The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Bolt from the Blue 
by Elaine Pascale

They sat in a circle beneath the tree. Katelyn, who spoke often of her Celtic roots, had claimed the tree was magical and brimming with spirits.

“Remember when I got Jimmy to kiss me at the party?” Katelyn passed around the honey mead to the girls, intentionally neglecting Colleen who was seated at her left. “That was magic. I put a love spell on him.”

“He kissed three girls that night, and a dog,” Molly interjected.

“Three is an important number to Druids, and dogs represent loyalty. My ancestors were assuring Jimmy’s loyalty to me,” Katelyn announced proudly. “And that fox I conjured,” she continued.

“That was a dog,” Diana said, offering Colleen some of her mead, “It just happened to be walking by.”

“Dogs represent courage—”

“—You said loyalty.”

“They are both. Remember, Druids like threes.”

“Loyalty and courage are two.” Molly nudged Colleen who was chanting beneath her breath.

The sky was cloudless, but the girls’ minds were overcast with annoyance for Katelyn.

“These stones are enchanted,” Katelyn announced, distributing a handful to everyone but Colleen, yet somehow the girl’s hands were full of alabaster stones.

“Where did you get—?” Diana asked but Colleen placed a finger to her lips for silence.

“And remember the time I levitated, right in the middle of class?”

“You did not do that.”

“If I am lying, let me be struck by—”

Molly and Diana watched in horror as the lightning bolt ran down the bark of the tree and lit up the Celtic-descendant in front of them. Katelyn’s hair burned, her skin bubbled, and a black tar escaped her lips faster than the lies had.

Colleen remained calm and shuffled the stones in front of her. “I am Druid, too,” she said with a smile.

.

Fiction © Copyright Elaine Pascale
Image courtesy of Pixaby.com

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