by Mary Buckham
Then we needed help. I leaned toward Kelly. “Go get Vaughn. In the dorm. Tell her I need the materials. Now.”
Bless her, she didn’t hesitate. She actually helped as she said loudly, “I’ll grab jackets and be right back.” Then she scampered off as if everything were cool.
One less person to worry about.
“Look.” I kept my voice low and intense as I stepped closer to Jaylene and Mandy. I could barely make out their expressions even though one more step and I’d be in their faces. Their body language I could read loud and clear though. These two were or had been street fighters. They kept their bodies loose, arms relaxed at their sides, ready to advance or flee, depending on what was just around the corner. I gave them one more chance to do the latter.
“Someone’s using black magic and doesn’t care who they’re taking out.”
“You the target?” Mandy asked, zeroing in on my biggest hesitation. Not that I was about to die, but that I’d do so alone. If I told her the truth would she and Jaylene turn tail and run?
Most likely.
But that’d be for the best because I didn’t want any more senseless deaths. If I died, there’d be one less witch in the world, and maybe the assassin would be satisfied and leave. Worst case they wouldn’t be done, but Vaughn or Stone might find it easier to track them down with one more body as a starting place.
I looked at Mandy, willing her to do what I feared she would, hear my words and leave. “Yeah. I’m the target.”
She cut a quick glance at Jaylene then smiled, a warrior’s smile, before addressing me. “Then you’ll owe us if we stay.”
“Big time owe us,” Jaylene echoed, her grin just as daring.
Damn, they were even sneakier than I was.
I shrugged, knowing I’d been backed into a corner. But at least I wasn’t going to bleed out alone. “And if you die, you going to haunt me?”
Mandy looked like I’d slapped her, before she rocked forward on the balls of her feet with her in-my-face attitude back in her tone. “You better hope I don’t.”
Obviously I’d pushed a hot button for Mandy, but now wasn’t the time to find out why or exactly what abilities she brought to the game as the snap of someone moving in the nearby bushes grabbed our attention.
We swung as a half-circle, peering into the dark but could see nothing. Act as if we were just three chicks scared of our shadows and hope like hell Kelly found Vaughn and brought reinforcements?
“At last,” someone whispered, her voice so low it sounded like a hiss as a shape formed in the darkness.
Guess waiting wasn’t an option.
I leaned forward, then paused as I caught sight of my nemesis.
Brenda? The Iowa farm girl I’d barely noticed.
Anger that had been coiled low and deep within me since Ling Mai’s words last night erupted, replacing my fear so fast I was lightheaded. “What’d I ever do to you?” I demanded, my words echoing in the night.
“Nothing,” came her stone cold reply, one that doused ice on my fire. “But you killed my half-brother. For that you die.”
“The Were?” No way was she a Were herself. I wasn’t getting that vibe from her at all. “What are you?” I found myself asking. “If you’re going to kill me, it’s the least you can let me know.”
Her laugh sent trills of fear racing along my skin. She was actually enjoying the taunt before she did whatever she planned to do.
Her smile dared as she murmured, “And they told me you were so powerful. Not powerful enough to recognize a Doppelganger?”
I caught Mandy glancing at Jaylene as if for answers, so I spoke aloud. “So you’re a death omen in the shape of a human?” That’s about all I knew about Doppelgangers. They weren’t that common.
“So you do know a few things,” came the sarcastic response as a second person stepped next to her. Dyslexia. What was her name? Toni, that was it.
“You,” I murmured, then noticed something. Dyslexia hadn’t moved as a human, more like a zombie.
“What are you doing to her?” I glared at Brenda. “Afraid to fight your fights alone? Afraid to face me one on one?”
“Don’t be an idiot. Toni here is just to add spice. She’s an earth fae. Good in a fight but easily controlled by a little magic.”
“Black magic.” I felt the words burn my tongue.
Brenda shrugged. “If I’d realized how much fun wielding black magic was I’d have asked for the powers a long time ago.”
She must be damned powerful to control a person against her will and consider taking on three other people, one she knew to be a witch, two she didn’t know much about except that they had to have some abilities.
Then the importance of her words slammed against me.
Watch out farm girl; you just slipped and revealed too much. I’d heard Doppelgangers weren’t all that quick on the uptake and Brenda just proved that right.
Wielding was a world of difference from possessing. It usually meant they had to hold a power transmitter close to their bodies in order to use its black magic. Find and remove the instrument of power and they’d lose their abilities.
I squinted into the darkness, only too aware of Dyslexia shifting closer. My attention was on finding the transmitter; it could be anything: an amulet, a ring, a hair ornament.
But I couldn’t see that Brenda was wearing any of those items.
Jaylene and Mandy stepped away from me. Not fleeing as much as opening our wedge into a better defensive position with the change in numbers.
“Try not to hurt Toni; she’s being coerced,” I mumbled, keeping my focus on Brenda. “The Doppelganger is all mine.”
I made sure Brenda heard my dare, right before she flicked her wrist and a tsunami of black magic slapped against us, bringing all three of us to our knees.
CHAPTER 20
Like the wail of a death-bringing banshee, a scream echoed through the night; high pitched and desperate it swam beneath my skin as I squeezed my hands over my ears. Wasn’t stopping a damned thing. Jaylene and Mandy’s positions, mirroring mine, told me more than any words.
We were in a world of hurt and Brenda hadn’t done more than raise one hand and her voice.
I had to do something. Anything. Soon blood would pour from our broken eardrums.
Twisting around to glance skyward I spoke to the powers above and around us, thrusting my bandaged hand upwards to carry my words.
“Air, earth, water, all three, I summon thee.”
Clawing my good hand along the gravel beneath me I struggled to get the next words past the pain.
“Elements of earth, smite my enemy.”
I glanced into the darkness.
“Elements of air, surround us and protect us.”
Squeezing tears from my eyes, I snarled the last words.
“Elements of water, rise between us. Darkness banish. Lightness flare forth. Thee I call. Thee I seek.”
This time it was my hand that was in motion, scattering the gravel before me, ringing the three of us in a rush of fire.
I think I was as shocked as everyone else that something had happened as I had no candles, full moon, elder blossoms and rue, or even protection incense to help me pull off a protection spell.
The banshee wail was cut off, leaving the three of us gasping for air.
But Dyslexia was already being propelled forward, directly into the flames.
I stop the blaze and the protection circle would break, exposing us to Brenda’s next move. Leave it be and Dyslexia would burn to death. She was earth attuned, which meant the frailty of wood when faced with fire.
“Halt,” I screamed but Dyslexia couldn’t or wouldn’t hear us.
“Spirits be,”
I shouted, stumbling to my feet.
“Fire abate. Wind replace.”
It wasn’t a good trade off but a desperate one. The blaze sputtered and died as a gust of wind swirled about us, pelting all of us with gravel, stinging skin, making it hard to see
beyond our raised arms protecting our faces.
But even with the roar of wind I could hear Brenda casting.
“Enough,” my scream met hers as I straightened, bracing my legs wide.
“Dark to night. Light to light. Power be. Deceive to thee. Witch to spirit, call forth spirits.”
As if the earth heaved, two things happened at once. Brenda pulled back. Doppelgangers, being death omen bringers were second cousins to spirits, both called from the land beyond, and like a lot of family ties, very dysfunctional if brought together.
Take that Doppelganger witch-wannabe! Then I caught sight of Mandy writhing on the ground, this time in a fetal position.
I glanced at Jaylene, who shook her head but had enough sense to say, “She’s a spirit-walker.”
For love of shamans, I had to align with the one type of being who made Doppelgangers look like goodwill ambassadors to spirit-kind.
Spirit-walkers had no souls so could cross that thin line between the human world and the spirit world, but did so at their peril. It was one thing to be able to communicate with spirits from the human side, a whole other thing to cross into their playing field. Shamans could do so in small increments of time, but spirit-walkers were like an aphrodisiac to spirits. All the spirits had to do was catch a spirit-walker unaware and they could hijack their human shells. One second long dead, the next, back among the land of the living.
No choice but to remove the one wall between us and Brenda.
We were screwed.
“Alex!” It was Vaughn shouting.
I turned. She was alone. Disappointment and relief washed over me. Disappointed that Kelly had bailed because her absence meant we were now four, the four Jaylene saw in her visions. Relief because Kelly would live to see another day.
But I didn’t have time to think much as I called to Vaughn. “Did you bring it? The herbs?”
Jaylene was rushing forward to tackle Brenda, the biggest threat, buying me a few seconds as Mandy staggered to her feet. As long as Jaylene was rolling Brenda on the ground, keeping her scrapping, I could turn my attention to Vaughn. I just hoped Jaylene was the street fighter I thought she was.
“I’ve got some of what you want.” Vaughn ran up to stand beside me, her hands full of packages, but not nearly as much as I’d told her to find.
“Bishopwort?” I asked, an herb I could use to banish an evil spirit. And wasn’t that what a Doppelganger was?
Vaughn shook her head. “No. But I have salt.”
Talk about bringing a water pistol to a gunfight.
Come on, Jaylene. I need a few seconds more.
Dyslexia, no longer stopped by fire was almost on top of us as Mandy did a linebacker’s rush, toppling the two of them to the ground. Unfortunately proximity to the dirt gave Dyslexia more power as an earth fae.
Of course. Salt?
“Give me that.” I grabbed at Vaughn’s bundles. “Take the salt and as many large rocks as you can find and stack them over there.” I pointed to the wall of the nearest building, about twenty feet away while keeping an eye on the dust and rocks kicked up by Jaylene and Brenda. Amazon was holding her own, keeping Brenda from screaming, or worse, spell casting.
Now if I could get my act together. I shot a glance at Vaughn, who hadn’t moved an inch.
“Go. Now. Salt and stones,” I shouted, pushing her away.
She turned and started scrambling, shaking her head. I didn’t have time to explain.
I pawed through the small baggies of herbs she brought, sniffing each one . . . hoping. Yes, here it was, cedar.
I let the other bags drop as I started the chant. Dyslexia was already rising to her feet, her attention focused one hundred percent on me, a death stare. Mandy was clutching her stomach where Dyslexia had slugged her, like getting hit with a thick branch.
Brenda and Jaylene were grunting like pigs in a pen. Go Amazon!
I had to turn my back to Dyslexia and Brenda to face the east to begin the chant.
“By the power of the rising sun, seek all evil to be done.”
A quick pivot to the south, moving toward where Vaughn was stockpiling rocks as if a dwarf hoarding gold. I knew I could count on her.
“By the power of the noonday blast, I seeketh control as mine.”
It was working. Dyslexia had paused, tension riding her. Exactly what I wanted. Brenda had Jaylene in a headlock. Time was running out.
My instinct was to bag the magic and join the free for all, hoping I could take Brenda down human to human. But I couldn’t. Only option was to put everything I had behind my magic use and leave the physical stuff to the rest of the team. While I was using magic I had to rely on the team to protect themselves, and protect me. I couldn’t defend myself.
I also couldn’t break Brenda’s control, not without destroying the power transmitter, but I could fracture the earth fae’s attention. Divide and conquer.
Earth faes were suckers for two things—salt and stones. The call of those elements made a cat’s response to cat nip seem mild. My plan was simple; if I could get Dyslexia away from Brenda the earth fae might walk away from this battle in one piece, and without any of us having to harm her.
“Sprinkle the salt,” I called to Vaughn as I turned to the west, scrambling to remember the rest of the psychic shield spell, crumbling cedar in my good hand.
“By the power of night.”
No, that wasn’t it.
“By the power of darkening night, my shield is strong, my power right.”
I had walked myself almost to Vaughn and the wall. Vaughn stepped back, looking between me and Dyslexia advancing on me, each step reluctantly moving closer to me and away from Brenda’s power field.
Just as I reached the pile of rocks I shouted the last words.
“By hidden moon in blackened sky, we are not alone. Help is nigh. Great Spirits, surround us. Keep us safe by night and day. Begone, foul spirit, unbidden here. I cast you back. We do not fear, for we have won. You have no further power over thee!”
As if lightening cracked through the sky a sudden brightness broke the dark, illuminating Vaughn’s wary expression, Dyslexia’s confused one.
“Go thee forth.”
I pointed to the rock pile as I faced Dyslexia.
“Earth to earth, salt to salt. Seek thy own. Remain as more.”
Damn if Dyslexia didn’t do as I commanded, shuffling past me until she reached the stone pile and slid to her knees, her head bowed.
One down.
Even before I turned back to see what Brenda was up to I heard Jaylene shout.
Then Brenda’s banshee-scream erupted. Again.
CHAPTER 21
“What the hell is that?” Vaughn shouted next to me, her hands plugging her ears.
“Trouble,” I managed to pant as I staggered toward Brenda. No way was I going to make three feet much less the twenty feet separating me from the wailing Doppelganger. But I had to try. If I didn’t all of us, including Dyslexia now since she was no longer under Brenda’s thrall, would have first our eardrums shattered, then our brains liquefied.
They didn’t call Doppelgangers death omens for nothing.
But walking toward Brenda was like walking against a wall of sand, each step slower and more sluggish than the last.
Only chance for me was that Jaylene was still taking the brunt of Brenda’s attention. Farm girl seemed delighted to be toying with her closest victim. I only hoped I could reach Brenda before she killed Jaylene.
Mandy wasn’t doing much better, still fetal curved again on the ground. But as long as Brenda kept her focused on them, she wasn’t watching my approach.
How was I going to reach her transmitter?
How was I going to survive?
Beneath my breath I mumbled the first power spell I’d ever learned. It couldn’t hurt and all I could focus on as long as the Doppelganger’s wail echoed through my very skin.
“Justice deities, change my luck. Make me bold. Bring me what I see
k to hold.”
Okay, it wasn’t exactly the way the chant went, but I was desperate. Sagging to my knees I started crawling forward, pain from my bandaged hand helping me focus.
“Power seek as power bring. Dark be gone. Light be strong.”
Gravel scraped my knees, blood stinging my good palm as I pulled myself forward.
“Power be. Like to like. Light to dark. Give me the key that will open the gate.”
I fell, face forward, blackness rushing against me.
“All must be balanced. So must we. I seek thine help, Mother Be.”
The wail continued, but a fresh breeze stirred across my skin. I rolled to my side, looking for Brenda.
She stood there, Jaylene a still ball at her feet, nearby a motionless darker lump, Mandy, nearby in the same shape. But it was Brenda who had my attention.
Her mouth open in an “O”, she looked dazed.
Then I noticed Kelly, materialized right behind Brenda.
Where had she come from? What was she doing?
I rallied to my knees. Brenda would eat Kelly for breakfast, especially if farm girl knew Kelly was blind.
“Don’t,” I gave a hoarse shout, both women looked in my direction.
Which gave Kelly the chance she needed. With a cry worthy of a soccer stadium in the last seconds she threw herself against Brenda, grabbing at her hair and face.
Brenda spun in a twirl of rage, then both of them went down. Not finished but stunned. The scream was silenced.
Now.
I staggered upright, closing the few feet left between us and hurled myself on Brenda.
Dog pile.
Brenda scraped and struggled but I was a witch on a mission. Farm girl had killed Serena. And Rolf. And two others. Not directly but her actions had led to their deaths.