by Deanna Chase
“Pirate. Hurry up. Do your thing. Grandma will want to leave sooner rather than later,” I said, as I caught her out of the corner of my eye. She’d chucked her Freezoni and jogged toward us with a hotdog wrapper flapping out of her pocket and the look on her face I was coming to dread. Shadows gathered in the skies above the QuikTrip.
Pirate sniffed furiously at a clump of dried grass. “Hold the phone, Lizzie. You guys eat hotdogs while I get dull, dry dog food. And now you rush me in the john.”
“Four pixies,” Grandma called out before stooping over to catch her breath, “back by the beef jerky. Two more by the weenie machine. Let’s move, people!”
Sweet heaven. Pixies? She might as well have told me she’d spotted the Easter Bunny.
Pirate’s head popped up from a clump of wild daisies. “Don’t pressure me. I can’t stand pressure.” He circled twice. “Oh look, now I’m all locked up.”
Grandma and I made tracks for the bike at Pump 6 while I tried to wrap my head around our newest supernatural terror. “So pixies are bad?”
“They report to the imps. I thought we’d keep you under the radar, least ‘til we sharpened you up.”
“Maybe they didn’t see you,” I said, watching the convenience store.
“I think they were looking for us. First Xerxes, now this. They must really want you.”
“That’s not comforting.”
She turned to me as we reached her bike. “I will protect you. But I’m not going to lie to you about the danger.”
I actually appreciated that.
“Wait.” I gripped her arm. “You smell something?”
She locked eyes with me. “Open yourself up, Lizzie. What are your powers telling you?”
A faint trace of sulfur floated past. And what else? Burned hair. It smelled like evil. I didn’t know what my powers had to say, but my instincts were telling me to run. “Pirate, now!”
For once, he listened. I stuffed Pirate into the baby carrier while Grandma reached for a Smuckers jar. She unscrewed it, revealing a leafy-looking sludge.
She yanked the top off of her silver snake ring. “Here.” She forced the severed cobra head into my free hand. Its emerald eyes twinkled under the fluorescent lights of the gas station. Protruding from the ring, which was now basically a snake neck, was a very small, very sharp looking needle. Grandma plunged it into her chest.
I couldn’t believe it. “What are you doing?”
She winced as it pierced the flesh above her heart. I seized her arm as she flicked one, two, three drops of blood into the jar.
“I’m saving our butts.” She took the snake head and snapped it back onto her ring. Dark, wet blood stained her Kiss My Asphalt T-shirt. “Blood. It’s a small death. Makes the spell stronger.” She braced the Smuckers jar between her thighs and drew on her helmet. “We’re gonna to need an ass load of magic to get out of this.”
“Ohhh squirrels!” Pirate struggled against the baby carrier, his legs automatically giving chase.
Not squirrels. My voice caught in my throat. Three—no—at least five shadowy creatures slinked toward us. I scrambled for my helmet, if only to whack them with it. They curled around the gas pumps and past the only other car at the pumps, a white Chevy Nova. “Help!” I called, hoping like heck the Nova belonged to an exotic animal wrangler.
“Pipe down. Nobody can see the imps but us.”
Imps?
Lovely. I’d have to thank Grandma for opening my eyes to the wonderful world of magical creatures. Sweat pooled under my arms and chest. The imps’ congested breathing grew more and more excited as they drew closer. Purple eyes glowed from under dark, furry brows. They had weasel-like faces and the bodies of thick, hastily constructed people. Dark hair clung to their bent frames.
“Confudi!” Grandma tossed the Smuckers jar and it shattered between two of them. The air radiated for a split second and the creatures screeched.
The imps retreated as fast as they’d appeared. Yow. I let myself breathe again. “You’ve gotta teach me about those jars,” I said. Maybe I’d try something with a SoBe bottle or two.
Grandma’s eyes widened. “Move!” She shoved both of us against a gas pump and I felt a wave of energy crackle past.
I spun to face her, Pirate dangling between us. “What was that?”
Huge wings beat a blue streak above us. I looked skyward and dread swelled inside me. A monstrous eagle with the body of a lion circled above the convenience store. Big as a truck, it screeched and displayed feathers of red, purple, green, blue. Impossible. Oh begonias. After today, who was I to even think that?
“The Phantom Menace!” Pirate’s legs clambered for him. “You coming back for more? Shake your tail feather this way. I’ll show you more.”
The creature blocked out the moon as it plunged right for us. I scrambled for the hard, leather seat of the Harley. The bottoms of my shoes slipped off the riding boards as Grandma peeled out of the parking lot. We were on Route K in a heartbeat, flying so fast it made my head spin.
“I float like a butterfly, sting like a bee!” Pirate hollered as we sped off into the night. I clung to Grandma and closed my eyes to keep from being sick. I didn’t know how we were going to outrun that thing. My hair swirled under the edge of my helmet, and I could feel my face stretching with the wind. Every hill we crested, I swore the bike went airborne for a second or two. Heaven help us.
“Eee-yah!” Grandma hollered as we careened around a hairline turn at a speed I didn’t even want to know. The bike skidded, skipped over a dip in the road and slapped pavement again. My fingers dug into her sides when I saw the road ahead. Or make that, the lack of road.
Our stretch of asphalt ended in a small lake. It consumed both lanes of the road and the forest beyond.
Grandma hunkered low and steady over the handlebars. “Hold on!”
“What? Stop!” My gut clenched as we thundered straight for it. A flash flood like that could sweep a car away, much less three idiots on a bike.
There were no detour signs, no road cones. No reason for the water. My toes curled and I clung to Grandma tighter. We were traveling uphill. Water does not run uphill. But this water did.
Pirate fought the baby carrier. “Oh no. I don’t do water. Water is not good.” He lurched, just like he did every time I tried to dunk him in a—
“Bath!” he yelled and pitched his body to the left.
“Shiii…p!” I screamed, as I lost my balance and toppled into thin air.
“Holy hell!” Grandma grabbed us by the doggie sling. The bike plunged into the lake and skidded sideways through the surging water. Depression and rage swelled from its depths. “It’s an ambush!”
We lost the bike in a wave of water. I clutched Pirate as we slammed nose over toes into the abyss. Eyes closed tight against the muck, I fought past fleshy ropes of seaweed. It clung to my arms, heavy and stringy.
Please let it be seaweed, even if we are a thousand miles from the ocean.
Pirate’s flailing leg caught my arm, and I winced as his doggie claws sliced deep.
We broke through to the surface and, blessedly, I was able to touch bottom. Afraid to draw too much attention, I crouched in the water, just high enough for Pirate to keep his head above the churning darkness. The despair of this place surrounded us. Waves of hopelessness and fear tangled my insides. Grandma was no where in sight.
Pirate flailed in his carrier. “Oh, biscuits! Calm down. You calm? I’m calm. Oh, biscuits.”
“Shhh. You’re fine.”
“Shit.” Pirate shook off as best as he could, peppering me with putrid water. “That’s what I said. I said I was fine.”
“Look for Grandma.”
Pirate tried to wriggle a leg out of his carrier. “Oh yeah, the lady who said she wanted to wear my intestines for a necklace? Yeah, let’s get right on that.”
Hang tight. Focus. I scanned the area for demons, witches and anything that wasn’t one hundred percent normal. Grandma had called this
an ambush. Someone or—I gulped—something had created this lake in the middle of the road. And they had us stopped cold.
A shimmer spread throughout the water. Goose bumps snaked up my arms. Holy moley. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. “Is it me or is the water glowing green?”
“Oh, man,” Pirate said, ready to climb up to my shoulders. “You know I’m colorblind.”
An emerald glow radiated from the depths of the water and broke to the surface in a roil of bubbling water. Churning foam sucked at my shoulders. “That’s it.” Ambush or not, I broke into a run, the waist-high water sluicing off us. We had to get out of here.
In a flash, Grandma appeared at the far side of the lake, at the edge of the woods. Shadows dove at her from every direction. “Lizzie, run!” she screamed before she disappeared.
“Grandma!” I made a mad dash for her. I had no idea what to do, but I had to do something. She was family. More than that, this woman was my only tie to this new, magical world and I had no idea what I’d do without her. Die, most likely. And if what she’d said about the demon was true, I’d probably lose my soul in the process.
The air itself vibrated and smoked. It tasted like singed hair.
“Stop! Halt! Cut it!” Pirate yelled. “Wall!”
“Wall?” Then I saw it. It shimmered like a giant soap bubble. There was no time to stop. I felt my toes leave the ground as it sucked us through.
Thick, wet undergrowth tangled around my ankles. I steadied myself, ready for the worst. I clutched Pirate’s knobby little body and blinked once, twice. We’d raced headlong into a clearing littered with scores of rodentlike faces staring up at us. Imps. Their glowing purple eyes bounced through the darkness as they scuttled toward us, baring row after row of glistening teeth.
Grandma braced herself at the far edge of the clearing. Heavy iron cuffs bound her wrists and ankles. She struggled to hold them away from her body, despite the weights pulling at each cuff. An eerie tickle crept up my skin when I realized why. Curved snakelike fangs protruded from the cuffs and connecting chains, ready to pierce her skin if she gave in to the weight of her restraints. I wondered what horrors waited inside the fangs.
“Why doesn’t anyone listen to me?” she lamented, breathing heavily with exertion. “I told you to run, not get yourself trapped. Honestly, Lizzie.”
She could at least pretend to be grateful. “Ditch the attitude. I’m saving you,” I said. Somehow.
I didn’t really have a choice, did I? I was toast without this woman.
The imps cackled like psychotic weasels as they skulked closer. I rubbed Pirate, who hadn’t stopped shaking since we broke through the wall.
Grandma fought to keep the razor-sharp fangs from plunging into her skin, “Well, if you’re going to save me,” she stopped to catch her breath, “untie the damned dog and let’s get to work.”
“Right,” I said, desperate to mask my fear.
I released Pirate. His wiry body slid down mine and to the ground. I had to focus, find my power. If I didn’t get this right, I hated to think what could happen to us.
Focus. Breathe. Find a way.
They might have numbers on their side, but I’d done something right the last time and, well, I’d just have to do it again.
Pirate circled my legs as the imps stalked us from every direction. “Oh, you’d better get your ass back,” he said, “you filthy looking, I don’t know what you are. You do smell kind of nice. But don’t you be testing me. I’ll kick you into next Thursday. Don’t you think I won’t.”
I ignored Pirate and reached deep down inside. I was the most uptight, disciplined person I knew, and I had to use that. Whatever raw magic I possessed, whatever had allowed me to drive Xerxes from my bathroom, I’d find it and own it. Now.
“Water nymph at two o’clock,” Grandma warned. A dripping, green fairy rose from the marsh at the edge of the lake and skimmed toward us. She might have been beautiful if she hadn’t looked so desolate. She was tall, with the body of an underwear model. But her face sagged and her eyes held horrors I didn’t even want to imagine. She wore a shift that—ick—looked like it had been crafted from the skin of imps. And, I gulped, she held cuffs, the same kind that bound Grandma.
I dug my fingernails into my palms. Show no emotion. Instead, I focused every bit of will I possessed, felt the magic churning inside of me. The center of my body hummed with energy. I could feel it right down to my fingertips. I let instinct take over and screamed the first thing that came to me. “Be gone!” My own voice tore at the back of my throat as I flung my power into the clearing.
The imps cowered, clung to the ground.
“Be gone!” I zapped them again with everything I had. This time, they stood still, studying me. The water nymph had sunk down into a puddle after my first try. Now, she drew toward me, curiosity playing on her features. Oh no.
“Solvo dimittium,” Grandma hollered.
Hope flared and died quickly. They didn’t react to that either.
“Lizzie.” Grandma struggled against her chains. “You say it! Solvo dimittium.”
“Right.” I nodded, resisting the urge to run, which I knew would be useless and stupid and wrong. Solvo dimittium. Solvo dimittium. Driving my power to me once again, I opened my mind, took a deep breath and bellowed, “Solvo dimittium!”
A slight wind rippled the water nymph’s hair. A curl of blue flame sizzled a circle around her water-logged hair before fizzling.
“Shit,” Grandma said.
No kidding. “That’s it?” My voice hitched as the creatures closed in around me. “What else should I do?”
Pirate brushed past my leg. “You stand there and look pretty. Let me give it a whirl.” Pirate stalked toward a scowling imp.
“Pirate, no!” Bravery was one thing. This was something else.
Pirate thrust his tail out. “Suave dimmi-who’s-it’s, you bug-eyed freak of nature.”
The imp shrieked and reared back to attack. Pirate yelped as it leapt onto his back, claws digging into his fur.
“Pirate!” That thing could kill him with one bite. It clambered up his back, heading straight for his neck.
Rage boiled inside me, and I drop-kicked the imp like I was punting a football. Three more took its place. I booted another. Blood flowed down Pirate’s back. At least one imp landed hard on my shoulders, clawing rivers of fire down my back. I spun, desperately trying to throw it off when I spotted another creature circling.
A winged beast the size of a Clydesdale descended upon us. The same breed of creature we saw at the gas station, with the head of an eagle and the body of a lion. A griffin? Tail swishing in the gathering wind, it reached for us, claws outstretched, like a hungry bird of prey.
Pirate broke free and bit the nearest imp. I threw an imp from my shoulders straight at the pair of talons leveled at my head. Grandma screamed something or other, but it was impossible to hear her over the high-pitched yelps of the imps and the screeching calls of the griffin. The flying creature dove straight for the water nymph.
But the nymph was fast. She disappeared into the nearest puddle as the bands on Grandma’s wrists and ankles snapped and crumbled away. The imps scurried back to the shadows, save the two dead ones at my feet. “Take that!” Pirate chased the remaining imps to the edge of the clearing.
I stood catching my breath, my back burning. The coppery scent of blood hung heavy over the clearing. I wanted to collapse with relief. Or was that fear? Just because this thing didn’t kill me before didn’t mean it wouldn’t hurt me now. He landed a few feet from me, settling his wings around his body like a bird. He wore a single emerald ring on one of his talons, and his feathers shone in a burst of colors.
Grandma bustled over to me. “Everyone alright?”
I nodded.
“Well, then.” She flexed her hands, working to get the circulation going again. “Hiya, Impetrix Heli—” She paused. “Um, Impetrix. Thanks for saving our asses. Now with your permission,” sh
e saluted him, “we’re outta here.” She grabbed my arm. “Come on.”
“He’s just going to let us go?” I asked, hustling behind her.
“If we go quickly.”
I fought the urge to look behind us. Good enough for me.
We exited the clearing, and I couldn’t hold back a gasp. The immense lake had disappeared as if it never existed. Grandma’s bike lay twisted down a steep embankment off the main road. We scrambled through some mud and pulled the hog upright. Grandma wrenched the handlebars and yanked the seat.
“Hurry,” she said quietly.
“So he’s…?”
“Trouble.” We managed to heave it halfway up the embankment, but the bike was too mangled and heavy.
“Is he worse than the imps?”
Grandma groaned as she hauled the bike with everything she had. I joined her, pulling until I felt my arms stretching half out of their sockets. For every inch we dragged the flipping thing, we sank two in the mud. It was no use.
“God damn it!” Grandma shoved the bike and it fell back into the ditch, nearly taking me with it.
I slid an extra few feet and stared down at the wreck of a bike. It was toast, and we were trapped.
She brought a bloodied hand up to her mouth. “Yeah. In a way, he is worse than the imps.”
My nerves quivered. The air felt heavy, smoky. I felt it in the pit of my stomach. Maybe my magic was finally kicking in. It was about time. “What is it, Grandma?” I asked. “More demons?” Or the griffin?
“It’s not that,” she said grimly. “It’s him.” She jabbed a mud slicked finger at an imposing, olive skinned man who stood like royalty at the edge of the ravine.
I gripped her hand and felt my pulse leap. “Is he a monster?”
“That depends,” she said, giving him the evil eye.
My blood warmed just looking at him. He was striking. If you liked the GQ type. He wore a dark, tailored suit cut to fit his broad shoulders. His angled features gave away nothing as he watched us. I felt his eyes, hidden in shadows, sweep over every inch of my body. I blinked twice, studied him. Something inside me felt like I knew him.
That was impossible, I thought with a twinge of desire. If I’d ever met this man before, I would have remembered. He seemed so out of place on this swampy, dirty backwater road. Everything about him was polished, it seemed, except for the way his thick, ebony hair curled around his collar.