The room was large, much larger than the tower looked coming up the driveway. There was the fireplace Darlene mentioned although Jenny hadn’t seen a chimney from the outside. A second well-lighted entrance opened at the back like the one she had come through, though the light was certainly odd, not something she could describe easily. Girls came up the other stairs and through the door as she watched. She accepted a chair brought over by a girl of about fifteen and thanked her. Everyone seemed to be waiting.

Part 21- Ritual

As Jenny packed for her stay at Linda’s she decided at the last minute to bring a case containing her herbs, candles and pots. She wasn’t sure why but thought she should be ready for anything. She was going there to observe, at least that’s what she told herself, but se had a feeling in light what had been happening. Walking the few steps to her car she paused sensing a tension in the valley that hadn’t been there before. Looking around she didn’t see anything different. The other decrepit houses looked the same; lights were on early at the Rancho anticipating the evening’s diners and revelers; a car sped by on the way to Drake Boulevard almost missing the turn and skidding a few feet on gravel before regaining traction.

Arriving at the Sullivan house was a surprise. Energy engulfed her like a tidal wave as she climbed the front stairs to the door. Her two suitcases suddenly weighed like styrofoam. The pains in her knees, back and neck vanished, her eyesight sharpened and the ringing in her ears stopped. At home she often had to use a cane, but not now. She felt like twenty again.

Linda and Darlene met her at the door. He was carefully dressed in a skirt, sweater and floral apron. His hair hung down in fetching curls. They led her around showing her Marlene’s room, Sandy’s office, the bath, Jenny’s bed in the sewing room and the stairwell to the tower. “That room is locked, but we can go up if you like,” Linda said.

Jenny begged off feeling it might be important to stay away for now, especially if Darlene’s descriptions were correct. Linda served coffee while Darlene busied himself in the sewing room. Jenny watched the boy for a time and saw how competently he handled a needle and thread - “As though born to it,” she mumbled. She could still see nothing masculine in his movements.

Linda described the medical exam and repeated the doctor's explanation for Darlene’s dreams and how his feminine behavior had started. “We’ve followed through on the recommendations and the nausea is gone now. He’s more or less back to normal.”

Jenny made no attempt to contradict or minimize the medical treatment. Nor did she describe everything about Darlene’s stay at her house. Whatever is happening to Darlene is something Jenny didn’t understand, just like with her own daughter. She wondered if she ever would, or if anyone could.

Walking through the house she didn’t sense any evil or good taking place, just an inexplicable process that centered around Darlene and his missing cousin. Jenny was more curious about it than afraid and it seemed more than ever as though she would be directed into some unspecified role possibly tonight.

With Linda’s permission she took a walk outside at dusk and looked at the building from different angles. Just an old house sitting on a dynamo, she thought. As she walked she thought she heard a distant hubbub, something like a theater lobby crowd before the first act, a murmur that came and went like ocean waves. There must be an evening dance at Druid’s Hall or the Rancho. Things could get rowdy at the Rancho if there was a good C&W band. Walking past the old servants’ cottage and ruined barn the energy dimmed. Moving her legs became an effort and chronic pains returned.

She continued for a distance and found some ruins. From the top of a mound she saw that the collapsed adobe structures were extensive although now they were little more than weather-worn rubble. She wondered if this was the original Spanish rancho.

She thought back to the day when Marlene went missing. Deputies and search parties combed the area around her house asking if she had seen the girl or anyone who looked strange. She hadn’t but now remembered that she had felt rather than heard a frightened child cry out. The two cats had perked up their ears and Diablo bolted through the cat door with a growl.

Jenny followed him as far as the creek bank, a dangerous thing in heavy brush where visibility is measured in inches, but she did not see anything. The cat continued and was quickly out of sight. Jenny thought he was heading north. After the child’s cry there were no more sounds outside of the house except water running in the stream and an occasional car on the road. The next day she tried again pushing through the thicket for several hundred feet up to her neighbor’s fence without result. She even crossed the community foot bridge to the other side ignoring its ludicrous NO TRESPASSING sign.

Something happened she knew, but she had no sense of what to do or where to start. What could she say to the deputies that anyone would believe? A helpless feeling nagged her for weeks.

In the twilight she picked her way through crumbling weed grown blocks and down a narrow game trail back to the house. From a distance the building seemed to glow. Perhaps it was an effect of the sunset. She wondered what the night would bring as she stepped through the same door that thirteen year old Emma entered in another lifetime. This time Jenny felt storng again.

Darlene and Linda went to bed after watching TV for awhile. Jenny sat up next to a reading lamp and peered at her small volumes on spirit possession and astral projection, not that they gave any clue as to what was going on. Most literature on the occult described floating furniture, knocks on the wall, exotic apparitions and flying saucers, subjects with great appeal to readers of the tabloids and usually debunked in a matter of weeks. Only now and then would a passage or chapter catch her eye and make her think.

She realized it was getting late and the house was quiet. She folded back the bed covers, but a small noise made her turn and look up. There was Darlene or Marlene in a plain white nylon gown and sandals with her hair hanging straight down her back. She looked like an evangelical figure, a pint-size Aimee Semple McPherson.

“Is it Marlene?” Jenny asked.

The girl nodded and solemnly declared, “We have to get my twin and go upstairs. Would you please bring your plants, Jenny?” Jenny set her book down and picked up the bag. “So I was right,” she thought and wondered what was coming.

Next door Darlene was still asleep. Marlene shook him. “Twin, twin, wake up. We’re going upstairs again. Tonight’s the night.”

He stirred immediately and stood by the bed. “I thought we might.” He stretched prettily brushing his hair back with both hands.

“Here, put on this gown.” Jenny watched as Marlene took command, dressed her cousin, then faced them both together at the mirror so she could make sure their outfits were identical.

“Darlene is the passive one,” Jenny thought. She made no effort to intervene and followed them up the stairs.

Standing in the door she looked at the large table. Seated around it in a rough circle were the girls Darlene described from her dreams. It took her an instant to realize they were not in costume, but the clothing of past epochs. “Remarkable,” she thought nodding in turn at each girl.

The room was large, much larger than the tower looked coming up the driveway. There was the fireplace Darlene mentioned although Jenny hadn’t seen a chimney from the outside. A second well-lighted entrance opened at the back like the one she had come through, though the light was certainly odd, not something she could describe easily. Girls came up the other stairs and through the door as she watched. She accepted a chair brought over by a girl of about fifteen and thanked her. Everyone seemed to be waiting.

As she sat Jenny was introduced to Emma of Darlene’s dream life. Clara was another as well as a Spanish looking girl in an old mantilla, then girls she would never be able to recall. “What a sight to remember. Amazing.”

Marlene opened the session like a master of ceremonies after rapping on the table. “Girls, this is Jenny. You know, the woman who lives by the creek.” Apparently some of them knew her or about her which amazed Jenny no end. Marlene was sounding and looking very much like a preacher standing there at the head of the table.

“We are celebrating Darlene’s wish to change. Each of us will give something to help her in life. Each of us will live a little in the new girl. Jenny, will you repeat your ceremony?” Jenny nodded and looked at Darlene who sat primly in his chair saying nothing, showing only a rather serious expression on his face.

“A sacrifice?” Jenny thought. “If so, a willing one. Or is there something else going on?” There were no obvious answers.

“Jenny, please light your herbs.”

Jenny slowly rose from her chair placing candles and bowls around the room repeating her movements of the other night, lighting the bowls as several girls volunteered to light the upright candles. Those seated at the table moved out of the way transferring their projects to nearby chairs or into carrying bags on the floor. When the room was sufficiently murky Jenny asked all to inhale deeply, hold, then exhale. Marlene helped Darlene disrobe and led him to the table where he lay down in the center and closed his eyes like he had at Jenny’s. Marlene then told the group to enter or touch Darlene one-by-one and tell him what she had to give.

Emma was first and lay down in Darlene saying she was giving him her love, body and the reminder always to be a proper lady. As she rose she was crying. Clara came over put her hands on his chest with her most evil grin. “She is going to have a real pair of knockers.”

Ana Maria placed two ghostly babies into his abdomen saying she wanted him to be a good mother. Others came one by one barely touching Darlene’s head or a body part. Many could not be heard at all. The last to enter was Marlene who lay down inside.

“I will be with you wherever you go,” she whispered and did not come out. The Indian girl stepped behind Jenny and disappeared.

Jenny inhaled slowly and deeply, this time for a full five minutes without coughing or having to lean on the table. Steadily she increased the tempo until it looked like she was hyperventilating. Then she stopped and held her breath.

She felt a surge of energy rise from the floor through her legs, torso, arms and head. Her mind filled with a whirlwind of trivial thoughts — feeding the cats, loading the washer, weeding the garden — and just as quickly emptied leaving only a bright silver light. Like the other night she seemed to go into a trance. If she had been asked later she would have no memory of what she did after that point.

She moved slowly tonight and each movement required an eternity. She first covered Darlene’s face with both hands lightly brushing his forehead, eyes, nose and lips, and slowly smoothed and pulled at his hair. She gently confined his neck in both hands, then squeezed his shoulders pushing inward. Both hands were placed over his nipples and pectoral area and remained there motionless. She moved to his hips and pushed down hard so that they seemed to expand outward. She pressed gently on his genital area with the flat of her hands without moving.

Finally she placed the palms of both hands together and pushed the point made by her fingers deep into Darlene ’s abdomen and held them. A small yellow-white glow appeared as she increased the pressure. Suddenly a bright light flashed through the floor becoming incandescent as it passed through Jenny into Darlene. After a time Jenny pulled away and a large egg-shaped light rose on Darlene’s abdomen soundlessly pulsing in time with his heart beat.

Darlene seemed to wake a second time as Marlene took his hand and led him from the table to the second door. This time he felt no command to stop and the pair passed through the portal without incident.

Both stairs and banister were roughhewn like the door although worn to a polish as though from years of feet and hands. At the bottom a larger ornate door of like construction led out into a bright mist. Breaks in the haze revealed the two were in a small grassy valley surrounded by low hills. To one side was a stream very much like Nicasio Creek. A few girls he had seen in the room stood or sat seemingly waiting for them to pass. Bear, deer, bobcats, squirrels and rabbits lay in the grass or grazed as the couple glided by as though in a dream. There was no noise except the wind. He and Marlene were nude.

In the center of the glade he could see a throne-like rock formation surrounded by a natural grove of oaks and buckeyes. Seated on a flat stone was a woman, at least he thought the figure was a woman. Her face and form were indistinct, almost fluid. As he watched her skin color shifted — brown, black, white and once brilliant silver like a full moon. Most often it was a mix of colors. Marlene took his hand gently pulling him to the woman where together they sank to their knees. Both knelt there for a time looking down until a crowd of girls silently gathered behind them.

Standing up the woman placed her hands on their heads. A rainbow light flashed and shimmered around the trio and subsided quickly. Taking each by the hand she led both to a small pool. A reflection in the water showed Darlene that he was still a boy.

The water was warm as the children were gently pushed down until they were wet all over. Standing on the bank once again the reflection now showed that he and Marlene were both girls and there was no telling them apart. As they stood holding hands and looking at each other two older girls wrapped them in diaphanous garments and crowned them with wild flower wreaths.

Trailing gossamer-thin fabric they were escorted barefoot to a large pole where Darlene’s hands were placed on a tree-trunk thick mast which felt warm, almost alive. As he touched it a spark leaped from his chest to the shaft. Something had gone for good and for a moment he felt sad. Joining hands with the other girls he and Marlene moved over the grass in a slow line dance. In the background he could hear a flute and small drum beating the rhythm although he didn’t see any musicians.

In the distance a bearded, rough-looking horseman rode slowly in their direction. Coming up to the dancers the man reached down and lifted both girls onto his lap. Delicate costumes trailing the girls held onto the man’s neck with both arms and looked up at a being seemingly carved from wood or stone who was dressed in pungent dark leather. Like the woman’s the man’s face was indistinct. Looking back Darlene saw the woman, girls and animals become smaller as they rode away.

Jenny woke and looking down was surprised to see a light on Darlene’s tummy slowly subsiding. Turning she saw that the room was empty and her clothes were soaked with sweat. She suddenly felt cold and started shivering, The air temperature must have dropped thirty degrees, she thought. How long had they been there?

The curious second door was now closed. A handful of coals glowed in the fireplace providing a meager light. Fumes from the bowls had dissipated and the candles were puddles of congealed wax. She saw a bare overhead light bulb through the partly open first door.

Rubbing her hands together until they were warm from friction she brushed them lightly over Darlene’s face, body, arms and legs from head to toe in short strokes. She was done.

“Darlene get up, please.” She reached over and taking the girl’s hand and helped her off the table. “Stand and look at yourself in the mirror. This is how you will be very soon.”

Darlene looked. She saw a full bodied girl of about sixteen, perhaps five three. She had Darlene’s smiling face, flawless and heart shaped. She was full figured with generous breasts and hips and nipped waist. Unlike contemporary fashion models she would not be considered anorexic.

Hair stretched to her hips, full and lustrous and there was no other save at her pubis and brows. The skin was alabaster smooth and her hands and feet were small and tapered. She manually lifted her breasts and brushed the large brown nipples at which her intake of air was audible. She touched buttocks, navel and finally the place between her legs where she found only a soft, sensitive indentation.

Jenny collected her belongings and carefully stored them in the case. Lifting the small grip she took the girl’s hand and wordlessly led her downstairs to Darlene who lay asleep. Jenny returned to the sewing room.

In the morning Jenny rose early taking only coffee and a piece of toast. She told Linda that she had seen enough of Darlene to believe that Dr Gardner’s treatment would be successful. Linda should prepare herself for an eventually female Darlene. She apologized for having to leave early. Her animals would be hungry and, by the way, she should let Darlene sleep late today. She would call back later. Once again she said nothing about the night’s activities.