After Sammy agreed to join the group and had explained what she wanted, two of the primaries took her with them, followed by three secondaries. They went to a side room which she identified as a hermetic lodge, although she saw things she hadn’t seen before. Before she could ask, she was requested to stand on one of the points of the pentagram drawn on the floor. The others stood on the other points, except one of the secondaries who stayed outside.
“We are here to initiate a new member in the Club,” one of the primaries said, before turning to Sammy.
“Do you swear to keep the Club a secret,” he asked.
“I swear,” Sammy replied.
“Do you swear to follow the commands of those placed above you,” the primary asked next.
“I swear,” Sammy replied again.
“Do you swear to help other members to the best of your abilities when asked,” was the next question.
“I swear,” Sammy replied.
“Welcome to the Club,” the primary said. The one secondary who hadn’t joined in the circle stood next to her with a pair of scissors and a small canister.
“Now we just need a material link,” the primary leading the ceremony said, “some hair would be sufficient.”
“Okay,” Sammy said. From what she had heard, this was not unusual. The secondary with the scissors took some hair, put it in the canister and left the room.
“Now we can go immediately for your initiation,” the primary said. He started to speak on the nature of magic, at least according to the hermetic tradition. His voice was droning and Sammy started to feel her eyes starting to get heavy. While she remained conscious, things were happening on the subconscious levels as well. Then the second primary took over, also speaking in that hypnotising way. He was followed by each of the secondaries.
Suddenly the last one stopped talking and Sammy blinked. A quick look at her watch showed that more than one hour had passed. She felt weak and could hardly stand.
“John will take care of you,” the leading primary said, indicating the secondary who had left the room with her material link and who had returned. He handed her a glass of water while the others left the room. Then he showed her the secret signals she could use to indicate membership to other members, as well as her password for the secure server they had. On there she could for instance request transport to the building they were in, as she wasn’t supposed to know the location in the beginning. He also mentioned libraries and other things she could use upon request.
After being brought back close to home, Sammy told her brother not to disturb her and she went into her lodge to practice. During the course of most of the night, she found that if she performed gestures like she had done during some of her trids, they helped her to mitigate the effects of drain on her body.