by Mara Webb
We had to wait until we saw something incriminating before we could act, I didn’t know what they were up to and had guessed at everything so far. If I rushed in and started throwing accusation, especially when I would be so outnumbered, things could get heated and I wouldn’t be able to defend myself. So long as Marnie wasn’t in immediate danger, we could hang back and observe. Try to overhear enough to see if anyone confessed to Hannah’s murder or explain why it was decided to leave her body outside my house.
I could smell burning, like the scent of extinguished matches or a room after the birthday wish has been made and the candles have been blown out. “That way,” I whispered to Quin. We crept in the direction of the smell and I started to see a faint glow ahead of us. The ceremony. The cheerleaders would have had to go deep enough into the woods to not be seen through the back windows of any of the houses, at which point it would be way too dark for them to see. They were creating light for the sacrifice.
I couldn’t decide what was the best course of action, we could climb into the trees to see from above, we would also have the height advantage so we could attack from above if necessary. It would be so loud to move from tree to tree though, rustling through the branches covered in dying leaves. The trees did look oddly appealing, however. Which one was the tallest one? How fast could I get up it? I shook my head and forced myself to focus.
Quin was walking as if in slow motion. I had seen cats do this before when they stalk prey. Watching him move triggered the newly adopted cat skills flowing through my body and I copied his gait. I lifted my right leg very, very slowly. Once it was completely off the ground, I was able to project it forwards a few feet and then very, very slowly place it back down on the ground.
We must have both looked ridiculous, me more so than Quin. Our progress was slow but silent. The glow was becoming brighter as we approached, accompanied by the sound of faint voices. It was still too difficult to gauge how many people were out here, or if Marnie was holding back and watching from a safe distance or trapped in the center of it all.
From some of the research I had done briefly for my O.W.L. assignment earlier, I had learned about a common mnemonic for Jungle survival that applied to us here. S-T-O-P, which stood for stop, think, observe and plan. Which part were we up to? We needed to observe what was going on, but to do that we had to get closer.
The trees were quite bare, it was clear to me as I was now able to see well in the moonlight. Clouds were starting to gather in the sky above now though, obscuring the moon. I couldn’t see in fine detail and with the dimming light filtering through the trees it became harder. I remember reading once that cats only require one sixth of the amount of light that a human eye would need, and so the dim light coming from the flames up ahead would be enough to watch from a safe distance.
I ducked below a branch as my legs continued their slow creep. A sudden noise from our right caused us both to jump, we brought ourselves quickly behind the trunk of the nearest tree. I could see Quins tail upright and puffed. In my peripheral vision I could see that my hair had sprung into wildly dense curls and had tripled in volume. I slipped a hair tie off my wrist and tamed my hair into a high bun so that my vision was not disturbed as we tried to identify the sound.
It appeared that rain had not fallen here in a long time, leaves that had dropped in the fall were piled across the ground in dry and crunchy clusters. I peered around the tree and saw a figure in a long, padded coat and boots trying to sneak closer to the action, but she was less graceful than Quin and me. She had not been able to see the leaves that she had just plunged her fur lined shoes onto, and the crunch had flared up her annoyance.
“Oh Rachel, let’s do it in the woods Rachel, people always do shady stuff in the woods Rachel, you won’t be cold, just put on a coat Rachel,” she muttered in a mocking tone. She turned briefly and I could see her face beneath a woolen bobble hat, it was one of the cheerleaders for sure. Her hair had been carefully twisted into two long, auburn braids either side of her head behind her ears. She looked more like she was auditioning to model in a ski wear catalogue than to involve herself in dark magic.
She must have decided that, since she had already made a sound that would alert anyone nearby of her presence, there was no longer any need to try and be quiet. Proceeding with heavier foot fall she now stomped in the direction of the glow. We took advantage of the noise to walk more quickly, abandoning the slow cat creep.
When the stomping feet reached the clearing with the rest of the cheerleaders, we were hiding about thirty-five feet back. Quin found an angle that gave us a clear view all the way to the site of the activity and we, once again, crouched behind a tree to observe, while making our plan. I tried to count the moving bodies, there appeared to be about eight people, possibly nine. They were fluttering about like moths and it was hard to keep track of which ones I had counted.
If all the cheerleading squad were coming to this thing then we were missing a few. Another crunch of leaves behind us signaled that more feet were approaching the clearing. I pushed my back up against the tree and crouched lower. I knew they couldn’t see me but as the two women got closer, I worried they might trip over me by mistake, discover us hiding there and raise the alarm.
They were walking straight towards us. They can see us, I know it. We couldn’t move, the sound of our retreat would be even worse. I held my breath as legs wrapped in skintight jeans brushed against my bent knees. Neither of them stopped, they must have thought I was another bit of wood. My heart was pounding.
We leaned forward again and watched the two figures joining the group. I could hear the low rumble of voices, but we weren’t close enough to hear over the sound of birds, we would have to move. I had never been distracted by bird song before. Quin looked at me and nodded before creeping forward to the next tree, then the next. When he was in a good position he looked back and beckoned me with a paw. I slowly made my way to the new viewing tree. The voices were audile now.
“Okay, so it looks like we are going to need more sage tying into bundles,” Imogen said. “Rachel, you take care of that. I think that I should be in charge of the knife this time.”
She smiled, it quickly became a giggle and was joined by the sound of the others laughing. I followed Imogen's line of sight and saw Marnie lying unconscious on the floor.
16
My mouth swam with a metallic taste, in my fear I had bitten my tongue and it was slowly bleeding. Marnie. I felt paralyzed by the sight of her lying so still on the ground as Imogen pulled a mask down over her face. Even though I had allowed my imagination to run wild in anticipation of what might happen here tonight, seeing it unfold before my eyes was something I wasn’t prepared for.
In movies with ritual sacrifice they would have altars covered in bones, cloaked bodies lurking in the dark while one larger, more sinister figure plunges a knife into the heart of their victim. They were always selected for a very specific reason, their innocence or their powers. Unless they were just killing opportunistically then this had something to do with the Huxley family, Hannah and Marnie were related.
The mask over Imogen’s face looked vaguely like an animal's head, but something was off. Instead of the traditional goat’s skull that is normally involved in dark magic, Imogen was wearing a venetian carnival mask of a cat’s face. As she moved slightly by the fire, I could see the light reflecting off the surfaces.
Surrounding the right eye of the mask was a flower shape, each petal painted a bright color and bordered with a thick, gold ridge. The left side was covered with a checkered pattern of equally vivid colors which extended up onto the cat ear projecting above. A black ribbon had been tied through a hole at the edge of each cheek and Imogen tied this ribbon tightly behind her head.
With her mask secured, Imogen rose her arms above her head and looked up to the sky, she took a deep breath and began to speak.
“Behold, mighty spirits, we gather here…” she paused. The other girls looked at each other w
aiting for her to continue. The silence hung in the air and I could see a slight smile stretch across Rachel’s face. “Stop laughing, all of you,” Imogen whispered harshly, every ‘p’ in her speech made percussive punctuating sounds in the quiet of the woods. “I’ve got it, I just...I have to check the book. One second.”
The other cheerleaders snickered as Imogen pushed the mask back up onto the top of her head and started to dig around in a carryall. She pulled out book after book, flipped open the front covers, thumbed through the pages then tossed them over her shoulder and tried again with a different one. She stood and stepped over to a different, smaller bag and pulled out a book from there, it was the same one that I had seen on her vanity.
“Ah okay, right I get it now, so you guys should all have your masks on before I even start talking and then…” She ran her index finger along a page as she read, “yeah then I have to say this, and then that one...you guys are kneeling at that point...the candles...and then I have the knife! Okay, let’s do it. Masks on!”
The rest of the group scurried around looking for their masks, some had brought their own backpacks, others seemed to have shared. None of the masks were the ominous, beastly type that are associated with evil activity. They were all carnival masks, brightly colored and cute. Ribbons were tied behind heads in big shoelace bows, in other circumstances you would assume they were about to put on a kindergarten play.
It was now impossible to tell who was who, other than Imogen’s cat mask they were now anonymous. The other girls crouched down to their knees, kneeling and one by one turned to face Imogen who once again raised her arms into the air. The sequins on the masks were catching the light and refracting it all over the trees.
It was electrifying. The light, it was so shiny. Tiny little specks of refracted fire bouncing here and there. No. The eye drops were triggering cat behaviors again and I was shaking to resist.
“Quin, the lights, I can’t take my eyes off it,” I whispered. “I just want to pounce on one of them. I think I can catch one of the dots, I could catch it with my hands so quickly. Argh, help!” My body was rocking gently back and forth trying to fight the urges. My butt started to wiggle instinctively like a cat priming to strike.
“Nora, get a hold of yourself,” he snapped quietly. “Look, I have been a cat for a long time now. Sometimes you have to just think of something else, maintain your dignity. It’s mind over matter, if I can do it then— SO SHINY!” Quin suddenly broke into a sprint towards the clearing. I lurched forward to grab his tail, but he was already too far away. No!
The sparkles from the sequins were one thing, but there was a red glass crystal on a deer mask that was reflecting the fire more than anything else there. It was causing a rectangular block of light to travel rapidly along the lower half of a tree near to Imogen. I gasped a little, but it was too late, Quin was running through the center of the ritual.
What should I do? I didn’t know if I should create a distraction so that they turned away, or run and hide further back, retreat into the darkness. Maybe they would just think Quin is a regular cat? They would have no reason to assume anything else, right? He ran past the fire which the cheerleaders were knelt around and he darted past Imogen’s legs. If I had hoped that he would be stealthy and remain unseen, I was foolish. All their eyes turned to him.
A few of them pushed their masks back up on top of their heads to get a better view of the intruder. Imogen turned on her heels and stared straight at him, pulling the mask off her face and throwing it to the ground. She lifted her wand and aimed it at Quin.
“Elevare!” she shouted; the volume of her voice made the group jump. Quin’s body began to rise from the ground. He was still mid-scramble and it took him a second to realize he was no longer in contact with the tree or the soil. He looked down and saw the dead leaves get further away until he hovered five feet above them.
As if her wand had fired an invisible leash towards him, as she moved her hand, Quin flew through the air in whichever direction she chose. She dragged his levitating body to the center of the group, uncomfortably close to the flames.
“This is the Wildes familiar! He was with that witch when they came to yell at Hannah. That means she is near. Spread out!” Imogen barked the order and the cheerleaders got to their feet and each started to move outwards through the trees in search of me.
I wanted to dissolve into the moss, melt into the trunk of the tree I was hiding behind. If I could remain hidden long enough that the search party all put some distance between them and Imogen then I could run towards her, rescue Quin, save Marnie somehow and then escape. That plan wasn’t a plan, it was a goal with no strategy to achieve it. S-T-O-P. I needed to think.
I thought back to the O.W.L. assignment prep. I had researched all sorts of dangerous animals that I might encounter and how to deal with them. The recommendations were generally to avoid wild animals completely, that didn’t help in this situation as Imogen was as wild as could be and standing so close. The internet suggested trying to determine if the animal was a threat, if you freeze when you come across a snake it may just slither off and leave you alone. Imogen was definitely a threat.
The only thing that might work is the advice for a bear encounter. For this it was recommended to make yourself as big and loud as possible, establish yourself as the bigger threat. The bear should retreat in fear, theoretically, but would Imogen do the same? I need to put on a show, make her think that she is at risk. Deep breath. I stood up tall and walked out into the clearing.
“Imogen put him down,” I boomed. I needed her to think that it didn’t matter if the other cheerleaders heard me, I also needed to make sure she didn’t see my hands trembling.
“Ew, the nerve of you coming here. As if. Right? How, like, dare you at all?” Imogen had tweaked her voice to a valley girl accent that was particularly intense. I needed her to put Quin down safely, if I forced her hand, she might just drop him onto the fire, and I couldn’t bear it. I had an idea, but it would involve casting two different spells at once, well I have two hands, don’t I?
“It’s over, Imogen. A bunch of officers from the justice department will be here any minute, I called them before I came here. They know everything. There is nowhere for you to go, just bow out with a little grace. Let my cat go free. I’ll take Marnie and you will just be charged with Hannah’s murder, nothing more.” I lifted my arms up and held out my hands flat, facing slightly upwards. I wanted her to think I was trying to be reasonable; I worried she wouldn’t cave.
“Wow, like, don’t even! You don’t know the total, like, truth. There’s just you and all of us. How dumb are you?” Her voice grated against my eardrum. I could hear the voices of the others drawing nearer, I had to do it now.
I reached back with my right hand and pulled my wand out of my jeans pocket, my left hand pointed towards the trees above Imogen. “Missus!” I yelled, focusing my power into my left arm. Instantaneously, pinecones and acorns dropped forcefully downward onto Imogen. She covered her head defensively, breaking the levitation spell. “Extinctus!” I shouted; wand aimed at the flames below Quin. A huge volume of water doused the burning wood pile. The fire went out and the woods were plunged into total darkness.
I ran to Quin, scooping him off the wet bonfire and held him tightly. My cat vision still allowed me to see perfectly well in the darkness. “Are you hurt?” I whispered anxiously.
“Worse! I’m wet, but we need to kick rocks fast, look!” He gestured behind us. The cheerleaders had re-entered the clearing but were stumbling all over the place in the dark looking for Imogen, she was screaming from underneath a pile of debris. “It won’t be long until one of them fires up a brain cell and remembers they have magic powers, grab Marnie.” He whispered. Jumping softly from my arms and lightly treading towards her body.
I crept over behind Quin and crouched down near Marnie’s face. She was breathing, but still unconscious. “Viribus,” Quin muttered to me. I felt heat in my arms. “You can carry
her now, come on.” I put my arms underneath her and was able to stand. Her body draped over my forearms as if she weighed nothing.
“Illustrant, duh?” One of the cheerleaders must have remembered that they were a witch. Light began to flow from the tip of a wand twenty feet away from us. It was pouring out like bright blue water, fountaining up and over her hand and pooling at her feet. The pool of light then started to branch out like small streams of water, travelling towards the base of nearby trees and then flowing up the trunks. The light twisted round and round the wood like a helter skelter until it reached the branches and then it split again. Within a minute the nearby trees were coated in a blue, luminous water-like light that made it possible for the cheerleaders to clearly see us.
“Hey, Marnie, this would be a great time to wake up,” I said quietly. “Quin, run!”
17
I turned and ran, Marnie light as air in my arms. Quin was weaving quickly around trees, zigzagging with ease to avoid the onslaught of magic flying towards us. A few of the cheerleaders must have stayed back to dig Imogen out from a pile of acorns, but the seven witches following us were enough.
I couldn’t hear the spells they were using over the sound of the blood in my ears and my heavy breathing. Sparks flew past my head, narrowly missing and hitting nearby trees, one tree burst into flames. I didn’t know which direction I was running in, but I didn’t seem to be getting closer to the line of houses, in the confusion of the escape I seemed to be delving deeper into the trees, they were getting closer together now.
Despite the strength spell Quin had put over me, I was struggling. Marnie wasn’t slowing me down, but there was only so much further I could run, even with all the triathlon training under my belt. The adrenaline was too much, the danger too real. The main lesson I’d learned when training to run long distance is that your mind will give up before your legs do. I needed to convince myself to keep going, even though my brain was fighting with me.