Shar finally looks at me. “Yeah, that would suck. I wouldn’t want five people looking at me if someone came and said you were...”
“So, does that sound good then?” My eyes flicker from Juliana to Lia to Shar.
“It makes sense to me,” Juliana says.
“I get it now. Sure,” Shar says.
Lia kicks a stone across the street. “Fine, whatever.”
“Is it OK with you?” I finally ask January.
She smiles from ear to ear. “Absolument.” The way she said that, and the look she gave me when she said it, she was totally flirting.
I put my hand on the doorknob and get a chill. Please, Lord and Lady, let this go smoothly. And don’t give me a premonition right now. As I turn the doorknob, it occurs to me that it’s metal and it’s only 50 degrees out, so no wonder it feels cold.
“It’s gonna go fine,” January says.
I turn the knob and open the door, triggering a couple of ropes with bells on them to chime away. At first they startle me, but only for a second and it doesn’t send me into a panique, thank you Janvier. I step into the store first, still holding January’s hand and we start walking to the counter. At first there’s nobody there, but then George emerges from the backroom and stands behind the counter. I force myself to smile at him – to say we come in peace, I guess – then I think it was inappropriate and wish I hadn’t. I’m fucking up already, I say to January via telepathy.
He can probably hear you, she replies.
“Come, come, girls,” George says, waving us over.
This time I don’t hesitate. I start walking to the counter at a brisk pace, January hand-in-hand beside me the whole time.
“Blessed be,” George says.
“So mote it be,” I say. “No, sorry, I meant to say blessed be.”
January must sense that I’m getting tense because she squeezes my hand tightly for a second, as if to remind me that she’s there for me.
“I remember you,” George says to me. “You came in maybe about two months ago with two of your friends I spy outside and bought half the store on your blonde friend’s credit card, which I suspect was actually her mother’s.”
“Did you know that when we were paying for everything?” I ask.
He shrugs. “I had a feeling. But I chose not to read her mind and find out for sure.”
“Ignorance is bank,” I say jokingly and immediately wish I hadn’t.
He shakes his head no. “It wasn’t that. I just sensed that you girls really needed the supplies.”
I nod. “We thought we did. I mean, we did. But our first couple of spells had side-effects we weren’t expecting.”
“That tends to happen with beginners,” he says, pausing for a few seconds before he continues, “I hope it’s not related to that, but I’ve been following the news about what happened at Noah’s Catholic and praying for you girls.”
I smile. “Thanks. And that kind of brings us to why we’re here. See, the family of one of the kids we had to... Send on a permanent vacation... They hired witch hunters to kill us.”
“My Lord, what happened?” he asks, looking slightly worried.
“We found out that an evil witch employed the hunters. They caught witches and brought them to her so that she could kill them and take their power.”
His brows become one. “Is she still after you?”
“No, thank Goddess. We had the fight of our lives but we triumphed. Unfortunately, it took a lot of help and we lost people.”
He takes a couple steps back, visibly shaken. “Wait. I sense something now – you have Kat’s magick inside of you!”
“She showed up to help us,” January says.
“There was a trap. Well, lots of traps,” I say. “We saw one in a vision and she was testing to see if it was really there or if it was the evil witch trying to trick us... It was there and she got too close. The floor and ceiling opened up and snakes came pouring out. Thousands of them.”
“What kind of snakes?”
“Poisonous ones. I think they were spelled to attack, too.” I swallow hard but my mouth is so dry my tongue clicks.
“And she fell through the floor with them?”
“No, but when she set off the trap a few of the snakes that were falling leapt at her and she was bit.”
“I tried to heal her,” January says. “But it didn’t work. There was too much venom and it spread so fast. I think it was cursed, too. I’m so sorry.”
George sits down on the stool behind the counter and takes some deep breaths then scratches his head. “I knew something was wrong. We’re roommates – well, we were roommates – and she didn’t come home Saturday night. That happened sometimes, but then she didn’t show up for work yesterday. That was the first time she was ever a no call, no show. I should’ve known her flame was extinguished... Was the place where you fought this evil witch underground? I’m seeing tunnels all of a sudden.”
January scratches the back of her head. “Not underground, but it was in a mountain with caves in it. That’s probably what you’re seeing.”
“What mountain?” he asks.
“In Milford. You might’ve heard about a couple of explosions there.”
“Were you able to get her body out?”
“No,” I say. “We had to high tail it out of there. The place was loaded with demons.”
A slight smirk forms on his face. “Ah, demons. Pesky things.”
“I’m wicked sorry,” I say. “I’ve been wishing it would’ve been me instead of her.”
“We all feel terrible,” January says.
George stands up, crossing his arms in front of himself. “She just showed up there to help you?”
I just nod and look down.
“That’s not like her. She – she was a generous soul, but not someone who’d just show up and try to kill an evil witch with strangers.”
“Well, we came into the store a little while ago looking for you and she was the one working. “
”You asked her to help you?” He’s starting to sound a bit angry.
“I asked her if she could teach us any spells that might help us. I didn’t say a word about when or where we were going. Honest.”
George mumbles something. I think it’s in Latin.
I go to say I’m wicked sorry again, but my lips won’t open. I literally can’t open my mouth. January looks at me, her eyes wide with worry as she strains to open her’s with no luck. Clearly, he spelled us! But after another 20 or so seconds, January manages to open her mouth. So, I try again and it’s difficult, but eventually my lips part and I’m fine.
“Well, you are certainly powerful now,” George says, raising his voice slightly. He’s also choking up, like he might be fighting back tears.
“We didn’t want this power,” I say. “Especially not the black magick.”
“Oh, screw it,” he says and uncrosses his arms.
My shoulders jerk as I worry that he’s going to do another spell on us. But January tugs at my hand and smiles at me and I get so relaxed I fear I might giggle.
“I don’t blame you,” he says. “She made the decision to go there and you couldn’t have known she was going to.”
I was not expecting to hear that. Pas du tout. “Thanks,” I manage to mutter.
“Did your friends outside all help defeat the evil witch?”
I shrug. “Yeah, they did.”
“I’m sorry I spelled the two of you. I shouldn’t have done that. I was about to reverse it when your friend opened her mouth, proving her fairy magick is stronger than mine.”
“I wouldn’t say that,” January says. “I’m just good at getting out of things.”
George looks at me apologetically.
I force a half-smile. “We’re fine. No worries.”
“Why don’t you have your friends come in,” George says. “It looks like they’re getting impatient out there.”
I turn around and see Lia, Juliana and Shar peering insid
e. Lia glares at me again. She knows I hate it when she does that. There’s just something creepy about the way she does it. She gets such evil looking eyes. So, I stick my tongue out at her before I wave them in.
“They wanted to come in with us, but we didn’t want to overwhelm you any more than we had to,” January says.
As they’re entering the shop, January lets go of my hand. I go to reach for hers, but mine is sore – and a little sweaty – so I open and close it a bunch of times instead. We could switch hands again, but I don’t want to give her the wrong message so I don’t. Of course, part of me wants her to get that message, but I do love Jim. I think I just need to have sex with him again to curb my appetite then I’ll stop having so many of these girl crush thoughts.
“We’re all sorry,” Juliana says to George. She offers him her hand and they shake.
Lia and Shar apologize, too.
“What does it mean, to have black magick in you?” Shar asks. She looks like she’s afraid of what he’s going to say.
“Nothing,” he says. “Not really. It just means you have the potential to use magick for evil. But let me ask you something – did you ever try to hurt anyone innocent before you ended up with that vile witch’s magick?”
“No,” Shar says.
“Definitely not,” Lia says.
“You had the potential to do so, though, right?” He smiles.
A thin smile forms on Shar’s face. “Right.”
“So, I’m sure you’ll be just fine.”
That even puts a smile on Lia’s face. For some reason it tickles my funny bone and I laugh a little. Meanwhile, Juliana lets out a sigh of relief.
“So, is anyone going to buy anything?” George asks.
“Yes!” January says. “I want a pentacle necklace like theirs.”
We all start gathering what we want to buy. I pick out a few candles and herbs for a few spells I was thinking we could try, but then I see George sitting behind the counter. He’s teary eyed and based on how bloodshot his eyes are I’d say he’s been crying since we started shopping.
“I’m so sorry,” I say as I lean against the counter. I must sound like a broken record.
“I know,” he says in a warm tone of voice.
“You don’t have to forgive us,” I say quietly.
“I do forgive you. It’s OK. Well, not OK, but, yes, I’m just glad you triumphed over the evil one.”
“That we did,” I say a little too proudly, given the circumstances. Then neither of us says anything for a minute before I finally ask, “When Kat first got there we were in this long staircase from hell and Lia, Shar and I were about to fall down through a space left by vanishing steps and experience death by stalagmite. And I yelled ‘Arrête!’ And I heard someone else scream it, too. And it was her. We stopped time or froze things or something and I was able to save my friends and I. She and I were the only ones who could move. Anyway, what did we do to stop things exactly?”
“That’s a very good question. Perhaps you just froze your friends. That would seem much more likely than stopping time. I think it would take at least 100 powerful witches to stop time globally.”
“I figured it was unlikely that we stopped the world.”
“I suppose it is possible that your screams reached the Gods and one decided to help you.”
“Maybe. Gods have done things for us a few times before, so clearly they pay attention to us. But if it was a God why would he or she just help us with that and not just wave their hand and kill the evil witch? And why wouldn’t they help Kat?”
“We can’t know why the Gods do or don’t do things. I can’t understand how they can allow things like genocide to happen, yet it does.”
“If the Lord and Lady said we could die and they’d stop genocide then I would’ve happily died.” What the fuck am I thinking? My mother has a baby on the way and if I died it could give her a miscarriage. Granted, we were risking our lives to kill J and her demons so I could’ve died then. So, there’s really no logic to the things I’m thinking right now. “Is there a spell you know that can freeze things like that?”
“To freeze things within a certain area, yes, but I don’t have it handy. And I’d need to read you before giving it to you.”
My jaw clenches. “You don’t trust me?”
He shakes his head. “It’s not that I don’t trust you. It’s just that I’ve trusted people before and they turned out to be bad apples.”
“Well, that’s fine. You can read me.”
He gets up and comes to the front of the counter and holds out his hands upside down. For a second, I think he’s just going to read me like that, but then he closes and opens his hands and I realize he means for me to place my hands on them. So, that’s what I do.
He shuts his eyes. “Just be still and relax. Allow me in. And close your eyes.”
Just as I’m about to shut them January comes over to the counter with a shopping cart full of stuff. I make eye contact with her and shake my head no slightly then she mouths the word “OK” and wanders off.
Maintenant, je ferme mes yeux (now I close my eyes). I try to draw him into my mind, almost as if I’m going to read his. We hold hands for what feels like ten minutes then he lets go of mine and I open my eyes and see that his forehead is wrinkled and sweating. Worse, he looks startled.
“Something wrong?” I ask.
He hesitates to answer.
“Just tell me what’s up,” I say, trying to reste calme.
“It’s just... I’m afraid I can’t give you the spell.”
I’m shocked. “Why?”
“The black magick you received when you killed the evil witch is strong in you.”
“But I’m a good person. Ask my friends. I’m not about to use black magick.”
“You don’t plan to, but you’ll be tempted and you just might.”
“No, I won’t. Besides, how strong could the black magick be when she had all the magick of the good witches she killed?”
“Each time she killed one of them, the black magick she possessed grew stronger. So, you received as much black magick as you did white. Otherwise, if white magick just increased the good magick in her then she would’ve turned into a Saint.”
“Fudge,” I say. I’m not going to swear in here. It’s like a sacred space. It would be as messed up as swearing at church. But, damn, that’s some disturbing news. “Is the black magick in my friends as strong?”
He shrugs. “I’d have to read them. But... did you play a bigger role in extinguishing the evil witch than they did?”
I rub my chin. “Well, I did smash a bottle of sea salt in her face, turning the tables in our favor.”
“Ah, yes, something like that would do it.”
“Do what?”
“Give you more of her black magick than your friends.”
I swallow hard. “Am I going to be OK?”
He thinks for a moment. “You were thinking about talismans when I read you.”
“Yes, we made talismans – barriers against evil. They should be preventing us from using our black magick.”
He nods a few times. “Good, good. Just be sure you wear yours at all times.”
My knees start trembling a bit. “I’ll be OK if I do that? Now you’ve got me afraid I’m going to hurt people.”
“I’m sorry – I didn’t mean to make you stress. Just wear your talisman and think good thoughts and you should be fine.”
I almost breathe a sigh of relief, but I’m still rather spooked. “You sure?”
“Yes, yes. I shouldn’t have said anything. You’ll be fine.” He says that, yet he still looks a bit troubled.
I feel like he’s giving me the brush off, but I’m going to choose to believe him because I don’t think it would do me any good to know more. “What should I tell my friends?”
“If you tell them, just say you have a little more black magick than they do.”
“You don’t think I should tell them?” I’m starti
ng to feel dizzy.
“Well, I’m sure they’re already stressed about having black magick in them. If you tell them you have more, then they’ll be worried about you. And they might start treating you differently.”
I shake my head. “No, I don’t think they’d do that.”
“Well, they might feel an extra need to keep an eye on you.”
Hmm. As much as I don’t want secrets between us, I don’t want them worrying any more than they already are. And I don’t need to be monitored like some kind of freak who’s going to turn evil all of a sudden. “You do have a point.”
“And if you ever feel the need to talk about anything, you can always come by or call me.” He picks up a business card from the counter and offers it to me.
I take it and put it in my pocket. “Thanks.”
“On another note, I was just thinking of having a memorial for Kat. Would you girls come?”
“Absolutely,” I say. “It’s the least we could do.”
“Nice. Do you think everyone could make it Wednesday night?”
January plops everything she’s buying on the counter. “Make what Wednesday night?”
“A memorial for Kat,” I say.
She gives me and George one of those big January smiles that make my heart skip a beat. “Of course, we’ll make it then.”
When we’re walking back to the car Shar gets a text from Arja threatening to tell her parents about her being a witch if she isn’t home for dinner by eight. Shar fears it’s a trap so she can have her there when she tells them, but at least if Shar is there she can defend herself. We just have to stop at the hospital to visit Krystal and Priscilla then we’ll drop her off at home right on time.
My mother calls when we’re on our way back to Lowell. I’m really feeling down and frustrated after what George said, which has me feeling like a ticking time bomb, but I answer because I don’t want to worry her. [Maybe I should worry people. Maybe then I’d have less anxiety myself.] No, that would be selfish.
“Are you on your way home?” Mom asks, sounding anxious, her voice softer than usual.
“We’re headed back to Lowell, but we’re not headed home just yet.”
“Where are you going then?”
In Memoriam Page 10