by Mark Taylor
Fearing she had used her power to move, Mary frantically looked around the restaurant for the shocked and scared faces of those that had seen, but there were none. If fact, no one was looking at all…or moving even.
The whole place was shrouded in silence and the people…frozen to the spot, as if time itself had stopped.
“Excalibur?” Mary called, frowning. There was no answer, and her own voice sounded dead in the silence. She looked at the people. They looked like they had been captured in a photo. Standing, she walked over to one of them, queuing at the counter. She raised her hand and went to touch her—a young woman holding a tray. Standing there, Mary held her hand a few inches away from the woman and noticed it shaking slightly. She clenched her fist and then released it, and then with her forefinger she poked the woman. She was solid…like a statue.
“What’s going on…Excalibur…what have you done?” The silence answered her. She walked over to the window and looked out. The street was as still as the restaurant, cars had stopped in mid-drive and, looking up, birds hung in the air. The only thing that moved were the trees surrounding the parking lot, waving back and forth in the wind.
Mary opened the door and stepped out. The strange silence—not one she had heard in hundreds of years—surrounded everything. There was always the sound of cars, birds, noise…just noise.
She walked into the center of the lot and looked around. Nothing. Nothing else moved, nothing stirred, nothing made a sound apart from the wind. She ran her hand across her mouth.
What is it? What’s happened?
Turning back to look at The Clucky Bucket, Mary stopped and thought. Should she go in and wait for Excalibur? Had she done this?
No, that was stupid…why would she have?
Mary turned back and walked over to the street, standing on the edge of the sidewalk. She looked in both directions—as if to cross—and then sighed. Now what?
She listened to the wind, it had a calming, reflective sound to it, but there was something else….
Closing her eyes she listened.
On the wind, no, in the wind she could hear something. It took her a moment of concentration but finally she heard…
…Where are you?
Mary opened her eyes and looked around again, expecting to see someone. Of course, there was no one. The voice simply whispered in the wind.
Time had stopped. It was the only answer.
Fearful of stepping out in front of a car—just in case time did start again—Mary slowly walked along the sidewalk, careful to not lose sight of the restaurant. When she crossed the street to return back, she was mindful to run across between the frozen cars. After some time she found herself standing on the opposite side of the street to The Clucky Bucket, waiting…but for what?
Maybe I should take the car and leave…
Sure, that would make her feel better, but leave Excalibur stranded in the middle of nowhere…and she did need her, and perhaps they were becoming…friends. She decided against it. This had to have happened for a reason.
The wind persisted in carrying the question, where are you, over and over. In fact, Mary was sure it was getting louder.
She looked up into the sky—from an onlooker’s point of view, maybe to God—when she saw something move. It was too big to be a bird, and moving, so not a plane either…and she didn’t believe in Superman. She focused on it. It was definitely moving, it was small, but it was getting larger.
Mary took a step back. It was black…
…like a tarp.
She looked up and down the street and then back to the sky. The thing was moving with purpose. It was flying. A Monger.
She stood still and watched it circle high above where she was. Maybe it had seen her—maybe not. No. It had. It must have.
The Essence Monger came down towards her. It wasn’t quick but it was graceful, and as she watched it, out of the corner of her eye she saw another. They were coming for her. Looking around the sky she saw several of them coming into view, possibly called by the first. She turned to run but was stopped by a voice.
“Mary!”
She turned and looked down the street to see what looked like Excalibur on the brow of the hill in the distance. As she watched, the figure disappeared in a wisp of black, to re-appear in front of her. It was Excalibur.
She grabbed her hand, “Come with me,” and dragged Mary across the street.
“What’s going on?” Mary stumbled under force of Excalibur’s strength, but managed to stay on her feet.
“What in Hell have you pissed off?” was the response. Excalibur pulled Mary across to the opposite sidewalk and back into the parking lot of the restaurant. She stopped and looked up, “They’re circling…we haven’t got long…” Continuing to pull her, she dragged Mary back into the Bucket, where the statues of humanity waited. Stopping to draw breath, she looked at Mary solemnly, shaking her head. “First we get a Monger on the freeway, then this, you’re going to have to come clean.”
Mary stared at her and shook her head, “I don’t know anything…what’s going on?”
“Come on,” Excalibur rounded the statues carefully and headed towards the back of the restaurant, followed by Mary. She went into the kitchen and cranked the handle of the walk-in freezer open, then shoved Mary inside in front of her. She followed her in and pulled the door to. “Don’t move. Be as still as you can.”
The two of them stood in silence, unmoving, for what felt like an eternity. Excalibur had her eyes closed, breathing slowly, whilst Mary looked around herself constantly.
After a few minutes, Excalibur opened her eyes. “This isn’t working. We need to get back.” She sidled up to Mary and took her hand, and Mary felt her warmth coursing into her skin. “We need to do this together. Close your eyes and imagine that you’re at the table with your burger. I’m with you. You can smell the chicken, the fried food, and you can hear the chatter of people ordering food and laughing over the clatter of the kitchen…concentrate…be with me…feel the warm food in your hand…” As Excalibur drew the picture for Mary her words slowed, became gentle, quieter.
Mary imagined herself at the table…she concentrated on the Billy Bacon Burger…the voice that she had heard…
“Open your eyes.”
Mary did as she was told to be faced by Excalibur, sitting at the table, her burger in her hand and people making…noise. She breathed the stench of chicken in and out, and the rock of uneasiness fell from her. As she looked around she asked, “What just happened?”
Excalibur nodded approvingly, “You’re doing well, but I think it’s time we left.”
Mary nodded. They got up, left the food behind, and Excalibur tossed some cash on the counter as they walked past. She then overtook Mary to reach the door first. She looked out, and up. “They’re still out there. Give me the keys.” Mary did as she was told. “Ready?”
The two of them bolted from the restaurant and over to the car, and before Mary had her door open, Excalibur had the engine started.
The sky had at least ten Essence Mongers circling.
Mary threw herself in the passenger seat and Excalibur floored the gas. She skidded the car out onto the road, ignoring the barking horns of the upset drivers she cut off . “Which way?” she asked.
“There,” Mary pointed, “next left, back to the freeway.”
Excalibur rounded the corner in the style of a getaway driver, clearly skilled at it far beyond Mary. As the car bounced across a crossroads, Excalibur changed gear swiftly, “I’m glad you’ve got a stick shift.” She weaved in and out of the cars, powering her way towards the freeway, ignoring all the other drivers…and the law. “We can outrun them,” she said through gritted teeth and determination.
As the car pushed down the ramp onto the freeway, Excalibur eased off the gas, looking out of the windows for signs of them, “I think we lost them.”
“How? I don’t understand…” Mary continually watched out of the windows, but the Mongers seemed to
fall behind and get lost in the skyline.
“They can’t move too quickly or they’ll be seen.”
“You mean…people can’t see them?”
“No, only those like us, unless they break through into…reality.” Excalibur kept the car at an even speed—slightly faster than the general traffic—and kept them moving along the freeway. “Okay, heads up, whatever did that back there was not of this world. You need to explain it to me.”
“I don’t know.”
“You keep saying that…tell me.”
“You know what I know,” Mary continued, “I need to bring back Sarah and James…I haven’t done anything else.”
“Look,” Excalibur kept her eyes on the road, “this shit doesn’t just happen…there aren’t many entities that can hold time…and they do certainly seem to want to talk to you.”
Mary stayed silent. She had nothing else to say, least of all the answers that Excalibur demanded.
***
Excalibur drove for nearly eighteen hours, stopping only for gas; most of the time she was silent. Mary thought at first that she was angry with her, for what had happened, but as time went on she decided that wasn’t it. It was determination. A determination to get to Massachusetts and meet back up with Dina and Lady, and hopefully to finish what they had started.
As they crossed the last State line, Mary asked, “Do you know where you’re going?”
“Of course.”
“How? I…haven’t told you.”
“Dina will have everything sorted by now. I just need to get to her. She’ll have the graves of your friends marked, and then all we need to do is the ritual.”
“How will you find Dina?”
“I can feel her.”
Feel her? The only thing Mary felt was hunger.
As they drew close to Salem, long after the night had fallen, Excalibur drove the streets as if she had been born there. She knew exactly where to go.
After another hour, they pulled up into a motel—Salem’s Four. Excalibur left the car and started over to the rooms immediately. Mary got out, stretched and followed her, trying to keep up. “Are we here?” she asked.
Excalibur didn’t acknowledge her, she just kept walking. She went up a flight of stairs and on to Seventeen. She knocked lightly at the door.
By the time Mary had caught up, Lady had opened the door and let Excalibur in, and was watching Mary as she came along. She nodded her greeting—still choosing not to speak—and stepped aside for Mary to enter the room.
Inside, Excalibur had already laid herself on the bed spread-eagle and had her eyes shut. Dina sat in the chair in the corner of the room and once Lady closed the door she went and sat on the twin bed.
“How was the trip?” Dina asked with a smile.
Mary glanced to Excalibur, but she didn’t move. “Hard,” she answered.
“Problems?”
Mary nodded, “Everything was fine until we stopped for lunch, then…well, time stopped…for everyone apart from us.”
“I know. We felt it too. Excalibur,” Dina raised her voice, “explain.”
Excalibur dragged herself up onto her elbows and looked at Dina. “We were in a fried chicken place—you know me—and it happened as we were eating.”
“What happened to you?”
“I was displaced.”
“How did you get back?”
Excalibur lowered her head slightly. “I was at least a hundred miles away…but I could feel her,” she looked at Mary and then back to Dina, “so I came back, and we plucked ourselves back to reality.”
“You could feel her? So soon?” Dina looked surprised.
Excalibur nodded and relaxed back down onto the bed. “It was strong,” she continued, “I haven’t felt anything like it in many years. The Mongers were there, a lot of them, and they were trying so hard to get to her. I couldn’t leave her there. So I acted. What would you have me do? Besides, I didn’t tell her.”
“Tell me what?” Mary asked.
“Wait,” Dina raised her hand to shush Mary. “Who was it?”
“I don’t know,” Excalibur replied, “but it was like raw power. It must have been one of The Chosen, if it was anyone else I’d have broken it myself…but I needed Mary’s help.”
“Who are The Chosen?” Mary asked.
Dina sighed. “We do not have much time,” she looked at Mary, “only a few can corner Excalibur in knowledge. They alone have the power to change time—affect the mortals—in such a way. If we are to complete this task, we must act now…tonight.”
VI
The four of them drove through the empty night’s streets. Dina was driving and telling Mary about James and Sarah. “It took me longer to find the graves than I expected. I knew from what you had told me, that finding the final resting place of the body of Sarah Good was going to be hard—you do not bury someone convicted of witchcraft on hallowed ground, but I expected to find that of James quite easily. As it turned out, James demanded to be buried next to his wife. Whilst it was a commendable gesture, it did not make my life any easier.”
Mary listened and nodded, making appropriate acknowledgement sounds as she felt fit. After the trouble she seemed to have caused, she decided not to ask too many questions.
“I found them both buried in what is today a piece of recreational ground outside of the familiar routes of the town folk. We were lucky—it could have been a mall by now. There is an empty house on the edge of the ground which will be perfect to take them to and explain, although I must warn, we will not have much time…that much has become clear.”
Mary felt she should interject. “I still don’t know any more than I’ve told you.”
“Be that as it may, we will need to complete the ritual twice, and with the four of us, the Essence Mongers will not be far behind.”
“I don’t mean to be rude,” Mary began, “but could I ask a few questions?”
“We will be there soon, so please, if you are quick.”
“Who are The Chosen?”
Dina watched the road as she spoke, “The Chosen are those who cannot be defeated. When they choose to walk the earth they cannot feel the smite of man. Within history, tell me, who do you know of that is different, like us, perhaps?”
“I remember the tales of the Armies of Gabriel, many, many of years ago, and of course, the demise of the Vampyr. But that was only a legend.”
“Great legends make bed time stories. You are correct on both counts, not legends, but history.” Dina glanced at Mary, “Many years ago I sort dwelling in a plague ridden town in Europe. In a tavern I met a man who—as I thought—was riddled with the madness of disease. He called himself Famine. I humored him and we drank, we spent the night drowning our sorrow, but later, I found out that he was his name.”
“The Horsemen? The Horsemen are The Chosen?” Mary couldn’t believe it.
“No, you misunderstand. The Horsemen, The Reaper, Gabriel, and the Vampyr are all The Chosen. Those who cannot be defeated by man alone.”
“I still don’t understand.”
Dina swung the car around, and off the road. “I fear that you will,” she said.
Driving the car into a spot outside a deserted patch of land, Dina turned off the engine. She arched around the seat to speak to everyone. Looking at Lady, she said, “Wake her.”
Lady did as she was told and shook Excalibur’s shoulder until her eyes opened. “Okay, I’m up.”
“We are here,” Dina said, “and we will not have much time. Lady and I have marked the sites. We only did it four hours ago, and so they should still be present. We must complete this quickly, do not forget that last time the Essence Monger arrived soon after, and we have to do two.” Dina turned to Mary. “I wish that the ritual be done in silence tonight. Are you ready for this?”
Mary nodded, “I’ve been practicing.”
“Then let us begin.”
After they had left the car, the four of them walked across the front of the house. �
�I have placed rudimentary clothing inside for them and Lady has two blankets with her.” Dina strode with purpose past the house and into the parkland. “We will bring them, and then cover them with the blankets, lead them to this house and dress them…they will need our help, they will not be strong.” The three of them followed Dina into, and across, the grass. “Then we must take them to the car and leave as quickly as possible.” She stopped and turned to Mary. “During this time it is possible, but unlikely, that they will have any recognition of whom you are, they certainly will not know us, and it is unlikely that they will have control over their own bodies. This must be done quickly. Do you understand?”
Mary nodded.
Dina turned back and continued across the grass towards two small markers in the ground. When they reached them Dina turned and said, “This is James Good,” she glanced down to the grave they stood over, “and that,” she looked around to the other some ten feet away, “is Sarah.” She looked around the group. “Does anyone have any questions before we start?”
Lady dropped the blankets to the ground and the four of them circled the first marker.
“Lady and Excalibur will take lead from you,” Dina said to Mary, “just remember what we did last time. As soon as the body appears, we will turn to Sarah and do the same. Are we ready?” She glanced up to them one final time and each nodded in readiness.
Mary watched her take a deep breath and lower her head. She followed suit and started chanting in her head, her eyes closed.
The power of the four of them working together caused Mary to feel a slight nausea, as if she were on the high seas in a row boat, tumbling uncontrollably through the waves of a storm. Thunder cracked overhead as the clouds deepened in color and the wind became stronger.
She could feel the three of them stood with her, a sensation like no other she had felt. As she concentrated on the words—the same words as before—she became detached from them, her consciousness free to move apart from her mind and words. Is this what it’s like to truly be a witch? As she drifted, she lost the sound of the words and time suddenly meant nothing.