Conner rejoined them, once again in human form and fully clothed.
“Cold?” Finn smirked as Conner pulled himself out of the water.
“Jealous?” Conner winked at him.
“Boys…” Vincent snapped. “Let’s not get into a pissing contest in front of the lady.”
“Yes.” Jillian felt her ears turn red. “The lady votes that we all keep our dicks in our pants for the rest of the evening.”
“Ouch.” Finn punched Conner in the shoulder.
“I didn’t see you volunteering proof.” Conner punched Finn’s arm a tad harder.
“Enough.” Vincent unzipped the backpack and took out a plastic baggy full of tea-candles. He handed a few to each of the boys, and they arranged them around the edge of the circle, carefully spacing them apart as evenly as they could.
“What do we do now?” Conner looked at Vincent.
“We stand at the edge and face the center.” He pointed at the places where he wanted them to stand.
Finn and Conner did as he said, and the three men faced Jillian, who was starting to rock back and forth to cope with the intensifying nausea.
“This is no small thing that we’re asking. It will take spirits from all four corners to answer us.”
“But there are only three of us.” Finn held his palms up. “I thought we needed four.”
“I will be calling out to the earth spirits, Finn is fire, Conner, you’re air and…” He looked down. “Miss, tell me your name, please.”
“Jillian Lox.” Her teeth chattered despite feeling like her blood was about to boil. “Nice to meet you all.”
“Jillian is going to be water.” He handed a lighter to Finn, who got to work, lighting all the candles. “Let’s get started.”
“We have all the elements present and accounted for.” Vincent stomped on the stone at his feet. “Earth.” He took a deep breath and pounded two fists on his chest. “Air.” He gestured to the candles. “Fire.” He held his arms out at his sides, looking at the small lake around him. “Water…”
“She doesn’t know how to perform the ritual.” Finn looked at Vincent. “I don’t even think she can stand up.”
“Well, then let’s hope the spirits aren’t sticklers for detail.” Vincent paused. “What matters is the intention behind our actions. Our ancestors created these rituals. The idea is to get the spirits’ attention. That means Jillian has to understand where we come from.”
“I’m from Nebraska.” Conner shrugged.
“I don’t think that’s what he meant.” Finn shook his head and looked away.
“I’m talking about what we are; Therianthropes, druids, weres, shifters… Every ancient culture around the globe has legends of human beings that can turn into animals. In places like Egypt and Greece, humans revered them as demi-gods. In places like Romania and North Umbria, they were exiled and cursed out of ignorance and fear.”
“If you were to…” Jillian blushed. “Bite me. Would I become like you?”
“No.” Finn shook his head. “I haven’t been able to figure out what causes it.”
“It’s not a disease.” Conner scowled. “As far as I can tell, it’s not even genetic. Both my parents were human.”
“I guess some of us are just born lucky.” Finn huffed.
“Before the skylines were jagged with skyscrapers,” Vincent continued, ignoring the boys, “they looked to our kind for spiritual guidance. Because we are attuned to nature, we have the ability to commune with the spirit world.”
“What happened?” Jillian glanced around. “Why are there so few of you left?”
“Over time, through their grand achievements, humanity became proud and greedy. Those in power turned their backs on the spirits. They believed that the only way for them to advance was by leaving behind the old ways. That’s what caused what we call The Great Rift. Sometime during the early 1800s, something happened.”
“What?” Jillian urged him to go on.
“All we know is that fewer and fewer cubs were being born. Shamans and oracles became even harder to find. My grandmother was an oracle, but her biological children were human. Her very presence drew shifters from all over; souls that had previously only known loss, rejection, and terror.”
“Where is your grandmother now?” Jillian’s eyes lit up.
It would be nice to talk to another woman about all this.
“My tribe is gone.” Vincent clenched his fists. “But the last vision she had was of a human woman with golden hair who would rise from the river. She said three bears would save her life, and that woman would be the only one who could mend The Great Rift and revive our people.”
Jillian shifted her weight and wiped some flyaway hairs out of her face.
“Guys,” she let out a defeated chuckle, “if this healing ritual depends on me being some chosen savior, you may as well just let me die.”
“You can’t mean that.” Conner shook his head.
“I’m just a spoiled little rich girl.” Her eyes clouded with tears as her voice got a little higher. “I’ve never contributed anything to this world beyond posting pictures of dolphins in fishing nets, but the truth is…” She wiped her nose. “I’m the most useless person there ever was.”
“Look.” Conner crouched to bring his face down to her eye-level. “I was a piece of shit in high-school. All I cared about was football, parties, and girls in that order.”
“You sound like a real dick.” Jillian sniffed with a soft chuckle.
“Yeah?” Conner’s face lit up with a bashful smile, and he glanced down before looking back at her. “But things are different now. I can’t change where I was born or how I was raised. But I do get to decide who I want to be going forward.
