Sudden Death

by Donald Hanley

  “Mayhap Dame Collins could transport us in her carriage,” Daraxandriel suggested.

  It’s too dangerous, I dictated to Olivia.

  “I can drive the van,” Melissa offered, “as long as nobody asks for my driver’s license.”

  I wasn’t thrilled about that option but I didn’t have anything better to suggest. How can we get hold of Mom without a phone?

  Melissa and Daraxandriel looked at each other. “We’re at your parents’ house, Peter,” Melissa said carefully. “Didn’t you know?”

  “Really?” I looked around the room and it finally dawned on me that this was my old bedroom, converted into Susie’s workshop. “Mom’s going to have a fit about this carpet,” I predicted. “Is she home?”

  Olivia relayed the question and Melissa spread her hands. “We haven’t looked. We’ve been busy trying to find you guys.” She opened the door and looked out into the hallway. “Mrs. Collins?” she called. “Are you here?” There was no answer and she looked back at us with a shrug. Then a door opened somewhere.

  “Hello?” Dad’s voice sounded surprised. “Is someone here?”

  “Oh, Mr. Collins!” Melissa exclaimed, stepping out into the hall and waving to get his attention. “We’re in here.”

  “When did you get here?” He appeared in the doorway and looked around at the motley crew assembled in the room. “What’s going on? Oh my God, Susie!” Dad hurried around the table and knelt at Susie’s side. “What happened to her?”

  “She’s okay,” Melissa assured him hastily. “She’s just asleep. We, uh, ran into some trouble,” she admitted.

  “Trouble?” Dad rose slowly to his feet, looking everyone over with a frown. “What sort of trouble?”

  “The kind you really don’t want to know about.”

  “I think I do, actually. Where’s Peter? Is he okay?”

  “Oh, um, well –” Melissa looked around for help but no one jumped in to rescue her. “You see, Mr. Collins, the thing is –” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Peter’s de–”

  “No, don’t tell him that!” The last thing I needed was Mom and Dad believing I was dead. I leapt at Melissa to clap my hand over her mouth and my momentum pushed her back a step. She stumbled over Susie’s feet and toppled backwards, taking me with her. I landed on top of her, my fall partially cushioned by her built-in airbags, but I banged my funny bone on the floor, shooting electric spikes all the way up my arm.

  “Peter Simon Collins!” Daraxandriel exclaimed. “Thou art made whole once more!”

  “Get off me!” Melissa shoved me aside and I rolled over, cradling my elbow as the feeling started to come back to it. “That hurt!” she complained, touching her lips gingerly.

  “Sorry, I didn’t want you to –” My voice trailed off as I looked at my hands and then patted my chest. I was solid again but I had no idea why.

  “Peter, where did you just come from,” Dad asked carefully, “and what happened to your clothes?”

  “Huh?” I looked down at myself and clapped my hands over Little Peter. “It’s, um, a bit hard to explain,” I hedged, looking around desperately for something to cover myself up with.

  “Try,” he insisted.

  “You’re not going to believe it.”

  “I watched an entire coven of witches battle demon lords on the bridge last month,” he reminded me dryly. “I don’t think you’re going to surprise me with whatever this is.”

  “Okay,” I sighed. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you, though.”

  13

  It’s hard to imagine modern society surviving without the telephone. The ability to punch in a few digits and speak to someone on the other side of the planet shrinks time and space to almost nothing. A message that used to take months to get to its intended recipient – assuming it got there at all – is now delivered in mere seconds. Conversations can take place, information can be exchanged, and decisions can be made in realtime with virtually anyone in the world.

  It’s also hard to imagine that the telephone has been around in one form or another for nearly one hundred and fifty years, ever since Alexander Graham Bell summoned Thomas Watson to help clean up the mess he made in his lab. The telephone has gone through a lot of technological advancements since then, of course, and the pace of innovation doesn’t seem to be slowing down at all. Dad talks about long distance and operators and directory assistance and landlines but none of those things make any sense to my generation. I’m amazed civilization didn’t collapse before the cellphone was developed, frankly.

  Hello is the most common greeting used on the phone but the word only became mainstream a few years before Bell and Watson had their little chat. Bell actually wanted to use Ahoy as the standard greeting, which would have pretty much killed off any interest people had in his invention. Can you imagine an office full of people yelling “Ahoy!” all day long? It would be worse than attending a sailor’s convention. At least there you get to drink rum.

  I gave Dad the gate code and he tapped the number into the access panel. We waited impatiently for the gate to rumble out of the way and I spent the time glancing around for any sign of my car. That wasn’t easy, because Olivia was sitting in my lap blocking my view. On top of that, my legs were cold and stiff from her spectral body temperature and I didn’t know where to put my hands, but at least her shirt hadn’t evaporated like she predicted.

  Dad’s phone rang, startling me, and he glanced at the number before answering. “June,” he said urgently, “are you home yet?” He listened to Mom’s reply and some of the creases on his forehead eased. “How’s Susie? Good. Just stay there and sit tight. Keep the doors locked and don’t let anyone in, not even Peter. Call me immediately if anybody shows up.” He looked uncomfortable with whatever Mom replied. “I’ll explain everything when we get back. I don’t know, we’ll have to see. I will. I love you, too. Bye.” He hung up with a sigh and drove through the open gate, following the lane around Oakmont Village’s community center. “She’s worried,” he reported unnecessarily.

  “With good reason,” I pointed out. “What did you tell her before?” I’d been in his closet trying to scrounge up an outfit that fit.

  “Just that I needed to go out on police business and she had to get home ASAP to look after Susie.” Dad wore his full uniform, including his service revolver.

  “How did you explain Susie being conked out?” She hadn’t stirred at all when Dad carried her back to her bedroom.

  “I just said she was tired after doing a difficult spell.” The corner of his mouth quirked up. “Magic’s kind of a handy excuse. I could make anything up and Mom would never know if it was true or not.”

  “I think she’d clue in pretty quickly,” I warned him.

  “Probably. Which way?”

  “That way,” I pointed around Olivia, “around the pool to the back.” I craned my neck to scan the parking spaces in front of our row. I knew Not-Peter was supposed to head over to Mrs. Kendricks’ house but that didn’t mean he left right away. To my relief, there were no cherry-red cars there, Mustangs or otherwise.

  Dad pulled his Jeep into the space right in front of our door and we all piled out. Melissa arched her back while Daraxandriel looked around cautiously and Amy just stood there hugging the journal to her chest, looking bored.

  “All right,” Dad told us sternly, “everyone stay here until I make sure it’s clear.” He loosened his pistol in its holster and reached for the doorknob. It refused to turn and he stepped back with a frown. “Who has the key?”

  “Mine’s in my purse,” Melissa said with a sigh, “along with everything else.”

  “The incubus has mine,” I reminded him.

  “Thou didst not provide me with a key,” Daraxandriel chided me.

  “They only gave us two.”

  “Peter, run back to the office and see if they’ll lend you the master key,” Dad ordered.

  “They’re going to want an ID for that,” I argued, “which none of
us have with us. Besides, it doesn’t matter, we have something better.” I pointed at Olivia but they all frowned at the boxwood shrubs behind her. “Olivia can let us in,” I explained.

  “I don’t have a key either,” she frowned.

  “I know that,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Go inside and unlock the door.”

  “Oh, right.” Olivia phased through the door and a moment later the lock clicked. The door swung open and she peered out at us. “Who cleaned up in here?” she asked doubtfully. “It was a big mess before.”

  “Don’t worry about it.” I started to walk inside but Dad stopped me.

  “Wait until I check it out, Peter,” he said quietly, eyeing the open doorway, as if he was afraid someone inside would overhear.

  “He’s not here, Dad,” I insisted.

  “You don’t that for sure. Better safe than sorry.”

  I heaved a sigh. We were wasting valuable time. “Olivia, go make sure there’s no one else inside.” She nodded and disappeared. Dad looked nonplussed. “Ghosts can be pretty handy sometimes,” I told him, trying not to sound smug.

  “I suppose so.” He stepped back and looked up at the windows. “What happened up there?”

  “Up where?” Melissa followed his gaze and gasped. “Peter! What did you do to the window?”

  “That wasn’t me,” I told her hastily, “that was Dara!”

  “I dared not slay the incubus when first it attacked, for fear that Peter Simon Collins would also suffer its fate,” Daraxandriel retorted stiffly. “I had need of an expeditious escape from my Dread Lord’s curse, lest it render me unable to summon aid.”

  “Great,” Melissa muttered. “There goes our security deposit.”

  “We have bigger things to worry about right now,” I reminded her.

  “Well, sure, but what about afterwards? Do you know what renter’s insurance costs these days?”

  “Let’s make sure there is an afterwards first.”

  Olivia reappeared in the doorway then, waving us in. “All clear,” she reported.

  “Good.” I started for the door and then remembered that no one else heard her. “Olivia says there’s nobody here.”

  Dad eyed me with a dubious frown, as if he thought I was just making that up for some reason, but he nodded and led the way inside. We trooped upstairs to the top floor and gathered in the living room. Amy immediately claimed the lounger while Melissa examined the makeshift repairs to the window.

  “Did you do this?” she asked me doubtfully.

  “That was Cameron,” I told her. “He and Susie were over here earlier.”

  “By themselves?” Dad asked with a disapproving scowl.

  “Um, yes, just for a little while.” I made a mental note to pick up Susie’s bathing suit from the bedroom floor. There was no point in worrying Dad unnecessarily. “They found the message Olivia and I left for Dara and helped get us all together.”

  “Hmm. All right,” he said. “What’s our next move?”

  It felt weird for me to be giving orders to the Chief of Police. “We need to contact the other witches and warn them. Do you have their names and numbers?” I asked Melissa.

  “And their emails and birthdates and craft names. Mrs. Kendricks sent me the roster after my initiation.” Melissa crossed over into the dining room and sat down in front of her gaming rig. The three panoramic screens lit up when she jiggled the mouse and she clicked through a few folders before opening up a spreadsheet.

  I leaned over her shoulder to peruse the list, momentarily distracted by the scent of her perfume. Leaving off Mrs. Kendricks and Melissa and Susie left nine witches to call. “Where’s Stacy?” I wondered aloud, pointing at the second line: Anastasia Kendricks. “She wasn’t at the house.”

  “Isn’t she off to college?” Melissa asked.

  “Not until next month, I think. Maybe she’s out with Todd or something.” Todd was her boyfriend, who I had yet to meet. “Should we call Tara?” She was third on the list. “Maybe we can catch her before she gets to Mrs. Kendricks’.”

  “It’s worth a try, I guess,” Melissa shrugged. She didn’t sound too hopeful. A lot of time had already passed since we escaped from Mrs. Kendricks’ house.

  “Dad, can I use your phone?” Dad silently unlocked it and handed it to me. “Cross your fingers.”

  I dialed her number and set the phone on hands-free so we could all listen in. The ringing cut off just before it rolled over to voicemail and a female voice said, “Hello?”

  I cleared my throat. “Is this Tara?” I asked. “Tara Kingsley?”

  “Yes. Who is this?”

  I hesitated for a moment. I hadn’t really thought about what I was going to say. “This is Peter Collins. Do you remember me?” I knew her from our ill-fated attempt to help Dr. Bellowes capture Daraxandriel but we hadn’t crossed paths since.

  “Yes, of course.” There was something a bit odd in her voice. Is she just surprised that I’m calling her out of the blue, I wondered anxiously, or is Not-Peter standing right beside her? There was really only one way to find out.

  “Are you under my control right now?” I asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Shit!” I jabbed the disconnect button and stared at the phone like it was about to explode.

  “I hope she didn’t take that as an order,” Amy snickered from her chair.

  “We’re too late,” I reported needlessly. “Who’s next?”

  “Peter Simon Collins,” Daraxandriel frowned, “shouldst thou not have attempted to release Tara from her enthrallment, as thou didst with Melissa and the waif?”

  “What? Oh, damn it!” I wasn’t thinking straight anymore. I punched redial and gnawed anxiously on my thumbnail as I listened to the ringing. It finally stopped and Tara’s voice announced, This is Tara Kingsley of Barnett and Associates. I’m unable to take your – I hung up with a sigh. “Too late. He probably ordered her not to answer any calls from this number.”

  “Keep going,” Melissa urged me. “We don’t know who Mrs. Kendricks might have called already.”

  I continued down the list. Jasmine Chu and Marion Dobbs didn’t answer their phones and Gale Connelly’s line went right to voicemail. Allison Babcock answered, though, with a suspicious-sounding “Hello? Who is this?”

  “Allison, this is Peter Collins. Do you know who I am?”

  “Yes.”

  “Are you under my control now?”

  “Yes.”

  Everyone tensed up and I licked my dry lips. “Are you alone now?”

  “Yes. I’m in my car.”

  “Did you just leave Mrs. Kendricks’ house?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you saw me there?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “Okay, listen very carefully. From now on, don’t take any orders from me or anyone who looks or sounds like me unless I say Simon says first. Got it?”

  “Got it.” She sounded uncertain, though.

  Dad waved his hand to get my attention and I muted the phone. “Ask her what she’s doing,” he suggested. “From what you told me, the incubus has to be worried about letting the witches out of his sight, since you’re already taken Susie and Melissa away from him. There has to be a reason he let her leave.”

  I nodded my understanding and unmuted. “Allison, where are you going?”

  “You told me to search for the succubus. I’m going over to your apartment to see if she went back there.”

  I glanced over my shoulder at the stairwell, as if she was about to pop into view. “What are you supposed to do if you find her?”

  “Kill her and take her journal.”

  “Okay,” I told her urgently, “Simon says, don’t kill Dara and don’t take the journal. Understood?”

  “But you said to –”

  “Simon says, do not kill Dara!”

  “All right.” She sounded like a spoiled child told to go to bed early.

  Melissa reached over and tapped the mute button. “What shou
ld we do with her?” she asked worriedly. “We can’t let her just wander around town. What if the incubus or one of the witches he’s controlling finds her again?”

  “She’ll be safe here with us,” I said, but Dad shook his head.

  “Not here,” he said firmly. “We can’t easily defend this place if it comes down to that and there are a lot of innocent people in the area.”

  “Where then?” I asked doubtfully. “The library?”

  “The police station.”

  “Seriously? You want them stuck in the middle of a witch fight?”

  “Better them than civilians who can’t protect themselves. I’ll have Rachel put everyone we send over there in the conference room until we get there.”

  “How in the world are you going to explain what’s going on to her?”

  “That’s the nice thing about being Chief of Police,” Dad said with a wry twist to his mouth. “Everyone is used to following my orders. Send her over there and I’ll tell Rachel to expect a crowd.”

  “If you say so,” I said reluctantly. I unmuted again. “Allison? Simon says, go to the police station and talk to Mrs. Burns in the lobby. Do what she says until I get there. Okay?”

  There was a long stretch of silence broken only by the faint rumble of road noise, and then Allison said, “Okay.” She didn’t sound very enthusiastic about this plan either.

  “All right, we’ll see you there. Goodbye.” I hung up and rubbed my forehead. “It’s getting harder to override their orders.”

  “We’d better hurry, then.” Dad took his phone and tapped a number in his contact list. He waited for a few seconds and then said, “Rachel, a group of young women will be coming in, probably asking for Peter. Put them in the conference room. We’ll get there as soon as we can.” He listened and shook his head. “No, they’re guests. Make sure they’re comfortable but keep them isolated from the other officers as much as possible. I’ll explain later. No, I don’t know how many there’ll be, maybe six or eight.” I thought that was awfully optimistic of him.