Fried Green Witch

by Amy Boyles

  Reid straightened her jacket. “I’m ready.”

  I placed my fingers to my temples. “Here goes nothing.”

  “Wait,” she said, curling her fingers around my arm.

  “What? I’m trying to concentrate here. We only have a small amount of time to find Sera—I’m guessing, that is.”

  “Aren’t you forgetting something? How are we going to make it to leprechaun? Your car was destroyed. It’s a heap of metal wasting away on the side of the road. There’s probably a whole bunch of car buzzards mocking it right now or something.”

  Car buzzards?

  Before I went down the rabbit hole to contemplate that idea, I shook my head. “I’ve been working a little on transporting spells. Nothing big, just small stuff. Before we came to Normal.”

  Reid nodded. “Okay. Just checking.”

  “All right, are you finished interrupting me?” I said.

  Reid nodded.

  I cracked my knuckles, narrowed my eyes and said, “Then let’s go save our sister.”

  EIGHTEEN

  The trip up the chimney and down to the ground was, let’s just say, gut-wrenching. Not only did a serious wave of nausea overcome me, but I managed to upchuck my lunch. You won’t get any more details than that from me because it was disgusting.

  Anyway, Reid made it out, too. Of course, she didn’t get sick and I could see a twinkle in her eye that I did, but she didn’t say anything.

  She didn’t have to for me to know she found it amusing. After all, we are sisters.

  Once I got myself pulled together, I took her hand (after she handed me a wet wipe) and said, “Here goes nothing. Let’s see if I can do it.”

  A moment later I whisked us to the outside of the warehouse where we’d met Walter Scales the night before.

  “Think he’s here?” Reid whispered as we watched the building from a row of bushes.

  “No clue, but we’ve got to try.”

  I yanked her from a giant hydrangea and stalked to the chain fence. As soon as we reached it, the gate screeched on its wheels, opening.

  For a moment I felt like we were standing outside the gates to hell.

  Yes, I know I’m being melodramatic, but I didn’t know what I was about to get myself into. “Come on,” I said.

  Reid clutched my arm. “Can you go in by yourself? I’ll wait out here. I’ll be fine. I’ll hide behind this giant bush while you wheel and deal. Because let’s face it, if there’s someone who’s better at wheeling and dealing than me, it’s you, Dylan.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I’m not wheeling and dealing without you. This is our sister we’re talking about.” I toed the dirt. “Besides, what if someone steals you while I’m gone? Then I’ve got to deal with having two of you missing. I don’t think I can handle that.”

  “I know I wanted to do this, but now that we’re here, I’m scared,” Reed said.

  I heaved a shot of air. “Reid, you are coming. If I have to drag you in there by the collar, you are coming with me to talk to this leprechaun and see how we can save our sister.”

  “Okay,” she mumbled.

  I hesitated as I stepped to the other side.

  “Well, what are you waiting for?” she said.

  “I’m taking stock, making sure that I’m ready.” I flexed my fingers, girded all the loins that I had, and marched directly into the office. I didn’t bother knocking. Instead I opened the door and stood in the frame like I was a giant ready to do business.

  Walter Scales regarded me with a look that I could only describe as concerned. A bit of the confident wind in my sales deflated.

  “You need a wish,” he said. His mouth curled into a devilish smile. I could see it, the greed in his eyes. They were flecked with gold as if his entire body was filled with the substance.

  I could almost smell the greed in the air.

  “I need something from you,” I said meekly.

  He drummed his fingers together, leaned back in his chair until it released a squeak that sent a line of unease straight up my spine. “It will cost you.”

  I didn’t have time for games. I didn’t have time to dillydally. Nor did I have time for indecision. “Name your price.”

  Walter’s eyes selected to the ring on my finger. “That.”

  I instinctively clutched my hand over the emblem of Roman’s love for me. “My engagement ring?”

  He nodded.

  “Anything else but this. You may have anything but that. I can’t. It was a gift, and not mine to give.”

  It wasn’t mine to release. It had taken me so long to finally answer Roman yes that to hand it over to this golden weasel would be terrible.

  “You want to find your sister,” he said. It was as if he had plucked the very thought from my brain and transferred it directly onto his serpentine lips.

  “Yes,” I squeaked out. “How do you know that?”

  “Doesn’t matter. That’s the price,” he said. “I won’t accept anything else, nor do I want anything else.”

  I felt Reid’s elbow dig into my side. “Give him the ring,” she whispered.

  I shot her a scathing look. “I am not giving him this ring.” I turned to Scales. “I’m not giving this to you. Name something else. Anything else. Except certain things, because certain things are really private and you shouldn’t have those things anyway, and if you’re that sort of person to ask for those sort of things—like really personal things, then you are a bad leprechaun. And if there is a leprechaun counsel or a leprechaun something or other, I will let them know that you are bad, bad, bad.”

  Walters Scales regarded me with nothing short of amusement from the twinkle in his eyes. “You want to find your sister. I want the ring.”

  I gritted my teeth, feeling my molars grind over one another. I curled my fingers beneath the platinum band and slowly wedged the ring from my finger. I palmed it, feeling the weight for the last time. Roman would kill me. Wait, no he wouldn’t. He would understand why I did it. But I might not ever get another engagement ring ever again. I could live with that. I couldn’t live knowing I had the chance to save my sister and hadn’t taking it. That I couldn’t live with.

  I slapped the ring on the desk. “There it is. You’d better take me to exactly where my sister is—right here, right now.”

  Walter’s eyes danced with life. “Would you like to make a wish?”

  I nodded reluctantly. “I need to make a wish.”

  He swiped the ring into his hand. He brought it to his nose and inhaled deeply. “Oh this is a good one.” His eyes flickered back to me. “Make your wish. State it clearly, concisely, and as simply as you can.”

  I cleared my throat and said, “I wish to know where my sister is.”

  He cocked his head in one direction, and then the other. He moistened his lips with his tongue and said, “Your wish is granted.”

  I grabbed Reid’s hand as a swoosh of air rushed through me. The office, the leprechaun’s face, even his blazing red hair drifted from my view. My gut clenched as we were pulled into a fury of wind and energy. When I opened my eyes, we were in the last place I expected to be.

  Smoke dissipated from the air like wisps of clouds clearing after the sun warms the sky.

  “Why are we here?” Reid said. “There’s no one around.”

  I nodded but said nothing. “Come on, let’s walk to the back.”

  We walked around the house. I padded up the steps quietly, trying to figure out the best way to go about things. I rapped on the back door, but no one answered. I looked in the window, trying to figure out what was going on.

  I gasped.

  “What is it?” Reid said. She shoved her head in my view.

  I gently brushed her back and said, “Those sheets of paper on the table. We’ve been looking for them.”

  Lying on the kitchen counter were the spell sheets that had been in Maisie’s house. We’d been wondering where the tornado had dropped them, and now we knew. Not Caroline’s house, not Daisy’s h
ouse, but—

  “You’re looking for your sister,” Tina said from behind me.

  I whirled around and came face-to-face with Tina, the woman who had apparently orchestrated the entire carnival that had been the past day.

  She half smirked, half snarled as she glared at me. “You want Sera.”

  “Where is she? What have you done to her?”

  “Why don’t the two of you come see?” she said.

  Before I could utter any sort of counter, before I could even move in protest, Tina grasped my wrist and Reid’s.

  A moment later the house vanished and we were standing in a darkened room.

  When my eyes adjusted to the darkness, Tina stood before me along with Daisy, her husband, Scott, and Caroline Applebury.

  As my eyes opened, I noted ritualized symbols and shapes speckled the floor. A heaviness pressed on my chest, the weight and darkness of it sending a sliver of fear straight to my heart.

  “What is this?” I said

  Daisy sneered. She ran the flat of her hand over her distended belly and said, “You haven’t guessed?”

  None of the pieces of this thing fit together. “No, I haven’t. Would you like to tell me before whatever craziness you’re about to do is going to happen?”

  Daisy sneered. “I wanted a baby. You knew that. Unfortunately when I made the wish through Walter, it didn’t exactly take. There were stipulations.”

  I quirked a brow. “Stipulations?”

  “I needed a soul. I can’t just wish for a baby. It had to have something else with it, the spirit. So I grew and grew but couldn’t find a soul. Maisie didn’t want to have anything to do with my plan. I wanted to use her for the soul, but she wasn’t right for this type of thing. But Sera is. Unfortunately Maisie wanted to reveal my intentions to your sister. So I had to off her. But something went wrong.” Her gaze darted to Tina.

  Tina rolled her eyes. “I said a thousand times I was sorry. I didn’t mean to make her blow up like a balloon. It just happened. How many times do I have to apologize?”

  The entire room stared at her as if she had a tumor sticking from her head. “What? I know I had one job and screwed it up, but that’s just how it rolls sometimes.”

  Daisy smirked. “That’s exactly right. You had one job.” She turned her attention back to me. “We tried so hard just to get your sister, and keep you from digging your nose into our business. The lies we told…” She cackled. “We did everything we could to keep you offtrack, to make you think one thing when another was really going on.”

  Daisy laughed so hard her fake pregnant belly jiggled. “I mean, we had to work hard to stay one step ahead of you. Even Walter knew the plan and helped however he could. Of course, he kind of screwed us in the end sending you to Tina’s.” She opened her palm to show everyone who was involved—Scott, Caroline, Tina. Every single person we’d interviewed had been involved in one way or another with Maisie’s death.

  “I don’t understand any of this. Why go to all this trouble?” I said, my head swimming in an ocean of confusion.

  “To get your sister,” Daisy said. “We needed a soul pure of heart to become my child.” She ran her hand over her belly. “You see, I haven’t given up on having a child. Never. I needed a pure soul, one that I could take to become my new baby’s. When we found Sera, I knew she was perfect.”

  My jaw dropped. I tried not to be insulted by the fact that no one thought I was pure of heart enough to be murdered. I should be glad, right?

  “But anyway,” Daisy said, “I’ll let you watch while your sister’s soul gets sucked into my womb, creating a new baby, and then I’ll kill you and your sister. Sound good?”

  No.

  I tried to move, but I found myself bound by some invisible magic.

  I glanced at Reid, who appeared to be paralyzed in the same manner. “Where is my sister?” I said.

  A light flared on. Sera stood barefoot in the basement. They had positioned her on top of a pentagram lined in chalk. She called out when she saw us. “Dylan! Reid!”

  “Are you Satanists or something?” Reid said.

  Daisy shook her head. “No. Why?”

  “The pentagram, the other ritualized characters that have been drawn. I mean, you’re playing with dark forces here. Probably not a good idea. You should be sticking to love and light.”

  I frowned, but then I realized she was trying to buy us time. “Yeah,” I reiterated. “All this darkness stuff is so creepy. It’s probably not good for your souls, or even this baby’s that you’re trying to bring into the world. I have a feeling it’s going to be very Rosemary’s Baby. I don’t know what kind of child you’re trying to raise here, but you might want to reconsider all of it.”

  “Shut up,” Daisy yelled. “Tina didn’t bring you both so you could talk us to death.”

  “But we’re good at that, aren’t we?” Reid said.

  “Yeah, we specialize in it,” I added smugly. “But I have a few questions, you know, before you start your evil ritual and off me and my sister.”

  Of course, this whole time I’m thinking, where is Roman? And how the heck can I get us out of this? I was paralyzed, and of course, I needed time to think and conjure up a plan.

  “What kind of questions do you have?” Daisy said.

  “You said you were all in this together; does that mean everything you told us was a lie? Maisie and Walter never got together, Caroline didn’t blow up Maisie when they were children, that sort of thing.”

  Daisy picked up a knife with a black blade. She rubbed the back of her hand over her forehead and sighed. “The thing about Caroline was true, but most of the rest wasn’t. I mean, do you actually think that Maisie and my husband had a thing?”

  My gaze flashed to Scott, who tugged at his collar uncomfortably. Daisy caught the motion, too. Her eyes pinched.

  “Did you?” she said, whirling on Scott.

  “N-n-n-no,” he said, not too believably.

  Daisy rolled the butt of the knife between her hands. “You did, didn’t you?”

  “No, I mean, I may have had feelings for her, but they weren’t returned.”

  Daisy crossed to him and flicked the tip of the blade beneath Scott’s chin. “You had a thing for my sister? I should have Tina blow you up, too. Send you into the sky to burst like a balloon.”

  “No, don’t do it, my love. You’re the only one for me. The only woman that matters,” he pleaded.

  Tina and Caroline looked at each other. They shifted their weight uncomfortably. I could feel whatever was paralyzing me lessen a bit as their focus was pulled from me and put on the Daisy and Scott.

  “Would you two stop arguing?” Tina said.

  “Yeah,” Caroline added, “we’ve got work to do.”

  But Daisy kept on with Scott. I glanced at Reid, who gave me a slight nod. Her binds were loosened, too.

  “Now,” I whispered.

  I shot my hands in front of me and released a blast of magic right at Tina and Caroline, who were closest to Sera. The women shot left and right, dodging my attack.

  Reid aimed at Daisy, who threw Scott in front of her. The magic hit him in a stream, knocking both of them back. Scott slumped to the floor, presumably knocked out.

  I kept on with Caroline and Tina, one hand aimed on each of them.

  “This is more than I signed up for,” Caroline said. “I was only trying to help a friend have a baby. I don’t need all this other crap.”

  “Me neither,” Tina shouted.

  “You can’t leave me,” Daisy screamed.

  But they did. I heard a blip as both of them disappeared from the room. I turned to focus my power on Daisy. I aimed in the spot Reid had been covering, which was behind a built-in bar.

  “Come on out, Daisy,” I said. “It’s over.”

  “No, it’s not,” she said. “I’m still in control.”

  I saw a flash of light as she used magic to transport. I scanned the room until my gaze fell on Sera. Daisy stood
behind her, a blade to her neck.

  “I can still kill her and get what I want, you know,” she said. “I can do it and I will.”

  Tears stung my eyes. “Please don’t. She didn’t do anything to you. Take my soul.”

  “No,” Daisy said. “This is the one I want.”

  I didn’t have a good shot of Daisy. My magic wasn’t a pinpointed stream as if I was a sharpshooter or anything. It would splash over Sera, too. If I hit them both with everything I had, there was no way to know how much damage I would be doing.

  Daisy lifted the blade high in the air. The tip arched in the air, and I screamed as she brought it down.

  From behind her, a shot rang out. Daisy staggered forward, the blade hanging limply from her hand. It teetered in her palm before clattering to the floor.

  Daisy pitched forward, and Sera shirked from her grasp. Daisy fell to the floor, her eyes open and sightless.

  I glanced to where Daisy had been standing. Hovering in the dark, a Glock in his hand, was Brock. Sera twisted over her shoulder, turning to see him. He placed a hand to his chest, as if relieved he hadn’t hurt my sister.

  Their gazes met, and Sera reached for him. Brock knelt down and swept her into his arms. She curled her fingers into his shirt as she started weeping.

  I glanced back down at Daisy’s body. Reid walked over and toed her leg. “Looks like she’s dead.”

  I nodded. “Good riddance.”

  NINETEEN

  “We’ve arrested Caroline, Tina and Walter Scales in connection with Maisie’s murder. Found them in their homes, about to flee. Local police were all too happy to help capture them.” Roman handed me a steaming cup of coffee.

  We sat outside Daisy’s house, where the basement ritual was going to take place. A slew of ambulances, police cars and fire trucks lit up the chilly night, their red lights brightening up the neighborhood like Christmas lights.

  I let the warm liquid slip over my tongue and down my throat. “So they were all in on it. I never would’ve guessed.”

  Roman wrapped a blanket around my shoulders. The cotton scratched my skin, but I’d rather it was the blanket against my skin than that blade Daisy had been wielding.