First Saturday of September.

Robert Dwayne had not had a good summer. The city council had decided to cut the subsidies of his newspaper, the Wordy Serigraph, under the pretext that it relayed fake news, and that it was supposedly no better than a tabloid. But Robert knew what was behind this decision. Oscar Copono, the re-elected mayor, didn't like his article about the inaction of politicians in the fight against drug trafficking. That was all.

Fortunately, he had a tip-off for a new investigation. One of his informants had told him about a case that could make the front page of his next issue, and maybe even be broadcast on television! There was a pagan cult growing in town, luring young people into obscure, and probably perverted, practices. As a good Christian, it was Robert's duty to publicly denounce this heresy.

The fact that it would increase his sales tenfold was just the icing on the cake.

He dressed up in what he thought was cool clothes. That is, with a tracksuit and a cap, like the kids he saw in rap videos. And he was now heading towards the meeting place, his recorder in his pocket. He was determined not to miss a single thing that was happening there, and to bring the truth about it to his faithful readers.

As he didn't want to be noticed, Robert arrived at the room five minutes late. It was the perfect moment between the arrival of the other participants and the beginning of the meeting. A young Indian man greeted him at the entrance:

"Hi, I'm Jay, are you new?"

"Uh yes," answered Robert, hesitating, Jay was not wearing the same clothes as him at all. "A friend told me about your meetings...I hope you don't mind if I attend?"

"Not at all. We're a bit more crowded than usual today with the return from summer holidays, but feel free to ask me if you have any questions."

"Thank you," Robert said before walking in and ducking into a corner of the room.

He began to observe the fifteen or so people who were there. First he saw his informant to whom he gave a discreet nod, but the latter ignored him. There was also a brown-haired young woman who proudly showed to the cantonnade what must be an engagement ring. Then he noticed... Rafael Duprat? But what was he doing there?

Robert pushed his cap deeper on his head. He didn't want to be noticed, or he might be kicked out of the meeting before it even started! Several months had passed since he had interviewed Rafael about the Paulina Stone trial, but if he recognized him, he could too.

Fortunately, he seemed to be distracted by a blond woman with smoldering eyes who was chatting with him. She was really beautiful, it looked like there were fiery reflections shimmering on her skin... Robert closed his eyes and massaged the bridge of his nose for a moment. Now, he couldn't see them anymore. What had happened to him? Did he have hallucinations?

There were two men not far from him looking in the same direction. They had a family resemblance. Robert pricked his ears to hear what they were saying:

"Bro, do you feel that? That chick is hot. A real volcano!"

"Yeah, it's amazing. It feels like she could explode at any moment..."

Robert shook his head. They were a depraved pair, as he expected to find in a cult. They were terribly inappropriate remarks! This kind of language and imagery had always bothered him. In his Christian upbringing, men had to respect women as the incarnation of the Virgin Mary.

"Do you want to try to hit on her?" one of the two depraved men asked the other.

"Oh no, I don't have a chance. She's a ten, or maybe a nine because of her eye."

It was only then that Robert noticed that the pretty blonde had her right eye only half open. She must have been injured, or had an illness... What a shame! Once noticed, this feature was hard to forget, and completely disrupted the enchanting image that the young woman gave at first sight.

"Yeah, it doesn't seem to bother Rafael much though," said the man.

Of course, cults always target the weak and disabled.

Although... it was surprising coming from Rafael Duprat. During the interview, Robert had found him to be a sensible young man, with good morals, and a healthy distrust of the authorities. Not the type to lure others into a cult. Maybe he had been wrong about him, or maybe Rafael had been brainwashed into doing it.

He would soon find out more anyway. Rafael had just finished his conversation with the blonde, or was it an argument? In any case, she looked irritated. And he stood at the front of the room, signaling everyone to be quiet. Everyone sat down obediently, and silence gradually settled in.

"Good morning," Rafael said, "I'm glad there are so many of us here today. I'd like to start with a reminder of the rules of the Association, both for the newcomers and for the old-timers."

He scanned the assembly with his eyes, stopping especially on the blonde girl. Robert made himself very small in his corner so as not to be noticed. It was too strange that Rafael Duprat was leading this cult. What were the odds? Had his uncle's death made him lose his mind? Not likely, he was already dead when Robert met him for the interview. Maybe his informant's information wasn't that good...

Rafael began to recite solemnly: "The first rule is not to reveal the existence of shamanic magic to the public. We don't want to create panic, nor do we want to be in the spotlight. The second rule is to ask an experienced member for help before binding a spirit. We don't want one of us to lose control and hurt someone. The third rule is to report any form of shamanic activity so that we can act effectively if there is a problem."

Is this a New Age cult with a focus on magic? I bet there will be a demonstration afterwards, and a promise to teach us spells for a financial contribution.

"Well, now that that reminder is done, let's get to the information exchange part," Rafael continued.

That's it? He didn't even make a speech?!

Robert looked with displeasure at the back of his informant who was sitting in the front row, it was nothing like what he had described. Where were the deceitfulness, the guilt trips, the scapegoats? He almost got up right away to leave, but finally decided not to let impatience get the better of him, perhaps the shady aspects would come later?

A man in his fifties came to take Rafael's place, it was strange to see someone so old here. The other participants were all much younger. Robert wondered for a moment if he was the real guru, but this thought disappeared as soon as the man spoke.

"Hello, I am the Alchemist. You may have heard that I was looking for some, shall we say, special plants. I would like to remind everyone that i don't buy or trade anything that is not in good condition. That means living plants with their roots. If you're not sure how to harvest them, it's better to just let me know where you found them."

A young one took over, he had such a smooth gait it looked like he was bouncing with every step. He was also dressed in hip hop fashion which reassured Robert. He wasn't the only one to have made this choice.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"Hey guys, there was another junkie case this week. He almost bonded with a spirit before the ritual suddenly fell apart, and he ended up in a mental hospital. Don't do drugs, they disrupt the flow of your spiritual energy and make it unstable. Also, be careful at the club, there are some dudes drugging the drinks on the sly."

Okay, hard to argue with this one.

The next person was one of the two depraved men who had made inappropriate remarks about the one-eyed girl. He was probably going to make a joke in bad taste or something. In fact, now that Robert thought about it, they didn't seem to be very particular about who attended the meetings... This Jay hadn't even asked for his name.

"Hmm well, I'm Borka for those who don't know me. I'm not sure if this is relevant, but I wanted to talk about what's going on right now at the animal shelter. In the last few weeks, we had to euthanize four rabid dogs. It has been more than ten years since the disease last appeared in the area. The vet says it was probably rats that infected them... It may have nothing to do with shamanic magic, but I thought it was peculiar enough to warn you just in case."

Rafael nodded, "You're right, you can never know in advance what might be behind this kind of event. Thanks Borka."

Hmm, it was actually quite interesting. It would make a good article that would upset both mothers and animal rights activists. It was perfect. And in any case, a much better story than the one about a cult that wasn't really a cult. Only young people excited by the discovery of New Age beliefs. The other journalists were going to belittle him again if he published this.

"If no one has anything to add, let's start the market. I think Orphelia has something interesting to show us today."

A girl in her early twenties stepped forward. A goth, black hair, black leather clothes, even her lipstick was of the same color! All this contrasted strongly with her very pale skin, and with the water pistol she held in her hand. When she arrived in front of everyone, she spoke in a whistling voice:

"I confiscated this object from one of the kids I babysit. I don't know how the brat managed to do that, but the gun was blessed by a water spirit. You can surely feel its spiritual energy."

"There are parents who trust you to take care of their children?" joked Borka, which made several people in the assembly laugh.

Orphelia looked at him coldly, without blinking. "I'm pretty good at it," she returned. "You just have to make them understand that there are lines you can't cross."

"Uh okay," replied Borka, who had lost his smile. "Sorry Orphelia."

She resumed her presentation, "This magical item is of no use to me, I would like to trade it for a snake of a rare species, or for a catalyst to increase my affinity with my spirit. Until someone finds something that might interest me, I will leave the water gun in the Association's storeroom."

Robert noticed that no one seemed very excited, or maybe Orphelia's requests were just too difficult to fulfill. The trade in rare snakes was prohibited, so he could understand the difficulty of this, but he would have expected that these New Age enthusiasts would have many charms that could act as a catalyst... How hard was it to cobble together one or two? At the same time, it's true that it was just a water gun, you could find them in any store.

In fact, more than a New Age meeting, it looked like some sort of LARP. Minus the disguises, although he could probably put Orphelia's gothic outfit in that category. Robert shook his head. They were weird, but they weren't doing anything wrong. It was better that he dropped this article, waited for the meeting to end, and went to dig up that rabid dog story instead. He hoped it wasn't just a role-play invention.

The shamanic market continued: the Alchemist sold some serenity ointments, and gave more details about the plants he was looking for; a woman offered temporary beauty blessings, and there were several discussions about gems, but Robert had stopped listening.

Finally Rafael spoke up again: "I think we can stop here for today. Remember there is the shamanic meditation class in thirty minutes, it is very important to participate to learn how to control your aura, and your powers."

Robert stood up to head for the exit. He still half expected someone to catch up with him and ask for money, or to urge him to attend this meditation class... but nothing. This reinforced his belief that there was nothing interesting to see here. It was a bunch of youngsters trying to give themselves a style, nothing more.

He was walking down the street towards his car, having already put this cult story out of his mind, when his phone started ringing. It was his informant calling. Robert almost hung up on him, he deserved it for wasting his time, but finally he took the call anyway. You never knew, he might come across something interesting in the future.

"Hello?" said Robert.

"Why did you leave so quickly?" asked the voice on the other end. "You should have come to the meditation class, your article would have been more complete."

"I won't write anything, this Association is not a cult."

"No, no, no, I swear. They use their magical powers to manipulate people, you have to report them!"

"What magical powers?" replied Robert. "It's part of your role play thing, right? I don't appreciate people screwing with me. I've never seen a more democratic meeting, and every cult is founded around a charismatic leader. This Rafael didn't even give a speech, you need to calm down."

The voice fell silent for a long moment. Robert could feel his informant's frustration, he must have been irritated to miss out on the promised reward. Too bad for him, next time he would be more careful before claiming to have found the subject of the century. Robert unlocked his car and opened the door.

"What if I bring you proof?" the voice asked.

Robert stopped before getting in, and rested his foot on the curb.

"Proof?"

"I can break into the storeroom to get the water gun and bring it back to you, so you'll see that their magic is real!"

And make me an accomplice to theft? He's out of his mind!

"That's a very bad idea," Robert said as seriously as he could. "I don't know what's going on with you, but you should pray to find inner peace in Jesus."

"I'll do it, I'll prove to you that I'm right!" the voice said again.

"I'm out. Don't call me back." Robert finished before hanging up.

What had happened to his informant? Was it because of these New Age beliefs? He knew that some Christians had trouble accepting the existence of such ramblings, and saw them as the work of Lucifer. Well, to the extent that it alienated them from the Church, that was not wrong, but from there to reinstate the inquisition…

It is only through the love of Jesus that lost souls will find the right way.