Dark Traveler

by Catie Rhodes

  I waited, expecting a howl of rage or pain. Nothing happened. The monster showed no reaction at all. I called forth the power again, this time drawing energy from the dirt. I let my magic surround the creature and then pushed her away from me.

  “Go home, spirit.” I no longer believed it was a spirit, but in my panicked state, no other words would come out.

  The creature acted as though I had done nothing. She used her claws to rip my T-shirt down the middle. She pushed both sides open almost gently.

  “Peri Jean?” Hannah’s shout came from somewhere within the maze.

  I wanted to call out to her, to beg her to help me, but it would endanger her. I bit down on the shout and called to the mantle again. I’d used too much power the first two times. This time, it hurt to take hold of my magical ability.

  Desperate, I endured the pain and pushed the power at the creature. This would be my last time. My back bowed as I pumped all the power I had into the blast of pure fire and sent it into the creature.

  This time, she jumped a little and tilted her head to stare at me. She ran one claw along my cheek. I jittered as it scratched down my skin.

  “It’s too late. Your fate is sealed.” Her voice, thickened with some accent I didn’t recognize, rumbled like water slurping down a clogged drain.

  She leaned back. With one razor-tipped finger, she punctured the skin right underneath my collarbone and laid it open. The pain went beyond a cut or scrape. It felt like a strip of hot metal branding me. I screamed, body bucking and writhing underneath my captor.

  Footsteps raced toward us. Hannah, red-faced and sweating, careened around a corner. She took in the monster, mouth going slack, eyes widening. Then her eyes hardened, and she dug a brown vial of my holy water out of her pants pocket. She popped off the cap and splashed it on the creature.

  The creature turned to glare at Hannah, showing teeth the color of rotted meat, and hissed. Other than that, she showed no reaction to the water. The monster slashed at my chest again. This one hurt more than the first. I howled, vision going gray at the edges. Cold sweat broke out over my body.

  “Do something,” Hannah screamed at me.

  I tried to answer, to tell her I’d used up all my power and it had done almost as much good as pissing into the wind, but all that came out was a sick croak.

  The monster turned to Hannah. “Hoooooo” issued from her.

  Hannah raced forward and shoved at the monster. The thing flashed out one of those horrible spidery hands and grabbed Hannah by the leg. She shifted her weight off me, and I scooted out from under her.

  “Hoooooo.” The monster threw Hannah across the room. She hit the wall of mirrors, and the whole maze shook. Hannah slid to the floor and stared at the monster with a dazed expression on her face.

  A blast of cold came from behind me. Priscilla Herrera said, “Make her see herself in the mirror. Do it now, or you’ll both die.”

  Trying to keep an eye on the monster, I backed up, reached as far as I could behind me, and grabbed the edge of the nearest mirror. It rattled against the wall, held by some hook or stay I couldn’t even see. I yanked harder.

  The monster began making her noise. “Hoooooo.” It sounded like a jet engine winding up to take off into the wild blue yonder.

  “What are you doing?” Hannah picked herself up off the floor, rubbing at a skinned elbow.

  “Showing Miss Ugly her reflection,” I hollered back.

  Hannah got on the other side of the mirror. We both lifted, and it came off the wall. We turned it so it was right in front of Miss Ugly.

  She stopped hoooing and cocked her head, studying herself. Then she let out a bellow louder and more appalling than anything else she’d done so far. It sounded like a dinosaur trying to shit a skyscraper. All the mirrors cracked and crashed to the floor, glass tinkling.

  I threw my arms up over my face and hoped Hannah had the sense to do the same. The sound of falling glass stopped, and it hit me that Miss Ugly had shut up too. I took down my arms. Miss Ugly had gone, hopefully for good. My chest throbbed where the monster had scratched me with her filthy fingernails. I glanced over at Hannah. She still had her arms over her face.

  “You okay?” I asked.

  She took down her arms and nodded, blinking fast. “Where is she?”

  “Gone, I hope.” I looked at all the broken mirrors, thinking of the belief that breaking a mirror earned you seven years bad luck. If it was true, I had an eternity of bad luck coming. Figured.

  My chest began to sting as well as throb. Liquid dripped from the wound. I tried to pull the edges of my T-shirt back together, but they hung open like a vest.

  Hannah stared at the sore, nose wrinkled and lip curled. “That’s bad. Really bad.”

  Cold blasted through the room again. Priscilla Herrera stepped out from behind one of the partitions where mirrors had once hung to create a confusing maze.

  “Come with me. Samantha needs to talk to you.” She motioned at the wall, and a dark hole opened.

  I stared at the hole, making no move to go toward it. Priscilla had proved herself trustworthy, but she didn’t much care if she scared or hurt me. I didn’t have much more tough girl left in me that day. But if I refused to do what Priscilla said, she might not help me again.

  “Where are you going?” Hannah moved toward the dark maw.

  “To the other side.” I glanced at Priscilla and motioned to Hannah. The ghost rolled her eyes but nodded. I approached Hannah and held out one hand. “Wanna go?”

  Together, Hannah and I stepped into the darkness.

  The blackness only lasted a second. Then Hannah and I stood in the woods across the meadow from Samantha Herrera’s house.

  Samantha was my great-great-grandmother and Priscilla’s daughter. She’d been the last truly powerful witch to come from Priscilla’s genetic line until I came along.

  Samantha had died long before I was born. She now lived across the beautiful, sun-dappled meadow in front of me in a stone cottage on the edge of a grove of graceful oaks in a totally different dimension.

  “It’s day here.” Hannah breathed in the cool air.

  “I think it always is. Come on.” I led the way though the meadow, wading through the Indian paintbrush and bluebonnet flowers.

  Hannah walked alongside me, gazing with wonder at everything. “This is the afterlife?”

  “It’s Samantha’s afterlife. But she created this place before she died. She calls it her hiding place.” I pointed at a butterfly the size of a bird, and Hannah gasped.

  Something large crashed through the woods behind us. We turned but saw nothing. I tugged Hannah in the direction of Samantha’s cottage. We got to the stone courtyard, where I’d last had tea and cookies with Samantha, but found it empty.

  “Peri Jean?” Samantha’s voice came from inside the cottage. “Get inside now. Hurry up.”

  I hurried to the plain wooden door and worked the iron latch. The door swung open. The smell of baking cookies drifted out to meet us.

  Samantha’s fat, white cat streaked between my feet and leapt onto a worn chair before either Hannah or I could even get inside. I tried pulling my T-shirt together again and stepped inside.

  “I’m in the kitchen,” Samantha called.

  We wove around the living room furniture, all worn but clean, and followed the smell of warm sugar into the kitchen. Samantha took a sheet of cookies out of the oven and set them on the counter. She turned to me, smiling, but took one look at the mess on my chest and let out a little scream.

  “How bad is it?” I lowered my chin, but the wound was too close to my head. I wouldn’t be able to see it without a mirror.

  “It’s oozing clear liquid. That means it’s deep.” Samantha grabbed a muslin towel off the counter and came to dab at my chest.

  Priscilla’s voice came from behind us. “I told you she’d been hurt, but you never believe how serious things are. Everything’s a game to you.”

  I twisted away from Sama
ntha’s ministrations to find Priscilla at a small table, a cup of tea and a plate of cookies in front of her. Hannah gasped at the sight of the proud, tattooed lady, pointed, and said, “That’s Priscilla Herrera.” She turned to me for confirmation.

  I nodded. Samantha gripped my arm and made me face her again.

  Hannah edged closer to the ghost. “I can’t believe I’m seeing you.”

  Priscilla finished her cookie and brushed the crumbs off her hands. She pointed at a chair next to her and spoke to Hannah. “Sit here.”

  Hannah wandered over and did as she was told, still staring at Priscilla.

  Samantha took the towel away from my wound and went back into the work area of her kitchen. She took a container off a shelf and poured brownish liquid into a bowl. Motioning me to the table, she followed me with the bowl and a new towel. I sat in one of the chairs.

  Samantha dipped the edge of the towel into the dark liquid and pressed it to my wound. The burn of the wound, which had ebbed to a sustainable roar, leapt back to high flame. I screamed and tried to push her hands away.

  “No,” she muttered. “Let’s clean it good. Tell me what attacked you.”

  I suspected the question was to keep my mind off the fire burning in my skin. “She was homely as an outhouse.” I described Miss Ugly’s rubbery skin, hooked nose, and long, sharp fingernails. “I used up all my magic on her, and it didn’t matter a bit.”

  Samantha, face pale, stood and went back into her kitchen. She took a canister off a high shelf and came back to the table. She pulled the top off, and a sour smell wafted out.

  “Please no,” I moaned. The stuff smelled like it would hurt worse than the brown liquid.

  Ignoring me, Samantha took something that looked like wood chips out of the canister and began mashing it into a paste. She scooped up the whitish paste, which still had a nose-stinging odor, and applied it to my chest. I tensed, waiting for the burn. Instead a heavenly numbness crept through the skin. I moaned and leaned back in the chair, letting my eyes drift closed.

  “What is this stuff?” I whispered.

  “White willow bark.” Samantha wrapped a handful in one of her linen napkins and pushed it at me. I put it in my pocket. She took her first aid supplies back into the kitchen. “The monster that attacked you—and she is a monster—left a mild poison in you. This should draw it out.”

  “Then you’re familiar with what attacked Peri Jean?” Priscilla’s voice rose in anger. “And you sat there playing with herbs?”

  Samantha spun around. “Mother, having hysterics will not change what’s happened. But to answer your question, yes. I know what Peri Jean encountered.”

  I sat straighter. “You know Miss Ugly?” Priscilla snorted at my name and muttered an insult under her breath.

  “Miss Ugly?” Samantha raised her eyebrows and let out a laugh.

  “Go on and laugh. This is all very funny,” Priscilla called at her back.

  Samantha took her time preparing a tray with two teacups and a chintz teapot. She walked carefully back to the table, poured both Hannah and me tea, and motioned for us to drink. Hannah hesitated.

  “You have to. Otherwise you can’t stay.” I sipped my tea to let her know it was okay. Actually, it was more than okay. The tea tasted dainty and delicate.

  Hannah took a cautious sip and nodded her thanks to Samantha, who sat down at the table with us.

  “Let’s talk about this creature you met,” she said, her face so grim I knew I was about to hear some awfully bad news. “The first thing is that your magic isn’t going to affect Miss Ugly at all. She has more magic than any creature I’ve ever heard of. ”

  Samantha glanced at Priscilla, asking a silent question.

  Priscilla shrugged. “I can’t advise you on whether or not to tell Peri Jean all you know. But the more Peri Jean knows, the more likely she is to survive this. And our family needs her to survive.” Priscilla and Samantha stared at each other a long moment, some unspoken understanding passing between them.

  “Miss Ugly prefers to consume her kills. She absorbs their magic. This is why she’s so strong.” Samantha grimaced and took a sip of tea. “These marks she made on you are her signature. They season your meat to make it more palatable.”

  My mouth hung open, a cookie halfway to it.

  Samantha pressed her lips together. “Miss Ugly has not yet completed the signature. She does it over the course of three visits. Your meat will be ready at the third visit.”

  “Gross.” It was the only word I could think of, but my feelings went beyond that. My skin tightened at the idea of those ugly, rotten teeth tearing into my flesh.

  “Whatever you do, don’t let her make the third mark. It will weaken you so that she can take you back to her lair and cook you. She prefers her food cooked.” Samantha glanced at me, mouth turned down, then at Priscilla who gave her a mysterious nod.

  “That’s it.” I snapped my fingers. “I’m tired of these loaded glances between you two. Tell me what’s going on.”

  Priscilla raised her chin and looked down at me. “You have a destiny to fulfill. Your death at this point would create complications.”

  I sat back in my chair and stared at my lap. It wasn’t that I might die. Oh, no. It was all about stuff I needed to do. I let out a disgusted grunt.

  Samantha ignored my reaction and said, “As I told you, magic won’t work. Neither will weapons. This creature is unstoppable.”

  “Nothing is unstoppable.” Priscilla raised her voice. I glanced at her and was surprised to see true anger contorting her features.

  Samantha straightened. “Mother, until you began making contact with Peri Jean, you dwelled in the realm of the lost. You’ve not experienced everything on this side of the veil.”

  “I may not know exactly what Miss Ugly is.” Priscilla sneered at using the nickname. “But I know every creature has a weakness.”

  Samantha ignored Priscilla and pushed a cookie jar at Hannah. “Take a cookie, please. You too, Peri Jean.”

  Hannah nibbled on the edge of her cookie and then began eating it. She took another.

  “What else?” I ate one last cookie and brushed the crumbs away.

  Samantha sighed and sort of slumped in her chair. “This is the bad part. Miss Ugly is used by the dark beings that rule this side of the veil. She settles debts and metes out punishments and vengeance. She is their assassin, their mercenary. They use her because she is unstoppable, impervious to most magic, and she never quits.”

  It all sounded pretty grim. “Can we find out who sent her after me?” If I knew who sent Miss Ugly, I could make them call her off.

  Samantha nodded. “There’s a…man who comes by to sell me things. He knows all the gossip.”

  “Can you send for him?” After the way Samantha called this creature a man, I wasn’t sure I wanted to meet him. But if I could find out how to get rid of Miss Ugly, it might be worth it.

  “He won’t be back for another day. The two of you can’t stay that long. I’ll speak with him and get back in touch with you.” Samantha stepped away from the table and went to look out the window.

  The room grew silent. Hoofbeats pounded in the distance. Other than that, there was no sound other than the rush of wind in the treetops.

  “You’re going to have to leave soon, Peri Jean, before it becomes known that you’re here. But I have one last thing to tell you about Miss Ugly. It might help you.” Samantha turned away from the window to face me. “She makes a good assassin to these beings because she’s single-minded. Distract her from her purpose when possible.” She walked across the room and pointed to the hearth. “I don’t like to ask company to leave, but you must go. If something in this realm is after your life, you’re not safe in this place.”

  Hannah and I walked to the hearth. I glanced back at Priscilla.

  She shook her head and motioned me to go. “We will find out what we can, both about Miss Ugly and about who sent her to kill you. We’ll be in contact.”r />
  The darkness within the hearth wrinkled, and the smell of frying corn dogs drifted out. Hannah hooked her finger through the belt loop of my blue jeans, and I ducked into the hearth.

  Going back to the realm of the living felt like falling.

  5

  Hannah and I crossed back into our world through the same space in the wall. We found my family frantically searching the Hall of Mirrors. The looks of fright on their faces gave me a good dose of guiltiness.

  Shelly and the ticket taker screamed in each other’s faces, both of them ready to fight. Leon Blackfox, owner of Summervale Carnival, hovered next to them, patting the air with his hands, trying to defuse the situation.

  Finn spotted me first and ran for me. I let him fold me into his arms even though my open shirt rendered me half naked. Over his shoulder, I caught Tanner watching the whole scene, open-mouthed and wide-eyed.

  I let go of Finn and leaned around him to snarl at Tanner. “Still eager to join us?”

  Without speaking, he pulled off his faded T-shirt and held it out to me, head turned away. I snatched it, face flaming and muttered a thank you.

  Leon, who had a thing for Hannah, rushed at her. “Are you all right, Hannah? Do you need me to take you to the hospital?”

  Hannah flinched away, grabbing Finn, who was nearest her, by the arm.

  He faced Leon. “We’re all right, dude. Hannah’s fine.”

  Leon slunk away, still giving Hannah sidelong glances. I almost felt sorry for the poor man. Good-looking, well-dressed, and financially solvent, Leon probably had no idea why Hannah dodged him at every turn. Had she not been so adamant about not dating, and had I not understood the reason so well, I’d have teased her until she pulled out her hair.

  The drama died down, and the carnival closed for the night. The members of Sanctuary got in their cars and left. Some workers stayed with the carnival at night. Not Sanctuary. We always camped at an RV park, separating ourselves even from the normal carnies.