The Squad – Saturday, September 26th, 2020

     It was the first time Vincent had been into the basement, his third time in the building overall. The past two times, the shop had been emptier, just the two employees and maybe a few more people. But now it was packed, wall-to-wall almost. The only thing keeping the people away from the altar itself was the outline of the ritual circle, traced long ago in chalk and made permanent by a mosaic of colored stones cemented into the basement floor.

     Vincent’s back was currently pressed to the wall, his hand held by his ever-present loyal friend who had grabbed it the moment he had noticed the nerves tightening Vincent’s shoulders. Dan knew his best friend was an introvert, and crowds would kick that personality trait into high gear. So Dan squished Vincent’s fingers in his own, giving him a tether to the Earth so he didn’t float away.

     The coven mother was speaking, her voice carrying easily to every corner of the room. Earlier, when the room was emptier, Vincent had noted that there were no speakers and Alexis wore no microphone. So was it magic, or was she just an excellent speaker? He wanted to ask, raise his hand like in class, but she’d already turned and begun a different speech.

     “She’s calling the quarters. She’ll face each direction and ask the elements to join our workings.” His spine straightened as breath tickled his ear, a lock of hair that wasn’t his falling onto his shoulder. Katiyana was whispering to him, as low as she could so as to not disturb the ritual. As soon as Vincent realized who had snuck up on him, his shoulders lowered from his ears. Katiyana’s hand patted between his shoulder blades, a silent apology, and they returned to listening to Alexis call upon the elements.

     With a final turn around the circle, Alexis faced north, stretching her arms and fingertips toward the floor as if reaching for the Earth itself. “Great Mother, we call upon your energy, your power, to be with us at this Mabon rite. Assist us in our workings, we beseech thee!”

     What felt like a deep rumbling pushed upward through the soles of Vincent’s shoes. He looked down, expecting the cement floor to be cracking, but nothing. A glance to Dan revealed
he didn’t or couldn’t feel it, and a glance to Katiyana revealed her conspiratorial smile. Their eyes met, and Katiyana’s smile stretched into a reassuring grin, nudging her arm gently against his.

     Alexis’s voice was replaced by another. This one was deeper, reverberating, sonorous. And familiar! Vincent pulled his gaze away from Katiyana’s captivating smile to see a face he’d seen almost every weekend for the past five years. Dorell, the head librarian, was now speaking. “We honor today our harvest, our abundance, and the deepening shadow. We step today toward the darkest part of the year, where we give thanks for all we have and all we are able to take into the cold months.” It sounded nearly like a sermon the way he said it, even though instead of having his hands placed purposefully on a pulpit or held reverently together, Dorell had his raised on either side, his head bowed, eyes closed. He continued with his speech, speaking of the transitions of the seasons and the passage of time, the shortening of the light. Dark and cold were not to be feared, but welcomed. Accepted as a necessity. It was a time to reflect and prepare, to dig inside yourself and pull from your own warmth rather than outside sources.

     Dorell and Alexis took turns calling in deities, some Greek, some Celtic, some Egyptian. They asked for each one’s assistance in their workings just as she had asked the elements. Vincent was desperately trying to memorize everything, commit it all to memory, and found himself suddenly ungrounded. The dense, heavy energy that had folded around him was dissipating, floating away from him, and his ears began ringing.

     Katiyana saw him flinch out of the corner of her eye, glanced over to see the hard set of his jaw, and reached out gently for his hand. Her fingers slid between his, pressing her fingertips between his knuckles and situating her palm flat against his.

     The energy returned to Vincent nearly immediately.

     They remained like that through the rest of the ritual, a linked trio with both of the edges doing their best to keep the middle present and calm. Little did they know, he was overwhelmingly aware of every single energy in the room.

     Dorell was speaking of gratitude now, of thanking those on the island that took care of her citizens, the security force and emergency responders and firefighters, and anyone else with a role that meant public service of the noblest sort. He asked the gathered crowd to add their gratitude to the workings, to send it into the island below and add the thankfulness to their ley
lines. It was nothing for Katiyana, who had done this every year since she was seven. Dan did the best he could, though he didn’t understand what Dorell meant when he said send energy down. Vincent closed his eyes, bowed his head, and let his breath out in a slow trickle, asking his gratitude to go with it and his bitterness to remain within him. Mother Earth took both, anyway.

     Alena, Fleur, and Jamari found the trio during the brief interlude where the altar was moved from the center of the room and against a wall, to make room for the dance. The two trios were reunited as a whole, even though they’d only been across the room from each other.

     The dance involved holding hands, arms crossed in front of you to cling to either person at your sides. Vincent positioned himself between Dan and Katiyana on purpose, and sighed silently, gratefully, when the rest of the Squad filled in on either side. He would be well separated from others.

     The footwork was tricky at first, Dan and Vincent slowly figuring out what their friends already knew and had long practiced. Suddenly it all made sense that the rest of the Squad had made sure the boys were between them.

     As they caught on, everyone was able to move faster and faster, most participants allowing their delight to escape into laughter, everyone smiling adoringly. It was hard not to feel joyful when everyone was a single wrong step from a hilarious domino effect.

     The crowd twisted around, three concentric circles moving clockwise and gathering all the gratitude, love, and joy they could. They’d already sent some into the ley lines, but once you looked out into the room to see your fellow citizens laughing, more was easy to find.

     The music rose to a glorious crescendo. Alexis and Dorell broke away from the innermost circle to stand back-to-back in the middle, their spots quickly and easily filled by reaching hands. They snapped their arms up at the same time, and half a heartbeat later everyone had stopped and followed suit, laughter filling the space where music had been.

     Basking in the moment was easy; Vincent’s heartbeat was pounding in his ears and his breath was ragged, but his heart felt full in a way it never had before.