by Alex Gordon
“Are you sure about this, Gene?” Carmody sounded skeptical.
“Of course not.” Kaster smiled, and for a moment the air of the confident roué reasserted itself. Then it faded. “I believe we’ve all learned enough from this exercise in hubris. It needs to end.” He looked again at Lauren, this time holding her gaze until she broke away.
“We need a decoy.” She spoke without thinking, then realized that even if she had been able to plan for weeks, she would have come to the same conclusion. “Someone to distract Fernanda and keep her inside the perimeter of Jericho long enough to close it.” She took note of the head shakes, heard Nyssa’s muttered “No oh no,” and waved it all away.
“Who else are you going to send?” She pointed to Stef. “You—have a heart condition.” She nodded toward Peter. “And you two are in love anyway, so risking one or the other of you wouldn’t be right.” She fielded embarrassed glances from the pair, then nodded toward Carmody. “You have Nyssa to take care of, we need Gene to pronounce the ward, and none of the other Council members knows enough about what to expect.” She gave the tablets a last look, then tossed them in her mouth. Chased them with water, and wished it was something stronger. “So it’s me. I’ve done something like this before. I’ve gone over, and come back. I have the best shot at surviving this.” She shifted in her chair, felt the twinges and aches, and hoped the ibuprofen kicked in before they left for Jericho. “Besides, Fernanda hates me so much that she won’t miss the opportunity to let me have it with both barrels. I’m the perfect distraction.”
Stef tapped a staccato beat on the ward map with her pencil. “But how will you be able to overpower her? She controls those . . . things, and then there’s the pain. Peter and I felt just a fraction, and we could barely tolerate it.”
Lauren pretended that this was a regular project meeting and she needed to explain how she planned to deal with a balky vendor. It was one of the little lies that kept her sane that she had started to employ at times like these. “If she suffered any physical or psychological trauma over there, or here, while she lived, I may be able to release the memory from her body. I have to get close enough to touch her, which won’t be any fun. But she already believes I’m no threat, so maybe I can get her to let her guard down.”
“She never spoke of any childhood accidents or dire events.” Carmody shifted in his seat as all eyes focused on him. “The pain I inflicted upon her was emotional. I don’t believe that applies to this particular situation.”
Stef pressed a hand to her lower abdomen. “She did go through childbirth.”
“That’s good. That might work.” Lauren sensed the looks of discomfort from the others. Even Kaster looked queasy. “What is that saying about politics? That it ain’t beanbag? It ain’t got nothin’ on witchcraft.”
TIMING. IN ORDER to provide the optimum amount of coverage, Peter determined that they needed twenty minutes to set the wards. Lauren would have to go in first, find Fernanda, and do what she could to distract her.
“Then we’ll come in behind you.” Peter sat hunched over his phone, inputting the map with the designated points, the spell they would utter.
Lauren cleared all the personal information from her phone. Photos. Her contacts. She wasn’t sure how up-to-date the other side was when it came to tech, but in case of capture, or if she just lost the thing, she didn’t want any of the demon horde getting hold of images of Katie or her other friends, or anyone back in Gideon. “Don’t send any of that information to me. They may be able to figure out what’s going on without any help, but why make it easy?”
“We’re coming for you after we’ve finished.” Peter pushed his phone aside, folded his hands, and leaned forward so he could speak without the others overhearing.
“Once you set the circle, you can’t breach it. That’s what got us into this mess in the first place.”
“We’ll close it on the way out.”
“Too risky.” Lauren stood, bent close to his ear. “I’ll take care of myself.” She caught his gaze, and smiled. “I’ll be fine.” She left before he could argue, before he could see what she knew must have shown in her eyes. That chilly light of fear, and the knowledge that she probably wouldn’t get out of this alive.
She left the clinic and headed toward the elevator, on the way to her room to shower, change clothes, prepare for the fight ahead. She heard the footsteps behind her but didn’t turn around. She sensed sandalwood, even though she couldn’t smell it. She knew who followed.
“Are you sure that this is the only way?”
Lauren turned to find Carmody standing in the doorway. He had found the strength to shower and change clothes, but he still looked wobbly. It would take all the strength he had to complete his part of the circle. “I think you know the answer to that.”
“I should be the one to go in there. She’s my wife.”
“Nyssa needs you.”
“She needs you, too.” Carmody shuffled forward. “I should feel jealous, the way she’s taken to you. But all I feel is a sense of relief that she finally found someone she can talk to. Someone who understands her.”
“If something happens to me . . . put out feelers. I’m sure I’m not the only one like me out there.” Lauren turned away. “We have to get ready.”
CHAPTER 26
The sculpture garden was at its best in the late afternoon sun, as the first dusky shadows darkened leaves to green velvet and the roses, hydrangeas, and other flowers revealed their deepest colors. Lauren wandered down the steps, soaked it all in, breathed in the sweet air. Tried to squelch the thought that it was for the last time.
T minus fifteen minutes and counting.
Kaster stepped out from behind a dogwood tree and fell in beside her. He wore jeans and a black T-shirt. Hiking boots. He carried the same day pack as everyone but Lauren, filled with herbs and oils and a small ewer for pouring the final blend. “Are you really so eager to die? You could take one of Andrew’s cars and be in Portland in two hours. They would assume you had gone off somewhere private to make peace with your Lady. They wouldn’t even know you’d left until you were safely away.”
Lauren thought to argue, then decided there was no point.
They walked in silence, pausing to sniff flowers or examine one of the statues, each acting as though the other wasn’t there. Lauren tried to ignore the first of the creature figures that they came to, but it drew her eye no matter how she tried to look away. We are the forest. She wondered how many would be waiting for her in Jericho. “What changed your mind? About getting involved?”
Kaster shifted the branches of a rosebush so that they hid the thing from view. “I’ve been here too long.”
“How long?” Lauren waited. “Please? Consider it a last request.”
Kaster stood quiet. Then he walked around the corner, and returned holding one of the Etruscan pieces, the deer that Heath had tried to steal. He fussed over it, brushing off dirt and scraping away a fleck of mud with his fingernail. Then he turned the piece over and pointed to the identifying mark carved into the clay.
כ
“That’s your mark? You made that? With your own hand?” Lauren recalled the statue’s placard. 700–600 B.C.
Kaster nodded, eventually. Then he carried the statue back to its niche and set it down.
“Those photographs in the vestibule showing your father, your great-great however the hell many, they’re all you?” Lauren waited for Kaster to answer, but he concentrated on the flowers instead, sniffing them one by one. “While we were hashing out the plan, you slipped. You said you counseled Steven Carmody. You wouldn’t have been old enough. Except that you were, apparently.” She felt a cool finger of evening air, another indication of time counting down, and her heart tripped. “According to the Book of Endor, the Lady roamed the world gathering followers for two thousand years. Did you know her?”
Kaster had started to walk back up to the house. He stopped, then looked back at her. “I knew her.”
“But you didn’t follow her?”
“Once.” Kaster shrugged. “All families have disagreements. Some are more divisive than others.
“So there are other witches like you?” Lauren waited for Kaster to nod. “They’re the ones you answer to.” Another nod. “Will you get in trouble for helping Carmody?”
“Not as much as you.” Kaster checked his watch, then looked up at the sky, the gathering evening clouds. “We need to go.”
THEY ALL MET in the garage. The plan was for Lauren to leave first in one of the Jeeps, and for everyone else to follow in a trio of Rovers. Carmody had set up the most stripped-down of bars on the tailgate of one of the Rovers—bottles of whiskey and water, a soda for Nyssa, glasses. One of the Council members offered a blessing, then everyone gathered to toast their mission.
Everyone, that is, except for Kaster. He remained outside, pacing back and forth like an animal in a cage.
“Could he possibly be nervous?” Peter leaned against the tailgate. “I’ve known him for almost fifteen years, and I don’t believe I’ve ever seen him on edge like this.” He drank, and continued to watch Kaster over the top of his glass.
“Did you know?” Lauren took a sip of her watered whiskey, then set it aside. “Who he was? What he is?”
“Every so often, he would say something that made me wonder.” Peter frowned. “We’ll talk. After all this is behind us.” He raised his glass, toasting the confidence that there would be a tomorrow, and that they would still be alive to see it.
Lauren looked around the garage, which was deserted but for their small group.
“Andrew sent the staff away.” Stef drew alongside Peter and linked her arm through his. She had dressed in more casual clothing, khakis and a gingham shirt, and had tucked her hair beneath a brimmed hat. “He told them that there was some sort of infestation in the woods, that it was the cause of his condition.”
“I never thought he’d be up and about this quickly.” Peter nodded in Carmody’s direction. “Looks like your poultice did the trick, Stef.”
Lauren looked outside, where Kaster still paced, and bit her tongue. Felt her edginess grow. Took her pack from her shoulder and opened it, and checked to make sure she had all the things she thought she might need. There would be no second chances, no do-overs.
It tugged at the back of her mind, the sense that she had forgotten something. Then she remembered. She hurried through the garage and the myriad doorways, the twists and turns, to the clinic. Returning to her room, she swore loudly when she saw it had been cleaned, the bed stripped and the tables cleared. She checked the trash can next to the bed and found it empty. She crossed her fingers and checked the bathroom can, a blackened bronze cylinder with a flip-up lid that reminded her uncomfortably of the Beelzebabies, and felt a stab of relief when she found the wooden block amid the discarded cleaning rags. She dug it out, then rooted through the shelf filled with clean linens until she found a washcloth, which she used to wrap it. Then she tucked it into her pack, her own little piece of hell.
She returned to the garage to find that not all of Carmody’s staff had vacated the premises. Carmody stood by a black Suburban surrounded by three large men wearing serious expressions and varying degrees of business casual. They talked in low tones for several minutes. Then Carmody beckoned to Nyssa, who had been hovering around Stef and Peter and asking questions about everything, her nervousness expressing itself in nonstop talking and a relentless urge to move.
“You’re flying to London tonight. You’ll stay with your grandmother until this is over.” Carmody nodded to the men, who positioned themselves behind Nyssa so that one of them would be able to block her no matter which direction she tried to bolt.
“No. I can help. I know things now.” Nyssa pointed to Lauren. “She told me all sorts of stuff. Please.”
“It’s too dangerous.”
“It’s me she wants, Dad. If I’m not here, she won’t hang around. She’ll break through whatever you try to put up to stop her and go looking for me. You can’t hide me.” She paced a tight circle, then stopped and turned to Lauren. “Tell him.”
Lauren looked around to find that everyone else had found something to do elsewhere. She couldn’t blame them for fleeing. This was going to be an ugly scene no matter how it played out. “Can I talk to Nyssa alone, please?”
Carmody shook his head. “There’s no time. Besides, she’s my daughter.”
“Yes, she is—that’s why I’m asking you.”
Carmody nodded, eventually. “One minute.” He waved off the men, who retreated to the far side of the garage.
Nyssa swooped on Lauren as soon as they stepped outside. “You have to tell him that you need me, and that I can stay.”
Lauren looked out toward the woods. Every breath she took smelled clean. She saw birds and squirrels and heard the whisper of leaves in the breeze and it all looked so normal. So safe. “He’s doing it for your own good.”
“Oh, please.”
“What we’re trying to do—it’s dangerous. It’s no place for you.”
“It’s no place for you, either.” Nyssa’s hands had taken on a life of their own, pulling at her clothes, her hair. “I’ve heard what they’re all saying when they think I’m not listening. They’re scared for you. They don’t think you’re going to—” She wiped her face as the tears fell. “And it’s me she wants. She’ll know I’m not around here and she will take it out on you and how am I supposed to live knowing that?”
“It’s our responsibility. Me. Your father. Peter and Stef. Kaster. We’re the grown-ups. We were supposed to know better. We were supposed to keep you safe. There are some things that you shouldn’t have to face now and this is definitely one of them.”
“No. No.” Nyssa shook her head so hard that her neck crackled. “Everything I’ve learned from you, it’s like, I had to open my eyes and see what was in front of them, and accept what I could do. So you teach me that, but then it’s like, forget it. You don’t give me credit for knowing what’s in front of my eyes.”
“I give you credit for knowing a lot. But I’ll be damned if I’ll let you pay the price for any of this.”
“You’re wrong. You’re wrong and you’re stupid and you’re the one who’s going to pay the price for all of it.”
“Better me than you.” Lauren stood aside as the men came and herded Nyssa to the Suburban. She closed her ears to the cries and accusations because they cut to the heart and because some of them were true. Maybe I taught you a lot. Maybe I taught you too much. But there are limits. The sins of this father, this grandfather, would not be visited upon a child.
Carmody was waiting for her when she reentered the garage. “Thank you.”
Lauren nodded as she watched the Suburban pull away. Saw the face in the rear window, hands pressed to the glass. Knew that Carmody had made the best decision possible under the circumstances, and that it still might not matter.
CHAPTER 27
They departed soon after in their four-vehicle caravan, Lauren leading the way in the Jeep. Peter had offered to ride shotgun with her so she wouldn’t have to make the journey alone, but she turned him down. She was in no mood to attempt small talk or discuss strategy, and even the pressure of the man’s silence would have been too much to bear.
She parked in the designated spot, a quarter-mile away from Jericho. She got out and started down the trail toward the settlement, and kept walking even when she heard the other vehicles rumble up from behind.
When she heard the yelling, however, she stopped.
“Don’t tell me that.” Carmody’s voice boomed out every time someone opened a door of his vehicle. “You find her and you hold on to her and you do not let her out of your sight.” He pounded the steering wheel with the flat of his hand. “No, what I want to know is how three grown men lost a fifteen-year-old girl in the middle of a half-empty—”
“Somebody tell him to keep his voice down.” Lauren walked up behind Peter. “
What happened?”
“Need you ask?” Peter sported the narrow-eyed glower of a man with an incipient migraine. “Nyssa escaped her handlers.”
“Is she on her way back here?”
“Do you have any doubt?”
“We will be finished by the time she gets here.” Stef stood with clasped hands, looking like a little old gardener at prayer. “She’s on foot, after all.” The woman looked up at Lauren, then reached out and squeezed her arm. “Lady keep you.”
“Thank you. You, too.” Lauren swallowed hard. Wasn’t it funny, how one single, quiet gesture could shake you to your core when all manner of madness went right over your head?
The shouting finally ended. Carmody exited the Rover, his face red, his movements quick and compact, anger overwhelming whatever aches he still felt from the previous night’s assault. “Let’s go.” He headed up the trail. “Gene—stay with me. Pete, Stef—lead the others.” His eyes met Lauren’s, and he slowed. “Your turn.”
Lauren nodded. “See you in a few minutes.” She broke into a trot and passed him, her chest tightening as she looked up the trail and spotted the bend that overlooked Jericho. Felt a tingle along her spine, and turned back to find Kaster standing in the tall grass, watching her. He raised his right hand and twitched his fingers, a gesture or sigil that she hoped like hell was the ancient equivalent of good luck.
THE MUTED LIGHT of dusk had settled over Jericho by the time Lauren arrived at the gate. She sniffed the air, wondered if it was her imagination or if she indeed smelled the barest hint of elder.
It’s starting. She dug the wooden block out of her pack, unwrapped it, gripped it tightly for a moment, then shoved it in her pocket. Whatever happens, let it be quick. She headed down the slope and wondered if anything watched her from the other doorways and windows. She knows I’m coming. Of course she did. Mother of the forest.
Lauren stopped and stood in the middle of the grassy central yard and did a slow 360, just to make sure. All eyes on me. Never mind the smell, or the sounds of those other witches in the weeds. I’m the one you want, Fernanda.