Rideten, Five Years Before Rideten, like Havermouth, was a historic town, and many of the original houses remained along the tree-lined streets. The house which Bianca led Aislen to held shadows of the same architecture as the river house in the ramshackle roofline with dormer windows peeking out, the wrap around veranda with intricate and ornate ironwork like lace edging, and sandstone brickwork. It was set behind a hedge that had to be as old as the house from its height and denseness. The garden was framed by roses, within which was arranged what seemed from a distance to be a vegetable garden, however, close up, Aislen realized that the plants were not vegetables, but rather herbs and weeds that were planted with deliberation and careful labelling. “I know it looks weird to people, but you have to understand that many weeds aren’t actually weeds,” Bianca told her. “We are taught here that as the role of women in the home and community changed, women’s knowledge and magic was str

Rideten, Five Years Before A women’s circle involved a gathering of women of all age groups, backgrounds, shape and size. They arrived alone, or in groups of friends or family. Grandmothers, mothers and daughters, aunts and nieces, childhood friends, schoolteachers and home makers – women from every walk of life. They entered carrying with them wine which they added to the communal table and drank out of vintage teacups as they giggled, and chatted, and shared the news of their week, their family and friends. They accepted Aislen’s presence with warmth and curiosity, and she was passed from group to group, repeating the same information about herself – where she was from, where she was studying, how long she had been in Rideten, and whether she liked it. As she and Bianca circulated, Aislen soon determined that there were three different types of women present – those who came for the socialization and did not truly believe in magic, those devotees that believed passionately in magic

Rideten, Five Years Before There was a lot of noise in the background, many voices talking and laughing, with the occasional girlish shriek interspersed. Aislen was certain that she could hear Rhett’s voice, and then Cameron’s, and that almost brought her to her knees. “Hello?” She said again. “Aislen,” it was Heath. There was static on the line. “Are you there? F-k this,” he said with an irritated sigh. “I’m here, I here,” she garbled out hastily. “Heath - ” “The signal is bad tonight,” he told her, interrupting. “I can’t move from this spot, or I will lose it, so you’re just going to have put up with the background noise.” “Heath,” she fought back tears, pressing her hand to her mouth. “I… Well, I am…” Bianca made a small noise of sympathy and reached out, placing her hand on Aislen’s back. (Poor thing. What sort of jerk-off would…) “Aislen, you need to stop calling the Edisons,” he said tightly. “You’re causing problems. I can’t believe that you can cause problems and not eve

Rideten, Five Year BeforeAislen parked down the street as the on-street parking was already occupied directly outside of Stella’s house and walked the distance. Even as she approached the hedge, she could hear voices chanting in harmony. The gardens were busy with women weaving through the rows of herbs and the rose beds taking clippings, dressed in flowing dresses and flower crowns. Aislen looked down at her black dress and felt immediately out of the place. White and the colours of nature were predominant amongst the other women.“Ah, there you are,” Stella greeted her warmly as she stepped onto the porch. She was weaving flower crowns and garlands with two other women, one of whom she recognized as the witch who had performed the sage cleansing the night before. “This is Juniper, and you will remember Daisy? This is Aislen.”Daisy smiled and examined the basket of flower crowns. “Which one…” she murmured. “Ah, this one for you, I think. Rue to purify, lavender to calm, yarrow for

Havermouth, Five Years BeforeThe OBGYN doctor’s surgery was inside of a residential house that had been converted in an effort to appear welcoming and homely for its patients. Aislen, however, felt anything but welcome or at home. She sat uncomfortably in the waiting room, hiding behind a magazine.It was Aislen’s third visit, and she had decided that the feeling that she was in the wrong place was going to persist throughout her pregnancy. The adoption agency had been recommended to her through the coven, and the OBYGYN was connected to the agency. She knew that it wasn’t the surgery’s fault that she felt like she did - they were, in fact, very nice to her – it was her own relationship to her pregnancy that was to blame, and her obsession with what the other patients waiting to be seen made of the black clad and very obviously alone teenager amongst them.She could use her telepathy to find out – she was beginning to develop some control, both in choosing to hear, and, more often, n