Where Is Araminta Green? (ONC 2024)

Chapter 18: I Promise

Twisted gargoyle faces welcomed Araminta, perched on each side of the cemetery gate. The statues didn't scare her. Horror and death had never seemed frightening to her, but rather intriguing. The cemetery embraced her in its arms whenever she visited, which was often. The gargoyles were her friends, never expecting her to smile, flick her hair, or come up with the right words.

The world outside the cemetery was what scared her, with its expectations to conform and connect. If you couldn't, you were ostracized. If you wouldn't, you were scorned. Araminta refused to play games with rules she'd never understood. She was ready for a different game, one that only she could play. That's why she was out here at this early hour before the sun peeked over the horizon.

Hearing a car passed by, Araminta turned. She recognized the driver. Her neighbor and classmate, Jordan Thompson. For a moment, she faltered. Because sometimes, it seemed like he saw her. They'd never talked, but in a way, that's what united them. Beneath the buzz of high school, they were quiet bystanders, trying to not betray their bepuzzlement with the social rhythm. It would have been so easy to turn around, to ask him for a ride, to strike up a conversation. It would have been so easy for anyone but Araminta Green.

So she kept walking, lace-up boots clicking against the neatly tiled path of the cemetery. Quick steps toward the grave of the only one who'd ever understood her inner turmoil: the first Araminta. She had taught Araminta about the powers beyond social intricacies. Ancient and mighty forces, which anyone could wield. But the knowledge had been lost to time, living only deep in the forest among the ones that protected it.

But Araminta knew. She didn't know how to make small talk or introduce herself but she knew how to wield magic. Still, the knowledge had never been tested, as she'd been fearful of the consequences. Because unless someone looked for her in the right place, she may not be able to return.

Araminta was afraid no more. Because if no one looked for her—spending the time to find out what mattered to her and where she may have gone—of what use was returning anyway? She had nothing to lose. She needed to fly free, like the spell promised. She didn't know what would happen but she knew that any outcome was better than spending another day in silence among chattering peers.

Putting a white flower on the grave, she bent down and put her hand on the flat stone. It was told that the bond between the living and the dead heightened the power of incantations. After taking a deep breath to prepare herself, she started speaking unwieldy words of unknown origin. Thick purple fog rolled in, smelling like roses and sounding like wind chimes. Araminta flew free into its mysterious embrace.

***

"I know where she is." Jordan kept his gaze fastened at the tarot card, which had just revealed Araminta's final moments before vanishing." He looked up to meet Derek's eyes, assuring himself that what he'd seen had been real. "She's in the cemetery."

That's all he knew so far. The card refused to give up all its secrets at once. But Jane had told Jordan it would guide him toward Araminta and he trusted it to do so in due time.

Derek squeezed Jordan's hand in his. "Then we'll go there," he said, not hesitating to believe in Jordan's magical revelation for even a moment.

With urgency in their steps, because time could be of the essence to free Araminta from whatever spell held her, they made their way downstairs. Derek carefully helped Jordan wrangle his casted arm into a jacket sleeve when Jordan's dad appeared from the kitchen, giving his oldest son a pointed look.

"And where are you two going?" he asked.

"Out..." Jordan mumbled, knowing that was probably too brief of an explanation. But he couldn't very well explain that he had a magical epiphany when looking at an ancient tarot card. "We're doing a podcast thing."