by Wendy Wang
“You have a knife,” Tom said.
“Actually, it’s more than that.” She opened it up to the sharp blade, held her breath and crawled over to Daniel’s body. She cut the leather cord holding the pouch and took it from around his neck.
“What is that?” Jason asked.
“I think it’s how the witch controlled him,” Charlie said. “We need to burn it. But first we have to get out of here.”
“And how do you propose we do that?” Jason asked.
Charlie noticed the pendant around his neck, a silver pentacle that Jen had given him. Hanging next to it was a piece of black tourmaline and clear crystal quartz. She touched the pendant and Jason shivered. “Brute strength and a little magic.”
The hinge on the trapdoor just above their heads squealed in protest but the three of them together, Tom and Jason pushing and Charlie using a simple opening incantation, finally got it to work. Jason could just peer out when on tiptoes and saw the room was empty. Charlie and Tom locked hands for Jason’s foot; a quick boost and he was up and out. He quickly reached back into the pit, grabbing Charlie's hand, and then Tom shoved her from below. The protection bag hanging around his neck hit her in the face as Jason grabbed hold of her under her arms and set her down on the edge of the hole in the floor.
She reached out, wrapping her hands around the leather pouch. Her fingers twitched. “Where did you get this?”
“Lisa and Daphne made them. We're all wearing one. Even Johnny Darkly down there.”
“I heard that,” Tom said in a flat, irritated voice. “A little help, please?”
Charlie and Jason each grabbed one of Tom's arms and pulled him out. Charlie rose to her feet and went to the only door in the cabin. She turned the brass knob but the door wouldn't budge. Jason and Tom came up behind her.
“Dammit,” she said.
“Now what?” Jason asked, looking around warily.
“She's locked us in,” Charlie said.
Tom walked over to one of the small windows. Charlie watched as he ripped down the ragged curtain and wrapped his left hand in it. He reared back his arm and punched out the wavy glass pane. He carefully removed all the small pieces around the edges.
Charlie heard her aunt’s soft, sweet voice speaking an incantation. She rushed to the window and saw her aunt and cousins, and a woman she'd never seen before, walking hand in hand toward the cabin.
“Charlie?” Jason said.
Charlie turned her gaze on Jason's panic-stricken face. His chest rose and fell in a heavy pant. The temperature in the room dropped and a chill settled around her shoulders. She blew out a breath in a visible, silvery cloud. “Oh, no.”
Jason locked his gaze on her. His hazel eyes widened. “Behind you!”
Something struck Charlie hard on the side of the head and her knees buckled. She blinked away stars dancing before her eyes.
“Charlie!” The heavy iron poker on the hearth sailed across the room and struck the arm Jason held up to protect his head. He screamed and staggered backward, holding his arm to his chest.
Tom offered his hand and Charlie took it, letting him pull her to her feet. Her eyes found the leather bag around Tom's neck.
“I need this,” she said.
Take it,” Tom said quickly slipping it over his head. Charlie opened the bag, her fingers bypassing the crystals, stones and tiny bones for the small linen bag. She opened the drawstring and poured some salt into her palm.
The spirit Eliza appeared in front of the window. “You are not to leave, Conduit.”
“We'll see about that.” Charlie threw the salt at the spirit. The girl screeched and disappeared. She shoved the linen bag into Tom’s hand, grabbed a chair from the table and dragged it beneath the window. “Tom, help Jason.”
Tom looked down at the open bag, dumbfounded. “What are you doing?”
“Ending this. Now help him.” She slung one leg over the window ledge, being careful of the shards of glass on the sill.
“Wait.” Tom grabbed hold of her hand. “You can’t do this alone. I’m coming with you.”
“No. I can’t lift him. You get Jason out of here before that guard dog of hers comes back.”
“And how are you going to end this? You don’t have a wand. How are you going to defend yourself?”
“I have these.” Charlie showed him the contents of his leather pouch, “I have the spells that Evangeline taught me and I have this.” She dug Scott’s multi-tool from her pocket and opened the three-inch knife blade. “I can make a wand.”
“Are you serious?” Tom gave her a skeptical look.
Charlie glared at him. “Yes. Now take care of Jason.”
Chapter 23
Charlie wriggled out of the window and landed on both feet. She scanned her surroundings, getting her bearings and looking for any sign of the witch. The smell of hardwood burning and the sight of smoke sent her heart into overdrive. She heard her aunt’s voice reciting an incantation, and Charlie headed toward the sound. A hot wind slapped her in the face as she drew nearer to the corner of the cabin. Every hair on the back of her neck and arms stood at attention.
She peeked around the corner and saw her cousins and aunt holding hands in a spell circle. The witch stood outside them, trying to break through a silver veil between her and the coven. A three-foot-circle of flames burned around them. The flames licked at low hanging branches from the nearby trees. If the fire jumped high, enough, this whole forest of mostly dead trees would go up like a tinderbox. Charlie needed to get the coven — her coven — to safety. She opened Tom's protection bag and picked through the stones to find exactly what she needed. She’d seen her aunt build many different types of protection bags and, by including stones, salt, bones and herbs, she knew this sort of bag added something extra in case a witch was caught without a wand. And if Charlie knew anything, it was that fighting this witch required a wand.
Charlie plucked out a quartz and a black tourmaline and placed them in the palm of her hand. She took the multi-tool and pressed the handle against the stones in her right hand, then closed her fingers around it. She raised her face to the sky, closed her eyes, and recited a short prayer the way Evangeline had taught her. “So mote it be,” she whispered.
With one deep breath, she stepped out into the open.
“Abigail Heard,” Charlie said. The knife in her hand began to vibrate. The witch threw a look in her direction, hissing.
The witch raised her wand and swiped it through the air but nothing happened.
“It’s working,” Evangeline called. Charlie barely heard her over the sound of the crackling thunder of the fire. “Everyone just hold steady.”
The wall of flames encircling her coven flared upward, stroking the branches above her family until finally the leaves sparked. The fire spread quickly across the treetops.
Charlie held up her makeshift wand, concentrating all her energy on the sky above. Storm clouds gathered, thick and dark, casting a gray gloom over everything. The first raindrops fell with a dull thud and the flames hissed in protest, reducing to half their size. The smoke grew thicker and her cousin Jen dropped her hand, coughing into her elbow, breaking the circle. The veil dropped.
“No!” Charlie yelled, charging forward. The witch raised her wand and swiped in an x-pattern in the air. Charlie flew backward, landing hard against the ground. Her elbow hit a rock and her hand opened. The stones and knife scattered across the forest floor. Charlie rolled onto her side, trying to catch her breath. Hot sparks skittered across the nerves of her forearm and at a point in her elbow.
The witch moved toward Charlie. A gleeful leer stretched her lips. She raised her wand again.
Jason hissed from too close by, “Stay away from her, you bitch!” His right arm hung out at a strange angle. He held his weapon in his left hand, aiming it at the witch.
“Jason, no!” Charlie scrambled to her feet.
The sound of his gun firing echoed around them, bouncing off the trees, reverbe
rating through Charlie’s bones. Time seemed to slow down and she watched the witch circle the tip of her wand. With a flick of the witch’s wrist, the slug changed course, heading toward Charlie. Something hard pushed Charlie sideways. She twisted and landed on her hands and knees. She looked up just in time to see Tom struck by the projectile in the center of his chest. He stumbled backward, his human form dissolving. He turned his dark amber eyes in her direction. If she didn’t know any better, she would’ve thought they were full of pain. A force she couldn’t see dragged the reaper up to the sky and he disappeared in a blur.
The witch began to laugh. Charlie stole a quick glance at her family. They’d moved closer, joining hands again. The veil was up again, but Charlie knew it couldn’t last. The witch had to be stopped. Charlie focused on the witch’s wand. She had to get it away from her. It was the best way to stop her from inflicting anymore damage. According to wand lore, a wand could only be taken from another witch by the spilling of blood.
Another shot rang out, and this time the witch redirected the bullet back at Jason. It hit him in the leg and he screamed. He fell to the ground, his face red and wracked with pain. He struggled to get his belt off and wrap it around his upper thigh. Blood soaked his jeans. The witch turned her attention back to Charlie.
Charlie searched the leaf-litter for her tool. Her fingers brushed across the black tourmaline first and she scooped it up. When she found the knife, she wrapped her right hand around the cool metal and dragged the blade across her left palm. Warm, sticky blood flowed into her hand, coating the stone.
“You still want my magic? Come and get it, bitch.” Charlie chucked the blood-covered stone at the witch as hard as she could. The witch struck at the stone, grazing it. A tiny bit of Charlie’s blood smeared across the wood. The wand tip popped and sizzled and the smell of electricity filled the air, reminding Charlie of a burned out appliance. The witch shook the wand in her hand, grunting. Panic molded her pale features.
Charlie charged the witch, throwing her to the ground. The witch screeched, her arms and legs flailing like live wires. Her hand found Charlie’s throat and she raked her sharp, dirty nails across the skin. Charlie cried out and pressed one hand against her neck, more out of shock than pain. She felt three long welts beneath her fingertips. The witch bucked her hips, throwing Charlie off her. The witch broke off the tip of her wand and pounced, pinning Charlie to the ground. She flattened her body on top of Charlie and shoved the sharp end of her now broken wand at the base of Charlie’s chin. Charlie grabbed hold of the witch’s wrist with both hands, fighting to keep the sharp stick from piercing her neck.
Charlie inched it away from her throat and the witch bore down harder. Charlie held onto the witch’s wrist with one hand, sliding her other hand up to her face. She stuck a finger into the witch’s eye. The witch screamed and Charlie twisted the witch’s wrist away from her neck and pushed with her hips and legs, rolling them both over until the witch was beneath her. The witch let out an unearthly sound and her eyes widened, followed by a heavy, surprised breath. She stopped struggling. Charlie sat up. What was left of the wand protruded from the witch’s chest. Charlie watched in horror as Abigail’s hand wrapped around the base, struggling to pull it out of her body. Charlie’s stomach lurched and she thought she might be sick. Her hand shook as she reached out and placed it on top of Abigail’s. She pried Abigail’s fingers away gently.
“Don’t. You’ll make it worse.”
Abigail’s eyes became watery and tears leaked down the side of her face into her dark, matted hair. She struggled to breath.
“Just hang on Abigail, please.” Charlie’s chest felt like it had been caught in a vice. Hot tears burned the back of her throat. “Oh God, this is not what I wanted. I’m so sorry. I . . . I didn’t mean for this to happen.”
“I’m afraid,” Abigail whispered.
“It’s okay.” Charlie leaned in closer. Abigail’s eyes blinked long and slow. Charlie stroked her hair. She swallowed back the tears threatening to engulf her. This wasn’t about her. This was about Abigail. “Don’t be scared. It won’t hurt. I promise.”
“I’m afraid of—” Abby’s breath turned to gasps.
“It’s okay,” Charlie’s voice cracked. The image of the terrified girl Abby was the night they dragged her through the street popped into Charlie’s head. Underneath everything and despite the last three centuries, Abby was still that girl. Charlie took Abigail’s hand in hers and squeezed gently. “You’re not alone. I’m here.”
Abigail took one last labored breath and her body stilled. The flames surrounding the coven disappeared and an audible whoosh sounded through the trees. Charlie sat back on her haunches and stared down at the lifeless woman.
“Charlie.” She wasn’t sure who spoke but her aunt and cousins were at her side within moments, kneeling next to her. Evangeline slid a warm hand across her back.
“I’m dead,” a voice said. Charlie looked up to find Abigail Heard standing at the head of her body. “I’m really dead.”
A cold wind blew around them, kicking up leaves. The reaper appeared behind the spirit. Charlie’s cousins and aunt dragged her away from the body, terror lined their faces. The reaper’s scythe pierced the spirit of Abigail Heard. She screamed but Charlie knew it was from shock and not physical pain. The reaper glanced towards Charlie, its blues eyes glittering. Charlie’s breath caught in her throat. That was not Tom.
A howling sound surrounded them and seven reapers appeared. They circled the blue-eyed reaper and the spirit of Abigail Heard.
Charlie clung to her family. “Don’t look at them,” Evangeline whispered. But Charlie could not look away. She searched the dark hoods of the reapers’ until she found what she sought. Tom’s dark-amber eyes. He glanced at her for a second before shifting his gaze back to the reaper in the center.
“Bat Azrael, you have been accused of a great crime. The crime of stealing souls that are not written in your book,” a gravelly voice said. The sound raked across Charlie’s already frayed nerves.
“I —” Bat Azrael stuttered. “May I explain?”
The reapers chanted, “Guilty, guilty, guilty.”
Tom took the scythe holding Abigail’s spirit and disappeared, leaving the other six to descend on bat Azrael. Finally, when the screams began, Charlie squeezed her eyes closed and put her fingers in her ears to block out the sound.
Chapter 24
“Are you sure they said you could go home?” Charlie said, folding the last of Jason’s clothes and packing them into his bag. “It’s only been a few days. I can’t believe they’re releasing you already.”
“I’m sure,” Jason said. “Will you stop touching my stuff?” he scolded and pulled a pair of his boxers out of Charlie’s hands.
Charlie laughed. “I was married and I have a son. I’ve seen lots of men’s underwear, trust me.”
“Well, you haven’t seen mine.” His face reddened and he shoved the boxers into his bag and zipped up the top.
She shook her head. Evangeline, Daphne and Lisa had all gone home the day before leaving unsettled the argument about who would explain to the realtor that the spell the town had been living under was broken. She was heading home today, along with Jen, Jason and Tom. It seemed crazy to Charlie that less than a week ago, she’d been running errands to prepare for this trip and now it was almost over. She’d joined the coven. Just not the way they’d all planned. Thankfully, she would spend the last few days of her vacation at home, where the only witches she had to worry about were the ones in her family.
“Knock, knock,” Jen said, walking into the hospital room. “Are y’all ready to go?”
“We are,” Charlie said. “We’re just waiting on an orderly with a wheelchair. Hospital rules or something like that.”
Jen nodded and folded her arms across her chest. Jason took a seat on the edge of the hospital bed and stretched out his leg.
“Does it hurt a lot?” Jen asked.
He shrugge
d. “A little.”
Charlie rolled her eyes. She knew a lie when she heard one. “Well, I’m just glad you’re okay.”
“Me, too.” Jason met her gaze. “The real question is, are you okay?”
Charlie looked down at her feet and scraped the toe of her shoe across a dark scuff on the tile. “I will be.”
“We’ll be back to working cases before you know it. That’ll help you get back to normal.” Jason smiled.
Charlie gave him a long look but didn’t say anything. Jason grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze. “It was an accident. You know that, right?”
Charlie nodded, afraid to speak. Afraid it would start her crying again. Jen wrapped her arm around Charlie’s waist and a sense of calm spread through her body.
“Everything will be better once we get home,” Jen said. “You’ll see.”
Charlie put her arm around Jen’s shoulders. “I hope to God you’re right.”
“Of course I am.” Jen smiled up at her. “I’m always right.”
Charlie stopped by the Kitchen Witch Café Sunday morning for breakfast. It was her second favorite part of her regular routine and for the past three days since arriving home, she clung to her routine to stay sane. Plus, there was something she needed to do.
She was picking Evan up from his dad’s at noon and almost stayed in bed. But something had nagged at her, and she found herself sitting at the counter with a freshly poured cup of coffee in front of her, perusing the menu. It was still very early and business wouldn’t pick up until after church let out. She took a sip of her coffee, glad to have the place mostly to herself.
There’d been no indication the old man would show. She hadn’t felt the presence of someone dead when she entered the restaurant. She looked around, checking every corner for a shadow or a flicker.
Something cold blew across the back of her neck, and she shifted her gaze from the busy café to the old man sitting next to her. He wore the same shirt and sweater she’d seen him in the last time they’d met.