Come Witch or High Water

by Constance Barker

  “I agree. The cops are still tied up thinking that Billy Joe is guilty, or that she drowned or ran away. Apparently, they can’t decide on a story.”

  Chapter Ten

  We left the bakery quickly and quietly. I had an idea of what we were going to do to finally catch the nymph, but I wasn’t sure if would go over well with Alan and Winnie. It posed a risk to revealing ourselves to the town if we weren’t careful. Even if we were cautious someone might end up seeing us. But it was time for drastic action.

  “What your suggesting could get us found out,” Alan said with a shake of his beak. It was always important to try and stay under the radar when we entered the normal realm. There were times when it became unavoidable, but the goal was to let as few people in on our secret as possible. And usually when we did, it was only temporary, and a memory addle spell was required to scrub the memory of us from their minds. It made our job a lot harder and gave us a lot of extra work that I didn’t care to do most of the time.

  “We can do it when there’s no one around,” Winnie proposed. “I doubt that’s completely possible, though,” she recanted her idea almost as soon as she said it. Winnie had more than a few ideas, but they were still small-scale spells that I felt had little chance of working or were more joke-like than serious suggestions.

  “It will affect the entire lake, and it’s only going to work if he’s in the lake right now,” Alan pointed out. “If he’s not then we’ll have put ourselves at risk for nothing.”

  “Tracy’s at risk right now,” I reminded him and Winnie. They were both on the fence about using the spell. I knew it was dangerous, but I saw no other possible solution. Chances are the nymph would be in the lake when we did the spell, even if Alan didn’t think so. Llyr would have to spend at least a bit of time every day in the water, and there are underwater caverns in the lake where he could have taken Tracy after his first hiding spot was compromised. “We can’t keep doing nothing.”

  “We haven’t done nothing,” Alan shook his feathers in annoyance. Whenever we were less than subtle with our magic, he got annoyed. My theory was that he had a hard time pretending to be nothing more than a pet. When we bent the rules to use more obvious magic, it upset him because we couldn’t really bend the rules for him. My poor beady-eyed boy.

  “We haven’t done anything that accomplished something,” I said with a sigh.

  “It sounds to me like you’ve made the decision already.” Winnie’s arms were crossed. Over the years she had become my equal, but I was still the boss. It was up to me in the end, and she and Alan would have to get past it.

  “Would it make you both comfortable if we do a spell to ensure that Llyr is in the lake before we do the other one?” I never really liked pulling rank with them and would rather have everyone be happy. Alan nodded enthusiastically and Winnie shrugged in agreement. I could tell the idea made both of them at least a bit better with the spell.

  We had the ability to test to see if Llyr was in the lake, but not his exact location. We had this ability now because we knew exactly what we were looking for. Before, we thought Llyr was a lake creature, and that’s what we were searching for. Without knowing that he was nymph we hadn’t been using the right spells to communicate or find him.

  I took a quick look around to make sure no one was nearby, before walking to the edge of the lake. It was cold, but I had no other choice but to pull my shoes off. I placed one foot into the water, and then the other. The chill from the lake water spread through me. Winnie and Alan were keeping watch in case anyone showed up. Worst case at this point I’d just look a little strange wading in the water. It was our next spell that would be more obvious.

  “Sebethide nympha fertur locate,” I whispered into the water. “Aquae nympha fraudulentus, sebethide nympha fertur locate.” It was a simple spell, and the water made a good conduit for it to travel and show me if Llyr was in the lake somewhere. I suspected he was...at this point there were so many people looking for Tracy someone would have accidentally stumbled on to them if they weren’t in a cavern underwater somewhere.

  The water around me turned from a muddy brown to a crystal blue as I chanted. An image shimmered to life in the water of Llyr. He was in a cavern under the water. Tracy sat next to him, it looked like she was arguing with him, but he wasn’t listening to her. Alan said she didn’t look scared when he saw them together before. She looked scared to me now. I couldn’t hear them, only see them. But I could tell that Llyr had told her to be quiet for a moment. It was then that he looked right at me. I quickly stopped chanting, ending the spell.

  “He knows,” I said to them. “He knows we're looking for him. If we don’t make our move now, he’ll disappear with her again. This time for good.”

  “Okay, we’ll just have to do it then,” Winnie said jumping into action. She stood right next to me, her feet also in the water now. She had acted quickly. The plan was to turn the lake into a giant whirlpool. The center of it would reveal Llyr and we would then be able to trap him and bring him to Nikatomia, whether he wanted to or not. He could fight back, and if it were just me, he’d probably win. We were hedging our bets on outnumbering him.

  “Do you have it with you?” She asked me. I nodded, pulling out a long black piece of metal. There were rare times when a spell was powerful enough to require a wand. Many witches never even bothered to get one, since it was so rare to actually need one. I only had one because this job can require a lot of powerful spells, and it was important to be prepared for anything. Some were made of wood, but it was sturdier to have one made of metal.

  Alan stood in the water on the other side of me. He had his feet in the water as well, but still looked unsure about doing such a noticeable piece of magic. We had no choice now...if we didn’t, I feared we would never recover Tracy. The tragedy of that would be two-fold because I was sure that Judy would never recover from losing her daughter. Alan and I shared a look, he nodded, understanding that he couldn’t have any reluctance if the spell was going to work properly. We were going to have to move fast. Once the whirlpool revealed Llyr to us we had to capture him almost instantly otherwise he’d be able to run.

  “Aqua nent fila ieiunium velox et fortis. Aquae nympha nent revelare,” I started. Winnie and Alan spoke with me. “Submersus equus voraginibus non faciam in medio ejus Sebethide nympha fertur revelare.” I moved the wand in a clockwise motion over the water. Moving my arm quicker and quicker as the water started to disrupt. “Aqua nent fila ieiunium velox et fortis. Aquae nympha nent revelare. Submersus equus voraginibus non faciam in medio ejus Sebethide nympha fertur revelare.” We repeated the words again and again.

  The entire body of the lake near us turned clear. It was as though we were in the Caribbean on one of the white sand beaches. The water swirled, slowly at first and then faster. It moved quickly, making the wind around us whip with fervor. The spell was working. We continued our chanting, and the whirlpool grew larger, the center of it revealing itself. It moved around the water in the same clockwise motion as my wand. Looking for Llyr under its surface. It wouldn’t be long now. Soon enough it would reveal Llyr and hopefully Tracy as well. If we could pull them both from their hiding place that would be best, but if we only got Llyr we could get Tracy from the cavern later.

  My arm felt heavy with effort, and I wasn’t going to be able to keep up the motion for too much longer. I didn’t have to though, the whirlpool finally found its center, where Llyr and Tracy were under the water. He was running with her on his shoulder. They had been running in a cavern, but the spell took them from there and brought them to the surface. It hadn’t only revealed them but brought them closer. I was ready to make a move to entrap them both, but stopped short when I heard a scream from behind me.

  “HEY!” Roger screamed from the woods. The spell broke as we were distracted by the shouting. The lake swallowed an unexpecting Tracy and Llyr. I didn’t have time to be worried though. Llyr would be able to manipulate the water so she could breathe. I coul
dn’t worry about her though, because I was worried about us. Roger was bounding towards us with a shotgun raised and a wild expression in his eyes.

  “I think he saw us,” Alan stated the obvious. “Ya think,” I replied. Roger was still screaming at us, most of it was unintelligible or unrepeatable. I stepped out of the lake and pulled on my shoes; Winnie followed suit. Moving quickly before Roger could get too close. I had no doubt that he would use that shotgun on us if we didn’t calm him somehow.

  “Roger, put that down, please,” I said as soon as he was close enough to get to us.

  “I’m not putting it down!” He screamed. He was wild with rage, beyond reason. “You’re working with the creature! You’re working with him. You’re all in on it together and you helped him take Tracy. This whole time you’ve been in cahoots with that thing.” Roger was waving the gun in our faces. “You’ve done nothing but lie since you came here and have known since the beginning that the creature is real and took Tracy. At every turn you insisted it didn’t exist, yet you knew the whole time!”

  “We aren’t working with the creature, we’re trying to save Tracy,” I tried explaining to him. The barrel of the rifle was staring me dead in the face. Any closer and I’d feel the cold metal pressing against my skin.

  “We were trying to help her, when you interrupted us,” Winnie said crossing her arms. She was a little too cavalier about the gun for my comfort. Roger turned it on her. “You’re the one helping the creature at this point.” I softly elbowed her in the ribs, looking at her with wide eyes. She gave me a look and shrugged.

  “You lied before and you’re lying now!” Roger shouted again. “You can’t imagine knowing that something was real for years and having everyone deny you. Tell you that you’re crazy and now I know!” He was manic now, somewhere between laughter and tears. He was bringing an audience as well. People were coming out of their homes to watch what was happening. None of them made a move to stop him. More than one of them agreed with him about the lake creature, anyone who was friends with Billy Joe did. A lot of people bought into the story after the tourist was attacked, even those who were skeptics before.

  “Roger, listen to us,” I reasoned with him. “We’re trying to help.” I spoke slowly and quietly so not to startle him.

  “I don’t believe you,” he said, suddenly stoic. All the mania was gone, and he knew exactly what he was doing. As though a flip switched, and he'd made up his mind. He stroked the barrel of the gun and trained it back on me. I was staring it dead in the face. “I don’t think any of you have said an honest word the entire time you've been here. I think you are working with the creature and I’m going to make sure that you can’t lie anymore.” He was only a second away from pulling the trigger.

  I tried to think of something that would save my life, anything. My mind had gone completely blank. It was like I was frozen not only in body but in mind as well. I tried looking to Winnie to see if she had any ideas. I couldn’t make my head turn. Winnie stood still beside me, just as frozen as I was. There were too many people here to perform a memory addle even if we tried anything. It would take months and drain us of our abilities. Thankfully my little feathered friend was on the QT and had already hatched a plan. Alan hopped away during the discussion and flew to a nearby tree. When Roger leveled the shotgun at us he made his move. He swooped down from the tree straight at Roger, pecking at his face and scratching him with his talons.

  Roger cried in pain and dropped the gun. It let off a shot, causing the crowd to run. The shot reverberated around the mountains surrounding us. I felt a ringing in my ears, and it was hard to balance. All I knew was that we had to get away from Roger before he picked up the shotgun again. Our magic was fast, but not faster than a bullet.

  Winnie and I had nowhere to go but back inside the bakery. We raced towards it, with Alan flying at our backs. He had left Roger bleeding with a few angry scratches on his face. I looked back to see him scrambling to pick up the gun again. Some of the people who had run were running towards him. Trying to see if he was alright. They had chosen what side to be on and it wasn’t ours. A small town like this stuck together, whether right or wrong.

  “What in the hell is going on?” Judy shouted from the door way to the bakery. “I heard a shot.” She looked groggy, being woken up so soon after being spelled.

  “We need to go inside,” I said, pushing her into the bakery and shutting the door behind her. I closed the inner door and locked them both once I was sure we were all inside. Once when we were in an uncomfortably similar situation, I hadn’t double checked. Alan had been locked out and ended up having to fly into a window and break it to get to safety.

  “We’ll be back for you!” Roger shouted. It sounded like a group of people were in agreement with him as they yelled along with him. “But first, we’re going to get this creature once and for all.”

  “What is he talking about?” Judy shouted looking between me and Winnie. She gripped her head tightly. “My head is pounding.”

  “You’ll be alright,” I said. I pulled her to a seat. We had to move quickly. Roger had a mob out there and they were out for blood.

  Chapter Eleven

  From the sound of it the mob was getting ever larger. Roger was rousing them with a speech. I couldn’t hear exactly what he was saying, but I could tell there was a lot of passion in his words. We needed to start our search before the mob did. At least we knew that Llyr and Tracy were in the caverns. Roger couldn’t have figured that out from what he saw.

  “Roger thinks he saw the lake creature, and he’s accused us and is convinced we helped the creature take Tracy and are continuing to help him.” I explaine the situation to Judy who had refused to take a seat. She was pacing around with her head in her hands.

  “I don’t understand why he would think he saw that,” she said. “I mean, he’s never been exactly stable, but he hasn’t had visions or hallucinations before, except for the one time twenty years ago.”

  “I don’t know,” I lied. “He is convinced though, and it sounds like he has managed to convince everyone else too.”

  “Since the cops seemingly abandoned the search, he’s been able to get more and more people on board with his insane theory. They, like him, want something easier to blame than one of our own,” Judy was being incredibly reasonable, despite still getting over the sleeping spell we had performed on her. It usually left people cloudy and confused when they woke, but that didn’t seem to be the case with Judy. A true testament to her character.

  “We’ve got to get out there,” Winnie whispered to me. She was peeking out the window looking at the mob. “There are only seven or eight of them out there, but they're a rowdy bunch. And angry too.” She gave me an urgent look.

  “I bet I could guess exactly who they are,” Judy said biting at her nails. “Why do you have to get out of here?” She asked, realizing what Winnie had said.

  “To get help,” I replied quickly. “We’ve got to get someone out here to help us.”

  “You’re right,” Judy nodded. She stumbled a little as she spoke. “We’ve got to get help.”

  “You need to stay here and rest,” Winnie said to Judy. She gently forced her to sit down. Judy didn’t protest as her head was in her hands. She would have a splitting headache until she slept naturally.

  “I should go with you to find help though,” Judy said trying to stand. “My head just hurts so much.”

  “It’s okay, we’ll be fine,” I assured her. “We’re good at keeping a low profile.” Judy was too tired and in too much pain to protest again. After ensuring that Judy wasn’t getting up in an attempt to follow us out, we left out the back door.

  “We have to get to the caverns,” I said quietly to Winnie and Alan. I half expected that they would have placed someone on guard to keep us inside the bakery, but Roger had riled them all up too much. I could hear their whoops and hollers as they ran through the woods. They were getting quieter and quieter the farther away they got.
>
  “They know the land, and Roger might be a jerk, but I don’t think he’s stupid,” Winnie said. “He’ll have figured out they're in cave systems, and they’ll know how to get there.”

  “We have a faster way,” Alan said with a grin. I don't know how that bird achieved his facial expressions, but he did. Sometimes it creeped me out. “We’ll have to go through the water,” he said. The three of us were already on our way there.

  Roger’s group walked towards the forest, following a trail that would lead to the caves. They were moving quickly and hopefully our shortcut would get us there faster. I ran to the edge of the dock, not even bothering to pull off my shoes, the water wouldn’t touch me anyway. Alan quickly ducked into the pocket of my jacket to stay close by.

  “We’re doing this?” Winnie asked, she took the extra moment to take her shoes off. Without responding I lifted my hands up and swan dove off the dock’s edge. Instead of the water hitting me in the face, it was like I was in an air pocket. Alan shivered inside of my jacket, the sudden movement shocking him. I glided through the water, trying to get to the exact spot where we had seen the nymph and Tracy. I looked to my left and Winnie was doing the same. We moved to the right in sync.

  “We’re gonna get you!” I heard Roger sound surprisingly clear. I looked to Winnie, alarmed. They must be already in the caverns. Hopefully, Llyr and Tracy were hiding. I didn’t trust Roger and his mob to be capable of keeping Tracy out of the crossfire at this point. They all shouted their agreement with him, swears and threats flew from the raucous crowd. “You can’t hide from us!”

  We crashed into the ground of the cavern. I had been distracted by the shouting and we landed much harder than I originally planned on. Alan let out a small ‘oof’ as we hit the ground. I could feel where the bruises on my arms would be from the fall. Winnie had hit her head as we crashed, and her eye patch had popped off. She held her hand over her eye while she scrambled around looking for it. I’d never seen her eye without the patch, and I still wasn’t going to. I passed it to her quickly.