Annie glanced at Gibbs and Brite. “It’s called a towel. Here.” Annie handed it to her. Bega may have been impressed with turquoise, not a common color during this time. Or maybe it was just the texture.
Bega held the damp towel. “What does it do?”
“It helps dry us.”
Bega nodded. “Everything you own is so… different.” She handed the towel back. “You wear men’s pants,” she added.
Annie chuckled. “Actually, this is what most people in our time wear. Very versatile. Comfortable and warm.” Annie dug in her backpack for another pair. She handed it to Bega, who touched it carefully.
“I would very much like to learn more,” she said expectantly.
“I wish we could tell you more. I really do. But we can’t share too much. It wouldn’t be… wise.”
Bega nodded sadly, slipped off her heavy wool cloak, and wiped her hands on the apron tied across her waist. She was painfully thin; her collarbones stuck out harshly. Even wet and dirty from the mud, her skin was clear and creamy and glowed in the low light.
She opened the basket she had brought earlier in the day and pulled out the rest of the candles, lighting each and placing them around the room. Annie had to admit the effect was warm and lovely. If only it wasn’t here.
“You asked me if I was married. I’m not. My betrothed… was killed during one of the early attacks. There are not so many of us anymore. I fear I will die alone.” As if embarrassed, she looked down, her cheeks flushed with color.
“I’m sorry. What was his name?” Annie inquired, generally concerned for the young girl.
If only she could come with me.
“William Jacoby. He was…” she took a breath. A tear fell from her eye. “He was beautiful. Perfect, really. But the demons were so strong and he could not… his magic was not strong enough to move them away. He died to save me.” Bega wiped the tears from her eyes.
“I’m so sorry. I wish there was something I could do to make that right.” Annie stopped and looked at Gibbs and Brite. “I wish I could have come sooner, when the demons first came, but we were limited to where the talismans and the time portal could bring us. They brought us here. “
“I wish you could have also,” Bega said.
“I fear more will die and that I can’t change that.” She thought of Sturtagaard. She had wanted to kill the human but couldn’t. As much as she hated to admit it, he had saved hundreds of people over the centuries and, in turn, more survived or were born. She couldn’t go back farther in time to save Bega’s love, just like she couldn’t kill the vampire before he turned.
Annie watched Bega clean up their mess, toss old food in the fire, and brush off crumbs from the table. “You don’t have to clean up after us,” Annie said.
Bega looked at her. “It is nice and warm and interesting in here. I do not mind, really.” She offered a smile, but Annie could read the sadness on her face. For only a teenager, she had suffered much in her young life. Though in this century, Bega really was middle aged. Annie sighed.
“You’re welcome to stay. We’ll just be working.” Annie held up the maps.
“I should leave, then.” Bega bowed quickly, wrapped her cape around herself, and scurried from the cottage, slamming the door shut. Annie opened the shutters above the bed and watched Bega run through the mucky earth toward her cottage. Even after Bega lunged inside, Annie continued to watch the cottage as a dim light emanated from it and smoke billowed from the chimney.
When rain began to come through the window, Annie closed the shutters and sat on the bed. She pulled out the maps of the area and began to plan.
*
The table was covered in the maps from both the coven and the modern British Wizard Guard. Gibbs and Brite continued to mark up the modern maps with areas of demon occupation while Annie continued to observe the village from the window and saw two blonde women enter a cottage.
“I’m going for a walk,” Annie said as she slipped on her jacket and headed out the door, leaving Gibbs and Brite to stare at her.
She ran for the cottage next to theirs, slinking her way along the back wall. At the corner, she ran for the next house, making her way to the edge.
One more.
She could hear a pair of coven members speaking in hushed tones as they entered the next cottage. Annie positioned herself under the closed shutters, which were thin enough that she could hear two familiar voices speaking to each other: the voices of modern Gila and ancient Gila.
“It was a magical agreement passed down from generation to generation. Every family member who received the information took the oath that it would be passed on until the time Anaise would need to go to the past. That ended with me, and I did what I was supposed to do. I took a magical oath.” As modern Gila spoke, her voice climbed several octaves.
“On whose orders? The girl doesn’t know what to do,” the ancient Gila said.
Annie stared through the slats. Modern Gila paced the empty cottage.
“She’s being tested. This is what is supposed to happen. She isn’t to know. She must figure it out,” modern Gila said.
“The coven is dying. The ancient ones promised us a girl who could fix this. You came and promised me we would be strong and grow again. I’ve lied to them, to my family because of you.” Ancient Gila, frustrated and fearful, cast a spell that blew apart the shutters above Annie. Annie ducked low and moved to the edge of the cottage.
“Because there is a prophecy that told you so, she will figure it out, she will get the power. You must trust the ancient ones, and they will provide for you,” modern Gila said.
“You are the ancient ones, are you not?” ancient Gila asked.
“I did not send you the prophecy. They did, and I got the message. There’s a difference,” modern Gila argued.
“If you weren’t my descendant, I would strike you down now. Do you even know what happened? How she did it?” ancient Gila asked.
Modern Gila walked to the window and looked outside. “I gave her what we had. It wasn’t much, but it got her here.
“Who made this determination that she should not know what to do? Who decided it was a test?”
“I don’t know,” modern Gila said.
“What if she doesn’t pass and we die? Our descendants, you, will also die. You said she would save us and we would grow to great numbers, and in return, the powers would come to save you. Did it occur to any of you that maybe you should have told her how to go about this?” Annie could sense ancient Gila’s fury.
“She will save you. If she didn’t, I wouldn’t be here,” modern Gila said.
“It doesn’t absolve you from the fact that you are hindering her ability to do her job,” ancient Gila reminded her.
Modern Gila paced the small cottage, stopping again at the window. She tapped her fingers against the window frame. “A seer saw a vision with Anaise. It was around the year 1901 or 1902.”
“And?”
“She saw the power. Annie’s power and what she will do with that power.”
“According to the prophecy, we know that her power will increase tenfold. This is nothing new.”
“The power will destroy us all. She will destroy us all. The seer was insistent on this and, as a result, all information pertaining to Annie coming here was destroyed. Except for what I gave her.”
Annie heard a slap of palm to face and jumped.
“What the hell was that for?” Modern Gila demanded.
“So, who determined that she shouldn’t have the powers promised to her? That presented with the gift, the girl couldn’t control it and use it to benefit all of us?”
Annie sat in the mud, dumbfounded by the revelation. They had purposely, willfully, decided her future and her destiny without her input. She trembled.
“Annie must save you, and we must make sure she doesn’t return back to my time. We expect she will die trying to save you or she will not be able to return home because the magic will kill her. Either
way, matters not. That girl will be too strong to stop, and it will be the death of us all.”
“If this doesn’t work, you will be recalled and killed. You promised us,” ancient Gila said as she left the cottage, slamming the door.
Annie turned. Bega stood at the next cottage, her face an ashen grimace. Annie shook her head as she snuck toward the cottage and stood beside Bega.
“What did you hear?” Annie whispered and wiped tears from her cheeks.
“Enough to know what I did not know before,” Bega said.
“Don’t tell them what you know,” Annie said. She peeked around the corner. Ancient Gila crossed the village to her cottage.
Modern Gila exited next and ran for the trees. Annie followed, not sure what she would say if she caught up to the witch. Bega ran after. Annie ran through the trees and caught Gila’s sight. The older woman looked horrified as she touched the portal with the talisman and stepped through.
“What the hell?” Annie ran for the portal, but it closed before she reached it. Annie could still feel the magical energy. She reached for it, then, in her anger, kicked the foliage and marched from the trees.
“What are you going to do?” Bega asked, still following.
“Get the blood, say the spell, and go home. When we get back…” Annie shook her head. “When we get back, I don’t know. Maybe talk to the Wizard Council. I’m not sure what they can do to her. She’s a liar or someone lied. I don’t know.”
“The coven survived?” Bega asked.
Annie glanced at her. “Yes. It’s the largest wizard community in the world with the largest Wizard Council. You’d be proud of us.” She smiled. It felt fake.
“So, you save everyone?” Bega asked.
“I can’t tell you much more than that, but whatever I did, it worked. I just hope it’s what I’m going to be doing.”
*
Annie told Gibbs and Brite about the conversation between the two Gilas and how the modern Gila had opened the portal and stepped through.
“She said you are meant to die?” Gibbs asked for clarity.
“They expect it.” Annie paced by the fireplace on the far wall, turned, and walked back again. She looked out the window and turned again.
“That won’t happen. We’ll find a way to get you home safely, and you won’t die saving them. I’ll make sure of it,” Gibbs said. He placed his hand on Annie’s shoulder. “Call Zola.”
Annie took out the necklace and stared at the charm. “Not yet. They can’t know she’s coming. I can’t show my hand,” Annie said and placed her hands on her face. She shuddered from emotion, from the wet, cold air. She sat on the bed and let Gibbs envelope her in his arms. She lay her head on his shoulder and cried.
“Come with me,” Brite said to Bega. They left the cottage and returned several minutes later. When they entered again, Annie was at the fireplace warming herself, her cheeks still wet, her eyes red.
“The portal is just inside the trees. I have the magic. There’s a lot of it. Gila’s been coming and going on several occasions. We needed permission to do this; I’m pretty sure the Wizard Council didn’t approve her secret trips,” Brite said. He handed Gibbs his crystal. Gibbs waved a palm across the rock several times staring at each new spell used to open the portal.
“They set you up. You have two choices. Stay and help them, or we leave now,” Gibbs said.
“Do you have enough energy to find the portal and teleport there? I don’t. My magic is so weak, using it gives me a headache.”
“Then we stay. We do this job and get you the hell out of here,” Gibbs said.
Bega reached for Annie’s hands. “You are very brave to stay here knowing what they hid from you. I thank you for trying to save us. I do not think I would stay here if I were you.”
“I can’t leave. Not when I know what will happen. Those demons will overrun the coven here and they will spread. That I can’t live with.”
Annie looked at the table covered in maps and set the original map beside the modern map. While the distances on the original map weren’t completely accurate, it contained other valuable information.
“They mostly live here.” Brite pointed to the forest outside their window.
“If we knew they only lived in this area, we could put crystals around here.” Annie touched the map and drew an imaginary line around forest.
“What would that do?” Bega asked.
Annie explained how casting a spell into one crystal would scatter the spell across an area in search of other crystals. Bega nodded in fascination.
Gibbs examined the map and pointed out the window. “To do that though, gir—Annie, you have to do the spell from the center. That’s a lot of fire.”
“That’s an issue,” Annie said.
Brite walked to the open window and stared into the forest. The rain finally stopped but another storm was brewing from the west. “I’m guessing the rain will be here by evening,” he said.
Annie pulled open the shutter on the window facing the center of town just enough to peer out. Etheldreda was tending the fire, occasionally stopping and staring at their cottage. “Etheldreda seems upset you’re not out there,” Annie said.
“I best be going.” Bega pulled on her cloak and ran through the muddy village, expecting Etheldreda’s admonishment. She glanced at the cottage and returned to her work.
“The demons should be asleep. Wanna go for a walk? See how we should get the blood?” Annie asked.
“As good a time as any,” Gibbs said.
“I think we should climb through the window. Not let them know what we’re doing,” Annie said.
Gibbs climbed out of the window; Annie and Brite followed.
Before entering the trees, Annie observed the protection spell. “By the way, the protection spell is incredibly thin. We don’t have much time,” she said.
“Good to know.” Gibbs found a narrow opening in the trees and entered the forest. They found themselves surrounded on all sides by massive lumps. Shadowy figures rose and fell with each breath. Several demons lay right by the protection spell, so close they should have been able to feel the magic buzzing against their skin.
Annie, Gibbs, and Brite carefully maneuvered around several large demons until they found a narrow path away from the village.
The uneven, muddy path was covered in animal, demon, and human-sized prints that crisscrossed the path in all directions. The human prints caused Annie’s stomach to roil. She felt a sense of being followed. Annie continually scanned the forest, several times turning back, partly to see if they truly were being followed and partly to determine how far they had come. Whether she was being paranoid or if she really saw a person lunge inside the trees, she mentioned it. “I think we’re being followed,” she said.
“It doesn’t matter,” Gibbs said as they continued toward the river. Just outside this patch of forest, the swollen river rolled downhill, crashing into the corners and creating white caps that in the present day would have been perfect for whitewater rafting. Annie watched the water. “How many do you supposed we passed?” she whispered.
“Hundreds, if not thousands,” Gibbs replied.
“It’s too many if the spell doesn’t work…” Annie’s voice trailed off.
“If the spell doesn’t work, we burn down the forest. Don’t think about that yet,” Gibbs ordered. “Do you have an idea of how you want to collect the blood?”
Annie glanced back down the empty path. Whoever followed them had either left or was well hidden in the trees. She scanned the sleeping demons. “From what I can tell, they sleep closer to the villages. Let them settle for the day, and then we come back out here, freeze the forest, and cut one of them with the sword. I’m assuming it’s sharp enough to pierce their skin.” Annie caught the view of a demon stirring on the ground. “Once I cut one of them, I’ll summon the blood.” Annie exited the trees and bent over to submerge her hand in the icy water. “Once we have the sample, unfreeze the forest, and tele
port out,” she added.
“It’s a lot of magical use. We could use a least one additional witch or wizard to join us. I’ll freeze the forest. Annie, you can collect the blood. When you’re done, Gibbs will teleport you out. Then I’ll unfreeze the forest and be teleported immediately by whoever we bring with,” Brite suggested.
“It’s a good plan… if our magic was at normal strength.” She glanced into the trees. The demons were waking. “I say we teleport back to the coven,” she said, and they each teleported away.
Chapter 25
Annie landed behind the cottage first. Nausea gripped her. She bent forward and sucked in the air until her stomach settled. She heard two pops of air behind her as Gibbs and Brite pushed air from the spot where they landed. They, too, doubled over from an attack of nausea.
“There’s no way we can teleport on our own,” Brite said.
Annie looked at Gibbs and Brite. Both of them radiated grayish, greenish skin. “You’re right. We need the coven to perform the magic.” She peered around the side of the cottage and saw Etheldreda and Bega stoking the fire, raking bits of charcoal, and casting spells. The flames stretched upwards. Occasionally, one of them would glance at the cottage.
While Annie spied on them, a familiar man joined the women at the fire. She knew they were discussing them as he repeatedly pointed to the cottage while using large hand motions.
Gibbs and Brite climbed back through the window. “I think that guy is reporting back to Etheldreda,” Annie said.
“Who is he?” Brite asked as he unloaded their next meal.
“I think it’s Rhys.” When he finished, he glanced at the cottage before heading for his own, leaving Etheldreda to tend to the fire and Bega to come to them.
“We have company,” Annie said as she slipped inside the window and took a seat on the bed.
Rather than knocking on the door, Bega, strolled around the cottage and knocked on the back window. Annie unlatched the shutters.
“What’s up?” Annie smiled at the girl.
“They want me to place a spell around the cottage. They’re worried something might happen to you,” Bega whispered.
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