by Sara Clancy
They were in a small chamber; the ceiling low enough for Cadwyn to reach without much effort, and a gaping hole devouring most of the floor. Pushed to the edge of the precipice, she swung her arm out, training the beam downward. Her head spun at the sheer size of the drop. Deep below, wild rapids surged past in a frothy blur.
Basheba abruptly burst into near-hysterical laughter. The sound covered both the rush of the water and Isaac’s demands for her to stop. The deafening crack of gunfire made Mina jump, reflexively lurching closer to Jeremiah. Whitney had put a bullet into the stone at Basheba’s feet. Still, the blonde took her time wiping a tear from her eye and sucking in a sobering breath.
“The Cauldron? Really?” Basheba asked.
“It seemed fitting,” Whitney replied with a smile. “It feeds out into Bell Brook. That little bit of water where your namesake died.”
Rolling her eyes, Basheba dismissed, “Yeah, I know.”
“Do you think that I don’t know your greatest fears?”
Basheba’s eyes flicked from Whitney to Isaac. The wiry man only smirked in return.
“You’ve always known you were going to die in that water, haven’t you?” Whitney continued.
“Actually, I was picturing this thing with a bathtub and a disgruntled rubber ducky, but this is fine, too.”
“Keep laughing. I can taste your terror.” Whitney trained the barrel of her gun at Basheba’s chest. “Perhaps I’ll follow your lead. Do to you what you did to our men. Paralyzing instead of killing you outright. Leave you unable to move as the water fills your lungs. Helpless. Consumed in darkness.”
Basheba flinched. It was a small motion, but one that screamed volumes when expressed by the normally unflappable blonde. The moment passed as quickly as it came, and she took in a deep breath, hiding her raw fear under a condescending smile.
“I guess Katrina got bored of failure. This seems like a pretty dull way to end it, though. Guns? Seriously? And here I thought she hated me more.”
Pebbles clunked together as the people around them shuffled.
Mina gaped as the thought struck her, “Katrina didn’t order this, did she?” Suddenly having the full focus of everyone around her left Mina breathless. She forced herself to continue. “From the beginning, she’s always lured us back to die in the Witch Woods. Why change that now? We’re not that far away. It would just be a short drive.”
“The Cauldron is one of the few spots that feed into the Witch Woods,” Cadwyn said.
“If they’re hoping our corpses will appease her, it’s the best spot to put us in,” Basheba concluded with a somewhat impressed shrug.
“All of you, shut up!” Whitney hissed as the first tendrils of fear slithered over the group.
The small sign of weakness had Basheba almost beaming with glee.
“The Witch demands you!” Whitney insisted with a snarl.
“Yeah, but come on. Like this? Hardly seems sadistic enough for her, does it? No, I think Mina’s onto something.”
“It doesn’t matter. You’ll die,” Isaac retorted.
“But not on sacrificial grounds,” Basheba noted, her eyes lighting up as she ran with her hypothesis.
“You’re still in Black River—”
“But not in the Witch Woods,” Basheba cut her uncle off.
Whitney’s scoff barely smothered the discontent that rose around her. A dozen hushed voices and shuffling steps. Whitney refused to look at the mob, instead straightening her spine and lifting her chin to announce, “That isn’t important.”
“Oh?” Basheba beamed. “The ritual part in ritual sacrifices doesn’t matter? Have I been doing it wrong this whole time?”
“What?” Isaac cut in.
Basheba ignored him. “If you don’t hit the important notes just right, it doesn’t count.”
“Katrina has killed in numerous ways,” Cadwyn whispered to her, his voice weaving through the growing anxiety around them.
“Yeah,” Basheba said, sweeping her arm out toward him. “So, the location has to be the focal point. Oh! That’s why she broke up the party! Why the selection has already happened. She wasn’t trying to scare us away.”
“She’s bumped up the schedule,” Cadwyn said. “She wanted more time with less experienced people. She’s staking the odds in her favor.”
“Exactly,” Basheba giggled.
Reaching across Ozzie, she grabbed the front of Cadwyn’s jacket and tugged rapidly. The amused gesture rattled the cult more than it did the man himself.
“I knew she was scared! She’s desperate to settle her debt with her benefactor.” Making no attempt to hide her amusement, Basheba waved a hand in a gesture to the cult before her. “And now you morons are going behind her back and robbing her of a potential sacrifice! Oh, you are all so dead.”
Whitney twisted around just enough to roar at the people behind her, “You idiots! She’s merely blabbering.”
“But, Whitney,” a voice in the darkness stammered.
“She’s trying to get under your skin again. If any one of you fall for it, you’ll answer to me.”
“Did Isaac forget to mention something?” Basheba cooed. “Like who our sweet little new face is?”
Mina tensed as Basheba jabbed a thumb toward Jeremiah.
Isaac’s eyes widened slightly before he blurted out, “He’s just a Crane.”
Releasing her grip on Cadwyn, Basheba reached across Mina to latch ont0 Jeremiah. Mina froze in horror as Basheba wrenched her brother’s arm in the air. The music box reflected the dim light with the strength of a lighthouse. Lunging forward, Mina desperately tried to break the grip. As if she could somehow undo the damage. But the whispering had already begun to spread amongst the group. Rocks clattered together and harsh whispers rose over the sound of the water crashing far below.
“Katrina wanted him, and you decided to bring him into a cave instead,” Basheba crowed with victory. “I wonder what she’ll think about all this. How do you think she’ll thank you?”
“You knew about this?” Whitney whispered sharply.
“It doesn’t matter. We’ll just take him back with us,” Isaac replied.
“Right. So, what’s your plan to explain all of this to the families? I’m still curious about what you did to Ozzie’s parents. Someone want to clear that up for me?”
“Percival got a phone call from the families while Mom and Dad were trying to talk down the tourists,” Ozzie said softly. “They snuck up on me.”
Basheba’s hum carried a staggering degree of mocking contempt. “Not sure who I’m more disappointed in right now.”
“Jeremiah, is it?” Whitney said gently as she lifted her free hand. “Come over here, handsome boy.”
Basheba tightened her grip on Jeremiah’s wrist. “Nah, I think he’s gonna stay right here. I want to see how this plays out for you guys.”
“You won’t be seeing anything,” Isaac hissed.
Basheba’s smile only grew broader. “I have to admit it, Uncle. For a while there, I honestly thought that I wasn’t going to be the last one standing. But now you’ve killed yourself and your daughter. All in one day! That’s pretty impressive.”
“Claudia won’t die,” Isaac snarled. “And neither will I.”
“Neither one of you is getting out of this.”
He lifted his chin. “You’ve said that to me before.”
“Cadwyn convinced me that keeping you alive would be crueler. I mean, imagine having to live with the knowledge that everyone you love is dead because of you? Because you were too much of a coward to fight.”
“I was too smart to die.”
“And now the Bells are dead,” Basheba replied. “What a strange coincidence.”
Anger distorted Isaac’s face. “That’s your fault!”
“Dad. Uncle, the good one I mean. Both of your parents,” Basheba rattled off.
“If you had just listened to me! If you had known your place!”
Still clutching Jeremiah’
s arm, Basheba’s lips pulled back in a sick smile. Buck felt the shift in her demeanor and began to growl again. Not letting go, Basheba used her free hand to pat her lower stomach.
“Remember all those men that you sent to rape me? Well, they admittedly affected me. I mean, learning that your uncle saw you as nothing more than a baby factory? It leaves an impression. So, the second I was able, I asked a doctor to tie my tubes.”
“You would have been too young for that,” Isaac dismissed.
“That’s what she said.” Basheba hooked her thumb in the waistband of her jeans and peeled it back, exposing a small strip of scarred flesh. “It hurt like hell to make sure I cut deep enough to shred my womb. But I did it. They had to take it all out. Womb and ovaries.”
The color drained from Isaac’s face. “No.”
“All your little plots and plans. You were never going to have what you wanted. I destroyed any chance you had days after your first attempt.”
“No!”
“Do you get it now? My mom and dad were your best hope out of this. All you had to do was swallow your pride and follow them. But you couldn’t take that, could you? You just had to be the King.”
“Your father would have told me! He would have said something!”
“And betray his young daughter’s trust? Did you know him at all?”
Isaac shook his head rapidly, his brow furrowing and his eyes growing wide.
“No,” he whispered over and over. “You’re lying.”
“I went through menopause before I finished puberty,” Basheba laughed. “Oh, Uncle. What did you do? How much did you offer up for Katrina’s promise of another Bell? Or was it someone like my mother you wanted? Deadly and dangerous and all yours to command.” Laughter spilled out from around her words. “Nothing in this world would make an Allaway kneel to you. How did you not get that?”
“Stop!”
“How long did she drag you along, dangling babies like keys in front of your face? How many plans did you build on the foundation that I’d someday be popping out some demon-spawn?”
His murmured words became sharp, panicked pants.
“She lied from the beginning, Isaac.” Basheba released Jeremiah to innocently fold her arms behind her back. Leaning forward slightly, she grinned. “All you did, all you sacrificed, was for nothing.”
“No!”
“And now there’s no one left to go to the pyre except you and your daughter,” Basheba declared. “Which one do you think will go first?”
Isaac charged the minimal distance separating them, his clenched grip tightening around the gun until his whole arm quaked. Cadwyn moved like a ghost, slipping between the broken man and the cackling girl, his shoulders squared and his teeth bared. Buck clawed at the ground, desperate for Basheba to let him free. Chaos ripped through the minimal space—shouts and orders and threats. Suddenly, Basheba hugged Cadwyn’s back, sweeping an arm around his side, reaching for her uncle. Isaac jolted. His jaw went slack as he slowly lowered his face to look at his stomach. Unstable silence settled over them.
Basheba coiled around her husband, nuzzling his side as she twisted the knife to open up Isaac’s stomach just a little more. She smiled as she watched her uncle gasp.
“What?” Isaac asked.
Mina followed the stunned man’s gaze down to his bloodied fingertips. As if she had been waiting for it, Basheba lurched forward and drove the long blade of her hunting knife between the ridges of his collarbone. The knife clicked against the two bones, wedging between them and allowing Basheba to pull him closer. Blood rained down upon her, staining her blonde hair and dripping over her skin. An agonized scream tore from the man as Basheba ripped the blade free. Three more quick strikes came before the man had time to aim his gun. The attack only took a few seconds but the sudden brutality left them all in stunned immobility. They all watched as Basheba kicked her shredded uncle forward, making him teeter over the edge of the drop.
“Take him! He’s yours now!” Basheba screamed into the pit.
Isaac rolled, trying to get his hand up, to aim the gun. Basheba’s last strike drove the knife into his ear. His eyes bulged, and his body jerked. Then he was falling. Mina sucked in a gasp, but it was someone else who screamed.
“Get the boy!” Whitney ordered.
The fear of killing Katrina’s chosen one kept them from using their firearms. Instead, they rushed forward like a wall of flesh. Basheba hurled herself at Jeremiah, coiling around him like a snake, to use him as a human shield. Placing the knife at his throat made them hesitate again. Just a split second. Long enough for her to grin at Whitney.
“I can help you,” Whitney said, her voice suddenly calm and serene.
Basheba pulled back a little as Whitney inched forward, her knife nicking into Jeremiah’s skin in warning.
“You’re the Bell Elder now, Basheba. I can help you survive. I can give you everything you desire. All you have to do is give me the boy.”
“Seriously? Please tell me my uncle wasn’t stupid enough to fall for that.”
“So you gave Isaac to Katrina,” Whitney dismissed harshly, her facade slipping. “So what? Do you think that’ll save you? You stupid little girl, she’ll never be content with just him.”
“There are things older and hungrier than whatever playmate Katrina has.” Basheba scrunched up her nose playfully to add, “You might just get to meet them.”
“Give me the boy!”
Basheba braced one foot on the rocky earth. “Come and get him.”
With that, she pushed off, throwing herself and her captive over the edge. A small whistle had Buck lunging after them. Mina watched it all in stunned horror until Ozzie grasped her hand. He leaped just as Cadwyn shoved them both hard, and they all toppled together.
Chapter 10
Within a split second, every molecule of air disappeared from Basheba’s reality. Icy water filled the place it had once been. The rapids took them instantly, toppling them endlessly until it was impossible to tell which way was up. Light extinguished. All that remained was the crushing darkness. Basheba coiled tighter around Jeremiah, trying to contain the panicked man. Even brushing against the rocks wasn’t enough to stop him from thrashing. Burning coals ignited within her lungs as her body strained for air. At random, they dropped. Sharp waterfalls that took them deeper and sent them spiraling faster. Jeremiah dug his sharp elbow into Basheba’s ribs, breaking free of her grip to rear up for air. The push of his ribs said that he managed to choke down a gasp. A second later, they dropped again, stopped by an unrelenting stone.
Water pelted Basheba’s back, pinning her in place with the water’s surface bombarding their faces. Grinding her teeth, she fought against the push to grapple with Jeremiah.
“Don’t lose the box!” Basheba ordered, half drowning on the water that rushed into her mouth.
“Get off of me!”
Bloody Cranes! Basheba snarled to herself as she grabbled along his arm, trying to find the box herself. Jeremiah's resistance had them both slip back into the raging current. Basheba clutched her knife, her other hand desperately searching the frothing liquid for the Crane. He brushed against her fingertips but was never close enough for her to get a decent grip.
Something unseen looped around Basheba’s ankle. Before she could fight, she was dragged down, further away from everything but the raging current. Battered by the water, she coiled down on herself, trying to slash at whatever had latched onto her. Pain sliced across her ankle. Her blood seeped out to warm the water. She could almost smell the copper tang and knew she wouldn’t be the only one. It fed her desperation. Her body quaked with the need to breathe. She pulled her leg up as best she could and struck out again. Pain radiated up her leg as the knife cut into her flesh. A scream ripped from her clenched teeth in a series of bubbles, leaving her achingly empty.
Something battered against her spine. She twisted, realizing half a second later that it was too soft to be a stone. Hands grappled over her arms a
nd legs, digging into her flesh as they wrestled to keep their hold. The darkness shrouded her attackers. Unable to see, to breath, she slashed wildly. The knife raked across her skin. Each spike of pain fed her panic until she soon lost all thought of anything beyond cutting herself free.
Blue light broke through the darkness. A brilliant radiance that pulsated from the tendril that snaked around her waist. The hands upon her grew desperate, shredding at her skin in their attempt to keep her in their possession. No! Basheba screamed it within her head, begging for it to be heard beyond herself. Not for this! The idea that Isaac’s death would only buy her a bit of trivial assistance threw her into a panicked rage. I should get more for him! Not this!
A sudden rush left her breathless. She broke free of the water’s surface, was tossed a short distance, and came to an abrupt stop against a slick stone. A bone-deep ache radiated out from her chest. She gasped for breath, the tip of her knife scraping against the rock as she tried to push herself up. The force of the water bore down upon her as she sucked in short, quick breaths. A few hard tugs and she worked her backpack from her shoulders. Unzipping one of the outer pockets, she pulled free a glow stick and cracked it. The darkness amplified its light until she was able to see a few feet around. There was little more than the frothing, spitting water.
“Buck!” Basheba screamed over the roar. “Cadwyn!”
Neither answered her. Crawling higher onto the stone, she shoved the glow stick as high as she could. It did little to expand its radiance. Rotten hands emerged from the rapids, grasping and searching, the current stripping the flesh from their bones.
“Cadwyn!” She searched the writhing masses for a sign of him.
The torrent broke as she saw Ozzie’s head break through the uneven surface. He clung to an exposed stone and crawled his way free, Mina close behind.
“Where’s Jeremiah?” Mina cried out the moment she spotted Basheba.
Her shout was answered by a gargled call from the shadows. They turned to see Jeremiah clinging to the broken ridge that jutted over the bend in the river. Each attempt to wave to his sister sent him sliding downstream a few feet. Pulling her legs out of the water, Basheba swung her arm back and forth, searching the twisted limbs.