The Well
Eve watched from the shadows as the Aunts finished their stories, a strange sense of belonging stirring within her ghostly form. The silvery moonlight made her glow softly beneath the trees as she gazed at each woman seated around a fire pit near a swing covered in wisteria. Its blooms now gone, the gnarled branches were dotted with green leaves streaked with yellow.
The scene was beautiful and magical, a testament to the ritual they had just completed in service to the Goddess of Witchcraft, Hecate. Eve watched the women gathered, first looking at Delphine, admiring her strength and the strong red aura surrounding her. The muscular, stern woman seemed to be connected to the fire element, radiating a commanding presence.
Beside her on the swing was Olive, charming, with long sandy-colored hair, a rounded curvy frame, and sun-kissed cheeks. Her sad eyes, however, hinted at a depth of emotion behind her warmth. Olive’s green aura was vibrant, and nature seemed to be drawn to her nurturing presence. A burst of bright laughter caught her attention and Eve looked at Marina shrouded in a blue aura. Almost the opposite of Delphine in every way, Marina was lively, playful, and unpredictable. She was animated when she talked, her bright bubbly chuckles echoing through the night. A beautiful older woman with dark curly hair and tanned skin, Marina’s exuberance was infectious.
Eve’s eyes then rested on Rowena, who sat in a chair near the fire beside the swing, lost in thought. Rowena’s serious demeanor contrasted with Marina’s, as she stared into the fire, sipping a glass of wine. Her white aura pulsed like gusts of wind, cloudy and mysterious. Eve was surprised to notice the faint shimmer of a ghost standing behind Rowena with a protective hand on her shoulder. Still adjusting to her gifts as a spirit guide of Hecate, seeing auras and other spirits was new.
She had wandered up from the forest, remaining in the shadows and listening to the stories the Aunts shared. She felt a connection to these women, their adventurous and bold spirits kindred to her own. Trying to remember her past life was hazy, but her bond with these witches felt real.
“Am I haunting them?” she wondered, still trying to understand this strange afterlife she now lived, a spirit still connected to the mortal realm.
Eve smiled ruefully in the dark, thinking of how she used to picture ghosts wearing long flowing gowns and Victorian-era hairstyles. Instead she shimmered in the shadows wearing what she had on the day she died: tank top, shorts, hiking boots… and of course the cuff around her neck and the chain. That was an accessory gifted to her after she died.
She wanted to stay and continue listening to the women talk, but her concern for the last woman at the fire, Cat, weighed heavily on her. Eve loved Cat deeply, as did her boyfriend, Tucker. The three of them had been through so much together, defeating a demon, breaking curses, and becoming more than they ever dreamed they could be. They each loved each other fiercely.
Despite having witnessed the young witch command so much power recently, Eve was worried about her. She could see Cat’s purple aura now streaked with black tendrils emanating from her stomach. Eve had a suspicion Cat was pregnant but there was something wrong. What she had seen in the well earlier gnawed at her as she watched Cat laughing by the fire with her family.
The well she had explored was a relic of a bygone era, its stones worn and crumbling, covered in moss and vines. A dark, foreboding presence emanated from it, and Eve felt the malevolent energy pulsing like a heartbeat. Inside the well, she saw a playful ball of light darting down a long tunnel extending from the base. Eve watched the ball of light race away and felt suddenly, painfully drawn to check on Cat. Watching her now, the change in her aura began to make sense. Eve knew she had to investigate further. She would return to the well.
As she watched, still hidden, she felt Tucker approaching from the darkness behind her. Eve didn’t want to tell him about her suspicions regarding Cat’s pregnancy just yet. She wasn’t sure if Tucker even realized Cat was pregnant. She needed to find out more but knew it would require more time away. The tunnel at the bottom of the well seemed long and filled with spiritual energy.
She twisted the glittering key at her cuff to lock it around her neck, becoming solid, and turned to hold Tucker. He sensed something was off and gently touched her cheek.
“Eve, what’s wrong?” he asked, concern evident in his eyes.
She pulled back and took a moment to look at him, the fear in her making her want to appreciate how much he had changed to become the great forest guardian who stood before her.
Tucker was taller than when she first met him years ago, over six feet now. His muscular, tattooed body was a wondrous blend of human and something more. His chest was part flesh, part living wood. His face, still retaining his boyish charm with smooth cheeks often set with a playful grin dotted with piercings she adored, was framed by his long black hair. Above, large ivory-colored antlers crowned his head—a gift from the god Cernunnos to signify his role as a guardian of the forest. He was a magnificent sight and a refuge of protection.
Eve took a deep breath, her voice steady but tinged with sadness.
“There’s something deep in the forest that I need to connect with. It’s calling to me and I can’t turn away. I wish I could explain more, but it’s just a feeling, an urge.”
Tucker’s eyes softened. She felt a twinge of guilt for keeping information from him.
“I understand,” he said before leaning in to kiss her. As their mouths moved against each other, Eve reached up, stroking the large antlers on his head fondly. She pulled away and smiled at him.
“I’ll be back, I promise. Take care of Cat.”
He raised an eyebrow and nodded. He found it unusual for Eve to express concern for Cat’s safety after all she had accomplished. She was a powerful witch. Tucker wondered what might be worrying Eve.
Before he could ask for more information, Eve turned the key, becoming a spirit once more, and vanished into the night. Tucker stood in the shadows for a moment, gathering himself before stepping into the light.
Unseen in the darkness, Eve watched him go, relieved Cat would have a powerful protector like him while she was gone investigating what was under the well. She turned away and walked deeper into the forest. The journey was surreal; time seemed to lose meaning. The deeper she went, the forest became an endless night. At its center stood the well, a beacon in the dark.
She walked to the edge of a clearing, her gaze drawn to the ancient well. Summoning her courage, Eve descended into the well once more, her ghostly form slipping through the narrow opening with ease. She fell like Alice in Wonderland, the air growing colder as she sank deeper into the earth, the darkness becoming more oppressive. It was a long fall, and she felt a sense of entering another realm, a different dimension, the underworld. She touched down on the damp, slick stones at the bottom, standing at the entrance to a naturally formed tunnel, cave-like, spreading beyond her field of vision.
Though in her form she couldn’t feel cold, Eve shivered. It was not just the dank cold of the darkness before her that caused the reflexive reaction. The cave reminded her of when she and Tucker first encountered the demon Orzas. Unwanted memories intruded, flashing across her eyes. Orzas cursing Tucker, and her own death in that terrible cave. Held prisoner by the demon, Eve watched helplessly as Orzas tried to take over his body to escape.
Remembering the horrors they had endured caused Eve to pause, standing in the mouth of the opening, feeling dread. Tucker had almost been lost forever. And Cat had saved them both. The memory of Cat stepping into her power flooded Eve’s center, giving her strength.
She walked down the passageway cautiously, looking around. The cave’s softly glowing walls were lined with ancient carvings, nothing she recognized. The air was thick with the scent of decay and something far more sinister. The tunnel widened into a vast underground chamber, at the center of which stood an imposing gateway. The gates were massive, made of dark, twisted metal, inscribed with runes pulsing with a sickly green light. A flurry of bats exploded overhead, causing Eve to wince as they rushed overhead, swirling into the black depths of the endless ceiling above.
“What the hell is this,” Eve whispered in awe.
She approached the gates with a surge of fear and anticipation. When she reached out, her ghostly hand should have passed through the gates easily, but she was zapped with a strange magic that hurt, causing her to scream and jump back. The gates remained firmly closed. Frustration gnawed at her.
Eve looked at the runes, careful to keep her distance. They indicated a connection to nature, plants, fruits and vegetables… some kind of harvest. She wondered if Tucker, as a guardian of the forest blessed by Cernunnos, could help her. She was frustrated she couldn’t learn more before sharing her concerns about Cat’s pregnancy with him.
But with no way to travel farther into the cavern’s depths, she had to tell him.
Turning away from the gates, Eve noticed a small pedestal nearby, shrouded in a dreamlike purple mist. Atop it was a basin filled with water that shimmered with an unnatural light. She leaned closer, peering into the water’s depths. The surface rippled, and an image formed. She saw Cat, looking radiant and serene, but something felt wrong.
Eve watched a scene play out in the water, eerie and dark. Cat’s hand rested on her slightly rounded belly. Eve’s heart clenched with joy and fear, realizing what it meant. Flashes of intimate moments with Cat and Tucker in the forest appeared. Eve inside Tucker’s body as they both plunged into Cat, the three moaning with ecstasy. Scenes of their closest moments in the days that followed: Tucker, Eve, and Cat loving each other rippled in the water. Then, a child’s face—a beautiful little girl about three years old, running in a moonlit stream. The child had Cat’s red hair, Tucker’s grin and strong jaw, and Eve’s eyes.
She gasped as she saw the child’s eyes were shaped just like hers, almond with heavy lashes, silver irises ringed in purple. It was the only lasting difference when Eve was in her solid form. Her eyes remained ghostly, as the child’s did in the reflective pool.
Eve watched the child’s image turn into the ball of light she saw in the well, playful and jumping around. The ball of light emerged from the water in the basin and floated before her face for a moment before zipping past the gates. There was a sound of a baby crying.
A dark shadow moved behind the gates, following the ball of light. Watching it slink away sent chills down Eve’s spine. She knew she had to act quickly.
Hurrying back through the tunnel, her mind raced. Her fear was compounded by a sense that time worked differently down here, sometimes slowing down, other times speeding up. Eve felt dizzy and disorientated as she ran. She emerged from the well and sped through the forest, her destination clear. She had to find Tucker and share what she had discovered. He would know what to do; they would face this together.
The trees blurred past her, the shadows of the dark part of the forest receding as she sped toward the light. She traveled away from the foreboding darkness and time seemed to normalize. The sun’s rays filtered through the canopy, signaling the late afternoon of what must be the next day or two since she had left.
As Eve approached their home, a modest one-room cabin near an open shelter, the remnants of Tucker’s old cabin nestled at the forest’s edge, she shifted back into her solid form. The familiar weight of her collar around her neck grounded her. She was running so fast that she didn’t see Tucker coming around the corner of the cabin, carrying a load of wood. They collided, and she tumbled back as he dropped the wood, bending to scoop her up with ease.
Tucker’s strong arms enveloped her, his concern evident.
“Eve, what’s wrong? Why are you running?”
Eve kissed him, feeling safe for a brief moment in his embrace, but then grew serious.
“Tucker, I found something in the well. It’s worse than we thought.”
He set her down gently, his worry deepening.
“That place felt wrong when I first went with you to it. I planned to return and investigate more.”
Eve nodded, urgency in her eyes.
“I found something in the well. I fell through it into another realm. There was a tunnel, and at the end of it, I found these gates. When I tried to touch them, they burned me.”
Tucker’s face twisted from confusion, to shock, then protective anger. He scanned her, searching for injuries.
“You were hurt? I didn’t know you could be hurt in spirit form.”
“It’s fine,” she waved her hand, dismissing his concerns. Her words tumbled in a rush. “I also found this strange pedestal with a basin of water. It showed us all making love together, then it showed our child. I know it’s an equal mix of the three of us.”
“Our child?” Tucker’s eyes widened as he whispered. The air seemed punched from his gut.
“Yes,” Eve said, her voice steady. “There was also a ball of light. I’ve seen it before. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you everything earlier, but I think that light has something to do with the child I saw in the basin, and the child Cat is carrying. I wanted to chase after it, sensing danger, but the gates stopped me.”
Tucker stood, stunned, attempting to absorb everything she was telling him. He had suspected Cat was pregnant, but to hear Eve had actually seen a vision of their child was a lot to process. As he listened, his thoughts drifted to his ambiguous feelings about fatherhood. He struggled to understand his emotions, wondering how he could be a father and the implications of his monstrous form being passed to the child. Would the child inherit his more unusual traits? And what about Eve’s spirit form—how would that affect their child?
“I think you can help open the gates,” Eve continued, pulling Tucker from his thoughts. “But we can’t tell Cat everything. Not yet. I don’t want her to worry until we know more.”
Tucker hesitated. He didn’t like the thought of keeping secrets from Cat. The three of them were so close, shared so much together. Having something separate from her, this strange side quest with Eve, felt dishonest.
“Cat is very powerful, Eve,” he said. “And if she is pregnant, she deserves to know, especially if we think something could be wrong.”
Eve pleaded, “Please, Tucker. I don’t want to tell her yet, not until we have more answers. Let’s tell her there’s a troublesome spirit in the forest we need to deal with, but not mention the pregnancy.”
Tucker sighed, torn but relenting.
“Okay. But she’s going to sense something. She might already know she’s pregnant.”
They both turned as Cat walked out of the cabin, having heard the commotion. She pulled a deep purple cardigan tighter around her waist, bracing against the slight chill in the air. Her eyes were filled with curiosity and concern.
“Cat,” Tucker said gently, “Eve and I need to take care of something in the forest. There’s a spirit at an old well that needs our attention.”
Cat’s gaze shifted between them. Eve focused on appearing nonchalant while Tucker stood as still as a statue. Cat’s blue eyes squinted slightly and she frowned.
“Is everything okay?”
Eve forced a reassuring smile and kept her voice mild.
“Everything will be fine. We just need to check it out and make sure it’s not a threat.”
Cat nodded, though her worry was clear.
“Be careful, please.”
“We will,” Tucker promised, leaning in to kiss her forehead. “We’ll be right back.”
