Chapter 6

Maddie woke up and stared into the dark. It took her a moment to realize that she was lying on her own bed with her clothes on.

 Apparently, she had been left to sleep and not called for dinner.

Maddie sat on the edge of the bed and saw on her mobile that it was the middle of the night. The moon shone into her room and she saw that it was a waxing moon, spreading a bright light. It gave her energy that resonated in her body and she enjoyed it for a moment.

She got up, walked to the door, and wanted to go to the sink to brush her teeth. Suddenly she heard something in the hallway and looked carefully through the crack in the door.

She saw Silke pass by, who quickly pulled Raven by his hand. She heard the bass of his voice but couldn't understand the words. Silke pulled him down the stairs. Maddie did not hesitate, she followed them curiously. She had to admit that what Esmee had said about them both troubled her. She wondered if it could be true. Whether they were in love. It gave her a strange feeling in her heart area, it almost hurt. She also felt angry with Raven and therefore needed to know what was going on.

She ran carefully down the stairs and just saw how Raven and Silke disappeared into the library. Maddie listened at the thick door and caught fragments of the conversation. Silke said something about Scotland and a rainbow and Raven grumbled an answer about it. She certainly heard him deny something and her name was mentioned a few times too.

‘Stupid, thick doors,’ Maddie thought, she couldn't follow the whole story like that. Carefully she tried to open the door ajar. She peeked through.

She felt her cheeks warming from what she saw and she felt a sudden rush of anger and pain. There on the sofa sat Raven, and Silke held his head in both her hands. She kissed Raven full on his mouth and he just allowed it!

He also kissed her back passionately and then pulled her into strong arms! Silke smiled contentedly and got up, pulling him by his hand.

In horror, Maddie saw them walk to the door and she ran into the toilet in the hallway to hide. She heard them walk past and then open the door to the basement. Maddie decided to follow them. She wanted to know what was happening and what was going on.

Silke and Raven were dating? And where did they go? She went down the cellar stairs to the stone-carved stairs and crept down. Silke still held Raven's hand and looked up at him with great joy for a moment. There was no more sorrow or misery to be seen. Just a triumph.

Silke put her hand on the blue door.

Maddie just saw that Raven looked back, then they disappeared. She was startled by the blank look she had seen in his eyes. It was as if he was not there himself. Maddie ran to the blue door.

Where had they traveled? How the hell did that magic work? She put her hand on the door, but of course, nothing happened.

She suddenly felt very worried. Was Raven in danger? Her feeling said he was, while her head was still angry about the kiss.

For a moment she was transfixed and then she decided to wake up to Rodolf, he might know what to do.

She ran up two flights of stairs and arrived at the blue room where Rodolf was staying. She knocked and when she got no reply, she opened the door boldly. Rodolf lay across his bed. His long legs protruded from under the covers. His redhead of hair was even more tangled than usual. His breathing was calm, indicating that he was sleeping.

‘Rodolf, Rodolf!’ Maddie shook his shoulder hard. He jerked upward.

‘I'm already going to school,’ he muttered and opened his eyes. ‘Maddie?’ She told him briefly what she had seen.

‘That look was that of a sleepwalker,’ she said, ‘totally emotionless.’

‘Let me get dressed first,’ Rodolf said, swinging his long legs out of bed. Maddie looked in shock when she saw his underpants and looked the other way. She heard the sounds that indicated  he put on his jeans.

‘I'll wake Esmee,’ said Maddie quickly and walked to the pink room. Esmee was also fast asleep. She was well under the covers with a stuffed animal in her hands. Her long blonde hair was still in a braid. She, too, jerked upward and promised to get dressed quickly, when she finally understood why she was being awakened so roughly.

Maddie walked back and forth in the library, nervously waiting for the others. What could have happened? What had she actually heard and seen? And what did that all mean? What was the matter with Raven? Esmee and Rodolf arrived at the same time and Maddie explained exactly what she had heard and seen.

‘Well, he probably won’t be in love with her,’ Esmee concluded. ‘He was just taken by that witch. She gave him a spell, of course, with a kiss.’ ‘Rodolf had a wrinkle in his forehead and stroked his red beard as he thought. ‘I read about that once.’

He ran to the bookcase and started collecting books. He brought it to the large oval table in the middle of the library.

‘Look for Pixies and a kiss,’ he ordered generally.

‘What are Pixies?’ asked Maddie.

Rodolf and Esmee looked up at the same time.

‘Fairies, the nasty kind, ‘Esmee explained briefly,’ who are also known for seducing men with an enchanted kiss.

‘Oh. ‘

Maddie felt stupid, but also eagerly searched for all kinds of information. Rodolf also got his laptop.

‘Here I have something,’ Esmee said, her eyes sliding over the words in a book. ‘Oh, no, sorry, ‘Witte Wieven’ have white hair, of course.’

Maddie's eyes widened with shock.

‘Before they disappeared through the door, I saw that Silke had grown white hair!’

‘Are you sure?’ Rodolf's voice was tense.

Maddie nodded, admittedly she had only paid attention to Raven and the shock of the look in his staring eyes had taken her focus from Silke. But she suddenly remembered clearly. ‘Yes, white hair!’

‘That changes things,’ murmured Rodolf, feverishly reaching for other books to search for information.

‘Witte Wieven’ lived in thorps,’ Esmee read aloud, looking up at Rodolf in disbelief.

‘Terpen,’ Rodolf translated without looking up, and Esmee nodded understandingly. ‘We must look for the reason why she needs Raven. Is there anything else you remember Maddie? Special clothing? Something in his hand? ‘

‘No, he was wearing the shirt he was already wearing in the afternoon. And where Silke dried her fake tears! ‘said Maddie, snarling, feeling angry at the memory.

‘Tears,’ said Rodolf thoughtfully and read from a book. ‘Witte wieven’ are witches who travel through mounds and do not live there, as was always thought. The mounds are gateways to other areas and even other countries. These were closed for them after they lost most of their powers to Kenneth MacAlpin, the Pictavian king from Alba. He restricted their black magic.‘His eyes raced over the words. ‘Opening the important gate to Stonehenge through Hintlop and Gizeh in Egypt, need the tears of lost love or other deep loss. And then, very importantly, the blood of a descendant of the Pictavian king of Alba!’

‘That's it!’ Esmee exclaimed.

Maddie looked questioningly at Esmee.

‘Of course Silke's tears are in his shirt! She was so sad and upset when he had to comfort her, ‘Esmee explained.

‘She's taken Raven by casting a love spell on him and then she has to make him bleed somewhere,’ Rodolf continued. ‘And that doesn't seem that difficult to me.’

‘But what about that?’ Maddie looked at Rodolf questioningly, ‘Is he a descendant of that Pictavian king?’

Rodolf nodded. 'Yes. They need his blood and that shirt with those tears to open the gates, although there must be a bit more to it, I suppose. That Kenneth was probably not that stupid, to make it so simple that they get their powers back in no time. ‘

‘But where did they go?’ asked Esmee.

‘Where they can make the gate,’ Maddie reasoned and grabbed a book as well, ‘maybe to Scotland, because I heard them mention it.’

‘Witte Wieven’ travel through mounds. Which mound has anything to do with Scotland? ‘Esmee thought aloud.

‘Or with a place in Scotland,’ mused Rodolf, not seeing the connection himself. ‘I think they are going to open a gate. In Stonehenge, Gizeh or

Hintlop, but what does that have to do with Scotland?’

'What is going on here?'

Omem stood in her red robe and slippers in the doorway.

There was a moment of silence, then Rodolf briefly told her what had happened and what they had already discovered. Witte wieven, who wanted to open a large portal, which had been closed for centuries. A magical connection through Hintlop, Stonehenge, and Gizeh. And this, with the help of tears of deep sorrow and the blood of the descendant of the Pictavian king of Alba. And that heir was probably Raven.

‘And no one thought of waking me up?’ asked Omem, her voice stern.

‘No,’ they said in unison.

‘Well that's clear,’ said Omem, putting on her reading glasses. ‘Maddie and Rodolf, go and look in Silke's room to see if there is any indication of where they went. Esmee, you come to the kitchen with me. We need herbs!’

She looked over her glasses for a moment.

‘And yes, Raven is the heir to Kenneth MacAlpin, the pictorial king.’

  

Rodolf and Maddie ran up the two flights of stairs to the green room. It was chaos in that room. Everything had been turned upside down. Maddie found the remains of three types of plants among the junk. Those of the wood anemone, lily of the valley, and the wood binge herb. All three very poisonous and good to use in a love spell or coercion spell.

Rodolf found another piece of quartzite on the bedside table and drew a conclusion.

‘This must be from Schiehalion in Scotland, the so-called fairytale hill, also a mound. You can also find all those ingredients that you have just found there. Schiehalion is located on Loch Rannoch, the Lake of Ferns in Scotland.’

His eyes glittered with the information that came up in him, Maddie saw and grinned. Sometimes he was like an walking encyclopedia.

‘Schiehalion also has to do with the ‘witte wieven’, because all those ingredients come from there. And I also red a story about an island in that water. It will probably also have to do with the ceremony they want to use Raven for.‘

Maddie looked at him and did not understand all of that information. She just thought he should hurry. The longer it lasted, the longer Raven was in danger! With the information they found, they quickly returned to Omem, who in the meantime, had made herbal pouches together with Esmee.

'Listen carefully. The three of you are going to get him back. This pouch is to retrieve Raven from the twilight zone he resides in by the spell. It has the rune sign Eihwaz on it, which means traveling through the worlds. Remember it well! Make sure Raven is himself again before traveling back through a gate. He must be out of that spell! That's vital! ‘Omem looked sternly at them from over her glasses and her voice was curt. ‘This pouch has the rune sign of Elhaz, the oak. This protects you while traveling. And this third amulet is to travel further if necessary. It has the rune sign Laguz on it which means water. It's to help cross over to Stonehenge or Scotland.’

She gave Maddie another spell, which she had to use to get Raven out of the spell he was under.

‘We can travel through the Martini Church, which is also built on a mound,’ Esmee spat out her acquired wisdom and glanced around triumphantly. Packed heavily and sacked, with the herbal amulets and the papers with the necessary spells, they went to the basement of Omem's house. That's how they arrived in the room with the doors. Rodolf put his hand on the symbol of travel that was on the door.

The same gate that brought Omem and Maddie to the station. That seemed so long ago, Maddie thought. It seemed like centuries ago.

Rodolf spoke his spell.

‘Skip the road from the train, get us quickly. I speak in rhyme, back to the Martini Church on time.’

In a flash, they arrived, under the monument, in the tunnel. Esmee looked for the door with the symbol of water and earth to travel to Stonehenge. The symbol and the correct door appeared when it was clear what you wanted to do.

‘Tunnel goddess, we want to go overseas quickly and not back yet.

  I call the name where we want to be, the name is. ‘

'Stop!'

Maddie let go of tiher hands, breaking the important contact to be able to travel together.

'No. We're not going through this! ‘Maddie felt great resistance. She reached out her hands. She felt a kind of warmth and concentrated.

That warmth triggered everything in her that had to do with Raven.

She walked over to a number of doors that appeared and put her hands on a red door. A symbol of an ibex and a doe appeared on it.

‘What is this Rodolf?’ she asked.

‘Now a gate to Hintlop's mound,’ he replied, ‘it also has that connection with Stonehenge and actually also with Gizeh in Egypt.’

‘Hintlop, the place where my mother lives?’ Maddie held her concentration.

‘The same I assume.’ Rodolf shrugged. ‘So we're not going to Stonehenge?’

‘How do we get through that red door?’ Esmee asked hesitantly, ‘we didn't get a spell for that.’

‘Magic is the intention,’ Maddie heard herself say. Raven had said that , and the intention was magic. She held the amulet with the runic sign of the oak she placed that on the door.

‘Raven went through this, I'm sure!’ She could almost feel Raven.

‘Okay,’ admitted Rodolf, ‘we'll do it your way!’

 ‘Gate, in the name of the god and goddess, send us where we need to go. Traveling fast at high speed, with fullforce not low.’

Maddie concentrated on Hintlop and on Raven as much as she could and with all her heart. Suddenly a flash and they stood outside a church. Maddie recognized that building, because she had seen it when she had been with Raven to visit her mother.

‘No tunnel?’ Esmee asked, looking around uncertainly.

‘The amulet protects us from danger, the entrance to the church may not be safe,’ said Rodolf.

Maddie nodded that sounded logical.

‘Raven is here somewhere.’ She suddenly whispered, ‘I can feel him. Let's go into the church.‘

Maddie was sure. When she closed her eyes she could almost see him.

 It was a small church build between the houses. It was very foggy outside.

‘Witte wieven,’ Esmee whispered intently, ‘don't they also travel with the mist Rodolf?’

He nodded and discovered that the front door was open.

So they entered a corridor and saw that the church of yesteryear had just become a house.

Suddenly they heard noises and a flickering light came from one of the rooms. They carefully crept closer.

In a room, in a semicircle, stood five women in white cloaks around a copper bowl in which a fire burned.

They all had long white hair and chanted a strange tune in an ancient language, Gaelic.

‘Peadóga bán tá muid uile.

(Witte wieven are all of us)

Cuir linn an tuar ceatha (take us to the rainbow) a travésde bágoas de amor e do sangue da fonte

(through tears of love and the blood of the well.)

 They uttered the same words over and over, in a monotonous rhythm, and the fire in the great bowl flared up high.

Then one of the women walked slowly forward.

Raven was on his knees on the ground next to the fire bowl. Motionless, as if frozen in time, with blind eyes and a staring gaze.

With one movement, the woman cut his shirt and pulled it off. He barely moved, as if he hadn't noticed.

She whispered something in his ear and Maddie suspected it was a spell. He jerked as if hit by something, and old wounds poured blood, the scars on his chest opened.

The woman caught the blood with a silver spoon and threw it into the fire.

The fire flared up equally high with a bright red glow.

‘Fire, take this blood from the king's heir and color the bow, release the crystal and give it to me without further ado,’ she cried.

Then she threw Raven's shirt into the fire.

‘Fire, take these tears of lost love and color the bow, now give me the crystal, let the magic flow!’

Maddie saw Silke, who stared at the fire with glittering eyes.

Beautiful blue-green colors appeared in the fire and the witte wieven were excited and happy. But suddenly the fire started to crackle loudly and the colors mixed into a kind of lavender-blue that turned into a purple glow.

The fire flared even higher. Chaos ensued, which ended in an enormous shower of fire from the copper bowl, like a fountain of hot coals.

‘There are tears of an eternal love in it!’ screamed the older woman and took cover from the sparks, ‘these protect him and the crystal!’

In all that chaos and noise, Raven sat motionless on his knees and stared blankly ahead.

Thin streams of blood still ran down his chest.

Maddie felt horrified at what had happened to Raven, but the sparks did not hit him, almost as if he were protected by an umbrella.

 ‘Come on, Esmee!’ she cried, ‘we're going to get Raven!’

Maddie ran towards him as fast as she could with the amulet and spell in her hand. She quickly put the amulet around his neck and began to say the words from the note that Omem had given him. While she tried to avoid the sparks. She covered her head with her arm. ‘In the world of twilight, you are still trapped, ignite the light along the path…’

 Suddenly an enraged Silke faced her, snatched the paper with the spell from her hand, pulled the amulet from Raven's neck, and threw everything into the fire.

‘Eternal love, ha, too bad you lost him forever!’ She snapped and her eyes looked at Maddie, almost triumphantly. Maddie heard spells that conjured up a white mist that suddenly surrounded them.

She literally couldn't see a thing.

Just as suddenly, the mist disappeared through the window and the Witte wieven had disappeared too.

‘The Witte wieven travel through that mist,’ Rodolf sighed with relief, ‘they are gone.’

‘Nice to hear that science,’ Esmee thought out loud, ‘but how do we get Raven out of that twilight world? We can't let him travel while he's still in the twilight zone. That is perilous, said omem.‘

‘I don't remember the spell!’ Maddie felt panic raging through her body. She hated seeing Raven like that. The strong Raven, kneeling on the ground like a victim, in a kind of twilight zone, with a gaze in his beautiful blue eyes. The fire in the copper bowl had almost died out, as quickly as it had flared up.

Rodolf had seen bookcases at the enterence and hoped there was something that he could use. Esmee went with him to help him with the search.

Maddie knelt next to Raven. It broke her heart to see him like that.

It made him so vulnerable. She only knew him as a source of support. As he sat there it touched her heart deeply. She sighed and took his face between her hands.

'Raven? Dear Raven, please wake up.’

She tried to reach him, but he didn't respond. He was stuck in the twilight zone that Maddie could not reach.

'Raven? Oh, Raven.’Tears of frustration and sorrow came to her eyes. He had to come back. She couldn't imagine life without his presence.

On a whim, she pressed a desperate kiss to his cold lips.

She looked at him, but he didn't respond.

‘Raven,’ she said softly, ‘I can't live without you, just come back now. I need you.'

She kissed him again, realizing she liked the kissing.

It was a long kiss and she closed her eyes.

Suddenly he kissed her back. The passion in the kiss grew, he pulled her towards him reflexively and she felt the warmth of his bare body. She put her arms tightly around him, enjoying his mouth on hers.

Suddenly he woke up completely.

‘Maddie!’

It sounded shocked, but also pleasantly surprised.

‘Raven, oh Raven you are back!’

Tears of joy sprang to her blue eyes and she kissed his mouth enthusiastically again. He put his arms around her more tightly and this time it was he who kissed her. All his passion and desire lay in that kiss. Everything he had suppressed for so long.

Then she leaned against him for a moment. She realized what she was doing and let go of him. She studied him. Not sure how he felt about waking up with her mouth on hers. Raven stood up laboriously, without breaking eye contact with her, and she stood up too.

'Raven!'

Esmee came running enthusiastically, with Rodolf in her wake.

‘How did you do that?’ Esmee asked Maddie in disbelief and looked at her enthusiastically.

Maddie felt her cheeks flush.

‘Let's go,’ said Raven, glancing at her furtively. ‘Where are we actually?’

His eyes suddenly looked at her for a long time and she saw warmth in them. Maybe even love? Or was it rejection? Maddie got confused about it.

Esmee began to talk enthusiastically about everything that had happened and went on again.

‘Esmee, we must go!’ Rodolph said urgently, putting his arm around Raven as he staggered.

‘There is a portal behind this curtain,’ Raven led the way, and no one wondered how he knew. Maddie hung the amulet of protection around his neck.

‘You need it,’ she said softly, giving him a shy look.

He didn't sputter but nodded.

They all gave eighothers a hand and Raven made sure that they immediately ended up in the basement of omem, without any detours. But nobody really noticed.

Rodolf helped Raven up the stairs to the basement and from there to the hallway. Raven nearly collapsed.

‘Sorry,’ he muttered, as it nearly made Rodolf lose his balance.

His voice was weak and Maddie was worried. She saw how pale he was and the look he sent her was that of heavy weariness.

She could feel his energy waning.

Omem ran over quickly and sent them all to the library, where Rodolf helped Raven to the bed that suddenly appeared there.

‘I have a drink for your son,’ said Omem, and the concern echoed in her voice, ‘Silke has used very aggressive poisonous plants for quick effect. That has to get out of your system first and that takes time.’

Raven nodded, barely able to keep his eyes open.

Omem ordered Esmee to make tea for the others, and with one movement of her hand, the curtains in the libary was closed.

When Raven was resting in the library, Omem pushed Rodolf and Maddie out of the room. Maddie looked back at him for a moment.

‘Come on, Maddie,’ said Omen, ‘he needs rest to recover. Let the herbs do their job, baby. Surely you are very shocked by your adventure?’

Maddie nodded. She was confused. Not because of the adventure, as Omem thought, but because of what she had felt during and after that kiss. It felt like her entire insides had been shaken, like she was almost numb herself. Like she could feel the poison. It was weird.

Omem wanted to know exactly what happened and Esmee appointed herself as the reporter.

‘I don't know how Maddie brought him back,’ Esmee ended her story. Omem looked closely at Maddie.

‘Maddie?’

‘I wonder who Silke really was,’ said Maddie, drawing eh attention elswhere. ‘I mean, you said she was the daughter of Janis, your sister's son?’

Omem nodded. ‘She is. I had no idea she belonged to the Witte wieven. She used the family ties to get close to Raven.’

Maddie nodded understandingly, how could Granny have known that.

‘She knew he is a descendant of the Pictavian king of Alba. The one who was responsible for the disappearance of the black magic of the Witte wieven, 'explained omem,' but what exactly had to happen after that blood and that shirt, I have no idea.’

‘ Maybe I can try that to figure out, ‘suggested Rodolf.

‘But not now,’ said Omem, ‘it is four o'clock in the morning and I suggest that everyone goes to sleep for a few more hours. Then I'll be making an extensive brunch later on.’

Maddie thought that was a good idea. She suddenly felt exhausted too.

She walked up the stairs and heard Liza enter. She knew that Omem had asked the coven for help.

Maddie slowly walked upstairs to her room. There she fell down on her bed. She had so little energy left that she didn't even feel whether she was hungry or not. She barely felt her body anymore. She was broken. Her head buzzed. Raven, related to the Pictavian King of Alba? What did that actually mean? And that kiss? That passionate kiss? She herself was shocked by the feelings that were released after she kissed him. It had set her insides on fire.

She had never felt anything like it. How was that possible? She had known him for so long, why had she only experienced those feelings when they kissed ? Raven, was suddenly such a different person than she had always thought he was. Could it be that she had fallen in love with him?

But what about Raven? How did he feel? Or would she lose him as a friend if she confessed everything to him? Maybe she should pretend nothing had happened.

Her thoughts kept spinning in a circle and she realized that so much had changed in her life in a short time.

Did that affect how she felt toward Raven? Or did one have nothing to do with the other?

Maddie got so tired of all those thoughts that she couldn’t think anymore.

She turned on her side and saw that the moon, through the window. It shone right in her face. It somehow calmed her down and she could finally gave in to her fatigue. She fell asleep.