by Les Goodrich
“I think I have a pretty good idea,” Jordan said and she moved to the bow. They slowed to pull cautiously up to the stranded boat where it leaned lame to one side on its deep-vee hull and the fiberglass was shredded to limp threads around gaping hollows that revealed bent and twisted structures of the boat’s skeleton never meant to be seen. Both motors sat dry on the rocks bent upward and grated to a flat half of their former selves and they stuck from the transom in vulgar and useless angles ahead of the deep trenches they had dug so violently in the sharp shaggy rock.
Both Jacob and Rich wore makeshift bandages and slings and their battered and bruised bodies and wrapped heads stood in evidence of a high rate of speed combined with a sudden stop. Coral the mermaid and two of her deepwater friends, one guy and one girl, both dorado colored like she was, sat on the tilted back deck where Pearl and Mako had so recently lounged in the calm bay in the Keys on what seemed like so many light years ago.
“Pull right up here,” Coral indicated. “There’s a wide gap in the rocks and it drops off vertical at this corner.”
Dan hesitated. He sent Tanner to the bow with a long gaff to fend off the rocks if they drew too close.
“What happened?” Jordan asked Coral, then added, “Assholes,” to Jacob and Rich who could only moan and hold their heads. Coral spoke with pride.
“We were hunting wahoo off Andros. We came across a pack of hammerhead sharks with Fomorians tagging behind them and we heard the Fomorians bragging about what they did to you guys. I’d know the sound of this ugly boat from a hundred nautical miles away. This is Marlin and Jewel. They helped me sing these traitors into the rocks. It’s an old trick. We don’t do it much any more, but man, in the old days.”
Coral handed the bags of books and the painting to Jordan where she lifted and dipped at the bow with Tanner fending the rocks and Dan holding the boat nervously with the throttles shifting from forward to reverse in quick bursts.
“We will never be able to repay you,” Jordan said.
“You’re probably right,” Coral smiled. “But maybe I’ll visit Shay someday and you can hook me up with more pineapple.”
“You got it,” Jordan said. “What about those guys?” she asked and looked at Jacob and Rich where they moaned in the cockpit.
“I guess we could call BASRA for them,” Dan said reluctantly.
“What’s BASRA?” asked Jordan.
“Bahamas water rescue. Like the Coast Guard,” Dan said.
“I guess we can do that,” said Jordan. “Maybe them crashing makes us even. Karma. But you bastards better hope you never see me again,” Jordan yelled.
“We already took all their weed,” Coral said. “A bag of it in waterproof boxes. I think I’ll take most of it to Mako and Pearl.” Coral dug in a large duffel bag. “Catch!” she called and tossed Jordan a wax-dipped plastic shoebox of Miami’s finest.
“Awesome,” Jordan said and stashed the box in her bag.
“That’s likely enough to put us in deep shit if we get caught with it,” Dan voiced his concern.
“Let me worry about that Captain Dan,” Jordan said adjusting her bag in the compartment. “I’ll turn this into Caesar salad if the man stops us.”
“Bye Coral! Thank you,” Called Tanner. “Thank you Marlin and Jewel.”
The three mermaids waved and Dan spun the boat around. He noted his coordinates and called BASRA on the VHF to arrange rescue for the smugglers. “It’s more than they deserve,” he said when finished and he clicked the mic back on it’s holder.
“It’s the right thing to do,” Jordan said. “As much as I hate to admit it.”
“We just have to be the better pirates,” Tanner said and laughed with the others and they sped up to run home with lifted spirits and the world looked bright and clear again.
Chapter 21
Honesty and Threats
On the approach to Largo Tanner, Jordan, and Dan saw Florida on the horizon. Low and slate above a shimmering thread of light, it seemed to hover on a film of surface tension at the pale horizon like a smoked pane of glass. As they drew closer the flat image extended solid to the north, and low and grey and scattered to the south where Largo broke into a thousand crumbs. Just the sight of land felt like home. Once inshore they made their way back to the marina in Miami.
Dan said he would see them in a few days, and Tanner offered to let him moor the boat alongside the sailboat until he or his friend found a dry slip or a trailer. They said quick goodbyes at twilight and Tanner and Jordan took their things and the cave witch score. Tanner and Jordan drove Dan’s truck home and Dan continued to Saint Augustine in the boat. Amber air drove long shadows in the failing day and Jordan turned out into the Miami traffic.
Being on land in a vehicle and among traffic was such a foreign sensation after so many days on the boat that they felt like they were on another planet. Jordan had to remember how to drive and Tanner felt a strange awe and he realized the astounding technical life around them. He wondered how people could be so complacent when life was so complex and vivid and intricate and beyond amazing. He knew that this amazing construct of diversity and experience was yet another level of surreal contrast compared to the miraculous fact that there was anything happening at all. He looked at Jordan and she looked at him in a moment of shared understanding.
“Amazing,” was all Jordan said and Tanner just said, “Yeah,” and they drove to Saint Augustine.
On the road home at one point Jordan called Carol while Tanner drove. She told her they were safe. She told her they would be home around midnight.
“And how did you make out down there?” Carol asked.
“Let’s just say it was grueling. The most exciting ups and the most hateful downs. Everything from ridiculous and life-threatening to times so beautiful they were shocking.”
“Outstanding. And the stuff you went down for?”
“As far as a treasure hunt, it was a total success. You’ll be amazed when you see what we have. We’re exhausted but it was worth it.”
“Hi Carol,” Tanner said to the air.
“Tanner says hi.”
“Tell him hello. Brit and I are worn out too. We closed the shop for the weekend to get a break from it. I need you guys to come to work tomorrow. Sleep in then come in at one p.m. to close the shop. Can you do that?”
“After what we’ve been through, we could do that standing on our heads. We’ll be there.”
“Be where?” Tanner asked and Jordan hung up the phone.
“To work tomorrow at one.”
“Oh sure,” Tanner said and they drove on.
They had driven through dark outskirts and interstates and at some trackless section of I-95 Tanner dimmed the dash lights to better see the deep road and spoke.
“Are you awake?”
“Yeah.”
“I have to tell you something.”
“What?”
“I’m thinking of dedicating as an Ashenguild witch.”
“Why would you do that? Why would you forsake the people who taught you? Who helped you?”
“I don’t look at it like that.”
“How do you look at it?” Jordan stirred at sat more upright.
“I just naturally seek balance. Ashenguild feels right.”
“And you just naturally let other people save your ass.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Like me on the beach.”
“From the pirates,” Tanner recalled.
“That’s right. From the pirates.”
“You did save my ass there. And yours. And that kid’s”
“Freddy.”
“Right, Freddy. So thank you for that. It was awesome. But let’s not forget that when you saved our asses, you did it with dark magick.”
Jordan looked and Tanner went on.
“Body-Bind? That’s a Shadowclan spell and you know it. As dark as it gets. Oh and what about that little Mind-Garden spell in the Miami marina.”
“On a conman boat thief!” Jordan bristled.
“Hey, I’m not complaining. We couldn’t have done what he did down there without you. And if saying you’re a Light Tribe witch is right for you, then by all means, do. But don’t judge me for choosing Ashenguild because I merely believe there may be times for dark spells, when you’ve done darker magick than I ever have. It doesn’t matter why or on whom.”
“Damn,” Jordan said and looked forward to the road. “You’re right. You always surprise me with how aware and eloquent you are.”
“I do my best,” Tanner said and they drove on. He was driving when they eventually pulled into town.
“We’re here,” he said to wake Jordan up. She stirred and looked to see exactly where they were. The marina docks. Tanner parked.
Tanner’s dingy was right where he had left it and he pulled it to the rocky shore. He loaded his things and they decided that he would take the books and painting to stash on his boat for safe keeping. Jordan helped Tanner load his little boat and they hugged for the first time in their lives and Jordan kissed him on the cheek. They were closer than before and always would be.
“See ya tomorrow at one,” she said.
“See ya,” he said and he rowed home and Jordan drove home.
Jordan parked Dan’s truck on the street and went into the dark courtyard to see if she could find her cat Luna. Luna meowed from near the fountain and Jordan picked her up.
“My best friend,” Jordan said and she scratched and petted the purring cat. “I missed you. Did the ladies take care of you like they promised? I knew they would. Did they feed you fish every day? You’re so pretty. You’re such a good girl. Come inside with me tonight and we’ll sleep until lunchtime tomorrow.”
Jordan put Luna down and Luna stayed around her feet and they walked to go upstairs. Jordan walked back along below the stair side to their base at the front of the garage. She jumped when she felt what, at first, she thought was water but instantly realized was a shower of dirt. Potting soil to be exact, and it rained into her hair and her clothes and she looked up to see Nettle holding a tipped clay pot by the rim on the stair edge and laughing hysterically.
“Bastard!” She ran up the stairs after him shedding dirt from her hair with one hand but at the top Nettle just flew in circles laughing and he stayed just beyond her grasp. “Don’t you have a life you little pest? What do you do, wait around here for a week to bother me?”
Nettle just twisted and darted and laughed. “You’re covered in dirt,” he said.
“I match you,” Jordan said and she stomped to her door and brushed away soil. She looked for Luna but Luna was gone. “You little bastard,” she added. She sneakily slipped her wand from her pack and when she turned with it Nettle saw the wand and flew away. “You better go,” Jordan said. “Come on Luna,” Jordan called but Luna did not come right away so she went inside and closed the door. She took a long hot shower.
“A land shower,” she said. “Now I sound like a mermaid.”
Jordan texted James to let him know she was home and said they could hang out the next day after her work. James wouldn’t have it and he insisted that he must come see her right away and although she was tired that made her as giddy as a schoolgirl.
When James got there Luna slipped in through the door with him and he and Jordan kissed in her corner kitchen by the door and she closed the door with her foot. James locked the door with his wand then dropped it on the table. They kissed all the way across her place both saying. “I missed you,” and knocking things over on the way. They fell kissing into her bed and Luna snuck off to her secret spot.
Carol arrived the next day a few minutes before noon and Brit was not there so Carol went inside and locked the door. She counted the register drawer and Brit was not there yet. She opened the front curtains and still, no Brit. She took her things to the back office and turned on the music. She walked back to the front and did not see Brit coming in as she had hoped. She took a sandalwood incense stick and the lighter outside to get it going but she paused and looked at her watch. When she saw that it was ten minutes past noon she knew something was wrong. Never once had Brit been late.
She took the unlit stick back inside and called Brit’s phone but got no answer and her worries grew. She texted her and got no reply. She retrieved her bag from the back room, turned off the music, locked the store back up, and headed home to summon Doctor Covington. She needed a spy and she needed one quick.
“What’s all this about?” the good doctor asked. He knew something was wrong to be called so unusually early in the day. Carol explained that Brit was missing and she asked Doctor Covington to visit The Poison Apple to find out what he could.
“I know they’re behind this and I’m worried for Brit. It’s not like her to be late. I feel like something serious has happened.”
“Have you called the girl’s parents?” Doctor Covington asked.
“I’m hoping I don’t have to,” Carol replied. “I have to run back to the shop to meet Jordan and Tanner. Meet us there as soon as you know anything. And thank you.”
With that Carol left. She drove to save time and parked her car in the apartment lot on the east end of Artillery Lane and hoped for the best as far as parking tickets or getting towed was concerned. She was walking between the art gallery and the bakery when she saw Tanner and Jordan coming from the other end. Jordan pushed her bike and Tanner walked beside her.
“We met at Monster and got coffee together before we came in,” Jordan said and Carol realized the novelty of that but there was no time to discuss it. Jordan locked her witch broom bike at the fire escape rail and they all arrived at the shop door simultaneously. With her key extended in mid air Carol stopped when she saw a blood-red envelope taped to the door.
“Brit’s missing,” Carol said and she peeled away the envelope.
“What? Since when?” Jordan asked.
“Since she didn’t show up for work this morning. An hour ago. The last I saw her was Friday at close.” Carol handed Tanner her keys and he opened the door while Carol opened the envelope and they went inside. Jordan locked the door behind them. Carol opened the red note inside, written in dripping black fountain pen ink, and read it aloud.
Carol,
Bring my property that I know your witches have if you ever care to see your precious fluffy bunny again. I have paid for the book and the painting. They belong to me. As does your friend until you return what is mine. Bring it to my shop at sunrise tomorrow and put all of this behind us.
Gwen
“No funny stuff,” Jordan said.
“What?” Carol asked and the note and envelope erupted in her hands and she dropped them where they burned to nothing on the shop floor and were gone.
“Nothing,” Jordan said. “I can’t believe this.”
“Close the curtains,” Carol told Tanner.
They sat at the bookshelf chairs and Jordan sat on the big ottoman in the closed and darkened store. Carol told them she had sent Doctor Covington to spy and that he would meet them at the shop when he was done. They talked of ways to find Brit or ways to confront Gwen and they came up with no worthy ideas.
Tanner and Jordan told Carol about the painting and some about their trip but with Brit in danger the stories fell flat so they decided to wait until they had Brit with them again to tell the best parts and Carol agreed.
Jordan described the painting to Carol and Tanner described what little he had inspected about the books. In time Doctor Covington arrived and simply walked up to the group and the shop door never opened nor even rattled. Tanner and Jordan were fascinated to meet the doctor. He said he had found out nothing at The Poison Apple and as far as he could tell it was business as usual around there. He said he had searched the store and seen nothing out of place and Brit was nowhere to be found.
He also said he had visited her apartment and talked to the ghost couple who lived in her building and they also knew nothing. The day stretched on.
“If it comes to it, we will give Gwen what she wants to get Brit back safely,” Carol finally said and they all agreed.
“But can she be trusted?” Tanner asked.
“No, she can’t be trusted. But she can always be trusted to be a Shadowclan witch,” Carol said.
The day turned to night and Tanner, Jordan, Carol, and even Doctor Covington remained in the closed shop because no one had the heart to go anywhere else and staying felt like a vigil for Brit. They turned on Brit’s favorite faerie music for as long as they could stand it. Carol ordered food to be delivered from Excellent Pizza and she opened bottles of pinot noir from her stash in the back room. Although it was a somber occasion they made the best of it and they all knew they would save Brit somehow and they toasted to her and tried to not be overcome with anger or sadness.
They decided to stay until the next morning because, somehow, being in the shop felt safe and being together was the main reason why.
***
Brit remained in her prison darkness and there was no accounting the time and she had cried and she had been scared and she had been angry. All of those emotions had passed leaving only aloneness and she sat in the darkness for uncountable hours and she did not know if it were day or night.
It was night, late night, in the deep dark small hours of the morning night. Brit was awake but her eyes were closed and she was beyond fatigued. She heard a hammering somewhere in the walls and the room shook and she was terrified. The hammering stopped. The light went dark. After an hour, or maybe two hours, the light came on again for five minutes then went off again. The hammering resumed. The floor shook. Although she looked to be free on her hard chair, she was immobile as if she were bound with sticky ropes.
She felt hands clasp her shoulders and her heart pounded. She began to cry but no sound came. The hands searched her back and wrapped around her neck and moved to her chest and down to her arms upon her legs but she saw no one there. Tears streamed over her cheeks. She sat in a living nightmare with no possibility to awake from it and so there was no relief imaginable. She was awake and all the more incoherent for it. She closed her eyes as the phantom hands searched and tormented her for what felt like endless days.