Witching Hour

by Bradford Bates

  Now that Zoey was out of the way I could head inside. I waved from where I was standing by my car and Maggie came running out to help.

  “Now that was some good timing,” Maggie said as she peered into the trunk.

  “Tell me about it. I thought our little plan was done for.”

  “I thought so too. When I told her that you were gone, she almost had an aneurysm.” Maggie gave me a nudge and started laughing. “The look on your face right there. It was just priceless.”

  “Screw you.” I let out a laugh of my own. “Just help me get all of this crap inside.”

  “This is enough food for a small army.” Maggie put her hand on her hip. “You do know there’s only three of us, right?”

  “Hardee-har-har. Of course, I know there are only three of us. I brought these,” I indicated a bunch of to-go boxes, “so you could take some leftovers home.”

  “It’d take me a month to eat all of this,” Maggie spoke with reverence.

  I started loading up my arms with the grocery bags. “That’s kind of the point.”

  Once we got everything into the breakroom, I started heating up all the warming trays. You know what they say, a girl can never have too many crockpots. Meatballs and sauce in one, veggie sauce in another pot, you know, just in case someone was actually into that kind of thing. I never really got the whole hey, I don’t eat meat kind of thing, but hey, if all you wanted to eat were veggies, may the gods’ bless you. I had two different kinds of pasta staying warm in another, and the final crockpot was steaming some fresh garlic knots.

  It hadn’t taken me long to see that the girls that worked here didn’t eat a lot of home-cooked meals. Zoey was just too darn busy, and Maggie…well, Maggie was just a disaster in the kitchen. That left me with the job of fattening these two up a bit.

  Both of them had treated me like family from my first day on the job. Cooking a little food was the least I could do for them. I missed my family so much, but I felt like I had finally found a place where I could be myself, or at least let a little bit of myself poke through the Jinx Harper shell that I was wearing.

  Jinx was just a name. I was the same person inside that I’d always been. Well, that wasn’t exactly true. I was different. With what happened to my family, that was expected. Being chased by a psychopath named Ash hadn’t been expected, but if she were coming, then she would have been here by now.

  The food was all set up. It would be fine for a couple of hours but we needed to be eating by then, or the pasta might not bounce back. I did one final check of the food and then headed out to relieve Maggie. She’d been watching the store while I was out. She deserved a break before we got started chowing down.

  Maggie was talking with a customer when I came out of the back. I couldn’t tell who it was. All I could see from my angle was the back of her head. I gave Maggie a high five. “Why don’t you take a break, I’ve got this one, partner,” I said it with a slow drawl. It’s not my fault I fell asleep last night watching a movie with cowboys in it.

  “Are you sure?” Maggie looked like he was ready for a break.

  “Yeah, go ahead and take off.”

  Maggie smiled and pretended to sniff the air as she left. “Something smells delicious.”

  “Just keep your grubby fingers out of it until Zoey gets here.” I started to laugh, and then the person Maggie had been talking with turned around. The laughter died instantly on my lips, and I felt my mouth hanging open, but I was powerless to do anything about it.

  “I was hoping we would find ourselves with a little alone time.” Sasha grinned. “It’s been a while.”

  I reached out and grabbed her arm pulling her towards me. “What in the hell are you doing here?”

  “I’m doing what my mistress commands,” she intoned.

  Mistress? “Sasha, what in the hell are you talking about? Are you ok?”

  Zoey walked in through the door, and when she saw that the register was unattended, she grabbed a seat on the stool behind it. What was I going to do? If Sasha were here, then Ash wouldn’t be too far behind. I had to get out, I had to run.

  Zoey gave me a concerned look, and I realized that I was still gripping Sasha’s arm. I let go and tried to flash Zoey a reassuring smile before turning back toward Sasha. “What do you want?”

  “You, silly.” She let out a little giggle that wasn’t at all like herself. It reminded me of one of the creepy dolls from a horror movie, or maybe a girl locked in the nuthouse. “My mistress says that if you leave now and come with us, if you do as she requested, then no one will be hurt. If you refuse, she can’t make that same promise.” Sasha went back to looking at the items on the shelf as if we were just out shopping together like we used to do as friends.

  “So, if I go, you won’t hurt these people?”

  “That is what my mistress offers. You have five minutes to make your choice.”

  There really wasn’t a choice to be made. Zoey and Maggie had been so kind to me that I couldn’t risk putting them in danger. If I ran, Ash would probably kill them. It wasn’t worth it, this had to end.

  Sasha set down the book she had been looking at and started to head for the door. There wasn’t anything else that I could do. I lowered my head in defeat and followed. Ash was going to kill me, but at least she’d never get her hands on my family’s book.

  Chapter Twelve

  Zoey

  Something was wrong with Jinx. I knew it from the second I walked into the store. I’d never seen the woman she was talking to before, so maybe it was someone from her past. I gave her a casual wave and headed behind the register. There was no way I wasn’t keeping an eye on the situation.

  Jinx had her hand clamped around the lady’s arm, but the mystery customer’s face didn’t show any discomfort. It was almost as if she couldn’t feel it. Something was wrong. I scanned her in the magical spectrum and let out a little hiss. Our newest guest was another witch.

  That was the thing with witches they were kind of like cockroaches. They were hard to kill, and they traveled in packs. Just like cockroaches, they could be an invasive species. I used the same word to describe witches as an entomologist uses to talk about a group of roaches. What both of them had in common was they were an unwelcome intrusion.

  The conversation didn’t look to be going well for my newest employee. She looked angry, and then her face shifted, and she looked completely lost. It was like she made a decision she knew that she would regret but couldn’t see any other way out of it. I’d felt that way so often I knew the look.

  The mystery customer set down the book she had been holding and started walking towards the door. Jinx’s head fell, and she started walking behind the woman. Every step she took made her look more defeated than the last. I didn’t know what was going on, but I couldn’t let it stand.

  I vaulted over the counter and rushed to Jinx. “I don’t know what’s going on, but you don’t have to go. You’re safe here.”

  “But you’re not if I stay.” Tears were streaking down her face in earnest now.

  “I can handle myself. As for you, your shift isn’t over so get back to work.” I snapped my fingers.

  Jinx looked torn. Her eyes moved between her unwanted visitor and me. I could tell she wanted to stay, but she really believed what she said, that this woman possessed a threat to Maggie and me if she did. The decision was hers to make alone, but I wanted her to know a few things first.

  “Jinx, we love having you here, please don’t go.” I smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. “Who else would I ever find that could clean the entire place like you did today.”

  “I want to stay.” She looked at the woman waiting by the door. “I just can’t.”

  “You can do anything you want. I’ve got your back.”

  I could see her mulling it over. She was tired of running. I’d experienced the same epiphany just before Christmas. Sometimes you had to stand tall and put everything on the line. Even when it meant you might not be coming b
ack. This was her time to make that choice.

  The woman at the door looked at Jinx. Her eyes were devoid of all emotion. “Final offer, Jinx.”

  Jinx’s cheeks flared brightly with rage. “Screw you, Sasha. I’m staying.”

  “I hope your new friend doesn’t mind when we turn this city to ash. Our mistress will be here in an hour to deliver your reckoning.”

  “I’d be happy to show her what a real witch can do,” Jinx spoke with firm defiance.

  A tear rolled down Sasha’s check. “Good luck.” She walked out of the door.

  I looked over at Jinx, and then back towards the door. What in the hell had I just gotten myself into? Witches, they never went anywhere without leaving behind a million problems. I couldn’t worry about that now. If we wanted to survive there was work to do. The first thing I needed was a little help boosting the store's protections, and then I needed to get Maggie out of here.

  “You’ve got some explaining to do.” I fixed Jinx with a glare.

  Her head fell again. “I know.”

  Jinx spent the next ten minutes giving me the short and dirty version of her life since she found her family butchered. I’d spent a lot of time feeling sorry for myself, especially after Dad got sick, but this, this was a whole new level of screwed up. Jinx’s problems put my life into a whole new perspective.

  Maggie refused to leave when I told her to, but I at least got her to promise that she would stay in the back of the shop until this was over. Maggie had a good heart, but when it came down to a magical battle, she was just cannon fodder.

  It was time to get to work. I let Gramps out of my necklace. He was pissed but managed to bite his tongue. That was a rare occurrence for Gramps, and if it were any other time, I would have been grateful.

  “Gramps, this is Jinx.”

  “She sure is,” he tittered as he fluttered around our heads. “Witches are trouble, every last stinking one of them.”

  “Is that a…” Jinx started as she followed Gramps’ daring aerial acrobatics with her eyes.

  “Don’t say it, you’ll just get him all worked up.” I turned back to Gramps. “Just help me strengthen our wards, and I’ll make sure that you get cocoa and fudge.”

  “And a slice of ham.” Gramps hovered in front of me and licked his lips. “You know, the kind were they drizzle it with honey before they cure it.”

  “Fine, but let me put it this way. The quality of treats you receive will be in direct correlation to how well our wards perform.”

  “If you have anything that protects against fire, that’s where you should start.”

  “Hurumph, I’ve got something that can put out a fire.” Gramps grabbed his hose and started thrusting his hips around.

  God, he really didn’t like witches. If anyone but Gramps had made that gesture in our direction, I probably would have frozen them on the spot, but with Gramps it was easy enough to tune out his over-exuberant antics. At least he hadn’t peed on her. I’d seen him do that before when he got really worked up. Pixies really did have bad attitudes. “Can the dick jokes, Gramps. You’ve got work to do.”

  “Fine, but you call me if you need a reminder on how to put a fire out.”

  Gross. No one needed a reminder of that display ever again. “If you come back over here before you’re done I’m going to give you a reminder of what shrinkage is.”

  Gramps flew away to start working, and Jinx just looked at me as if she had never seen me before. “What are you?” she stammered.

  “That’s a story for another time.” I put my arm around her shoulders and led her further into the shop. “Now tell me more about this Ash person.”

  Jinx started to spill her guts, and none of what she was telling me filled me with hope or confidence. Still, no one screwed with my city or the people in it. If this bitch came onto my property, I wasn’t going to pull any punches. This was war.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Zoey

  I was mad. I was mad at that girl for threatening my friend and my city, and I was mad at Jinx for bringing her problems with her. “What in the hell did you just get me into!”

  Jinx screamed back. “I didn’t ask you for help. I was on my way out the door before you interfered.”

  “Yeah, to die! I’m not going to let that happen.”

  “Well if Ash brings the whole coven we’re all going to die.”

  “Not in here we won’t.” My wards would stop a whole lot of magic before they gave out, and with Gramps adding a little bit more power to them I was confident that we would be ok.

  “Unless you can fit the whole city in here, it’s not going to help much. Ash is relentless, and has no problem hurting innocents to get what she wants.”

  “Then we’ll just have to take the fight to her.” It made sense. I’d be giving up the protection of my base, but it would ensure that no innocents were hurt.

  “Are you freaking nuts! We can’t leave here. Out there we don’t even stand a chance.” Jinx paced up and down the entryway. She was a ball of nervous energy. If she wasn’t careful, she might lose control of her magic.

  “I think we can. This is personal to her. She wants to show everyone that she can do this herself. She sent your friend Sasha here just to rub it in your face. Did you see what she did to that girl? The poor thing might as well be a robot.”

  Jinx slumped to the ground. “I’m not ready yet. I just need more time.”

  “More time for what? She’s coming Jinx, and I can’t do this alone.”

  “I know it’s going to sound crazy,” Jinx was crying again, “but I always had this idea in my head that I would learn something in my mom’s grimoire that would give me an edge against Ash. Once I figured it out, I’d be able to reclaim the coven and make sure that Ash didn’t get to pervert our history.”

  Jinx stood wiping the tears from her eyes using one arm. “That’s never going to happen now.” Her face hardened as a wave of resolve straightened her posture. “So we might as well kick some ass.”

  “Let’s do this.” I started walking towards the back of the shop.

  “Ah, Boss? The exit is this way.” Jinx pointed towards the front of the shop with a look of confusion on her face.

  “Yeah, but my safe is this way.”

  I reached the safe, spun open the lock, and peered into the dark interior. I kept a few charms that had been pre-charged in here. Of course, none of my customers knew that. They all thought these things were custom made over the course of a few weeks. Sometimes you had to embellish the truth a skosh to make top dollar.

  I handed Jinx a medallion. “Just a little extra protection in case things go to shit.”

  Jinx didn’t look too sure about the coin, but she tucked it in her pocket just the same. Now it was time to make one more attempt to get Maggie to leave. I knew that she wanted to help, but I’d never forgive myself if she got hurt.

  “Maggie, plans have changed, we’re going out.”

  “Are you sure that’s a good Idea?” Maggie asked concern dripping from every word.

  “It’s probably not the best idea I ever had, but we’re doing it.” It pained me to say this about my shop, but it had to be said. “The store is basically going to be a decoy. I don’t want you in here.”

  Maggie started to protest, but I cut her off. I slipped four coins into her hand. “Take one of these for yourself and give the rest to your family. I need to know you’ll be safe.”

  Maggie started to cry. “Thanks, Zoey. You know this is the best and the worst job I’ve ever had.”

  I pulled her into a hug. “I know, sweetie. Now get the hell out of here.”

  Maggie took off without looking back. If Jinx’s former coven decided to burn this place to the ground, at least Maggie wouldn’t be here. I’d hate to lose all of my stuff, but I had insurance. So, go ahead and do your worst.

  I motioned for Jinx to join me. “Let’s go, we have to hurry if we are going to make it in time.” Jinx followed me out the door, and we jumped
into the Jeep. I double checked my wards and made sure the building was secure before I hit the gas.

  Buzzing on my neck let me know Gramps had come along for the ride. I hadn’t even noticed him flying back into my necklace, but he was there now. I was grateful that he made the choice to come. I had the feeling we were going to need all the help we could get.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Zoey

  The plan hinged on us picking the right road into the city. Which way would you most likely be coming from if you were Ash? I put my money on the north side of town, so that was the direction we headed in.

  When we left the shop, I drove by the front of the building just to see if Jinx’s friend was still there. I didn’t see her anywhere, but that didn’t mean that she wasn’t watching. It would be even better if she were watching and told her boss we were running.

  I drove until ten minutes before this Ash person was supposed to show up. I pulled the Jeep off the two-lane road and got out. Jinx followed me to the front of my baby and took a seat on the hood.

  “So what kind of name is Ash anyway?”

  “It’s short for Ashlyn. Ever since we were kids, she always wanted to be called Ash instead. She loves her magic, and ashes are all she leaves behind.”

  “Well, at least we won’t be freezing our asses off once she gets here.” I’d forgotten to grab a coat when we left the store. It wasn’t exactly warm in January in the Pacific Northwest. There was actually still some snow on the ground, and when the wind gusted, I started to shiver.

  Jinx put a hand on my shoulder, and I warmed up almost instantly. “Ash isn’t the only witch that knows her way around fire.”

  That was a trick I hadn’t seen before, and one I’d have to learn for when I went on those long winter hikes. I hated getting cold feet, but it was a constant problem for me. Jinx had regained at least a little of her confidence. Part of her had to be hoping that she would win this confrontation and put an end to her family’s killer.