In Memoriam

by Michael Beaulieu

  “To the hospital. To see Priscilla and Krystal.”

  She doesn’t say anything for a second. “Who told you about them?”

  “Isn’t it all over the news?” I ask nervously.

  “It is. But I didn’t think they were saying anything about their abductors being the people who were after you. I only know because Detective Smart called and gave me the news. He said those escaped convicts who helped you were responsible.”

  “That’s not accurate, but that’s what we told them to say. In reality, Robert and Marco were both killed while helping us. In any case, I saw Great Grandmother Ruth last night and she told me Krystal and Priscilla need us. Said they could really use friends right now. And we obviously have something in common since they were abducted by the dudes who were going to shoot up Shar’s house.”

  “Oh. Well, you’re coming home after your visit? I’m making that spaghetti out of that squash that you like.”

  “Chic alors, maman.” (So cool, mom.)

  “I almost forgot. How did school go?”

  “OK. Smoothly enough.”

  “Well, I hope your visit goes well.”

  “Thanks.”

  I hang up the phone without reading texts or listening to voicemail. I should see if Jim reached out about how things went with making Pete a witch, but I’m just not in the mood. I can’t shake what George said about the black magick in us. It’s a good thing we only had good magick in us before or else who knows what would’ve happened.

  “Em, did you ask Jim about what Jenna said about them having things in common yet?” Shar asks. I wish everyone else would just call her J like I do.

  “No. We already know that they’re both immortal. Or were until we blew her to smithereens,” I say.

  “But she said to ask him how him and his sister became immortal. And you should ask him what made him want to go out with you.”

  “I already know he was partially attracted to me because I was a witch and I don’t really care how they became immortal.”

  “No way that’s true,” Lia says.

  “Well, I’ll ask him when I’m good and ready,” I snap. My patience is wearing thin.

  She rolls her eyes at me. “Alrighty then.”

  We drive in silence for a few minutes then we hit bumper to bumper traffic. Thanks to rush hour, we don’t arrive at the hospital until 6:30. And I believe visiting hours are over at 7.

  “We should probably split up so some of us can see Priscilla and the others can see Krystal since it’s getting so late,” I say as we’re getting out of the car.

  “I’d like to see Krystal,” January says.

  “You sure?” I ask. “Her parents will probably be there.”

  “I’ll go see Krystal with January and you, Lia and Shar can go see Priscilla,” Juliana says, glancing at me and my sisters.

  “Sounds good,” January says.

  “Alrighty then,” I say and smirk at Lia, who shoots me a look that could practically kill. Perhaps she’s pissed because her mother is coming with January and I instead of her and Shar? Although I think she’d like some alone time with Shar right now even if it’s just while walking around a crowded hospital.

  CHAPTER TEN

  SHAR

  As we’re walking into the hospital, a couple of men wearing suits seated across from the Dunkin’ Donuts in the lobby spot us then they look at each other and one nods and gets up to make a call. They could be cops or even FBI. But Emma’s right – we have a valid reason to be here. The names of Krystal and Priscilla’s abductors are in the news and we’d need to have our heads buried in the sand not to recognize them as the same guys who were going to use my parents’ house for target practice. I suppose our coming to visit them could seem odd to law enforcement, but unless Krystal or Priscilla decided to tell them about the hellacious mountain then we should be safe. Besides, if they told them the whole story they’d never believe it. Still, seeing these suits here disturbs me.

  Cops? Em says telepathically.

  Obviously, Li says.

  I fight the urge to look back at the suspicious guys. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous.

  We continue walking to the reception desk. “Can I help you?” the gentleman seated there asks.

  “Yes,” Em says. “We’re here to see Priscilla Hatfield and Krystal Nalfidge.”

  I can’t believe she got that wrong. “Krystal Nolford,” I say.

  “Right. Noflord,” Em says.

  “I’m afraid I can’t disclose what rooms they’re in,” he says.

  “They were abducted by the same people who’ve been terrorizing my friends and I,” Em says. “I think they’d appreciate a visit from people who can relate. And my father is the chief cardiac surgeon here.”

  “That’s right. I thought I recognized you,” he says. “Figured it might’ve just been from the news, you know? But, anyway, Krystal is in room two in pediatrics and Priscilla is in room 3235. You’ll have to talk your way past the cops, though.”

  “That shouldn’t be a problem,” Em says.

  I force a smile. You’d better be right.

  We take the elevator after stopping to use the woman’s restroom. The third floor is before the pediatric floor, so Em, Li and I wish Juliana and Jan good luck and we’re off to find Priscilla.

  Once we’re out of the elevator, we follow the ascending room numbers to where Priscilla’s room should be, but instead we arrive at the end of the wing and all we reach is a dead end.

  “It’s probably a secret room,” Li says.

  “A secret room?” Em says. “Don’t you think if there was a secret room they would’ve had us in it before?”

  “She has a point,” I say to Li.

  “Guess we should’ve just asked,” Em says.

  We start walking back the way we came when a nurse whose name tag reads Mary Lou emerges from one of the rooms. She looks at us for a second then starts walking in the direction we’re going. She’s in front of us, but two seconds later she stops and looks at us again and her face lights up. “Dear Lord, it’s you. The girls from the Catholic school.”

  “That’s us,” Li says and smiles so wide it’s obvious to Em and I that she’s faking it.

  “We’re here to see Priscilla Hatfield,” I say. “We were told she’s in room 3235"

  “She is,” nurse Mary Lou says. “But nobody’s supposed to know that.” She doesn’t look a day over 25, so I’m really surprised that she has such an ancient name. Must have been awful for her growing up.

  We head down to the nurse’s station and tell them we’re looking to visit Priscilla in room 3235. They quietly explain that the room is out of sequence, just around the corner from them.

  We go around the counter where we find two uniformed cops sitting outside the door.

  “Hi,” Em says. “Is it OK if we visit Priscilla?”

  “How do you know her?” Officer One asks in a tone that makes me feel like a suspect. Needless to say, a surge of panic rushes through me.

  “We don’t, but the guys who attempted to do a drive-by at my friend’s house are the ones who kidnapped her. We recognized the names from the news. So, we just thought she might feel like talking with us,” Em says.

  “She hasn’t been talking to anyone,” Officer Two says.

  “Can we try?” Em asks.

  The officers look at each other.

  Officer One looks like he’s about to pout. “Let me make a phone call.”

  Great, now we’re fucked. I knew coming here would seem unusual, I say.

  Reste calme, Em says. It’ll be fine.

  “Hi, we have visitors for Priscilla Hatfield,” Officer One says to whomever he’s talking to. “Emma McGlinchey-Beaulieu... She said the people who were after her and her friends are the ones who took Krystal and Priscilla. I guess they thought she could use some company... Yeah, OK... Understood.”

  Officer One returns his phone to his pocket. “You can go in, but the door stays open and if you
upset her you’re out of here.”

  Em smiles. “Thank you.”

  Priscilla’s door is closed. Em knocks. We don’t hear a response so we listen attentively and hear her whimpering inside. Not loudly, but we all have, shall we say, enhanced hearing when we want to.

  I’m about to ask Em and Li what we should do when Em just takes it upon herself to grab the handle, open the door and walk right in. That’s more like something Li would do but the clock is ticking so I don’t criticize Em for doing it. Instead, I just follow her in with Li.

  “Hey there,” Em says to Priscilla, whose back is to us.

  Priscilla trembles, clearly startled, as she rolls over. But she lets out a sigh of relief and sits up upon seeing us. Although she looks like she’s seen a ghost. Bet she’s afraid we’re going to get in trouble – or get her in trouble – for this.

  “You don’t know us,” Em says and winks at her. “But the creeps who abducted you were after my friends and I.”

  “Still could be,” Lia adds in case the cops are listening, which they probably are.

  “Oh,” Priscilla says, still looking nervous.

  I’m sure she’s still wondering what we’re doing here. “We just thought you might like some company.”

  “Um, sure.” Priscilla removes a tissue from the box on the table next to the bed. “It’s amazing how luxurious tissues seem to me now.” She dries her eyes.

  “How are you liking the food here?” I ask, wondering if she thinks that’s haute cuisine.

  “Well, it’s a big step up for me,” she says. Then she whispers, “Especially since my sister always had her thugs make my food extremely spicy or put something in it.”

  I bite my top lip. “Like what?”

  She doesn’t whisper, but talks quietly, apparently not wanting the cops to hear our conversation, which could prove bad for all of us. “Like lacing it with a hallucinogenic, as if living there in a cage wasn’t torture enough.” Just when she finishes wiping her tears away, her eyes start making more.

  “Can I give you a hug?” I ask her.

  She nods and smiles, starting to cry happy tears. I know because I kind of, sort of just read her mind to see if she was genuinely happy to see us. Alas, she’s very happy.

  “You have a nice smile,” Em says.

  “Thank you,” Priscilla says, practically whispering again.

  “Is it OK if we sit?” I ask.

  She nods and Em, Li and I sit. We pull the chairs close to her bed so we can talk softly and still hear each other well enough.

  “If you want to talk, we’ll listen,” Li says.

  “I don’t know how I’m going to live,” she says after a beat, barely loud enough to hear her. “I can’t even walk on my own yet, my legs are so weak from not using them enough, being trapped in that dog cage. How am I supposed to find a job?” She pauses and takes a drink of water. “I didn’t even get to finish high school... due to Jenna killing our parents because they were always nicer to me. But I was nice to them. Jenna was always being cruel.”

  “How so?” Em asks.

  “One time she put rubbing alcohol in our mother’s bloody Mary and almost killed her. She was never remorseful either. Another day, she said such mean things to our mother that she gave her a heart attack. Then when she didn’t die Jenna said she was disappointed.”

  A minute passes and she doesn’t say anything.

  Are you a witch, too? Em asks telepathically, letting Lia and I hear her as well.

  I suppose, Priscilla replies and smirks. It had skipped a generation with my father. He was a witch, but he got his magick from a coven. He was trying to teach us to control our power but Jenna was stronger than him and she always made sure it blew up in his face. Literally, one time. Gave him a burn scar on his nose. Another time, I caught her trying to strangle him with invisible hands and I had to make a lamp soar across the living room and knock her out. Then there was the time she got to me when I was asleep and I woke up in the morning seated in a chair, which my wrists and ankles were tied to with rope she’d spelled so I couldn’t break free. I knew something very bad had happened, or was about to happen, but I couldn’t even scream because, of course, she’d duct taped my mouth. With a dirty sock in it, no less. I just sat there wondering what was happening for an hour before she walked into the living room... carrying our parents heads.

  Shit, I say, feeling like I might hurl.

  I’m so sorry, Em says.

  Yeah, that’s worse than the shit she did to us, Li says.

  My brows cinch together and I get chills just thinking about it.

  “What did she do to you?” Priscilla asks aloud, motioning towards the cops. We can’t be silent for too long or they’ll think something’s up.

  “Well, for starters, she sent hunters to kill us,” Em says softly. “And sent me a boar’s heart laced with belladonna.”

  “Did it make you see things?”

  Em nods her head a few times. “Lots of things. None of them good.”

  I knew she was using hunters to bring her witches so she could kill them and steal their power. I felt so powerless, being unable to help them.

  “Did she make you watch when she killed people?” I ask and immediately wish I hadn’t.

  She nods and swallows hard. A moment of uncomfortable silence passes and nobody knows what to say.

  It looks like Priscilla might burst into tears, but Em sticks her tongue out at her and she laughs. Not so hard that she’s in danger of falling off the bed, but hard enough. It puts smiles on our faces.

  “Thanks,” Priscilla says as she manages to stop. “I needed that.”

  Em smirks. “Don’t you know I’m a master comedian?”

  “Good. I need someone to make me laugh.”

  “Well, then consider it my pleasure.”

  A nurse sticks her head in the room and says, “I’m afraid visiting hours are over.”

  I know Em is about to give her backtalk but it is 7pm so I put my hand on her shoulder before she can. “I need to get home to talk to my sister. Remember?”

  “That’s right. She does,” Em says to Priscilla. “We’ll come see you again soon, though. Within the next couple days for sure.”

  Priscilla smiles. I’ll be looking forward to it.

  We say bye and give Priscilla hugs. When we exit her room and start to walk away Officer Two gets up and comes walking up behind us. “Hey.”

  We stop and turn around. Not that we want to.

  To my surprise, he smiles. “I just wanted to say, that was mighty good of you.”

  “We just thought she might open up to other people who’ve survived her sister and her goons,” Em says.

  “Well, that was the most I’ve heard her talk since my shift started early this morning.”

  All three of us speak at once. “Good.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  SHAR

  We’re in Juliana’s car, having just left the hospital. She’s speeding to my house so I can try to calm Arja down before she tells our parents I’m a witch. I don’t think she’d actually tell them, less it destroy their world. However, she’s older so she likes to think she knows best about everything. Especially, when it comes to me. Mostly because she’s over-protective, but also because she likes to be the boss of me since I’m her kid sister.

  Em is talking about Priscilla. “She seemed to be in good enough spirits, considering everything she’s been through. Being in the hospital must be like staying in a fancy suite at a posh hotel after living in that cell for 15 years.”

  “After that, anywhere is a huge improvement,” January says, looking back at us from the front passenger seat.

  “Yeah, I’m sure she must have PTSD big time, but she seems determined to survive,” Li says. “Otherwise, I’m sure she would’ve figured out a way to kill herself years ago.”

  “So, how was Krystal?” Em asks.

  “She’s still pretty rattled,” Juliana says. “But her parents were there and the h
ospital is letting them stay overnight. I’m sure it helps that her mother works in the caf. Plus, there are a couple cops outside just in case her kidnappers decide to show up at the hospital to silence her permanently.” Of course, we know her kidnappers are dead, having died on the mountain after we’d changed their tune and recruited them to fight Jenna with us.

  “Yeah, there were two outside Priscilla’s room, too,” I say. We had to talk telepathically for some of our visit.

  “So, Priscilla is a witch like Jenna?” Juliana asks.

  Li glares at her mother. “She’s a witch. Hardly like Jenna, though.”

  Impatient Em exhales loudly. “Anyway, more about Krystal?”

  “Right,” January says. “Well, mentally, Krystal’s in hell, missing her friends and plagued with visions of Jenna, you know, slaying them. But she’s going to get the help she needs and we’ll be her new friends, so she should come out of it better than we’d think.”

  Em brings her hands together in a solitary clap. “Awesome.”

  Li’s arms jerk as something that can’t be good hits her. “Mom, did the cops ask why you and January were there? We said the guys who kidnaped Priscilla were after us, too, but it just dawned on me that they weren’t after you and January.”

  “Oh, I just said they were after my daughter,” Juliana says.

  “What about January?”

  January smiles at Li. “Chill, dude. They didn’t even ask about me.”

  We’re almost at my house. I pull my backpack up from between my legs and onto my lap.

  “Good luck with big sis,” Em says.

  “It’ll be OK,” Li says. “I have a feeling.”

  Juliana pulls over in front of my house. “Good luck.”

  Li kisses me; on the lips but mouths closed. “See ya tomorrow.”

  I say bye as I get out and shut the door behind me. I take deep breaths as I watch them drive off. I wanted to ask them to stay in case I walk into world war three and need to get out. But they were all as tired as I am so I just couldn’t bring myself to ask that. I won’t be able to run outside and ask the cops for help if my father tries to strangle me either, seeing how there’s no cruiser here tonight. Must be because they think Jenna and company are headed for Canada. They might even think they’re already in Canada at this point. I’m glad Jenna’s dead, but I do feel shitty about Robert and Marco. I also feel sorry for their families. Especially their kids. It has to suck to find out your father is a criminal.