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Taking a breath in, Alex leant forward and breathed out onto the candle wick, grinning as it ignited from his breath. Kyle grinned at him, holding his own lit candle, heedless of the wax dripping down his hand onto his wrist.
“You got your feather?” Alex questioned, holding up a long golden owl feather.
Kyle plucked his out of his pocket and waved it at him, practically bouncing in excitement as they both stepped into the ritual circle. They were both twitching in anticipation of their first big piece of magic; the first time they would need to offer sacrifice in blood.
“I offer blood,” Alex recited steadily, using the tip of the feather to cut a line across his palm. The feather shouldn’t have been sharp enough to cut, but it drew blood as easily as a knife. Unable to hide his wince, he placed the feather over the cut, watching as the golden feather turned red with blood.
Kyle copied his words and actions until they were both holding the red stained feathers in their cut hands. “I offer fire from my breath,” Kyle continued, gripping the feather by the quill and holding it over the flame. The flames flickered from the liquid before catching, the feathers lighting up in both of their hands.
“I offer my coven,” Alex held out the burning feather so that when Kyle copied him the two feathers were crossed.
“Will you offer your spirit?” They spoke together, gasping as the fire extinguished and they were left holding a black feather each. Instinctually, they placed the feather onto their wrists so that the quill was pointing towards the elbow, not even flinching when the feather sunk beneath the skin and the silence was broken by the scream of an owl.
-
“I think my dad’s onto us,” Kyle rushed out as his dad dropped him and Alex off at the cabin for an unsupervised sleepover.
“Your dad suspects we’re practising magic?” Alex raised an eyebrow doubtfully.
“I heard him talking to someone on the phone about strange occurrences,” he insisted. “And he’s started asking why we want to be up here so often.”
“Well look on the brightside,” Alex smirked. “He’ll assume we’re dating before he thinks we’re witches.”
Kyle pushed him into the doorway, frowning at him. “I’m serious, I think he was talking to your dad.”
Alex’s smile wiped away as he paled. Immediately, Kyle regretted bringing it up; they avoided mentioning Jesse Manes for a reason.
“Time to start plan B then?” Alex offered him a weak smile.
“One jerk jock coming up,” Kyle sighed. “I really hate plan B.”
-
“You really went all out didn’t you?” Kyle laughed once they’d both managed to sneak out and meet up. He gestured to Alex’s new clothing and accessories. “Were you seriously wearing eye liner at school?”
“Shut up,” Alex rolled his eyes and pushed him, allowing Kyle to see that his nails were also painted black, causing another laugh to break out.
“You’re a walking witch cliché, man,” he chuckled.
“Laugh it up, Valenti, but tonight I get to do the cutting,” he waved a knife mockingly at him.
-
“When you told me to fight you at prom, I didn’t think you’d use it as an opportunity to get laid,” Kyle raised his eyebrows and stared at Alex until he lifted his head from the symbol he was drawing on the floor.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he denied, glancing back down and chalking in another letter.
“Bullshit!” Kyle exclaimed, stepping carefully over the chalk lines to poke him in the side. “You were practically stripping Guerin with your eyes.”
“Nothing happened,” Alex pressed harder with the chalk, sighing when it snapped in his hand.
Kyle picked the chalk up before he could and drew the final letter before placing it back in the cup they kept for all the other broken bits of chalk. “I’d say his loss, but I’m still betting he’s gonna jump you.”
Alex rolled his eyes, nudging him into position. “Concentrate,” he said sternly, ignoring Kyle’s smirk at the light blush Alex was sporting. “You’re lucky me stabbing you would ruin the ritual.”
“There’s always next time,” Kyle shrugged easily, reaching over and swiping a knife across Alex’s hand before he could reply, holding him in place so that his blood fell onto the chalk lines, both of them watching as the blood followed the lines without deviation until the whole symbol was painted over in blood.
-
“You can’t kill him!” Kyle protested, grabbing the knife before Alex could cut himself.
“Give that back!” Alex jumped up from his position and lunged at him, uncaring of the potential for injury. “You don’t understand!”
“I don’t need to!” Kyle pushed him away. “It’s a fucking full moon tomorrow, Alex! If you do this it’s going to backfire!”
Alex spun away from him, wiping at his eyes as his chest heaved. “He deserves to die.”
“I offer my blood,” Kyle intoned, causing Alex to spin back around with wide eyes. A line of blood dripped from Kyle’s hand to the floor where it soaked into the symbols, feeding the magic as it began to swirl around them.
“Kyle,” Alex chocked out, eyes wide. “You can’t.”
“Will you offer your spirit?” He looked up to the sky and opened his hands wide as everything seemed to still. They both held still as the flapping of wings was heard around them, followed by the screech of an owl. “I ask revenge for my brother-in-magic. I ask retribution for spilled blood.”
The power surged and then stopped; the wind died down and it was just the two of them alone. Kyle checked his hand to see that it had already scarred over; proof that the magic had worked. He would carry the scar until the magic had finished.
-
“Wasn’t sure I’d see you here,” Kyle commented idly, stepping up behind Alex.
They hadn’t arranged to meet up since he’d been home, so he hadn’t been sure if Alex would follow the obvious feeling of magic to his latest spot or if he’d given up magic while away.
“You cast this?” He gestured towards the protection symbol on the ground, stained into the dirt by a monthly sacrifice of blood. “For me?”
“Didn’t do much good,” Kyle shrugged, avoiding looking at him. “Was meant to stop you getting hurt.”
“Kyle,” Alex stared at him. “I survived an attack that killed nearly everyone else. I always wondered how, but now I’m pretty sure you saved my life.”
Alex reached out and grabbed his hand, flipping it over so that he could see the healed scar across the palm, making a small noise as he grabbed the other hand to see that one too.
“One each,” Kyle commented. “Protection for the son on one hand and a curse for the father on the other.”
“Neither has faded,” Alex let go of his left hand so that he could trace over the scar on his right that had been made for him.
“Guess the magic isn’t done with us yet,” Kyle sighed.
“I offer my blood,” Alex made an identical cut on his hand and held his hand over the stained symbol. “I ask protection for my brother-in-magic.”
-
“I’m almost disappointed there’s no skeletons,” Kyle commented as they finished packing away the furniture from the hidden room under the cabin. “Do you how much we could have done with a few human bones?”
“You work in a hospital,” Alex reminded him, passing him a box from upstairs so that he wasn’t aggravating his leg carrying boxes back and forth. “If you want a dead body then they can’t be too hard to steal.”
Kyle grimaced at the thought. “I don’t want a body, it’s bad enough dealing with animal bodies.”
“Just the bones,” Alex grinned, climbing down once they’d moved the last box.
“Just the bones,” Kyle confirmed, opening up the first of their boxes. They’d decided having a hidden room was too much of an opportunity to ignore, finally able to set up their own alter and have a permanent place to keep their magic supplies.
“I wish we’d had this place growing up,” Alex emptied out a box of candles, looking around the room for the best place for them. “Hiding stuff in my house was a nightmare.”
Kyle nodded in agreement, remembering all the close calls. “Think they’ll still be able to find us down here?” He tapped his right wrist to signal his meaning.
“I think they can find us wherever we are,” Alex said simply, tracing his own fingers over his wrist, eyes catching on the scar still in place on his palm.
-
“I guess we’re stealing that body after all,” Alex huffed as they pushed the trolley towards the morgue. “Shall we get an extra while we’re here?”
“We’re not shopping,” Kyle hissed. “I don’t even want to get one body, never mind two!”
“Do you think Max will pay us back once he’s alive again?” Alex wondered out loud, ignoring Kyle’s glare. “We stole a body for him, the least he could do is let us have a few bones if a body is ever reported.”
“How is this my life?” Kyle groaned. “…Though I wouldn’t say no to a rib or two.”
-
“To reviving the dead,” Kyle pretended to toast using his knife.
“Hopefully,” Alex corrected him. “We’ve not revived anyone yet.”
“Technically you’re not reviving anyone at all,” Kyle wandered closer to watch as Alex drew the necessary symbols onto the floor. “This is so much easier inside.”
Alex rolled his eyes. “You’re performing the surgery, and I’m performing this ritual, I think we can say we’re both playing a role in reviving someone.”
“You just want to be able to say you helped bring someone back from the dead,” Kyle accused playfully. “Get your dark witch points.”
“Do I get a patch?” Alex snarked, sitting back and holding his hand up for the knife.
“Nope, just a temporary scar,” Kyle passed it over and took his seat opposite. “Do you want any of my blood this time?”
Alex shook his head before he could finish the question. “We’re close to a new moon and this is a dark spell, best not risk it.”
They’d discovered in the early days of their magic use that Alex was better suited to the darker side of magic, and Kyle was suited to the lighter side. Similarly, Kyle’s magic worked best and was more powerful around the full moon, whereas Alex drew power around the new moon. They’d had more than a few magical mishaps when trying to include the wrong blood in a ritual that was better suited to only one of them.
They were sure the only reason the retribution ritual hadn’t exploded when Kyle stepped in was because of how close to the full moon it was. Kyle wondered if that was also the reason the magic hadn’t worked yet: he wasn’t made for the darker side of magic like Alex was.
-
“Should we have told everyone about this whole thing?” Kyle wondered. “I mean, is it bad we haven’t told them, or do you think they’d assume we were trying to make it about us?”
“You think it will be like we’re trying to upstage them?” Alex laughed. “I see your aliens and raise you witches.”
“We’re technically upstaging Maria,” Kyle pointed out.
“She has alien DNA,” Alex waved off that idea. “She’s never had any magic, we would have felt it.”
“You should do a tarot reading for her,” Kyle suggested with a smirk.
Alex rolled his eyes. “You know I’m no good with the cards…I could do a bone reading, but that might freak even her out.”
“Well we have enough small bones for it,” Kyle snorted, looking towards the box where they kept all of the animal bones. “The great thing about owl familiars I suppose.”
“Right,” Alex shook his head fondly. “Anyway, it’s not like our magic is much use outside ritual, we wouldn’t have been able to do anything differently if they knew.”
“Just feels a bit like lying,” Kyle sighed.
-
“There was a skeleton under your shed?” Kyle laughed. “No wonder you used to sleep better there than in your house.”
“You want to keep laughing or do you want to go steal some bones?” Alex asked easily, holding up his car keys.
“Grave robbing for the second time this year,” Kyle took the keys with a grin. “I think you’re a bad influence.”
“You’re the reason we’re witches!” Alex protested. “You’re the bad influence.”