“Just tell me where you think we’re going,” I said quickly.
Her face scrunched up in heavy thought.
“Uh…something about a cave and a hidden room. Something about a ranch in the outer areas.”
My heart sank. Somehow I had assumed it would be in town, not out in the country. Why, I don’t know. But the fact that we had saved this trip for after dark was beginning to seem like a very bad plan.
I bit my lip to keep from complaining. “Anything else?”
“Oh, wait, I remember. That gremlin wrangler….”
“Brick?”
“That’s the one. He’s supposed to take us to the cave.”
Wonderful. Just the man I’d been hoping to see again. Not.
“So we have to go all the way out to the gremlin ranch.”
“I guess so.” She swung her auburn hair around. “Now you’re beginning to understand why I was hesitating going out there on my own.”
Going to the gremlin ranch after dark was a very bad idea. I’d been to the ranch in broad daylight and had almost been buried alive by any number of strange little creatures the wrangler, an oddly unpleasant fellow named Brick, kept in confinement on his property. He was more like a conservator than like a jailer, but still, it was odd. And the creatures were eerie. And scary. Teeth and little sharp claws. And not cuddly like kittens at all.
And now I regretted bringing Toto along. He’d had his run in with the gremlin ranch creatures too.
I sighed. “I guess we’d better get this over with,” I said, starting the car. “But you’re going to have to call Brick and tell him we’re coming. Otherwise we’ll never get in through the gates.”
Miraculously, she found the paper where she’d jotted down the address and the phone number. In no time at all she’d spoken with Brick and our meeting was arranged. I started to relax. Maybe this wouldn’t be so miserable after all.
“So Rennie,” I ventured as we barreled along the highway heading out of town. “What’s the deal with this festival? Have you ever been to it before?”
She looked at me as though I’d asked if she’d ever tried brushing her teeth.
“Of course. Everyone goes to the Festival of the Golden Moon. It’s an annual event in Moonhaven. Famous world-wide.”
“Really? I got the impression, the way Gran Ana talks about it, that it might be…” I made a face.
Rennie sighed. “Okay, Haley. I’ll tell you what I really think. But you have to promise you won’t tell your grandmother.”
“Rennie, are you seriously maintaining the vain thought that she cares what you think?”
“Oh, she cares alright. Why do you think she was so mad at me?”
“Because you were falling behind on the job of preparing for the Festival?” It was just a stab in the dark.
“That’s not all of it. I was trying to bring some life into the silly thing. A little modern thinking. Some fun and color. You know? I had the neatest ad campaign ready to go. But she wants everything to be done according to the outline left us by The Builders. And you know what? A lot of people, including me, think those old rituals are just too creepy. I mean the chanting and the strange language. It’s like…it’s sort of like…some crazy religion or something.” She sat back with a thump. “There. I said it.”
I frowned. “Gran Ana is a devout Roman Catholic,” I pointed out.
“Maybe so. But she’s a sorceress too. But you know that.”
I thought over what she’d said. “Creepy, huh?” I bit my lip. “Listen. Tell me what happens at the festival. I…don’t remember.”
“Oh, that’s right. How could you know? Okay.” She drew in a deep breath. “The festival is in three parts. First there is the carnival atmosphere with fast food booths and games and streamers and such. The stuff your grandmother hates, but the stuff that the average festival attendee loves. When I was a kid, I loved the cotton candy machine and the monkeys and the candy bar on a stick. But that was back in the days when your grandmother wasn’t here.”
I shivered. “Where was she?”
“France was what we heard. Anyway, she came back a few years ago and since then, she’s tried to stamp out the carnival booths and the exotic food vendors. She’s totally focused on the other side of the festival. The magic of the bonfire.”
“The magic of the bonfire,” I repeated, really shivering now. I fumbled with the heater controls. “And what’s that all about?”
“Well, the most important thing is the lighting of the bonfire using the ceremonial eternal flame, like I said. Gran Ana makes a speech and lights the fire and dedicates it to The Builders. There are some fireworks and chanting and then there is the ball. That’s pretty fun.”
“Where do the ashes come in?”
“They get tossed into the fire, or spread around just before it’s set off. Whatever.” She looked at me impatiently. “You know I don’t pay that much attention. I think it’s something about to show the renewal of our promise, but also to make sure everyone remembers what keeps us safe and how we have to remain vigilante.”
“And it’s those ashes we’re getting right now. Right?”
“Yup.” She sighed. “There’s more ceremonial stuff, and then at sunset, it gets kind of scary.”
“In what way?”
Rennie was whispering now, leaning closer. “I’m not really sure. But I know it’s gotten much more serious since your grandmother came back from France. She is always there, always the mistress of ceremonies at that part. She recites a lot of Latin poetry and throws out sparks. The bonfire gets lit from the eternal flame. It goes higher and higher and gets hotter. There’s a choir that chants something in a foreign language. And then…and then…”
I had to make a hard stop to let a couple of motorcycles have the right of way. We both gasped, nearly catapulted out of our seats. We only held on thanks to our seat belts. My heart was beating hard and I glanced over at Rennie.
“And then what?” I asked impatiently.
She shook her head. “I don’t know how they do it, but it always seems like someone jumps into the fire.”
“What?”
“I know. Crazy, huh? And there is never any report afterwards of anyone dying or anything like that. But I swear, it looks like someone jumps. Happens every year.”
“Interesting.” And horrifying at the same time. “It isn’t ever anyone you know?”
She shook her head. “Nope.”
“Hmm.”
It all sounded very spooky and strange and was a bit frustrating. I should know all this. I would know it all if I hadn’t lost my memory. It felt like searching for truth with a blindfold on. I should be able to match Rennie experience for experience on the festival. Instead, this was like the first year of my life. Again.
Still, one thing I was pretty sure of—there was something magical in all this ceremony. Something that couldn’t be told to the general public.
Secrets, always the secrets.
We’d reached the ranch and there was Brick standing at the gate with a lantern hanging from his hand. I pulled in next to him.
“You,” he said, making a face as though he’d just tasted a nice juicy lemon. “It had to be you.”
Something told me he didn’t mean it in a good way, like the song did.
“Yup. It’s me.” I didn’t feel the need to try to smile.
“Let’s go then,” he said, frowning fiercely. He was an odd character with a squared off look to his body and a face that might have belonged to a down and out boxer who’d been punched in the face too often. “It’s getting late and we’ll have to walk in.”
Those words were not music to my ears, but I pulled my car to the side and we got out.
“Look carefully where you step,” I warned Rennie. “He has so many little creatures living here, you might mistake a twig for a fairy.”
“Where are your flashlights?” he demanded gruffly as we joined him on the road.
“I didn’t know we need
ed them,” I said.
“Well, you do. You can’t have this lantern and I’m not going all the way in with you.”
“You’re not?”
“No. Why should I?”
I shook my head. “To be helpful, maybe.” But I went back to the car and managed to find one flashlight that actually seemed to have a fully charged battery. I was bound and determined that I wasn’t going to leave anything half done. I did not want to have to come back here and do it again.
We walked on around the bend until we could see, even in the gloom, the outlines of a rocky hill and the entrance to a cave cut into the side of it.
“There you go,” Brick ground out, as he stopped dead. “Good luck to you.”
“You want us to go into that alone?” I asked, slightly horrified.
“You won’t be alone. You’ll have each other. I’ve got things to do.” And he turned, then looked back. “Oh, by the way. Look out for the hobgoblin.” And he marched off.
“Wait!” I cried. “How far in do we have to go? What should we be looking for?”
“You’ll go in until you can’t go no further. You’ll see a metal box. Pick it up and take it away. That’s it. No more questions.”
And he was off back toward where I knew his house lay, even though I couldn’t see it right now. Too many trees.
“Lovely man,” Rennie said with heavy sarcasm. And that about said it all.
We started trudging toward the mouth of the cave grumbling to each other, mostly to keep up our spirits and suddenly a large form, about the size of an orangutan leaped in front of us, completely blocking the entrance to the cave.
Rennie screamed. I gave a yell. And Toto cried out in terror and jumped into my arms, shivering like a leaf and making me drop the flashlight. The creature immediately reached out and kicked it away, down into the dark cave and out of our reach.
“Raf, raf, raffergaff,” the form yelled at us. “You no go!” And then there was something that sounded like, “Me eat dogs.”
“What?” I said, pulling Toto under my jacket so the thing wouldn’t see him. “Get away! Get back.”
He jumped up and down and yelled more incomprehensible words that all seemed to be about eating Toto and maybe taking a chunk out of me, too.
“What is it?” I hissed at Rennie.
“It’s…it’s a hobgoblin,” she said, clutching my arm. “Shhh. Don’t yell. That only makes them angry.”
“So you want me to sit here and silently let him eat my dog?” I hissed back. “I think a little yelling might do him some good.”
He did seem pretty angry, jumping around and shouting, but once my eyes adjusted to the dark without my flashlight, I began to see him as a sort of hairy Big Foot type of beast.
I started toward him, waving my free arm and ordering him to move away from the entrance. I was going to have to get that flashlight back or we wouldn’t be able to do much at all.
He reached toward me and I jumped to the side and managed to get past him, my heart in my throat thinking he would be within range to really hurt me from there. But he didn’t attack. Instead, his arms drooped to his sides and his head hung down and a small sound came out of him, sort of like when a little kid is starting to cry. I stopped short and stared at him.
“Hey,” I said. “What’s the matter?”
He looked up shyly and there were indeed tears in his eyes. He looked down, then up again and pointed to where Toto was barely peeking out from under my jacket.
“Last time you come everybody play wi’ dog,” he said in a sad voice. “I wanna play wi’ dog. I no got turn.” He reached out again with one hairy finger and just barely touched Toto’s nose, then drew back and looked hopefully into my face as though judging whether I was going to allow him to play with my dog. “Play wi’ dog?”
I had to hesitate over this one. It was true that the last time I’d come I’d been trapped underground by some gremlin types and I’d thought they were trying to hurt me and hurt Toto, only to find out they were playing with him. He is an awfully cute little dog. But would this big old hobgoblin play gently with my little darling? Did I dare risk it?
I looked down at Toto. “What do you say, sweetie?” I whispered.
Toto barked. It was a happy bark and he was wiggling all over.
The hobgoblin gave a shout, this time for joy, and Toto totally leaped out of my arms and into his. In a moment we were all laughing as the creature made Toto climb onto his shoulders and then caught him as he was about to fall and swung him high.
“Out of the jaws of death and into the sunshine,” I quipped.
We spent the next fifteen minutes watching them play. About half way through that time I left Rennie to watch over them while I grabbed the flashlight and jogged down into the cave, picked up the metal box and brought it out, putting it into the trunk of my car.
“You come back?” the hobgoblin asked us as we packed into the car and prepared to leave.
“We’ll come back,” I promised him.
“Toto too?”
“Toto especially.” I grinned at him. “Thank you Mr. Hobgoblin. Toto says goodbye. We’ll see you later.”
We drove out with the hobgoblin waving as Toto jumped up and down in the back window.
“Strange visit,” I said to Rennie.
She shrugged. “About par for the course here in Moonhaven, don’t you think?”
“Well, at least we got that done. Now where’s this much mentioned vault we need to take it to?”
Chapter 8
The parking lot at the Sheriff Station was almost empty. It was late. The lights were on in the entry and at the reception desk, but most of the building looked dark and vacant.
“Whose bright idea was it to have a vault for magical elements situated in the Sheriff’s Station?” I grumbled as we pulled around toward the back parking area.
“It happened before my time,” Rennie said.
“But your husband is the mayor of this crazy town. Can’t he do something about it? Why would we want supernatural things stored where the cops can see who’s coming and going?”
“You got me,” she said nervously. “Maybe for safety?”
I grunted. “Okay,” I said, pulling into a parking slot and turning off the engine. “Let’s get this done. I want to go home and climb into bed and sleep for ten hours.”
Rennie was holding the large silver-wrapped package on her lap but she didn’t make a move toward the handle on the door. “Uh, Haley?”
I looked at her. “What? What’s the problem now?”
She tried to smile. “Oh, nothing really. It’s just that, there are rules.”
“Rules? What kind of rules?”
“Vault rules.”
Vault rules. Why not? “Like what?”
“Like…only one person is allowed in the vault room at a time.”
I shrugged. “Okay. Go for it. I’ll wait here.”
She still didn’t move.
“Uh, Haley?”
I turned to look into her face.
“What, Rennie?”
“Uh…I’m scared.”
“Scared? Scared of what?”
“Of going into the room by myself.”
I stared at her and she got defensive.
“It’s dark and we’ve just been through a lot getting these ashes and you know darn well the things are probably magic and I’m not really equipped to handle that kind of magic. Not the way you are.”
I groaned. “Since when have I become the big expert?”
“I’m…I’m not good with ghosts. You are.”
I raised an eyebrow. “There are ghosts involved?”
She nodded. “The Builders. This is where they’ve been seen lately.”
I made a reluctant face. “So you want me to go in and break the rules just because you’re scared?”
“Uh huh.” She nodded vigorously. “Yes. Hurry, please!”
I sighed. “Okay. I’ll take them.”
She sho
ok her head. “No. You can’t. I’ve been given the assignment and I have to sign the submission papers.”
I threw out my hands in frustration. “Then go. Let’s get this done.”
“Uh, Haley?”
I wanted to scream but I held it back. “What, Rennie?”
“Please come with me.”
“But the rules…”
“I can’t help it. I know I’ll screw up something if I try to do it on my own.”
The sad thing was, she was probably right. Not that I’d do much better. But the two of us together…. I gave up.
“Okay,” I said. “Toto, you’re staying in the car this time. I’ve already got enough to do without having to keep tabs on you.”
He gave a little whine, but then settled down on the seat and went right to sleep.
“Good dog,” I said with relief. “Now, let’s see who’s in there on the desk.”
We got out of the car and got sneaky, gliding to the big glass door but staying to the side. I leaned forward and peeked in. Deputy Sheriff Tommy Decker was at the desk, talking on the phone, leaning back, all casual and it looked like he was definitely alone.
“It’s Tommy,” I whispered, pulling back away from the door.
“What’ll we do?” Rennie asked.
I thought for a minute. Tommy and I had once been pretty friendly. Maybe if I just told him what the deal was…. But no. He could be a stickler at times. The rules were the rules and the rules said only one person in the vault room at a time. We’d have to think of something else.
“You go in,” I whispered to her. “Get friendly with him….”
“What?” she reacted with outrage.
“I don’t mean that way. Just regular friendly. Do you have any pictures of your cat on your phone? Show them to him. Keep your back to me and try to cover his view up with arms waving and all that. I’ll slip past you and go on down the hall to the vault room. I’ll wait for you there.”
Her eyes brightened. “Good one.” She pulled out her phone and began scrolling through her pictures. “I can’t see anything out here. Too dark.”
“Rennie will you get in there? We can’t take all night.”
Wild and Witchy Page 6