The moon hung high in the cloudless night sky. A perfect silver orb, bathing the hilltop with an eerie luminescent glow. The alter was clearly visible, even after the three women extinguished the soft light of the lanterns that they carried.

Ember watched, transfixed, as her grandmother seemed to float towards the massive soapstone altar. Nori turned to her granddaughter, beckoning her to her side. The girl moved forward, mutely, unable to form the words that were racing around in her head.

Her Aunt busied herself, lighting the two pillar candles that were situated on either side of the altar.

"Rinse yer hands in this here basin." Nori instructed Ember quietly.

"What are we doing Gran?" She asked, sticking her hands in the cool fragrant water.

"Ember," her grandmother said. "We brought us here tonight fer a pure special reason. Now that you be twenty-one tis time to give to ye yer draíocht. Yer knowing we be on a different path than most. Tis so much more. Fer generations, the Gods and Goddesses, been giving us fierce special gifts." Nori paused, studying the confused look on Ember's face.

Arwen continued to move around the altar, placing items around it, and lighting more candles, she could be heard in the background clearly.

"Oh Manannan, powerful son of the sea, holder of the magics of the crane bag, we ask that you hear our call. Oh Lord of the Otherworld, bearer of the silvered apple branch, join with us this day, so that you may guide us in our workings. Mist-shrouded rider of the maned waves accept our offerings and open the gates between our realm and yours. Let the fire open as a gate, let the well open as a gate, and let the tree connect all the worlds as Manannan walks with us in all ways. Let the gates be open!"

"We have something we need to give to you." Nori said, bringing the young woman's attention away from her Aunt's strange words.

Ember felt herself being led gently towards the altar by her grandmother's soft worn hand. Upon it lay a large, flat, hand carved wooden box. Ember saw a familiar Celtic symbol etched on top, spanning the entire width, seeming to flow down the front of the pretty box ending at the bottom with knotted designs spiraling around its sides.

The altar was full of other items, but Ember couldn't take her eyes off the box. She somehow felt drawn to it. She reached out towards it, stopping at the sound of her grandmother's voice.

"This was your Ma's, as was what it holds. We been saving it for ye. For this day." The woman said from beside her.

Arwen walked up to Ember's other side.

"It's begun." She said, then turned to her niece. "You must stay within the circle I have created Em, no matter what, and you must let us finish before you leave it."

Ember tore her eyes away from the box, shooting a confused look at her Aunt, not understanding anything that was happening so far.

"Do you understand?" Arwen asked, placing a hand on Ember's shoulder.

Ember nodded mutely at her aunt, then turned her attention back to the box.

"This was ma's?" Ember finally spoke, her voice low and raspy.

She reached out tentatively towards the box, once again, this time letting her fingers graze its lid. She felt an electric jolt and could have sworn she saw blue sparks dance at her fingertips.

A low gasp was heard next to her. Ember closed her eyes, pulling her hand away from the box quickly. What the hell was going on? Her heart thudded in her ears. This was not normal. All she ever wanted was normal, and Ember knew that whatever was going on inside of this circle, on this hilltop, was as far from normal as she had ever been.

"It was your Ma's, now belongs ta ya'"

She heard her grandmother tell her.

"Open the box, Ember. Yer Ma wanted ye ta have it, she did."

Ember opened her eyes, her hands moving to the box.

This time there was no shock and no weird blue sparks. Had she imagined them before?

She shook her head. No, she heard her aunt gasp. That meant she had seen them too. Ember didn't know what was in the old wooden chest, and she was almost scared to open it, but whatever was inside her mother had left to her. She had to open it.

With her hands lying on the box, the pull that she felt towards it had intensified, overwhelming her senses. Ember lifted the lid slowly, and a soft wind blew all around them. Something glowed up at the three women, from within the chest, dimming after a brief moment. A beautiful silver pendant lay within the box, an image of a cat sitting upright engraved on it, above and below were the triple moon symbol. Connecting the chain to the pendant was a flat rectangular piece of labradorite stone.

Ember looked at the two women beside her, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. Picking up the necklace she moved her hair around her shoulder, motioning to her grandmother to help her put the necklace on, not trusting her own voice to speak the words.

Once the necklace touched the delicate skin at her throat it sparked again, this time radiating throughout the young woman's body, making her cry out.

"What the hell was that?" She asked frantically, wanting to rip the thing from her neck, but unable to do so.

Arwen looked over Ember's head to the woman behind her.

"Twas yer magic, A leanbh." She heard her grandmother say.

"My what?" Ember choked out, jerking around to face her grandmother.

Her grandmother stood there, smiling at her gently.

"Aye, yer magic." She repeated. "Tis what tonight be about. Tha Goddess be giving it ta ya. Just as she been giving it ta all us. Yer Ma's necklace was her talisman, speak it be, an now is yers." Nori paused, giving Ember a moment to digest the information, then she nodded her head at her daughter.

"We must finish the ritual." Arwen stated, taking Ember's hand and gently turning her to face the altar.

She felt her grandmother take her other hand with a gentle squeeze of what she could only take to be meant as comfort.

"We will answer all of your questions Em, I promise, but right now we must continue."

Ember looked around, full of panic. Magic! What the hell were they talking about? First the weird shit with the man in the meadow, and then Conor and Selia at the festival. Now her aunt and her grandmother. Had everyone gone mad? Had she? Was this some weird dream she was trapped in? That had to be it. She had to be dreaming. She would wake up, in her bed, and none of this would have happened. She would tell her aunt and gran about it and they would ease her mind, then they would all have a laugh about it afterward. It would be the morning of her birthday, with the festival happening that night.

  Normal! No magic! Magic couldn't be real. Could it?

Ember's breathing quickened as the two women on either side of her began speaking, but she couldn't hear anything they were saying. Their voices were drowned out by a rushing wind that seemed to be inside of her mind.

Arwen and Nori lifted their arms, taking Ember's with them, continuing speaking.

She watched horrified, as she saw her aunt pick up an ornate obsidian handled blade with her free hand. The women lowered their arms then, turning Ember's hands palms up, and with one quick motion her aunt, the woman who had raised her as her own, sliced the blade across the soft pink flesh of her palm. Ember stood transfixed, gasping desperately for air as she watched her aunt pass the glistening silver pointed knife to her grandmother, and before Ember could think to pull away, the knife sliced across her other palm in one swift motion. Panic filled her as she stared at the blood running down her hands, dripping between her fingers.

Arwen and Nori walked away from her, around the altar, until they were facing her on its other side. Both women were still speaking, but Ember still couldn't hear a word the two were saying. Her legs trembled, threatening to fold beneath her. The two women blew out the pillar candles on the altar in front of them, simultaneously. Wind rushed, surrounding Ember, swirling her skirts. Her legs failed her then, as she crumpled onto the soft grass beneath her, she could suddenly hear. Night sounds surrounded her once more, and her aunt's voice was clear to her then.

"Now by the keeper of the gates and by our magic, we end what we began. Let the fire be flame, let the well be water, let all be as it was before. Let the gates be closed! We have done as our ancestors have done, and as our children will do, and the Kindreds have answered. We go now, children of the Earth, in peace and blessings. The ritual is at a close. Biodh sé amhlaidh!"

Nori was knelt on the ground now, in front of where Ember had fallen, saying her name softly. Ember heard a low growl slip from her lips involuntarily.

"Ember Morrigan Midnight!" Nori scolded her granddaughter, her voice ringing with power.

"Can I leave now?" Ember gritted out, still reeling from the events that just transpired upon that hill.

Nori sighed, looking back towards her daughter. Arwen gave a sad smile and nodded. Nori stood then, holding her hand out to help Ember up.

"Ye can go now, but, please do not be going too far. Really ye should sit and talk wi us."

Ember scoffed at her grandmother, getting up shakily, ignoring her outstretched hand. "Talk? Now you want to talk?" Ember held her palms out towards the two women. "Either one of you had ample opportunity to sit and talk with me about all of this, before you did this to me tonight! How could you?!" She hissed. "Both of you!"

At that moment Ember was so angry she didn't notice that the cuts on the palms of her hands were nearly healed, but her grandmother and her aunt had.

Arwen's face paled and she reached to clutch her mother's arm. "The binding." She whispered.

"Tis no the time." Nori commanded, turning her attention back to her granddaughter. "Ember, please, ya need ta come wi.."

Ember cut the old woman off with a bitter laugh, "Forgive me Gran, if I don't comply with your wishes. You and my aunt both need to stay the hell away from me right now."

The older woman took a step forward, her hand outstretched. Arwen snatched her backwards as a low guttural hum came from Ember's throat. Nori's eyes widened, but she firmly stood her ground.

The petite dark-haired woman narrowed her eyes at the two women standing before her, not seeing, or just not caring about, the horrified look that was plastered in her aunt's face, her grandmother just stood in quiet contemplation. A sob began to build up in her chest and as it began to break free Ember quickly turned from them, running towards the village below, gathering her skirts in her hands as she made her way precariously down the steep hillside.