To Cut Blood Ties

Chapter 5: The Elven Star

May 22, 2016

Phoenix, Arizona

7:06pm

It had been a couple days since Alice had met with Marjorie. Over text, the witch had advised her to wait till the full moon. When magic of the light would be at its strongest. The entire day had been spent in anticipation, the nervous kind that gripped your stomach with a cold fist. She had gone through the motions of the day, not wanting to bring any attention to herself. Finally, after having a bowl of pasta, Alice found it was time to escape to her room.

She locked her bedroom door behind her, not wanting to be disturbed. She hadn't told anyone what she was doing as she hadn't wanted to discuss something that might not even work. She turned off her phone, Tom too much of a possible distraction for her to even risk. She began by pulling everything from under her bed. Her new collection of crystals and symbols, herbs that she had bought at the store the other day, candles carefully selected in reference to their color and scent, and even water that she had gotten blessed by a priest. She wanted a needed everything at her disposal. Alice also grabbed a small knife and her favorite hand held mirror that had once been Marie's. She also grabbed the paper that Marjorie had given her, carefully unfolding it.

She began by setting up the crystals in the bathroom with dragon's blood incense burning over them. She hoped that the combination would somehow be able to strengthen what was innate in the stones. Next she drew a pentagram in the middle of her room, lighting five different colored candles. A white one for truth, a purple one for wisdom, a yellow one for confidence, red for courage, and black for protection. In the middle of those burning candles she had two practice wooden swords and began to carve symbols into them. She tried to combine multiple but it was a delicate process that didn't always work. Luckily she had collected quite a few practice swords and was able to grab a new one when one exploded.

Half way through, the incense had finished so she lit another. This time one of citrus that represented energy. Again she continued with a combination of symbols though she never drew the setogram. She had plans for that one later. Finally she had about eight practice swords that were held up with a combination of the symbols. Alice then whispered, "She this time tried sprinkling the holy water of them. She only lost one sword when the energy became too great.

Alice collected the stones, and once again began to process of experimentation. Seeing which stones could match up with each other. This took hours; it was a delicate and stressful process that caused sweat to glide down her back, and anxiety to shake the tips of her fingers. But she refused to give up, even when a carnelian crystal exploded and sliced her hand so badly that she had to get up and stop the bleeding.

Once there were nearly a dozen piles of assorted gems, she moved on to trying to match them with symbols. Alice found herself holding her breath and for good reason. Four out of the seven practice swords exploded. But three held up, which was a promising hope that she hadn't dared to have until now. Alice stood, this time to go to her closet and collect the two metal swords that every Oswald soldier had. She hoped that she, because of her last name, would be able to choose the design of her own weapon once she passed the test. George's custom weapon was a spear.

She repeated the steps that she had gone through with the practice swords, testing the limits slightly with the symbols, holy water, incense, and crystals. Metal was different than wood, it was stronger and sharper. And while not as absorptive as wood, she hoped that the weapons would be able to hold. They did. The clock read 1:02 a.m. by the time Alice leaned back on her heels to admire the weapons in front of her.