A Witch's Path

by N. E. Conneely

  "Fall is beautiful around here." Though, it was the tail end of fall, and most of the trees had shed their leaves.

  After a few more pleasantries, Liam resumed talking to the other wolves. I listened while I chewed on my muffin. Most of their conversation was idle chatter but one wolf said, "How are you going to take over the pack now?"

  The rest of the men gave him a startled look, scooting their chairs away. Liam and Bobby studied him before Liam said, "I'm not sure what you're talking about. I'd need the council's approval before I could take over a pack. Hopefully, the run will clear the cobwebs out of your head."

  The wolf ducked his head, and eyes. Once the normal flow of conversation resumed, he ate until his food was gone, and then sat there, eyes downcast, unwilling to participate. Finishing my meal, I excused myself, saying polite goodbyes.

  Back in my apartment, I picked up my bags and headed to my car. I needed all my supplies if I was going to look at the home of the person who created Ty. On the drive to Ellijay, I mulled over the wolf's comment. The only pack I could think of that was primed for a change in leadership was the pack run by Adder.

  Liam was going to be in for a nasty fight if he challenged Adder. From what I'd heard, Adder was mean and dangerous when challenged. Even if he won the pack, it wasn't that easy to win-over the pack. He could end up with a bunch of angry, resentful werewolves on his hands. Though, I'd bet the pack would take the time to celebrate Adder's death before they turned on the new leader.

  I parked my car outside the Gilmer County Sheriff's Office and pushed the werewolves out of my head. There were bodies to examine, and if I was lucky I'd been wrong about evil being at work and I could assure my mother the suicides were nothing to worry about.

  I wasn't known for my luck.

  Westmoreland waved at me. I waved back, grabbed my gear, and hurried over.

  "Good morning, Michelle," Patrick said.

  "Morning. How are you?"

  "Good. Follow me. The medical examiner has the bodies pulled out for you. The room is yours as long as you need it."

  "Thank you. Are the bodies covered?" I didn't like working with dead people. I always ended up thinking about how they died, and how much pain they must have been in before death. It made me sad, and queasy.

  "Yes, as you requested. I'll be there to assist you with anything you need. Take a left." The hall dead ended into another one up ahead. Patrick motioned for me to follow him around the corner.

  "I'll find something for you to do. Bodies give me the creeps."

  "Then I'll stay. Maybe I'll learn something. Here we are." Patrick pushed open a door to a room with two deep sinks, gowns, and face masks. "You need a lab coat and mask."

  I picked through the piles, finding ones in my size. I even found a cover for my duffel. After we dressed, Patrick showed me through the door.

  I planted my feet, lurching forward when he bumped into me. There were seven bodies on tables and gurneys. "I thought there were only the four of them?"

  "I sent you the files for the four suspicious suicides. There have been ten deaths in the past month. We now consider all of them suspicious and have recovered all the bodies we could. One family wouldn't consent to an exhumation. Two of them have been cremated, and we have their ashes." He motioned to two jars sitting on a table on the other side of the room.

  "I don't know anything about the rest of these. Do you want me to test all of them?" Last I heard I was testing the bodies of the four suicides I'd reviewed.

  "I'll tell you what I can about the other cases, and I can give you the files later. How about starting with the four we talked about and working from there? The first one is over here." He pushed back the sheet to show an arm and side covered in bruises.

  "Car crash?"

  "Yes."

  I set my bag on the ground and rolled over a tray stand, complete with tray. I pulled a jar full of Energy Strips out of my bag, opened it, and set it on the tray. A large glass bottle, and a jar of Sorc-O-Meters joined the Energy Strips.

  Energy Strips resembled litmus paper. They were thin strips of white cloth spelled to detect residual energy on whatever they were touching. The strips had to be stored in a special container to prevent contamination. Most people didn't like to use them because they were subjective. Each one gave a slightly different reading, and it made it difficult to determine how much energy was present. In this case it didn't matter. I was looking for extreme energy shifts.

  Sorc-O-Meters were spelled sticks with a piece of cloth on one end. They changed colors when they contacted energy that would be associated with a sorcerer.

  "What size gloves do you wear?" Patrick asked.

  "Small."

  He set a box on the tray. I wiggled my fingers as I slid them on. They were nice and snug, with no extra material to get in my way.

  Taking a deep breath to ready my nerves, I picked up a Sorc-O-Meter and rubbed in on the body. Patrick watched me watch the cloth. When a minute had ticked by and it was still white I sighed, and stuck it in the glass bottle.

  "Was that good or bad?" He asked.

  "Sorry. I should explain what I'm doing. That was a Sorc-O-Meter, it turns purple when it touches something that was tainted by sorcery."

  "No sorcerer is good."

  "Very good." So very good; I didn't want to see another one. I picked up an Energy Strip, and showed it to Patrick. "Have you ever used litmus paper to test pH? How acidic or basic a liquid is?"

  "Sure. We did it in school."

  "This will do a similar thing, but with good to evil energy. If it stays white, it's good energy. The closer to black it turns, the worse the energy." He nodded.

  I moved away from where I'd rubbed the Sorc-O-Meter, and set the strip on his arm—the body. I had to think of it as a body. If I thought of it any other way, I wouldn't be able to do this.

  The strip slowly faded to a charcoal gray.

  "Narzel fart," I swore.

  Patrick said a few choice words of his own.

  "Let's test the other bodies." He covered the body while I rolled the tray to the next table. I repeated the process with the same result.

  We uttered several more nasty words.

  When the third body yielded the same results we didn't bother to curse.

  At the seventh body my eyes crossed with rage. All these people were dead because something was a sick, greedy monster.

  Breathing deeply, I counted to one hundred. It didn't help enough.

  "I don't see a point in testing the ashes," I said through clenched teeth.

  Patrick's shoulders sagged. "Me either. Are you done? I want to get out of here."

  "Two minutes." I quickly capped and sealed the Energy Strips, Sorc-O-Meters, and the glass bottle. Once they were safely stowed in my bag, I marched to the exit, stripping off the gloves, lab coat, and glasses.

  "Let's go to my office," Patrick said.

  We ended up sitting in his office, looking at each other, silence filling the space between us.

  "I have to get going. I have an appointment in Dahlonega."

  Patrick nodded, "I don't know what to say. I didn't expect good news, but I didn't think we'd see that."

  I hadn't been prepared either. Logically, I knew this was a possible outcome, but it wasn't one I expected. Finding seven people dead because an evil roamed the land was troubling.

  Looking at those people, not bodies but people, the dead people, had changed me because I wasn't afraid, or worried.

  I was angry.

  Those people had died because evil fed off suffering, fear, and death.

  "Michelle?"

  "Oh, uh, I didn't see that coming."

  "I guess I should tell the captain."

  "He should know," I said slowly.

  "What do we do? How do we protect ourselves?" His voice was loud and thin.

  I shook myself out of my thoughts and studied him. "Tell your captain what we found. Then you tell him being in groups is better than being alone. I'l
l do some research and we can work out our next move."

  "Will you keep working with us if we are facing evil?" Patrick said the word like it was foreign. In many ways it was. There were plenty of bad things in the world, but this was different. This affected things in ways few evils could.

  "Yes." I held his gaze. "I'll keep working with you."

  "What if…our budget…"

  "We will figure it out. I will stand with you." He gave me a tight nod. "I'm sorry to dump this on you and run, but if I don't leave now, I'll be late."

  "Okay."

  Walking out, my steps were more determined, if lacking the satisfying crack of high heels. I would stand with the police, because I couldn't look at bodies knowing they were people that I'd abandoned. I would stand with the police because evil shouldn't be allowed to ruin lives. I'd stand with them because I didn't know another witch who would, and they would need magic. They would need my magic.

  *******

  I waddled into the Sheriff's office, a duffel over each shoulder and one in my left hand. It was a good thing I didn't have anything in my right hand because the guys were listening to a brief and didn't see me at the door. Huffing, I made it to an empty desk in the back of the room and unloaded. Pushing through the crowd didn't interest me, so I made myself comfortable on top of the desk.

  A wall of officers blocked my view of the speaker, but there was a short pause followed by Hal's voice.

  "Michelle and I will approach the house with Grady, Nell, and Jacks for back up. The rest of you will stay back, cars pointed at the exit. When you hear 'green light' from us, you'll attend to your assigned duties, guarding the perimeter or investigating the house. If you hear anything else, get out of dodge. Remember, green light means there is no imminent danger. Considering what we think came out of that house, it's the best we can do.

  "The five of us will check the property in stages; keep track of where we are and how that affects your duties. If at any point you think you need magic, you radio us. Don't be afraid to call us over. In fact, if your eyebrow twitches, or your toe itches, call us." No one moved as the officers realized what could be in a house that spawned the king of dinosaurs. "Any questions?"

  "Yah," a deep voice came from the other side of the room. "Where's the witch?"

  I stayed on the desk, ankles crossed, wand in my hand. I didn't even raise my voice when I said, "Here."

  The entire room swiveled to look at me, a mixture of surprise and relief on their faces.

  "Good, you're here," Hal said. "Time to go. We leave in ten minutes."

  The crowd dispersed, mainly to the restrooms.

  "Good timing, I might've had a riot without you."

  "I try. When are you going to tell me the plan?" I asked.

  "In the car. Are you ready?"

  "Give me five. I need use the bathroom. Are we taking your cruiser?" He nodded. "I'll meet you there if you take my bags."

  "Sure. Everything else is loaded. Nell will be driving." He waved her over, "And she'll help me load the car."

  "Thanks." I slipped around the corner to a seldom used women's bathroom. Sure enough, it was empty.

  While I was washing my hands, the face in the mirror caught my attention. There was a set to my mouth, with the edges pinched, and a wrinkle in my brow that changed me. My face wasn't that of a carefree girl anymore. It was a face that had seen bad things, and knew there were worse things to come.

  I walked out of the bathroom. No good would come from ruminations. Regardless of what tugged at me, wanting attention, all that mattered right now was that house.

  Hal and Nell were already in the car. I slid in the back, more than happy to be next to my gear.

  "Hi, Nell, thanks for driving."

  She grinned at me in the rearview mirror. "Wouldn't miss this. It's the most excitement the town's had since the gold rush of '29."

  By that, she meant the gold rush of 1829.

  We were saved from having to think of a response when she revved the engine and shot out of the parking lot. Hal twisted around, "How much of the meeting did you catch?"

  "I'm not sure. From what I heard the plan is that Nell, Grady, Jacks, you, and I check everything and then the rest of the force comes in behind us."

  "That's the idea. What do you think?"

  I thought I should be rescuing Amber, but that wasn't the issue right now. "I don't have a better plan. I can place protection spells on us, and you and I can sniff out any magic."

  "Any thoughts, Nell?" Hal asked.

  "Dibs on the next dino."

  Hal was laughing so hard the seat belt was the only thing keeping him upright. I giggled, "Nope, I already claimed the next one. Ty needs a friend."

  "Joint custody over both of them?" Nell countered.

  "Good luck talking Ty into that," I snorted.

  "He is attached to you. We'll flip for it."

  "Done."

  We were still laughing when my phone rang.

  "Oaks Consulting, this is Michelle."

  "Hey, it's Jones."

  "What happened now?" I rubbed my temples. The last thing I needed was another emergency.

  "You're in luck. I can help you this time. I've got a flock of Gargoyles out here. It looks like they're asleep for the day. Can you come up this afternoon and talk to them when they wake up? I know you were looking for a flock."

  "I can be there early evening, four-thirtyish."

  "Great. I'll meet you in my office."

  "See you then," I said before I hung up the phone.

  "Is everything okay?" Hal asked.

  "That was good news. Actual, honest to god, good news. A flock of gargoyles is resting for the day in Forsyth. Since Ellijay would like to have a flock of gargoyles, I'm going to talk to them."

  Hal nodded. Nell seemed to be ignoring us. We turned off the main road when I was on the phone, and even though this was a well maintained paved road, she was going slow. When the car turned, I thought we were pulling off to park, but what looked like a thin spot on the tress was actually a narrow gravel road. It widened enough in a few spots to allow one car to stop while the other one passed. At the third passing area, Nell turned the car around, and backed it in the direction we'd been traveling, leaving room for other cars to turn around, but blocking access to the house.

  Behind us another car repeated the process, parking their car two feet from the nose of ours. Nell and Hal got out to talk with the other officer, but I stayed in the car, fitting packets of herbs, and bottles of oil on a belt I'd made. I'd tried the idea when dealing with the trolls, and refined it into my version of a police belt.

  Getting out of the car, I secured the belt to my hips and made sure it was both comfortable and firmly attached. I double checked the fastening on the wrist sheath on my left arm, snapped my wand in place, and headed over to the group of officers around Hal.

  Grady had a bow in his hands, a quiver on his back, and a .45 strapped to his leg. Nell had a knife hilt poking over each shoulder, and a collection of smaller knives in her vest. When she turned around I got a look at the short swords on her back. Like Grady, she was mixing modern and traditional weaponry, with a 9mm on one hip and extra magazines on her other side.

  I hadn't met Jacks before, but I figured he was the coyote in the police vest. Werecoyotes were resistant to magic. Placing the protection spells on him would be difficult, but it would be harder for other magic to affect him too. Considering what we were about to do, it was a worthwhile tradeoff.

  Compared to the rest of us, Hal looked very human. His wand was in a wrist sheath like mine, but he had the traditional police gear; gun, cuffs, radio, baton, taser, and OC spray.

  "I don't think the two of you have met. Michelle, Jacks. Jacks, Michelle," Hal rushed through the introductions. The werecoyote and I nodded at each other while he continued, "Unless someone has an objection, Michelle with lay protections spells on us, and we will slowly approach the house. It's about a quarter of a mile down the road. As we deter
mine that areas are not immediately hazardous, we will communicate that to the rest of the officers, who will hold the area."

  "I can't guarantee that any of this will be clear, you do realize that?" I could walk every inch of the ground, looking for spells, and not find one because it only targets shifter, or human, or giants. There were hundreds of reasons I could miss a booby trap.

  "We know. That's why there are five of us. Between the shifter, elf, human, human with magic, and witch, we should be able to vouch for some amount of safety," Hal answered.

  That wasn't particularly reassuring since that logic had more holes than Swiss cheese.

  "Michelle," Nell said, "We have little illusion of safety. We stand between the danger and citizens."

  I nodded, unwilling to comment. When she put it like that, our job descriptions were remarkably similar. When Hal resumed talking, I shoved the thought to the back of my mind. I'd think about it later.

  "Can you spell us?"

  "Sure."

  Palming my wand, I stepped in front of Hal. I gently brushed his vest with the wand, tracing the rune, and pushing power into it. As I finished drawing, I whispered, "Kannu." The words sealed the spell, separating it from my power. It would hold until it exhausted the energy used to create the spell.

  Repeating the procedure on Nell and Grady was easy enough. Coming face to face with Jacks, I tried to remember what I'd learned about werecoyotes and magic.

  "Can you do anything to be more receptive to magic?"

  Jacks tucked his nose under a forearm, covering his eyes. I took that to mean 'no.'

  Squatting down, I said, "I didn't want to do it this way, but stick out your tongue."

  He rolled his eyes, but let his tongue slip out the side of his snout. This hadn't been my first choice, but they were more susceptible to magic introduced internally. His mouth was as close as either one of us would want to come to internal.

  I tried not to wrinkle my nose at the slobber accumulating on the tip of my wand. Jacks was cross-eyed with the effort to see what I was doing, and his nails were digging into the dirt in an effort to stay still.

  As my wand moved across his tongue, it became harder and harder to push the energy into the spell. Finishing the rune I wheezed, "Kannu," for the last time. The spell wobbled for a moment, but snapped into place.