by Les Goodrich
The playground was vacant and across its open grass a slack wind swept the fog along and curled it up into the eaves of the park-side homes. The setting Sun abandoned them and a swift night advanced. From the alleys on both sides of the road ahead emerged drab yet phosphorescent figures. Tanner turned to see a similar host emerge from the playground behind them. Each specter moved with an effortless glide and steadily they advanced. All chanted some distant curse.
“Any ideas guys?” Tanner asked.
“Some protective spell,” Rick said.
“We’re still alive, aren’t we?” Jordan asked and the ghosts moved closer.
“For now,” Rick said and the three spun with their backs together and their wands aimed at the advancing chanting group. “These are specters conjured to delay us. Maybe to send warning to Figment. This guy takes his security seriously. I’m not sure what harm they can do.”
“I don’t want to find out,” Jordan said. “Tanner?”
Tanner moved a foot from his companions and lifted his wand. “This is crazy, but here goes. Dreifa!” he shouted and he grabbed his wand with both hands. Electrical current sparked and hummed from its tip and illuminated the first ghost but slowed it not. If anything, it gave the apparition a more physical composition. He set his sights on the next ghost and repeated the spell with even more fireworks and electricity bounced from the building walls and sparks showered the streets. The two angered ghosts advanced and they dripped with ectoplasm and the slime oozed and steamed.
“So you’re trying to kill us!” Jordan yelled. “Great job.”
Rick stepped forward realizing what Tanner was doing. “It’s so we can hit them with spells,” he said and followed up with “Body-Bind!” and with a swing of his wand he froze the nearest oozing ghost in it’s tracks.
“Body-Bind!” Jordan followed his lead and froze the next ghost.
Tanner continued to cast congealing electrical currents at each of the advancing ghosts and one by one Rick and Jordan froze them where they grumbled and howled and moaned in their sickly glowing slime where it dripped on the sidewalks and when the last of them was cursed thirteen specters stood menacing at them from the street sides.
“So much for blending in,” Jordan said and she wiped sweat from her brow and pulled her hat back down tight.
“This way!” Rick shouted and he followed the glowing crystal as it lead them down the street at a furious pace. “How many watts does that thing sling?” he asked Tanner. “I’ve never seen power that strong from a wand.”
“About six thousand watts as near as I can figure. It has an amplifier built into it. I’ll show you later.”
“Well it worked on the ghosts,” Jordan said as her pounding stride kept pace with Rick just ahead. “But it obliterated our protection charm. I don’t have the energy to cast it again right now. Especially if we’re in for another fight. Which I’d bet we are.”
The three accelerated to a jog and rounded a corner when the crystal turned and it was glowing. It spun.
“Right here!” Rick said and they stopped in front of a sorrowful and neglected single story shotgun shack where weeds and briars died in the yard and the porch rails peeled and the door sagged. Two dirty front windows foretold a frail light within and the three stood looking.
“Call Team Lemort for backup,” Jordan said and Tanner pulled out his phone.
“No time,” Rick said. “Do you fancy another visit like the two we just had? Tell them where we are, but we’re going in.”
Tanner texted the address to Josephine.
“On our way,” she replied.
“Are we just gonna go up and knock on the door?” Jordan asked.
“The IWM doesn’t knock,” Rick said and he set off up to the porch. “Wands out,” he said on the deteriorated landing with Jordan and Tanner behind him.
“No shit,” Jordan said and Rick kicked in the door.
Dust rolled into the empty room. Rick took point and advanced. “This is the IWM. Come out with your wands up. We have you surrounded.”
Jordan looked at Tanner and he shook his head. The long narrow house was nothing more than a leaning hallway and light hummed from the back. They moved in. A single door stood in the back wall and Rick moved through the back room and opened it to look outside.
The house was vacant but for a row of tables along one wall and upon the table was a menagerie of electronics and wires and cables. Three computer towers hummed and the tangle of cables snaked around and into them and ran in a wrangled bundle into the ceiling. Dust covered everything.
Rick looked at Tanner and Jordan. His eyes grew wide. “This is a trap! Get out of here!” He pounded back through the house and Jordan and Tanner followed. Sickly green hex vapor poured from the gear and the room behind them crackled and hissed. The green smoke slid across the floor and parted around both Jordan and Tanner’s feet but collected at Ricks boots where he stood and reached for the front door.
As the green energy climbed his legs Rick saw Figment and he felt him laugh. Rick had a vision of Figment moving a video game control knob and as he did Ricks own hand fell from the door knob.
“Tanner!” Rick yelled as he watched his own arm betray him and felt the curse invade him inch by inch. “A little electricity please!”
Tanner stumbled backward toward the door with Jordan pushing him and he shouted, “Dreifa!” with his wand trained on the smoldering gear. Blue electrical current surged from his wand and made a connection to the glowing equipment and a deafening electrical scream filled the street and blue light streamed from the windows then everything for three blocks went medieval dark. Jordan grabbed Rick by the jacket collar as they were blown back. Smoke rose from the house doors. Josephine, Charles, and Grayson came running up. Tanner, Jordan, then Rick barreled from the door and fell onto the sidewalk.
“You were supposed to wait for us,” Josephine scolded Rick Warren. “That’s what backup means.”
He sat on the asphalt and breathed heavily. “It was a decoy. An old witch tricked us and no one is here. Not for a while. This place was a relay station designed to hex us. We barely made it out.”
“Let's not wait around here for his next gang of friends to show up,” Josephine said. “If your day has been anything like ours, I’m sure you’d agree.”
“We would,” Jordan said. “Tomorrow I’m going to the bank with or without you,” she added as Rick stood.
“Back to my place this instant,” Josephine demanded and the group set off behind her with every wand drawn and above them streetlights began to pop back on.
Chapter 17
Homefront
Brit worked in the shop on days without classes and she studied with Mims once. She also spoke to Casey several times that week.
“You always seem to stop in when I’m here,” Brit mentioned to Casey one afternoon.
“Because I know you’re busy with school just like me. I memorized your schedule so we can chat here, instead of bothering you when you may be studying or in class.”
“That’s so considerate Casey. I appreciate it.”
“Normally I wouldn’t come to someone’s work to talk about witchcraft, but Jordan said that’s what the store is for.”
Brit laughed. “The store is to help all witches learn and grow, so partly, yes, that’s what it’s for.”
Brenna was getting better and better at the register and she could help customers without assistance now. She was ringing up a sale when Carol came from the back.
“Have you talked to Jordan or Tanner?” Brit asked her.
“Jordan texted me when they got there yesterday, but since then no. I’m leaving them alone. I expect I’ll hear from them tonight. Brenna and I are going to lunch if you can handle the store for a while.”
“Easily,” Brit said. “Maybe Casey can stay and help me keep an eye on things.”
“I’d love to,” Casey said and Carol smiled.
“Where are we going?” Brenna asked.
&n
bsp; “I thought Excellent Pizza. It’s a nice walk from here.”
“And you know it’s my favorite,” Brenna said. “You go ahead. I’ll count out for Brit, then catch up to you.”
“Very well,” Carol said and she left the shop.
“You’re getting the hang of this place,” Brit said. “Be careful or you might end up here full-time.”
Brenna smiled and counted the drawer. She made the deposit and Brit counted in. “Cute guys on the way,” Brenna said with a nod to the visitor spell mirror. “Be good,” she said and went to grab her jacket and bag from the back. The two college guys were coming in as Brenna exited and she winked at Casey who blushed.
Brenna put her hunter green jacket on over her hunter green top and matching tight pants. Her tennis shoes, also hunter green, tapped along the alley bricks. She loved pizza more than any other food and she loved Excellent Pizza above all other pizza she had tried in her life, which was more than most people. She pushed her white framed sunglasses up and pulled a hunter green ball cap from her bag and put it on. She instinctively felt for her wand in the bag even though she knew it was there, and walked on to catch up with Carol.
Carol was crossing the west end of the King Street Park along the shaded sidewalk on that side when she saw Gwen walking toward her and no one else in sight. On the street in broad daylight, Carol thought. What the hell is this about. Bloodred gowns and ruffled collar and all red and lace and gloves and the only skin her dead white face.
“Gwen,” Carol said and the two stopped and faced with ten feet between them.
“Carol,” Gwen uttered and she made a motion like the gesture to pause a child with her left hand up and the palm pressed toward Carol.
Carol wondered at the posturing then realized the brilliant simplicity of it when she saw Gwen had removed her wand with her right hand at the same time. Carol had not been so sly but her hand already clasped her own wand in her bag so with nothing to lose she pulled it out.
“Blood-Tilt,” Gwen said and with a flip of her wand red light swung in a ball and Carol lifted her wand to block the malicious spell but it wrapped around her wand instead and crept up her arm and her blood felt like cold water flowing through her and although she could still move she was weakened. She pictured her Goddess Diana and felt the warmth of the Sun where it drove away the chill and she lifted her wand and said, “Thought-Flood,” and orange haze issued from her wand and moved faster than any such spell Gwen had ever seen but she saw it nonetheless and she held the handle of her wand up and redirected the orange mist at a tourist across the street. The man wiped his face and blew through his nose and sat down to figure out where he was.
“That’s a nice trick,” Carol said, but watching it had distracted her and when she looked back to her foe, Gwen was lowering her wand.
The subtle invasion felt like butterflies at Carol’s ears and the faintest hint of loneliness drifted from the recesses of her mind and she instantly felt better where she had not felt bad to begin with. She felt fear for Jordan and Tanner and she pictured Saint Louis Cathedral in the French Quarter and a smile found itself on Gwen’s lips and Carol lifted her wand and she dove without hesitation into the dark halls of Gwen’s now opened mind.
She saw maps of the country and strings of light that connected glowing orbs of negative energy at many cities and they seemed to be spread in an array that held some strategic significance and the smile moved from Gwen’s face to Carol’s and Gwen dropped her wand and both witches stood facing each other and their thoughts were back to their own.
Gwen knew there would be a risk to soulpull Carol but that had likely been a break-even deal she had not expected. No matter. She was now certain of her hunch and if she could make Carol’s kids pay, it will have been worth it. Then Gwen smiled a devious sneer and a thought occurred to her. Let them go. Figment deserves it. Let’s see what he makes of Jordan and, whatever the boy’s name is. The vitki. Perhaps I’ll warn him at the last minute. Perhaps I’ll warn him not at all.
On Aviles Brenna turned north and walked the sidewalk past busy galleries and stores. She crossed the windblown King Street into the relative shelter created by the park oaks and angled across the wooded plaza toward Saint George. From the Civil Rights Memorial gazebo she saw Carol waiting at the west end of the park. She stopped and ducked behind the rails and made her way with caution when she realized Carol was standing with her wand drawn and facing down Gwen.
“Holy shit!” Brenna exclaimed to herself. She spun her ball cap around backwards. She slipped her bag strap over her head to her opposite shoulder and pulled out her wand. “Freaking Gwen,” she whispered. “What the Hell does she want? And in broad daylight.”
Brenna moved to go around the gazebo and the thought occurred to her that Gwen may not be alone. She searched the trails and trees of the park but saw no one. She moved with care keeping behind this tree and that and in such a way she advanced upon the facing witches. She saw Gwen’s wand was also drawn.
“This can’t be good,” she said and moved ahead. She stopped forty feet from the two where they faced with Carol on her left facing more toward her, and Gwen on her right facing more away. Brenna spoke silently to herself.
And what do I think I’m gonna do against Gwen exactly? March up there and stun her? Not likely. I’ll get us both killed. And I’ll never hit her from here. But Carol and I together. I could send a quick thought to Carol. Let her know I’m here. Okay that’s it. My only choice. We’ve beaten Gwen before. A long time ago and with help. Whatever. Here goes.
She concentrated on her friend and sent a thought message on the frequency of her own beating heart and she aimed at Carol and hoped to open the connection. She had to be fast or Gwen would sense it. When she connected to Carol’s mind she was horrified to feel the plundering ash and dark matter prying of a Shadowclan presence and she knew in that second Gwen was soulpulling Carol. Or was about to. Or just had.
That’s it then. I’ll never get in there without her seeing me if she hasn’t seen my already. Oh well. You gotta die sometime.
Brenna stood up straight and moved out from the cover of the tree and walked with a bold and purposeful stride toward her friend locked in a powerful confrontation with their one true enemy. “Body-Bind!” Brenna called and she flourished her wand at Gwen. Brenna was less than ten feet away.
Gwen lifted her free hand with a casual wave as if shooing a fly and Brenna watched the haze of her perfect spell get brushed aside like dust.
“I have all I need as it is, little witch,” she said and she dropped her wand arm and turned toward Brenna in all of her Victorian gothic finery and the mere look in her white eyes halted Brenna in her tracks. Gwen drew her wand in a silken gesture across her opened palm and steadied her stance. “Anything else you’d like to say dear?” she asked Brenna and Carol was just coming back to her perceptions.
“No thank you,” Brenna said and Gwen tuned to leave. “Bye-Bye,” Brenna said and she rushed to Carol’s side.
“Are you insane?” Carol asked her and she laughed a weak laugh then fell to coughing.
“Come sit here,” Brenna said. “Sit on the bench,” and she led her friend to the bench and sat with her. “Are you okay? What did she want?”
“I’m fine. I saw her from a mile a way and we dueled it out for a minute. You should have seen it. We lit it up. If you’d have come up then, you could have Body-Bound her from the sidewalk. We traded a few curses and counter spells, but she got me in the end with that damn soulpulling. Thank God and Goddess you showed up when you did. I was about to have to get nasty.”
“Oh yeah, I saw you had her right where you wanted her.”
“Thank you,” Carol admitted with a grin. “That was brave. Anyway, she knows Tanner and Jordan are after her minion Figment in New Orleans now.”
“What do you think she’ll do?”
“I don’t know. But I have to warn them. I’ll call Jordan. But I also saw a glimpse of what she’s up to.”
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“What’s that?”
“I’m not sure but something big.”
“Are you still hungry?” Brenna asked.
“More than ever. I can call Jordan from the pizza place. Let’s go. But keep your wand out. She might ambush us.”
***
When Carol and Brenna returned Carol gathered her large bag and some files concerning the store order she wanted to go over at home. She left Brenna to close with Brit, and Casey hung around until near the day’s end. Brenna told the girls far more than Carol would have about what had happened with Gwen, but her intentions were to simply warn them to be careful around town.
Casey said goodbye and rode her bike through Old Town on her way home in the failing light. She kept to the back roads and alley shortcuts and avoided the traffic of the busier streets. She made her way up Spanish Street and at the intersection of Hypolita Street a block ahead she saw two girls of about her age but shorter in matching navy pioneer dresses with white collars and wild black hair spiked and peaked and standing out in all directions like two demented windblown characters from the past. The two girls stood motionless side by side and stared after Casey as she came. She slowed instinctively from an uneasy feeling and she came to a stop ten yards from them.
She watched them turn and walk together past the building corner to the east. She kicked her right pedal around backwards to turn it up and ride off and when she put her foot against the pedal something caused her to look behind. She was shocked to see the exact two girls standing the exact same way, but at the corner one block away in that direction.
“No way,” she heard herself say aloud. She stood on the pedal and took off at speed. She looked back once and did not see the girls where they had been. She crossed Hypolita and continued on. She passed the same girls where they stood this time ahead of her on Cuna Street. Then she passed them again where she saw them standing together behind the wall of the cemetery along Orange Street.