Can You Tell, What's the Spell

You are mine in clandestine when salt is sweet, and dark is the deed; do it to the letter, and you'll understand it better.

With their broomsticks firmly between their legs, a group of witches rose into the air. It was dark—so dark that even black felt embarrassingly enlightened upon witnessing this coven's night unfolding mid-air.

Up and up and up in the air

takes this broom you if you dare

to fly and spy on the devil's fair

when he comes out from his lair

to meet his thirteen brides of wicked mind

be one of us, be one of a kind

And swish and hiss were the sounds of the night.

Now, if you look at them closely, you can see in the light of the darkness that each of the witches has a letter embroidered by fire on the back of their cloak.

A shrilling voice starts to echo from beneath the hillside where the witches hover in the air.

'Come down, Mary, my faithful but entirely and completely so dull,' the voice said as a flaming dagger pierced one witch who fell to the ground. No sound, no hiss, not even the rustle of leaves filled the cold air. Just the letter 'M' flickered like an ember on the robe that covered Mary's twisted body.

'You served me well, Alice, you malice,' laughed the voice, and another witch fell beside Mary. A letter A glowed in red and yellow on her robe.

'And you, Nelly, are the next, and your punishment is to fill my belly with your rotten flesh because you made this coven such a mess that I have to guess what was in your head or were you already brain dead,' rustled the voice like a chain. Nelly joined the two others on the ground with only the letter N visible on her robe.

There were now only ten witches in the air. The three sad lumps on the ground shed reddish light from their letters, and the witches saw a ring of bluish light forming with ten dark empty spots evenly spread along the circle.

'Isabella, you who made your husband's life a hell, please fell', came the underworldly voice and again one of the witches fell. The letter 'I' was the only sign of her.

'Penelope, you nasty girl who gossiped and lied so well, come and join the restless few who, higher than their wit, once flew,' said the voice, and 'P' was the only sign of her on the ground.

'This might get boring without speed, so listen, ladies, and fill the circle as I recite the rest of the letters in the right order to make this circle a hellish border,' commanded the voice.

Some witches tried to escape and fly away, but the voice pulled them back to the ground like a string when they heard their names. There was thunder but not lighting when the voice continued.

The mirthless laugh listed the remaining names: 'Come down, Ursula, Lily, and Amanda—you three conspirators, like constrictors around the neck of yours truly. Join the rest: simple Tessa and icky Ivy – you two who wanted fame but had no aim. And now, for the two of you who remain aloft: Victoria, you die in loss because you never gave but always took; and Emily, you find your end in the last toss because your sin was just to cause chaos and always were so bloody cross.'

The circle was now complete. The ember letters flickered around the ring. A naked figure from the ground arose in the middle of the dimly lit circle. It spun around eloquently, and on every spin, one of the robes flew from the ground and formed a part of a pinstripe dress, and finally, he was ready.

When the dawn sent its first rays from the horizon, a tall and handsome man stepped out from the circle dressed sophisticatedly, ready for the business. Then, miraculously, the man split in two, and a beautiful woman was suddenly beside him, equally dapper in her business attire.

They smiled empathetically while they kicked the embers from the circle and extinguished their dying glow with each kick.

A phone rang in his pocket. He took his shiny new smartphone, and the ringtone sang with a raspy voice: 13 is the answer, and 13 is the spell – 13 is the gate that leads you to hell. He gave the phone to the lady who put it in her handbag without looking at who the caller was.

The man looked you in the eye from in between these lines and said with a wink: 'What the hell, can you tell what's the spell? You can make it to the letter to understand me better.'

Then he turned his back and followed the lady to the next fleeting meeting.