At first, everything seemed fine. Imagining it was a balloon, Ursula was able to lift the shed by simply pointing to it and elevating it some eight or nine feet into the air. Dominic could not have been prouder.
“That’s it!” he said. “You did it! Wasn’t that easy?”
“Yes!” she said, and she clapped her hands excitedly. The shed, still under her control, imploded, crushed on all six sides into a box smaller than an ice cube. It dropped to the ground and sunk several inches in the dirt.
“My shed!” I splayed my arms to encompass the loss. “Are you happy, Dominic? Are you happy now?”
“Relax. You can get another shed.”
“No. You can get me another shed.”
“It’s not my fault. If you didn’t—”
“If I didn’t what? Take her to the Eighth Sphere so that she—”
“ENOUGH!” cried Ursula. “I will get thee thy shed back.”
She balled her fist up and opened it quickly, as if casting water off the tips of her fingers. The shed instantly reformed, proportioned as it was in perfect condition, completely intact.
“Now that’s a neat trick,” I said. “Ursula, could you do it again if you had to?”
“I cannot say,” she admitted. “I know not what I did this time.”
Dominic said, “It was too spontaneous. She did it to stop us from bickering.”
“That’s all right. At least we know she can do some phenomenal things. In the heat of battle, her instincts may be all we need to defeat Gypsy.”
“Instincts is good,” Carlos said, “but I’d feel better if we had a plan.”
“I have a plan, and with a bit of luck, we may not need any magick at all.”
“And without luck?”
“Without luck, we’re going to need everything to work seamlessly.”
“So, what’s the plan?”
“Not yet. I want to see if she can go tit-for-tat with Gypsy on less tactile things first.”
“Like what?”
“Like demonstrating certain aptitudes of the prime essentials. We know that Gypsy can already do that. Ursula visited the points of acquisitions, that is, the places where Gypsy vaporized the four guardians. Through residual contact, she’s already facilitated instances of paranormal manifestations there. I want to see if that relationship transcends proximity where the quintessential is concerned.”
“You mean you want to see if she can manifest the effects of the prime essentials at will.”
“Wow.” I looked at Dominic. “What did he do, take a smart pill?” Dominic only smiled. “Yes, Carlos. I want to see if she can express traits of the prime elements in her magick.”
“What is first?” asked Ursula. “Doth thou wish I should turn calm skies to gray?”
“You think you can? I mean, we’re not talking anything super big now. A simple rain cloud or baby dust devil will do, just to show you got it.”
“So be it.”
I stepped back to let Ursula do her thing. The fact she volunteered, led me to believe she could do great things, so my level of anticipation was high. The look on my face must have told Carlos and Dominic something as well. Both took their cue from me and eased back a full fifteen feet.
With no other preparation, Ursula placed her left hand across her chest and held her right hand in the air, index finger pointing skyward. She looked up at her finger and began twirling it counterclockwise, slowly at first, but soon very quickly. In no time, a tiny funnel-shaped column of spiraling wind appeared, dancing on the tip of her finger like a cobra swaying to the hypnotic notes of an Indian flute. It stood only a foot or so tall, gray and white with jet-black wisps streaking through it.
I assumed it would grow to some degree where she would then release it, allowing it to take on a life of its own.
That’s not what happened.
Instead, the twister began, for lack of a better description, eating Ursula.
It started by enveloping her hand, though it didn’t just wrap around it, as I swear I saw her fingers and thumb sucked up within the swirling mix. She and the twister were dissolving into one. It consumed her hand and then the rest of her arm all the way to her shoulder. It didn’t seem to alarm her; in fact, her smile told me she rather enjoyed it. Dominic was not so agreeable.
“I don’t like this,” he said to me. “Make her stop.”
I shook my head. “I can’t, Dominic. She’s in control, not me.”
We watched as the growing tempest continued its slide, swallowing her head and both shoulders, and eventually her torso down to the narrowest part of her belly just above her hips. At that point, it stopped growing, leaving us with essentially a tornado with legs.
“Wow,” said Carlos. “Now that’s something you don’t see every day.”
Dominic, obviously sensing something wrong, said to me, “What’s happening, Lilith?”
I gestured a wave to down play my concerns and told them both to stay back. “She’s got this. Don’t worry. Give her a moment to figure it out.”
So we gave her a moment, and then another. Nothing changed. If anything, it got worse, as Ursula, perhaps realizing she had lost control over the situation began stumbling blindly around the yard. At first, her meandering proved harmless, one step this way, another that way, not unlike the aimless staggering of a drunken sailor.
Yet the minute she bumped into the grill, sucked it up into her vortex and shot it out over the roof into the street, I knew we were in trouble.
“Now what?” Carlos hollered, for the noise of rushing wind had grown considerably louder.
We had all backed away as far as we could by then. The funnel stemming from Ursula’s waist reached treetop height, and now seemed to control her movements more than she controlled it.
“I don’t know.” I yelled back. “This is all new territory for me.”
“Maybe you can blast it with a zip ball.”
“NO! No zip balls,” Dominic cried. “Absolutely not. That could kill her.”
“He’s right. I can’t do anything to jeopardize her safety.”
“Looks like she’s already a little jeopardized to me.”
“Carlos! Shut up! Let me think.”
“I was just s—”
I cut him down quick with just a glance.
I thought of tying a rope around her ankles and strapping her to something firmly grounded, like a tree, but even that had its risks. If the twister grew large enough, it could snap Ursula in two, leaving her bottom half anchored down while her top half flew off and terrorized the neighborhood.
Just when things seemed hopeless, Carlos pointed up over the house and shouted, “Hey, what’s that?”
Dominic and I turned in time to see a blazing white light screeching across the sky, heading straight toward us. It entered the yard and circled at treetop level several times, buzzing the funnel cloud, almost as if checking it out.
I didn’t know what to do, so I froze. Carlos drew his Glock and took aim. “You want me to shoot it?”
“No, don’t,” I told him. “It won’t help. That thing’s a ball of pure energy.”
Before I could suggest an alternative course of action, the comet zipped one last time across the yard and slammed into Ursula head on. The impact sheered the top half of the twister clear off, which scared the three of us senseless.
“Ursula!” Dominic shouted. He started running toward her. Carlos reached out to grab the back of the collar, but missed. Then something remarkable happened.
The ball, this glowing sphere of white-hot light about the size of a basketball, positioned itself directly on top of what remained of the twister and began to drop. As it sank, squelching the spiraling winds from the top down, Ursula’s body began a miraculous reformation from the hips up. The amazing process culminated with the ball of energy filling Ursula’s head just as it formed upon her shoulders.
In the silence left by the absence of wind, Ursula rocked her head back, rolled her eyes up in their socke
ts and collapsed into Dominic’s arms. Carlos and I ran to them and the three of us helped her to the ground.
“What’s happened to her?” asked Dominic, his voice bleeding with worry. “She’s not going to die, is she?”
“No, she’s fine,” I answered, though I was purely guessing. “She’s dizzy, is all.”
“She’s coming around,” said Carlos. He dropped to his knees. “Ursula! Can you hear me?” He slapped the side of her cheek. “Ursula?”
Dominic snapped, “Don’t hit her!”
“What? I’m waking her up.”
“You’re slapping her around!”
“That’s how you do it.”
“No it isn’t. You’re supposed to shake her.”
Carlos began shaking her.
“Hey! What are you doing?” Dominic palmed Carlos’ chest and shoved him back. “Don’t shake her like that.”
“You said to shake her.”
“I didn’t mean like that.”
“Guys!” I shoved them both back. “Give her some air. She’s coming around.”
Ursula squirmed and moaned as if awakening from a bad dream. She tried pushing us away after opening her eyes and seeing us huddled around her. Dominic steadied her face in his hands until she recognized him. She looked at me next and then Carlos. A smile came to her slowly.
“Did ye see me fly?” she asked. “Was I not so high?”
“We saw you,” Dominic said, choking back tears. “You were marvelous. Do you want to try and stand now?”
“Am I not standing already?”
“Ho-boy,” I said. “She’s more lightheaded than I thought. Come on. Let’s get her into a chair.”
Carlos hoisted her petite frame up and set her in a chaise longue closer to the house. As she sat there smiling, clinging to the armrests to slow the spin in her head, the rest of us pulled up chairs around her and tried making sense of what had just happened.
“That obviously wasn’t Gypsy,” Dominic remarked, referring to the comet.
“Ya think?” I said, only it came out sounding more sarcastic than I intended.
Carlos asked, “If it wasn’t Gypsy, what was it?”
I thought about it for all of two seconds before the only possible answer came to me. “It was Wendy.”
“Of course, it was windy. It was a tornado.”
“No, Carlos. Wendy Skye.”
Dominic caught on to my meaning immediately. “You think that was her spirit?”
I nodded. “I think so.”
“Wait.” Carlos was scratching his head. “I’m totally lost. What are you talking about?”
“Dominic, would you like the honors?”
He didn’t hesitate. “Carlos, that ball of light was Wendy Skye’s spirit, or rather her essence.”
“Same thing,” I said.
“After Ursula tried turning herself into pure wind, and failed, Wendy came to her rescue. The thing is, I can’t imagine how she knew Ursula needed help?”
“I know,” I said. “They have a connection. It’s sort of like a witch’s light. I think Ursula picked it up from the ash we found in Wendy’s car. In fact….” I reached for Ursula’s hand. She looked up at me and smiled. Her eyes seemed less fidgety, better able to focus. “I’m willing to bet she has that same connectivity with the other guardians, as well.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because of what she’s already demonstrated. I told you about the ground opening up at Terri’s place and the waterfall in April’s bedroom flowing uphill.”
“Are you saying she can communicate through them?”
“Not exactly.” I let go of Ursula’s hand, stood up and motioned for Carlos and Dominic to follow. “Urs, honey, you just sit there and get some rest. We’re going to have a little discussion over here.”
“Yeah,” said Carlos. “We’ll be talking about you, so don’t come over.”
“Carlos!” I backhanded him on the chest. “What’s the matter with you?”
“What? We’re not going to talk about her?”
I led them out by the shed where Ursula couldn’t hear us, and then told them what I was thinking.
“This is really big. You know that, right? I don’t think even Gypsy could have foreseen this.”
“What’s big?” asked Carlos.
“This, what happened here a couple of minutes ago.”
“The twister?”
“Carlos.” I pointed across the yard at Ursula. “Do you see that woman over there? Do you see her?”
“Yeah, that’s Ursula.”
“No. That’s not just Ursula, not anymore. That, my friend, is the future Pentacle Prodigy.”
“What?” This from Dominic, whom I thought had already figured everything out. “I thought the Pentacle Prodigy had to possess all four prime essentials plus one.”
“That’s right.”
“Ursula only possesses the quintessential, not the other four.”
“Actually, she possesses the quintessential plus one now—wind. She needs only to acquire the remaining three to be the Pentacle Prodigy.”
“Wait a minute.” This from Carlos. “I don’t understand. I thought Gypsy possessed the prime essentials. Didn’t she kill the four guardians and steal it from them?”
“Yes.”
“Well?”
“Carlos, she killed those women, vaporized them and stole what essence she could in the fleeting moments it was available, but that only amounted to trace bits.”
“Are you saying Ursula picked up leftover essence from Wendy Skye from that ball of energy?”
“Yes, lots more.”
“So, it’s the connectivity thing,” said Dominic.
“That’s right.”
“And you’re thinking Ursula can use that connection to siphon off essence of the prime essentials from the other guardians, thereby completing the requirements for establishing herself as the Pentacle Prodigy.”
“Now you get it.”
“Then your answer is no.”
“No what? I didn’t ask you anything.”
“You don’t have to. I know what you’re thinking.”
“What?” asked Carlos. “What is she thinking?”
Dominic said, “She wants Ursula to try three more attempts at transforming herself into some non-human entity of nature in hopes that the guardian spirits come shooting across the sky to fill her with their essence. Is that about right, Lilith?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“You’re nuts then. I won’t let her do it. It’s too dangerous.”
“Dominic. It’s too dangerous not to let her do it. You don’t want her going out there tonight to face Gypsy without all the powers at her disposal, do you?”
“Lilith, you saw what almost happened to her. I could have lost her. We got lucky this time. There’s no guarantee that this connectivity you talk about is certain. What if she tries to turn herself into fire or water and then can’t come back from that?”
“She might not come back either way. Maybe none of us will. Gypsy is an extremely powerful witch. I can’t overstate that. It could be a costly mistake for us to leave anything on the table.”
Dominic shook his head and turned away. I palmed his shoulder and spun him back around. “I mean it, Dominic. Gypsy wants this. She’ll think nothing of killing us all to get it. She’ll let nothing stand in her way.”
“Then let her have it.”
“What?”
“You heard me. I said let her have it. What do we care? Let Ursula give it to her? Then no one dies.”
“No.” I shook my head in dismay. “You don’t understand. Gypsy won’t be satisfied just to have unlimited powers. She’ll build an empire, a worldwide empire. She’ll surround herself with the most evil witches on earth. Hell, the most evil witches anywhere. She’ll open the gates of the Eighth Sphere and let loose the most despicable elements this and any dimension has ever known. And Ursula? Do you think Gypsy will have room for her in her new wor
ld? Do you think she’ll have room for me, for you and Carlos, for any decent soul left on earth?”
I had been talking to him the entire time with my hand still dug into the round of his shoulder. Only after presenting that mostly rhetorical question, did I finally let go. “In case you’re wondering, Dominic, the answer is no. Our kind will be the first casualty on her road to perdition.”
As speeches go, I really thought that one would do it. The look in Carlos’ eyes told me I hooked him. But Dominic, he’s a special breed, not one for dramatics. His sense of obligation to Ursula is unflappable, heavy on the side of protection.
It was that sense of responsibility I tried cracking with my speech. Inevitably, there are just two things that matter to him, his desire to shelter Ursula from harm and the one thing that has the power to snap his will like a twig. And that’s Ursula.
I gestured toward her with a nod and lowered my voice to a whisper. “Dominic, you know I don’t like getting between you and Ursula on decisions concerning the two of you.”
“Since when?”
“Au-uh. It’s true. You know it. I let the girl do what she wants, but this decision concerns all of us, and by us I mean the entire world.”
“Oh, so you speak on behalf of the entire world now. Is that it?”
“Yes.”
“Lilith, you can’t—”
“Dominic, this isn’t your call. It’s Ursula’s. As soon as she gets her wits about her again, we’ll ask her what she wants to do.”
“And if she says no?”
“If she says no, then fine, we’ll fight Gypsy on Gypsy’s terms. But if she says yes?”
“She won’t say—”
“Yes,” said Ursula.
We turned abruptly and saw Ursula standing there. She appeared so suddenly, I thought she’d simply popped in from nowhere.
“Ursula?” I heard the surprise in my own voice and did not try to hide it. “How did you do that? A second ago you were sitting in that lounge chair across the yard.”
“Doesn’t matter,” said Dominic. “Ursula, you say yes, but you don’t even know what we’re talking about.”
“Oh, but I do. I heard every word and missed not one.”
09 - Return Of The Witch Page 23