Payback's a Witch

by Constance Barker

  “So now, back to the van.” Winnie turned Alan.

  “I’d be willing to bet that a van like that might just try and go into the house. One of them was a blonde woman, probably Hellman’s type by the look of it.”

  “We can’t let them do that,” Devon said. He must have decided to just go with the bird tale. I wondered if he would react as well when he discovered we were witches. “We can’t let there be any more bloodshed here.”

  “You are a deputy,” I said.

  “We’ll have to keep an eye out and keep ‘em clear of here,” He was all business now. “What do you know ‘bout the ceremony?”

  “Not much, just that it didn’t work,” I answered honestly.

  “But you think you can help fix it?” He asked earnestly.

  “We’d like to try,” Winnie said, not promising anything.

  “Pete’s gonna be mad as a hatter, but we got to get back to the station,” Devon said already leaving the room expecting us to follow. “What are you, some kind of Scully and Mulder situation?” He asked.

  “And bird,” Alan added with a sly look.

  Chapter Eight

  The deputy brought us back to the station. On the way, he explained to us that he always wondered if science-fiction was more truth than fiction. Apparently, he had been waiting for something like Alan to happen to him his entire life. I don't think he was thinking a talking bird specifically, but he'd take it. It at least explained to us why he hadn’t questioned it more. He was too excited to ask questions, which meant we didn’t have to offer much explanation.

  “So, has it always been able to talk?” He asked on the way.

  “Its name is Alan,” the bird replied unamused. Devon kept asking Winnie and I questions that Alan was perfectly capable of answering himself. Though he was excited about a talking bird, he couldn’t get past his own bias and hadn’t spoken directly to Alan. “I’ve always been able to speak.”

  “This is just amazing,” Devon breathed out a chuckle. I could tell that he wasn’t fully sure if he was awake or not. It’d be easy to think this was all a bizarre dream.

  Winnie and Alan were looking green. Car travel didn’t sit well with either of them. I found it relaxing, especially when someone else was driving. That was a rarity for me, considering when we had to travel by car usually, I was the only one who knew how to. I hoped neither of them got sick before we got to the station. Winnie drew in short breaths while Alan did the bird version of laying down.

  “Can you tell us anything about the ceremony?” I asked. I had asked more than once, and Winnie had pressed a couple times already. He was just too distracted.

  “We call it the ritual,” he said, the grin falling from his face. “It’s not somethin’ we ever wanted to do, you have to understand. We gotta do it to keep the town safe. Or so the council preaches.”

  “So it’s a ritual that keeps the spirit of Andrew Hellman from kidnapping and killing women?” A ritual that powerful would have to include some odd ingredients.

  “Somethin’ like that,” Devon nodded. “I never believed it myself, always wanted to, but never quite thought it was the case.”

  “You seem pretty open-minded.” Alan groaned.

  “I am.” Devon adjusted his mirror to look into the back seat. “I never saw any proof though. I believe there’s a possibility that anything can exist out there, but I won’t be sure of it till I can see it with my own eyes.”

  “How was the ritual discovered or created?” I worried about this. They would not have been able to just accidentally create a ritual that would ward off a malevolent spirit like Andrew Hellman’s. It would have to be something that was created in Nikatomia, which meant I should bring it back with Hellman.

  “I’m not really privy to that information.” He cleared his throat uncomfortably. He felt it was something he should be privy to, that was obvious. “Still consider me a bit of an outsider here, the council, I mean.”

  “Where are you from?” How anyone ended up in a tiny town like this, I didn’t know. It was hard to imagine a path that ended up in McArthur, Ohio. I guess everyone’s life leads them in directions they don’t expect. I never would have guessed I’d end up living in a different town from where I spent my childhood, let alone a different realm.

  “I’m from a small town in Mississippi,” he answered. “I transferred up here a couple years ago because of all the rumors I heard when I was training, about the Hellman ghost. They were looking for a deputy, and no one seemed to be interested so I volunteered.”

  “You came up here because of the missing women?”

  “I did,” he nodded. “I knew it all had to be connected. I knew Adam Hillman couldn’t have killed that groundskeeper. I spoke with him a few times, and he described possession perfectly. I wanted to do something to help him out. Then Allison went missing and turned up dead. That all but clears the man in my opinion.”

  “He was never officially charged with a crime aside from killing the groundskeeper.” Winnie retched loudly as we turned around a particularly sharp turn. Her heave made me groan. She hadn’t actually gotten sick, but it was enough to churn my own stomach.

  “Are we close?” Alan asked warily.

  “Yep,” Devon answered shortly. It wasn’t like there was far to go in such a small town, but the deputy drove slowly. Presumably to be able to get through all this information before us getting to the station. That and slow driving was usually the best way to help people with motion sickness. “Adam wasn’t officially charged with the murders or disappearances of the other girls, but he was guilty in everyone’s minds.”

  “What really stopped the killings was the ritual though.” The thought of Adam rotting in a mental institution made me angry. They all knew he wasn’t guilty of anything, yet they still allowed an innocent man to get punished for it.

  “How’d you get into this line of work?” He asked.

  “We just go where we are told,” I said. The less details we gave the better. “Tend to handle the weird ones though.”

  “Sounds like,” Devon chuckled. His lifelong belief in the paranormal had been validated. “I’m not exactly part of the ritual, I don’t know what it entails. I only know what they tell me, and that’s not much.” He finished as we pulled up to the front of the station.

  “Thanks for telling us what you know,” I said genuinely grateful to the man. I felt like we had finally made a break in the case.

  “I called, letting them know that you knew something. Maybe they’ll let you in on the secret.” He sounded dejected, I didn’t blame him. For all the issues that we had, Winnie, Alan and I trusted each other no matter what. It was clear that the sheriff and whoever this council was didn’t.

  “If we find out, we’ll let you in on it too,” I assured him. Winnie was already perking back up. All the car needed to do was stop moving for her to come back to life. “Just so you know, I think we should keep Alan between us. Keep some things from them. We don’t want too many people knowing.”

  “Fair enough,” He nodded. Even if the sheriff didn’t trust Devon, I did. “Thanks.” He grinned a bit at the idea of him knowing a secret his superiors didn’t.

  “Alan, can you keep whoever is in that van away from the house?” I asked him. Alan groaned loudly.

  “You mean I didn’t have to come back?” He asked impertinent. “Good grief woman. Sure, but I remind you, I’m only a bird. I don’t know that I can keep them out completely.”

  “I’m sure whatever you do will be enough.” I opened the door and stepped out of the car. Winnie had practically run out of the vehicle as soon as it stopped. I took a quick look around before I nodded at Alan signaling that he could make a break for it. He stuck out his tongue at me. An unsettling sight to say the least before he flew off.

  “Unbelievable,” Devon shook his head with a smile. The grin faltered as he stepped out of the car and closed his door. I could tell why as I looked up at the station door. The Sheriff was standing with a sc
owl and his arms crossed. Carol stood next to him looking nervous.

  “I don’t remember authorizing that you release any information about the ritual to these women,” Peter said with a scowl.

  “These women, knew about it beforehand and are willing to help you make it actually work this time,” I snapped.

  “He doesn’t know anything anyway,” Winnie said with crossed arms. Devon winced, offended by the comment. “Allison died as a result of your faulty ritual. There’s a young girl’s death on your hands.” The sheriff faltered. “There will be more if you don’t do something to fix this.”

  “What do you have in mind?” He asked, still on guard.

  “We need to know more about the ritual, and the last time it was performed.” We all walked into the station. Peter held tension in his neck, making me wary of him. He was stressed and didn’t trust us, that combination could be lethal in some people. “First we need to figure out where it went wrong.”

  “There’s a council in this town,” Peter started. “It is separate from the elected council, it’s a much older institution. We’ve been active since the eighties, keeping Andrew Hellman’s spirit at bay. It’s a thankless job, but someone has to do it.”

  “How many of you are there?” Winnie asked. She was perched on the edge of an arm chair that Devon was sitting in. He hung on every word the sheriff spoke. Carol was off brewing coffee for everyone. The sheriff paced as he spoke, still wary of us.

  “Why should I trust you?” He retorted, stopping in his tracks.

  “We were sent here to help you be rid of the spirit for good,” Winnie explained.

  “We’re uniquely qualified to handle these kinds of situations.” Again, there was some need to be vague. We couldn’t tell them about Nikatomia, and neither one of us wanted to say we were witches, though that might come out depending on the ritual practice. The less they knew when we left, the better. Worst case we’d use a memory spell on them, but it would be risky, so the less the better.

  “For good?” He and Devon asked at the same time.

  “For good,” I nodded.

  “How?” Peter demanded. Carol looked like she was shaking from nerves as she brought us in our coffees. I thanked her quietly, wondering just how much she actually knew. It seemed like more than I would have expected.

  “We’ll need to know more about the ritual to tell you that,” I said trying to prompt him to continue. Though the purpose of the ritual was to be rid of the ghost, it would first call his spirit forward. If we could be there when that happened, instead of just weakening him, we could bind him to us. That would make it possible for us to bring him to Nikatomia.

  “There are five members of the council.” That made sense, five points to the star. “We spend every year collecting the materials needed to perform the ritual. On the new moon we perform it, and every year since after Adam Hillman killed the groundskeeper it’s worked. We didn’t change a thing this year, but it didn’t work.” Peter hung his head; the death of the girl was weighing on him.

  “You didn’t do anything differently?” He shook his head. They must have mispronounced something or used a smidge too much of an ingredient. Magic could be finicky that way. It also didn’t like to work well for non-magical people. It was surprising that it worked for them at all, let alone for so long.

  “I don’t hold the papers. You’ll have to talk to Sam for that information. He’s the only one of us who has laid eyes on the actual ritual. The rest of us have learned it from others.”

  “How was it found in the first place?” Winnie asked.

  “It was found in Adam Hillman’s belongings. We think he was possessed while attempting the ritual. He was caught red handed and had gone mad after the spirit took him over. I don’t think he ever came back completely. I didn’t like it, but we had to put him away.”

  “Can you call the council?” I asked. We needed to see the papers, and preferably take them back with us.

  “Are you sure you want me to?” Peter asked gravely. His expression sent a shiver down my spine.

  Chapter Nine - Alan

  I landed on a telephone wire right above the van. Whoever was inside hadn’t come out yet. Billows of smoke escaped from the open window, followed by raucous giggles. That told me enough about the people inside. I could probably even speak to them and they wouldn’t react to or remember it.

  I would be waiting here a while, not that I minded. This would be somewhat useful, though I didn’t know what I could do to keep these kids out of the house. I guess I could fly into them and peck them? I don’t know. At the very least I could fly and bring back Vana, she would know what to do. We’d been bonded for so many years I hardly remembered what my life was like before her. We had that in common though, a poor memory of our pasts.

  “Are you hurt?” She had asked me. A rock had hit me mid-flight, breaking my wing causing me to fly into a tailspin to the ground. That’s what I think happened anyway, I don’t actually remember how I got there. Knocked out and injured, I thought I had died. For a moment I mistook her for an angel. Looking back, I know it was our bond that led her to me, and that made me trust her.

  “It’s my wing,” I choked out. Vana lifted me softly from the ground and carried me to a healer. In Nikatomia, healers are specialized in fixing most every ailment. They have patients from animals to ghosts, from witches to werewolves and everything in between. Back then her scar wasn’t yet a scar. It was an angry cut through her cheek. When she first brought me to the healer, they thought she was the one in need of healing.

  Our bond didn’t need discussing. Every witch and wizard bonded to an animal, but it wasn’t always as easy as going into a store or nature to find one. Vana hadn’t grown up in Nikatomia, so she hadn’t gotten the opportunity to find her companion until she stumbled on me. She’d only just arrived, barely knew how things worked, how her own magic worked. It was incredible to grow alongside her. She was a natural. As my wing healed and I grew stronger, so too did Vana.

  I worried about her, almost constantly. It was just a part of my DNA now. Before I flew out to the van, I kept an eye on the station. I was going to come straight here, but I caught a glimpse of the sheriff. The way he stood, his expression and the veins popping from his forehead all spoke to a future of violence. My job was to make sure that it didn’t unleash on Vana – or Winnie, I guess. When they went inside, I heard their conversation settle, and went off to the van.

  Winnie had spoken of the secrets that she thought Vana had. She was convinced that Vana knew who sent us our assignments and why each assignment was chosen. I wasn't so sure. A letter had come from the same person leading her to Nikatomia for the first time. I didn’t know exactly who was on the other end, but I had ideas. One’s I wouldn’t be sharing anytime soon. They gave me orders too though. Vana and Winnie were to be protected, and that was up to me.

  I couldn’t quite remember, but I think they gave me orders before I met Vana. I can remember it the way one can remember a dream. Flashes that made no sense and had no context. Me flying with a scroll containing a message. It could have been anything, but something told me it was our mysterious benefactor.

  “Woah dude.” A man staggered out of the van. “It’s already almost dark.” He looked around like he had never seen twilight before.

  “That’s what I was telling you, Dave.” Another man came out after him. “We gotta get to the Hellman graveyard soon. I want to see it glowing.”

  “Well then let’s go, Bruno,” Dave said, laughing at nothing. I sighed with relief. If it was only the two of them going, we wouldn’t have much to worry about. The idiots might hurt themselves, but I doubted Hellman would waste his energy on them. He seemed more interested in women who he could pretend were surrogates for his late wife.

  “We need our equipment.” A woman stepped out of the car with a backpack, camera and what looked like night vision goggles.

  “Ugh,” I said, quickly turning it into a caw. This meant I’d have to in
terfere. The three turned to me after I cawed.

  “Oh my word,” the woman exclaimed. “That’s so creepy.” Oh come on...you haven't seen a freaking bird before. I cawed again to goad them.

  “It’s just a bird, Christine,” Bruno said, then making loud cawing noises back at me. I hopped down from the wire onto the top of their van.

  “That’s one big crow,” Dave said. No one seemed to be able to tell the difference between a raven and a crow, despite there being an abundance of them.

  “CAW!” I shouted at them. All of them jumped, Bruno nearly fell down. It took some effort not to laugh at them.

  “Let’s go.” Dave said, staring at me. I blinked slowly looking at them. I’d try to scare them off, that might do the trick. In their state, they might be paranoid enough.

  “Yeah,” Bruno agreed. He took some of the equipment from Christine and they started down the road towards the gravestone. They’d be safe there, but I figured I might as well have a bit of fun. In moments I flew past them, standing right on Andrew Hellman’s grave.

  “Is that the same bird?” Christine asked timidly as they came into view.

  “It can’t be,” Dave shook his head in disbelief. He looked back towards the van to see if I was still there. “Wow, I think it is.”

  “It is,” I mimicked in a bird voice. Typically I sounded like most everyone does, but ravens, parrots and some other birds do have the ability to mimic sounds. I tried to evoke that here.

  “Did it just talk?” Christine asked her eyes wide.

  “Shoo!” Bruno swatted me away. Feeling like I had sufficiently laid the groundwork for scaring them, I flew off. “Not so tough now, huh?” Bruno shouted at the sky.

  “Caw!” I responded. The house wasn’t far, so I laid in wait there for the trio of stupidity to arrive. If I could handle this quickly, I could check back in with Vana sooner. It was already dark; the sun having plunged us into complete darkness.