His eyes gleam gold for a second. “I saved your sister and took care of your ghost. Now where are my potions?”
Helga squeaks, “They weren’t in there?”
Brimstone quirks an eyebrow but says nothing.
Helga moves her arm up to shield herself as she stammers, “I did make your potions.”
He outstretches his hand. “Give them to me.”
Helga starts to fish around in her apron’s many pockets for the vials. She stops when she hears Agnes gasp for air and the medics yell at everyone to back off to give her some room. Helga turns to see Ursa smiling through teary eyes and Jay mouthing, “Thank you,” up to the sky while his hands are lifted in prayer form.
She glances over at Agnes with the oxygen mask over her nose and mouth taking slow breaths. A warm feeling fills Helga’s chest as the tension releases, and she forgets about Brimstone. She makes her way to Agnes paying no attention to the medics telling her to back off.
She hugs Agnes for a while and then is pulled away by the medic. “Did you not hear me, young lady? She needs time to recover. So, hold off on the hugs, will ya?”
Helga replies, “I will hug my sister if I want to hug her. No one can tell me not to hug her.”
Ursa touches Helga’s shoulder, saying, “Helga, let Agnes recover and leave the medic be . . . He’s just doing his job.”
Helga sighs, “Fine.” She looks around the area and sees that the crowd of people are leaving.
The police are slowly moving out. The ambulance that Max is in already left and there is another ambulance tending to Higgins. Over at the shop door she sees the firemen shove the door closed and plaster yellow caution tape over it.
The medic comes over to Helga and Ursa, informing them, “Look, we gotta take your sister to the hospital. We have to watch her overnight since she was down for so long. We are also gonna take that fella over there too. He’s got a terrible lump on his head, so we’re worried about a concussion.” The medic gestures over at Higgins and asks, “Do you know him? He says he knows you.”
Helga and Ursa blanch a little and reply, “Yeah, that’s Mr. Higgins. He’s an inspector.”
The medic rubs the stubble on his chin, “Hmm, well, okay. We gotta head out now. So, do you want to ride with your sister?”
Helga looks back at the shop to see Brimstone leaning against the window. His eyes glimmer gold as they narrow to tiny slits. He lifts a portion of his upper lip to bare one of his fangs. He taps his wrist indicating time is running out.
Ursa shakes Helga on the shoulder, breaking her out of a trance. “Do you want to ride with Agnes to the hospital or not?”
Moving out from under Ursa’s hand, Helga shakes her head, saying, “No, I have some things to take care of here. You go on, and I’ll meet you there.”
Ursa smiles weakly. “Okay.” She reaches into her apron pocket and pulls out her phone, offering it to Helga. “I’ll call you when I know the room number.”
Helga takes the phone from Ursa and says, “Thanks.”
She watches the medics place Agnes on a gurney and escort her to the ambulance with Ursa trailing close behind. The medics move the gurney into the ambulance and help Ursa up into the truck. Another medic closes the doors and then heads up front. The lights and sirens come to life as the ambulance drives off. The other ambulance with Higgins has already left.
Helga takes another glance around the area.
All of the emergency crew is gone. The only people left are Jay, Brimstone, and herself. Jay, looking frantic, is busy scanning the area. It occurs to her that she has not seen the fox since she met up with Brimstone.
She approaches Jay to ask, “Where’s Ruby?”
Jay gives her a sideways glance and presses his lips together, admitting, “Ursa lost ahold of her, and Ruby ran off. The crowd and sirens spooked her.”
“Hhnn,” Helga groans, “that’s not good.”
“You’re telling me,” Jay says, then grumbles, and continues to dart his eyes back and forth.
Brimstone appears before both of them. “Am I interrupting?”
The two jump, and Helga places her hand over her chest. “No,” she breathes.
“Good.” Brimstone outstretches his hand, saying, “The potions, Helga, as promised.” His fingers beckon Helga to place them in his palm.
Jay looks between Helga and Brimstone. He questions, “What potions?”
Helga gives Jay a wide-eyed look with a slight shake of her head as if to beg he be quiet.
“She doesn’t have any potions,” Jay informs Brimstone, “so back off.”
Brimstone sneers at Jay, “You better back off, boy. You have no idea to whom you are talking.”
“I don’t care,” Jay declares, pushing forward and puffing his chest out.
Brimstone hisses as his eyes glow with a golden hue.
Helga looks between the two and takes the vials from her apron. She breaks in between them, barking, “Knock it off.”
Jay stares Brimstone down but takes a step back. Brimstone growls but takes a step back as well. She offers up the vials to Brimstone whose eyes brighten up. Their golden hue starts to fade as he smiles and takes them from Helga’s hand.
Helga looks back at Jay who is giving her a look of disbelief. She shakes her head indicating that he say nothing about it. Brimstone starts to walk away with the vials in hand. As he is about to turn the corner, he stops and frowns.
The sound of buzzing is heard as Helga feels the vibrations of the phone in her apron pocket. She plucks it out and is about to swipe to answer.
Brimstone is by her side in an instant. “Don’t answer that . . .” he hisses.
Helga looks at the number but does not recognize it. “It might be Ursa at the hospital. I have to answer it.”
“No,” he declares and paws for the phone, but Helga moves it away.
She sticks her tongue out at him as she swipes to answer the call.
“Hello?”
A sultry voice replies, “Where’s Brimstone?”
12
Another Call
The sultry voice repeats, “Where . . . is . . . Brimstone?”
Helga tries to answer but only squeaks.
“Am I talking to a mouse?” the caller questions. “I really do not like repeating myself, but I will if I must. I will say this one more time, where is Brimstone?”
With a dry mouth as though filled with sand and cotton, Helga answers, “He’s not here.”
“Ah, the mouse talks. It lies, but it does talk,” the sultry voice muses.
“He’s not here,” Helga says again with more vigor.
“Yes, darling, that’s nice, but I don’t believe you,” the sultry voice chimes.
At this point Helga huffs and then shouts into the phone, “I don’t know what I need to do to make you understand, but Brimstone ain’t here!”
“Hmmm,” she murmurs, “why can’t I believe you, Helga?”
Helga blinks twice at the phone and then whispers, “Lady Ava?”
Brimstone makes another move towards the phone, but Helga takes a sidestep avoiding his reach. Jay starts to help Helga avoid Brimstone by getting in between the two as she continues her conversation with Lady Ava.
“Ah, yes, dear, you do take quite the time catching on,” Lady Ava replies, “So, do you have my Brimmy or not?”
Helga pinches her mouth together, maintaining, “No.”
Lady Ava responds, “Mmm, I smell a lie. You’re not very good at lying, dear.”
“I don’t have your—” Helga tries to continue when the phone is seized out of her hand as Brimstone takes hold of it.
She wrestles with Brimstone trying to take it back as he grins the whole time. Jay tries to help but gets in the way. Helga flails her arms at Brimstone while he holds her at arm’s length. She accidentally punches Jay in the face, and he staggers backwards.
She hears Lady Ava call out of the phone, “Hello? What’s going on? Are you still there? I can hear you b
reathing.”
Brimstone’s eyes glitter as he pulls the phone close to his ear. He opens his mouth to respond when Helga knocks him squarely in the jaw. His eyes roll backward as he falls to the ground. He exhales loudly as he lands hard with the air being forced from his lungs. Helga snatches the phone out of his hand. She watches his form go limp as she brings the phone to her ear.
“What was that?” Lady Ava demands.
“Nothing,” Helga responds.
The tension in Lady Ava’s voice becomes strained as she responds, “Liar!” She seethes, “I know that Brimstone is there, and I know about your little plan with him.”
Helga stays silent as she listens to Lady Ava continue, “I will give you until sundown to give up Brimstone. Once sundown hits, I will release my hounds to hunt down your traitorous behind.” She breathes as her next words smolder over the phone with a crackling sound, “Until sundown.” The line goes dead.
Staring at the phone, Helga lets her jaw drop. Her eyes widen when she looks around and then up at the sky with the foreboding raincloud threatening to let loose at any minute.
“Dang it,” she says scowling and then kicks a rock across the parking lot. She looks down at Brimstone lying on the ground unconscious. She can see Jay standing off to the side keeping quiet. Helga bends down and searches Brimstone’s pockets.
“What are you doing?” Jay asks Helga.
“Getting my potions back, duh,” Helga scoffs.
Jay says, “Oh. What did that lady, Lady Ava, on the phone want?”
She continues to rummage through Brimstone’s pockets until she finds the vials. “Ah-ha!” She exclaims and then places them back into her apron pocket.
Jay asks again, “What happened? What did the lady want? Why were you saying no a lot?”
Helga stands up dusting her hands off and stares Jay down. “You certainly ask a lot of questions.”
“Hey, all I’m asking is what all that ‘no’ nonsense was about, that’s all,” Jay argues.
She sighs, “That lady on the phone is someone you don’t want to cross. Lady Ava is far more powerful than you or I.” Her toe nudges Brimstone, and she adds, “As you can see, she even has a demon under her control.” She sighs again, “Well, partially under her control.”
Jay’s eyes narrow into slits as he scowls, “What do you mean ‘partially under her control’? And how come I’ve never heard of this ‘Lady Ava’?”
Helga pauses for a second before she answers, “Why does it even matter? Look, we gotta get out of here before sundown.”
“Why? What’s gonna happen at sundown?”
A few raindrops start to fall making marks on the cement parking lot. Off in the distance thunder rumbles.
“Bad stuff if we’re still here.” She scans the area and then bends down dragging Brimstone over to the sidewalk area. “We gotta leave before sundown,” she grunts while pulling Brimstone across the pavement. “Where’s your car?”
He exclaims as his tone becomes higher with each word, “Bad stuff? What bad stuff?”
She pulls Brimstone further along the pavement and then stands up to stretch her back. “Ah, not sure if you really want to know. Seriously we just need to leave.” She hesitates for a moment and asks, “Err, you wouldn’t happen to know what time sunset is, would you?”
“At 6:15 p.m.,” Jay responds, “Why?”
“That’s when she’ll release the hounds.” Helga takes a peek at the time on Ursa’s cellphone. It’s 4:45 p.m. She pockets the phone again. She slowly looks up at Jay to say, “We gotta get going.”
Rain begins to fall harder onto the pavement.
“Look, are you going or not?” Helga demands as she taps her foot, waiting for Jay to answer.
He rubs the back of his neck taking a few glances at Helga seeming unsure of what to say next. Finally he replies, “What about your sisters? You can’t just leave them behind.”
“They’ll be fine,” she says, waving her hand at him, “besides, I think they’ll be better off without me.”
“How?” He cocks his head to one side and spreads his hands. “How will they be better off without you?”
She turns her head away, admitting, “Well, for one, they won’t have me around causing trouble.”
“What about Ruby? You said that you would fix her. Was that a lie too?” he shouts raising his arms into the air.
“She’s gone! There’s nothing I can do to save your friend, Jay!” Helga shouts back.
“You didn’t even try!”
“I didn’t have time! You know that we had other issues going on!” she screams, stomping her feet and grabbing her hat, pulling it down about her ears.
“But you had time to create those stupid potions for some shady dude who works for some crazy lady!” He turns his back on Helga crossing his arms. “I wish I never met you and your sisters. My life would probably be better off, and I would still have my friend Ruby.”
Lightning cracks overhead with thunder rumbling not too far behind. They both look up watching the water rush down over the gutters above. The two remain silent as more lightning crackles again, flashing bright lights over the area. Brimstone groans and moves a little before becoming quiet again. Jay turns his head to give Helga a stern look and darts his eyes over at Brimstone.
“What about that dude?” Jay tosses his head towards Brimstone lying on the ground. “You gonna leave him behind too?”
Helga takes another look at the time, 4:55 p.m. She glares back at Jay, asking, “Are you done?”
He replies, “I guess so,” and then speaks softly, “I just don’t understand why you can’t call in the Order of Magic to help.”
“I can’t,” she moans, “I can’t ask them for help.”
“Why can’t you?” He leans forward squinting his eyes.
“Because,” she states, tossing her hand in the air, “My record with them is not in the best shape right now.”
“So?” he asks.
“Soooo, it means that if I call them up right now, they might arrest me.” She sighs and sits down on the wet curb. The rain splashes onto her exposed legs and feet.
He asks, “Why would they arrest you? You haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Yes, yes, I have. You know about Mr. Higgins. Your friend. The health inspector.” She juts her thumb back at the shop, continuing, “The shop. An older lady from this morning. I have committed many crimes involving magic and other things.” She sighs even more heavily as her voice starts to crackle. She moves her arm to wipe her nose. “Magic never solves anything . . . It only makes things worse.”
Jay watches Helga’s head sink into her arms as she starts to sob. Then he gets down and places his arm around her shoulder. “Okay then. Where to?”
She blinks a few tears out of her eyes as she sits up and looks at Jay. The squeezing pain in her chest eases as she wipes her nose again with a resounding snort. Jay grimaces but stays quiet, waiting for Helga to say something. She gives him a warm smile and looks back at Brimstone. “We gotta take him with us.”
Jay pulls back, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, didn’t that crazy lady ask for her Brimstone back? Why on earth do you want to bring him with us?”
“Because we’re better off to have him with us,” Helga starts to reason.
“No,” Jay responds, “Heck no, there is no way we’re bringing psycho mama’s boyfriend along for the ride.”
“Do you know what will happen if she ever catches up with us, and we don’t have him?” Helga asks.
“Do YOU know what will happen if we DO have him with us and she catches us?” Jay asks, as his voice raises an octave.
Helga gets up and walks over to Brimstone. “Look, I would rather have him with us, just in case, instead of not having him with us,” she grunts as she drags him and then stops. “Where’s your car?”
Jay points to Helga’s left and pulls his keys from his pocket. He mashes a button and a grey SUV with silver metallic trim beeps a few times and then roars to
life. The lights on the SUV turn on with the windshield wipers going back and forth.
Helga takes in the SUV and then looks back at Jay to ask, “That’s YOUR car? That is so awesome! I thought that you would be driving a beater or some other relic from the ‘70s.”
He shrugs as he rises heading over to where Helga is dragging Brimstone. He bends down and places his hands under Brimstone’s arms and nods for Helga to get his legs. Helga hurries and grabs ahold of his legs. They count to three and then pick him up with a bit of a struggle.
They manage to get him over to the SUV when Jay tells Helga, “Put him down. We’ll put him in the back.”
The rain is coming down harder than before, and Helga’s hat is starting to sag from all of the water weight. She nods, and they place Brimstone down on the wet ground. Jay rummages around in his pocket and hits another button that opens up the back door. He bends down and picks up Brimstone with Helga grabbing the legs again.
The rain streams down Jay’s face as he focuses on getting Brimstone into the back of his SUV. He barely fits in as they close the hatch. The two get into the running SUV and put on their seatbelts once they are seated. Jay puts the SUV in reverse and pulls out of the parking space. He then shifts the SUV into drive. He looks over at Helga who is looking down at her feet with her mouth pinched into a frown.
“Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Yes,” she whispers and glances at the time again, 5:20 p.m.
They might make it out of town. With luck, Lady Ava will follow Helga and leave her sisters alone. Helga smiles weakly and continues to look down at her soaked shoes as her hat drops more water onto the floor of the SUV.
Jay asks, “Where to?”
“Athens,” she mumbles.
Jay turns right onto the road and makes his way to the highway that leads to Athens, Georgia.
The sound of the rain falling is the only thing they hear as they drive along with the constant whir of the windshield wipers. The defroster hums as it keeps the windows from fogging up.
Jay reaches over to the radio to turn it on when Helga smacks his hand away. “I really don’t want to listen to anything right now.”
Potion of the Hound: Mystical Mishaps Series Book 1 Page 15