Page 6 of A Love of Wrath and Rapture

From here, I can hear her let out a long huff. The tip of her nose shines red, as do her cheeks. She’s taking a while to gather these flowers, which bores me out of my mind.

I rise and fall on the ball of my feet, patience wearing thin.

Nothing’s ever happened to anybody. So what’s the harm?

Working from memory, I start reciting the words that are supposed to summon a monster from out of the woods. The words are from a language that isn’t my own, so I’m pretty sure I’m butchering the words as I go along. I raise my arms up as if beckoning the gods to bring me a monster who will erupt out of the ground within seconds.

But somewhere along the way, I feel a strange force overpowering me, stimulating my memory even beyond what I remember. It’s as though the winds themselves are speaking to me.

I want to laugh. I know this is a ridiculous superstition. And I’m going to prove that all those sleepless nights were for nothing.

“What are you doing?” Renee asks. When I glance at her, she frowns deeply. “Stop it!”

My arms fall to my sides limply. “What? It’s not real. And I’m bored.”

“What if you…” Renee grits her teeth, bunching the flowers in her hand with a fist. “Evangeline, this isn’t funny.”

Smiling, I end the ritual with two snaps of my fingers.

“Oooo,” I say spookily. “Do you think we’re goners now?”

The urban legend is that it’s supposed to complete the ritual, sealing it in place.

I laugh but feel a strange sense of foreboding creeping over me, as though expecting a haunting roar from an otherworldly creature to deafen my laughter.

Seconds pass.

Nothing happens.

This is what we were supposed to be afraid of? This is what I was taught to fear my entire childhood?

“Welp, guess we can confirm it,” I say, more chipper than I feel. “The elders were lying to us to keep us out of the forests. And now we’re wiser for it.”

I look back at her face, dreading the reaction it might have. I’m surprised to see dread in her features.

“You’re not scared, are you? I thought it was ‘fiction.’”

“Of course, I’m not scared! But…” Renee’s eyes flicker around our surroundings, as if she, too, is waiting for a monster to attack us by surprise. “The council has rules against that for a reason, Evangeline. What’s the matter with you?”

“Look around us, Renee!” I gesture towards the emptiness around us. Nothing is here, besides snow and ice and stone. “There’s nobody here! No humans, no monsters, nothing! I was only joking.”

“...Well, it’s not funny,” she snaps, glaring at me before she turns away. She jams the crumpled blue flowers into her bag and starts stomping away towards the path we took to get here. “You’re really stupid.”

“Hold on! Wait.” I rush through the snow, nearly stumbling over my feet to catch up. “Wait, wait, wait. Don’t leave me alone out here. How am I supposed to survive by myself?”

“Oh, shut up, Evangeline.”

“You don’t seriously think I summoned something back there, do you?” I ask, placing a hand on her shoulder that she quickly shrugs away. “I told you that it was a joke! And I’m pretty sure I didn’t even do the ritual right. I messed up the words.”

“It’s stupid! Why would you mess with that stuff in the first place? What if you did summon something? What if we get attacked? Or…” Renee sighs, shaking her head. “I don’t care if you want to put yourself in harm’s way, but don’t start risking my life over your stupidity.”

An astonished breath escapes my lips. She’s serious about this. No hint of sarcasm or joking in her words at all.

During the ritual, I have to admit that a shiver coursed down my spine. The foreboding lingered in the air, now that I think about it, but that could have also been the iciness in the air.

But what if I was really messing with some forces that I truly don’t understand? Something beyond my control? Like magic?

A weak grin spreads along my lips. “You don’t seriously think that I’m strong enough to summon a monster. Do you?”

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