Page 49 of The Goddess is Awakened
“No way,” West said. “I’ve seen Drake. That boy needs friends. He knows sign language, which means he’s cool. We should totally adopt him.”
West and his strays. He wasn’t wrong. Church wasn’t leaving either. West had seen this before, but I hoped Church knew what he was getting into. After everything his dad did to him, he didn’t strike me as the type to freak out over literally anything but pretty witches who tasted good.
I hadn’t contacted any of the spirits that haunted these grounds yet because I didn’t have any questions, but I brought supplies from home and West picked up the rest at the supernatural market.
We were just waiting on Drake and that had to be him at the door.
ren
Oscar’s Abuela had been teaching him to do this since we were children, but when we started dating, she pulled me aside and made me swear to never let him do this alone. I couldn’t do a damned thing with a spirit, but I could ground him if they didn’t want to leave.
We weren’t supposed to light candles and incense with magic, but Oscar said Professor Jinx told them in Arcane Magic they could do it with a lighter. I’d seen witches do this before and Oscar did some things similar and some different. They both made a circle of black salt for protection but Oscar used white candles instead of black.
I didn’t know Drake, but I appreciated him not being offensive when he asked Oscar for this. He seemed cool we were all here, too. Drake didn’t pitch a fit that West, Church, and I were staying. And he signed when he was talking to us, too.
“Hey. I’m Drake. Thank you so much for doing this for me.”
“No problem. This is West, my translator, Ren, my boyfriend, and Church, our roommate. This is a little different from when witches do it. I’ll actually be taking a spirit in me. It might get pretty hairy for a bit until I can get control, but you’ll be speaking to the ghost through me and Chantico. It would usually just be me, but I doubt the ghost knows sign language.”
Drake just nodded in awe. He joined Oscar in the salt circle and they joined hands. Oscar started rocking as he chanted to invoke a spirit. He choked and sputtered as the ghost took over and tried to get used to his body. Oscar’s eyes went white when he opened them again, which meant the ghost was there. He rolled his shoulders and shuddered. When he spoke again, it was a female voice that came out of his mouth.
“It’s always strange when we get a brujo here. For the longest time, we didn’t. The first time we got one, it was quite the experience. Mary used to be our spokesperson, but we got a brujo and a bruja the first time. She didn’t want to leave the bruja anddid notreact well to being in the brujo. Anyway, I’ll tell you the same thing we told George. We won’t help the pretty god.”
What the fuck? I knew George was getting private lessons from Azren because of her dad. What was Drake’s deal? And what in the world was Azren trying to find out?
“I wasn’t asking about that. I wanted to show you a photo. Do you know this woman? She would have been a few years younger when she was here. This is my mother. She and my dad were murdered when I was a baby. She was here, but she left before she could graduate. My mom was on scholarship and I know she wouldn’t have left without a reason.”
The ghost in Oscar just looked at him sadly. This was always the fucked-up part for me. It was my boyfriend, but someone else was occupying him.
“This ties in with the pretty god’s question. Your mother got involved in something she shouldn’t have. It was quite by accident. Wrong place, wrong time. We can’t help you.”
“Because you are mad at Azren,” Drake said slowly.
That was kind of shit. I was dying to know what Azren was trying to find out from the ghosts, but it wasn’t my business. They could at least tell Drake what happened to his mom. I couldn’t imagine losing mine.
“Because of our descendants. We must keep them safe. We put you in your mother’s old dorm. That’s the most we can do for now.”
“Thanks. What’s your name?”
“Bethany. I speak for the campus ghosts. Thank you for not getting upset.”
Oscar slumped, and I guided him to his back. West had seen this before. Bethany was done talking and left. West blew out the candles.
“Is he going to be okay?” Drake asked.
“He’ll sleep until morning. This happens every time,” I said.
West heaved Oscar up and carried him to bed.
“Kind of a dick move not helping you,” Church said.
The lights in our dorm flickered and a shrieking ghost went flying through Church. Fuck! Church just pissed off a ghost. I didn’t know what Azren’s deal was, but I was pretty sure our dorm was going to be haunted as fuck until Church made amends.
george
Church just had to piss off the campus ghosts two days before Samhain. They were fucking with him so hard over breakfast, I thought he pissed off every witch and pixie at this school. He ended up with heavily sugared eggs, salt in his coffee, and everyone's butter was fine except his. Church ended up with spoiled butter. They served fresh-made butter here, so there were no preservatives. Church spat his bagel out and groaned.
“Not the butter, too. That’s the best part. Can a witch or a brujo ask the ghosts to knock it off?”
