The Bewitching Hour

by Mallory Crowe

  “Phones aren’t allowed in here. You need to go back to the lobby.”

  Sam scowled at the nurse, but reminded herself that the woman was only doing her job. “Fine,” she said simply as she turned to go back down a different hall to head back to the lobby. Except there weren’t cops down this one.

  Two sentries. They were in the same type of suits as the guys in front of her grandmother’s and one was gingerly holding his arm. They were coming out of one room and the injured one stood in the hallway while the second one went into the next room. They were searching for someone....

  And Sam figured out who when she saw a blonde head poke out from the room to the left of her and duck immediately back in once she saw the suited man in the hall.

  She adjusted her head to look at the floor, hoping to obscure most of her features from view as she made her way to the room the woman was hiding in. Except the door wouldn’t open. She doubted the doors had locks, which meant whoever was on the other side was holding the handle steady.

  She might not have the strength to compel people, but she managed a burst of energy into the metal. After she heard a little shout of pain from the other side of the door, Sam twisted the knob and pushed her way in. “Knock knock?”

  Sam immediately recognized the woman hiding out as the girl who had been tied up at Tommy’s place. And Derek was nowhere in sight. “Where’s Derek?”

  The blonde was obviously terrified and she backed away to the other side of the room. “Leave me alone!” Her blue eyes were dulled by the dark circles under her eyes and the fair hair was frazzled all around her face.

  But Sam didn’t care how she looked as long as she told her where Derek was. “There was a cop, a detective, who was coming to interview you earlier today. What happened to him?”

  The woman considered Sam and seemed to calm down the slightest bit. “The cute one?”

  Sam took a breath. “Yes, the cute one.”

  “He left.”

  “He went back to the station?” That didn’t explain why he wasn’t answering. “I know you’re scared, but you need to be honest with me. Did those men out there hurt him?”

  The woman shook her head. “No. He hurt them. I think he broke the one guy’s arm. They ran off and your guy, Derek, called more cops. But then he left and the suit guys came back and they’re after me and—”

  Sam held up a hand to stop her. “Stop there. Derek broke one of the sentries’ arms?”

  She nodded. “He wouldn’t have let them get to me.”

  Great. Two sentries out looking for this chick, no Derek, and this girl had somehow managed to fall in love with him all in one morning. But Sam knew that breaking a sentry’s arm wouldn’t be easily forgiven. If she wanted to keep him safe, she needed to talk to her grandmother. Claudia was the one who gave the sentries their orders, but if she didn’t know about how Tommy died, Sam had to assume she didn’t know about his last victim. Which meant she wasn’t the one sending her men to go hunting through hospitals.

  “We need to get out of here.” Except Sam had no idea where “here” was. Some great tail she’d been.... She had been so paranoid about the cop realizing he was being followed that she never even looked at what floor they were on. She crossed the room to look out the window. For one, there was no latch to open the thing. Also, they looked to be about ten stories off the ground and there was no convenient fire escape even if they could get out the window.

  If the sentries were still making their way down the hall, they’d be in this room any minute. “I need to distract the sentries. Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

  The woman stared questioningly at her. “Wait. Who are you?”

  “I’m Sam,” she said simply as she went to the door and slipped out. There would be more time for introductions later. Well, there would be if they lived.

  She poked her head out and looked each way. The sentries were about three doors down. She needed to act fast. She made herself walk at a casual pace even as her heart beat faster in her chest. All she needed to do was distract them. Once she got the girl to the car, she could have a few moments to figure out what was happening.

  But if the sentries saw her trying to leave, they would be able to stop her. Right around the corner was a nurse’s station and there was the same one who had snapped at her about her cell phone. Perfect.

  “Excuse me?” she said in a cheery voice.

  The stern nurse looked up and Sam could see the annoyance pass over her face. This woman was not having a good day. Unfortunately, Sam was about to make it worse.

  “Is something wrong?” asked the nurse.

  “Yes, actually. There are a few men going down the hall my sister is in and they’re barging into all the rooms. That has to be against some HIPPA law, right?”

  Concern flashed over her features as the stern nurse and another woman both jumped up. “Where did you say this was?”

  “Right over here.” Sam pointed to the direction she came from and let the nurses go in front of her. She wanted them to distract the sentries, not to draw more attention to herself.

  She gave them a good five second head start before she turned the corner. The nurse was barking out orders at the sentry in the hall. She only had seconds before they managed to compel the nurses to go away, so Sam kept her head down and crossed to the room she’d left the girl in as quickly as possible.

  The girl was still there, standing by the bed, her body tense with fear. Hopefully she’d be able to hold it together just a few more minutes.

  “We have about ten seconds to get out of here. You good?”

  The wide-eyed, panic-stricken expression said otherwise, but the girl nodded and came out of the room. Sam set a hand on the girl’s back and steered her toward the nurse’s station and away from the scene in the hallway. Once they turned the corner, Sam picked up the pace. “They’re going to realize something is up any minute,” she said in a hushed voice. “I think if we can get to an elevator, we’ll be okay.”

  The girl was silent and Sam wasn’t sure that was a good thing. On one hand, this wasn’t the time for conversation. On the other, she had no idea who this person was who she was helping hide from the sentries.

  Sam hit the down arrow harder than necessary and looked back to the hall. Still clear.

  “What exactly are we doing?” asked the girl.

  The doors opened, saving Sam momentarily from answering the question. In truth, she had no idea what they were doing. She had only come to the hospital to check on Derek. Now that he wasn’t there, she needed to make sure he wasn’t dead and figure out why sentries were combing through the hospital. “We need to get out of the hospital first. After that, we’ll go from there.”

  “What makes you think I’m going with you?”

  The girl was apparently feeling better. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you had so many other options.”

  “Can’t we find that detective? I’ll go with him.”

  “Derek can’t keep you safe from those guys. They’ll kill him in seconds.” Hell, they could kill her in seconds. The only hope she had was that they would know who her family was and hesitate long enough for her to get away, but even that was risky.

  “Wait, what? Who are these guys? Who are you?”

  “Better question. Who the hell are you?” shot back Sam.

  “Excuse me?”

  The elevator opened on the second floor and Sam pulled the girl out. “Here’s the deal. Tommy killed five women. All of the five women represented one of the elements. And not the basic four elements, but the six elements that I grew up with. Earth, air, water, fire, life, and magic. You, as his sixth victim, represent magic. So care to share anything I need to know?”

  Sam wished she could study the girl’s expression, but she noticed a patient being wheeled out of a hospital room and ducked inside. Once she was inside, she started to rummage through the drawers until she found a pair of pants. “Here, put these on.” She threw the sweatpants at the girl, wh
o stared at them in shock.

  “These are extra-large. They won’t stay up.”

  “They don’t need to be your new favorite pair. They just need to stay up long enough to get you out the door.”

  “You just accused me of being some sort of evil witch and now you’re giving me pants?”

  “They’re not nice pants. Hurry up.” Sam was torn between wanting to get all of her answers and wanting to get the hell out of the hospital, but they seemed to be out of the danger zone for the time being. Barring any use of some sort of locator spell, the hospital was too big for the sentries to find them quickly.

  “Is Sam even your real name?” The girl slid her legs into the cotton material and tightened the drawstring to try to keep them up.

  “I don’t even know your name. If anyone is going out on a limb here, it’s me. But if it makes you feel better, I don’t think those guys out there want you dead. They’re probably just going to wipe your memory of everything that happened with Tommy.” Considering the state she’d seen the girl in yesterday, maybe that option wouldn’t sound so bad. Who wouldn’t want to forget such a horrible experience? Sam had only been there at the end. Who knew what Tommy had done beforehand? She didn’t even know how long the girl had been held there. She looked to the window. Now wasn’t the time to dwell on those things.

  “Claire. That’s my real name.”

  That was a start. “I’m Samantha Harris. But I started going by Sam when I was thirteen. My way of rebelling against my mother.”

  “So after we get out of here, are you going to tell me what’s happening?”

  Sam let out a laugh. If only she really knew. “I’ll tell you what I can. I’m pretty confused myself.”

  “Yeah, but you know about the—” Claire broke off as she glanced around the room as though to make sure they were still alone. “You know about the powers?” she whispered.

  Sam jerked around at the question. “I’m the first other witch you’ve met, aren’t I?” She didn’t know whether this was good or bad. At least Claire would believe her when she tried to explain things, unlike Derek. But an unknown, untrained witch was a liability. Under normal circumstances, the sentries would be her friend in this situation. They could take Claire and get her the help she needed.

  But for now, Sam was all Claire had.

  “That guy who took me did things. Things like I can do.”

  Great. The first other witch Claire met tried to kill her. This would go great. “Let’s get out of here.” After checking the hall to verify that no sentries were around, Sam led the way out. It was easy to get from the second floor to the lobby and out the door. Claire wasn’t wearing any shoes, but everyone they passed must have been too distracted to pay much attention to the girl.

  Sam had a feeling she already knew too much of Claire’s story. It sadly wasn’t unusual. The only reason she wouldn’t have met another witch up until now would be if she wasn’t raised with her true family. So she’d probably been adopted. Adoptions didn’t usually work out for their kind. The well-intentioned families who took in the magically gifted tended to freak out once signs of their powers first appeared.

  After that, the families were normally ripped apart. They would try to “fix” the kids, leading to disastrous results. Sam would bet that Claire was a master at walking through crowded areas and going unnoticed. That’s what those lost children would try to do. Disappear.

  Once they were outside, the cool breeze brushed Claire’s hair off her face and Sam winced. The concrete she was walking on barefooted must be freezing. “The car is right over here. It isn’t far.”

  Claire nodded, not complaining at all.

  “We’ll get you a proper change of clothes as soon as we get back to my place.”

  “You don’t have to—”

  “You have no shoes and a shirt that ties shut. I do have to help. Don’t worry about the cost. I’m a trust fund baby.”

  Sam pulled the keys to her BMW out of her pocket and the car automatically unlocked as they got close. The car was still warmed up from her frantic drive over and she immediately turned on the heat to give Claire’s feet some relief.

  As she pulled away from the hospital, she looked in the mirror but didn’t see any sentries chasing after them. Then she took out her phone and dialed Derek one more time, but it once again went to voicemail. She cursed under her breath and put the phone away.

  “So what happens now?” asked Claire.

  “Now we’re going back to my place. From there....” That was the real question. “I suppose I need to figure out what Tommy was doing.”

  “I thought he was killing people?”

  Sam snuck a glance to Claire. The memory of what had happened to her while she was under the trance was ingrained in her mind, but Sam knew that was only the barest impression of what the murdered woman had gone through. Whether he had done that to Claire... Sam didn’t know whether she wanted to find out. If she found out what spell he was trying to finish, she could figure out whether that was a necessary step or something he added in for his own amusement.

  She shuddered at the thought. “Tommy was killing people, but the order and the locations make me think it was part of some sort of ritual. And after I tried to tell my grandmother that I killed Tommy, I rea—”

  “You’re the one who killed him?”

  That probably would’ve been a good thing to lead with. “Yeah... it just kind of... happened.”

  “The detective said it was someone he knew. I assumed it was a cop.”

  Sam couldn’t contain her snort. “Yeah, not a cop. But we have safeguards in place to keep this from happening.”

  “Safeguards like what?”

  “Safeguards like the guys at the hospital.”

  “You mean the ones after me? Great. I feel very safeguarded.”

  Sam stiffened. She liked it better when Claire was scared instead of angry. “Like I said, they probably weren’t going to kill you,” she said weakly.

  Claire shook her head and looked out the window. The next ten minutes were silent as Sam navigated through the streets and got stuck in some of the normal stop-and-go traffic. Every once in a while, Sam snuck a glance at Claire, trying to judge her mental state. She really knew nothing about the girl. Just a series of assumptions. “Is there anyone we should call?”

  Claire didn’t look away from the window. “There’s no one.”

  That was hard. Good in the sense that no one would be interrogated by the sentries. But Sam couldn’t imagine going through what she went through and not having anyone to call. Even though she hadn’t wanted to see Abigail last night, there had still been a deep-rooted feeling of relief when her mother walked into that room.

  Sam had been eighteen when she broke off from the families, but she’d never cut off contact. Claire looked to be about that age and who knew how long she’d been on the streets?

  She kept quiet the rest of the drive until she found a parking spot a block away from her apartment. “We’re here.”

  Claire got out of the car and studied the neighborhood. “I thought a trust fund baby would stay somewhere....”

  “Nicer?”

  “Somewhere that didn’t smell.”

  Sam winced. The girl wasn’t wrong. She started for the apartments, glancing back to make sure Claire was following. “I have a few million in the accounts, but it’s not Bruce Wayne money. This lets me live comfortably without asking my mother to cover my car insurance.”

  “That’s so surreal,” said Claire softly.

  “It’s just what I’m used to.” Sam had never known normal. Between the money and the magic, she’d been raised in a fucked-up cocoon, and this was one of those rare times she wished she could go back. Back to the days when her biggest concern had been picking out the perfect dress for the next party.

  As she got closer to her building, she scanned the street, looking for the familiar Crown Victoria.

  Claire must’ve picked up on her sudden nerves
. “Should I be worried?”

  “Huh?” Sam jerked out of her search. “Oh, no. I’m looking for Derek.”

  “Why would he be here? Is he looking for you?”

  “No. He lives here too.”

  “Wait. You two are like, a couple?”

  “No! He’s just a neighbor.” An annoying, persistent neighbor who wasn’t returning her damn calls. She unlocked the door to her building and held it for Claire. “Third floor.” She pulled out her phone and dialed Derek’s number once more.

  And hell must have frozen over at some point because he actually answered this time. “Is everything okay?” he opened with.

  She blinked a few times, not sure whether she was more surprised that he answered or by the words he chose. “Is everything okay? I called you twenty times at least. Of course everything isn’t okay. Where were you?”

  “I was getting reamed out by my boss. Voss just suspended me. I need to go back to the hospital. I left the witness with a few uniforms, but I’d rather be with her myself.”

  Sam and Claire reached the landing of her apartment and Sam held up a finger signaling her to wait for a minute. “You’re going back to the hospital? I thought you were suspended.”

  “I think she’s in trouble, Sam. There were these guys and—”

  “The girl is gone. If you go back, you’ll just get yourself in trouble.”

  “What the fuck do you mean the girl is gone? Is she with you?”

  Sam glanced at Claire, who looked impatient to get out of the hall, before Sam turned away to face the wall. “I have no idea where she went. Maybe they have her. Maybe she ran. But those guys they sent, they’re called sentries. That’s why I was calling. The families are making it so the whole Tommy thing never happened. They’re saying he killed himself and don’t want any sign of what he did to those women. They got to Voss already and if they know they can’t get to you, they will find some other way to take care of it.”