Witcher Upper

by Amy Boyles

  My chest tightened. It constricted so hard that I thought it would cut off my breathing. I inhaled slowly and stared at him, the fear I’d felt shifting into anger.

  He might not remember who he was, but I did. His name was Rufus Mayes, and right now I only cared about one thing—revenge.

  Chapter 7

  I strode up to Rufus and pressed my arm to his. The look of shock on his face was no match for the wave of anger that flew from me and knocked him on his back.

  Surprise and fear filled his eyes. Good. I wanted him to be afraid. I swore that if I ever saw him again, he would pay for what he had stolen from me—my security.

  “Wait,” he called out, hands raised. “I’m sorry. Whatever I did—turned around too quickly, scared you—I apologize. Please, I only want my memory, not to bother or hurt you. That’s all I want.”

  I stopped, fists clenched, and stared at him. There were moments in life that forever changed the trajectory of who you were. I remembered the woman I was before him—carefree and trusting—and I thought about the woman I was now—guarded and cautious. Who would future me be? Would I be an angry soul, one who hurt people every chance she had? Or would I be compassionate?

  I studied Rufus, looked deeply into his eyes, trying to see if this entire scenario was a trick to steal me away again. Had he searched until he found me and then used the orbs to lure me down to the woods so that he could finish what he’d started all those years ago?

  Or was he being honest? Had he really lost his memory—which served him right, by the way—and had no clue how to use magic?

  The Rufus Mayes that I had known would already have lashed out at me. He would have fought back. Or even still, when he turned around, Rufus would have made his move. He wouldn’t have waited so long.

  My heart told me so. The man who lay on the ground before me did not know who he was—what he had done and what he was capable of doing.

  He had no clue; but I did. The question was, what was I going to do with my knowledge.

  One thing I knew right now was that I could not hurt someone who did not know why they were being hurt. I exhaled and my power faded.

  “Sorry,” I murmured. “I thought you meant to harm me.”

  Rufus rose, brushing himself off. He started to scowl but then smoothed his hair, an embarrassed smile quirking his lips. “I suppose if I saw a wizard in a field plucking spells from the earth and he moved suddenly, I would have reacted the same way.”

  “Yes,” I murmured, “I’m sure you would have.”

  “Rest assured, all I want is my memory. Nothing more.”

  I watched him openly, making sure that he wasn’t going to make any swift movements and do anything funny. But he simply returned to searching the spells.

  When we made eye contact, there was no hint of recognition on his face. He didn’t look at me and flinch. His lids didn’t flare. The only thing that filled his eyes when our gazes met was…blankness. He did not know me. He did not remember what he had done.

  For now.

  What would happen when he did? Would Rufus immediately grab me by the hair and try to get me back to his house to steal my powers? Once evil, always evil, I say. No, he hadn’t changed, and I had to make sure that he never returned to be what he once was. The world needed protecting from Rufus Mayes, and I was the person to do it.

  “If you don’t remember how to work magic,” I said, “how can you know what to do with a spell when you find the right one?”

  He smiled and I noticed, not for the first time, how terribly handsome he was. His good looks had been what ensnared me years ago.

  I nearly slapped myself for noticing that. What was wrong with me? I hated Rufus Mayes. Hated him. I’d run from the memory of him to Peachwood. Why was I leering at him now?

  “Well,” he said casually, “I think that I’ll know how to use it. I’m hoping I will, at least.” He paused. “There are so many blasted spells in this place. How am I ever going to find it?”

  “Maybe you won’t.”

  “That’s not a good attitude. Being negative.”

  “Call me Negative Nellie.”

  “No, I think Clementine is much prettier. I prefer to call you that.”

  Was that a line? I shot him a harsh look that unfortunately he didn’t see. What a waste of a good scowl.

  “Anyway,” he continued, “I believe I’ll know how to use it to restore my memory. After all, I can see these spells and read them.”

  He moved forward, and I followed, keeping a close eye on him. “What are you going to do if you don’t find it here?”

  Rufus gave me a sidelong glance. “Oh, I’m sure I’ll find it here. There’s too much magic around not to. If I do and still can’t figure out how to work it, I suppose I’ll either ask you or someone in town to help me.”

  I bristled. “Someone in town? No one there is magical.”

  His lips curled into whimsical smile. “Are you sure about that?”

  “Yes, I am very sure about that.”

  “Hmmm. Well then, I suppose you’ll be the lucky person to help me, seeing as you’re the only other magical being I know.” He wagged a finger at me and smiled. “That was an impressive trick you did back there. How did you do it?”

  I rubbed my arms, feeling the remnants of power work their way like electricity over my flesh. I’d told this to Rufus once before, so repeating it was an experience in déjà vu.

  “My magic builds up inside me.”

  “If you don’t use it,” he murmured as he plucked an orb from the air and inspected it.

  “Right, if I don’t use it.”

  I wondered what was going on in his head. Was he already thinking of how to take my powers? Since he had no memory, Rufus didn’t know what he had been like before. Perhaps he would be different now.

  “I’ve never heard of such a thing, being supercharged with magic as you are,” he remarked casually.

  “It’s rare.” Leaves crunched under my feet as I followed a dancing blue orb that flitted like a firefly over the long grasses. “Very few people have that magical gift. My power builds and I can release it slowly…”

  “Or all at once, like you did to me,” he said with a pointed look. Though his expression was serious, humor danced in his eyes. “It’s a good way to protect yourself. Being a woman, I’m sure you need lots of protection.”

  “I don’t need anything from you,” I snapped.

  “No, you don’t, do you? I’m the one who needs things from you. Like your help, tonight, for instance.” The words flowed quietly from him, full of sorrow and regret. “But I thank you for your assistance, even if you were incredibly difficult and unwilling to help at first.”

  I bristled. “You were the one being rude.”

  “Of course I was being rude, I’ve lost my memory and you were asking all sorts of pedantic questions—things I had no time for. All I want to know is who I am.” He sighed, exhaled and slumped on his knees to the ground. “I apologize. Apparently I don’t take to amnesia quite so well.”

  “I don’t suppose many people do.” I stared at Rufus, who looked defeated. The evil villain that I had once met was gone, disappeared into the recesses of himself. Something in my chest stirred. Was that sympathy?

  No, of course it wasn’t sympathy. There was no way in Hades that I would ever feel sympathy for him.

  “How rare is it to find a memory spell?” I asked.

  He stared at the few dancing orbs that were left. “I suppose one in a million—like searching for a rare fish in the ocean.” He pointed to the spells. “None of these are what I’m looking for.”

  I shrugged. “Guess you’ll just have to keep looking, huh?”

  “Yes,” he said, deflated.

  The last of the spells fizzled away, disappearing into the night.

  “What will you do now?” I asked.

  He shrugged. “I’m resourceful. I’ll find the right spell; I know I will. Like you said, since no one in your town is magi
cal, I suppose I’ll have to be moving on to the next one.”

  Wait. Moving on to the next town? Rufus Mayes would leave, taking his evil self away to harm someone else?

  Okay, so the harming part I wasn’t completely convinced of, but how could I, in good conscience, let him leave, to go out into the night? What if his memory returned and he came back for me? Worse, what if I released him and he harmed someone the way he had me?

  I would be directly responsible for his reign of terror continuing.

  My gut clenched and dryness filled my mouth. I was as parched as Rufus’s soul.

  Against all good judgment, I exhaled a relenting sigh. “Come on. I know a place you can stay, at least for tonight.”

  Until I figured out what to do with him, that was.

  He straightened. “You know a place?”

  “Yes, and before you go thanking me, there’s not much to it. In fact, it isn’t any better than this, really.”

  He stared at the constellated sky. “To sleep under the stars would be welcome.”

  Who the heck was he?

  “You might get cold, and I don’t have a blanket.”

  “I’ll be fine.”

  We stared at each other, and his lip curled slightly, as if amused that I had to help him even when I didn’t want to.

  “I owe you,” he said.

  “Don’t say that until you see where you’re sleeping.”

  “I’m following you.”

  I watched Rufus as we got into my truck and kept a side glance on him while I drove. I cursed myself silently, wondering what had gotten into me. Why was I helping my enemy?

  Because he’s not acting like it, maybe? Because he’s wounded, just like you, unsure of who he is and where he belongs?

  Shut up, I told myself. We drove a little ways until we reached the old barn that we were converting for Dooley.

  “My, my, my,” Rufus said as the truck tires rumbled over the gravel, “this will be a beauty when it’s finished.”

  My jaw dropped. “When it’s finished?”

  “It’s being renovated, right?”

  “How do you know that?”

  He winked. “I can see the freshly poured foundation from here, and the lumber. Is it yours?”

  I cleared my throat, annoyed with his question. “No, but my company is the one doing it.”

  “So you’re a businesswoman?”

  I slammed on the brake and threw the stick into first and yanked the emergency brake. “That’s none of your concern. Now come on, let me show you where to sleep. It’ll be perfect.”

  Rufus said nothing as he followed me from the truck.

  I remembered a walk long ago, one where I followed him instead of the other way around. But that was a younger, naive me, not the confident woman I was now.

  Then I realized that I had my back to him, and I whirled around. His gaze met mine with surprise.

  “Yes, I’m still here,” he said.

  “Hmm,” was all I replied.

  “You look as if you don’t trust me.”

  “I’ve never met you.”

  “More the reason not to trust me, then,” he said, sidling up to me. “I doubt I’d trust me, either. A man shows up claiming not to know who he is? Sounds suspicious.”

  This whole scenario had me screwed up and pinched in such a way that I didn’t know up from down.

  “Just come on,” I said hotly.

  “You don’t have to help me,” he said gently, too gently.

  “I know that, but…” What was I going to say, that I wanted to? Total lie. The only thing I wanted was to keep Rufus from hurting anyone else.

  “But your sense of Southern hospitality demanded that you assist a wounded wizard, is that it?”

  He teased me and I wanted to punch him, but when I glanced over, I didn’t see the amusement in his eyes that I expected. Instead I saw sorrow in them.

  “Yes,” I said numbly, “it’s because of my sense of hospitality or something.”

  His gaze cut back to the barn. “I like what you’ve done so far.”

  “It’s barely even begun,” I remarked. And since when did the leather-wearing Dr. Frankenstein wizard know anything about barn renovations? “The patch of hay is around back. That’s where you can sleep.”

  Moonlight slashed through the holes in the roof that needed patching, illuminating the newly poured foundation. It gleamed under its celestial bath, suggesting that spots of it were still wet.

  I started to walk around the barn when Rufus grabbed my arm. I instinctively yanked away.

  He flinched but didn’t comment on my action. “Wait,” he murmured, staring into the barn. “What’s that?”

  “Foundation,” I replied caustically.

  He shook his head. “That’s not what I’m talking about.”

  “Then what are you talking about?”

  “That there.” Without my permission, Rufus stalked into the barn and knelt beside something.

  I peered into the open doors and saw a shape in the foundation. Forgetting all about how much I hated Rufus and how it would be best if he didn’t exist, memory or no memory, I strode over, curious.

  “What is that?” I said.

  “Maybe you shouldn’t see this,” Rufus said, acting like he was one step ahead of me.

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I pulled out my phone and snapped on the camera. “I can’t have animals coming in here and ruining the foundation. This will have to be done all over again.”

  The light bathed the hump, revealing a pair of feet.

  I screamed, dropping the phone. Rufus quickly retrieved it for me. With shaking fingers, I illuminated the body again. Two feet in high heels were embedded in the foundation. One of the heels had fallen off and I wanted to shut my eyes then and not see the rest, but I forced myself to look on.

  The feet led to a knee-length skirt and pale pink cardigan, now smudged with concrete. A mess of tangled brown hair covered a face that was embedded in the foundation.

  Rufus tenderly placed two fingers alongside the woman’s neck. “She’s passed and cold. It’s too late for us to save her.”

  For that moment, I forgot all about Rufus Mayes and how much I hated him. All I cared about was that the body that lay in the concrete, the one that Rufus said was too far gone to be saved, was no stranger to me.

  Sadie lay dead. A whimper of sorrow sounded in my throat. Rufus rose and I opened my mouth to accuse him of this, to accuse him of murdering my best friend to get to me. I wanted to tell him that his whole amnesia thing was a ruse, but when his gaze met mine, I knew he’d had nothing to do with this.

  Sadness filled his eyes. It wasn’t the same sorrow that rocked my body, making my knees quake, but he felt sympathy all the same.

  He squeezed my shoulder, and I turned away to call the police.

  Chapter 8

  I called the chief of police, Tuney Sluggs, who was as old as dirt—literally. The man must’ve been seventy-five with one foot in the grave.

  He arrived at the scene in his bathrobe. At least he had the decency to keep it tied. I had no interest in seeing his boxer shorts.

  All the other cops in town showed up, too—five in all. There hadn’t been a strange death in Peachwood in so long all the police were trying to figure out exactly how long it had been.

  “I think it’s been twenty years,” one deputy said.

  Another deputy, with thinning hair and a penchant for spitting out his dip juice at all the wrong times, replied, “No”—spit—“I’m pretty sure it’s been longer than that.”

  “No, I say it’s been twenty,” the only one with common sense, Earl Granger, said. Earl was probably early forties and should have been police chief, but the folks kept on voting old Sluggs in. I think because they felt sorry for him.

  Sluggs strode up to me. “You find her?”

  Rufus stood beside me, and for the first time in my life I was glad for his company. “Yes, we did,” he answered.
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  “It’s Sadie March all right.”

  I wiped away tears. “I know.”

  “Can you think of any reason why she would be out here at night?” the chief asked.

  “No,” I said. “I can’t.”

  My mind wasn’t working. Too much had happened this evening. Rufus had shown up, throwing off my entire world, and now this. With Sadie gone, my universe had collapsed.

  Sluggs rubbed a hand over his chin, where white stubble sprouted. “Seems to me that maybe she came out here to check on things, make sure everything was okay. Wore some pretty tall heels. Could’ve tripped over something, maybe the rope beside her.”

  “Excuse me,” Rufus said, perturbed, “but should you be talking to us about this?”

  The chief looked surprised, as if he’d forgotten that we were standing there. “Well, maybe I shouldn’t be.”

  “Yes,” I snapped, “yes, he should be.” I scowled at Rufus. “He should be talking to us about this because she was my best friend and anything that we can tell Chief Sluggs would be appreciated, I know it.”

  Sluggs got a distant look in his eyes as he stared over in the direction of where Sadie’s body lay. “The coroner should be here soon. We’ll see what we decide.”

  “The coroner? Chief, with all due respect, there’s no way that Sadie would have come to the barn at night. No way at all unless she was meeting someone.” A memory pricked my brain. “She received a phone call today. It really bothered her. I’m sure if you checked her phone records—”

  “There, there, Clementine. I know you’re upset, but let us handle this.” He patted my hand as if I were a child. “We know how to look into these things.”

  Frustration built inside me, a rage so hot that I could barely contain it. “Things like this as in murder?”

  Sluggs gasped. “Now let’s calm down before we start talking about murder.”

  I opened my mouth to unleash a string of profanities at the chief, but Rufus dragged me away.