Finished. Fait. Vollständig. Consumado.
Was I sorry? No. She had it coming. Besides, she always said I had her temper.
I started back toward the car to radio help for the downed detectives. Just two steps in, however, a giant wave of water struck me, came out of nowhere and plowed me into the grassy ditch. As I struggled to my feet, I saw the tsunami wash out of the ditch and regenerate in the vague shape of a woman.
“Come on…. Really?”
In a shrewd and devious display of elemental manipulation, Gypsy had managed to reconstitute her vaporized bits, changing from wind to water without first changing back into a human. Judging from the size and strength of her new form, it appeared that April Raines, the water guardian, was herself a formidable witch with commanding powers over the essence she guarded.
“Gypsy, I know what you’re doing, but I don’t have what you’re looking for. I don’t possess the quintessential.”
The water witch started toward me. Low black clouds began forming above her, dropping rain on her head and feeding her growing form.
I inched backward. “Did you hear me? I said I don’t have the quintessential!”
But of course she couldn’t hear me. She had no ears, the bitch.
I continued backward. She continued forward. I remember thinking about the waves out on Gloucester Beach, how they broke apart on the jetty at low tide. How that Jonah crab would duck into the crevices between the rocks before the wave hit. Now I was that crab looking for a place to hide. I felt so vulnerable, standing in the middle of a grassy ditch, cold and naked.
Then I thought, wait. She’s just a tower of water. How could that hurt me? I stopped, spread my stance and placed my hands on my hips. The clouds had gathered considerably. Rain fell on both of us, though only she benefitted from it.
“I’m not afraid of you,” I told her. “I kicked your ass once before; I’ll kick it again. So, go ahead. Give it your best shot.”
There’s an old saying among witches. Don’t dare when you don’t care. You might get what you ask for.
I waited for her to crash down on top of me. No big deal, I figured. I could take it. Surfers do it all the time. But water’s a funny thing. It can move mountains and carve canyons. So, when she picked up a fallen tree and tossed it at me, I shouldn’t have been surprised.
Instincts took over then. I shape-shifted into a cat and ran behind the boulders, finding shelter in the crevices just like the Jonah crab.
Safe? Hardly.
Gypsy tried flushing me out by splashing down on top of the boulders. When that didn’t work, she reassumed human form and stepped back some twenty feet. I stuck my head out from between the rocks to see what she was up to; my eyes wide, canvassing the field beyond the trees, my ears pinned back, wet fur sticking to my skin like molasses.
I hate wet fur.
In an impressive display of her command over the elements, Gypsy balled up her fists, turned the heels of her palms to each other and bumped them together. A brilliant spark arced between them, spontaneously igniting a ball of fire that immediately turned her into a walking human torch.
The entire twilit sky blazed orange and red. Dancing shadows flickered among the trees and boulders. I assessed that my best chance to run had just presented itself, but it passed in an instant.
With a wave of her hand, Gypsy cast a ring of fire around the boulders. It shot from her fingers like a flamethrower, a spider web of napalm laid down in a rush of wind.
I could see her diabolical plan unfolding as she continued drawing ring after ring of fire, each one closer to the center than the last.
She intended to burn me out.
Suddenly, a coat of wet fur didn’t seem like such a bad thing. Yet even that could only protect me so much. I knew if I didn’t do something quickly, then my chances of getting out alive would simply evaporate. So I did the only thing a scared kitty could do. I dashed out from between the rocks, scampered through the fire and ran up a tree.
Okay, I didn’t say it was smart, but kitty instincts are tough to fight. Once up the tree, I considered my options. I could remain in my present form and hope Gypsy didn’t see me, which seemed probable since I didn’t think fire Gypsy had eyes. Conversely, I could change back into human form and try to reason with her. The down side to that was the fact I had no clothes on and the tree bark was already digging into the scorched pads of my feet. I couldn’t imagine what it would do to my bare bottom.
In the end, none of that mattered. Gypsy’s flame went out and she was again just another naked witch in the pasture. She started toward me, looking up into the tree as if unsure exactly where among the branches I was hiding. I scooted around the backside of the trunk and scampered higher. I thought I might even evade detection altogether, when she surprised me yet again.
“I know you’re up there, Lilith.” Her voice sounded raw, as if scorched by flames. “If you come down, I’ll make it easy on you.”
I thought I’d answer her with some wisecrack remark, but that would have meant changing back into human form. That’s exactly what she wanted.
I climbed higher.
“You want to know how I did it?” she asked. “How I vaporized those women?” She stood directly under the tree, looking up through the branches and the dark sky beyond. “You want to know how vapor resonance works?”
I stayed as motionless as possible, my claws digging into the tree like meat hooks. Nothing, I thought, could budge me from that spot. Then something stirred. A squirrel, its jittery moves arousing a dark and primal instinct deep within me. I wanted so badly to chase it, to catch that fluffy tail and tear it to shreds. I flinched, thought twice and then held my place with steadfast resolve, remaining stone-cold still.
“I used the witch’s key,” said Gypsy. “That’s how I did it. Ever wonder why the key has two little holes at each end? It’s a whistle. Did you know that?”
She came around the other side of the tree and positioned herself directly beneath me. She had me in her sights now, I knew it. A white kitty on a dark colored tree can only hide for so long.
“It won’t hurt much,” she said. “You can help by not fighting it. I find that the stronger witches put up such a fuss, you know, so don’t make this any harder on yourself than it need be. I mean you always were a difficult child, weren’t you, Lilith?”
She put the witch’s key to her lips and blew. I felt a silent but concentrated wave of sub-sonic energy rip through the atmosphere. It agitated every molecule of my being. Every muscle in my body, every fiber, even my teeth and bones burned with white-hot intensity.
I felt my claws dig deeper into the tree bark. My fur stood out on end. The squirrel on the branch beneath me, stiffened up like a stick and then disappeared before my eyes, vaporized in a miniscule swirl of ash and mist.
Then, just as suddenly as it began, it stopped. Gypsy had exhausted her breath. I saw her looking up into the tree, puzzled, perhaps wondering why it hadn’t work on me.
I wondered the same, and concluded that my elevation may have had something to do with it. It seemed possible that the whistle itself was not the actuating force behind the vaporization process. Instead, it only carried the necessary sub-sonic impulse required to initiate a chain reaction in hyper-energized particle waves, starting with the closest particle source available.
In my case, that was the squirrel. The poor bastard. Now, whether Gypsy had figured that out or simply decided to try again, I’ll never know. Just as she started blowing on the whistle again, I heard the siren.
I looked down the road and spotted a cruiser speeding toward us, its lights flashing, siren wailing. The interesting thing was how Gypsy reacted. She let the witch’s key fall on its chain around her neck. Then she turned herself into a black puma and dashed away across the open pasture.
The car skidded to a stop behind the Ipswich cruiser. Carlos hopped out and ran to Detective Pierce, who was still on the ground, unconscious. I heard Dominic on the radio calling
in a ten-double zero, officer down. Ursula had found McIntyre in the ditch across the road. He was still breathing, but also unconscious.
“Where’s Lilith?” I heard Carlos ask. “Lilith!”
Dominic and Ursula joined him in calling my name.
“Lilith!”
I didn’t want to try shape-shifting back into a human while still in the tree. So I started climbing down backward, paw-over-paw. About halfway there, Ursula shouted, “I see her!”
“Where?”
She grabbed Dominic by the hand and dragged him over to the tree. “There.” She pointed up. “Oh, Sister, do be sure of paw, lest thee fall.”
“The cat?” asked Dominic.
Carlos ran over and positioned himself beneath the tree, his broad hands reaching for me, awaiting my descent. Ursula hurried to the cruiser and returned with my clothes. As soon as I was within Carlos’ reach, he plucked me from the tree and tucked me tightly to his chest.
“I got ya, kiddo,” he cooed, scratching me behind the ear. “You’re safe now.”
“Look,” said Dominic. “Her paws are burned.”
“It’s just her fur. She’s alright.”
“Are you sure that’s even her? Why isn’t she changing back?”
At that point, I morphed back into a human, leaving Carlos cradling me in his arms.
“Because I’m naked, you ass! Now turn around.”
He did, and then Carlos set me down and did the same.
“Thy pants and top,” said Ursula, presenting me with my clothes in a bundled wad.
“Thanks.” I stepped into my jeans and pulled them up tight. “Man, I’m glad you guys got here when you did. I thought I was a goner for sure.”
I was just threading my arms through my shirtsleeves when Dominic turned around and asked, “What do you mean?”
I slapped him on the side of the head. “Did I say you could look?”
“Sorry.” He turned away again. “But you have to tell us what happened here.”
“What happened is Gypsy. She showed up and nearly killed all of us.”
“Gypsy did all this?”
I finished buttoning my shirt. “You can look now.” The two turned around. “Yes. Gypsy did this. She’s got some freakish powers now, I’m telling you.” I started across the road toward the cruiser. “Are the detectives all right?”
Carlos answered, “I think so. They both appear uninjured. What did she do, put a spell on them?”
“Hardly. She stunned the shit out of them.” I pointed at McIntyre. “She hit that one with the same kind of shockwave we saw in the video.”
“Well, they look like they’re starting to stir a little. You may want to be gone when they recover.”
The faint howl of sirens echoed over the hill. We could see red and blue lights from the Ipswich emergency vehicles approaching.
“Yeah, good idea,” I said. “I can get you caught up on the rest of what happened later.”
Dominic said, “Start on down the road toward New Castle. We’ll meet with the Ipswich officials, tell them this is what we found when we rolled up and then we’ll come get you.”
“That’ll work.” I turned and headed out just as the reach of the approaching headlights glistened off the slick pavement beyond.
Chapter 20
Carlos, Dominic and Ursula picked me up about a mile down the road, as planned. They informed me that Pierce and McIntyre were fine, but neither was talking about what really happened. Apparently, the truth was too bizarre to report to the paramedics.
“So, what are they saying?” I asked.
Dominic replied, “They’re saying they got out of the car to move a cow off the road when they were both struck by lightning, which is what also started the fire.”
“And about me?”
“You’re a fugitive now,” said Carlos. “Pierce and McIntyre said that when the lightning struck them down, you saw your chance to escape and took it.”
“Those bastards! I wouldn’t do that and leave them lying in a ditch.”
“Let it go, Lilith. They know what really happened. I’m sure they don’t blame you.”
“Will they come back for me?”
Dominic answered, “I don’t think so.”
“Why not?”
He shrugged. “Honestly? They’re afraid of you.”
“Oh?” I looked at Ursula. She smiled and winked. “Finally,” I said. “Someone takes me seriously.”
“I take thee serious,” she said.
“I know, dear, but you’re the exception.”
I sat back and gazed out the window, my thoughts lost in a night sky, clear of the storm clouds that had crowded over the cow pastures of Ipswich. I hoped for some quiet time to gather my thoughts on everything that happened, but with four of us in the car, I knew that was impossible.
“Hungry,” said Carlos.
“Not very,” I said.
He laughed. “I wasn’t asking. I’m telling you I’m hungry.” He turned to Dominic, who was driving. “Think we can stop for a bite?”
“I guess. Anyone object?”
No one did. With Carlos, it’s usually best to feed the beast than to poke it with a stick, which is what you do when you deny him food.
We stopped at a Denny’s just outside New Castle. There, I filled the others in on what had happened out in the cow pasture. They listened intently, feeding their faces while I did all the talking.
“And that’s when you guys pulled up,” I said, finishing my colorful narrative.
Dominic said. “Wow. Did your mother really turn into a cow?”
“Yes, she did. Why, is there a joke in there somewhere? A mother-daughter punch line maybe.”
“No, I’m just saying. You tell us that she can turn herself into anything she wants to now, fire, wind, water, and instead, to stop the cruiser, she turns herself into a cow. Just seems funny, is all.”
“Well there was nothing funny about the way she tried to kill me.”
Carlos said, “Tell us about that again. You say she used a witch’s key?”
“Yeah, it’s the craziest thing. The key has holes in it that act as a sonic wave whistle when you blow into it. I’ve always known about the holes. Figured they were there for a reason. I just didn’t know what.”
“Can’t imagine that’s their original purpose,” Dominic surmised.
“Probably not, but like I said, I never knew.” I looked to Ursula. “Did you know about those holes?”
“Of course,” she said. “As a child, I would blow into them to summon spirits.”
“Ghosts?” said Carlos.
“Aye. `Tis a curious spirit what answers the call of a child and her whistle.”
“That’s strange,” I said. “I’ve blown into the holes before. Nothing ever happened.”
“As a child?”
“No, not as a child. I wasn’t allowed to play with the key then.”
“So is the reason. `Tis a child’s thing this breath what tweaks the spirits curiosity.”
“What, ghosts don’t trust adult witches?”
She shook her head. “What good cometh from a witch whose deeds doth call on spirits.”
“I suppose.”
“That brings up a good point,” said Dominic. “Lilith, didn’t you get your witch’s key from your mother?”
“That’s right. Like Ursula’s key, it’s handed down through generations of female witches.”
“So Gypsy gave you yours?”
“Yeah, on my first eighteenth birthday.”
“But you lost it coming back from the Eighth Sphere.”
“I did,” I said, suddenly understanding where he was going with his line of questioning.
“So then, whose key does Gypsy have?”
“Good question.” I pulled my cell phone out and cued up the video I took of Gypsy assaulting April Raines in her bathroom. “There.” I paused it with the best visual of the key I could get. “You know….”
“What?”
I turned the screen toward Ursula. “That’s not our family’s key, is it Urs?”
“`Tis not for sure.” She shook her head at it. “Though I have seen this key before, methinks.”
“Where?”
“I cannot say.”
Carlos said, “May I see it.” I handed him the phone. He held it close to his face, squinting hard as if thinking he might actually identify its origin.
“Are you done?” I asked, after only a few moments. I stretched my arm across the table and coaxed him with twitching fingers to put it back into my hand.
“No wait. I know this.”
“You know what, Carlos?”
“That pentagram on the key. It’s different.”
“I know it’s different. That’s how I know it’s not my family key.”
“No, I mean I’ve seen it before. It’s familiar.”
“Sure. You’ve seen that pentagram before.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“That’s just it. I don’t…. Wait! I do remember. I know where I’ve see it now.”
“So tell us.”
He smiled. “On Paige Turner’s ceiling.”
“What!” I snatched the phone from his hand. “Let me see that. I don’t believe it. He’s right.” I showed it to Ursula. “That’s it. Isn’t it? That’s the same pentagram as the one on Paige’s ceiling.”
“`Tis indeed, Sister. I know for the loops where the points should be.”
“What does this mean?” asked Dominic.
“It means Paige is working for Gypsy. She told me that story about the prophecy to lure me out into the open.”
“But why?”
“They think I have the quintessential. Gypsy wants it, and for whatever reason, Paige is helping her.”
“Maybe they’re old friends,” Carlos suggested.
“I can believe that. They’ve both been around longer than dirt.”
“Do you suppose Gypsy’s the mystery driver of the Escalade?”
“Possibly.”
09 - Return Of The Witch Page 18