Spell of the Ball (8 Magical Halloween Reads)

by Deanna Chase

  I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. So, it’s not a vampire. That leaves a witch. But why? What’s the goal? Let’s say the girls have some sort of magical ability. Maybe that’s what the witch is after?”

  Corbin shook his head. “I’ve seen a witch take another’s power. It’s a spell. It doesn’t drain their life.”

  That’s right. Jessica had her magic taken away when she was possessed. She was a little broken, but not dying. “This has to have something to do with Halloween,” I said more to myself than him. It was the only angle we hadn’t explored.

  “Why are you dismissing the possibility of this being demonic?” Corbin pushed himself off the wall. “There are plenty of demons who could pull off something like this just for shits and giggles.”

  “If anyone would recognize a demonic attack, it would be Olivia. She wouldn’t have passed it on to me.” I started walking again. This shouldn’t be so hard.

  Corbin tucked his hands in his pockets and didn’t say a word as we headed toward the end of the block.

  A delicious and wonderful scent wafted toward me. Food. I slipped my necklace back on, grabbed Corbin by the front of his shirt, and dragged him into a twenty-four hour diner. After I ordered a couple dinners and an appetizer, he narrowed his eyes and leaned forward.

  “Why are we here?”

  “I can’t think when I’m hungry.”

  “Well, you ordered enough to feed a battalion. Tell me exactly what’s happening.”

  “Nightmares then coma then rapid aging then death.”

  He folded his hands on the table. “Like they are having their life force drained.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Which is why you thought vampire.”

  I nodded. The waitress brought over my mozzarella sticks. I picked up a crispy golden morsel and scooped up marinara with it. Mmmmm. So good. Virginia’s father’s question popped back into my head. What do nightmares have to do with anything? Witches and vampires couldn’t cause bad dreams. That was usually saved for…I had been looking at this all wrong. “It’s the dreams. We’ve been looking at the end results and not where it started. All of these girls had bad dreams.”

  Corbin tilted his head back. “I told you it was a demon.”

  I shook my head. “No. It’s mara.”

  “I haven’t met her,” he said.

  “It’s not a person. Mara means nightmare. It’s an evil spirit that brings nightmares and feeds off fear. What if it found a way to keep people in their nightmares? It’s weakening them so they can’t wake up, and it never has to stop feeding. In fact, I don’t think it ever intended for any of them to die, but the bodies are weakening and aging rapidly.”

  “Even if that’s right, why now? Why hasn’t this spirit been doing this for centuries?” he asked.

  “I don’t know. Maybe the Abyss isn’t as stable as it once was. Maybe it’s the time of year. The veil is thinner and trapping them is easier. Either way, we can stop it.” I grinned and ate the last mozzarella stick.

  “I will never again underestimate the power food has over you,” he said. “If this mara thing lost one food source, won’t it look for another?”

  My plate clattered to the floor as I raced out of the restaurant. Of course it would want a replacement, and I had left Jessica, already weakened, there for the taking.

  Chapter 6

  My wheels squealed to a stop in front of the hospital and I raced inside. People stared as I ran through the lobby toward the stairs. I had just reached Virginia’s room when someone spoke.

  “I thought you might show up here,” a man said. “Can I see some ID?”

  I glanced to my right and there was the police officer from earlier. “Who are you?” I asked.

  “I asked first,” he said, positioning himself slightly more in front of the doorway.

  “I’m sorry. I really don’t have time for this.” I pushed passed him and into the room.

  Jessica was leaned back in the chair, head lolling, mouth open. I shook her, but she didn’t open her eyes. I shook her harder, still nothing.

  “Ma’am, you need to step away,” the cop said. He had his gun pulled and pointed at me.

  “You don’t understand what’s happening,” I said.

  “Why don’t you come with me and explain it?”

  Corbin silently slipped into the room behind the officer. With a graze of his hand over the cop’s neck, the man crumbled to the floor. Corbin let him fall.

  “Hey,” I said.

  “He’ll survive,” he said, staring at Jessica. “She might not.”

  I nodded. “I need to get in.”

  “How do you get into someone else’s dream?” he asked, his gaze moving to Virginia. “She’s close to death now.”

  “Olivia, I need your help,” I muttered.

  Moments later she appeared, surveying the room with a frown. “Oh, no.”

  “Can you bring them out?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “I can’t interfere. You know that.”

  “Fine. Then put me in. I know you can do that. Put me in the dream and I’ll intervene.”

  Her hands clenched at her sides.

  A wave of anger crashed over me. “You sent me here. You told me to talk to the coven and that got Jessica involved. We’re all here because of you. You can’t stay impartial when you’re already this involved,” I yelled.

  Olivia took a deep breath. “Sit down, Femi,” she said calmly.

  I dragged another chair next to Jessica’s and plopped down. “Put. Me. In.”

  “Remember it’s a dream world. Things might not be as they seem. And you are in someone else’s dream, making everything more bizarre.” Her blue green eyes stared hard into mine. “I can’t stay to bring you back out and you won’t be able to wake yourself up.” She glanced at Corbin. “Can you make sure she gets out? I wouldn’t leave her in for more than fifteen minutes.”

  He nodded. “If she trusts me to do it.”

  “Do it,” I said. I promised I’d protect Jessica and there was no way I was going to let her down. I didn’t care what the cost was, even if it meant trusting a vampire.

  Olivia placed one hand on Jessica’s arm and reached out with her other arm, dragging fingers down my face. My eyes closed as she said, “Shhhhh.”

  Everything went black.

  ***

  Thick oily smoke choked me as I gasped for air. I couldn’t see even inches in front of my face. The hacking cough tore at my lungs as I dropped to the ground, hoping to get underneath the smoke. But the sludge was just as bad on the ground as it was up high. I had to move or I’d die.

  I crawled forward not knowing what direction I was going, but I had to take a chance. Something clamped down on my ankle. Heat seeped through the leather. I kicked my foot back and lurched forward with all of my strength, but the further I went, the more burning hands grabbed at my legs, dragging me back.

  My head smacked against something hard. I pressed my hands to it and felt my way up. A door. Lungs stinging, I shoved my way inside. The hands hit and pushed at the door as I pressed it shut with my back. Even when it was latched and locked, the scratching continued.

  When my coughing ceased, I took in my surroundings. The house was old and formerly grand, not exactly shabby, but aged and worn. A long hallway stretched before me, with doorways on each side going all the way down. Olivia’s words echoed in my mind. I was in a dream and nothing was as it seemed. Who knew where those doors actually went and I didn’t have time to find out. In about ten minutes Corbin would wake me up and if I hadn’t found Jessica, Virginia, and Megan, they would never get escape.

  “Jessica,” I yelled, but it came out a whisper. “Jessica,” I tried again, louder. I could barely hear myself. “Son of a bitch,” I said under my breath and it came out as a shout.

  “Jessica,” I whispered, heading down the hallway. The further I went, the longer the hallway seemed until I found a staircase to my left. A bright neon arrow pointed up. It could have
been a trap, hell, it probably was, but not for me. I was the uninvited guest to this party and wherever this crazy dream led the others was exactly where I wanted to be. I took the stairs two at a time until I was on the third floor. The silence was deafening, but there was only one room to check.

  I pushed the door open and a blast of sunshine hit me. I stepped out into a clean, well-kept neighborhood with brightly colored houses and green lawns. Children rode their bicycles down the street and the smell of barbecue drifted through the breeze. It was neither hot nor cold here, but there was something off about the whole place. Sterile.

  The door behind me disappeared. Now there was just a house. It was cute and cottage-like with robin egg blue paint and navy blue trim, complete with a white picket fence.

  A man stared at me as he walked down the sidewalk. Okay, so I understood the nightmare thing, but what the hell was this? Suburbia wasn’t exactly frightening. I did the only thing I could do and followed my nose as the delicious scent continued to waft toward me.

  The house was large and white, the only white house in the whole neighborhood. It stood tall in the center and seemed to be the place everyone was headed. All eyes turned to me as I walked up the sidewalk and into the backyard. A large bonfire blazed in the center of the yard, people merrily chatting around it. I scanned the faces for Jessica, but she wasn’t there. My heart started beating a little faster. What if she never went through that door at all and now I was trapped here?

  More and more people stared. Some even started coming toward me.

  “Help us,” Jessica’s voice yelled. Even though it was hoarse, it was still recognizable.

  I pushed through the crowd that had formed around me as they grabbed and pulled at my clothing. In the back corner of the yard was a cage with rusted iron bars. And inside the cage, Jessica shook the bars, shouting at the surrounding people. There was another girl huddled in a ball in the corner and one lying on the ground not moving.

  I threw elbows at the people in my way as I ran to the cage.

  “Femi, thank God. They’re going to eat us,” Jessica said with wide eyes and sweeping arm movements. “They’re going to barbecue us. Those sick—”

  I shook my head. “No one is going to eat you. This is a dream. The mara needs your fear. It’s only a dream. Take deep breaths and try to remember everything that has happened. Does any of it make sense?”

  Jessica frowned and looked down, shaking her head.

  “Remember Chicago. Remember Katrina and Leslie making me this necklace.” I showed her the necklace. “All of that was real. This isn’t. Do you even remember how you got here?”

  She shook her head, but her breathing slowed. “I was in the hospital with her.” She pointed at the huddled girl. “I fell asleep.”

  “Yes,” I said and the world around us faded a bit. “Keep going.”

  “Virginia,” Jessica said. “She’s in a coma.” She blinked and looked up at me. “This isn’t real.”

  “No, it’s not. I need you to help me.”

  She nodded. “What can I do?”

  The bars faded enough that I could walk through them. “Go talk to Megan. Get her to believe that this is a dream. It’s the only way to fight the mara. It only has power here in this world.”

  I headed for Virginia. Her hands were pressed over her ears and her eyes were squeezed shut. I pried her arms down. “I met your father Jerry. He’s very worried about you,” I told her.

  She whimpered as tears streamed down her face.

  “All you have to do is wake up, Virginia. Just wake up. Pam has been with you every day.”

  She opened her eyes one at a time. “Who are you?” she whispered.

  “I’m here to help. Stand up.” I offered her a hand.

  Slowly she reached out and took it. The world around us faded even more. All that was left was the plot of land we stood on and all around us was nothingness. “How do I wake up?”

  I hadn’t really considered that. What always woke me up from a dream? Falling. “If this works, tell Corbin to wake Jessica up,” I said just before I pushed her over the edge and into the blackness. She disappeared, but a scream ripped through the air—but it wasn’t a human scream.

  I went to Jessica and Megan who had been worse off than Virginia. Jess was shaking her. “Megan, wake up. It’s just a dream. Megan.”

  Megan’s eyes fluttered but didn’t open.

  “That one is mine,” a man’s voice rumbled behind us. “Go ahead. Throw her off the side too. She won’t escape. She still believes.”

  I recognized him immediately. He was the cop who had stared at us at the Mailors’ house, then was waiting for me at the hospital. Corbin had knocked him out.

  “Sorry, but your vampire friend isn’t going to be able to help you,” he sneered.

  “You’re the mara?”

  “That’s a very old word. I much prefer to think of myself as the sandman.” He moved toward us, slowly and deliberately.

  “Go over the edge,” I told Jessica, readying myself for a fight.

  She ignored me and slapped Megan, hard. “Wake up,” she shouted at her.

  As the man came closer, his appearance changed. He looked more and more like my mother. I smiled, landing a shoe to her face. My mother was the last image that would stop me from kicking this spirit’s ass.

  It shook off the kick and my mother’s appearance, looking back at me as Baker. Not as he was now, but as he had been before. My friend.

  It’s not real, I repeated over and over again as he grabbed my arm and flung me out of the way, almost over the edge. I scrambled to my feet, launching myself at him, but all of my movements slowed down. The harder I tried, the slower I went until I could barely lift a leg.

  He continued toward Jessica and Megan, changing shapes again, becoming Devin.

  Jessica stopped moving, dropping Megan’s head back to the ground. She shook her head. “No. I didn’t mean…It wasn’t me…”

  Devin reached an arm toward her. “You killed me,” she said. “I would have done anything for you and you killed me.”

  Jessica’s face crumpled as she buried it in her hands.

  “No,” I yelled, trying harder to get to them. Yelling. Earlier when I yelled it came out a whisper. What if…I relaxed completely and took a slow measured step forward. It worked. I was moving again, but it was too late.

  The mara’s hand was on Jessica’s shoulder—I’d be damned if I called it sandman, like it wanted—and even I cringed as Devin’s face turned back and smiled at me. Jessica opened one eye and gave me the slightest nod. Then she grabbed the mara’s wrist and yanked it toward the edge where she teetered back and forth with it until I kicked it over the side.

  The island we stood on started to crumble and collapse around us.

  “Megan,” Jessica yelled over the noise.

  I grabbed her hand and pinched her arm as hard as I could. The land beneath our feet disappeared and we all fell.

  Chapter 7

  Corbin was staring at his hands in the destroyed hospital room when I opened my eyes. The blinds were bent and barely hanging on. The curtain was torn down. Chairs were broken and most of the lights were too. It didn’t even take half a second to know it had worked. I turned toward Jessica. She was rubbing her temples, very much awake.

  “It worked,” I said.

  “Who are you people?” Virginia asked, looking a bit frightened. “I’ve already called the police.”

  A split second later, Corbin had all three of us in the hallway and was pushing us along. “Don’t walk too fast, but it’s time to get out of here,” he said.

  “What happened in there?” Jessica asked.

  “Vampires don’t dream,” Corbin said.

  “You turn into rage balls instead?” I asked, picturing the room again.

  He sighed. “We hallucinate.”

  I laughed the rest of the way out of the hospital. Outside Corbin nodded at me. “As always, it’s been…trying on my patience.
Until next time, Femi.” He gave me a half bow then glanced at Jessica. “Selene doesn’t need to hear about any of this. Understood?”

  Jessica nodded and he was gone in a blink. “You know hospitals have security cameras.”

  I nodded. “It will be taken care of.” We climbed into my car. “You were pretty good back there. You didn’t back down and you thought fast on your feet. You can be my partner anytime.”

  She smiled. “I didn’t do too bad, did I? And I’ll make it home in time for Halloween.”

  “I thought you weren’t celebrating this year.”

  She buckled her seatbelt. “I didn’t want to. Losing my magic was like losing a piece of who I am. I will always miss it, but I don’t need it to remember the dead and that’s what Halloween is really about. Plus I figure I owe it to them to keep fighting. Thank you for letting me come with you, Femi. I needed this.” She took a deep breath, looking far less tired than she had earlier. “I’m starving. You want stop and get something?”

  I started the car. “When have I ever turned down food?”

  Click here for Hex the Halls, our bewitching holiday anthology. Release date: Nov 17th.

  About the Author

  Many authors claim to have known their calling from a young age. Liz Schulte, however, didn’t always want to be an author. In fact, she had no clue. Liz wanted to be a veterinarian, then she wanted to be a lawyer, then she wanted to be a criminal profiler. In a valiant effort to keep from becoming Walter Mitty, Liz put pen to paper and began writing her first novel. It was at that moment she realized this is what she was meant to do. As a scribe she could be all of those things and so much more.

  When Liz isn’t writing or on social networks she is inflicting movie quotes and trivia on people, reading, traveling, and hanging out with friends and family. Liz is a Midwest girl through and through, though she would be perfectly happy never having to shovel her driveway again. She has a love for all things spooky, supernatural, and snarky. Her favorite authors range from Edgar Allen Poe to Joseph Heller to Jane Austen to Jim Butcher and everything in between.

  Liz would love to hear from you