by Louisa Lo
“So, you’re going to let me help?” Candy asked.
There was something in her voice that was just a touch too eager. “Er, does your mom know you’re here?”
Due to Candy’s witch nature, her mom was never too straight about bedtime. And she’d done a sleepover with me once before when her younger brother got sick and required her mom’s full attention. But still, if the little girl hadn’t lured me with all that talk of help, I would’ve asked if she got her mama’s permission to be here right away.
She pouted. “What does it matter?”
Uh-oh. “You sneaked out, didn’t you? Candy, what were you thinking?”
Due to the potential danger of her being feasted on, Candy’s mom and Mel generally guarded over her quite zealously. And then there was Gregory, the self-designated big brother, who was even more protective than them.
Candy bit her lips and cast her eyes downward.
I sat down on the edge of the bed next to Candy, and in a softer voice, asked, “What happened, kiddo?”
Candy’s fingers pulled at the purple and black hair of her zombie doll. “Tonight Mel was going to show me how to astral.”
“That’s awesome!” I whistled. It must be a big step for Mel to be teaching her astral projection, an act that could potentially put her energy signature on the map, so to speak, if they weren’t careful, “Wait, did you say ‘was going to’?”
Her fingers fisted around the polyester hair, Candy sniffled. “Gregory wouldn’t let him. He was being a jerk.”
So Mel thought Candy was ready, but Gregory didn’t. Since Mel wasn’t the reckless type, I would have to assume that Gregory was being overly cautious. Or not. We were living in a dangerous world. I shuddered as I remembered the succubus queens that, up to a few months ago, I never even knew existed.
“I’m sure he’ll turn around.” I tried to sound neutral. The business of guarding Candy was a tough call—held too tight, and it would undermine the young witch’s confidence, not to mention hurt her feelings; held not tight enough, and she became an energy snack bar.
“I told him I’d be careful,” Candy said. “He wouldn’t listen.”
“You being here won’t exactly convince him,” I pointed out.
“I hate you.” Candy glared at me, finding a new target for her frustration.
“No, you don’t.” I shook my head and ruffled her hair. “Come on, let me call Gregory and he’ll come take you home.”
“No, not until I get you into the Internet.” Candy’s little shoulders were set.
“Why is it so important?” I asked suspiciously.
“Because it’ll prove to them I can handle it.”
“But what if you can’t?” The last thing I wanted to do was put her in danger. Mel would kill me, and Candy’s mom, too. Not to mention Gregory. And most likely not in that order.
“Yes, I can. And I won’t go into the net myself. You will. Let me show you,” she coerced. “Come on, you want to find your gran, right?”
Damn. That little kid tempted me even more so than Lucifer. With Lucifer I had no idea what he could offer, let alone what he wanted in return, but Candy’s offer was specific, and her intention sincere if a bit pride-motivated.
I glanced at the clock. The witching hour was between midnight and 2 a.m. It was now just half an hour before it started.
Without waiting for my answer—or confident in my inability to turn down her offer—Candy took out a small laptop with a bright green exterior and colorful, large keys. It almost looked like one of those Leap Frog learning toys for young children, but I wasn’t fooled—that little machine had speed and memory that was essentially espionage-grade, and it was operated by the world’s youngest and cutest witch-slash-hacker.
Candy’s fingers flew over the keyboard in a blur, then she turned the machine over and showed me the screen. I didn’t even bother to hide my eagerness as I leaned forward.
There was a picture of Grandma in a grey designer suit, standing with her arms crossed, in what looked like a profile in an official-looking website. Then I read what the domain name was.
“Wait, there’s an official site for the Aequitas family?” My jaw sagged.
“Yes. Encrypted for supernaturals only,” Candy confirmed.
Well, they sure didn’t tell me about it. I guess the hybrid-mercenary black sheep of the family wouldn’t be featured on such a site.
I clicked around and did a cursory scan of Grandma’s profile. There was no mention of her being missing, just a contact email address that obviously got directed to the main server. Who knew if anyone really checked that? Maybe not for months.
“Okay, now what?” I asked. I didn’t see anything that would help me get into the Internet. There was a veil separating the living and the virtual world, making me only able to surf the net, not enter it. And no, breaking the screen wouldn’t help, either. Believe me, I tried that in the early days of Grandma’s disappearance.
“Now we wait until midnight, then we write her an email.”
“An email?” I echoed incredulously. How would that accomplish anything?
“You can even do the typing,” Candy offered. “See, I’m not putting myself in danger.”
“What danger?” I rose my eyebrow. “It’s just an email.”
“No, it’s more. It’s a way into the net,” Candy corrected. “I already put my witch power into the laptop. It’s all set to go. When you press ‘send,’ you’ll piggyback ride on the email. Straight into the web.”
“That’s it? That’s the way in?” It sounded too easy. If so, why would Esme and her mom spend months searching? As a matter of fact, it looked like even Mel could’ve help me out a long time ago. Granted, none of them had the witching-hour angle, but still.
Candy bit her lips. “I think so.”
The slight hesitation in her voice gave me pause. ”Whatever happened to your confidence earlier?”
“I’ve never done it before, so I’m not a hundred percent sure. But I’m pretty sure.”
“Okay, let’s say I really could get in, and by some miracle find Grandma, how do we even get back home?”
Candy’s face brightened. “That’s easy. The email will be your anchor. When you’re ready to come back, just think the word ‘reply.’ It’ll generate another email that will take you back here.”
“So let me get this straight.” I put up a hand. “You’re more sure about getting me out than getting me in?”
“Yes,” Candy admitted. “So the risk is low, right?”
She had a point. The worst thing that could happen was me failing to get in at all. Or at least so I hoped. For all I knew, I could end up stuck in some in-between places and be lost forever. And there was the fact that I had no idea what to do to actually search for Grandma once I got there.
“Let me talk to my sister, if you don’t want me to ask Mel,” I told Candy.
“You can’t,” she stated.
“Look, I understand how you feel when it comes to Mel, but Esme is okay—”
“—no, you really can’t,” Candy emphasized. “My witch power is only strong enough to break the veil once every month, and tonight is the night.”
The clock showed it was now only a few minutes away from midnight. I glared at Candy. “How convenient. And you’re only telling me this now why?”
She wouldn’t look me in the eye.
“You’re hoping that I won’t want to wait another month just to get the other people involved, do you?”
And she would be right. Another month of waiting helplessly for Gran would be torture.
“No Mel. No Rullies.” Candy set her lips into a stubborn line.
Rullies was a mercenary term for professionally licensed vengeance demons, mocking them being sticklers for rules. If Candy was telling the truth about only being powerful enough tonight, then there really wasn’t enough time to call Esme here, explain everything, and get her support for this crazy plan. My meticulous half-sister always made sure
all the i’s were dotted and the t’s were crossed. By the time she deemed the venture worthy, the window of opportunity would be over.
Misgivings warred with the irrepressible ray of hope that was blossoming in my heart.
Just a peek. I’ll just get there and come right back. You know, like a recon mission. Afterward, I’ll find a way to duplicate what Candy did with Esme.
Maybe it was the relative attractiveness of Candy’s offer compared to Lucifer’s. Maybe I just got sick and tired of sitting back and letting others handle the matter, but at the stroke of midnight I found my index finger on the touch pad of the laptop, pressing down on an arrow on the screen that would send a simple email titled “Hi.” Just as Candy had claimed, she’d already put her witch power into the laptop, which carried the signature of scented bubblegum and orange-flavored popsicles.
Instantly I felt my spirit drawing toward the screen, leaving my body behind. I was weightless, and time ceased to exist. I could “see” the email racing toward the Internet in slow motion, and I hopped on it as if it was a magic carpet and I was Aladdin.
Yet I was going forward, but not at the same time. Something was stopping me from fully leaving my corporeal body behind. It was like there was a barrier of Jello between me and my designation. Everything turned sluggish, and the sound was muted.
Then my spirit slammed right back into my body, hard, and a blast of energy from the direction of the screen sent me flying in the air and I hit the wall behind me three feet above the ground. I slid down onto the floor unceremoniously.
A sly voice spoke, its coldness slithering on the surface of my skin, “Where is shhhhhe?”
Misty fingers filled my bedroom, sending its temperature plunging. My heart rate, instead of speeding up in the face of this invisible threat, slowed down while my muscles relaxed, my power being drained out of me and poured into the unnatural mist.
I tried to pick myself up off the floor, but I couldn’t get my body to move more than a few inches, and that was with crawling. I glanced around frantically for Candy, afraid that she was the one the voice was seeking. It would fit with the energy-sucking nature of the misty fingers.
My fear was confirmed when I looked up and saw her being held up by the waist in midair, imprisoned by the misty fingers which grew and merged into a thick vertical tree trunk. She screamed, her short chubby legs kicked out in futility. Streams of energy were being pulled out of her and into the mist. The menacing entity must’ve prevented sounds to escape from this room, or else Rosemary would have come running by now. I was grateful not to have my very human roommate dragged into this.
The little girl’s earlier words rang in my ears. I already put my witch power into the laptop. It’s all set to go.
Oh hell, was that how the unknown nemesis tracked her here? Was the online access like a back door of sorts, overriding the safeguard placed around my house? Could it be that not only was I unable to get into the net, I’d drawn a monster out of it? What the hell had I done?
Monsters had come for Candy, and it was all my fault. How was I going to fix this? And fix it I would have to. Not only because Gregory would have my head, but because I would never forgive myself if something happened to the little girl.
I inched toward the laptop. If only I could get a hold of it and smash it, maybe it would send the misty fingers back where they came from?
Candy continued to scream, but in a much weaker voice now that made it more of a whimper. I wasn’t doing so swell myself, my limbs felt like lead and my eyelids kept threatening to close on me. My bedroom continued to fog up, most likely a sign of increased power of our unseen enemy as Candy was being fed on.
The cold voice crackled in delight.
The door of my bedroom blasted open, and a familiar silhouette filled the doorway.
Gregory. With his wings fully extended.
I wanted to yell, or gesture, or do something that would alert him to target the laptop. But I needn’t try. He made a beeline there and sent the machine crashing onto the floor, breaking the screen right off. And no, it wasn’t the type that the screen could naturally come off. Then he wrapped the two parts in a spell that reduced the laptop to its microchip components.
The mist started to fade, and I felt better almost immediately. With a renewed burst of energy, I scrambled to get up. As Gregory casted some sort of spell to dispense the remaining mist, Candy no longer had anything holding her up and dropped to the floor. I rolled to her side and checked her over. The little girl looked shaken, but there was no physical damage from the fall. Thank Hades for the carpet.
After assuring myself that she was okay, I turned my attention back to Gregory.
The last of the mist regrouped and wrapped itself around Gregory’s waist, racing over and over his middle like an ever-tightening snake coil. Then it poured itself into his belt buckle. Upon the entry, Gregory doubled over as if someone had punched him.
Then it was his turn to drop to the floor.
Chapter Four
Guilt and Dreams
Sadly, I had a pretty good idea of what had just happened here.
Gregory’s belt buckle wasn’t just your run-of-the-mill fashion statement—it held a secret compartment that imprisoned a pair of succubus queens. Unlike their more common counterpart, who thrived on sexual energy, the queens prayed on pain and misery. Last time we encountered them, I was able to put them in a post-food coma of sorts when their bid to feed on my friend and I backfired. Gregory then miniaturized the cocoons they hibernated into and had been carrying them around his belt ever since.
It was a bit weird, having him basically having two women right around his middle at all times, but it couldn’t be helped. Despite discreetly consulting as many experts in the matter as we would dare to do so, we’d yet to figure out how to deal with the queens without unleashing them right back into the world. By keeping the queens close, we could ensure that they were still where we wanted them to be.
The kind of monsters that would suck on Candy’s energy would be related to the succubus queens in one form or another, and it was conceivable that once Gregory broke the web access to which they came from, the mist would be naturally drawn to its nearest brethren.
The question was, would they awaken the queens? If so, then we were talking about three enemies instead of one.
I rushed to Gregory. His limbs were flailing, and his skin took on a shade of greyish purple. I had no idea what to do for him.
“Let me,” Candy said. With the resilience of young children, she had made it to Gregory’s side and was now nudging me out of the way and had her hand hovering above Gregory’s belt buckle. Streams of energies, like the ones taken out of her earlier, were now returning to her. Once that process was finished, a single, tiny wisp of black smoke—must be all that was left of Candy’s attacker now that her power was taken away from it—snaked out of the compartment, then faded into nothing with an almost inaudible scream.
Nothing else came out of the belt buckle. Guess the queens must be still sleeping.
Gregory blinked his eyes and sat up, his gaze focused on Candy and checking every inch of her over. “Are you hurt?” he croaked.
Candy shook her head. Then Gregory was on his feet, glaring down at the two of us. We probably looked a little worse for wear, with sweat coating our foreheads and our bodies weak from the recent involuntary energy donation. And he wasn’t much better, thanks to us.
Well, thanks to me.
I blurted out the first thing that came into my mind. “How did you know to come here?”
Gregory bit out, “Mel. He foresaw the whole thing—just barely—and told me to come and destroy the laptop.”
“Oh.” I didn’t know what else to say. A lecture seemed to be coming, and I was never that good at listening to one of those. On the other hand, what happened was indeed my bad. I shouldn’t have listened to Candy. I didn’t intend to put her in danger, but I did.
Gregory’s voice was unexpectedly gentle wh
en he gestured us to sit down on my own bed. Given the circumstances I could hardly protest.
“There’s something Mel and I hadn’t told you.” Gregory looked at both Candy and I. “Precisely because we were afraid you’d try to find a way around it. But given what happened, you might as well know.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“Mel has always been an observer of the happenings on the Internet, as he is with the Cosmic Balance. There’s a reason why he only ever does the reading and monitoring. In order to access the Internet, and I mean physically enter and exit that realm, you need to master its two major components.”
“Two?” Candy echoed.
Gregory nodded. “One is Hardware and Facts, which allow someone to interpret information. The other is Lies and Illusions, which allow someone to create information. That’s why your action tonight failed—Candy has ever only learned how to do the first part from Mel because that’s all he could do. Not to mention, the percentage, intensity, and consequences of each component are different for every entry, and require precise calculations for safe passage.”
That explained a few things, like why Mel had never offered to help me locate Grandma. It wasn’t through a lack of willingness. It also made me realize, for the first time, how complicated a task Esme and her mother were doing. Nothing like a little appreciation that truly humbled a person.
Gregory brought himself to Candy’s eye level. “Enough excitement for a night, kid. Time to go home.”
Candy’s head lowered. “Sorry for all the trouble.” Then, just as quick, she lifted it. “But that just shows you we should be honest with each other. And you should trust me more.”
Gregory sighed. “Let’s talk about this tomorrow, all right? Mel and your ma are waiting and probably worried sick. Off you go.”
“What about you?” Candy asked.
“I’ll be by shortly, but I have to speak to Megan first.”
Uh-oh.
With a pout, Candy allowed Gregory to help her teleport home. My safeguard had by now tagged Candy as friend rather than foe, and the teleportation was allowed.