Harrison Witches (Working Title )

Toby walked around the circle counter-clockwise, or widdershins, as the book instructed, and planted his knife in the ground, symbolically sending the energy of the circle back to ground.  "'The circle is open but unbroken, may the peace of the Goddess be ever in your heart--merry meet, merry part, merry meet again.'" he recited, also from the book, and the group read the last part with him.

"And that's it," he said, bowing with a flourish and retrieving his knife.

"That was wonderful," said Crystal, "I felt all tingly!"

Alysson was less impressed, but also less likely to speak up in the group.  This time she thought she had felt something, but it was impossible to be sure she wasn't imagining it.  She looked around the group, trying to assess what each one had felt.

Crystal, of course, was always the easiest to read.  As she gushed to Toby about how wonderful the ritual had been, she deftly flicked her unruly blond hair behind her ear with a practiced gesture.  The weight of the crystals, medicine bags and medallions around her neck would have been a burden to a less energetic soul, and it seemed more than natural that someone like Crystal should jingle when she walked.  Alysson knew Crystal was a good soul, but perhaps a bit naive.   

Next Alysson looked around the circle to where Brian was picking up the paraphernalia of the ritual -- the goblet, the wand, the harsh, smokey incense which they had made from a recipe in one of their books.  Brian looked a little out of place in their circle in the woods -- his pale skin made it obvious he rarely stepped outdoors.  Of course, Alysson's skin was paler, but she had to work at it.  Brian was the thoughtful, studious type, the one who would get good grades and go on to become an engineer or a programmer.  What drew him to the Harrison Witches was an unknown, as he didn't like to talk about himself.  He, of all of them, seemed to take their rituals the most seriously, as if he had a specific goal he was working toward, and wouldn't stop until he had achieved it.

Sarah was next around, and she seemed to be deep inside herself, unaware of her surroundings. This was fairly normal for Sarah, but she had been coming out of her shell increasingly since joining the Witches.  Alysson believed Sarah was probably abused as a child, and the empowerment of Witchcraft was her preferred way of dealing with a painful world. This was actually fairly similar to Alysson's reason for being in the circle -- but not exactly.  

And last was Toby, self-proclaimed bad boy and preacher's kid, doing the ritual in a leather jacket, using a buck knife for his athame, performing every movement with confidence and even swagger.  He had once said that his favorite part about Witchcraft was that Witches never bowed or kneeled to their gods--they performed their rituals standing up.  Alysson wasn't sure if Toby ever really felt or saw what he claimed, and she was sure he'd lie to the circle if he thought it would help to maintain the illusion--but she was also sure he really believed, and would do anything necessary to make magic real.

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Outline of story:  a small group of young self-proclaimed witches in a small New England town meet regularly and learn from books -- but don't really have a clear idea of what they're doing. Some are satisfied with what they are doing, and some are a bit disappointed.  One day, say on Samhain, a gateway opens up and the group passes into unfamiliar terrain, which , through experimentation and discovery turns out to be Bronze Age New England, on the same site ...peopled primarily with Indians, but also a few Vikings.  Gates and stone circles are about, and alive, and link the land with the European witches/druids/shaman of the Vikings, who have left only a small settlement.  In this land, our witches find magic is a lot more real and literal than they are used to, and they learn both from the NA Medicine man and the Viking shaman a lot of real magic, finding they have great potential and their experimenting and visualizing was just the right training.  They're still not sure whether they're in a parallel  dimension or in the actual past of their land, because they're a bit before any time they have seen record of.

The locals are having some sort of trouble, and the witches must help, uniting the three forces (NA, Viking, and modern) to save all--and in the process reopening the rift they arrived by.  Some or all return, and find their magic unchanged, and some historical research verifies the truth of their experience (say, discovering runes on a ring of stone near where they hold their Sabbats).

Cast:  

The witches:

1.  male, Preacher's Kid, rebellious, just graduated HS, disaffected, loner type --Toby [Brian H.+toby+me]

2. female, new age-y, sophomore, crystals and light --Crystal [patty+renee B]

3. female, Goth, Junior,  -- Alysson [Goth renee+beetlejuice chick]

4. male, geek, junior --Brian [TJ+me]

5. female, abused, Senior, timid, afraid, hair in front of face, deliberately overweight victim-type. --Sarah [sarah+kelley]

The Indians:

The Vikings:

Reference: Bronze Age America by somebody-or-other ... now where did I leave that book?  Did I loan it to Ma'at?