Chapter Ten; Part One
“We must first fill the room with incense.” Wind had been gracious enough to come over that night in answer to my urgent plea. I knew that I had to seal that damn portal, no matter how much I wanted to remain connected to Lucifer. “We need to chase the bad spirits out.” She lit some incense—jasmine, by the smell of it—and handed several sticks to me, keeping several for herself. She started waving them in the air, indicating that I should follow suit. I did, but I felt ridiculous doing so. I didn’t buy into that New-Agey shit, no matter how couched it was in Eastern lingo. Still, Wind was the expert; I would listen to her until it became too ludicrous for me to do so.
“Close your eyes while I say a quick prayer to the goddess.” I obeyed, my rational mind thinking it’d be better to pray to God in this case. I sent Him a brief word as well, figuring it best to hedge my bets.
“Mighty Goddess, listen to my pleas. Help this woman be strong against the influence of the Dark Prince. She needs your strength—do not fail her now.” Wind started humming a tune I didn’t recognize, and I kept my eyes closed. I was starting to feel stupid when Wind instructed me to bow deeply before opening my eyes. I had a hunch God was roaring with laughter at our feeble antics, but I kept that opinion to myself.
“Now, sit on the floor cross-legged while I set a few things in place.” Wind’s tone was bossy as she rummaged through her bag. As she was doing me a favor, I tried not to take offense. I watched as she took out a heap of sage and placed a bundle in each corner of the living room. She seemed to think my living room contained the actual portal though I first saw the Morningstar in my bathroom. She said she’d fortify each room later, but the living room was the focus of her attention.
After she lit the sage on fire, she popped a CD in my player and pressed play. Some flute music wafted out of my speakers, grating on my nerves. How could I take this seriously when everything about it screamed hokey? I tried to clear my mind of negative thoughts, but it was difficult. I watched in disbelief as Wind started hopping and jumping around the room. I assumed she was trying to mimic an Indian dance, but the jerkiness of her movements made it hard to discern. She hummed under her breath to the tune on the CD player, totally involved in what she was doing. She lifted her hands upwards, beseeching the Goddess to hear our cries. As she was the only one crying out, I thought she was stretching the truth a bit.
“God,” I muttered softly. What the fuck had I gotten myself into? Was I just making things worse with this idiotic behavior on the part of Wind? Who the fuck knew?
“Margaret, come here.” Wind’s voice snapped me out of my funk. I rose and crossed over to her. She made a new bundle of sage and lit it before waving it over my head. I sneezed several times, but Wind kept waving. Just when I was going to grab the shit out of her hand and throw it as far as possible, she stopped. “Hold this.” She gave me the bundle before rummaging through her bag again. This time, she pulled out a box of white chalk and drew out a stick.
“Hey, what the fuck are you doing with that?” I asked in alarm as she started for one of my maroon-colored walls.
“I have to mark your walls,” Wind explained, drawing a symbol on one of my walls.
“You can’t do that!” I exclaimed, grabbing her drawing arm. “Stop!”
“I have to,” Wind retorted, jerking away from me. I stood back helplessly as she continued to mark my walls with esoteric symbols. Thank God it was only chalk which could be easily wiped off. Or so I hoped.
