I was freezing when I got up in the morning. I dressed warmly, thinking it would be cold all day. When I went to my car to drive to school, there wasn't any frost on the ground, but I was still cold. I turned the heater on low in my car. I was so tired because I couldn't fall asleep until almost 5 o'clock this morning.
Finn was already in the parking lot when I got there. He gave me a coffee, which I was grateful for. He also noticed I was cold. He gave me some hot pad things to put under my clothes, and weirdly insisted that I not wear my coat. I didn't think much of it, but was acting differently. He seemed concerned about something, and he was watching me closely. I had no idea what it was all about.
We took our projects to the Science room, and even though he said he wanted me to read the note before school, he told me "he decided" that I would have to wait until the end of the day. That irked me, but I didn't say anything about it. He asked me to trust him, and I did, but it still made me uneasy.
I wasn't hungry for the lunch option today, so I didn't really eat any of it. I tried to drink some of my milk, but it wasn't really appetizing. At recess, I was glad the sun was warm. I laid out and soaked it up. Before the bell rang, Finn was acting weird again, but I thought maybe he was just stressed about midterms or something. I brought up the notebook again, and he finally said he'd let me read it.
I started reading the note about twenty minutes before class ended, and I didn't finish, so I just went straight to my next class and continued reading it before the bell rang.
"My Darling Elise,
I am glad you want to know more. I'll try my best to explain, but I would really like it if you could come with me and my parents to a festival, or celebrate a holiday with us. Samhain is coming up, and then Yule. It will be easier to explain things if I can show you too. But for now, let's see, I've told you about the Goddess and God, and a little about the elements. The elements are pretty important. We call on them, or at least the Spirit of them, for rites and circles of protection. I probably won't do any rituals with you until you get more used to everything. The most basic thing you should know is that the elements are tied to the directions, and each direction has a color.
Typically, I start with the East, which is the color yellow and the element Air. Then, South is red for Fire. West is blue for Water. And North is green for Earth."
Finn had drawn a diagram of a compass with the names of the elements and the colors above a symbol that was drawn where the arrowhead should have been.
"The fifth element, Spirit, is within us. When all the elements are activated, you can feel your spirit rise. That is definitely something that has to be experienced though. Also, when we call on the spirits of the elements, we sometimes will also call on a creature or image that represents that element. That is more of a Native American tradition that some pagans adopt, but it helps with visualizing the element. Visualization is another key. It takes some practice. It's like meditating to focus on the magic you want to create. It took me a while to learn that, but also keep in mind, I've been pagan my whole life.
I guess I should tell you more about my childhood. I was born in Seattle. My mom and dad met at a Liberal Arts College. When they found out they were pregnant with me, they couldn't afford to live there anymore, so they moved to Colorado, then to Missouri when I was almost five. We lived there in a trailer until we moved here. It wasn't horrible, but it could have definitely been better. I had a couple friends from the trailer park up there, but they were always trying to play pranks on other tenants that lived in the park. Sometimes it was funny, but it was mostly mean. I talked them into going to supposedly haunted places a few times, but they didn't really like doing that. Then, when my grandmother got sick, my dad let me come visit her here for a few weeks during the summer, then he and my mom would come for a week before we went back home. I got really close to my grandmother. Her name was Nana Rose. My parents didn't have enough room in the trailer to have a dedicated room for an altar, so we all had portable ones. I can show you how to put one together if you'd like. But Nana Rose had two. She had one in her bedroom closet and one in the basement. But when she got too sick to get out of bed, she had me pack up the one in the basement, and she taught me a lot with the altar in her room. Mostly, though I would read to her or she would tell me stories. I really miss her. I think she would have liked you. Then, we moved here, to be closer to her and she passed away shortly after. I think maybe she felt more at peace knowing that we all came here. The area is safer, and we were able to move to a better house. She was finally ready to let go once she made sure that we were better off.
Anyway,...."
Finn had left the rest of this page blank and started again on the next one.
"Elise, I know that it's weird for me to switch gears in the middle of a note, but this is important. So, by the time you read this, Saturday will have already passed, and I know you'll have a million questions. We (my parents, the Elders, and me) wanted to explain things to you before you left Sunday morning, but you didn't seem to remember anything, and they all thought it best to wait until we had plenty of time to answer any questions you would have. I want you to find out from me what happened. It was all my fault. Ok, I'm sorry. This is hard. I hope you don't think I'm crazy, but I got a trunk full of stuff from my Nana Rose after she passed away. I finally went through it and found her Book of Shadows (another thing I'll have to show you how to make, if you want). Anyway, there was a transformation spell in there that I found and wanted to try. I wasn't sure it would work because it was advanced level magic, and while I'm not a novice, I'm not a high level wizard either. I picked something simple to transform. I wanted to turn one of the berries we found for our project into a rose to give you, if it worked. Well, I did the spell, but it didn't work on the berry. I guess when you came to surprise me, you came in during the spell, and you were transformed into a snake. I found your coat and bag on the ground next to a snake. My dad and I created a storm so that you wouldn't have to drive home, and my mom called the Elders of their Grove. It took us all night, but we finally came up with a plan to change you back, but there's a catch. I'm sorry that it happened, but I'm glad we could change you back. The catch is that you are always going to be part snake, and you have to level up as a witch to keep from turning into a snake permanently. I know it sounds crazy, but I don't know how to make it any less crazy. If you can come over after school, I can answer your questions. You are so dear to me, and I didn't mean for this to happen, but I'm glad I have you back, Mo Cuishle.
Faithfully Yours,
Finnegan"
When I finished reading this, I had to read over the last part again. What?? I got turned into a snake? Finnegan was crazy! Only a crazy person would say something like this, out of nowhere. I couldn't remember anything from that night after seeing the dim lights and hearing chanting, but even so, a snake? Why would I have turned into a snake? He probably didn't want me to catch him doing something else, so he knocked me out and came up with this weird story. I don't know. It was a little weird to wrap my head around it. I can't deal with this right now. I was planning on calling the Subway manager after school and letting him know I'd be able to start work.
I scribbled a note for Finnegan, telling him I'd meet him at the car. After the last bell, I hurried to his locker and slipped the note through the vent slots, and nearly ran to my car. I didn't want to see Finnegan before that. I wanted to slap him, and I didn't want an audience. I didn't want anyone else to be involved in this drama. I was so mad, I didn't know what I would say.
When I got to my car, I called the Subway manager, and he said I could come in on Wednesday. A couple minutes after I hung up the phone, Finnegan was walking across the parking lot towards my car. I got out to greet him, and leaned against my car for support. He came up and my blood was boiling. I didn't let him say anything. I said something to the effect of "What the heck! This is crazy, and I can't believe you would tell me something like this right now, with everything else I have going on." I don't know, it was all a blur now. I just know that he tried to explain, but I couldn't listen to it anymore. Hearing him saying it was even crazier than reading it in the note. I got in my car and drove away, leaving him there. I told him I didn't want to see him tomorrow. I need some space to think about all this. This is definitely not what I was hoping for or expecting from becoming his girlfriend. I liked him better when I admired him from a distance. When he was just a mysterious and handsome Prince. Now, he was still mysterious, but less so. He was kind and gentle. He is still handsome, but now he's also completely nuts!
I went straight home and laid on my bed with my face in the pillow. My mom wasn't home yet. I have to give my presentation with Finnegan tomorrow in class. I have no idea how that is going to go, but I'll be glad when it's over. I don't know if I want to break up with Finn or not, but this is insane. I'm either going to be a part-snake, part-witch, or I'm just going to be a snake forever? That's gonna be interesting to explain to my mom. And the school. And my manager.
This can't be my life.