by Geof Johnson
“He’s my neighbor.”
“He’s very talented. My grandchildren liked him. The red-headed girl was good, too.”
“Fred.”
“She dances with fire.”
“She’s my neighbor, too.” He wanted to say girlfriend, but he didn’t for some reason.
“You do good magic. Real magic.”
“No,” Jamie smiled. “It’s all just tricks.”
“All but the last one. That was real magic. You didn’t palm the balls. You made them vanish.”
How does he know?
“It’s okay.” He nodded, and as if he read Jamie’s mind, said, “Nobody else could tell. How did you make them do that?”
Jamie looked at him for a moment, hesitating. There was something different about this man. His manner was gentle and polite, but his eyes were knowing. I can’t fool him. He sensed it with certainty. “It’s called translocating. I tell the balls, or ask them, sort of, to go someplace else. I sent them to the volunteer’s pocket.”
“He was surprised, wasn’t he?” His eyes were smiling along with his wide mouth. “Your magic is strong. I can see it.” His face became more serious. “The girl has magic, too.”
Dang. Who is this guy? “Yes. She can visit me in my dreams.”
“A Dream Talker.” He nodded wisely. “I had an older cousin who claimed she could do that, but she never talked to me in my dreams.”
“Fred talks to me a lot.” Or did.
“I heard about what happened to her. I saw it on the news.”
Jamie didn’t answer.
“You will find her. Your magic is too strong.” He held his aged hands in front of his chest and made them into fists about a foot apart, knuckles facing each other. “Her magic and yours are like a magnet and iron.” He gradually brought them closer together until the knuckles touched. “They pull at each other.” He winked. “I feel sorry for whoever stands between you. They might get hurt.”
I’d like to hurt whoever took her.
“Tell me, Magic Man —”
“It’s Jamie.”
“Tell me, Jamie, did you make much money when you did the show at the rez?”
Jamie shook his head. “We always perform for free. My grandmother sets up the shows, and she says it’s important to volunteer. Doing something good for others is one of the best things one can do as a person.”
“You grandmother is wise.”
It was Jamie’s turn to nod. “She sure is.” Jamie took a deep breath and said, “Well, it was nice talking to you, but I need to finish my run.”
“Before you go, would you do some magic for me?”
Ordinarily, Jamie wouldn’t have even considered it. But something made him say, “I guess. What do you want me to do?”
“Anything. But no tricks. Any fool with a magic set can do those.”
Jamie looked around by the fence for a good rock that he could throw and blast, but didn’t see one. I’ll do something different. “Okay, here’s a new one. Watch closely.” Jamie held his hands out and a yellowish shimmer surrounded him. Then he gestured and admired the look of surprise on the old man’s face.
“Where did you go?” the man said, eyes wide.
Jamie dropped his hands and the shield vanished. “It’s an invisibility spell. I worked that one out by myself.”
“Very good! You disappeared completely.” The man applauded and dipped his head in a slight bow. “You just made an old man’s day.” He looked at the gray sky for a moment before turning back to Jamie. “It’s reassuring to know that so much power is under the guidance of a good heart.”
“Yeah, uh, thanks.” He pulled his hood back over his head. “Well, I gotta get going.”
“Goodbye, Jamie, Magic Man,” he said as Jamie trotted back onto the asphalt.
When Jamie was about thirty yards down the road, he thought, I didn’t get his name. He stopped and turned, but the old man was gone. There was no stump, either.
“Huh,” Jamie grunted. “Weird.” He turned and ran home.
* * *
Fred sat in the little pool of light from the bedside lamp, pouring intently over one of the spell books. She looked up, though, when she heard heavy footsteps and a deep male voice out in the hall.
“Bathroom back here?” the voice said, and the bedroom door opened. A tall, heavy-set man stood there. He had long dark hair and a bushy beard, and wore patched blue jeans and a black T-shirt. “Whoa!” His dark eyes widened. “What we got here?”
“Get out!” Fred said.
“Pete, you missed the bathroom,” Fred heard Cassandra say from the living room.
“Who’s this in here?” he turned and said over his shoulder, hand still on the doorknob.
“None of your concern. Hurry up and go to the bathroom and get back out here.”
Pete looked at Fred and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, then grunted and closed the door behind him.
Fred stared at the space where he’d been and felt her stomach tighten. I don’t like the looks of that guy.
* * *
Fred woke in the darkness when she heard her door creak open. “Who’s there?”
“Just ol’ Pete, Darlin’, come to pay you a visit.”
“Get out of my room!” Fred commanded.
“Ah, don’t be so mean, Sweetheart.” She heard heavy footsteps cross the floor. “Cassandra fell asleep on me and I’m all alone.”
Creepy fingers of dread began to tickle her spine. “Well, you can just go back out and mmph!” A massive hand closed over her mouth and her bed sagged as he sat on the edge. A wave of panic surged from deep within. What’s he doing?
“You’re a cute young thing.” He lay down on top of her and she felt the breath squeezed from her lungs. “Bet you’re good in bed.”
Stop! Fred struggled mightily, but to no effect. She could barely move. His enormous weight had her pinned to the mattress, and no one could hear her scream with his beefy hand over her mouth. He put his face next to hers — his breath reeked of alcohol and his beard scratched her cheek— and he groped for the hem of Fred’s nightgown with his free hand. He’s going to rape me!
NO! NO! NO! She got her left arm free and beat him across the back of his head and shoulders, but he didn’t seem to mind. He had her gown up past her waist and was feeling for her panties. She fumbled about frantically for something, anything, to hit him with. Her hand bumped against the empty chamber pot next to her bed and knocked the board off of the top. It clunked to the floor as Fred’s fingers found the rim of the pot. She yanked it up hard and slammed it into his head. Bong! She swung again, harder. Bong! He grunted and pulled his hand from her mouth.
She swung with everything she had and struck him with a deafening clang. He slumped against her and she smacked him one more time for good measure, then waited a moment to make sure he was out. She dropped the pot and gasped, “Help!” but she could barely put any air behind it. He’s gonna suffocate me. It’s like lying underneath a whale.
She managed to work her knee up into his gut and raise his inert mass high enough to get her right arm beneath him. She heaved with all her strength and he rolled off the bed and onto the floor with a massive thud.
“Rita! Cassandra!” she screamed. “Get this guy out of here!”
A minute later, the overhead light flicked on and Cassandra appeared at the door, rubbing her eyes, fully dressed except for her shoes. Rita stood behind her in a nightgown. Cassandra said, “What’s going on?”
Fred pointed to the unconscious body on the floor. “Your biker boyfriend tried to rape me!”
“Hah! He’s a horny one.”
“Get him out of here!” Fred yelled.
Rita walked in and toed Pete’s ribs with her bare foot. “He’s out like a light. Just let him sleep here.”
Fred clenched her fists and shrieked. “Get — this — guy — out — of — here! Now!”
“Okay, okay, calm down. He didn’t mean no harm.” Rita grabbed one ankle
and Cassandra the other, and they began dragging the brute across the floor. “Damn, Pete,” Cassandra said. “You need to go on a diet.” His arms caught in the doorway and they had to fold them across his chest before they could squeeze him through.
“Let’s just leave him out in the hall,” Rita said. “He’s too heavy to take back to your room.”
“No!” Fred said. “He might come back.”
“We’ll give him a little something to make sure he stays out.” Rita let go of his ankle and put her hands on her hips. “You know, Cass, we’re gonna have to give him a forget potion in the morning. We can’t have him blabbin’ about Fred all over town.”
“Let’s worry about it later, Rita. Just give him the knockout powder and let’s go back to bed.”
Oh no, Fred groaned to herself as they turned off the light and closed the door, leaving her alone. He could actually be of some help. He’s the only one who knows I’m here, and now they’re going to make him forget.
“Ahhh!” Fred yelled and flopped back down on the bed, shaking her fists in frustration in the darkness.
But it only took a minute for the seriousness of her near-rape to sink in, her anger turning to fear. Her heart raced and her breath came in short gasps as she clutched the sheet to her chin. That was close. So close. She shut her eyes and took a deep breath, trembling. Jamie, help me.
I’m going to find you, she thought with fierce determination. Tonight.
Chapter 30
He heard her voice in the darkness. “Jamie?”
It’s her! “Fred? Fred, where are you?”
He became aware in a sparsely furnished room, a bedroom. He faced a washstand and a dresser and he was sitting on a bed. Fred was beside him.
“Jamie!” She threw her arms around him and sobbed into his neck, uncontrollably, her shoulders shaking.
“You finally found me,” he said into her hair, stroking her back reassuringly. “You’re alive!” he tried to pull back to look at her face, but she wouldn’t let go. “Oh, Fred…God, I’m so glad to see you. What happened?”
When she finally recovered enough to talk, she let go of his shoulders and took both of his hands in hers. “I was kidnapped by two witches! Two mean, wicked witches! And some man just tried to rape me! And —”
“Rape you?” His mouth dropped and his eyebrows lowered.
“He didn’t, but he almost did, and they’ve got me chained up, and they don’t hardly feed me, and —”
“Hold on, hold on.” He squeezed her hands. “Slow down and tell me everything.”
She looked him in the eyes and a little smile crossed her face. She kissed him quickly and said, “First things first.”
“Okay, we’ll have plenty of time later for more of that. Tell me what happened.”
Fred took a deep breath and recounted her ordeal. When she got to the part where she made her first spell, Jamie nodded. “That’s so cool, Fred. I knew you could do it. You’re a real witch!”
“Yeah, well, it’s not doing me much good right now.” She finished the rest of her story and then they regarded each other silently, still holding hands, basking in the faces that they’d both missed so terribly.
Jamie finally broke the silence. “I don’t like it that they’ve got you chained to a bed.” He narrowed his eyes. “But we’re gonna fix that. We have to get you out of here. Where are you? I can make a doorway and bring you home.”
“That’s just the problem.” Fred pressed her mouth tight. “Those women won’t tell me where we are, and I keep trying to get them to slip up and give it away, but they’re getting better at watching what they say. I guess they’re afraid I might get hold of one of their cell phones and call for help.” She shook her head. “I’m stuck. Nobody knows where I am. Nobody.”
“I’ll talk to my dad and he’ll figure out what to do.” Jamie looked around the room. “What’s out that window?”
“Nothing, as far as I know. I don’t hear anything except birds. No cars or lawnmowers or anything. I guess we’re out in the boonies somewhere.”
“Don’t worry about it. Dad will know what to do. I can’t wait to tell him. I can’t wait to tell everybody.”
“My parents?”
He winced. “It’s bad. Your mom’s having a real hard time right now. Your dad, too.” He looked at his lap as he spoke. “Everybody’s having a hard time. We were starting to think you might be dead.”
“I was afraid of that.”
“But you’re not!” He kissed her again. “You’re alive,” he said softly. “Everybody is going to be so happy. We’ve had tons of people out looking for you. You even made the news.”
“Melanie? And Bryce and Rollie?”
“They’re going crazy, too. They’re searching harder than anybody.”
“Tell them I’m okay. Do it today!”
“It’ll be Christmas morning.”
“Don’t care.”
“I’ll have to explain how I know.”
“Get Bryce and Melanie to do the oath, then. I don’t care what my parents say. I want my friends to know.”
“I’ll do it, then. I think your parents will be in a permissive mood right now.” He chuckled and nodded.
“I want you to tell my mom and dad as soon as you wake up, even if it’s three o’clock in the morning. Tell them! Please?”
“Don’t worry, I will. They won’t mind if I wake them up for this.”
She kissed him again and Jamie said, “Before you go…are you going to be able to find me again in a dream?”
“I can find you anywhere, now, I’m sure. Don’t you worry. You’ll be seeing me every night.”
“Good.” He put his hand to her cheek. “By the way, I met this old Cherokee guy today, and he said there’s a name for what you are. A Dream Talker.”
She frowned. “I kinda like Dream Fairy better.”
“Fine, as long as you can find me. We’re gonna bring you home, Fred.”
“I know.”
* * *
Jamie woke and it was still dark. He sat up and said, “She’s alive!” He threw back the covers and bolted from the bed and out into the hall. He rapped on his parents’ door and shouted, “She’s alive! Wake up! Fred’s alive!”
“Mmm?” he heard his father groan.
“Fred’s alive. She just contacted me in a dream.”
Then he heard his mother shriek, “Yes! Thank God!”
“She wants me to tell her parents right away.”
“Do that,” she said. “They won’t mind. Tell them we’ll be right over.”
Jamie ran back into his room and pulled on his slippers and bath robe, then he scrambled back out the door and flew down the stairs, magically, feet not touching a single step, only pausing at the bottom to push off from the wall to turn the corner that landed him in the front hall. He snatched open the front door and sprinted across the street to Fred’s house.
He rang their doorbell and waited, tapping his foot, his arms wrapped around his chest against the cold, his breath frosting in blue-gray clouds in the light of the street lamp. “Hurry up!” He rang again and beat on the door with his fist.
“All right, I’m coming,” he heard Larry say from inside. “Who is it?”
“Jamie!”
Larry flicked the porch light on and yanked the door open, rubbing his bed-creased face, still in his pajamas. “Is it about Fred?”
A lump suddenly swelled in Jamie’s throat and he couldn’t talk, the surge of emotion too strong. He could only nod.
“She’s alive?”
Jamie nodded again and heard Lisa from the top of the stairs. “Jamie, is that you?”
Larry turned around and shouted. “Fred’s alive! She’s alive, Lisa.”
A sob escaped her as she ran down the stairs, brushing Larry aside and hugging Jamie tightly, crying into his shoulder as hard as Fred had earlier.
Larry grinned and said, “Well, it’s cold. Let’s get inside and close the door. Then you can tell us all a
bout it.”
* * *
Jamie was sitting on the edge of the recliner, relating his encounter with Fred, when he took the cup from Lisa.
“Does everybody have coffee now?” Lisa looked around her living room.
“We’re good, Lisa,” Rachel said, sitting on the couch next to Carl and Larry, everyone still in their robes and slippers.
Lisa smiled as she sat down beside Larry. “It’s still dark out. This is like when you kids used to get us up early on Christmas morning.”
“I don’t mind,” Larry said. “This is worth it.”
Rachel frowned. “I still feel bad for Fred, though. Chained to a bed like an animal!”
“We might be able to do something about that,” Carl said, stroking his chin. “Jamie can learn to pick a lock and teach her how to do it in a dream.”
Jamie shook his head. “That would work if the witches would give her something besides plastic utensils.”
“Still, it’s something to think about. In the meantime, we need to figure out where she is. Next time you see her, ask her to pay attention to how the women are dressed. If they’re wearing bulky sweaters, they’re up north somewhere. If they’re wearing shorts, they could be in the South or in California. He tapped his cheek for a moment. “The birds…can she recreate bird songs in he dreams…accurately? Then we might be able to tell what part of the country she’s in by the types of birds she hears. You can copy sounds, too, right?”
“Yeah, I have an app for that.” Jamie laughed. “A magic app. But she can make the bird sounds, I’m sure, among other things. She can make butterflies that look so real you can’t tell the difference. You can feel them on your finger.”
“She can do that?” Larry asked.
“She’s amazing. And she thinks that she’s a really powerful witch now, way stronger than the two that are holding her prisoner. She’s doing spells that normally takes a triad to make.”
“Oh great.” Larry rubbed his forehead and closed his eyes. “The cat’s out of the bag now. She’ll never want to stop doing magic.”
“It was bound to happen anyway, Mr. Callahan. She can’t help what she is.”
Lisa stood and walked to the dark window, fingering the curtains as she spoke. “I don’t like this business of the triad thing and the blood bond. Tell Fred she absolutely must not do that. We could lose her forever.” She turned and looked at Jamie, her face lined with concern.