Goodbye Normal (7 page)

“For all the 186 years this sacred procedure has taken place, not once has the association been fortunate enough to find the Channeler.

“All details about who the Channeler is, why she is important to our community and the like are irrelevant for your knowledge until we find one. What am trying to say is, I am sparing all of us the trouble for a long ineffectual speech.

“The lovely acolytes behind each row will pass over the small bowls. Each one of you is required to do the same thing to the one in front of you after placing a strand of your natural hair in it. Don’t try anything stupid like putting extension or the like. I urge that, you will be reprimanded for any undesirable actions.” Maydith finished.

A number of heads turned around curiously to take a look at the acolytes.

When the small bowls started moving around, both Zoe and Liz got their chances at the same time. The bowl was unpolished brown and had a narrow mouth. Its body had the words DAW carved in ancient calligraphy and small stars encircling it.

Each one plucked a lock of hair from their head and inserted it into the bowl, afterwards passed it forward.

“I don’t think they’ll be getting anyone this year either.” Zoe whispered.

“I don’t really care. I just wanna wake up from this madness. I really thought it was fascinating but it’s really freaking me out right now. I wonder if they are telling the truth about letting us go or, it-“

“Shhh Liz.” Zoe shushed her from talking after a piercing stare from Maydith reminded her of what they were not to do.

The group of girls in maroon robes went forward, each filling the large golden bowl with the lock of hair in their respective bowls.

When the ladies were done they returned to their seats and the high table rose. The high members of the coven accumulated and encircled themselves around the big bowl.

In between them, below the grounds they stood on the surface was drawn two circles and a star was inserted in the middle of the inner circle. On the very pointed end of the star five candles were arrayed to follow the red stool. It was an image of a pentagram.

 Each one of the members pricked their middle finger and injected a drop of blood into the bowl, which was mixed with variety strands of hair in the bowl. They stood in between the big and small circle lying adjacent to the candles. They wore hoods extended to their cloaks, thereafter they held hands together. They started casting a spell on the bowl by speaking spell language. As they generated power from their bodies, the golden bowl started rotating on its own. And the candles lit magically.

The ceiling board began tearing apart without forming any destruction to the property. However, the noise of its transfiguration was distractive.  After a large crack by the middle, layers of it started piling up against the other. It created a huge hole proportional to the position of the magical bowl. And the moon’s light shone right above it.

For some seconds, the bowl continued at a clock pace then it started spinning fiercely. When it finally stopped every audient was alert, wide eyed and anxious. An eye blinding light shone from the bowl, everyone turned away from the irritating brightness. After a few seconds the light subsided. And the ceiling closed back to its original form. Mr. Longwood took peeked inside the bowl. He then reached inside it then came out with a chain on his palm. It was a beautiful silver chain with a circular pendant. When he looked behind it, he gasped.

“We have a name!” Mr. Longwood shouted, the look on his face was invaluable.

“For the first time in 186 years we have the Channeler.” He exclaimed joyously. Everything stopped; mixed emotions were on the edge. Every other sorcerer was as happy, eager and surprised.

Zoe mouthed the word No, she heard her heartbeat thundering over her ears. Liz’s eyes were closed. She could feel and hear their breaths quickening.

“The name embellished on this beautiful pentagram is Zoe Brown. She is… the Channeler.” Mr. Longwood’s gracious announcement sent every pair of eyes in the aroused room to her. Fingers were pointed, hands were clapped, and even some tears were dropped with both joy and fear. 

 Zoe felt her strength leave her body. Her eyes closed and her shoulders dropped. She twined her elbows to her knees and dug her fingers into her thick hair. She could hear at a far distance her name being called out, but her body was too weak to respond. All her mind could think about was waking up from a bad dream.
This is the time when I should bang my head or something. A phone call should wake me. Please let me wake up from this nightmare
, she prayed.

Her lashes opened hastily, not wanting to but having to.

Liz’s face wasn’t helping, she had gone whiter. She looked at Zoe like she was seeing a ghost. Given their current situation she was not sure if she wasn’t one. She could hear her shouting or maybe rumbling, she wasn’t sure either. Nothing was certain anymore.

“No…noo it’s not possible, this is ridiculous you are wrong, you should do it again…please don’t take my friend nooo. It’s a mistake” Liz cried, Zoe could feel the apprehension in her voice, which wasn’t helping either.

Liz’s hand was clenching her neck protecting her from whatever her obscure fate was. She understood her feelings that scary moment; the mix was a fuzzy one.

“Thank you girls for you corporation you may remove my cloaks now.” Maydith requested.

When she saw that the other girls had complied with her wishes. She looked at them, her hand crossed neatly on her chest.

“The rest of you are dismissed.” Maydith ordered, thereafter her eyes fell specifically on Zoe.

With that simple order every one vanished in thin air. Just a blink and everyone was gone.  Zoe gasped! Fear, realization and anticipation kicked into her system at once. She stood up and looked around her. She was left all alone, in a world she was sure she did not belong. But they were certain she belonged.

 Her eyes enlarged with horrific agitation, where had they all gone to? Where was Liz? Where were all those familiar faces? Her face hardened with each passing thought.

“This is a historic day for all of Doomsberg.” A familiar voice bellowed. It was Mr. Longwood. She blinked.  Her blue eyes sparkled in the candle light. They made her fear which had transformed to anger vivid to her audience. A warm hand clenched her arm. She jerked away from the friendly gesture, and then shot an accusing glare at the owner. It was Gigi Turnpod; her mellow voice cut short the silence.

“It’s okay Zoe, you have the right to feel what you are feeling.” Zoe watched her with bewilderment.

“We are not bad people. In time you will understand that we only mean good. As a matter of fact, we fight for the good. That is the reason you are here in the first place.”

Zoe eyes narrowed and Gigi understood her disarray.

“Don’t worry about that for now.” Gigi said “but it’s undeniable that there are people with our kind of power who are destroying the essence and reason for our existence. They do it by provoking evil but they are also the ones we are fighting against. Regardless, we are special people who have accepted our gifts, and are putting them into practice without harming innocent people.”

Zoe rolled her eyes, her amazement left her lips slightly apart.

“So you call depriving people of their sleep, taking them magically without their consent and robbing them of their rights, containing them with fear and agitation, reaping away their freedom of choice and forcing them of some absurd witchcraft title is what? You showing of how special you are without hurting anybody?” Zoe mixed her sarcasm with a chuckle but the voice turned livid.  

“Can’t you see you are hurting me, I am not a witch, I cannot turn a fly into a flower, or pull a chair without holding it. For God sake just let me go. Or better yet let me demonstrate how ungifted I am.” Zoe cried.

She held out her hand to a chair, closed her eyes then forced her mind to concentrate on pulling it.

Zoe gave out a heavy sigh. She was relieved her trial failed. Gigi chuckled. She bore out a warm smile.

“This isn’t funny at all, you have seen for yourself that I do not fit in your world. So please be so kind to accept the fact that you have the wrong person and let me go.” Zoe urged desperately.

“For the record that was teleporting, what Maydith did with the bow?”

Zoe shrugged and arched a brow. “Do you honestly think I care what that was?” she whispered dismissively.

“Please let us sit down Zoe, you and I have a lot to discuss.” Gigi suggested, showing the seats.

She had no problem with that, mostly because she had nowhere else to run to. All she had to do was convince the good lady that she was not what they thought she was. And maybe just maybe, she will see reason and set her free.

It seemed like Gigi was the pro when these kinda situations arose. The other coven members were fanned out in small groups. Discussing what seemed to be the obvious, most recent tiding in their association. Their beloved Zoe Brown, The Channeler.

Just after sitting down, Maydith came toward them, with a huge grin on her face. It was a genuine smile. It showed in her eyes and Zoe felt her heart shrink.

“Excuse me Zoe,” she said to her, with such respectful demeanor by tilting her head like how a Chinese would do to show respect. Zoe flushed though it freaked her out. Then to Gigi she said “Gigi may I talk to you?”

“No problem.” she replied, rising from her seat.

Zoe watched as they made small talk. She on the other hand, secretly wondered if there was any chance they were right. But how could it be possible? She had never possessed any supernatural abilities before. What could have triggered that magical bowl to choose her name? Even if it was family heritage, never had she heard of it before.

Before she could answer her questions with another question, it looked like Gigi and Maydith reached an agreement. Gigi went to take her position beside her then she saw the rest of the coven members walking away.

“Where are they going?” she questioned, her face on their matching feet.

“They are done for the night, but we are not and I want us to make a deal.”

“Why should I be making deals with you? I do not want this” she snapped

“Please listen. That’s all I need you to do.” Gigi signed, Zoe stared at her, not relenting just acknowledging that she had no other choices.

“Zoe, meet me half way. I have heard your side of the story, let me make you understand why you have never experienced anything magical, and then I hope you will understand my side.

Zoe lifted a brow and tilted a corner of her lips.

“I work as a nurse, everyone else in this society works in the ungifted world as well. As you can imagine, we are a secret society. We are governed by our coven leaders who are guarded by known rules and regulations that have been followed for ages.”

“Wait…wait, so you mean to tell me, that no one in your family knows that you are a witch?”

“No.” she shook her head “My family knows. It is okay to tell family but only if you think they can handle it. They also have to be old enough… say fifteen and above. It was easier for me to break the news than it is for most witches. You see my father is a wizard but my mother is not. As witches, we count on the shame that people feel towards this craft to restore the notion as a secret.”

“What about friends? can I…did you tell your friends?” Zoe stammered helplessly, refusing to let her mind accept something her heart was already starting to.

“Yes
you
can, but you must know that they can handle it, and Zoe… don’t fight it.” She added “It is who you are. Accept it, like it, until one day you will not see yourself without it.”

Zoe nodded sheepishly, the urgency in her voice compelling. It crossed in the back of her mind that it was probable she was already getting charmed.

“Another important thing about telling friends is trust. You can’t tell just anybody. You meet a surf partner you have lots in common, then you think you can tell them you’re a witch. No. It doesn’t work like that. You have to know this person very well to do exchanging secrets. It’s even harder for you because you will face a lot of tribulations in the future. So you really have to be very carefully.”

“What tribulations are you talking about?” she asked daunted.

“You don’t know how important you are in our community; you are an asset to us but a liability to others. When you get introduced to the community, you’ll have to watch your back.” She closed her eyes and rested her palm on the ridge of her nose “am crossing the line here. This you will know about later on. Please be patient.”

“How am I supposed to be patient or stay calm when you are telling me things that look like will endanger my life?” she panicked.

“Please Zoe, I’m simply following protocol. You will come to understand better later, when you are ready.” Gigi convinced.

Zoe lips were pouting, her vibe was negative but Gigi couldn’t tell her anything else.

“Now let’s get back to the basics that I should be informing you. So, I didn’t know I had magic until I was seventeen. That is because I came to learn about it later on, that am an early bloomer. That is how it is in our world. Just like hitting the puberty stage and so is the sorcery gift. In our gifted world most witches start showing sighs from seventeen to twenty.

“When you are past those ages, you can never be one. Maybe if there are exceptional cases that I have never heard of. But to my understanding it is only then, that a normal human can know if they are gifted or not.  That is when you start feeling a different kind of strength in your body.” Gigi paused after seeing the confusion on Zoe’s face, she smiled knowingly then continued.

“You on the other hand are different. You are like a limited edition… oh no better yet you are the only edition.” she said with a sweet chuckle that made Zoe smile. Zoe was surprised with how relaxed she felt. She was definitely getting charmed, she thought.

“As a wizard I can feel the energy of anything or anyone supernatural, or someone possessing magical abilities. It is a gift all witches posses. Though it’s limited cause a black magic witch cannot feel my energy. And I can’t feel their energy either. But with you I do not, though you are not black magic and it is not because you do not possess the power, not at all, you certainly do.” She paused again for a second and her eyes lit up “You are just very powerful Zoe.” Gigi watched her closely as her news paved into her ears. Her eyes flickered and her body shuddered.

“You are the result of an oracle that was prophesied 187 years ago, right here in these very lands. It is an honor to have met you and I believe that you will not fail us.”

Zoe flinched; the words fail us, made her thrill. First they sounded so final like she had accepted this mysterious ordeal and second, what would she be fighting against.

“All you have to do is believe and have faith that you can do things beyond the usual, beyond your expectations.

“Belief is a powerful tool when aiming for succession of any goal. I will give you a week or two, to sink in all that I have told you, but in the mean time I need you to try and focus, believe in yourself and you will see how extraordinary you really are. This is a wonderful thing Zoe. Believe that.” She convinced.

Gigi reached into her cloak’s pocket and removed the pentagram chain then she held it for a second for both of them to see. It was a beautiful medieval ornament. The emblem was medium and circular and had a star inside it. It resembled the drawing on the ground the ritual was performed. Only that it had one large sapphire stone in the middle.

“This chain is invisible to the human eye. It can only be seen by a witch, not even a supernatural being can see it. It is sacred, special and it only belongs to you. I can hold it, look at it but NOT WEAR it.”

“Why not?” Zoe asked with innocent curiosity.

“That’s because I do not possess the power to wear it.”

Zoe’s eyes flickered with amazement. Her chicks burned with unforeseen pride.

“Can I see you try?” Zoe inquired, unable to contain her curiosity.

“You want to see me put it on?”

“Yes” her voice was a pale mumble.

Gigi took the chain, and when she positioned her hands to wear the chain her hands stuck on the each side of her ears. She looked stupid with the pose but her hands were truly stuck. She could not see but it was a Herculean power preventing her from wearing it.

“May I do the honors.” she asked with an obvious excitement that Zoe could not understand in her voice.

“Okay” she muttered.

She saw Gigi’s eyes twinkle as she gently helped her out.

The chain slid swiftly into her neck without causing any bottlenecks. Her heart jolted. She held the rare amulet on her hands weighing it on her palms but admiring it at the same time. A treasured antique had found its owner after searching for 187 years. But it was not just any antique it was a powerful tool beyond her wildest imaginations.  

Zoe was reluctant to accept that it was an interesting notion. At the same time anxious to know a little bit more about this alien world.

“What is a Channeler?” Zoe asked.

“I cannot tell you that now. But you are
the
Channeler about how all that came around, you will be informed by your mentor and even that is until you are able to be a practical witch.”

“A mentor? Why? What for? and how is that possible…amm bout me being a practical witch?” she question, this world was filled with mysteries.

“By channeling your inner strength Zoe, by believing and having faith, that is why I told you, I will give you a week or two. It’s your call. You will use this time to make peace with yourself. Understand that you have a responsibility that has been prophesied many years ago.

“You will have to teach yourself to be one. Just don’t blow out your home. It’s good to do these exercises away from home. Thereafter you will be introduced to your mentor, the one who will help you understand your role, your history and even muster your strength.”

Zoe sighed, “Oh my God.”

Gigi smiled understandingly “I’m sorry Zoe, I know it’s a lot to take in. But you can’t just escape it. This is your destiny.”

That wasn’t helping and Zoe cupped her face with her hand then uttered a groan.

“So how long are you willing to give me? And when am I going to be meeting this mentor.” she inquired.

“You pick how long you think will suit your needs.”

“Two weeks” she answered almost immediately.

“That’s fine by me”

“And the mentor?” Zoe asked

“There will be another short ceremony special for that purpose. I will call you and meet with you and take you to it.”

“How will you do that without my number?” she wondered.

“We had all the data we needed of every girl that attended this sermon, so you don’t have to worry about that.”

“Any other question?” Gigi inquired.

She shook her head in denial, She had too many but none seem to be in time. They all had to wait for this mentor.

“Goodnight Dear, you still have two hours before dawn.”

Before she could utter a reply, everything went black. She was a little too late.

 Her eyes opened to total darkness.

“Oh my God.” she whispered then signed with relief, her heart skipping in the process. She was dreaming. It was just a dream. What a strange dream. It felt so real, she thought. Zoe rolled over her back then curled up on the bed. She looked beside her, Liz was fast asleep. Instantly she felt a shot of pain on her head.

“Ssshh” she hissed from the drumming pain. Raising her arm to her head, her fingers dug into her heavy brownness. She supported her head with her palm for some unbearable seconds then decided a pain killer and a glass of water should be of help. She collected her body and stealthily headed for the bathroom.

 Zoe opened the bathroom door carefully and closed it softly behind her as her other hand groped for the switch.

When the lights were on, she closed her eyes involuntarily then opened them cautious of the irritation. She opened the toilet cabinet for pain killers. Taking a tablet and a cup Zoe then walked foggily to the sink. Shooting a glance of her reflected image she gasped