The Phoenix and the Witch

by H. M. Gooden

  Zahara thought for a minute before shaking her head.

  "Just my family and Dr. Brown. I'm not sure how useful any of them would be, honestly." She paused, picking at an invisible piece of lint on her pants and not looking at the girls. "To be honest, I'd rather leave them out of whatever happens here. At least I know that they're safe where they are."

  Cat looked at Vanessa, who nodded.

  "Don't worry. I get it. I don't want my family here either."

  Zahara gave her a weak smile. "Yeah, I guess it's selfish, but I don't want them to get hurt."

  "It's not selfish at all. I think that's why we're here in the first place. It's our responsibility to deal with this crap, so that it doesn't spill over onto our loved ones. That's why we all got picked in the first place," Evelyn said, nodding her head firmly.

  "Well, if this is everyone, why don't we go and explore the village now? We can see if there are any areas to watch out for lurkers, check if there are any threats we should deal with at the moment."

  Cat finished her drink and walked over to put the mug by the sink, before turning back to the others.

  "Sounds like a plan," said Vanessa, as she followed Cat's lead and put her mug next to hers. "I'll just go get my stuff on and then I'm ready."

  One by one, the girls finished their morning caffeine and got ready, preparing for their reconnaissance mission into town.

  THE SEASIDE VILLAGE of Ballantrae where they'd set up base was near the caves of the Sawney Bean legend without actually being next door to them. Cat hoped that it was close enough to the place she continued to see the tree in her dreams, while still remaining far enough away that they wouldn't be at risk of immediate death. The village was the epitome of quaint. Many of the buildings appeared to be hundreds of years old, with sagging thatched roof cottages and old brick buildings that had been weathered by decades of rain and coastal winds. The village had some amenities, including a small coffee shop, whose location was marked with enthusiasm by the girls. They might have been almost all-powerful, but even they required some occasional high-octane fuel.

  The morning was misty, as expected for a March day in Scotland along the coast, but not overly cold. Consequently, Cat knew as they walked that the deepening chill she felt wasn't merely from the weather. When they rounded a corner on a quiet street, she stopped. A small crowd had gathered by an old playground. Even if she hadn't been able to see auras, they would have seemed out of place. The other girls, seeing Cat stop before they sensed anything, waited for her.

  Cat sent a silent message through to Evelyn.

  Hey, can you link us?

  Evelyn acknowledged her with a sharp nod. Vanessa, Zahara, and Mai's heads all turned at the sound of her voice in their heads, as Cat spoke to them with Evelyn's help.

  See that crowd? None of them have an aura. There must be twenty of them. And the playground as a location? Brutal.

  They looked at the group again and Cat saw Vanessa scowl.

  Jerks. Are they waiting for us, or for little kids?

  Evelyn shrugged.

  Both. Either. Whatever they wanted, they’ve got us now. You guys ready to introduce yourselves? I'll stay back here to be your eyes and ears again.

  They agreed, falling back into the now familiar formation of four girls in a line. As they'd expected, the soulless people turned and faced them with a menacing air, their lack of facial expressions glaringly obvious. While they all looked outwardly different, they shared a darkness in their eyes that betrayed their lack of soul. One stepped forward, appearing to be the double of a cheerful Santa Claus in tweed. He spoke with a coldness that was jarring.

  "Oh, hello. We've been expecting you. We think that you've been visiting our country long enough, don't you agree? It's time for us to give you a proper send off for disturbing things that you ought not to be disturbing."

  He moved towards them and Cat found his still cheerful smile incongruous with the absence of soul in his eyes. Instead of appearing threatening, he looked as if he was about to give a talk on donating teddy bears to the poor.

  "I really don't see that happening right now," said Vanessa. "In fact, I think we're probably going to be here long after you're dust. Would you like to test my theory?"

  She stepped forward with her usual bravado, cocking her head and sticking out her hip as she crossed her arms and waited for a reply.

  The man laughed coldly, continuing to stroll toward her with his arms behind his back as though out for a Sunday morning walk.

  "Oh, my dear! You really should learn to be polite to your betters. I'm sure that you didn't intend any offence, but you are quite lacking in manners. Didn't your mother teach you better?"

  Vanessa shrugged laconically, unperturbed by his comments. "Well, she sure tried, but I never really saw the point of humouring doddering old fools. So, I guess that one's on me. But seriously, did you come here to fight, or to teach me how to be a lady? Cause I'm thinking the horse is out of the barn on that one."

  He laughed again then shook his head chidingly. "Oh well, I was getting bored with talking to you young folk, as it's clearly a waste of breath. Let's get on with it then, shall we?"

  Like a dam bursting, the entire group of dark ones charged. Cat felt her chest flare with warmth, her phoenix excited for battle. She let the heat pour through her, changing her into her magical form in a flash. She spread her wings wide with joy, shooting into the air before being joined a split second later by a beautiful ebony raven. They spiraled upward together briefly, before diving down to attack into the centre of the crowd of dark ones. With Evelyn's guidance, the sisters attacked in unison, Vanessa pinning the dark ones down with her wind while Cat incinerated them with fire, briefly touching down and grabbing them just long enough to turn them into ashes.

  Zahara sprang into action in her fox shape, dodging between feet and tripping people where possible, or creating gaping holes in the ground that swallowed others whole then closed up after them.

  Mai roared with rage, causing water from the nearby harbour to fly up into the air, swirling around her before she used it to blast several people into the bay.

  Evelyn stood back, her eyes fogged over as she coordinated her friends, present but apart. Cat felt that the skirmish was going well. With satisfaction, she saw the numbers of the dark ones dwindling.

  Then one zigzagged and headed towards Evelyn. Cat panicked. She flew over to protect her friend, unsure what Evelyn would be able to do while in her semi-conscious state. But before Cat could get to her, the dark one was upon Evelyn, almost touching her and on the verge of sucking out her energy. Then Cat watched in stunned disbelief as something strange happened.

  Evelyn was standing in place, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she was in danger, still coordinating her friends. But instead of the dark person stealing her soul when he touched her, Evelyn's aura flared up high into the sky without warning. It was brighter than anything Cat had ever seen, brighter than she could stand to look at. She turned away in pain and by the time she looked back, feeling as though her retinas had been fried, all she could see was Evelyn. The attacker was gone without a trace and Evelyn's aura had returned to normal again. Cat rushed over to touch her and Evelyn's concentration broke.

  "What? Are you okay? What are you doing here?" Evelyn looked at Cat in confusion. "Why aren't you still over there?"

  Cat looked at the battle that had dwindled to almost nothing and Evelyn turned to do the same. Mai and Vanessa were finishing off single attackers, while Zahara had already transformed into human form and was jogging over to join Cat and Evelyn, wearing the same expression of concern that Cat knew was on her own face.

  "Are you all right?" Cat asked, still confused by what she'd seen.

  "What do you mean?" said Evelyn, looking perplexed. "I'm fine. I've been back here the whole time, just doing my thing."

  Cat looked at her friend then grabbed her shoulders, speaking slowly and directly to her as though she was speaking a different
language.

  "Evelyn, I just watched someone attack you and then I couldn't see anything. Like, anything. Your aura blinded me and when I looked back, you were standing here alone. They were gone. What did you do?"

  Zahara looked at Evelyn too, appearing even more concerned.

  "I saw the same thing, with that guy coming towards her, but I turned my head for a second and then all I saw was you coming toward her. I thought you did something, Cat. Are you guys okay?"

  Evelyn nodded. "I'm fine. Really. I don't know what happened, I don't remember any of that. I was pretty deep in concentration. Maybe it's what Robin was telling me? Maybe I have some defensive abilities after all."

  She raised one shoulder in a half-shrug, not appearing nearly as concerned as Cat felt she ought to be.

  Cat looked at Evelyn and shook her head. "No, I think this is part of what I've been feeling. We're doing really well getting rid of these guys, but I've been feeling all along that something was missing. Our fighting abilities are pretty awesome, don't get me wrong, but it's not enough to defeat Carman. I think whatever happened here today with you is going to be part of how we beat her."

  By now, the last of the dark attackers were gone and all the girls had changed back to their human forms and had gathered around Evelyn. Vanessa and Mai had missed the occurrence, as they'd been busy fighting at the time, but were impressed when Cat recounted what had happened. Evelyn had zero memory of the light flare that Cat had seen. While no one could explain what had occurred, the incident did fill them with a cautious hope that had been lacking until that point.

  "That is so cool. If Evelyn can read minds, connect us, and destroy, we'll have a much easier time. That means all five of us can take on someone at the same time," said Zahara, with a toothy smile.

  Vanessa threw her head back with a grateful sigh and looked up. "And that means that we have three that can do a ground attack while Cat and I take them from above. I love the numbers here."

  "When Jake gets here, there will be four for the ground, don't forget," Mai added quietly.

  Vanessa patted her shoulder. "Don't worry, I won't. He's absolutely the man and I can't wait until he gets here."

  Mai smiled and they linked arms as the girls walked back to the cottage, talking excitedly about what the change could mean for them.

  Cat walked behind the others, listening to them and nodding or replying when required, but found her brain whirring into action again, thinking about the possibilities. All of the pieces were starting to come together. Cat had always loved puzzles and enjoyed figuring out how things worked, but the mystical and magical didn't fit into her usual rational schemes the right way. Finally, all of the girls had a magical animal form that they could use in battle that helped them conserve energy and made them more powerful. Evelyn didn't, but her power was based on a different principle than the other girls. They all had power based along the lines of a specific element, whereas Evelyn's ability was of the mind. She could read auras the way Cat did, but she could also read minds and could tell what would happen from her own dreams and from reading other people's dreams.

  Yet her powers were far from being at their peak, even though Cat knew Evelyn had worked with Mr. Grayson at length the year before. It had helped, but hadn't completely explained everything. And now they'd had a battle where she'd glowed so brightly that Cat, a phoenix, couldn't even watch Evelyn to know what had happened. And Cat had gone freaking supernova once herself. Something was definitely up. Hopefully, something that would help them beat Carman.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  A loud squealing noise brought Cat back out of her thoughts and into the present. She realized that Mai had jumped onto something or someone shaped like a small mountain and was shouting excitedly in a way that Cat had never seen her quiet friend do before. When she was able to get a better look at the object that Mai had jumped on, Cat relaxed then smiled. It was clearly a Jake-shaped object and he appeared to be just as happy as the now exuberant Mai.

  The glow surrounding the two wasn't mystical, but it was possibly the most magical thing that Cat had seen that day. The love that the two shared had been there almost from the start and gave Cat hope that true love, written-in-the-stars, bigger-than-life love, was real and possible for everyone. If Mai could find it after being a statue for a hundred years, Cat had hopes that it would happen for her one of these days. Now that she was noticing the same glow in Evelyn as she talked about Robin, Cat was even more certain love was real.

  Vanessa cut through the noise of the reunion and bluntly asked what Cat had been wondering. "Wow, man, it's great to see you so soon! You just called a few hours ago. How in the world did you get here so fast?"

  "Well, I didn't bother buying a plane ticket, if that's what you mean."

  Jake's eyes twinkled and Cat suddenly realized that he'd traveled dragon-style. Conveniently, both San Francisco and the coast of Scotland could be reached completely via the ocean.

  Vanessa gave him two thumbs up and clicked her tongue.

  "Smart. And fast. Well done! If you aren't too tired, and if Mai lets you breathe a little, how about we show you the crash pad and talk about what's been happening?"

  "Sounds good. I'm always up for a good story."

  Jake smiled at the girls, before gently taking Mai's arm. They followed behind the others, back in their own world.

  Vanessa, having lost her companion, fell back to hold Cat's arm.

  "God, look at them," she whispered to Cat. "I don't know if I want to cry, vomit, or throw confetti."

  Cat smiled and glanced back at the lovebirds, who were oblivious to the people around them.

  "Yeah, I know. Someday, right? If Mai can find that with her past, I know it's out there for us down the road."

  Cat looked at Vanessa and was surprised to see a troubled expression on her sister's face. "What is it? Is there something you want to tell me?"

  Cat hadn't expected to see the look of sadness that flitted over her sister's face at the question. Vanessa walked a few more paces before responding.

  "I'm not sure that love is out there for me. I've had so many offers, so many invites over the last few years since I've started acting. Some were nice guys, some were super good looking, but no one's interested me at all."

  Cat thought back, stunned to realize that she hadn't heard her sister talk about anyone since she'd broken up with Dave shortly after they'd moved to Valleyview.

  "Wow. I didn't know you were worried about that," Cat said, waiting for her sister to say something else.

  "Yeah. I don't know. I've had a lot of chances. I'm just not really attracted to anyone. Maybe it's because I'm too busy right now," said Vanessa, as she tried to smile, before adding," I'm sure my Jake will come along, one of these days."

  Cat sighed.

  Maybe. Maybe hers would too, one of these days.

  ONCE THEY ARRIVED BACK at the cottage, conversation flowed easily and the details of their battle poured out.

  "You should have seen it, Jake! The head honcho looked just like Santa Claus, but he was such a judgmental prick." Vanessa shook her head, pushing a strand of her long dark hair behind her ear.

  Cat laughed. "Yeah, he kind of was. Although, he was pretty accurate at guessing what kind of person you are."

  Vanessa looked outraged, then punched her lightly on her shoulder. "You'd better take that back or I'm telling mom!"

  Evelyn hooted with glee. "Man, I love watching you two fight. Nothing makes me happier to be an only child than you guys."

  Now both Cat and Vanessa had their mouths open.

  "Hey!" Cat said, only half joking, but Zahara's laughter cut through her affront.

  "It was fun to work together," said Zahara, once she'd calmed down enough to speak, adding wryly, "and guys, Evelyn is completely right. I've got brothers, but I think sisters may be a little more..um..interesting, after watching you guys fight together."

  Jake hadn't been aware of the extent of darkness that the girls h
ad been facing, as Mai had significantly underplayed the danger whenever they'd talked. When he gave her an admonishing look, she flushed.

  "I'm sorry, I didn't want you to worry."

  He smiled and rubbed her shoulders. "I know. But I could have come sooner, if I'd known you needed help."

  Mai looked down and Cat interrupted before she could respond.

  "Really Jake, most of this just started once Vanessa and Mai arrived. This was the biggest thing we've faced so far. It may sound like it's been going on for a long time, but it's only been about a week of small skirmishes for us. We were doing fine, just getting our bearings."

  Jake shook his head and held his hands up.

  "It's okay, I'm not scolding. I know how stubborn you guys are and I'm not taking it personally. I'm just glad that I'm here now. I want to help in anyway you need me to."

  They all smiled with relief. It was a completely different dynamic in the room with the addition of a guy, but not a bad one. Jake was always so laid back that it actually made them feel more relaxed themselves. They'd to rearrange the sleeping quarters with his arrival though, so for propriety's sake Cat said that she'd share with a room with Vanessa. While they were all pretty sure Mai and Jake were joined at the hip, no one wanted to know exactly how close things had become. Since Mai and Jake blushed continually whenever the topic had been raised, Cat guessed they were happy not discussing the issue either.

  Tired from the recent excitement and not wanting to chance running into anymore evil that day, they chose to stay in the cottage that afternoon. They attempted a few board games and then a movie, but no one was able to focus. In the end, they made some food and talked about their hopes and dreams for after the fighting was all over. Unspoken remained the possibility that there may not be an afterward.

  CAT FOUND HERSELF QUIETLY drifting away from the group, needing time alone to sit and think. She was happy to be surrounded by so many good friends, but at the same time she felt slightly claustrophobic. It was still new to her, not being a loner. She felt as if it had been forever since she'd had a chance to sit by herself and just read a book for fun, or even go outside for a run. The previous year had been a blur of working on her burgeoning magic, controlling the phoenix within, and taking care of those around her, both friends and family, as well as strangers.