Finally clean, Orion and I head downstairs, where Mom and Angelica are nibbling on snacks in the kitchen. It's already past lunchtime? I guess we'd been at it a little longer than I thought...Orion and I share a sheepish look before joining them in the kitchen.

"Well, look who finally decided to join us," Mom says. Except, what should've sounded like teasing sounds more like... criticism? Even Orion looks taken aback—he's known my mom for almost a decade, after all. He practically grew up with us, so he knows my mom well enough to feel that something isn't quite right. 

We share a look: does she know we've been upstairs having sex? We've done it here before, plenty of times, and as much as we like to pretend she doesn't know...she probably does. She's just never said anything to me before other than, "Be careful, Belly. You have your whole future ahead of you, and I know you know that.”

So, I am almost 100% sure that us having sex on my birthday shouldn't be a reason for her to be upset with me. Not more than any other day, anyway.

"I didn't think we were on a schedule today," I say lightly, trying to make a joke of it. "Besides, don't we get to sleep as much as we want on our birthday? Isn't that some kind of unspoken rule?"

"Sleeping, yes," mom says, looking at me with a coldness in her eyes I've never seen before. Instantly, my insides freeze. This definitely doesn't feel right.

The tension in the room intensifies so fast, it makes it feel like we've been dropped into a vacuum chamber. What the hell is going on? I catch movement behind Mom's shoulder and see Angelica smile at me: is she trying to reassure me? But...there's something a little weird about her eyes, too.

My magic is brand new. Aside from last night when the witchmark burned into the back of my neck, I haven't felt it again. Will it even work if I call upon it now? 

Cautiously, I reach out with my magic and instantly feel something ominous scurrying away, like a bug or a rat. But before I can chase after it, Angelica interrupts me.

"So what are your guys' plans for the rest of the day? I'm planning on meeting up with the girls tonight since I assumed you two would want to be...alone. We'll probably be partying pretty late." She meets my eyes and, with a certain look, she relays the rest of the message: if you want some quiet alone time with your precious boyfriend, it will have to be somewhere other than our apartment. 

"I will be taking my lovely lady out on the town for her birthday," Orion says, grabbing my hand and kissing it in front of my mom and sister. Normally, when he does silly stuff like this, they would laugh—or at the very least smile—but my mom just furrows her brow. "I suppose we'd better get going, Jezzie..."

I grab a bottle of water from the fridge, walking behind Mom to do so. Normally, when I get close to her, she'd pat my back or sweep my hair behind my ear, but right now she doesn't even look at me. She just sighs.

I pause at the front door. "See you tomorrow, Mom! Love you! Bye, Angel."

"Bye." Angelica is the only one to reply.

What in the Nine Hells is going on?? Feeling nauseous, I shut the door behind me and follow Orion to his car.

What happened after Angelica ran away from the witchmark ceremony? 

She'd run through the woods, trying to get as far away from the gathering as fast as possible, then she'd collapsed on that fallen log. The ancient witch had found her...almost as if she'd been waiting for her. 

The old woman felt like a kindred spirit—someone used to being ostracized and ignored...and lonely. Therefore, Angelica felt she could trust her. Otherwise, who the hell would walk deeper into the woods with a stranger? Someone looking to wind up dead, that's who.

But Angelica had not died. In fact, she felt much more alive than she could remember feeling in years! 

After walking for some time, twisting on a dark path that made little sense to Angelica, the two of them had arrived at the Witch's home—the cave. The cave where everything changed.

"You can call me Mab, my dear," she said at the mouth of the cave, where only a faint, flickering light could be seen. "Now, come. Let's head inside out of the chill and untangle this little snag, yes?"

If Angelica had felt any hesitation at that moment, it was easily overpowered by the temptation of getting her witchmark. Mab knew what she was doing—she'd done it many, many times before, and, despite her ancient appearance, she would do it many more times before she left this earth. 

The mouth of the cave, about six feet by six feet, opened inside to a high ceiling with stalactites hanging from above. Angelica did not notice the bones hanging amongst them from the ceiling, but had she looked, and if she had known what she was looking at, she would've been able to recognize all sorts of bones from different creatures. And human bones, too. Mab smiled as Angelica followed her through the cave, dimly lit by small balls of witchfire nestled into little crevices, painstakingly carved into the wall. 

"You are not the first this has happened to, my dear," Mab crooned, her raspy voice full of sympathy. "Sometimes the 'mark needs a little...help to appear. A little persuading."

"But why didn't the rest of the witches tell me that?" Angelica felt tears prickling in her eyes, but she wasn't sad. She was angry. No, she was livid. Her fingernails had been digging into her palms for the entire walk—she'd be surprised if there *wasn't* blood on her palms by now. Slowly, she unclenched her fingers and forced them to stretch open. "They said a witchmark wasn't in my fate."

Mab didn't reply immediately. They had reached their destination, so she was taking a few moments to stoke the fire and gather some things on an old, rickety table. Baskets of dried herbs, small bottles of this and that, and other things she'd need. 

"Long before you were born, my dear girl," she said, taking a seat on a wooden stool on one side of the table, "and likely before any of the others present at that gathering tonight were born, either, our magic was not so...limited, shall we say."

Angelica drew her brows together.

"There was no difference between light magic and dark magic," she continued. "It was all ONE magic. Come here."

It was as if Angelica could not help but obey. She took a few steps closer to Mab without even thinking about it. 

"Your arm, my dear."

Angelica held out her arm obediently, and Mab sliced it with an ancient-looking black knife before Angelica could react.

"Ouch!" she cried. "What the fuck?!"

"Language, child!" Mab crowed. "Ha! We need your blood to bind the mark to you, of course."

Mab held Angelica's arm firmly as her blood dripped into a mortar that already held other ingredients. As soon as her blood fell into the stone bowl, it sizzled and steamed. 

"Good," Mab said, smiling widely to reveal dark yellow teeth, black around the edges. "It is good! Now, wrap your arm up while I make your mark."

Angelica still wasn't 100% sure of everything that was going on right now, especially after Mab had used the obsidian knife on her, but she knew if there was even the slightest chance of getting a witchmark, she was going to take it. No matter what. She would do anything to get one. 

Anything. 

Mab was crooning something over the bowl as she ground the mixture with the pestle—it was still steaming. 

"Lie down on the bed!" Mab suddenly shouted. "Remove your shirt." 

"Excuse me?" Angelica sat on the edge of Mab's narrow cot, which was covered in animal skins. Take her top off??

"Do you want your mark or not?" 

Angelica hesitated for only a second longer before sliding the top of her dress down to her waist and removing her bra. Mab hovered over her with the mortar and an ash twig, which she then used to start drawing a design on Angelica's left breast. 

Any thoughts of it being a silly situation immediately left Angelica's mind when Mab started chanting in a strange voice—

"MAGNE DAEMON AB IMO,l

OBSECRO TE—

HANC PUELLAM SIGILLO TUO CICATRICE INCUTE,

TUM TENEBRAS INVOCARE POSSIT!"*

She repeated the chant over and over until she was done drawing the design on Angelica. Then, in a flash of painful, molten heat, the mixture disappeared, leaving behind a mark that had the darkness of a tattoo, but the slight sheen of scar tissue. 

"There," Mab said, wiping her sweaty brow. "It is done. A word of caution, however—do not let this mark be seen by other witches. They will know you have been connected to all magic, not just the light magic."

"Does this make me more powerful?"

Mab smiled at Angelica. "Oh, yes. Yes, my dear girl. You'll have more power than you'll know what to do with."

Angelica was too happy hearing that to miss the greedy glint in Mab's eyes—all she could think about was getting ahead of Jezebelle. 

________

*Roughly: O Great Demon from Below,

I beseech you—

Mark this girl with your seal,

So she may invoke the Darkness!