Legend of Witchtrot Road

by E.J. Stevens

  “humane relocation” and though I didn’t mind spiders while awake, much, the thought of one crawling on my face while asleep was real y creepy.

  I opened my eyes to find myself lying in the grass with an enormous antennae waving monster towering over me. I squeaked in fright before I realized that I was dreaming and the monster was only my dung beetle spirit guide. The paper dry grass, whispering as it moved in the breeze, was the culprit responsible for tickling my nose. Could be worse, could have been a spirit guide sized spider.

  I pul ed myself to my feet and looked my sacred scarab spirit guide in what I guessed was her face. With a seven foot tal beetle, it’s kind of hard to tel .

  “Hi, um, thank you for your help the other day at school,” I said. “You were right. Using my legs real y worked to create a diversion.”

  “You are most welcome, little one,” said the scarab, her voice echoing in my head.

  The scarab tilted her head to the side and seemed to be weighing her words.

  “Are you here about the kidnapping?” I asked.

  “It is true that I am concerned for your wel being,” said the scarab.

  Her long, thin arms scraped up and down along her carapace in what seemed to be a nervous gesture.

  “Is everything okay?” I asked.

  If my spirit guide was nervous, then I was in big trouble.

  “You have begun to walk the world of dreams and darkness, my child, but the way before you is a troubled one,” she said. “Your power has awakened, but you stil have much to learn.”

  “I know I stil have a lot to learn, but I’ve already helped a few good spirits find peace,” I said. “I’m trying to help spirits find their way into the light.”

  “Yes, little one, and I am proud,” the scarab said. “You have become the flickering flame that leads the spirits of the dead out of darkness, but if you falter, who wil rescue you?”

  “I don’t understand,” I said.

  I could feel my brow wrinkle and twisted my pajama top between my fists in frustration. Why did the spirits who actual y spoke to me have to speak in riddles?

  “Your wolf is a strong protector, but even great warriors have weaknesses however smal ,” said the scarab. “Lady Moon holds sway over your wolf each month. Beware those who may do you harm, whether they be mortal or spirit, when your wolf runs beneath the light of the moon.” I felt a chil run up my spine and goose bumps sprout on my arms. My spirit guide had a point.

  “I’l be careful,” I said. “I won’t let you down.”

  “Do not worry about letting me down, child,” said the scarab. “Worry about those who are lost in the darkness.” The scarab waved her arms and I turned to look behind me. The air shimmered and blurred to show hundreds of ghosts wandering the in between realm. The feeling that emanated from them was sadness so deep it bordered on despair.

  I could look at their torment no longer. Brushing tears from my eyes, I turned back to face the scarab.

  “Think of how much suffering your untimely death would bring to these lost souls,” said the scarab.

  Untimely death? I definitely didn’t like the sound of that.

  “So, um, are you trying to tel me something?” I asked.

  “Like, am I going to die?”

  “Maybe, maybe not,” said the scarab. “I am only your guide. I do not have the gift of far sight, but I have heard whispers on the wind and I have watched you as your powers have developed. Heed my warning, little one. Do not rely solely on your wolf warrior to protect you.” The scarab turned away and I took that as my cue to leave. There wasn’t a way out that I could see and I didn’t want to turn around in case the lost spirits were stil visible behind me. I considered asking for directions, but just then I heard a shrieking sound and woke up.

  My ears were fil ed with a high pitched wailing, but I smiled rather than hide under my pil ow. I was actual y happy to hear my morning alarm—it meant that I was home.

  I turned off the alarm, feeling a teensy bit guilty about letting it run so long on a Sunday morning. Sundays were the only day of the week that my parents could sleep in.

  Sorry.

  I slipped into my smiling skul slippers and padded downstairs to the kitchen. The least I could do was make breakfast. I poured water into the coffee maker, remembering what my mom’s note had said yesterday.

  You never met Grandma Stennings, but she always suffered terrible headaches.

  My headaches were caused by smel impressions—

  the stronger the smel impression, the worse the headache became. According to my mom, Grandma Stennings used to get terrible headaches. Was it possible that my grandmother had been able to smel the dead too? It was definitely something to look into.

  Maybe I inherited my psychic gift from my dad’s family.

  It would be awesome to learn more about my unique talent.

  Perhaps I could find some riddle-free answers in the boxes of Grandma’s stuff in the attic.

  My spirit guide wasn’t being al that helpful. It wasn’t like how they made it seem in Shaman Camp. Cal dragged me to Shaman Camp the first time to discover our spirit guides. It was muddy, buggy, and way too touchy feely. I also wasn’t too happy about being told that my spirit animal was a dung beetle, especial y when everyone else received cool guides like wolves, bears, eagles, and bunnies. Why couldn’t I get something cute and furry? Oh no, I get a giant bug that disturbs my sleep and speaks in riddles. Lucky me.

  When we returned to Shaman Camp the second time, looking for answers about my emerging gift, I had a private session with the head shaman. Cal somehow arranged the whole thing, but it wasn’t as swanky as it sounds. I guess it’s an honor to be invited to sit at the head shaman’s fire, but it was just as muddy and buggy as my first trip to Shaman Camp. The news I received was just as discouraging as the first time. Not only did I have a dung beetle spirit guide, but the head shaman dude announced that the reason I had started smel ing things that weren’t there, and getting mega hel a headaches al the time, was due to my psychic gift of smel ing the dead. Oh joy.

  Unfortunately, the answers seemed to stop there.

  There was only so much that the shaman could see. He left me with cryptic instructions to be patient and wait for my spirit guide to lead me on the path between the worlds of the dead and the living. As if that didn’t sound totally creepy.

  I closed my eyes and whispered a silent prayer that I would find some helpful answers in our attic. I stil had my eyes closed when my dad tapped my shoulder making me jump and causing the hair on my neck to stand up as if electrified.

  “Gotcha!” my dad chuckled.

  “You are so evil,” I said laughing. “You could have given me a heart attack.”

  “Just keeping you on your toes,” he said. “You weren’t fal ing asleep on your feet were you?”

  I was tempted to spil everything to my dad, the ghosts, dreams, and bul ies at school, but I didn’t want to risk losing my freedom so close to graduation. My parents were pretty awesome, but tel ing them that I could smel dead people, and put myself in danger while trying to help ghosts find their way into the light, would likely convince them I was crazy. A one-way ticket to the funny farm was not in my plans for spring semester. Oh yeah, and “hey Dad, I’m dating a werewolf” probably wouldn’t go over wel either.

  No, the only thing I could come close to tel ing my dad about was the bul ying from normal humans, wel creepy steroid humans, and that would only make my parents worry. It’s not like I could tel my dad not to worry, since I had round the clock werewolf protection. Although I’ll be losing that protection tonight. I tried not to wince. If the J-team came after me while Cal and the pack were gone, then I’d tel my dad, but it would only be as a last resort.

  Leaning back against the counter, folding my arms over my chest, I shrugged my shoulders.

  “It’s Sunday morning,” I said. “I’m al owed to be sleepy.”

  “You getting enough sleep?” Dad asked. “I heard y
ou having nightmares again last night.”

  Son of a dung beetle. I had been talking in my sleep?

  Not good.

  “It’s no big, Dad,” I said. I tried to laugh and come up with a believable reason that I’d be having nightmares that had nothing to do with spirit guides, ghosts, or werewolves.

  “Emma showed me one of her PETA YouTube videos yesterday and it kind of freaked me out. That’s al .” My dad groaned as he poured his coffee. “It wasn’t the one with baby chickens getting their beaks clipped, was it?”

  “That’s the one,” I said.

  “That video gave me nightmares too,” Dad said, giving an exaggerated shudder.

  My dad grabbed his mug and newspaper off the counter and went to sit at the kitchen table.

  “You kids doing anything fun today?” Dad asked.

  He was already reading his paper, so I knew he was just asking to be polite, not because he was worried about me.

  “I’m doing some school work with Emma later,” I said.

  “No Cal today?” Dad asked, winking over his newspaper.

  “Um, he’s going on a skiing trip with his family,” I said.

  That’s what we cal ed Wolf Camp in the colder months.

  In the summer they were on a camping trip and during the winter they were off skiing. My parents never seemed to think it was suspicious.

  “Tel him to have a good time,” Dad mumbled.

  He was already off in newspaper land, so I grabbed my coffee and retreated up to my room.

  *****

  Cal was busy with pack preparations al day, as I’d suspected, but he made time to send me loads of text messages. Some messages were funny and others romantic. He always seemed to know what I needed most, even when he wasn’t here with me.

  I was smiling again at one of Cal’s messages when my phone rang. It was Emma.

  “You busy?” Emma asked.

  “Nope, Cal’s doing last minute preparations getting the pack ready for Wolf Camp so I’m total y free,” I said.

  “Cool,” Emma said. “I’m coming over.”

  “Okay,” I said.

  “And Yuki?” Emma asked. “You don’t know who would send me flowers do you? Gordy hasn’t said anything has he?”

  “Oh, oh, I need to talk to you actual y,” I said.

  I hadn’t had a chance to fil Emma in on the Gordy kissing Katie thing and the Gabriel making her his mate thing. Those were two very big pieces of news.

  “Great, that does not sound good,” Emma said. “Do I even want to know?”

  “I’l tel you when you get here,” I said.

  I real y wasn’t sure how Emma would react to Gordy’s relationship with Katie, but I knew she’d be crazy mad when I told her about Gabriel “making” her his mate. No guy was going to make Emma do anything she didn’t want. Ever.

  “Be there in ten,” Emma said.

  *****

  Emma made record time and was on my doorstep in five minutes. She was standing on the porch tapping her foot impatiently as I opened the door.

  “Do you know who sent me flowers, or not?” Emma asked. She tilted her head to gauge my response and her blond ponytail swooshed back and forth.

  “Come on up to my room,” I said. “You’l need to sit down for some of this.”

  “Oh my god, you’re kil ing me,” Emma said. “Seriously, this better be good.”

  Emma remained poised as she strode up the stairs, but her eye twitch gave away her anxiety. I closed the front door and took the stairs two at a time. When we reached my room, Emma swung the door shut. She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, letting me know it was time to talk.

  “Okay spil ,” Emma said. “Tel me what you know.” I sighed and sat on my bed, grabbing a dung beetle plushie for comfort. How do you tel your best friend that her ex is dating the painful y happy girl who works at the library, her favorite place on earth, and the obnoxious new werewolf in town wants to settle down and have puppies?

  “Wel , I don’t know for sure who sent you flowers,” I said. “But I do have a guess…and some news.” Emma sighed and came to sit at the foot of my bed.

  She bit her lip and looked down at her feet dangling above the floor.

  “Is it good news?” Emma asked. “Girl, I could real y use some good news right now.”

  “I don’t know,” I said, letting out a sigh. “I, um, kind of walked in on Gordy and Katie, the red haired girl who works at the library, and they were kissing. I guess they’ve been hanging out and just started dating. So, yeah, they’re together.”

  “Wow,” Emma said. She raised her hand to her mouth, either in surprise or in memory of kissing Gordy herself.

  “You okay?” I asked.

  “Yes, I think I am,” Emma said. She turned to me, smiled, and squeezed my hand. “Thanks for letting me know.”

  “Yeah, wel , I didn’t think you’d want to find out by seeing those two holding hands or something,” I said.

  “Plus, I think that crosses Gordy off our list of potential flower suspects.”

  “True,” Emma said. “So who do you suspect?”

  “The Brat,” I mumbled, putting my head in my hands.

  “What?” Emma asked.

  “Gabriel,” I groaned. “I think it was Gabriel. Whiny, horrible, self-centered, meat eating, gas guzzling, money flaunting Gabriel.”

  “Ugh,” Emma said, wrinkling her nose. “Why would you think that?”

  “Gabriel declared that he was going to quote unquote

  ‘make you his mate,’” I said, doing air quotes with my fingers.

  “He said what?” Emma asked, raising her voice. Her hands curled into fists and I hugged my plushie tight to my chest.

  “I know, it’s like way creepy stalkerish and total y not cool,” I said.

  “Not cool?” Emma asked. “No, his behavior is abhorrent. I can’t believe anyone would think they could make someone like them, though he’s obviously a spoiled brat. He’s probably never been told no before.”

  “That’s my nickname for him,” I said, grinning.

  “Abhorrent?” Emma asked.

  “No, The Brat,” I said.

  “Wel , I suppose The Abhorrent Brat would be a mouthful,” Emma said. “Oh what am I going to do? Gabriel is a member of the pack and he’s here to try to force Simon into some kind of barbaric duel.”

  “Yeah, that boy has testosterone issues,” I said, snorting.

  “I’m trying to earn the respect of the pack so I can effectively practice medicine,” Emma said. Emma closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Gabriel could ruin things with the pack.”

  “Like how?” I asked. “He’s just a whiny brat.”

  “But he’s a werewolf,” Emma said. “There are advantages to me being human, like having hands to provide medical care with on the ful moon, but I’l never be a real member of the pack.”

  “Don’t worry,” I said. “The pack won’t listen to Gabriel.

  Plus, Cal wil speak up for you. If Gabriel tries to embarrass you or start any rumors, Cal wil put a stop to it.”

  “I know Cal is the alpha, but that also means he has other responsibilities,” Emma said. “He might be too busy to make the pack listen.”

  “Total y not going to happen,” I said. “Cal would never be too busy to put in a good word for you with the pack, but if you’re worried we could always ask Simon. He could make the pack listen.”

  “Right, like he’d speak on my behalf,” Emma said.

  “Wel , he would definitely defend your healing abilities,” I said. “He might complain about your teas tasting like tree bark, but he tel s everyone how talented you are.”

  “No way,” Emma said, blushing.

  Emma reached up and started twirling her hair and I had a nagging suspicion of who she wished sent her flowers. But I wasn’t going to touch that idea with a ten foot pole. No, there wasn’t a pole long enough for that hunch.

  “So do we have a plan?” I asked. Emma was
gazing into space with a glazed over expression. “Earth to Emma!”

  “What?” Emma asked. “I mean, yes, we have a plan.

  When the boys get back from Wolf Camp, I’l tel Gabriel that he doesn’t have a chance in Hel of making me his mate, date, or anything else.”

  Emma’s eyes lost their glazed-over look and twinkled with mischief. Now that’s the Emma I know and love.

  “So what do we do now?” I asked.

  I had a feeling that the next two days would feel like an eternity while we waited for the guys to return from Wolf Camp. Emma was obviously eager to give Gabriel a piece of her mind and I was already missing Cal.

  “Gabriel seems pretty dense, another reason why he is so total y not my type, so I was thinking some visual aids might be necessary,” Emma said.

  Oh yeah, there was definitely a gleam in Emma’s eye.

  “Like flow charts and statistics?” I asked. I knew Emma very, very wel .

  “Yes, and some supporting quotes about this little thing cal ed women’s liberation,” Emma said.

  Oh boy, Gabriel was in for a ful frontal Emma confrontation. I almost felt bad for him. Almost.

  “I can supply the poster board and markers,” I offered.

  “Good, then al we need now is a trip to the library,” Emma said, rubbing her hands with glee.

  Chapter 9

  I was in for another surprise at the library. Katie was working the front desk and I tried not to cringe and hide. I had to make an effort to smile and wave while worrying about what Emma might say or do. I needn’t have worried.

  Emma approached the desk and started asking Katie about where we could find books on the women’s liberation movement. They both started chatting at hyper speed, apparently they had found a shared interest, and Emma was positively beaming. She even graced Katie with her girl power knuckle-bump. Katie squeed with delight and ran off to find Emma’s books.

  “I’m starting to like that girl,” Emma said.

  “Yeah, me too,” I said. “So you’re cool with Katie dating Gordy?”

  Emma shrugged one shoulder and her lips quirked in a semi-wistful smile.

  “I never wanted him to be miserable,” Emma said. “I mean, I like Gordy, I wouldn’t have dated him otherwise. He wasn’t right for me, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t right for someone else.”