should know that, due to the unpredictable nature of your powers, and should they turn out to be that of a Dark Caster, actions will be taken accordingly. You haven't shown any sign of Dark, but nor have you shown any sign of Light. This situation reminds me a lot of my niece's and that almost tore the world apart, so we are keen to avoid another situation like that."
"I understand" I say, taking in everything Macon and Wilbur had said. "But I think for everyone's sake, we have to do this, so shall we get to it?"
Macon and Wilbur look a little stunned. In the end, it was Dorothea who speaks first directly at Cassie.
"I like him, he's a keeper" she says.
"Not that kind of Keeper" Cassie jokes while blushing.
Wilbur and Macon start to usher me towards the door, so I turn to Cassie and kiss her on the cheek.
"See you when I come back as a new man" I joke.
"I can't wait" she says, a small flicker of worry flashing across her face.
"Don't worry" I say, holding her hands in mine. "Everything will be okay."
"I know" she says, smiling and squeezing my hands, although I'm not sure either of us believe that.
Before I can say anything more, Macon and Wilbur both gesture at me to follow Dorothea who is making her way towards the door. That can only mean one thing, that the ritual is about to begin. I take one last look at Cassie, and turn away to follow them, ready to finally find out, after so much anticipation, what abilities and power I actually have.
I walk out the door and through into the wooded outdoors that I had walked through several hours beforehand. We walk single-file, silence encompassing the already tranquil landscape. It's clear apprehension is the flavour of the month as the trail veers off from the front of the house and down into the woodland that stands on the same ground as Wilbur's grand house.
"Nice grounds" I say in an attempt to break up the ever increasingly awkward silence. "They're really extensive."
Without breaking stride Wilbur fires back "You explored them enough with my niece in your time together."
I sink back into an embarrassed silence as I hear what sounds remarkably like a cough hiding a snigger come from behind me where Macon is walking. As we delve further into the forest, a structure emerges from behind the trees, looking sort of like a bandstand, but wider at its base with the floor adorned in beautiful tiles depicting stars of crimson, green and midnight blue shades. Rubies and sapphires top the bannisters that accompany the stairs up to the structure itself. The most distinctive feature, however, is the crescent moon that tops the bandstand. Carved out of black obsidian, it stands atop the highest point of the structure, emitting a haunting low level of light despite its colour and the surrounding night. It's a beautifully striking sight and, despite the aforementioned exploring I had managed to do with Cassie in my time here previously, I had no recollection of ever having come across this before.
As we edge further towards it, my heart rate starts to increase slightly, a million scenarios flooding my head of ways this could go wrong, and that's without considering all of the magical elements I don't know about yet. I start to feel sick as my excitement changes to apprehension. I was so lost in the thoughts of what powers I might actually have that I didn't stop to consider everything. What if this went horribly wrong and I didn't see Cassie again. What if, after everything and getting her back, this was the end, dying as a result of some wayward magical ritual I'd never even heard of in my limited interactions with the Caster world over the preceding year. My thoughts start to spiral into an incoherent mess of thoughts as I start to zone out from the real world. I almost lose my footing as we approach the stairs up to the bandstand, jerking me back into my apprehensive reality.
"Be careful" Wilbur says from behind and I can just tell he's smirking as he does so. That doesn't help the anxiety I'm now feeling. In front of me, Dorothea reaches the stairs first, walking up them in a rhythm that I, and the people behind me, can't help but match as we climb all three of the steps and enter the main area of the bandstand. Wilbur and Macon, having been behind me, emerge into my vision.
"It's time to begin" the grandma says, and moves to take a position ahead of me, towards the edge of the structure. Before she begins, she turns to me and stares.
"I need silence."
I nod at her in response, despite my emotions starting to go haywire and instinct telling me I should be anywhere, literally anywhere but here right now. It takes everything I can muster to push the doubts to the back of my mind. "I'm doing this for Cassie" I say inwardly as Dorothea, from seemingly nowhere, produces two items. A singular red ruby and a flickering candle. She puts the candle down slightly to the left of her and places the ruby to the right. She then points at Macon to go left and Wilbur to go right. As they do so, I see two more candles arrive, once again from nowhere in particular, along with two more, yet different stones. Wilbur produces a lime green emerald, whilst Macon produces a deeply blue sapphire.
In my head, as they put the stones down and do some kind of weird hand movements, I imagine a red line extending itself from the ruby and travelling along towards the sapphire by Macon's feet. To my surprise, what I just imagined would happen starts to play out in front of my very eyes. I shouldn't be surprised, given how long I've been surrounded and immersed in the Caster world, but it did nonetheless. The red line enters the sapphire slowly and stops. A second line, this time a deep blue and independent of the still-red first line, extends towards the emerald in front of Wilbur. Once again it enters the stone and stops and, as if like clockwork, a third green line exits the emerald and moves until it enters the ruby. There is a triangle of light, each side a different colour, linked together by the stones.
This doesn't seem to faze any of the three elders, in fact they seem almost too used to it, as if it's just another casual Wednesday experience.
"Stand in the middle" gestures Wilbur, in a voice that echoes beyond what should be possible from the structure. "But step over the boundary, it is imperative you do not touch the border."
I move to do so, feeling too intimidated to respond verbally and make an understanding with myself to just do as I'm told during this process. I step carefully over the red line and as my body crosses the threshold, something changes. All I can think is "I'm surrounded by power." I look over at the three figures who accompanied me, their mouths moving in unison, but I can't hear what they're saying.
I strain to listen, but to no avail. As I do so, deep inside me, it feels like something, long since dormant, had finally awoken. I feel a fire burning, the cold of the oceans and the bite of the wind. Soon that sensation abandons me and all I can hear and feel a low vibration, emanating from somewhere I can't quite pinpoint. All I could focus on was the sound coming from seemingly nowhere, almost like a mosquito in search of its next blood fix. The noise starts to get louder, and louder, until it feels like my ears have been plugged into a speaker, blasting out music at full volume and all I'm getting are the vibrations. The noise is unbearable, it feels like my eardrums are about to burst. The pain I start to feel in my head exceeds everything I've ever felt before as I collapse to my knees, hands around my ears. I know I'm screaming, but I can't hear it over the noise infecting my ears.
It's unbearable as I begin to scream even louder and hoarser than I was before, even thought I still can't hear it. All I can think is "Cassie." I want her here, I want her arms around me, I want my arms around her. I want her hair to be wrapped around my fingers. I want her scratching the back of my neck in the way she knows I love. I want to do the cheesy thing I used to do where I would point somewhere and say, "what's that?" before turning her face into mine and kissing her. I want to hear her breathing slow down as we start to fall asleep together, our bodies a mess of limbs tangled and intertwined with each other as we doze off in each other's arms. The memories, the thoughts of her wash over me like a bright light, cleansing me of the pain I was feeling. The vibrations hum starts to go away, replaced by only a single noise, Cassie saying my name. "Josh… Josh… Josh." The word ripples around my head for a while until I fee; a hand on my head and I'm me back to reality.
"Josh."
Cassie
Several minutes have passed since Josh and the others left. I've been mingling with the crowd, but my mind is far away from the extended family that surround me. I want to be out there with them, helping, watching, knowing. I'm as curious as they are, but I know I have to be in here. Josh had repeatedly called me the world's best distraction in the past and it was a role that I relished. I knew, however, that it was one I couldn't fulfil right now given the severity and the importance of what they were doing out there. Ever since they left, I had been feeling like something was going to go wrong. Not an overwhelming sense of panic or anxiety, just a small feeling in the pit of my stomach that I know shouldn't be there.
That feeling, out of nowhere, is suddenly accompanied by a low-pitched humming noise. It's not loud, but its noticeable enough to perplex me. Nobody else in the room appears to be reacting. I pull aside one random family member whose name escapes me and enquire.
"Can you hear a humming?" I quiz.
"No, dear" the woman says. "Are you sure you're alright?"
I tell her everything's alright and move away from her. As I try to figure out where the sound is actually coming from, an eruption of pain suddenly assaults my head, to the point where I have to collapse to my knees. It's excruciating and I start wailing in agony.
Throughout it all, several family members come up to me and look perplexed, trying to help but to no avail. Then, through all the pain, I hear "Cassie" in Josh's voice, as crisp as if he'd said it right next to me. Immediately, memories of our happy moments together, curled up next to each other, holding each other and everything else floods my head. The pain starts to dissipate as I respond in kind. "Josh" I say, over and over again, tethering myself to his name, his person, his being, everything about him. As soon as I can pick myself up, I dash out of the door in the direction they had headed in. I make it to the bandstand and run up the stairs. I drop to my knees and begin to cradle Josh's head in my arms, tears streaming down my face.
Josh
I look up and it's her, crying and cradling my head in her arms as sits sat on her knees. I seem to have managed to make my way down to the ground, although I can't remember when or how. I try to sit up, but my body won't move. It doesn't feel paralysed, just numb, like when you wake up after lying on your arm awkwardly. I just need to give it some time. I see, past Cassie, that Macon, Wilbur and Dorothea are deep in conversation, periodically looking over to where I am and then hushing and whispering something to each other. Whatever happened, I need to know. Judging from the way they reacted, Cassie's tears, and just an innately bad gut feeling, whatever happened must not have gone down the way they wanted or expected. Something tells me this is gonna be a long night indeed, for both of us.