Chapter Twenty Three: Shattering

 Jim pointed to the screen where the site had more links on the cult. Jordan clicked at the links. There was an official page. The Fire of Blood. The name of the religion that Stanley followed. It gave the two teenagers such detail on the cult it baffled their mind. It was right in front of them, everything.
 
 One page explained to them what they needed to know. The Full Moon of Power ritual. A ritual so morbid you would think it was fiction. It described Jordan's dreams perfectly. A mass murder or suicide committed to the sacrifice of the Great Good and the Innocent. This ritual would grant the practitioner an enormous power that was supposed to make the practitioner almost godlike. No one in these days knew if The Full Moon of Power ritual actually worked, for obvious reasons, the law, but I guess no policeman could stop you if you were a ghost, then a ghost God.
 
 "I can't believe this. This is what Stanley is trying to do. This is my dreams. In every detail." Jordan's hands began to shake.
 
 Jim grabbed them lightly in his hands. "It's okay. I mean we know what he is going to do know, and where this all comes from. I guess these people know about the Great Good too, but the Innocent? It seems to be separated from the Great Good. Like it's a different thing."
 
 "It's my mom's baby. They have to sacrifice something innocent, that isn't corrupt by evil or negative things." Jordan took her hand back from Jim. "These people are really sick. Please go get my mom and tell her to bring Cynthia and Loren with her."
 
 A little shook up by the way she took her hand back, Jim just nodded his head and went downstairs to do as she had asked.
 
 Jim leaded the three to Jordan's room. Jordan showed them the site all about Stanley's religion. The Fire of Blood. Vera gasped and put her hand immediately on her stomach when she read with terror in her eyes about The Full Moon of Power ritual. That sick man wanted to kill her baby.
 
 They gathered everyone into the dinning room and told the rest of the coven the horrid information that they got. Everyone was shocked, of course. Someone was trying to use them as sacrifices. That would of course upset anyone.
 
 The one who was in a major state of shock was Demeter. She learned from Jordan that when she was an infant that Stanley tried to use her in the ritual. Thank Goddess Tallulah was there at the time. Otherwise she would be dead by now.
 
 Aimery could sense that her heart was frozen by the gruesome thought that this man tried to do this to her. He leaned over and grabbed her hand. A tear ran down her eyes and he hugged her tight. Georgia hugged her after Aimery hugged her. She grabbed both of their hands and held them tight as if her life depended on it.
 
 Gregg looked at Hestia, she looked back, then looked to Skrina. This was so overwhelming. But of course it was good to know what was going on. Amenia and Shaine quietly sat in the background silently discussing what they thought of everything.
 
 Livia sat by herself, even though everyone surrounded her. She felt totally disturbed. Stanley wanted to do this, she already knew that from hearing Jordan's dreams before, but hearing about the motivation behind it just made her feel ill. She knew he wanted to use her as his puppet, this scared her. She didn't know if she had the strength to resist him.
 
 After the wave of shock that hit the coven fell a bit away Cynthia and Loren called on to do a protection ritual on the coven, then one separately Vera's little child inside her, and Livia since they were going to be the most vulnerable people.
 
 They did their intense ritual. Full of magickal moon air, fire, water, and earth. It felt as if the Goddess was in the room with them. Their bodies charged with energy, protecting their loved ones and themselves. But there was like a hole, something gaping in the circle. It felt dark and grim. Though they didn't concentrate on it, they needed to have their minds focused on the ritual, but it kept scratching at the back of their minds.
 
 "Earth, Wind, and Fire
 Come here and retire.
 Bring your magick to our aid.
 Here are minds, bodies, and souls to be saved.
 Water, Spirit, and Love
 Protect us now as stars shine above."

 The words seemed to echo through the house and through the worlds within the soul. Serenity touched each of the witches on the head. Granting them the power of protection they requested. But there was still that gaping hole. Jordan tried to get it out of her mind, but it was like small torture. Something was here or near that shouldn't be. That made her concentrate more on protecting the people she loved. There was no way she was going to let anything happen to anyone. Janine left her with a big responsibility, one she thought at times she didn't deserve because she was just a girl. Though she knew it was the right thing. The Lady of the Lake said so, and if her guardian believes in her that much, she must be the real thing. So no more complaining, she was a witch with this responsibility and she was going to live up to it and handle them like an adult.
 
 After the ritual everyone relaxed from the intense moment they just had by sitting down and having a drink in the living room.
 
 Gregg walked over to Hestia; he asked her if she felt the hole. She didn't need to say a word, by the look on her face Gregg knew that she did. He went over to Jordan and asked her the same question. She gave a simple yes.
 
 "It's not going to bother me." She said. "I know that I'm going to protect this coven. Even if it means putting my life on the line."
 
 A little taken back by the tone in her voice he managed a smirk. "Well, its good to see you finally have the confidence you should have had a while ago, but hey I'm glad it's here."
 
 She smiled and took a sip of her orange juice. "Thank the Goddess for the Internet otherwise we'd still be in that dark cloud."
 
 "Hey, that's like that hole we felt. A dark cloud." He said peering at Jordan from his under his hat.
 
 "We? Who else felt it? Wait let me guess, Hestia." She smiled slightly.
 
 He nodded his head as she came over. They talked to each other about the dark cloud that came through when they were doing their protection ritual. Hestia shivered when she talked about it.
 
 The hours seemed to go by like minutes. The coven had a nice dinner together. It was nice to be all together, even though the circumstances, but together all as one coven. Some of the families didn't show as often as they wanted because of the distance they lived. But it was nice to know that they will all stick together through thick and thin.
 
 It was now nighttime and everyone was on edge. The moon outside was full and bright. Shining in the house like a silver orb of light. Livia was sitting in a rocking chair near a window gazing at the moonlight rocking back and forth, trying to ease her mind. Georgia, Demeter, and Amenia were sitting on the floor near her talking, and talking to her, trying to keep her mind off of things. It was no use though, that's all she could think of. She didn't take her eyes off the moon, and her rocking in the chair was so rhythmic it was almost hypnotic.
 
 Jordan sat across the room next to her mother. She was watching Livia's actions the entire time. They seemed really strange; they kind of scared her. She looked at her mom. She was talking with Leslie. He took hold of her hand telling her that everything was going to be okay. Jordan liked Leslie; he was a pretty cool guy. It was weird to think that when Vera and Leslie got married Aimery and herself would be stepbrother and sister. She laughed a little to herself. She was so much in love with Aimery at one time. Now she really didn't consider him all that she saw before.
 
 She noticed Aimery go from the other side of the room, talking with Gregg, Jim, Shaine, Kaine, and some other young boy coven members over to where Livia, Demeter, Amenia, and Georgia were. He sat next to Demeter and gave her a kiss on the cheek and quickly joined in the conversation they were having. As if in another world completely Jordan couldn't hear a word they were saying. As if the world she was in went totally mute.
 
 An hour went by, only one hour that seemed to last a lifetime and nothing happened. Jordan didn't know whether to be glad nothing's happen so far or mad that Stanley hasn't done anything yet. She was so anxious to protect everyone, if a pin dropped she would attack it like a cat on a mouse.
 
 Aimery looked up at Livia and gently touched her knee "Hey Livia, you haven't talked like in an hour. Are you okay?"
 
 She jumped and gave him a look. "Yeah, I'm okay." The look erased from her face. "I guess I'm just worried that's all." She looked back out the window at the moon.
 
 "The moon calms her down." Georgia said. "Every time something really bad bothers her she sits by a window and stares at the moon."
 
 "Yeah, the moon is calming." Demeter sighed and looked at it herself. "Though this moon is different, like a warning signal."
 
 Kaine, Gregg, and Jim walked over to where Jordan was. They could see the huntress lurking in her system, and if someone didn't talk to her it looked like she was going to explode.
 
 "Jordan, calm down." Jim said calmly.
 
 She jolted out of her trance. "Sorry, I'm just anxious."
 
 "Anxious..." Kaine said.
 
 "Yeah, I want this to get done and over with. Time is dragging on. He's doing this to torture us." She said aggravated.
 
 "As Jim said, Jordan, calm down. We're all here to help. You don't have to do this alone." Gregg said sitting next to her. Then he put his arm around her. "We won't let anything happen to everyone as much as you won't."
 
 "Thanks guys. Thanks a lot." Her eyes became a little glossy with tears. They didn't notice because she was looking at the ground. Gregg sensed it, but he didn't feel like he needed to say anything.
 
 Another hour passed. This one went by a little more quickly for Jordan since Gregg, Jim, and Kaine were keeping her busy with conversation. Though she didn't let her guard down. She wouldn't allow it.
 
 It felt like forever though for Livia, who was just staring at the moon, ignoring everything and everyone around her. She didn't know why she did this all the time. It was like slow torture and she put herself through it. All the time, and she'd get angry when Georgia would tell her to grow up. Though sometimes she agreed with Georgia, she needed to grow up sometimes.
 
 Eleven o'clock and some of the coven members, especially the elders were getting tired. So they decided to lay down, but not go to sleep. Even though they put up a good fight, some of them fell asleep fast.
 
 A spark of light, invisible to everyone else manifested inside the house. A tiny flame of deep dark red. It took a slithering form of a small snake. It made its way over to Livia and crawled its way up in her lap. With its hot flaming fangs it bit her in the hand. Its venom coursing through her veins into her skin.
 
 "I've got to go to the bathroom. I'll be right back." She said solemnly getting up and making her way to the bathroom.
 
 Jordan looked at Gregg, Kaine, and Jim. "Where is she going?"
 
 "She said she was going to the bathroom." Jim said.
 
 "Yeah and the last time she went to the bathroom Stanley came to her." She got up and made her way to the bathroom. Quietly so Livia wouldn't know she was there, just in case she wasn't alone.
 
 Livia ran some water in the sink and put her hands under the faucet to let the cool liquid splash her hands and fingertips. She cupped some water in her hand and splashed it on her face. She looked at her reflection in the mirror, she watched the water slide down her face. She looked so pale; she looked like all the colour in her skin was drained from her body. Her eyeliner ran down her face, looking like black tears. She took in a deep breath. She knew Stanley was here, and he was coming for her. She didn't know if she'd be strong enough to fight him. As she continued to look at herself in the mirror she contemplated what she was going to do.
 
 Shina and Skrina went over to Gregg, Jim, and Kaine and asked what was up. They saw Jordan creep towards the bathroom after they saw Livia go in there. Gregg tried to explain as much as he knew. "She's just checking on her." Was all he could come up with. He really didn't know what Jordan was doing.
 
 "Livia. It's time." The voice said in her ear.
 
 "No. No. No. I'm not going to help you. Leave me alone." She put her hands to her ears.
 
 "Livia, why do you fight me?" The voice said. Even though she had her hands over her ears it was like as if it was inside her head. "When you help me, I'm going to reward you with the power you've always wanted."
 
 "I don't want power like that. If I get any power I'm going to earn it in a good way. Not your way Stanley. Leave me alone." Her nails scratched down her face.
 
 The voice laughed. It seemed amused. "Livia you can whatever you want. You can have the life that you want. If you want to be a queen, you'll be a queen. If you want to be a Goddess, I'll make you a Goddess."
 
 "Leave me alone. I know what I'd have to do to get all that from you. I'd rather wait a thousand years to get what I want, than get it from you. Now leave me alone." Her hands clenched into fists ready to pound the voice if it became visible to her.
 
 "I tried to make it easy on you. But you wouldn't follow my rules. Now we do it the difficult way." A wind filled the room and the window flew open. A form appeared floating in front of the window. Livia knew it was him.
 
 A scream came from inside the bathroom. Gregg, Jim, Kaine, and Jordan all rushed to the bathroom door. Calling for Livia to open the door, all they could hear where her screams. Gregg and Kaine tried knocking the door down. But it wouldn't budge. The other coven members could only watch in terror. Hearing Livia scream. Then silence.
 
 "Livia?" Jordan said.
 
 No answer.
 
 "Livia?!" Jordan screamed.
 
 No answer.