Payback's a Witch

by Constance Barker

  “Hah, huh, hah.” A deep throaty laugh from the hatchet man, his attentions now turned on the council. With them standing at each point of the star, he was trapped within it. That didn’t mean he couldn’t get close though. Andrew dematerialized from in front of Carol and reappeared in front of Devon. The ritual had not yet started to take effect.

  “Alan, are you okay?” I whispered.

  “Reign as right,” He said dizzily. “No, that’s not right,” He said to himself.

  “I thought we might need this,” Winnie said pulling a small box from her pockets. It was larger than you would expect could fit in her pockets, but that only meant she’d enlarged the insides with magic.

  “Where did you get that?” I asked. The chanting around us kept the hatchet man from hearing our words. He was making guttural screaming noises as he jumped from each council member as they continued their chant. Sam was readying the next step, which was lighting the star on fire. They needed to light it from a match dipped in holy water and made from the wood of a church. Not exactly an easy item to find.

  “I made it.” Winnie seemed to have more time in the day than anyone else. “It’s made from the wood of the Hellman house. It should help us bind him to it, that way we have his vessel ready.”

  “Good thinking.” She impressed me. A harsh screech from Andrew made us look up. He was standing with his ax lifted, ready to stab it into Sam’s stomach. Sam had the match in his hands, but it wasn’t lit yet. Despite the threat, the continued chanting. Andrew pulled the ax back to take his swing.

  “No!” Devon shouted, breaking the chant. Andrew disappeared immediately.

  “Continue the chant,” Peter ordered. The rest of them kept going. They needed the five points of the star. Devon restarted but, less confidently than before. His eyes darted around the room looking for the ghost. Andrew rematerialized in front of Devon but instead of having his ax raised, he walked into the man. Devon sputtered and his eyes turned into the back of his head. When he stopped convulsing, he was no longer Devon, but the hatchet man.

  “No,” Winnie cried out.

  “Keep chanting!” I yelled. Alan had shaken out of his haze and jumped to the point of the star and began to chant along with them. Despite the shock of a talking raven, none of them stopped even for a moment. It was the least odd thing that had happened to them that day. By now, they were unshakable.

  Even in Devon’s body, the hatchet man was stuck in the confines of the star. He was able to speak now though. Carol sat looking in horror at the chaos she had caused. “You fools. I cannot be banished, I will only lay in wait until my next opportunity. I am immortal and have remained on this earth to wreak havoc upon it.” A raspy voice spoke through Devon. “You will never be able to overpower me!”

  “We will,” I replied coldly. Sam struck the match and set the star ablaze. The flames licked at everyone’s skin in the small area. The heat was nearly unbearable. It wasn’t an earthy heat, but one brought by magic, much drier and hotter than anything possible in the normal realm. “Ready?” I asked Winnie, taking her hand in mine.

  “Born ready,” Winnie winked at me. She set the wooden box in front of us. Devon who was not really Devon was writhing around the ground in agony. The banishing spell was starting to work. The hatchet man had spoken too confidently earlier. It was only a matter of time before the spell forced him from Devon’s body. There was no guarantee that Devon would be unchanged though, clearly Adam Hillman was affected.

  “Be bound,” Winnie and I started. Andrew wailed though Devon’s voice.

  “You cannot bind me!” He screamed contorting to stare at us. The council chanted ever on. We had to finish before they did, or he would only be banished for another year. We needed to bind him so we could take him back.

  “Be bound, wound, coiled, looped, trapped, twisted and surrounded,” Winnie and I chanted loudly in unison. Though the council continued, you couldn’t hear them over our own voices. “Bound, wound, coiled, looped, trapped, twisted and surrounded,” Winnie repeated as I began the other part of the spell. Wind began to pick up the way it had earlier. In grotesquely pained faces, Andrew Hellman was becoming unlinked with Devon.

  “Alligari percutiam contorta frequentes, capti, circumdederunt retorta,” I yelled the same words in Latin. It was the language where magic was based, and we were more powerful when we used it. “Alligatus es mala nos ligare inquiunt te in lucem. Clamabo vim luna sorores vis vincere terrenum hoc campo.” Winnie continued to chant in English underneath. “This box is your home, as your coffin should be!” I screamed against the wind. “You shall be bound to it as long as your heart is bound to evil.”

  “Be bound, wound, coiled, looped, trapped, twisted and surrounded,” Winnie and I repeated together. Instinctively, the council members and Alan began chanting along with us. The more who joined in, the stronger the spell would become, especially if everyone vehemently believed in what they were doing. I could barely see with the wind cutting through the air, but through my lashes I made out the shape of Andrew Hellman now separate from Devon. He wasn’t standing, but his chest rose and fell.

  The wails of the wind and those of Andrew Hellman were still not loud enough to drown us all out. The wind tore through me, in the best possible way. Lifting my voice so it was louder than the rest. Alan was holding fast at the point on the star, though the wind made it difficult for him to stay there. It shouldn’t be long now. The howls were growing quieter, both Andrew’s and the winds.

  “Be bound, wound, coiled, looped, trapped, twisted and surrounded,” I heard from a quiet voice from within the star. Devon had come to consciousness and was repeating our words with us. Andrew stalked towards him on uncertain feet. Every ghostly muscle strained as he raised his ax If it were the last thing he did, he wasn’t planning on going out alone. I shouted the words as the ax started to come down. With a thud everything stopped.

  The basement was eerily quiet without the roaring fire and raging winds. Our voices died out in a whisper, plunging the room into deafening silence. The box sitting at mine and Winnie’s feet jangled against Andrew Hellman’s protests. He was inside. We had done it.

  “Devon.” Winnie ran to his side. The sheriff was already standing with Carol, ready to grab her if she tried to run. “Are you okay?” Winnie asked him.

  “I’m not sure,” Devon said looking around. There was a small cut on his forehead from the blade of the hatchet man’s ax It had fallen, but we had bound him just in time. A second longer and he might be in two. “Ow,” he said with a wince as he touched the cut.

  “He seems okay,” Winnie said looking at me. The real effects of being possessed might not manifest right away. He’d probably have nightmares the rest of his life, but if that was all then he would be one of the lucky ones. Devon had already proved himself strong by coming to as quickly as he had.

  “What should we do with her?” Peter asked.

  “Lock her up,” Sam said with a glower. It struck me that he might not have cared as much about her scheme had he not been the intended victim.

  “We don’t really have a crime to lock her up for,” the sheriff reluctantly admitted. “Not that it stopped her with Adam.” He looked at the woman as though she were a bug he’d just stepped on accidentally.

  “We might have something we can do,” I said an idea in mind. Not one I really wanted to go with, though I saw little other choice. She had the scroll memorized and I could see in her eyes that this wasn’t her end. She would try again.

  Chapter Fourteen

  It took some convincing, but after getting Peter to agree, the rest of the council fell in line. Sam might have been their leader, but Peter actually had authority. We would have to do more than one memory spell before leaving. I didn’t want that ritual in anyone’s mind after we left. It was too dangerous and too easy to abuse. Magic like that was too powerful for humans to have a hold of. Any magic twisted them, but this kind was so powerful, I doubted Carol had been herself for a long t
ime. It was a dark ritual, the one they had. If we had any other choice, I would not have allowed them to continue, but it was our only option.

  “You sure you know what you’re doing?” Peter asked nervously. We had gone back to the station. The entire council and Carol in tow. She was ranting about how she would try again. That this wasn’t over. They might be able to drop her at the institution just the way she was. I was sure they’d take her. To the normal person she was speaking nonsense.

  I was suddenly grateful I had practiced this spell recently. It was my least favorite kind of magic, and finicky. We were going in for just the chant, they didn’t really need to forget anything else. The only one we were going to give a clean slate was Carol. I didn’t like it, but I saw no other option. My job was to bring Nikatomian artifacts and people back to Nikatomia. I wouldn’t be doing my job if I left such a dangerous ritual in their memories.

  “Sure as I’ll ever be,” I said. Winnie had Sam in a chair in front of her. It would be faster if we did two at a time. With Andrew bound to the box we wanted to get out of there just in case something happened. It was a strong binding spell, but there were never guarantees when it came to magic. The full moon was still a bit away, we’d have to squat until then. That would be better than staying and bringing more pain to the town.

  “Pluck the memory from within the cracks,” Winnie and I spoke in unison. We had nothing to replace the memory with, so that was the only piece of the spell we had to do. It was a quick procedure. Since they were aware that we were doing it and why, there wasn’t any resistance from within their minds. They would remember everything; simply forget the words they had spoken.

  “How do you feel?” Winnie asked after a moment on intense concentration.

  “Fine,” Peter said. Sam nodded his agreement. “I can remember Andrew Hellman and the council, but I can’t remember those words we spoke.”

  “I can even remember that I had a scroll, but when I try to picture it I can’t,” Sam shook his head. “This is terrible. It’s like I have something on the tip of my tongue, but I just can’t get it out.”

  “It will feel like that for the first two weeks or so,” Winnie said. “You also might get the occasional bout of nausea, and some vertigo.” She sounded like a nurse, listing symptoms from a medication. It was true, almost all of our spells in our books came with a sort of warning label. I had forgotten about the side effects when I did the spell on Nan.

  “Oh great,” Sam grumbled. The two other council members who we learned were named Taylor and Jordan. One was a man and the other a woman, I hadn’t been able to figure out which one was Taylor, and which was Jordan. We performed the spell on them quickly, and they rose from their chairs looking slightly dazed.

  “Is it safe to drive?” One of them asked.

  “Should be,” I said. Without another word, both Taylor and Jordan left. I got the feeling that they were overwhelmed by everything that had happened. It wasn’t rudeness that kept them quiet, but shock.

  “I haven’t got any memory of the chant, anyhow,” Devon shrugged. Peter had insisted on treating his cut before anything else. He insisted that it might get infected. I didn’t see how, considering that the ax that had struck him wasn’t technically corporeal. He had a large bandage on his forehead now. It was already bleeding through. “Knocked it right out of me.” He tapped his head lightly.

  “You’re sure?” Peter asked him.

  “I didn’t really know it to begin with,” Devon said with a shrug.

  “His head's been through enough.” Sam had been arguing that Devon needed to get his memory addled as well. “I won’t get rid of his memory.”

  “Thank you,” Devon said. I believed that he had little memory of the chant. If he did remember it, he would be the only one I would trust to keep it to himself. I wasn’t about to try and pluck it from his mind, he’d been through the ringer.

  “You really feel okay?” Winnie asked him. It was the third or fourth time she’d asked. She had only asked if Alan was okay once.

  “I’m fine,” Devon assured her once more.

  “I’m fine too,” Alan said from the chair. The wind had taken a good deal out of him and being knocked unconscious made me think he might have a concussion. “Not that you care.”

  “I care, you silly bird,” Winnie said, she stroked his feathers to show her concern for him. I was glad that she didn’t start an argument. We had plenty of time for that in the cabin.

  “What are you going to do to me?” Carol shouted from her holding cell. I sighed, not wanting to do what we had to. Without answering, Winnie and I went to perform the memory spell on her. She had been doing the ritual since she was young, it was like it was a part of her now. That made it difficult to extract without addling more of her than just the ritual. Peter had said that once they were done, he and Sam were going to take her to the mental institution. It was the only solution they could come up with.

  I’d feel worse if she hadn’t done the same to Adam Hillman. At least she was actually guilty. Carol looked at Winnie and I dumbly from her seat. “Who are you?” She asked.

  “We’re your nurses,” I explained. “These men are here to take you back to the institute.” Carol nodded compliantly. When Peter and Sam came into the room, her mood shifted.

  “I’ll kill you!” She shouted as they took her from the room. All the memory spells in the world couldn’t take the evil from her heart.

  “It’s all over?” Devon asked.

  “It’s all over,” I nodded. “What are you going to do now?” He had taken the job because of the haunting, I wondered if he’d stay now that there wasn’t one.

  “I don’t rightly know,” He shrugged. “I’ve been chasing the ghost of Andrew Hellman since I heard his story. Now that it’s over, I guess I’ll have to figure something else out.”

  “Will you stay?” Winnie asked. She’d like knowing where he was. I could see her insisting on visiting the next time we came to the normal realm.

  “I might. There’s still work to be done here.” Kids would still vandalize the Hellman house and grave stones. Just because Andrew was gone, didn’t mean his story was. I couldn’t imagine that it would be enough to make him stay though.

  “What work?” I asked with a raised brow.

  “Clearin’ Adam Hillman’s name,” Devon said with certainty. “I’m not sure how I can manage it, but he’ll be a free man again.”

  “I also wouldn’t be too surprised if they needed a new sheriff around here,” Winnie said with a smile. “Peter wasn’t as bad as Carol, but he knew about wrongfully accusing Adam all this time. He knew what really happened to Allison.”

  “Sheriff,” Devon said, trying it on for size. “I think I like the sound of that.”

  “Does that mean we need to bring Adam back to the institution?” I asked. I knew we would, but I didn’t like it.

  Nan liked it even less than I did. We had to explain to her that while we knew the truth, the world didn’t. She couldn’t harbor a fugitive forever. With assurances that Devon was going to do everything in his power to bring Adam back home it was still an uphill battle. It wasn’t until Adam himself told Nan that he was going back.

  “You can’t,” she said horrified.

  “I’m safe there,” Adam said. “It’s the only home I’ve known for more than half my life.” He was speaking more coherently than he had been earlier. A few hours away had transformed him to something closer resembling his old self. “I might not be guilty of everything, but there is something wrong with me. Not only am I safe there, but everyone else is too.”

  “They’ll get you out though,” Nan said pointing to us. Adam shook his head.

  “I don’t want out,” he explained to her. I didn’t understand it, but the possession could had taken a bigger toll than we had realized. “I might hurt someone, or myself. It might not have been me who killed that man, but I remember doing it. I am guilty of that.” I wanted to tell him that it wasn’t true. He cou
ldn’t be guilty since Andrew had possessed him. My words would have fallen on deaf ears though. Adam already knew that, but he felt guilty regardless.

  “I can arrange for him to have visiting hours,” Devon said before Nan could break down completely. Alan was nuzzling her to try and keep her calm. I think the action was all that was keeping her from sobbing.

  “That would be good,” Adam said. “I’d like for you to come visit.” Nan choked back tears and nodded.

  “I’ll visit every day if I can.” Nan always seemed to know what words were needed from her. Adam smiled widely and pulled her into a hug. He left with Devon shortly after, leaving Nan’s house feeling like it was suffocating us in its silence. Winnie and I tried to pack as quietly as possible. Alan still kept Nan company.

  “Do we have to leave yet?” Winnie asked. She wanted to spend some more time with Devon. She claimed it was just to help him with the Hillman case, but that seemed like a very small part of the truth.

  “It does feel wrong,” I said with a sigh. The box Hellman was bound to hadn’t moved at all since we first put him inside, a good sign.

  “You’re leaving already?” Nan asked. Her face was tear-stained as she looked at us. “Let me give you back some of your money.” In the end we had stayed a little over a week. Our time-line had been pushed forward by Carol.

  “No need,” I said. “We’re going to stay a bit longer,” I decided. Winnie clapped her hands together excitedly. “Just a few days.”

  “A few days works for me,” Winnie said in sing-song. “You look like you could use the rest anyway.” Even if we stayed the full time we had paid for, there would still be time to kill in the cabin by the tunnel. More than enough time to rest up.

  “I’ll make you some tea,” Nan offered. The warmth of her house seemed to flow through me. I could definitely use a few more days of this. Alan cawed his agreement and flew into the kitchen with Nan.

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