“Yeah.” I rubbed my forehead with my free hand. The building tension was giving me a headache. “It won’t be long.”
“It’s already happening.” Kade pointed to a spot over my shoulder, causing me to jerk my head in that direction. I could see a long line of women walking out of the trees together, all of them dressed in matching dresses I recognized from the night before. They were coming to war, only their battle armor left a bit to be desired.
“Well, I guess it’s good that they’re prompt.”
“Yeah. That’s exactly what I was thinking.” Kade tapped my chin with his finger and gave me a heartfelt kiss, nudging a sigh out of me when he deepened it. “There’s more where that came from. We just need to get through this first.”
I waved off his concern with forced bravado. “Piece of cake.”
“Just stay safe. That’s the most important thing.”
“Right back at you.”
The second kiss Kade graced me with was quicker, a simple touching of lips.
“It’s time,” Max announced, moving next to me to take his position. He was somber, but I could feel the excitement rolling off him. “We’re ready. This shouldn’t take long.”
I hoped he was right.
29
Twenty-Nine
“They look like they think they’re going to win, don’t they?”
Caroline, who laid low all afternoon and worked along trailer row, stepped closer to Max as she stared into the quickly dwindling dusk.
“I don’t care what they believe,” Max replied. “I care about beating them to a pulp. We only need to kill the ringleaders. The others … well, I have a feeling the others will surrender once they realize the fight isn’t going their way.”
I had the same feeling. “There’s Amanda Stevens.” I inclined my chin in the young woman’s direction. She hung back, not nearly as gung-ho as the others she walked with. Remy was ahead of her, looking eager for the fight. “I still don’t understand how they snagged Amanda.”
“Most of the members of their coven were enticed with the promise of eternal youth,” Caroline volunteered. “That wasn’t enough for some people. The others were attacked in the woods, threatened, and ultimately they signed up for the movement to save their lives. I don’t know them all, but I know quite a few of them were taken into the coven against their wills.”
“And that means we only have to get the main two or three, right?” Seth asked, nervously flexing his fingers as he stared at the approaching women. “We only need to take out the leaders. That’s what you said, isn’t it?”
“We do.” I narrowed my eyes when I thought I recognized a familiar face. “Wait a second.”
“What do you see?” Kade leaned closer to me, eager to keep contact for as long as he could. “Do you see something?”
I extended my finger and pointed toward the woman in question. “Isn’t that your friend from the grocery store?”
“Who? Liz?” Kade furrowed his brow. “Holy … that is her! What is she doing here?”
“Are you talking about Liz Wharton?” Caroline cast me a sidelong look. “How do you know her?”
“She was selling vegetables with another woman at the grocery store the day after we arrived. We talked to her a bit. Why? Who is she to this group?”
“She’s Harriet Spencer’s ancestor.”
Things slipped into place. “She has the mirror.”
“Yes.”
“That explains the figures I saw in the parking lot.”
“What figures?” Kade asked.
“I thought I saw people watching me at the shopping center. It turned out to be a glare, though there was still an image in the glare. It’s hard to explain.”
“Well, try,” Kade prodded.
“And do it fast because we’ve only got a minute to spare,” Luke added. “You didn’t mention seeing anything that day.”
“I thought I might have imagined it.” In hindsight, I felt silly for believing that. “I didn’t think it was important. Nothing had really happened at that point.”
“Except for the chanting I’d heard in the woods,” Luke argued.
“Except for finding Amanda Stevens’ identification in the woods,” Kade added.
“Oh, and the blood in the woods,” Luke supplied.
“And the chanting in your head that first night that didn’t allow you to sleep,” Kade gritted out.
I held up my hands to quiet them. “Fine. I should’ve said something, but I wasn’t sure what I was seeing.”
“It’s hardly important,” Max interjected smoothly. “We can’t go back and change things. What’s done is done.”
“If we had known we might have approached things differently,” Luke pressed.
“Can we fix that now?”
“No.”
“Let it go.” Max snagged my gaze. “It seems even then Gillian was trying to warn you of danger. That’s why she sent the ghosts there, as a harbinger of sorts.”
“Yeah, well, I wish I would’ve figured it out.” I rubbed my sweaty palms over my hips. “Like you said, we can’t go back and change it. We have to focus on the current problem.”
“Which we will.” Max offered me a wink and detached from the group when the marching women came to a standstill on the other side of the dreamcatcher. It was almost completely dark, so he tossed his hand in the air and ignited sparks to illuminate the area, a smile on his face when the floating lights settled above our heads. “Hello, ladies. Welcome to Mystic Caravan Circus.”
I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing at his calm greeting to the rather odd assortment of enemies on the other side of the line.
“Do you think you’re funny?” Liz asked, immediately taking a position of authority in the middle of the group. “I believe you know why we’re here. You’re abominations and must be cleansed. It would be easier if you gave yourselves to us willingly, but we are prepared to take you by force.”
Dolph, Luke and Nellie snorted in unison at the ridiculous statement, bending their heads together to whisper something only they could hear. Liz recognized the derision, and the look she scorched them with was right out of a horror movie.
“Do you think that’s funny?” she challenged.
“We think this entire thing is funny,” Luke replied without hesitation. “Nellie likened it to a scene from Lord of the Rings being played out with Barbie dolls, and Dolph – he’s not from this country originally, so you’ll have to excuse him – says an army made up of women is much more terrifying when the women in question have mustaches and back hair.”
I rubbed my mouth to hide my smirk and remained focused on Liz. She clearly didn’t find Nellie amusing, but that wasn’t exactly surprising. She was the sort of woman who perpetually appeared to be sucking on a lemon.
“And I’m done talking to you,” Liz insisted, instead focusing on Kade. “I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this. It seems a shame to sacrifice such a pretty face. If you want to take advantage of my generosity I’m willing to let you leave … make an escape of sorts.”
Kade opened his mouth to answer, I’m sure a scathing retort on his lips. I stepped in and did it for him, though.
“You’ll let him leave for a price, right?” I challenged. “You’ll let him leave if you can steal his essence and give it to one of your acolytes, leaving him a hollowed-out shell whose only purpose is to do your bidding.”
“Is there something wrong with that?” Liz’s smile was more of a sneer. “He won’t even miss you. He’ll forget you even exist. Isn’t that the best thing for him? You won’t survive this, but he will. As his girlfriend – he clearly has tragic taste in women, but I can fix that – you should want what’s best for him.”
“She is what’s best for me,” Kade barked, his temper on full display. “As for the rest, you’re clearly full of yourself. What makes you think you can simply take us down?”
“Because I have a surprise,” Liz replied, unruffled. “I h
ave something you can’t fight … or overcome. There’s a reason I have the world at my fingertips.”
“It’s because you eat organic, right?” I taunted.
Liz narrowed her eyes. “I wasn’t lying about pesticides being bad for you. That is a proven fact. I’m also not lying about this. There’s no way to escape your fate. You should give in now. We promise to take it easy on you when it’s time to pass. We aren’t heartless.”
“No, but you are brainless,” Luke shot back.
“That did it.” Liz moved to storm over the dreamcatcher, but Max, ever calm, held up a hand to still her. “Wait. I’m not done asking questions yet.”
Liz was obviously caught off guard by his tone. “And what makes you think I’ll answer your questions?”
“Because you’re a woman and all women like to talk,” Max replied.
“Hey!” Raven and I were offended at the same time.
“That wasn’t an insult,” Max said hurriedly. “It’s simply something I’ve witnessed over the years. I’m not an expert on women or anything, but I do know that conversation can be relaxing and cathartic.”
“That doesn’t mean I’ll answer your questions.”
“What harm can it possibly do?” Max sounded utterly reasonable. “I think we would all like to know why it’s necessary that we die.”
“Not all of you have to die,” Liz shot back. “Only the women have to die. They’re too … different … to fill our ranks. We’re more than happy to spare the men.”
“Again … for a price,” I prodded. “You want all their minds so you can feed your followers and their bodies to serve as slaves.” Something horrible occurred to me. “Wait … you’re not using them as sexual slaves, are you?”
“Ugh.” Luke made a disgusted face. “This is why women are gross and I don’t like them.”
“Yes, that’s why you don’t date women,” Raven said dryly. “There’s no other reason.”
Max barreled forward, clearly intent to keep the conversation on point. “We know most of it. We only want you to fill in a few blanks for us.”
“Most of it?” Liz snorted. “You don’t know anything.”
“You might be surprised.”
“Oh, really? What do you know?”
Max inclined his head toward me, ceding the stage so I could lay it all out.
“We know about Gillian Dodd, that she was believed to be a witch and wrongfully accused of causing Falk’s downfall even though circumstances and the Great Depression were the true culprits,” I volunteered. “We know that the townsfolk – led by three bitter shrews – tried to cleanse her. The real goal was to kill her under the guise of cleansing her, but something else happened.”
A low murmur went through the crowd.
“You turned her into a wendigo,” I continued. “She’s not a true wendigo, though, because you forced things upon her that she didn’t willingly acquiesce to. Your ancestors shackled her in an attempt to do their bidding, but even decades after the fact you can’t truly control Gillian. You can try, but you’re not as strong as you think you are.”
Liz turned haughty. “You throw around a lot of words – like wendigo – but I don’t think you know what you’re talking about.”
“You’re wrong,” I said simply. “We’ve fought and destroyed a multitude of wendigos in our time.”
The women surrounding Liz shifted, the news causing an undercurrent of nervous energy to flare. It made me smile.
“You’ve destroyed a wendigo? Ha!” Liz was smarmy smug. It was going to be a pleasure to take her down. “No one can destroy a wendigo.”
“We can and have,” Max said.
Liz looked to Caroline, something dark passing between them. “You shared our secrets with them. You broke the rules.”
“On the contrary,” Caroline countered. “They knew everything when they approached me. I think you’ve severely underestimated this enemy, Liz. They’re stronger than you.”
“You only want me to believe that,” Liz shot back. “You’re trying to intimidate me. That doesn’t work on me. You can’t win. I have the power. You’re all going to boost my powerbase – and I want to thank you ahead of time for that – but I’m not afraid of you.”
“Then you’re dumber than you look,” Raven sneered. “You have no idea what you’re up against.”
“Yeah,” Percival chimed in, his accent all but obliterated. Whenever he was nervous, the accent seemed to be the first thing he forgot. “You have no idea.” The threat didn’t have as much oomph as it should have because Percival was still in his clown garb from earlier in the day, but I gave him points for trying. He didn’t shrink in the face of danger.
“This talk is getting us nowhere,” Liz exploded. “You’re trying to distract me to save your own skin, perhaps run a con or offer something you think I can’t turn down. I can’t be bought.”
“We don’t want to buy you,” Max said. “We simply want to conquer you.”
“We don’t even care about the people with you,” I added. “If they were to turn and run right now, we would let them go. We only care about you.”
This time Liz’s hollow laugh, which was utterly humorless, was tinged with an air of worry. “We are one. We cannot be broken. My soldiers are loyal.”
“No, your soldiers are bowed,” Max corrected. “Loyalty and fear are not the same. I would suggest giving yourself time to figure out why that’s true, but it would be cruel to play with you that way. You’re officially out of time.”
“Oh, really?” Our taunting had the desired effect. Liz dug into her pocket, returning with what looked like an antique mirror and holding it up. She’d walked right into our trap, and now it was time to spring it. “And what happens when I call my greatest warrior to smite you?”
“Then the battle will begin,” Max replied simply.
“Then that’s what I’ll do.” Liz began chanting, staring into the mirror with a smug smile. At the moment she started speaking, Naida raised her hands and started the wind churning.
It was time.
I glanced to my left and nodded at Max, readying myself for what was to come. I would have to be quick. As soon as Liz realized what was happening, she would call for Gillian. Even though the wendigo would fight the effort, she would ultimately be forced to do Liz’s bidding. I had to get the mirror before that happened.
“Now!” Max instructed, bellowing over the wind so I could hear. He joined hands with Raven, and their combined magic was enough to toss the women surrounding Liz to either side, creating a direct path for my attack.
I broke into a run, leaping over the dreamcatcher line and landing on Liz. Her face turned red when she realized she was no longer safe, although the chanting didn’t cease. I dug my fingers into her wrist, determined, and ignored the way she howled as I drew blood.
“Give me that mirror,” I ordered.
“No. It’s mine!” Liz struggled against my strength. “I’m in charge. This is my mirror. You can’t have it.”
“Oh, yes she can,” Kade announced, taking me by surprise when he appeared at my side. “You’re going to give it to her right now.”
“I’m not!” Liz jerked back and forth, the wind picking up speed. I didn’t risk a glance over my shoulder to see if her followers had recovered. I had one thing to focus on, and that was getting the mirror. “You can’t do this! This is mine!”
“Stop it!” Kade grabbed the woman’s head to hold her still, and to my utter surprise, I found his fingers alive with magical fire the second his skin touched her thick head. He gasped when he saw it and jerked away, staring in amazement at his own hands. “What the … ?”
“Do it again,” I ordered, hoping he would be able to focus on me despite what I was sure was a deafening pounding of blood in his ears. “Do it again. Your body knows what it’s doing.”
“What are you?” Liz shrieked as she tried to pull away from Kade when he reached for her a second time. “What do you think you’re doing?�
��
“Ending this.” Kade was grim as he briefly met my eyes. “Let her go, Poet. I’ve got this.”
It was a calculated risk. He’d never used magic before, never shown so much as a mild interest. Now his hands were on fire and he was asking me to have faith he knew what he was doing. I could make only one choice.
I jerked my hands away from her wrist and took a step back, watching with interest as Kade planted his hands on either side of Liz’s head. “Drop. The. Mirror.” He growled the order, as if something inside – some strange creature with special powers – was speaking for him.
Liz tried one more time to get Kade on her side. “I didn’t know you were this powerful. Imagine what we could do together if we joined forces. Imagine what we could be.”
“I’m already happy with what I am,” Kade said. “As for you, I wouldn’t join you if you were the last horrible wench on the planet. Now … drop that mirror!”
Liz could no longer fight his power. She screamed and did as he commanded, her head snapping back as the wind wrapped around her, blowing so fiercely I had trouble seeing where Kade ended and she began.
I quickly grabbed the mirror, smashing it against the nearest rock and destroying it at the exact second the wendigo arrived on the battlefield.
I could see her across the way, bodies strewn left and right. Most of the women had fled when they realized we had more power than Liz, but a few stayed behind to fight. My Mystic Caravan sisters and brothers had all of them well in hand. Gillian was another story.
She didn’t look like a monster. Not really. Her eyes were bigger than they should be, her back a bit hunched, but she retained most of the features I imagined she boasted during life. She saw the shattered mirror on the ground at my feet. I didn’t hesitate when handing over the item in question. The mirror was scarred and broken, but it still belonged to her.
She took it, allowing me to get a glimpse of her terrible claws. She seemed surprised that I would help her without demanding something in return, but nodded when she accepted the mirror.
“It’s over then,” Gillian said quietly, her gaze moving to Caroline. “It’s finally over.”
Freaky Rites (A Mystic Caravan Mystery Book 6) Page 27