Chapter 1 - Prologue: Endings and Beginnings

In two short sharp beeps the phone call and the world as Mel had known it for the past eight years had ended.
She stood there silently on the balcony for a moment, taking it all in - the wind around her the only sound as her long brown hair curled around her slender frame.
It was new years eve and she was dressed in a form fitting blue cocktail dress which showed off her toned physique, Mel looked like a million dollars. She was a woman who worked hard at every aspect of her life and it showed. She was proud of what she had achieved but - not even for the first time that night - she was overcome by the urge to run away, lock the door, shut everything and everyone out and simply disappear. 
The news of this latest development had not come as a surprise - but that didn’t mean it hurt any less.
Looking back, her marriage to Derek had been turbulent and on the rocks for months but since she had been seen the photos… the screenshots… it was only ever going to end one way.
Lacking the strength to look down, Mel slid her rings off and stowed them in her purse.
Bastard.
If it hadn’t been for the quiet click of the sliding door she could have sworn the world itself had simply swallowed her whole. The muffled music of the party beyond seemed so far away now.
“You okay?”
She knew it was Gwen without even turning round.
The two women had been best friends for as long as they had known what the words meant. 
For all their differences they were each the closest either woman had to a sister.
The free-spirited hippy party-goer ying to Mel’s workaholic regimented yang, Gwen had been looking forward to the block’s New Year’s eve party for months but that was then.
“Yep.”
“Okay.” Gwen said softly, siding up beside her to look out over the city and letting the silence sit for a moment. “Still sure you don’t want me to stab him?”
In that moment of humour - that change - that ripple - Mel suddenly became aware of everything she had been unconsciously fighting so hard to hold together; all the rage, grief, hurt, everything from the past years poured out of her and she just folded into Gwen’s arms.
“Yep.” Gwen whispered. “Come on. I’ve got you. Let’s go.”
“What are you - ? Go where?”
“This party sucks.” Gwen replied simply; she already had their coats.
“Oh no, no - it’s new years!” Mel shook her head. “You’ve been looking forward to this for - forever! What about the band, the - ”
“There’ll always be other new years, hun.” Her friend replied shrugging. “Besides - I’ve got a better idea anyway. Way better than any party.”
Gwen held a tattooed hand out and Mel took it without hesitation.
“Follow me.”

The drive felt like an eternity as the full moon shone high above, lighting their way. 
Mel’s mind raced from scenario to scenario, feeling her entire life unravelling around her.
How was she ever going to go back to the office? What would her family think?
Where was she going to live? What was she going to do?
Seeking desperately to avoid the questions posed by her own mind, Mel asked another one.
“Come on then - what’s this idea?”
“Well, it’s new year in… twenty three minutes.” Gwen replied, with a brief look at her watch. “And between what’s happened tonight and some other bullshit we’ve had to go through this year I was hoping to try something that might change things up for us next year.”
“Change things up?” Mel asked and then it suddenly made sense. “Oh my God - you’ve been talking to Nicole.”
“Nicole’s lovely.” Gwen replied, pulling the car in to a stop outside the house she had grown up in. 
“Oh Gwen.” Mel signed. “The woman thinks she’s a witch!”
“Melanie, this is the twenty first century, babe. Don’t be so closed minded!” Gwen laughed. “A girl can identify however she pleases. Honestly, when she invited us over to take part in this spell…”
“Spell?”
“Spell? Chant? Might be more of a ritual? Whatever. I don’t know what you’re supposed to call it.”
“You’re not supposed to call it anything!” Mel sighed, half laughing. “It’s not real, Gwen!”
“You don’t know that!” Gwen said, suddenly serious and the car fell silent. “It’s supposed to be some old Celtic way of realigning your Fate with your truest Destiny… or something. New starts. Whatever. Okay, you are probably right… but if there is even the slightest chance we can make a change to the hand we’ve been dealt and give us a better chance to be happy next year? I can’t pass that up. I won’t.”
“Gwen… you’re really serious about this, aren't you?”
“You are my best friend, Mel and I am so sorry for the year you’ve had.” Gwen said quietly. “You deserve better that the hand you’ve been dealt. We both do.”
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Okay.” Mel smiled. “I mean - what could go wrong?”

After that - everything happened so fast; one moment they were being greeted warmly at Nicole’s house - a woman that Mel had neither seen nor spoken to since high school - and then the next they were being handled a generous glass of red wine, a candle and some kind of red robe and lead in single file to the creepiest looking attic Mel had ever seen.
They were also handed a small card with a script; apparently a list of what to say and do and when to say it. Mel stifled a laugh with a sip of wine - this ritual or whatever you want to call it was laughably complicated. There was a lot of moving and kneeling at the right times and none of the words were in English… something about a blessed ruby? What a load of rubbish. 
At least the incense smelled nice.
“I can’t believe you’re making me do this.” Mel whispered as she shifted uncomfortably, but Gwen shushed her quickly.
The home-made robes Mel and Gwen had been given were a less than desirable fit; clearly the last two to arrive, Mel found herself drowning in extra fabric in a robe much too large for her.
Gwen meanwhile had the opposite issue; the robe pinching a tight and unflattering fit around her generous curves and chest. Mel was sure she had even heard a stitch pop as she walked into the room but didn’t dare mention it; not tonight. Gwen had always been self-conscious about her weight.
That being said though; they both looked ridiculous.
Looking around the room though, it was weird to see that some of the other girls were in a similar wardrobe situation but all of that was forgotten when the lights went out and the gloomy candlelight glow shrouded them in a thick, ominous blanket of silence.

“Sisters - are you ready?” Nicole’s voice echoed through the darkness of the attic, her soft features highlighted by the warm glow of the candlelight.
Nicole had always been eccentric in Mel’s eyes but the woman before them was nothing like the shy girl that Nicole remembered from school all those years ago.
Long dark braided hair adorned with a pair of what can only be described as jewel encrusted antlers like a crown, hung in loops around her shoulders, contrasting with the deep red of her own crimson robe. 
Unlike the other dozen women circled around her in the small attic, Nicole wore nothing under her robe aside from the largest ruby that Mel had ever seen fashioned on to an intricate silver chain.
Mel had to stop herself from staring as Nicole had clearly gained a significant amount of weight since she had last seen her. A thick double belly swung low behind the draping of the robe; the woman must have been upwards of four hundred pounds but for some reason Mel could not look away. She was transfixed; what had happened to her?
Nicole’s round face and generous double chin was fashioned in what Mel could only describe as tribal markings from some kind of thick ash or soot.

Lifting her eyes to the sky above, Nicole got started, making her way into the centre of the circle with the grace of a woman half her size. 
Mel could only imagine that the last remaining seconds of the year were slipping away now like shitty sand from a shitty hourglass. Thank GOD.
“Ohhh, very mystical and spooky.” Mel whispered to Gwen beside her as Nicole began her incantation. What a load of - wait.
Were Nicole’s eyes… glowing? What the f-

Mel felt words escaping her own mouth, emphatically responding to Nicole’s chanting in a language she did not recognise but she did not need to. Her scepticism forgotten, Mel felt her heart swell with a deep blissful gratitude for what she was seeing. What she was now a part of.
Her voice joined with Gwen’s and the other women around her. From nowhere there was the sound of drums.
Mel felt tears of joy run down her face, ruining her expensive make-up as she grasped the hands of the women beside her - her Sisters - and she felt a surge of electricity pass through her.
Nicole was dancing, surrounded by the chorus of chanting and drumming and raised her fleshy arms to the sky as elsewhere fireworks erupted and the clock struck midnight.

That’s when everything went black.