by Geof Johnson
Cassandra dropped the smoking butt on the asphalt and grumbled as they made their way to the administration office. When they neared the front door, she said, “You got your pendant?”
Rita opened her hand to reveal the carved jade baby and the thin silver chain that held it. She tucked her head even lower and opened the door. “After you.”
They stepped inside and were nearly swept away by a flood of teenagers rushing past, books and cell phones in hand. Rita and Cassandra bunched close and pushed their way to the office door, where they paused for a moment. “Remember,” Rita whispered, “let me do the talking.” Cassandra nodded and they walked in, Rita lazily twirling the pendant as someone would twirl their keys. There was a waist-high counter running across the front of the room. Two women were behind it; one sat at a desk, typing at a computer, while the other shuffled some paper beside the printer.
The woman by the printer looked over at them and said, “Can I help you?”
“Yes,” Rita said, still twirling the pendant. “We’re from the Southern Talent Agency, and we need Grace Mary Callahan’s address.”
“You mean Fred? What for?”
Fred? Is that her nickname? How odd. “We have a contract proposal we need to send her, and she’s still not sent us her info.”
“Does this have anything to do with the Talent Search?”
“Of course. We want to get her under contract before anybody else discovers her. She’s very talented.”
“Yes she is.”
The woman turned to the lady behind the desk, who said, “We’re not allowed to give out students’ personal information.”
Rita twirled the pendant faster and it started to glow. “Her parents won’t mind. We’ve already talked to them.”
“It’s against school policy to…um…to…what was I saying?” She blinked several times, quickly.
“That it would be okay in this situation. We’re practically family.”
“Yes.” The woman’s eyes glazed over. “Family.”
“So can you give us her address, please?”
“Yes,” she said blankly. She tapped a few keys on the computer and a moment later, a sheet of paper popped out of the printer.
“Is that it?” Rita pointed, and the other woman picked it up and handed it across the counter. “Thank you,” Rita said. “You’ve been most helpful.”
Rita and Cassandra walked out of the door and hurried across the parking lot. “You were awesome, as usual,” Cassandra said.
“Thanks.” Rita tugged the front of her straw hat even lower. “Now let’s go get us a witch.”
* * *
Fred sat curled against Jamie’s side on the couch in his family room, watching television.
“Fred?” Rachel stepped out of the kitchen, phone in hand. “Your mom called and said you need to come home for dinner.”
Fred put her arm around Jamie’s shoulders and squeezed even closer to him. “But I don’t wanna!” she said in a little-girl voice.
Jamie pried himself loose from her grasp and stood, offering his hand to help her up. “I gotta study some more anyway,” he said. “I got my AP Bio final in the morning.”
Fred stood and stretched. “Only three more days of school. I’m so ready for winter break.” Jamie held her hand as they walked to the front door. She kissed him lightly and said, “I’ll try to find you tonight.” She patted his face and smiled. “So look for me in your dreams.”
“Always.” He opened the door and looked out. “It’s dark already. Want me to walk you home?”
“No, I’m fine.”
“It’s chilly. Wanna borrow my coat?”
“No. I’ll hurry.”
“But all you’re wearing is that thin dress. I don’t —”
She patted his face again and looked deep into his eyes, her emerald greens locked on his ice blues. “I’m fine. F - I- N- E. Fine.”
She skipped down his front steps and looked over her shoulder, then she waved and he watched her for a moment before closing the door. As she angled across the street, she saw two women, one of them quite tall, with a blonde beehive hairdo, standing on the sidewalk in front of her house. The shorter one held a sheet of paper in one hand.
“Excuse me,” the shorter one said as Fred approached them. “Could you help us, please? I think we’re lost.” She held something else in her other hand, which she twirled casually.
“Are you looking for somebody’s house?” Fred asked.
“Yes, but we may be on the wrong street. Could you look and see?” She turned the paper toward Fred. “It’s hard to read in the streetlight. You have to look close.”
Fred stepped closer to see, but as she did, she felt two strong arms grab her from behind. “Hey!” Fred said, and a hand pressed a strange-smelling cloth over her nose and mouth.
Then everything became dark.
* * *
Jamie set the last dinner plate on the table, and his mother said from the kitchen, “Jamie, Lisa called again and said to tell Fred to go home right now.”
“She went home an hour ago.”
“What?” Rachel stood in the doorway.
“She’s not home?”
Rachel shook her head. “Maybe she went to Rollie’s. Will you call over there?”
“Rollie’s at church.”
“On a Tuesday night?”
“It’s a special service. Maybe Melanie stopped by and they went to the store or something.”
“Will you call Melanie, please?”
“I’ll text her.” He picked up his cell phone from the coffee table and tapped out a message. A couple of minutes later, he got a response. “She’s not with Melanie.”
“Huh?” Rachel stood there with a dish towel in one hand, a puzzled look on her face. “Lisa said Fred left her phone, so they can’t call her. Do you think she went off with another one of her friends?”
“Doubt it.”
“Could you go over there and look through her contacts on her phone? Maybe you can figure out who to call.”
He slammed the front door behind him and hurried through the cold to Fred’s house. He bounded up her steps and knocked on the door. Lisa opened it immediately.
“You’re not Fred,” she said with a look of disappointment.
“Glad you noticed,” he said as she let him in and closed the door. “Mom told me to come over and look through Fred’s phone so I can figure out where she is.”
“It’s on the end table.” Lisa gestured, and Jamie sat on the edge of the couch and picked up Fred’s phone. “This isn’t like her,” she said with an edge of apprehension in her voice.
Jamie scrolled through the contacts and said, “She probably saw somebody and went to the store with ’em.”
“She wouldn’t do that without telling me.”
Jamie called a number on the phone and held it to his ear. Getting no answer, he tried another. Then another. After about ten minutes of calling, he looked up at Lisa and shrugged. “Nobody’s seen her.”
Lisa glanced at her watch. “Well…she’ll turn up. Why don’t you go home and eat and I’ll have Fred call you when she gets back?” Jamie could tell Lisa was trying to show calm for his sake, but her eyes were showing panic.
“Are you sure? Maybe I can —”
“No,” she said a little too quickly, her voice rising in pitch. “You’ve got school tomorrow.”
Jamie walked across the street to his house, but didn’t feel the cold. Mrs. Callahan’s worried. He walked up his front steps. I’m worried. When he opened the door, his mother called from inside, “Did you find her?”
“Not yet. Her mom sent me home to eat.”
“I’m worried,” Rachel said, standing next to the table.”
“Makes three of us.”
She took a deep breath. “Well, we need to have dinner. Get your father out of the basement, please.”
* * *
Jamie barely tasted his food. He tapped his fork on his half-empty plate, ding, ding,
ding, and his father reached across the table and grabbed his arm. “Stop. You’re driving me crazy.”
Jamie looked up and said, “Sorry.” He checked his watch again. “Dad, it’s after eight o’clock. Shouldn’t we have heard something by now?”
Carl exchanged glances with Rachel and a telling look passed between them. Carl looked at Jamie. “Maybe she’s doing some secret Christmas shopping.” Jamie could tell from his father’s expression that he was worried, too, but didn’t want Jamie to know it.
“She was going home when she left here,” Jamie said. “I’m sure of it. She isn’t shopping. She didn’t have her purse or her coat.”
The phone rang at Rachel’s elbow, and she picked it up from the table. Jamie and Carl watched her intently. After a short conversation, she clicked it off. “She’s still not home. Carl, could you go over there?”
He scooted his chair back and headed for the door, Jamie was at his heels. “Jamie, don’t you have to study?”
“I can’t focus right now. I’ll feel better once we know where Fred is.”
His father stood in the hall and regarded Jamie for a moment. “All right,” Carl said. “Bring your phone and your jacket.”
“Why?”
“In case we have to search the neighborhood.” Jamie’s mouth formed and oh, and Carl put his hand on Jamie’s shoulder. “It’s just a precaution. Don’t read too much into it.” Jamie knew his father well enough to tell the difference between what his words said and what his eyes said. Something’s wrong and Dad’s trying to keep me from freaking out.
At Fred’s house, they found Lisa on the front stoop, phone in hand, and Larry backing the car out of the garage. “Anything?” Carl said as they walked up the driveway.
Lisa shook her head, and Larry rolled down his window. Even in the streetlight, Jamie could see that his face was lined with worry. “I’m going to have a look around.” Carl leaned close to Larry’s open window and they whispered something. Jamie ramped up his magic hearing, but too late to hear anything but don’t panic.
Carl stood up straight. “Jamie and I will cover the neighborhood closest to the house,” he said to Larry, “since we’re on foot. Try to check the streets farther out, and keep your phone handy. Call Lisa every quarter hour.”
Larry drove away, and Jamie and his father split up, searching in opposite directions. The temperature had dropped and Jamie shoved his hands into his coat pockets with his phone. Wish I’d worn gloves, he thought as he hurried away, looking left and right for any sign of Fred. Although it was after eight thirty, the neighborhood glowed, brightly lit by festive Christmas lights that suddenly seemed inappropriate. This is getting serious. Where is she?
“Fred?” he called repeatedly, peering behind hedges and under parked cars. He looked around trash cans and chain link fences. He walked until his nose turned numb, and tucked his chin deep into his jacket. When his toes grew numb, too, he thought, This is taking too long. He leapt into the air and flew off, soaring high above the leafless trees. I don’t care if anybody sees me.
The rush of cold air stung his eyes and made the tips of his ears feel like they were burning. Can’t see! He wiped his eyes and flew on, around the closest streets, then in ever-widening circles. His phone rang and he paused in mid-air and fumbled it out of his pocket, nearly dropping it. It was Lisa, checking in. “No ma’am,” he told her. “Nothing.”
He flew higher and paused again, surveying the houses below, and saw that a few of them had turned off their lights. “Fred!” He yelled. He turned and yelled again “Fred!” Where are you?
He flew back to Fred’s house and landed in her driveway to find Carl talking to Fred’s parents on their front porch stoop.
“See anything?” Larry said as Jamie approached them.
Jamie shook his head, his mouth too numb from the cold to speak.
“Carl,” Lisa said, her voice trembling, her face pale. “What is happening? Where is she?”
Carl exhaled heavily. “I’m gonna go down to the station.” He glanced at his watch. “It’s almost eleven o’clock, and it’s still too soon to file a missing persons report, but I can —”
“Missing persons?” Lisa’s eyes were frantic.
“What?” Larry said. “You think she’s been kidnapped?” Lisa’s legs gave out and she would have fallen if Larry hadn’t grabbed her elbow.
Kidnapped! No! “I’ve got to go back up and find her,” Jamie said, rising from the ground.
Carl grabbed Jamie’s ankle before he could fly away and pulled him back down. “Jamie, stop. Let me handle this. I’m a professional, and you need to get some sleep.”
Jamie settled back on the driveway. “Sleep? How? I couldn’t sleep if I had to.”
“We don’t know that she’s been kidnapped. Go home and try to rest, okay? Don’t you have a final tomorrow?”
“Yeah, but I —”
“No buts, Jamie!” Carl’s voice was firm. “I’ll find Fred. Quit worrying.”
Jamie opened his mouth to object, but changed his mind when he saw the look on his father’s face. “All right, but wake me when you find her.”
* * *
Fred groggily became aware that she was lying on her side, covered by a blanket that smelled of mildew. Her mouth, wrists, and ankles were bound with tape, and she heard the roar of a car motor. Where am I? she thought. What happened? “Mmph!” she said. “Mmph!”
“Rita,” came a voice nearby, “I think she’s awake.”
“Give her some more powder, Cass.”
“What if she’s gotta pee? It’s been almost eight hours.”
“Let her pee, then. Won’t hurt her.”
“It’ll get all over the back seat. You gotta stop.”
“Mmph!” Fred said again. I do have to pee, she realized. Badly.
“Just pull off at the next exit. She can pee by the side of the road. Nobody’ll see us.”
I’m not peeing by the side of the road!
“Damn, Cassandra, let’s just keep going.”
“She could get a bladder infection.”
“Oh, all right.”
Fred felt the car slow down and change directions, then stop. She heard the door open and someone pulled the blanket off of her. The sudden rush of cold fresh air felt wonderful. She raised her head to try to catch of glimpse of the two women, but couldn’t see much because of the darkness.
“How are we going to do this?” Cassandra said, pulling Fred out feet first. “If we cut the tape on her ankles, she might run for it.”
“Lean her back against the car,” Rita said. “She can squat right there. It’s dark enough.”
Fred managed to stand, unsteadily at first, and shook her head firmly, eyeing the tall blonde named Cassandra and the shorter woman with the darker hair, Rita.
“Honey,” Rita said, “if you don’t pee now, you’re gonna have to hold it for another three or four hours. Can you hold it that long?”
Fred shook her head again.
“Lift her dress up,” Cassandra said, “and I’ll help her pull her panties down.”
“Mmph!” Fred grunted and shook her head. This is humiliating.
“Can you get your panties down by yourself?”
Fred nodded and Rita lifted Fred’s dress. Fred leaned back against the car, but paused, giving the two women a hard look.
“I think she don’t want us to watch,” Cassandra said.
They turned their heads, and though Fred’s hands were still bound, she managed to hook her little fingers in her panties. She pulled them down and squatted, leaning back against the car for support. I can’t go! She waited several long moments.
“Hurry up, Grace Mary,” Rita said.
Finally, Fred was able to relax enough to pee. A little splashed on the backs of her calves. Gross! This is so awful. When she finished, she stood and awkwardly wiggled her panties back up. Before she could react, Rita held her open palm up to Fred and blew a powder in her face. The world stared spinning.
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Then more darkness.
* * *
Jamie woke up on the couch to something poking his shoulder. He opened his eyes to see his father standing over him. “Hmm?” Jamie rubbed his eyes. “Fred?”
“Not yet,” Carl said. “I’m gonna get a little shut-eye and head back to the station.”
“What time is it?”
“Three-thirty. I just got home. Larry’s still out searching, but you need to go to bed. Maybe Fred can contact you in a dream.”
“Unh,” was Jamie’s response as he stumbled to the stairs. He paused at the first step and turned back to his father. “Dad, are we gonna find her?”
“Sure. Don’t worry. I’ve already got some officers checking the Interstate for her.”
“Hope you’re right.” He went up to his room and collapsed on the bed without taking off his clothes.
* * *
Rita leaned her elbow on their big table and rested her head on her hand, watching Cassandra sew on the voodoo doll. “Cass, ain’t you got Fred’s hair in there yet?”
Cassandra wore her reading glasses, her tongue poking out of one corner of her mouth, working intently on her task. “It’s hard, Rita. Never sewn a hair before.” She pushed the needle through the head of the doll and held it up. “There. Done. How do like the red yarn I sewed in there, too? Don’t it kinda look like her, red hair and everything?”
“Yeah,” Rita waved a weary hand. “It’s Grace Mary Junior.” She leaned back in her chair, closed her eyes and rolled her head around and groaned. “Now let’s get some sleep.”
“I’m all for that.” Cassandra set the doll on the table and grinned. “But we did it, Rita. We got her!”
“Yeah, we pulled it off. Now comes the hard part.”
“Did you feel her? She’s strong, isn’t she? Even without doin’ the blood bond…I felt her real magic real good. She might even be stronger than Izzy.”
“Doubt that.”
“I dunno, she’s got it…she’s a real witch. Don’t tell me you didn’t feel it, too.”
Rita shrugged. “I felt it. She’s gonna be a doozy. Soon as we get her to do the blood bond, we’ll be a helluva good triad.”
Cassandra nodded and looked across the room. “Funny, though. Why do you think that lady at the school called her Fred?”