Chapter Three

Chapter Three.

After about five minutes of trying to be editors, the ancient lady that told us off before, went off at us yet again.

“Young girls! This is not a library! If you want to read the book, buy it!”

Heather and I closed the book swiftly and nearly banged into each other trying to get to the counter as fast as possible, lest the old lady, whom I assumed was Barbara, would eat us up in her fury.

“That’ll be 5,” Barbara snapped at us.

I took out a 5 dollar bill and placed it on the counter. Barbara placed the delicate book into a bag and gave it to us. Heather and I thanked her politely and escaped the shop giggling.

The sun shot our eyes and we both flinched. We paused for a moment to let our eyes get used to this amount of light.

“I think that hag was so mean! Anyway, do you want to go to my house to finish reading that book? We’re barely done with the first page, Abby,” Heather pulled at my arm.

“Hmm, okay sure, only if your mum cooked noodles for lunch! Her fried noodles are the best, H,” I licked my lips for emphasis and Heather smacked my back.

“Fried noodles more important than reading a book with your best friend, huh?” Heather pouted, and dragged me down the street to her house.

I tossed myself onto Heather’s soft, king-sized bed and heaved a sigh as I let my body sink into it. I gazed at the hundreds of luminous stars Heather had begged her mother and father to help her paste onto her elegant, black ceiling that she had painted personally to make it more realistic as a night sky. I told Heather not to switch on the lights for awhile, and she plonked next to me on the bed, admiring the fake stars shining, albeit greenly, back at us.

“Okay, enough fake star-gazing, let’s decipher this book!” Heather bounced out of bed and flicked on the switch.

Warm amber light hugged us as I realised Heather had switched on the evening lights.

“For more effect and to add to the mysterious atmosphere this book carries,” Heather must’ve noticed the look on my face as she explained.

She gently took out The Ritual out of its plastic bag, and placed it on the bed, next to me. We both stop breathing again, for a few seconds, and then flip open the book. We were so engrossed being editors again, that it took Heather’s mother ten times to call us down for lunch. We grinned stupidly at each other and raced down the wooden stairwell to have our fried noodles.

The first page had read, “Thee shalt worship thy almighty Ginralé, Goddess for all of us, lowly ones. Ginralé is the almighty One, and She shalt not be trifled with. We, lowly ones, must give Her thanks, and must always praise Her. To do this there is only one way: to conduct the Ritual.” Heather and I were stunned and confused reading this chapter. I for one, as mentioned before, did not believe in all these unscientific stuff, but was proven wrong after Heather and I conducted our first ritual.

“The Ritual for each individual or group will be different. Each lowly one must add a segment to the Ritual to make it yours. These added on parts may be a sacrifice or a dance, for which only you lowly ones can know of. Do not share this information with any other, for if you do, your Ritual will no longer be in Ginralé’s best interest.”

“Each Ritual must also contain an item for which only you lowly ones conducting the Ritual will possess. It may be a dress, or a jewel, or anything that can be worn.”

“The Ritual must start by linking hands and asking politely for Ginralé to grace your presence. If She, the almighty One, does, thee shalt feel all the four elements – water, fire, earth, air. Once Ginralé has come, the lowly ones may unlink hands and proceed to do their segment now.”

“After which, link hands again, and move in a circle three times, while praising Ginralé. Thank Her for being there in your Ritual, and bid her goodbye. The elements should slowly go away, too, one by one.”

Heather and I gobbled down our food like we have not eaten in ten years. Heather’s mother kept trying to ask us to slow down, panic and worry clearly written all over her face. We chewed for one second longer every time she asked us to slow down, but then went back to sonic mode. We flew up the stairs immediately after we had cleared everything off our plate, and started to plan, for our first ritual.

We agreed to use the necklace my mother gave me on my tenth birthday, and decided on an IQ test for our special segment. Heather followed me home that day for dinner, which we stuffed down our throats again. Then we went up to my bedroom, locked the door and conducted our first ritual.

Yes, I believe the ritual works, but it does not mean that I was going to start to believe that people had psychic powers or that retribution exists. No way.

A little ding was heard as Heather’s timer brought me back to the present.

“Done?” Heather questioned.

“Done. Let’s continue,” I handed Heather my slip of paper and she placed it under her bag.

We linked hands and started to go in circles.

“Thank you, Ginralé, for gracing us yet again for our ritual. We really appreciate it and we will continue to praise you, give you thanks.” Heather repeated this over and over, and as we completed our third circle, the elements started to slowly fade away.

Fire left first, leaving me shivering non-stop in the cold. Earth was next, letting me inhale the yucky scent of wet mud the rain had left us with. I felt a little less cold as Wind left, and Water was the last. A smile seemed permanently plastered to my face as always after a ritual, and so was Heather’s. We started to make our way back to the table when I carelessly tripped on a pebble, sending me and my necklace hurtling towards the ground at great speed.

A/N: Finally updated. Sorry for the cliffhanger, but expect something horrible to happen to the necklace that'll affect the ritual. This will also cause the girls to travel to some place, for which some things will happen. Yes I know, I can't say much, because I don't want to kill the suspence. Reviews are always welcomed.