A Short Story - Untitled

I stepped out on the balcony and looked up at the full moon rising over the hills. It is the most beautiful view I’ve seen since I’ve been home. The cities of the United States are nothing compared to the beauty of the Irish countryside.

I argued with mother for so long when she told me that she was sending me to the States to study. It wasn’t fair. I was just a few months away from finishing my studies here. If I left and went to study somewhere else I would be so far behind when I returned, but she would not give. So the next day I was on a plane to some cousin’s house, who I had never heard of.

When I arrived, I was greeted by some teenage girl who looked like she just stepped out of a grave. Her hair was as dark as the shadows on a new moon and her skin was almost as white as a ghost. She was wearing a black lace corset with a black floor length velvet skirt. She also had a bat choker around her neck. She ran up to me and gave me a hug saying she was so happy that I had actually come.

“I did not want to. Mother made me.” I say pulling away from her embrace. “Who are you?”

“Oh I’m sorry. I’m your cousin Nissa. Didn’t your mother tell you I was going to be picking you up?” she says a little surprised.

“No. She did not tell me anything, except that I would be staying with a cousin. She has never been this cryptic with me before.” I answer with a slight hint of anger in my voice.

She steps back and looks at me. “I have never heard so much power in someone’s voice before. You truly are gifted.”

I look at her as if she had just told me I was going to be the next Queen of England. “What did you just say?”

“Come. Let’s go back to my place. We can talk there.” She says as she grabs my bags and heads out to her car.

I followed her to her car wondering what she meant and why I was here. Mother had to have had a reason for sending me here. I just wish she had told me. Like I said to Nissa, Mother is never cryptic with me. Our positions in the community do not allow it. Speaking of our positions, I am surprised she was able to get it so I could leave for a few months. Usually the High Priestess in Training does not leave the island unless absolutely necessary. Remembering that fact worries me deeply as to mother’s motives for making me leave.

The next thing I know, we are driving up a long driveway with a large wrought iron gate at one end and a large estate at the other. Of course this estate is nothing to the one I live in back home. My estate is four stories high, and large enough to house half of the population of Rhode Island. This estate is looks just barely large enough to house my servants.

“This is your place?” I ask wanting to make sure my thoughts are correct.

“Well my parents place but I will inherit it.” She replies as she parks in front of the estate and opens her door to get out. “Come on I’ll show you around.”

I get and follow her inside thinking to myself how different America is from Ireland. Back home I was given my own estate when I turned sixteen and became the High Priestess in Training. Nissa is 18 I think I remember mom saying, and she still lives at home with her parents. In Ireland we would get our inheritance on our sixteenth birthday instead of when our parents passed on.

Once inside we are approached by a maid who looks like she would be a school teacher back home. She takes my bags and brings them up to my room. When I see her heading upstairs with my bags I wanted to follow her because she was taking away my books. My books are never apart from me when I am in an unknown area. But Nissa is walking down another hallway, so I decide to follow her.

She leads me down a short hallway and then down two flights of stairs. At the bottom of the stairs we come to a door which she opens with an old skeleton key. The key itself was enough to make me wonder about where she was taking me, but then I see the markings on the door.

In the center of the door is a large Celtic cross. The cross has vines coming out of it with flowers on them. Two hands are coming in towards the cross and the vines wrap around them. The symbol for the triple goddess sits above the cross with a Celtic pentagram resting below it. At the bottom of the door is a combination of all four physical elements: waves of water with an island in the middle on fire and wind blowing the waves and flames.

The imagery on the door was so magnificent. I could feel the power just in the pictures. I stepped up and placed my hand in the center of the cross and felt the power flow through me. I was so amazed that I turned to her, my eyes wide. She smiled and took out a key from her purse.

“Let me show you. It will be easier than trying to explain with words.” And with that she opened the door and pushed me through.

On the other side of that door was the most amazing place I have ever seen with my own two eyes. It was some kind of temple…That much I knew but I felt a strange presence there that I had never felt before. In the center of the room was a magnificently designed altar with candles fruits flowers and much more. Hanging from the walls were seasonal cloths that made the lighting look flames. Everywhere I looked there were statues of goddesses and gods from all different pantheons. The floor was covered with soft carpeting that felt like grass.

After taking in the initial look of the room, I was drawn over to the southern corner where a statue of my goddess Brigit rest on a pedestal. The statue was beautiful. It was made of bronze with a coating of liquid gold to make the shine even brighter. She stood about three feet tall and looked down on me with a soft smile you would expect from a mother. I reached up and touched it and as soon as my hand made contact, I felt a warmth spread through me as if I had just walked through the bale fir on Beltane.